Exercises 1 and 2

The subsea BOP control system includes surface components, subsea components and the connecting
umbilical cable. The surface component, which is located in the drilling rig, typically utilizes triple
modular redundancy controllers to transmit commands to the Subsea Electronics Modules (SEM)
located in the subsea control pods. The subsea components of the control system are two completely
independent SEMs, subsea blue SEM and subsea yellow SEM. There are two configurations for the BOP
control system, which are TMR control system, as shown in Figure 1, and DDMR control system, as
shown in Figure 2 (Exercise 2). The Driller`s Panel, Workstation and Tool Pushers Panel, which is
represented by the personal computers in Fig. 1. Commands initiated by any control station can be sent
to PLC system by any Ethernet Switch.

Exercise 1

Fig.1. Configuration of TMR control system.

The PLC system works when at least one of the PLC-A, PLC-B and PLC-C survives. It can transmit the
command to Blue SEM and Yellow SEM. The input and output subsystems in blue and yellow SEMs are
connected to the three PLCs of the processor subsystem via three independent Genius buses. For the
sake of simplicity, the Genius buses and fiber optic repeaters are not modeled for reliability evaluation.
The analog input (AI) and digital input (DI) subsystem performs 3-2-1-0 voting, which means PLCs can
receive the data from the input subsystem till all the input modules fail. The digital output (DO) system
performs 2-out-of-3 (2oo3) voting for the blocks DO-A, DO-B and DO-C using the data from the PLCs,
which means that the output subsystem can work when at least two of the three PLCs survive. The
failure distribution rates of components for TMR control system are presented in Table 1.

Task 1: Evaluate the reliability for TMR control system.

Exercise 2

The PLC system for Blue SEM works when at least one of the PLC-A and PLC-B survives. Similarly, the PLC
system for Yellow SEM works when at least one of the PLC-C and PLC-D survives. The DDMR
configuration Blue and Yellow SEM are the same with TMR system.

Fig.2. Configuration of DDMR control system

The failure distribution rates of component for DDMR system are presented in Table 2.

Task 2: Evaluate the reliability for DDMR control system.

Exercise 3

An oil field is proposed to be developed via four subsea X-mas tree and a Manifold system. The layout of
the system is presented in Figure 3. In order to show the most of the equipment details, the flow charts
of Well-2, Well-3 and Well-4 are omitted.

In normal production process, produced fluid flows through SCSSV, PMV, PWV and choke valve to
flowline connecting to manifold. The manifold has two main flow paths connecting to two pipelines.
Fluid coming from wells can flow into any of the two main flow paths by controlling valves in manifold.
For the sake of simplicity, flowlines, pipelines, service lines and control system are not modeled for
reliability evaluation. The failure data of the involved component are presented in Table 3.

Table 3: Critical failure rate data of the Wellhead and the X-mas tree

Component Units Failure rate

(per 106 hours)
Flow Base - 0.4
Subsea Wellhead - 0.16
Connector 0.16
Subsea X-mas Tree cap 0.09
tree Choke valve 2.00
Other valve 0.34
Tubing hanger Hydraulic coupling 0.27
Connector 0.11
Manifold
Valve 0.83

Task 3: Evaluate the reliability for wells and manifold system.

Exercise 4

An oil field is proposed to be developed via four subsea X-mas trees and a Manifold system. The layout
of the system is presented in Figure 4. In order to show the most of the equipment details, the flow
charts of Well-2, Well-3 and Well-4 are omitted.

In normal production process, produced fluid flows through SCSSV, PMV, PWV, choke valve and flowline
to manifold. The manifold has only one outlet but four inlets and two flow paths inside. Fluid coming
from wells can flow into any of the two flow paths depending on station valves. For the sake of
simplicity, flowlines, pipelines, service lines and control system are not modeled for reliability evaluation.
The failure data of the involved component are presented in Table 4.

Fig.4. Production System Layout

Table 4: Critical failure rate data of the Wellhead and the X-mas tree

Component Units Failure rate

(per 106 hours)
Flow Base - 0.4
Subsea Wellhead - 0.16
Connector 0.16
Subsea X-mas Tree cap 0.09
tree Choke valve 2.00
Other valve 0.34
Tubing hanger Hydraulic coupling 0.27
Connector 0.11
Manifold Valve 0.83
Production meter 0.22
Task 4: Evaluate the reliability for production system.