Ocean Engineering 189 (2019) 106406

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Ocean Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/oceaneng

Recoil analysis of deepwater drilling riser after emergency disconnection

Yanbin Wang *, Deli Gao *
MOE Key Laboratory of Petroleum Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, 102249, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In this paper, the mechanical model and governing equations for the recoil response of deepwater drilling riser
Deepwater drilling riser are established based on the mass-spring-damping system with three degrees of freedom. The direct acting
Emergency disconnection tensioner (DAT) and axial elongation of riser before disconnection the are taken as the boundary condition and
Recoil response
initial condition of the mechanical model, respectively. The model can consider the influence of frictional
Mechanical characteristics
Influence factors
resistance induced by drilling mud discharge and elastic potential energy due to axial elongation on the recoil
Control measures response. The clearance between the Low Marine Riser Package (LMRP) and the blowout preventer (BOP) after
disconnection is figured out through solving the governing equations. Then, the parameter sensitivity analysis is
given to present a comprehensive understanding of the recoil response. Analysis results show that the phase
difference has a significant influence on the recoil response. The most favorable phase difference is 60� . The
possibility of collision between the LMRP and the BOP increases with water depth and amplitude of the DAT. The
top tensioner has an optimal heave motion frequency, which is the most advantageous for implementing riser
emergency disconnection. Corresponding measures should be taken to prevent spring stiffness of the DAT from
decreasing. Besides, riser with large diameter and wall thickness is conducive to a safe disconnection.

1. Introduction
In deepwater drilling, emergency disconnection of riser between the
LMRP and BOP is necessary under extreme marine environment. Before
disconnection, elastic potential energy has been stored in riser due to the
axial elongation in normal drilling. So, the riser will move upward like a
spring after the disconnection, which is called recoil response.
If the recoil control is improper, the drilling platform (Yang, 2013),
the riser and the subsea wellhead (Miller et al., 1998; Gao and Wang,
2016) will be threatened. Therefore, the recoil response of emergency
disconnection is an important issue for the safety of deepwater drilling.
In the stipulation of the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), the recoil
analysis should cover the following issues (ABS, 2017):
i) Establish the initial riser overpull tension and recoil settings, so
that the LMRP will be able to clear the BOP stack for a specific
wave condition.
ii) Establish the riser tension and recoil and/or anti-recoil settings,
so that the continuous riser movement will not cause the total
collapse of the telescopic joint, slacked wire tensioners or com­
pressed direct-acting tensioners, negative tension along the riser
string, or impact back to BOP stack for a specific wave condition.
iii) Establish a set of recoil control parameters for a range of envi­
ronmental conditions, if required.
Therefore, a large number of scholars have done studies on the recoil
analysis. Young et al. (1992a and 1992b) have described an analysis
method to deal with the recoil problem and how to design an anti-recoil
system. Puccio et al. (1998) have illustrated some significant variables
affecting the velocity and displacement of the riser string and LMRP
during an emergency disconnect sequence. Matthew et al. (2004) have
proposed a recoil analysis of riser in a 4,308 ft water depth to determine
the appropriate drilling riser configurations. Grytoyr et al. (2009, 2010
and 2011) have presented a methodology for the dynamic analysis of
marine drilling riser disconnect and recoil using the finite element (FE)
programs. Lang et al. (2009) have described the development of a
disconnect and recoil analysis software tool. Some industrial standard
(ISO/TR 13624-2, 2009) has also involved the riser recoil response
which has provided reference and guidance of the recoil analysis. Bry­
nestad (2012) has investigated the drive-off and weak link of discon­
nection riser with pipe in pipe model. Ma et al. (2013) have presented
the behavior of a 12,000 ft drilling riser during an emergency discon­
nection based on a 3-D nonlinear FE model. Grønevik (2013) has carried
out recoil analyses using the computer program RIFLEX. Zhang (2014)

* Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: wangyanbin@cup.edu.cn (Y. Wang), gaodeli@cup.edu.cn (D. Gao).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2019.106406
Received 18 January 2019; Received in revised form 15 July 2019; Accepted 1 September 2019
Available online 25 September 2019
0029-8018/© 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Y. Wang and D. Gao Ocean Engineering 189 (2019) 106406

Fig. 1. The mechanical model and the coordinate system of the recoil analysis.
have analyzed the main factors that affect the recoil response, and given
simulations of a 1,500m riser with ANSYS software. Wang et al. (2018)
have given recoil response simulation of 1,500m riser with ANSY­
S/AQWA and discussed the influence of mud discharge on the recoil
characteristics. Due to the importance of the top tensioner in the riser
recoil response, many scholars have studied the mechanical character­
istics of the tensioner. Dyngvold (2011) has proposed a mathematical
model to analyze a wireline riser tensioner system and investigated the
response of the system under different load-cases. Zhang et al. (2013a,b)
have presented some simulations on the DAT based on the AME-Sim
framework. Pestana et al. (2016) have studied the tensioner behavior
during riser emergency disconnection using nonlinear parallel
spring-damper scalar elements in Orcaflex software. Besides, some
studies have been done with consideration of the influence of mud
discharge on the recoil response. Li et al. (2015 and 2016) have given a
numerical procedure to simulate the mud discharge and seawater
refilling and given some discussion through a case study. Meng et al.
(2018) have studied the recoil response of a deepwater drilling riser
through a mass-spring-damping system with two degrees of freedom.
Hock and Young (1993, 2000) have presented the design, installation,
and testing procedures of an anti-recoil system in 6,000 ft water depth.
He et al. (2016) have analyzed the composition of recoil control system
and proposed a control method through taking the DAT as the research
objective.
At present, some progress has been made in the recoil research.
However, published results under different methods and assumptions
are very different, and the detailed solution process has not been re­
ported until now. Therefore, a new recoil analysis model has been
established based on the previous study (Meng et al., 2018). The me­
chanical behavior and key influence factors of the recoil response have
been obtained with consideration of the drilling mud discharge and
heave motion of the DAT. This research can provide reference for the

Fig. 2. The WFCM analysis model for mud discharge.

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Y. Wang and D. Gao
Fig. 3. The working principle of the DAT.
optimal design of the DAT and emergency disconnection control.
The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. The coordinate
system and mechanical models (include the drilling mud discharge
model, the DAT model, and the recoil response model) are introduced in
Section 2. The detailed model solution process is presented in Section 3.
The case study and parameters sensitivity analysis are shown in Section
4. The conclusions drawn and suggestions on the further study are given
in Section 5.
2. Mechanical models
In normal operation, deepwater drilling riser will generate axial
elongation due to the top tension, gravity and buoyancy. The elongation
begins to spring back when the emergency disconnection occurs.
Considering the heave movement of the top tensioner, the recoil
response belongs to the forced vibration of an elastic body with infinite
degrees of freedom under initial displacement. The following assump­
tions are accepted in order to establish the analysis model in this paper.
i) Since the riser recoil response is far stronger than its lateral
characteristics, it is considered that only axial vibration exists
during the recoil.
ii) The influence of buoyancy modules on the riser stiffness is
ignored.
iii) The drill pipe and the riser are concentric during the recoil
response.
Accordingly, the mechanical model and the coordinate system of the
recoil analysis are shown in Fig. 1.
As shown in Fig. 1, the coordinate system of X1 O1 Y1 represents
the riser axial elongation, where the origin of the coordinate is chosen at
the connection point of the top tensioner and the riser. The coordinate
3
Ocean Engineering 189 (2019) 106406
system of X2 O2 Y2 stands for the clearance between the LMRP and
the BOP during recoil, where the origin of the coordinate is selected as
the joint point of the LMRP and the BOP. The coordinate system of X3 t
represents the motion of the piston in DAT. L0 is the maximum clearance
between LMRP and BOP. In the following sections, a prime stands for ∂
ðÞ=∂x and an overdot represents ∂ðÞ=∂t where t is time. Unless otherwise
specified, all parameters in this paper are in the international system of
units.
2.1. Model of mud discharge
During the recoil, the drilling mud is discharged downward, and the
riser is refilled by seawater, which makes the riser be subjected to the
frictional resistance. Accurate calculation of the frictional resistance is
the requirement for the recoil response. In the actual configuration, riser
is often equipped with fill-up valves. Although the opening of one valve
is usually small compared to the internal diameter of the riser. The
number of valves and total volume flowing into the riser can guarantee
that the mud is replaced by seawater at the same volumetric rate. This is
a basic requirement to prevent the riser from being collapse. So, the
Whole Fluid Column Model (WFCM), as shown in Fig. 2, is used to
describe the mud discharge process (Grønevik, 2013; Meng et al., 2018).
In this paper, the influence of drill pipe in the riser on the frictional
resistance is considered, which is a significant different from the pre­
vious work.
According to the Newton’s second law, the dynamic equilibrium
equation of the drilling mud can be written as:
ðmw Lw þ mm Lm Þad ¼ Gw þ Gm þ Ftop Fp fr1 fr2 fd1 fd2 fp1 fp2
Fend
(1)
Y. Wang and D. Gao Ocean Engineering 189 (2019) 106406

