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Full-scale measurement investigation of the

hydrodynamics of a turret-moored FPSO in a typhoon
and deduction of its mooring loads
a a a a
Wen-hua Zhao , Jian-min Yang , Zhi-qiang Hu & Yue-feng Wei
a
State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering , Shanghai Jiao Tong University , Shanghai ,
China
Published online: 24 Jun 2011.

To cite this article: Wen-hua Zhao , Jian-min Yang , Zhi-qiang Hu & Yue-feng Wei (2012) Full-scale measurement
investigation of the hydrodynamics of a turret-moored FPSO in a typhoon and deduction of its mooring loads, Ships and
Offshore Structures, 7:3, 285-295, DOI: 10.1080/17445302.2011.590693

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 Ships and Offshore Structures
Vol. 7, No. 3, 2012, 285–295

Full-scale measurement investigation of the hydrodynamics of a turret-moored FPSO in a

typhoon and deduction of its mooring loads
Wen-hua Zhao, Jian-min Yang∗, Zhi-qiang Hu and Yue-feng Wei
State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
(Received 26 September 2010; final version received 17 May 2011)

As a type of offshore structure, an FPSO unit is typically permanently moored to a designated position. These structures
experience very complex sea states during which the motion response of the FPSO is enhanced, resulting in extreme loads on
Downloaded by [University of Saskatchewan Library] at 17:35 08 January 2015

the mooring system. Full-scale measurement of the motion characteristics of an FPSO unit was carried out by the Shanghai
Jiaotong University and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation from 2007 to 2009, lasting 25 months (Hu Z. 2010.
Report for the full-scale measurement on the motion response of FENJIN FPSO in South China Sea and investigations on
the deduction of the mooring line loads. Shanghai: State Key Lab of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University). We
analysed the FPSO unit’s motion responses during the passage of the typhoon ‘Koppu’ and its hydrodynamic performance.
The loads acting on the mooring system were deduced through a decoupled analysis with the measurement data as input.
The ability of the mooring system to hold station and the performance of the vessel in actual sea states are also presented to
contribute important input to the future designs of FPSO systems.
Keywords: FPSO; full-scale measurement; motion response; decoupled numerical analysis; spectral analysis

1. Introduction agreement between the numerical simulation results and

An FPSO system is a floating production, storage and of-
floading platform. Since their emergence in 1970s, FPSO
systems have been at the forefront of the offshore oil and
gas industry. This type of floating structure provides a good
solution to drilling in remote or deepwater locations where
pipeline transportation is not economical. Compared with
other types of floaters (e.g. Spar and TLP), FPSO systems
are especially advantageous because they are turret moored
and can weathervane and take the position of least resis-
tance with respect to environmental forces. In addition,
FPSO systems can conveniently sail to a new oilfield when
the current reservoir has been exhausted. Because of these
advantages, the number of FPSO systems has grown rapidly
in recent years. It has been reported (SPG Media Limited
2008) that 40 billion dollars, 80% of which is allocated for
FPSO units, will be used to build 123 floating production
systems from 2008 to 2012. These data demonstrate the
importance of FPSO systems.
Owing to the importance of FPSO systems to oil pro-
duction, there have been numerous recent investigations on
the hydrodynamics of the FPSO hull and the loads acting on
the mooring lines. Most of these studies have been numer-
ical simulations and/or model tests. Ormberg and Larsen
(1998) studied the motions and mooring line tensions with
a coupled analysis that calculated floater motions and moor-
ing and riser dynamics simultaneously. There was a good
the model tests. Several years later, Kim et al. (2005) car-
ried out an investigation on the hydrodynamics of a turret-
moored FPSO system through both numerical simulations
and model tests. Similar studies on the hydrodynamics of
FPSO can also be found in de Souza Junior and Morishita
(2002), Luo and Baudic (2003) and Esperanca et al. (2008).
Modelling is an effective way to investigate the hydrody-
namics of offshore structures and should always be carried
out before construction regardless of how reliable the nu-
merical simulations are. Vessel and mooring models and
measurement instruments should be prepared prior to the
model test. During the test, the motion response of the ves-
sel and the loads acting on the mooring lines can be obtained
for the combination of waves, currents and winds at the site.
However, because of the assumptions in numerical simu-
lations and the scale effects in models, these results may
not always be reliable. The most reliable and direct way
to investigate the motion performance of an FPSO unit is
through the full-scale measurement. This analysis gives the
motion responses of the FPSO hull in the open sea and ver-
ifies the design of the FPSO system effectively. However,
few full-scale measurement campaigns have been reported.
To investigate the motion responses in open sea envi-
ronments, a full-scale measurement of the FENJIN FPSO
located in the South China Sea has been ongoing since
October 2007, sponsored by CNOOC. Accelerometers

