Objectives  In this paper, a method for calculating the static restoring force of a mooring system is proposed in order to optimize the mooring angle and meet the strength requirements of mooring lines.

  Methods  Using this method, a study is conducted on the influence of the mooring angle on the static restoring force and heading of the platform, and the tension uniformity of all mooring lines. An improved Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to optimize the mooring angle, and the accuracy of the algorithm is enhanced in two ways:the first is that it can generate the initial population artificially by analyzing the influence of three factors(value of static restoring force, sensitivity of static restoring force to interference direction, and tension uniformity of all mooring lines); the second is that it strengthens the local search ability by combining an adaptive algorithm.

  Results  The results show that the improved genetic algorithm has a higher optimization accuracy. The optimized results are fed back to the tension model of the mooring system, and the breaking strength requirements of the mooring lines are appropriately reduced.

  Conclusions  This research can provide valuable references for mooring layout design and the material selection of mooring lines.