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. The JIP has 5 tasks:
Task 1 - Mooring strength design practice
Task 2 - Assessment of disconnect devices and requirements
Task 3 - Assessment of mooring components for operations in the Arctic
Task 4 - Methods for ice load prediction
Task 5 - Guidance on ice management strategies
This paper presents an overview of the Arctic Mooring JIP and gives a more detailed discussion on Task 1, strength design practice, which covers environmental criteria, ice load evaluation, requirements to account for ice management, design methodology and procedure, and factor of safety, etc.
The current edition of ISO 19906 "Arctic Offshore Structures" is the most recognized Arctic design code for fixed and floating structures, which does not provide practical guidance for mooring design and operation. The current edition of API RP 2SK "Design and Analysis of station keeping Systems for Floating Structures" is the most recognized mooring design code (ISO 19901-7 is similar), which does not cover moorings subjected to ice loading. The guidance developed by the Arctic Mooring JIP bridges the gap between these 2 codes and is a significant milestone for the design and operation of Arctic floating systems. The API Mooring Resources Group has incorporated the guidance developed by this JIP into a draft document for the 4th edition of API RP 2SK.
