Fibre Taut – Fibre Ropes for Taut Mooring Lines for Marine Energy Converters
The objective of the project is to obtain knowledge of the applicability of fibre ropes in Marine Energy Converters , both in laboratory and sea conditions.
To achieve this, a series of project development objectives are presented below:
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Perform tests of the fibre ropes in two environments, one in real, open water conditions and other in a control environment in the laboratory.
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Determine strength limits and the stiffness and damping properties of fibre ropes with cycling at different loads.
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Develop a base line numerical model of the mooring system and rope behaviour based on the rope characteristics.
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Validate the model with real data: meta-ocean conditions and measured loads at sea.
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Verify the applicability of fibre ropes for marine energy converter applications.
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In the long-term we hope to develop cost-effective fibre rope taut mooring lines for deepwater applications for the emerging MEC industry. This would provide a new market for rope manufacturers and help advance the MEC industry further into the deeper and more energetic wave environments.
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Contribution to the improvement of the correlation between accelerated laboratory tests and real, offshore environment test.
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Promotion of communication and dissemination of findings among European centres and companies.
Partners: WireCo WorldGroup and Fundación Centro Tecnológico de Componentes – CTC
This project has received support from MARINET, a European Community – Research Infrastructure Action under the FP7 “Capacities” Specific Programme.