where, mw is the mass of seawater in riser per length; mm is the mass of

drilling mud in riser per length; Lw is the length of seawater in riser; Lm is
the length of drilling mud in riser; ad is the acceleration of the whole
fluid column; Gw is the weight of seawater in the riser; Gm is the weight
of drilling mud in the riser; Ftop is the force on the top of seawater from
the fill-up valves; Fp is the force on the bottom of drilling mud; Fend is the
frontal force on the bottom of the drilling mud due to the “water
hammer effect” based on Bernoulli’s equation. fr1 is the frictional
resistance between the seawater and the riser inner wall; fr2 is the fric­
tional resistance between the drilling mud and the riser inner wall; fd1 is
the frictional resistance between the seawater and the outer wall of the
drill pipe; fd2 is the frictional resistance between the drilling mud and the
outer wall of the drill pipe; fp1 is the frictional resistance between the
seawater and the inner wall of the drill pipe; fp2 is the frictional resis­
tance between the drilling mud and the inner wall of the drill pipe.
Therefore, the total frictional force on riser inner wall Ff can be
written as:
Ff ¼ fr1 þ fr2 (2)

The detailed derivation process of Eq. (2) is presented in Appendix A.

2.2. Model of the DAT

The heave motion and stiffness of the top tensioner must be obtained
to analyze the boundary conditions of the recoil response. In this paper,
the DAT is taken as the research object, which working principle (Zhao
et al., 2010) is shown in Fig. 3.
The tension force is provided by the pressure difference in the cyl­
inder. The bottom of the rod end is connected to the tensioner ring,
where the hydraulic pressure is provided by the high-pressure accu­
mulator. The accumulator can store and convert the energy produced by
heave motion of the piston, which can maintain the stability of the
tension force. The rear end is connected to the low-pressure NPV. The
tension force generated by a single tensioner Ft can be calculated by:
phi V nhi pli V nli
Ft ¼ �n Ar �n Ap
Vhi þ Ar xp Vli Ap xp
where, phi is the initial pressure of the rod end; pli is the initial pressure of
the rear end; Vhi is the initial volume of the rod end; Vli is the initial
volume of the rear end; n is the gas constan, and 1.3 is selected in this
paper. Ar is the area of the rod end; Ap is the area of the rear end; xp is the
piston displacement relative to the cylinder.
The stiffness of a single tensioner can be obtained by taking the de­
rivative of the tension force with respect to the relative displacement,
which is:
dFt
Kt ¼ N
dxp
where, N is the total number of the tensioner in the tension system.
The detailed derivation process of Eq. (3) and Eq. (4) is shown in
Appendix B.
2.3. Model of recoil response
In this paper, the riser is regarded as a spring-mass-damping system
with three degrees of freedom. In addition, the following assumptions
are accepted, which are:
i) The buoyancy is uniform distributed along the riser axial
direction.
