Tension-Leg Platform Tendon Dynamics

A Tension-Leg Platform is a floating offshore structure held down against its own excess buoyancy by taut, pre-tensioned steel tendons running straight to seabed anchors. This simulation solves the coupled heave and surge equations of motion for a TLP under a regular wave, driven by linear (Airy) wave theory forcing, and renders the water column's real orbital particle kinematics alongside the platform, its four tendons and live tendon-tension readouts. Adjust wave height and period, tendon length (water depth) and total pretension to see the platform's signature behaviour: heave and pitch locked down by tendon stiffness while surge stays comparatively soft, and watch how low pretension or large waves can drive a tendon toward zero tension — the slack-line "snap load" condition that governs real TLP tendon design.