Hydrodynamic Response of Multiple Fish Cages Under Wave Loads

Nowadays, marine aquaculture is playing an important role in meeting people’s ever increasing need for sea foods high in protein. The multiple fish cages are commonly used in large fish farms currently. Mooring systems in these fish cages should be strong enough to withstand extreme environmental loads. Thus, a reliable mooring system is required in designing safe structures. In this paper, a finite element model is built. The floating collar is simulated by the beam element, the twine of the net and the mooring lines are simulated by the truss elements. The geometric nonlinearity of the net model and the material nonlinearity of the mooring line are considered. In this analysis, the hydrodynamic forces estimated by Morison equations are applied to the model. The hydrodynamic response of multiple fish cages under the wave loads by considering the pretension of mooring line is carefully studied. The maximum tension in mooring lines under different wave propagation direction is also analyzed in this study.