Aquaculture Studies 2019, Vol 19, Num, 1     (Pages: 25-35)

Numerical Analysis of the Dynamic Response of a Single-Point Mooring Fish Cage in Waves and Currents

Xiaohua Huang 1-2 ,Haiyang Liu 2 ,Qiyou Tao 3 ,Yu Hu 3 ,Shaomin Wang 3 ,Taiping Yuan 3

1 Key Lab. of Open-Sea Fishery Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Guangzhou 510300, China
2 Tropical Fisheries Research and Development Center, South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Sanya 572018, China
3 South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Guangdong Cage Engineering Research Center, Guangzhou 510300, China
DOI : 10.4194/2618-6381-v19_1_03 Viewed : 3773 - Downloaded : 3373 In this study, we developed a numerical model of a single-point mooring (SPM) cage system based on the finite element method, and employed it to simulate the dynamic response of the cage system under conditions with waves and currents. We focused mainly on the mooring line tension and deformation for the cage collar. The simulated results indicated that adding a buoy as part of a cage system was helpful for reducing the force and deformation of the cage collar, and the current contributed greatly to the total load on the cage system. In addition, the location of the greatest deformation of the cage collar was confirmed by comparing the stress results for different points in the collar structure when exposed to strong waves and current. Therefore, to avoid plastic failure, we tested a connected component with a lower pipe diameter to wall thickness ratio to effectively reduce the deformation of the floating pipes, thereby enhancing the security of the SPM cage system under severe sea conditions. Furthermore, we analyzed and discussed the effects of the material characteristics on the dynamic properties of the SPM cage system. Keywords : Dynamic response, Finite element model, Fish cage, Floating collar deformation, Single point mooring