∗
Corresponding author. Email: jmyang@sjtu.edu.cn

ISSN: 1744-5302 print / 1754-212X online

Copyright  C 2012 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17445302.2011.590693
http://www.tandfonline.com
 286 W.-H. Zhao et al.

Table 1. Principal scantlings of the FPSO.

Designation Signal Full scale

Length over all (m) LOA 262.00

Length between perpendiculars (m) LPP 250.00
Breadth (m) B 46.00
Depth (m) D 24.60
Draft of full load (m) T 16.50
Displacement (tonnes)
176,000

and rate gyros monitor the motion responses of the FPSO

hull. Environmental conditions have also been monitored
through wave radar, Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers
(ADCPs) and meteorological stations in the vicinity of the
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FENJIN FPSO. Time series data on the motion response

were obtained through the full-scale measurement. These
data, collected simultaneously with environmental param-
eters (i.e. waves, winds and currents), allowed a numerical
simulation of the environmental loads and system response.
Compared with the full-scale measurement of motion re-
sponse, it was much more difficult to measure the loads
acting on the mooring system. Therefore, decoupled anal-
yses were performed between the motion response of the
FPSO hull and the corresponding loads acting on the moor-
ing lines, with the measurement data as the input. Statistical
and spectral analyses were also conducted. Important con-
clusions about the motion characteristics of the FPSO hull
and the level of the corresponding loads acting on the moor-
ing system were summarised to provide important input for
the future designs of FPSO systems.
2. Description of the FPSO system
The FENJIN FPSO has a length of 262.2 m, a width of
46.0 m and a depth of 24.6 m. It is located in the South China
Sea over waters with a depth of 120 m, and it is moored
by nine mooring lines attached to the internal turret. More
details about the system are summarised in Table 1.
The mooring system configuration consists of an inter-
nal turret that allows the FPSO unit to rotate freely and
nine 1245 m mooring lines in 3 × 3 bundles. The three
bundles are evenly spread (120◦ ) in a circle, and each sep-
aration angle of the adjacent lines in the same bundle is 5◦ .
Each line has three chain-wire-chain segments. Additional
Figure 1. The FPSO system configuration.
details about the mooring configuration are presented in
Table 2, and the FPSO system layout is shown in Figure 1.
3. Description of the instruments
Since the beginning of the FENJIN FPSO operation, three
sets of motion reference units have been measuring its mo-
tions in six degrees of freedom (Figure 2). Owing to space
limitations in the FPSO hull and safety considerations,
the second set of motion reference units was not installed
at the centre of gravity of the FENJIN FPSO. The acquisi-
tion rate for the motion measurement is set at 5 Hz. In this
study, the time series of motion responses refers to the point
at which the vertical centre line and the design draught sur-
face meet. However, the input time series in the decoupled
analyses refers to the turret point on the FPSO hull. These
data can be calculated on the basis of the data captured in
the full-scale measurement according to Faltinsen’s theory
(1990).
In addition to the motion response of the FPSO, the
corresponding environmental conditions were monitored
simultaneously. It was not possible to obtain a continuous
time series record because the acquisition rates for waves,
currents and winds were limited to 2, 2 and 1 measurement
per hour, respectively. Nevertheless, these data provided a

Table 2. Mooring lines configuration.

