The 42nd International Conference on Ocean, Offshore & Arctic Engineering (OMAE) was held in Melbourne, Australia from June 11 to 16, 2023. At the opening ceremony of this conference, the conference co-chair announced the "Best Paper Award" of the 41st International Conference on Ocean, Offshore & Arctic Engineering (OMAE). The academic paper titled " Analysis of a Hybrid Mooring System Concept for a Semi-submersible Wind Turbine in Intermediate Water Depth under Operational, Extreme, and Yaw Error Conditions" stood out from over 900 accepted papers through the expert review and conference review. This awarded paper is co-authored by PhD Qun Cao from School of Ocean and Civil Engineering (OCE), Professor ERIN BACHYNSKI‐POLIĆ from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Professor Zhen Gao, Professor Longfei Xiao, Associate Professor Zhengshun Cheng and Assistant Professor Mingyue Liu from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU).

 This study overcame the design challenge of mooring system in intermediate water depth. Based on the preliminary design scheme of the floating wind turbine system and the environmental conditions, a hybrid mooring system ("Catenary lines + clump weights") was designed for the 10 MW SPIC (Semi-submersible wind turbine with Partially Inclined side Columns) concept floating wind turbines. The responses of the mooring system were analyzed through basin model test and numerical simulation, and the hybrid concept mooring system was evaluated from the aspects of horizontal stiffness, footprint range, safety performance, etc. This research provided a reference for the selection of mooring systems in intermediate water depth.

The International Conference on Ocean, Offshore & Arctic Engineering (OMAE), which has a high academic reputation in the industry, was initially initiated by the Ocean, Offshore, and Polar Engineering Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). This international conference is held annually, providing an ideal platform for researchers, engineers, managers, technicians, and students from scientific, academic, and industrial communities around the world. The conference mainly discusses the hotpots, progresses, as well as the latest achievements in the researches related to ocean, offshore, and polar engineering.