ii) The discrete riser segments have the same axial stiffness.
iii) The frictional resistance is evenly distributed over the three mass
blocks.
Fig. 4. The analysis model of spring-mass-damping system with three degrees
of freedom.
The recoil analysis model is shown in Fig. 4. The whole riser is dis­
cretized into three mass blocks with m1 , m2 and m3 . Kt is the spring
stiffness of top tensioner. Kr is the axial stiffness of the riser, which
derivation process is presented in Appendix C. F1 , F2 and F3 are the
external force acting on the three mass blocks. c1 , c2 and c3 are the
damping coefficients of the three mass blocks. x0 ðtÞ is the heave motion
(3) displacement of the piston. x1 , x2 and x3 are the vibration displacement
of the three mass blocks during recoil. During actual recoil response
process, the tensioner has damping effect to preventing the riser from
rising too fast. However, it is difficult to accurately estimate the
damping effect of tensioner. So, the damping effect of tensioner is
neglected in this paper. The tensioner is idealized as a spring without
damping. The top boundary condition of the recoil response is the ten­
sion force generated by the tension system. So, the recoil response re­
sults calculated by this assumption may be some faster than that the
damping effect of tensioner is considered.
Therefore, the control equation of the three mass blocks can be
written as:
(4)
8
< m1 x€1 ¼ F1 Kt x1 c1 x_1 þ Kr ðx2 x1 Þ þ c2 ðx_2 x_1 Þ
m x€ ¼ F2 Kr ðx2 x1 Þ c2 ðx_2 x_1 Þ þ c3 ðx_3 x_2 Þ þ Kr ðx3 x2 Þ
: 2 2
m3 x€3 ¼ F3 Kr ðx3 x2 Þ c3 ðx_3 x_2 Þ
(5)
The mass of the three blocks can be calculated by:
8
< m1 ¼ ðms L þ mb Lb Þ=3 þ Mtensioner
m ¼ ðms L þ mb Lb Þ=3 (6)
: 2
m3 ¼ ðms L þ mb Lb Þ=3 þ MLMRP
where, ms is the mass of riser per length in seawater; L is the length of
riser, which equals to the water depth in this paper. mb is the mass of
buoyance module per length in seawater; Lb is the length of buoyance
module; Mtensioner is the mass of top tension system, which is the total
mass of rod and piston of all tensioners; MLMRP is the mass of the LMRP in
seawater.
The external force on the three mass blocks can be written as:

4
Y. Wang and D. Gao Ocean Engineering 189 (2019) 106406

Table 1
The parameters of a deepwater drilling riser.
Parameters Value Parameters Value Parameters Value Parameters Value
3
L(m) 3000 ε1 9.37e-5 Mtensioner(kg) 38842 ρs (kg/m ) 7850
Dro(mm) 533.4 ε2 2.06e-4 MLMRP(kg) 103255 ρm (kg/m3) 1400
Dri(mm) 482.6 ε3 3.84e-4 Lb(m) 1805.9 ρw (kg/m3) 1025
Dso(mm) 127 Phi(Pa) 11.2e6 mb(m) 2024.2 E(Pa) 2.1e11
Dsi(mm) 108.62 Pli(Pa) 1.0e5 ωt (rad/s) 0.314 νm (m2/s) 1e-4
Vli(m3) 2.25 Vhi(m3) 9.38 Ar(m2) 0.2048 νw (m2/s) 1.15e-6
N 6 γ 0.35 Ap(m2) 0.2463 Sp(m) 4.42

* νm and νw are the viscosity of mud and sea water. Generally, the drilling mud is usually considered as a non-Newtonian fluid, and the viscosity coefficient is changed
with its velocity. However, a constant viscosity is assumed as a simplification for the problem in this paper.