Designation Length (m) Diameter (mm) Submerged weight (kN/m) Axial stiffness (MN) Minimum breaking load (kN)

Anchor chain 50 130 2.911 1085 15,780

Seabed wire 460 133 0.709 1620 13,806
Seabed chain 480 130 2.911 1085 15,780
Connection chain 20 130 2.911 1085 15,780
Top wire 230 133 0.709 1620 13,806
 Ships and Offshore Structures
Figure 2. Locations of the motion reference units. (This figure is
available in colour online.)
reference for the long-term report on sea conditions in the
South China Sea.
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4. Theoretical model
It is difficult to obtain full-scale measurements of the loads
acting on the mooring lines, so these measurements were
ignored in this study. However, this parameter is one of
the most important factors in the FPSO system design. To
obtain realistic values and verify the design of the FPSO
system, decoupled analyses were carried out with the help
of the well-known numerical code, Riflex.
A decoupled analysis between floater motions and the
mooring system is a well-developed technique, and the cal-
culation process can be divided into two separate steps
according to Ormberg and Larsen (1998): calculations of
floater motions and a dynamic response analysis of the
mooring system using the top end motions estimated in
the first step. Typical shortcomings in the separated ap-
proach are the lack of or simplification of current forces
and low-frequency damping contributions from the moor-
ing systems. However, if the floater motions can be mea-
sured and then serve as the input into the dynamic response
analysis, the decoupled analysis would give a more exact
simulation of the mooring loads than the coupled analy-
sis. The most exact way to estimate the mooring loads is
arguably through the full-scale measurement in the oper-
ation field of the FPSO system. However, this is impos-
sible with the available technology because there is cur-
rently no load cell with a measuring range that is large
enough, and installing the instruments between the ves-
sel and the mooring system would weaken the mooring
lines.
The detailed procedure for the decoupled analysis of
the FENJIN FPSO system is illustrated in Figure 3 and can
be summarised in the following steps:
(1) determine the time histories of the translational dis-
placement of the turret point on the FPSO hull in three
degrees of freedom (i.e. surge, sway and heave motions)
with the code developed in this study;
(2) configure the finite element (FE) model for the FPSO
system with the help of DeepC, and input the FE model
directly into the line model code, Riflex; and
287
Figure 3. A flow chart of the decoupled analysis.
(3) run the numerical code with the time series obtained in
the first step as the input data, and calculate the loads
acting on the mooring system.
4.1. Time series transition model
The decoupled analysis should predict the mooring loads
more accurately than the coupled analysis if the vessel mo-
tions can be measured in full scale. In the decoupled anal-
ysis, the motions of the vessel turret point are selected as
the input for the prediction of the mooring loads. However,
the motion response of the turret point could not be mea-
sured directly due to difficulties in instrument installation.
In most cases, the instruments are installed near the rear,
middle and front portions of the vessel, which was also the
case for this study. A transition code was developed to cal-
culate the motion response of the turret point according to
the measurement data from the other parts of the vessel.
The effect of vessel elasticity was ignored based on the
rigid body theory. The time histories of the six degrees of
freedom captured in the full-scale measurement do not need
to include the motions of the gravity of the body because
the motions of any point on the body can be transformed
into the motions of any other point on the body. Before we
detail the theory, a coordinate system and the rigid body
motion modes should be defined.
A global Cartesian coordinate system taking the turret
point as the origin was defined as shown in Figure 4 (Hu
2010), with the x-axis running parallel to the latitude line
and the y-axis running parallel to the longitude line. We
used a right-handed coordinate system (x, y, z) that was
 288 W.-H. Zhao et al.
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Figure 4. Global coordinate system.
fixed with respect to the mean position of the body and
had its positive z-axis directed vertically upwards through
the centre of gravity of the body and its origin in the plane
of the undisturbed free surface. The translational displace-
ments in the x, y and z directions with respect to the origin
were represented by η1 (surge), η2 (sway) and η3 (heave
motion), respectively, and η4 (roll), η5 (pitch) and η6 (yaw
angle) represented the angular displacement of the rota-
tional motion about the x-, y- and z-axes, respectively. The
coordinate system and the translational and angular dis-
placement conventions are shown for the case of a ship in
Figure 5.
The motion response of any point on the body can be
calculated through the following formula:
s = η1 i + η2 j + η3 k + ω × r, (1)
where x denotes the vector product; i, j and k are the unit
vectors along the x-, y- and z-axes, respectively; η1 , η2
and η3 are the translational motions of the measured point;
Figure 5. Ship-fixed coordinate system.
ω is the angular displacement of the measured point and
r represents the displacement vector from the measured
point to the target point. These variables are defined as
follows:
ω = η4 i + η5 j + η6 k, (2)
r = xi + yj + zk, (3)
where η4 , η5 and η6 represent the angular displacement
of the rotational motion about the x-, y- and z-axes,
respectively.
This relationship demonstrates that the motions of the
turret point on the FPSO hull can be calculated before the
decoupled analysis using the following equation (Faltinsen
1990):
s = (η1 + zη5 − yη6 )i + (η2 − zη4 + xη6 )j
+ (η3 + yη4 − xη5 )k. (4)
In the full-scale measurement, the motion of the turret
point cannot be directly derived from Formula (4) because
the motion modes, ηm (m = 1–6), refer to the ship-fixed
coordinate system, whereas the motions of the turret point
serve as the input data and refer to the global coordinate
system. Finally, the last term in Formula (4) can be used to
calculate the heave motion of the turret point and can be
simplified as follows:
z = η3 − L × η5 , (5)
where L is the horizontal distance between the measured
point and the target point.
The method adapted for the calculation of the motion
of the turret point in the horizontal plane is different from
that used in the vertical plane. There is a heading angle (φ)
between the global and ship-fixed coordinate systems. The
calculation of the horizontal motion can be expressed as
follows:
x = η1 ± L × cos φ, (6)
y = η2 ± L × sin φ. (7)
On the basis of the above theory, the translational dis-
placements of the turret point were obtained to serve as the
input for the decoupled analysis.
4.2. Decoupled model of the FPSO system
The present model of the floating system consists of two
distinct parts: the FPSO hull and the mooring system. The
panel model for the FPSO hull is shown in Figure 6, and the
FE model of the FPSO system for the decoupled analysis
is illustrated in Figure 7. It should be noted that the panel
 Ships and Offshore Structures 289
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Figure 8. Catenary element configuration in the local x-z plane.

