In collaboration with Shoretension, Royal HaskoningDHV, Marin, Vopak and Shell, Deltares is looking at the possibilities for innovative mooring technology in the ports of the future.
Future ports will look different from the ones we know today and will require new solutions to keep vessel movements under control. The ShoreTension mooring system may help solve this problem. To learn more about this technology and in order to determine its limits, scale-model tests have been carried out in the Delta Basin, the Deltares 3D wave basin.
Watch a video of the validation tests below.
Open Port
One of the leading new concepts for the port of the future is the open port. An open port has less impact on the coastal zone, but the berths are more exposed to waves. This may result in the need for breakwaters and/or it places more stringent demands on the mooring system that keeps vessels in place during loading and unloading.
New innovative mooring systems could be a solution to this problem as Peter Bos MSc, Civil and Maritime Engineer at Shell, points out: 'Many opportunities are in open water, which requires breakwaters. Breakwaters are expensive, so innovative technologies will make jetties in open water feasible for us.'
Determining ShoreTension's Limits
In recent years, ShoreTension has developed innovative mooring technology that keeps the forces in mooring lines low by responding intelligently to vessel movements. This allows the vessel to be kept in place adequately with low line forces, making efficient loading and unloading possible even in more challenging wave conditions.
The mooring technique has already been deployed successfully at various locations around the world, but not enough is yet known about the characteristics of this technology or the limits to its application.
SWZ|Maritime described the development of the ShoreTension system in detail in 2013 (picture from SWZ|Maritime, January 2013).
‘We want to know how this mooring system will behave in different wave conditions and in interaction with other structures,’ says Niek Bruinsma of Deltares, who is managing the tests. ‘It’s also important to determine the maximum wave height for the safe deployment of this technology and therefore its limits. That is something that you should preferably study in controlled conditions in a scale model.’
'We have modelled the characteristics of this mooring system into scale models, which are now being tested at Deltares. The first results are very promising and it might allow ShoreTension to be used in open ports of the future,' says Chris Clement BSc, Mechanical Engineer at ShoreTension.
Results Included in Computer Models
A range of different layouts and golf conditions are being simulated at a scale of 1:40 in the wave basin. With the results from the different test cases, Deltares is building up a database that will be used by Royal HaskoningDHV to validate their computer models for the mooring system. Engineering firms and contractors can use models of this kind to conduct feasibility studies for new open-port concepts.
Alex van Deyzen PhD, Maritime Engineer at Royal HaskoningDHV, says: 'This research is relevant for use because we want to include innovative mooring systems like ShoreTension, but also vacuum based mooring systems or magnetic mooring systems in our port designs. […] The results of these model tests help us to design safer, more efficient and possibly cheaper designs of berths exposed to waves. Innovative mooring systems will become an integral part of the port of the future.'
The project is financed by the participating parties and the Water & Maritime Top Sector (TKI Delta Technology). Part of the report is publicly available and can be accessed through the Deltares website.
Picture (top): Scale tests to investigate the benefits of innovative mooring technologies for open ports in the Deltares wave basin.