8 �
< F1 ¼ m1 g þ Ff �3 þ fD1 � �
F ¼ m2 g þ Ff �3 þ fD2 (7)
�K ζ 2 M� ¼ 0 (11)
: 2
F3 ¼ m3 g þ Ff 3 þ fD3 þ Fend
That is,
� �
where, Fend ¼ 12ρm ðAin þ Aa Þv2 ; fDi ði ¼ 1; 2; 3Þ is the damping force on the � Kt þ Kr ζ2 m1 Kr 0 �
� �
mass blocks induced by seawater, which can be calculated by (Gobat, �
� Kr Kt þ Kr ζ 2 m 2 Kr �� ¼ 0 (12)
2006; Meng et al., 2018): � 0 Kr Kr ζ m3 �
2

fDi ¼
π
ρw Dro Ct x_i jx_i j; ði ¼ 1; 2; 3Þ (8) The three natural frequency ζ1 , ζ2 and ζ3 can be obtained after
2 solving Eq. (12). The adjoint matrix of the eigenmatrix can be written as:

2 � � � 3
Kt þ Kr ζ2 m2 Kr ζ2 m3 K 2r Kr Kr ζ 2 m3 K 2r
6 � � � � 7
adj B ¼ 6
4 Kr Kr ζ 2 m3 ðKt þ Kr 2
ζ m 1 Kr ζ2 m3 Kr Kt þ Kr ζ2 m1 7
5 (13)
� � �
K 2r Kr Kt þ Kr ζ2 m1 ðKt þ Kr ζ2 m1 Kt þ Kr ζ2 m2 K 2r

where Ct is the tangential drag coefficient, and 0.015 is selected in this The three principal modes (Að1Þ , Að2Þ and Að3Þ ) can be figured out
paper according to the published literature (Gobat, 2006; Meng et al., after substituting the three natural frequency into the adjoint matrix of
2018). Since the recoil velocity is time-varying, the drag force on riser the eigenmatrix. Then, the principal mode matrix can be written as:
also changes with time. In this paper, the frictional resistance in the � �
following discrete time is calculated by substituting the velocity in the Aζ ¼ Að1Þ Að2Þ Að3Þ (14)
previous discrete time into Eq. (8). The linear damping model is adop­ Due to the orthogonality of the mass matrix and stiffness matrix, one
ted, and the damping coefficients on the three mass blocks are consid­ obtains:
ered to be the same. So, the damping coefficients of the three mass ( T
blocks can be figured out through dividing the damping force by the Aζ МAζ ¼ Мζ
(15)
length of the riser and the velocity of the recoil. ATζ KAζ ¼ Kζ
The matrix form of Eq. (5) is:
Mx€ þ Cx_ þ Kx ¼ F (9) where, Мζ ¼ diag½Mζ1 Mζ2 Mζ3 � is the principal mass matrix. Kζ ¼
diag½Kζ1 Kζ2 Kζ3 � is the principal stiffness matrix.
2
m1
3 Thus, the normal modes of the system can be written as:
where, M ¼ 4 m2 5 is the global mass matrix; C ¼
1
m3 (16)
ðiÞ
AN ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiAðiÞ ði ¼ 1; 2; 3Þ
2 3 Mζi
c1 þ c2 c2 0
4 c2 c2 c3 c3 5 is the global damping matrix; K ¼ So, the modal matrix can be represented by:
0 c3 c3 h i
2 3
Kt þ Kr Kr 0 (17)
ð1Þ ð2Þ ð3Þ
AN ¼ AN AN AN
4 Kr Kt þ Kr Kr 5 is the global stiffness matrix. F ¼
0 Kr Kr Before riser disconnection, the three mass blocks have an initial
½ F1 F2 T
F3 � is the global force matrix. displacement due to the axial elongation. Besides, the initial velocity of
the three mass blocks is 0. So, the initial conditions of the recoil response
3. Model solution are:
�
xð0Þ ¼ ½0 ΔL=2 ΔL�T
This section presents the detailed solving process of Eq. (9). (18)
xð0Þ
_ ¼ ½0 0 0�T
The eigenmatrix of Eq. (9) can be written as:
According to the mechanics of vibration, the decoupled differential
B¼K ζ2 M (10) equation can be obtained through substitute x ¼ AN xN into the initial
conditions, which is:
If the natural frequency is ζ, one obtains:

