Analysis and experimetal verification of the catenary component with the finite element method

The catenary component is widely applied on ships and ocean engineering structures. Whetherit is for the mooring line of dockside ships, the anchor moored positioning, or various mooring structureswith different deep-sea catenary structures(such as deep-sea flexible risers, deepwater mooring systems,deep-sea steel catenary risers, etc.), as well as the mooring force response of the entire structure are of par-ticular significance. To be more specific, the catenary component in the mooring system is obviously a non-linear structure geometrically, while the accuracy of the stress analysis of the catenary is particularly impor-tant. The stiffness matrix and node force vector of the catenary element can be gained based on the flexibili-ty matrix obtained from static analytical solutions of the catenary. Finally, the catenary element is estab-lished by using the UEL(User Defined Element) from commercial finite element software ABAQUS. The re-sult is seen to be fully consistent with the analytical solution and the experimental results. In brief, it induc-es creativity to the direct calculation method of solving various complex catenary component problems.