The present work analyzes the increase in axial forces in the mooring system and connecting mooring ropes of a feed barge and support vessel during side-by-side operations, using a coupled analysis in the FEM software AquaSim. Through this analysis it is possible to verify the compliance of the materials used in the mooring system of the feed barge when subjected to a load increase due to support vessel´s operations, as well as assessing the program's capability to conduct this type of analysis under regular and irregular wave conditions. The study was conducted using environmental data recorded at an actual fish farm in southern Chile, along with the geometry of an existing feed barge. This data was used to create a numerical model, to which a combination of environmental loads was applied in eight cardinal directions. The impact on the mooring system was then evaluated when a ship connects to the feed barge, both on port and starboard side. The results show that the mooring system distributes loads homogeneously when isolated, but significant imbalances occur in side-by-side operations. Additionally, a mooring maneuver performed on the starboard side of the feed barge in this case, leads to significantly higher axial loads compared to maneuvers performed on the port side of the barge. However, these increases remain below the material limit and within safety factors established by local regulations
Aguilar et al. (2026) studied this question.