Mooring Design and Operation Practice for Floating Units Subject to Ice Loading

Abstract An Arctic Mooring JIP was initiated by Kwan Engineering Services and Global Maritime in 2013 to address the issue of Arctic mooring design and operation practice, which was completed in 2016. There were 24 participants including operators, drilling contractors, regulators, designers, and hardware manufacturers with a total funding of $780k. The JIP had five tasks related to mooring in the Arctic:Task 1 – Guidance on mooring strength design practiceTask 2 - Assessment of disconnect devices and requirementsTask 3 - Assessment of mooring components for operations in the ArcticTask 4 – Guidance on methods for ice load predictionTask 5 - Guidance on ice management strategies A guidance summary on Arctic mooring design and operation practice was developed by the JIP for input to industry standards. This paper presents the key elements in the guidance summary. ISO 19906 ‘Arctic Offshore Structures’ (ISO 2010) is the most recognized Arctic design code for fixed and floating structures, which does not provide practical guidance for mooring design and operation. API RP 2SK (API 2005) is the most recognized mooring design code, which does not cover moorings subjected to ice loading. The guidance developed by the Arctic Mooring JIP bridges the gap between these two codes and is a significant milestone for the design and operation of Arctic floating systems. The API Mooring Resources Group has incorporated the guidance summary developed by this JIP into a draft document for the 4th edition of API RP 2SK.