What is mooring?
Mooring comes in many shapes and sizes but it generally comprises of mooring lines or fenders, anchors and connectors for the station keeping of floating structures. Jettyless systems are holistically designed for optimal ship-to-shore or ship-to-ship configuration, whereby mooring underpins the system design to stabilise floating structures with minimal environmental impact. For this reason it is necessary to see the forest and the trees by understanding hydrodynamic properties, metocean conditions, and how this interacts with the floating hoses of IQuay systems.
Expertise at ECONNECT Energy
Dr. Jikun You has dedicated his career to hydrodynamic analysis and technology development for various mooring applications in both academia and the maritime sector.
Originally from Dalian, China, Jikun was influenced by the maritime and naval architecture heritage of the city. His motivation to study mooring was inspired by his professor at the Dalian University of Technology who presented a novel, highly non-linear mooring challenge for deep watersemi-submersible platform applications. There were few software resources to accurately model the complex system, and Jikun took on this challenge head first for his master’s project and is still actively engaged in optimising mooring for a variety of offshore applications.
In 2009 he moved to Norway to start a PhD at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, where he studied hydrodynamics with a focus on high-order wave force and floater motion computations and developed the in-house numerical model for academic applications.
His industrial experience includes global performance evaluation for diverse floating offshore structures, mooring and riser system design as well as concept development within hydrodynamic field and patents for offshore wind systems. At ECONNECT he has developed in-house modelling for mooring and has been involved in broad range of offshore projects from early-phase feasibility study to detailed EPC project delivery.
Mooring design
When asked about the process for developing the IQuay system design and the mooring for vessels, Jikun shares that he enjoys the challenge of a new design for each new project. He first establishes the hydrodynamic properties of the floating vessel by understanding the dampning and mass properties of the hydrostatic structure, then he maps these properties to consider the non-linear attributes of mooring lines or fenders (think wave movement and other dynamic movement or tension). Once these forces are determined, the mooring design can be established based on site location.
He shares, “I maintain a focus on optimising mooring options at ECONNECT, but I’m also client-facing, especially when conducting feasibility evaluation for the IQuay and client vessels and performing dedicated analysis for transfer system design and marine operations.”
Jikun’s deep knowledge of hydrodynamics and mooring allows him to approach projects holistically, designing low-impact and safe mooring for energy carrier vessels stationkeeping to safely load, offload, and transfer energy cargoes.
“Mooring is foundational to our operations at ECONNECT. Our technology is adaptable to location, and the mooring needs to be adaptable to support all vessel and hose configurations, too. We look at the entire systemin conversation, and the mooring informs the interaction of the system.”
Mooring vessels for energy transfer is a well-established alternative to docking vessels at quays and jetties for access to a variety of locations as well as for reduced impact to marine environments.
ECONNECT Energy can support a variety of mooring options, but the two most optimal for use with the IQuay technology are a dolphin system and a multi-buoy system. The dolphin mooring system with mooring piles nearshore to effectively dock the vessel, and allows for shorter floating, flexible pipes. The multi-buoy mooring system (MBM) can be deployed in a variety of water depths and metocean conditions, providing a cost-effective and quick installation with the lowest environmental footprint.
All mooring system configurations are designed by dedicated hydrodynamic analysis according to the project site information, after which all procurement, construction and maintenance is executed by the ECONNECT project team.