5
Y. Wang and D. Gao Ocean Engineering 189 (2019) 106406

(22)
ð1Þ ð2Þ ð3Þ
x ¼ AN xN1 þ AN xN2 þ AN xN3

4. Case study and analysis

4.1. Results of the top tensioner

Taking an actual deepwater drilling as an example, the calculation

data are shown in Table .1.
In the case, it is assumed that there is no phase difference between
the heave motion and the disconnection moment. Besides, the piston is
in harmonic motion around its initial equilibrium position. Then, the
variation of the tension force and the stiffness calculated are shown in
Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, respectively.
As shown in Fig. 5, the tension force varies approximately linearly
with the piston displacement. When the piston displacement is negative
(the riser moves downward), the tension force and stiffness provided by
the tensioner is maximum. Because the tensioner needs to provide more
force to “pull” the riser up. The stiffness of the tensioner decreases first
and then increases with the piston displacement, as shown in Fig. 6. The
Fig. 5. The tension force vs piston displacement.
difficulty of riser moving downward increases if the piston displacement
is negative.
Further study shows that the measures which can increase the stiff­
ness include: reducing the diameter of the piston rod (or increasing the
diameter of the piston), increasing the initial pressure of the rear end (or
increasing the initial pressure of the rod end), reducing the volume of
the rod end. However, the frequency has almost no influence on the
tension force and stiffness. This means that if the configuration of the
tension system is given, the tension force and stiffness are constant when
the piston moves to a certain position, which is not affected by the ve­
locity and acceleration of the piston passing through this point.

4.2. Results of the mud discharge

In WFCM, the frictional resistance is needed firstly to calculate the

whole column velocity, while the whole column velocity is prerequisite
to calculate the frictional resistance. Therefore, in this paper, an initial
timestep (usually less than 0.001s) is given firstly. During this timestep,
the whole fluid column is discharged only under the force of gravity. The
discharge velocity, acceleration and the length of the column can be
figured at the end of the initial timestep. The results of the previous
Fig. 6. The stiffness of tensioner vs piston displacement. timesteps are imputed as the initial calculation conditions of the next
timestep. Then the discharge parameters (velocity, acceleration, length
of the column, and the frictional resistance) in each timestep can be
x€Ni þ 2δi ζi x_Ni þ ζ2i xNi ¼ QNi sinðωt tÞ ði ¼ 1; 2; 3Þ (19)
calculated according to Eq. (A-1) to (A-3). The calculation is completed
where, δi is the damping ratios of each modes; ωt is the heave motion until the length of the column is 0. According to this analysis procedure,
the calculation results of mud discharge are shown in Fig. 7.
frequency of the top tensioner; QNi ¼ ATNi Fi .
As shown in Fig. 7, the whole discharge process can be divided into
Then, the response of the system in the normal coordinates can be
two phases. When the column is beginning to discharge (the first phase),
written as:
the frictional resistance generated by the drilling mud dominates.
xNi ¼ BNi sinðωt t ϕi Þ ði ¼ 1; 2; 3Þ (20) Because the column length is maximum, the acceleration is also the
maximum as shown in Fig. 7-(b). As the discharge continues, the ve­
where, ϕi is the phase difference between the heave motion and the riser locity and frictional resistance increase, as shown in Fig. 7-(c) and Fig. 7-
disconnection. (a), which makes the acceleration decrease as shown in Fig. 7-(b).
8 QNi 1 However, the acceleration is always downward in the first phase, which
>
>
> BNi ¼ 2 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi�ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ζi results in the frictional resistance and velocity increase gradually. When
>
> 1 λi þ ð2δi λi Þ2 2 2
>
>
> the frictional resistance increases to a certain value, the discharge moves
>
<
ωt into the second phase. During this phase, the frictional resistance
(21)
>
>
λi ¼
ζi generated by seawater dominants. Due to the difference of seawater and
>
>
>
> drilling mud, the frictional resistance of the whole column decreases.
>
>
: ϕi ¼ arctan 2δi λi
> However, the discharge velocity still increases slowly, as shown in
1 λ2i Fig. 7-(c). During the whole process, the length of drilling mud
Therefore, the recoil response the three mass blocks can be calcu­ approximately decreases linearly. In this example, the whole discharge
lated by: time is 157.5s. The discharge time under different water depths is shown
in Table 2.
Then, curve fitting is needed to get the analytical expression of the

