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Assessment of dynamic line and fender loads for moored tankers

TERMSIM

TERMSIM is a time domain simulation program to analyse the dynamic • MBM

behaviour of a moored export tanker subject to wind, waves and
current. The mooring system can be a Single Point Mooring (SPM), a
Multi Buoy Mooring (MBM) or a Jetty terminal. The program predicts the
mooring loads and tanker motions when the system is exposed to
operational environmental conditions.
Tanker
The tanker is a crude carrier of regular dimensions. The new OCIMF
tanker database containing hydrodynamic data for several tankers is
included in the program. Based on the main particulars of the tanker a
selection from the OCIMF database is made. Through an expert mode a
user defined tanker can be used for the simulations.
In a multi buoy terminal the tanker is moored by mooring legs
consisting of anchor chains, chain-buoy-steel wire or chain-buoy-
synthetic rope.
• Jetty
For the jetty terminal the tanker can be moored by means of
mooring legs and fenders. A mooring leg can consist of a number of
parallel running, but equal lines, and can be made of steel wire,
synthetic rope or a combination of steel wire with a nylon tail. A
selection can be made from six types of fenders.

Environment
The environmental conditions concern steady current, steady or irregular
wind field, swell and long crested irregular waves coming from arbitrary
directions. Several spectral formulations for the wind, wave and swell
are available. The water depth can be arbitrary.

Mooring systems
Three types of terminals are considered:
• SPM
The SPM terminal consists of a conventional CALM buoy which is
moored to the seabed by means of anchor chains. The tanker is
Input
moored to the buoy by means of a bow hawser. The bow hawser The input of data is user-friendly. The program makes use of a user
can be selected from a database containing characteristics of interface with a graphical input check.
synthetic material e.g. nylon, polyester, polypropylene and
Dyneema.
V. 2006/04/06

MARI N 6700 AA Wageningen T +31 317 49 39 11 E info@marin.nl

P.O. Box 28 The Netherlands F +31 317 49 32 45 I www.marin.nl
Databases Validation
Several databases are delivered with the program. Model tests were carried out in MARIN’s Wave and Current basin. Each
• Mooring elements terminal type was modelled to moor a tanker. The three systems were
The mooring element database contains particulars of common exposed to wind, current, swell and waves. In order to validate the
offshore chains, steel wires, synthetic ropes and fenders. computer program the three different systems were also simulated with
• OCIMF wind and current data TERMSIM. A good correlation with the model tests was found.
This database contains non-dimensional wind and current
force/moment coefficients for use in the calculation of wind and Note
current loads on a tanker.
A special version of TERMSIM is available which computes only mean
• OCIMF diffraction data
values of vessel position and line and fender forces. Mooring legs can
The new OCIMF diffraction database containing the results of
be composed of lines with buoys and clumps. This version is also
diffraction analyses for several tanker configurations.
suitable for LNG carriers and barges.
• Hydrodynamic reaction coefficients
This database contains non-dimensional coefficients for use in the
formulations of hydro-dynamic reaction forces.

Simulation control
The following situations can be simulated:
• intact condition
• damaged condition

Output
The output of each simulation consists of a binary database containing
all samples of the calculated signals. The signals include the tanker
motions, mooring loads in all mooring legs and other interesting
quantities for the analysis of the mooring system behaviour. The system
layout is represented graphically in a schematic format to detect input
errors in an early stage. A comprehensive data processing package is
delivered with the program to view, plot and print the output results.
For more information please contact the department Software
Engineering and Support.
T +31 317 493 237
E Support@marin.nl