Figure 6. The panel model of the FPSO hull. (This figure is
available in colour online.)
figuration of a uniform cable with all boundary conditions
specified at the first element end for a uniform loading con-
model of the vessel was not used in the calculation of the
dition. To simplify the calculation, a local coordinate sys-
pressure force, rather it was used to integrate the decoupled
tem was defined (Figure 8). The z-axis of the local element
model of the FPSO system.
coordinate lies in the opposite direction of the resulting
Given the non-linearities of the environmental force,
loading. The local element system agreed with the global
the geometry of the mooring lines and other complexi-
coordinate system when the current load was taken into
ties in the decoupled analysis, a time-domain analysis was
account.
selected as the dynamic analysis approach. Several publi-
The classic catenary formulas for the mooring line can
cations on the time-domain analysis method are available
therefore be applied to compute the coordinates and force
for the mooring loads, such as Huse (1991) and Webster
components at the second element end in the local element
(1995). These studies established simplified models of the
system based on the first element end (RIFLEX theory
low-frequency damping of the mooring systems that include
manual 2005):
several parameters. Because the wave-frequency motion
dynamics of the mooring lines are an important parameter,
an FE programme that includes the modelling of all lines FX1 = −FX2 , (8)
in the system is typically necessary. In this study, both the
dynamic influence of the mooring lines and the position- FZ1 = −FZ2 + ql, (9)

