[Posted on October 23rd by Bill Stewart]
A mooring analysis is common throughout marine and offshore industries. It’s not always easy to create a floating dock or keep a vessel from moving and it’s important to have as much information as you can about the subject. This is one of the most popular and most necessary forms of analysis as it applies to so many different projects.
By understanding a mooring, you understand the need for it to be able to withstand the water pressure that it is in and be strong enough for whatever is being tied to it. Some moorings are able to support one thing while others don’t. Different types that exist include:
– CALMs
– SALMs
– Turrets
– Towers
– Submerged buoys
– Harbor moorings
What’s used for a Jet Ski is going to be very different from what’s used for a dolphin encounter or a cruise ship. A significant amount of mooring analysis is required in order to look at the details. The depth of the water, the waves, the salinity, and various other factors are taken into consideration.
Stewart Technology Associates uses state-of-the-art marine software in the form of OrcaFlex. It allows for a comprehensive solution when organizing data and being able to establish worst-case scenarios. Once the numbers come out of the software, it is then analyzed even further and recommendations can be made in terms of providing input on what a mooring needs to consist of.
It’s important to realize that anchor analysis is very different as a mooring is a permanent or semi-permanent structure that is in place whereas the anchor is on the vessel and then thrown down as a way of providing a temporary pause to movement.
Understanding waves and other details become critical. A passing ship can have an effect on the mooring because of the waves that are generated. All of these become factors that must be considered to avoid accidents.
When you are going out on the water, your goal is to minimize risk. You don’t want to encounter any fatalities or lose any business as a result of an accident. With mooring analysis, you are able to determine what kind of spread or single point mooring is needed based upon your individual project. You cannot rely on analysis done for anyone else as you have different things going on and they must be taken into consideration to yield the most positive results for you.
Analysis doesn’t have to be done by you. In fact, it should not be done by you as it’s critical to have a third party that will be impartial to the outcome of the analysis. A third party will not hold anything back and provide you with the details that you need to understand the type of mooring you need to locate, use, and/or build. When these details are at your fingertips, it promises better results when you are on the water.