
Have you ever felt the stinging of a stretched rubber band breaking between your hands?
It closely resembles a scenario called a snapback event in the ports and marine industry, where a mooring line ruptures and the parted lines recoil. However, unlike the temporary agony from a snapped rubber band, a snapback from a split mooring line can result in serious injuries or even fatalities.
As we strive to work smarter, always seeking better solutions, Jordan Butler from WGA has taken a leading role in enhancing safety measures concerning Snapback events. In recent years, Jordan’s efforts have sparked the need for a deeper understanding of the energy, speed, and trajectories associated with these occurrences.
This drive to pave the way for improved safety protocols can help us tackle Snapback events with greater preparedness. His pursuit has led to the development of the prototype ‘Breaking Point’ – a 6DOF kinematics model, in-house software for parted mooring lines in hopes of improving the safety of ports worldwide.
Check out this video of a ballast bulk carrier encountering a mooring line failure at the winch – it all happens in less than 2 seconds in real-time.
Jordan will also present a paper on the ‘Computational Modelling of Snapback Paths’ at the upcoming Australasian Coasts and Ports 2023 conference from 15 – 18 August 2023.