Research directions in synthetic fiber ropes applied as mooring lines for floating offshore wind turbines

Synthetic fiber ropes can be the main and excellent components of the taut-wire mooring system for the floating wind turbine, especially in deepwater applications. The weight and the footprint of the mooring system can be saved a lot due to the density of the fiber ropes very close to that of seawater. The nonlinear mechanical properties bring challenges due to the viscoelasticity and viscoplasticity of the synthetic fiber ropes. Thus, the development of the model test techniques is described in detail. Recent progress and future research directions of the dynamic stiffness of the fiber ropes are presented. The construction structure is a crucial factor for both the constitutive relationship under the creep-recovery and cyclic loading conditions and fatigue damage of the fiber ropes. How to employ the nonlinear mechanical properties in the mooring analysis is an interesting issue that could be studied in detail. How to use physically informed neural network (PINN) to describe the nonlinear behaviors of the ropes is a research direction with good prospects. Finally, the influence of the behavior of the synthetic fiber ropes on the response of the shared mooring system for floating wind turbines is another interesting issue that still needs to be studied. • The application of synthetic fiber ropes on floating offshore wind turbines is reviewed. • The development process of model test techniques for synthetic fiber ropes is presented and discussed. • The development process of numerical models for describing the constitutive relationship of synthetic fiber ropes is discussed. • The potential research directions for related issues of synthetic fiber ropes as mooring lines are presented in detail.