Abstract
This paper outlines physical model experiments of a small (1:50) scale floating-moored OWC investigating the influences of mooring line failure at different instants when subjected to unidirectional regular waves. Additionally, a 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model is developed and validated in good agreement against the experiments. This combined CFD and experimental approach is then used to investigate the transient effects and the impact of using a mooring system with redundancy when damage occurs to mooring lines during an extreme wave condition. In the test conditions presented, it was found that the transient overshooting increases the maximum mooring line tension by 23 % and 19 % as a result of losing 50 % and 100 % (full-loss) of mooring lines at one of the forward legs respectively.