Fracture mechanics analysis for mooring chain links subjected to out-of-plane bending (OPB)

A fracture mechanics (FM) based investigation on the mechanism of out-of-plane bending (OPB) between mooring chain links and its effects on fatigue lives of mooring chain links are conducted. Four types of OPB problems that mooring chain links laying on the chain wheel, chain links passing over the bending shoe, chain links constraint provided by the chain hawse, and chain links constraint provided by the chain stopper are considered. Tension ranges of mooring lines are calculated based on the combined loading process induced by the motions of wave frequency (WF) and low frequency (LF). Initial cracks are assumed to propagate from surfaces of chain links and stress intensity factors are calculated in terms of stress ranges determined by a finite element (FE) analysis. The results show that fatigue lives of mooring chain links are decreased significantly due to OPB effects. In addition, the increase of the number of pockets of chain wheel mitigates OPB effects on fatigue lives of mooring chain links laying on the chain wheel, and the increase of the track diameter would reduce OPB effects on fatigue lives of mooring chain links passing over the bending shoe as well. However, for chain links constraint provided by the chain hawse, the diameter of mooring chain hawse has no significant effect on fatigue lives of the mooring chain links subject to OPB if without the abrupt change of the contact conditions between chain links and chain hawse. For mooring links constraint provided by chain stoppers considering the effect of proof loading test, fatigue lives of mooring chain links would drop significantly with the increase of interlink angles and friction coefficient.