Evaluation on fracture and configuration of mooring chains based on monitoring data of inclinometers

To address the issues of state monitoring for catenary mooring chains, a fracture identification and configuration inversion method based on inclinometer monitoring data is proposed in this paper. First, based on a dynamic response analysis method for mooring chains that integrates seabed topography and fracture analysis, the variations of tension and inclination angle in the suspended segment under different seabed conditions are investigated, the influence of different fracture locations in the touchdown segment on the system response is analyzed, and the relationship between fracture location and inclination response is revealed. On this basis, a recursive configuration inversion method for intact mooring lines and a fracture location identification method for fractured mooring lines are established, forming a physically interpretable monitoring framework for the configuration and fracture state of catenary mooring lines under limited inclinometer monitoring data. The results within the current parameter range indicate that the proposed monitoring framework has certain potential for engineering application, in which the fracture location identification method achieves an identification accuracy of over 81.21% for fractures in the touchdown segment, and the maximum normalized error of the configuration inversion method for the suspended segment of an intact mooring line is approximately 2.7%. It should be noted that this study adopts a simplified description of seabed topography and assumes instantaneous fracture in the analysis, while field validation under real fracture conditions is still lacking. Nevertheless, the monitoring framework proposed in this paper can still provide a reference for the condition evaluation of mooring chains.