 
dependent forces due to the offset of the mooring lines were l 1 FZ2 + T2
considered. H = −FX1 + ln , (10)
EA q T1 − FZ1
A catenary element analysis is usually carried out before
the dynamic analysis to compute the static equilibrium con- 1  2  1
V = T2 − T12 + (T2 − T1 ), (11)
2EAq q
1
ld = l +
2EAq

 
FZ2 + T2
× FZ2 T2 +FZ1 T1 +FXl
2
ln , (12)
T1 − FZ1

where F is the force acting on the end of the mooring seg-

Figure 7. The FE model of the FPSO system. (This figure is
available in colour online.)
ment; the subscripts X and Z represent the x and z directions,
respectively; the subscripts 1 and 2 refer to the number of
the end of the mooring segment; H and V are the horizontal
and vertical spans, respectively, of the mooring segment; q
is the distributed forces acting on the mooring segment; l is
the length of the mooring segment; E and A are the elastic
modulus and cross-sectional area of the mooring segment,
respectively; and T 1 and T 2 are the tensions at the each end
 290 W.-H. Zhao et al.
of the mooring element and can be expressed as follows:

T1 = 2
FX1 + FZ1
2
, (13)
 dynamic equilibrium at short time intervals
t:
T2 = 2
FX2 + FZ2
2
. (14)
Descriptions of the other symbols are noted in
Figure 8.
For the numerical modelling of the mooring lines, an
extension of the theory developed for slender rods by
Garrett (1982) was used. With the assumption that there
was no torque or twisting moment, a linear momentum
conservation equation with respect to a position vector r,
which is a function of arc length s and time t, can be derived
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and expressed as follows:
−(Br  ) + (λr  ) + q = mr¨ , (15)
λ = T − Bκ , 2
(16)
where primes and dots denote the spatial s-derivative and
the time derivative, respectively; B is the bending stiffness;
T is the local effective tension; κ is the local curvature; m
is the mass per unit length and q is the force distributed on
the rod per unit length. The scalar variable λ is a Lagrange
multiplier. The position vector r refers to the motion re-
sponse of the vessel where the turret is located. The motion
response of the target position on the vessel can be obtained
through the method described in Section 4.1. based on the
measurement data. In this way, the distributed force q can
be derived from the measured motions of the FPSO hull.
Furthermore, the loads acting on the mooring lines can be
obtained through the integral calculation for the distributed
force, that is q.
In Formula (15), the rod is assumed to be elastic and
extensible. The step-by-step numerical integration of the
dynamic equilibrium equations is based on the well-known
Newmark β family with the Wilson θ method considering a
constant time step. This is inherently more stable than many
other methods when relatively large time steps are employed
(Clough and Penzien 1993). Both methods can be applied
for non-linear and linear analyses (RIFLEX theory manual
2005).
Displacement, velocity and acceleration vectors at times
t and t +
t were related by the following iteration scheme:
ṙt+
τ = ṙt + (1 − γ )r̈t
τ + γ r̈t+
τ
τ, (17)
 
