Numerical Study of Operating Stability of an Innovative Cable Laying Vessel Under Extreme Conditions

An innovative cable laying vessel was designed for the grid connecting project of Zhoushan Islands, which is under construction now. Cable laying operation proposed a serious demand of the stability during the operation period. The mooring system should provide enough stability to the vessel under a tough sea condition. A numerical study has been carried out to investigate the operating stability of the vessel under different extreme sea conditions, which includes high-speed tidal-streams and the wave conditions during the typhoon period. The ANSYS-AQWA was employed to establish a numerical wave tank for the further studies. The potential flow assumption was used for wave generation and fluid-structure interactions, which is validated by the related experimental results. Effects of various mooring-line arrangement plans on the stability of the cable-laying vessel are studied under local extreme sea conditions. The tensions of the mooring line and the cables were also calculated for verification.