UNIFIED FACILITIES CRITERIA (UFC) — DESIGN — MOORINGS

This document was officially released with the intention to provide the design policy and effective procedures for the mooring design for U.S. DOD vessels. The main purpose of the volume is to ensure the safety, quality and consistency of the vessels serving DOD with the due attention paid to their mooring arrangements. The mooring itself is generally defines as a structure restraining a vessel's movement against the actions of winds, waves and current forces.

The main emphasis in this document has been placed on the moorings that are composed of tension and compression members used to secure ships. While the opening part of the document is introductory, its second part provides the information related to the different types of mooring systems and the third part is devoted to the basic design procedures including design criteria and methods, design and operational considerations, maintenance and inspection, and general mooring guidelines.

The next two parts are devoted to the static forces and moments, and to the established procedures of the anchor system design. The rest of the document is dealing with the key components of the mooring systems, catenary behavior, fixed and spread mooring, etc. The glossary of terms is also included.