1
rt+
τ = rt + ṙt
τ + − β r̈t (
τ )2
2
+ β r̈t+
τ (
τ )2 , (18)
where
τ = θ
, θ ≥ 1.0; γ , β and θ are the parame-
ters in the integration methods that define the incremental
change in displacement, velocity and acceleration vectors,
respectively, over the time step
t.
For the dynamic analysis, the incremental form of the
dynamic equilibrium equation was obtained by considering
 I   D   S 
Rt+
t − RtI + Rt+
t − RtD + Rt+
t − RtS
 E 
= Rt+
t − RtE , (19)
where R with the superscripts I, D, S and E represents the
inertial, damping, structural and external reaction forces,
respectively, whereas R with the subscripts t and t +
t
represents the forces at times t and t +
t, respectively.
For the iteration scheme of the dynamic analysis, the
non-linear incremental equation of motion was linearised
by introducing the tangential mass, damping and stiffness
matrices at the start of the increment. The linearised incre-
mental equation of motion can be expressed by the follow-
ing equation:
Mt
r̈t + Ct
ṙt + Kt
rt =
RtE , (20)
where Mt , Ct and Kt denote the tangential mass, damping
and stiffness matrices computed at time t; and
rt ,
ṙt ,
r̈t
and
RtE are the incremental displacement, velocity accel-
eration and external force vectors at time t, respectively.
Because of non-linearities, the dynamic equilibrium
equation was not satisfied at the end of the time step for
the iteration scheme. To eliminate error accumulation, the
residual force vector for changes in mass, damping and
stiffness over the time step was included in the incremen-
tal equilibrium equation at the next time step. Thus, the
incremental equation of motion including this equilibrium
correction can be written as follows:
 
