Abstract.A fracture mechanics analysis for the mooring system of a semi-submersible accounting for out-of-plane bending (OPB) is presented in this paper. Stress ranges acting on the mooring chain links are calculated based on tension and OPB of mooring chain links induced by motions of wave frequency (WF) and low frequency (LF). The narrow-banded method is used for predicting the combined mooring loading process. Initial cracks are assumed to propagate from surfaces of chain links and stress intensity factors are then calculated in terms of stress ranges determined by a finite element analysis. The influence of the OPB on the remaining service life of mooring chain links is investigated and the results show that the remaining service life of mooring chain links connecting to fairleads is significantly reduced due to the OPB effects.
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