Structural Reliability Criteria for Control of Large-Scale Interconnected Marine Structures

Abstract

In this paper, we develop a model of a futuristic fish farming structure, and study problems related to interconnected marine structures and strategies for configuration control with focus on structural reliability. Configuration control refers to positioning of individual modules or the entire structure as a whole. The structure is a chain of surface vessels, moored to the seabed via a spread mooring system connected to the front vessel. In this paper we design a control system that: 1) Ensures limited loading of the mooring system in order to avoid mooring cable failure and;2) Ensures positive strain in the connectors between vessels in order to avoid buckling effects due to variations in for instance the current. Control actuation is by means of a thruster mounted on the first module. The performance of the control system is demonstrated by simulations.