Mt
r̈t + Ct
ṙt + Kt
rt = Rr+
t
E
− RtI + RtD + RtS .
(21)
The parameters in Equation (21) were described previ-
ously in this section.
The connection of the lines to the time series for trans-
lational displacements of the turret point was obtained
through a set of very stiff springs. The role of the con-
necting springs was only to ensure that the separation of the
line node from the turret point was infinitesimal (Low and
Langley 2006).
5. Results and discussion
Numerous time series measurements of the motion re-
sponses of the FPSO hull were collected through the full-
scale measurement. In this paper, one set of time series
data from the passage of a typhoon from 15:00 to 18:00
on September 14, 2009, was selected as the target course
 Ships and Offshore Structures
Table 3. Statistic results of the motion responses during the
passage of the typhoon ‘Koppu’.
Maximum Minimum Mean SD
Surge (m) 33.43 −12.53 10.47 9.46
Sway (m) −100.26 −106.95 −103.84 1.06
Heave (m) 1.91 −1.87 −0.00 0.45
Roll (deg) 3.00 −2.89 0.07 0.79
Pitch (deg) 0.69 −1.34 −0.32 0.25
Yaw (deg) 17.33 −8.40 4.25 5.10
(Hu 2010). Its corresponding mooring loads were deduced
based on the measurement data of the motion response.
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5.1. Full-scale measurement of the motion
response
During the passage of the typhoon ‘Koppu’ from 15:00 to
18:00 on September 14, 2009, the mean draft of the FPSO
hull was 12.325 m, and the corresponding environmental
parameters were monitored simultaneously. The significant
wave height was recorded at 4.47 m, and the spectrum
period was 13.9 s. The maximum speed of the wind was
22.5 m/s, and the mean speed of the current was 0.822 m/s.
The time series of the motion responses of the FPSO hull
in six degrees of freedom are outlined in Figure 9, and the
parameters that were derived from the time series directly
or from a power spectral density calculation of the time
series are listed in Table 3.
Figure 9 shows how the surge, sway and yaw motions
represent the motion states different from those of the roll,
pitch and heave motions. The former motion modes are pri-
marily affected by low-frequency forces, whereas the latter
modes are mainly influenced by wave-frequency forces.
The station-keeping performance of the mooring system
was closely related to the low-frequency motions of the
FPSO hull, and the sea-keeping performance of the FPSO
hull was related to its wave-frequency motions. This finding
verified the conclusions of many researchers based on the
numerical simulations. Statistics for the motion responses
of the target course are given in Table 3. The amplitude of
the surge motion was approximately 10 times larger than
that of the sway motion. This discrepancy can be attributed
to the weathervane property of the turret-moored FPSO.
The roll motion response of the FPSO hull was ap-
proximately three times higher in both varying range and
motion power compared with the surge motion response of
the FPSO hull. This conclusion is in line with the calcu-
lated and model test results of Li et al. (2004) for a similar
FPSO in shallow waters. To directly evaluate the perfor-
mance, statistics for the calculated and model tests results
provided by Li et al. (2004) and the full-scale measurement
results obtained in this study are listed in Table 4. Column
diagrams for the standard deviation and varying range are
291
presented in Figures 10 and 11, respectively. These find-
ings indicate that the roll motion response of the FPSO
was the dominant design factor, rather than the pitch mo-
tion response. This may also be related to the weathervane
properties of the turret-moored FPSO system. The ratio of
3 to 1 between the roll and pitch motions may result from
the ratio of the length between the perpendiculars and the
width of the FPSO hull. However, this is only a hypothesis
and warrants additional investigation.
Spectral analyses in the light of heave, roll and pitch mo-
tions were used to further investigate the motion response
of the FPSO hull. Spectrum density functions of the mo-
tions with three degrees of freedom are plotted in Figure 12.
The spectrum density functions present the power distribu-
tion of the wave-frequency motion responses with respect
to the frequency. The natural periods of response and the
response power can be obtained using the spectrum density
functions. Figure 12 shows that the power of the roll motion
was much greater than that of the pitch and heave motions.
This again demonstrates that the wave-frequency motion
responses of offshore structures that are turret moored are
dominated by the roll motion of the vessel.
Furthermore, the energy in the waveforms for the wave-
frequency motions is shown in Figure 13. Owing to the
presence of higher harmonic components, the zero-order
moment gives a more accurate description of the energy in
each of the waveforms than the extreme value points alone.
The zero-order momentum plots show the large percentage
of the energy contained in the roll motion response relative
to the heave and pitch motion responses. When we turned
from the heave motion to the roll motion, the wave energy
was approximately tripled. The energy contained in the roll
motion, however, was approximately 10 times as large as
that contained in the motion of pitch.
5.2. Deduction of the loads acting on the
mooring system
Because of measurement difficulties, the full-scale mea-
surement of the mooring loads was not included in this
study. However, the mooring loads were calculated by
means of a decoupled analysis with the measurement data
from the motion response as the input. Statistics of the
mooring loads during the passage of the typhoon ‘Koppu’
are listed in Table 5. In addition to the mean values, the max-
imum and minimum values and the standard deviations for
the mooring loads are also included. The maximum val-
ues for the loads of each mooring line represent the force
conditions at a single point, which is not comprehensive.
However, the standard deviation is related to the variation
from the mean value for the entire time series, which would
provide a comprehensive estimation of the time series.
Table 5 indicates that different mooring lines would ex-
perience quite different loads, even in the same sea condi-
tions. This discrepancy could reach one order of magnitude
 292 W.-H. Zhao et al.

Table 4. Statistics of the roll and pitch motions.

Designation Motion Maximum Minimum SD Varying range (VR) Ratio for VR Ratio for SD

Measurement Roll (deg) 3.00 −2.89 0.79 5.89 2.90 3.16

Pitch (deg) 0.69 −1.34 0.25 2.03
Calculated Roll (deg) 2.86 −2.36 0.48 5.22 2.68 2.29
Pitch (deg) 0.91 −1.04 0.21 1.95
Model test Roll (deg) 2.80 −1.90 0.70 4.7 2.94 3.5
Pitch (deg) 0.90 −0.70 0.20 1.6
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Figure 9. The time series for the six degrees of freedom motion responses of the FPSO hull during the passage of the typhoon ‘Koppu’.
(This figure is available in colour online.)
 Ships and Offshore Structures 293

