Abstract
High-performance synthetic ropes (HPSR) offer many benefits in wave and tidal energy applications across all phases of deployment, from installation and operation through decommissioning.
In these applications, rope performance, demands are typically much higher. Exceedingly high break strengths, long fatigue life, stiffness or compliance, and safety are often required in proposed systems. Through lab-scale testing and ongoing research, performance expectations can be better defined, hence more effectively managed.
Though high-performance synthetic ropes have properties that favour these stricter demands, there are also technical considerations for performance expectations we can require from a rope. With these technological factors, system designers should take a holistic approach to ensure maximum safety, design life, and operational efficiency for a system. This paper explains these considerations and properties of high-performance synthetic ropes, to assure that performance expectations can be achieved.