Preliminary design of FOWT

Mooring lines are one-dimensional components, their flexural stiffness is negligible in a static analysis; hence the configuration that is constituted by its own weights, according to a function called "catenary". In this case the mooring line is located almost entirely in the water. In fact, the anchorages were arranged on the deck both in order to be in sight (thus we make easier the inspections), and to reduce the moment due to the rotor thrust; therefore, the mooring line is just 10.5 meters clear of the water, so in a very approximate way we consider it totally submerged. At the end of the mooring line there is the anchor but this is not the point where the line touches exactly the seabed for the first time. Whereas we have to foresee a line segment that rests on the seabed before the line elevation beginning. This is very important because the anchor pulling capacity in vertical direction is roughly equal to zero (in practice just its weight), so if there was not such line segment lying on the seabed without transferring the stresses according to the horizontal direction, the anchor would still be forced to plow without offering its mooring qualities. [...]