Response of a single point moored buoy to waves and breakers - A computer program

The single-point mooring of a buoy provides an unmanned instrument station for many purposes. The motion and survival of such a system under normal and severe environmental conditions are of great importance in its design. The paper describes a mathematical model devised to simulate on a digital computer the dynamic response of single point moorings of surface and submerged buoys. The essential features of the two-dimensional, time-domain analysis are summarized. The main features of a "breaking sea" model developed for effective simulation of the seaway are presented. The general system configuration and the basic assumptions involved are described, which clearly indicate the restrictions imposed on the practical applications of the program. Applications to date include spherical buoys in two degrees of freedom in currents, sinusoidal waves and breakers. A brief discussion on the results of a few selected runs is included.