Figure 10. Standard deviation for the roll and pitch motions.
(This figure is available in colour online.) Figure 11. Varying range for the roll and pitch motions. (This
figure is available in colour online.)

between the mooring lines that are under the maximum and the standard deviations for mooring lines 4, 5 and 6 were
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minimum forces. Again, the explanation for this may lie
in the weathervane property of the turret-moored FPSO.
The FPSO hull can rotate around the turret freely and take
the position of the least resistance with respect to environ-
mental forces. It can be concluded from Table 5 that the
maximum mooring line tension of 5064.53 kN during the
passage of the typhoon is still lower than the maximum al-
lowable tension, indicating that the FPSO mooring system
would survive this strong typhoon. Table 5 also shows that
approximately two orders of magnitude larger than those for
mooring lines 1, 2 and 3. The latter are located at the rear of
the FPSO due to the weathervane characteristic, and they
experience minor loads in this case. Generally speaking,
the loads acting on the mooring system during the passage
of the typhoon are within the scope of safety. This is a sig-
nificant conclusion that reaffirms the safety of the FPSO
offshore platform for applications in tropical areas around
the world.

Figure 12. Spectrum density functions of the wave-frequency motions. (This figure is available in colour online.)
 294 W.-H. Zhao et al.

Table 5. Statistic properties of the mooring loads during the the heave and pitch motions because of its high response
passage of the typhoon ‘Koppu’. power.
Maximum Minimum Mean SD
Interesting relationships were uncovered between the
roll and pitch motions that were possibly related to the ratio
Line 1 (kN) 683.042 234.193 248.546 8.28403 of the length between the perpendiculars and the breadth of
Line 2 (kN) 679.488 234.231 248.990 8.22168 the vessel, but further studies are needed.
Line 3 (kN) 678.071 234.929 250.217 8.22088 Mooring systems experience asymmetric loads due to
Line 4 (kN) 4419.469 679.894 2189.208 255.428
Line 5 (kN) 4749.440 677.464 2498.920 304.954 the weathervane property of the turret-moored FPSO. Fur-
Line 6 (kN) 5064.530 677.627 2859.111 368.924 thermore, the loads acting on the mooring lines are quite
Line 7 (kN) 3675.850 679.883 1954.182 205.430 sensitive to environmental conditions. During the passage
Line 8 (kN) 3406.175 678.781 1705.381 175.993 of the typhoon, the tension forces acting on the mooring
Line 9 (kN) 3120.050 679.523 1487.647 154.090 system were less than the allowable maximum tension, in-
dicating the capability and strength of the FPSO mooring
system.
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Because of difficulties in executing full-scale measure-

ments and high cost, there has been rarely research pub-
lished on full-scale measurements to characterise the FPSO.
This work will help to verify the design of the FENJIN
FPSO and may serve as guidance for the future FPSO sys-
tem design.

Figure 13. Zero-order momentum for the wave-frequency
motions.
From the results of the full-scale measurement and the
analysis of the loads acting on the mooring system, it can
be concluded that the characteristics of the FPSO hull and
the station-keeping ability of the mooring system would be
safe under typhoon conditions.
6. Conclusion
A study with full-scale measurements was performed on the
turret-moored FPSO, FENJIN. On the basis of the measure-
ment data of the motion responses, the loads acting on the
mooring system were deduced with the numerical code Ri-
flex. The measurement data were analysed both statistically
and spectrally.
The FPSO unit performed different motion states in
different motion modes even in the same oceanic envi-
ronmental conditions. The motion modes of surge, sway
and yaw were primarily affected by low-frequency forces,
whereas the motion modes of heave, roll and pitch were
mainly influenced by wave-frequency forces.
In the light of the characteristics of the turret-moored
FPSO, the roll motion should be of greater concern than
Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the China National Off-
shore Oil Corporation and the National Significant Science and
Technology Research Programme of China (2008ZX05026-006).
These sources of support are gratefully acknowledged by the
authors.
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