6
Y. Wang and D. Gao Ocean Engineering 189 (2019) 106406

Fig. 7. Calculation results of mud discharge.

Table 2
The discharge time under different water depths.
Water depth(m) 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000

Time of discharge(s) 28.0 54.0 79.9 105.8 131.6 157.5

Fig. 9. The clearance between LMRP and BOP.

increase also. Then, the external forces on the three mass blocks can be
obtained through substituting Eq. (6), Eq. (8) and the fitted frictional
resistance into Eq. (7).

Fig. 8. The calculated frictional resistance and fitting curve on riser. 4.3. Results of the clearance between LMRP and BOP

According to the mechanical model and solving approach proposed

frictional resistance, which is shown in Fig. 8.
in this paper, calculation result of the clearance between the LMRP and
The sum of six sine expressions is used to fit the calculated frictional
the BOP is shown in Fig. 9.
resistance on riser. More sinusoidal expressions will bring higher pre­
As shown in Fig. 9, the riser moves upward under the combined
cision certainly, while the time and amount of computation needed
action of elastic potential energy and the frictional resistance after

7
Y. Wang and D. Gao Ocean Engineering 189 (2019) 106406

Fig. 10. The influence of phase difference on the clearance between LMRP and BOP.

Table 3
The maximum and minimum clearance between the LMRP and the BOP.
Phase difference 0� 30� 60� 90� 120� 150� 180� 210� 240� 270� 300� 330�

Δx3max (m) 7.25 10.69 15.12 12.79 12.10 10.25 7.22 9.81 12.11 12.90 12.12 9.94
Time (s) 4.8 13.8 1.4 26.4 26.3 26.1 24.8 13.3 11.5 9.9 8.2 6.5

Δx3min (m) 0.12 1.67 1.67 10.25 9.37 7.02 7.93 3.60 2.34 3.05 2.37 0.67
Time (s) 9.7 7.9 14.6 6.9 6.6 5.3 4.9 3.3 24.7 22.8 21.4 20.3

disconnection. As the recoil continues, the elastic potential energy is

gradually released, the riser is compressed upward to the maximum
position and then it starts to move downward. Due to the damping ef­
fect, the recoil response is in form of attenuation vibration, and will be
weakened gradually. The maximum clearance between the LMRP and
the BOP is 7.254m, which occurs at 4.8s after disconnection. The min­
imum clearance is 0.1172m occurs at 9.7s after disconnection, which
means that there is possibility of LMRP colliding with BOP. The final
clearance between them equals to the axial elongation of the riser in
static.

4.4. Sensitive analysis

The riser recoil response is a complex vibration process which can be

affected by many factors. So, parameter sensitivity analysis is helpful for
a comprehensive understanding of the mechanical phenomenon and can
provide countermeasures for optimization of the anti-recoil system to
ensure the safety of riser emergency disconnection.

4.4.1. Phase difference

As mentioned above, the heave motion of the DAT is the boundary
Fig. 11. The influence of water depth on the clearance between LMRP condition of the recoil response. In this paper, the heave motion is si­
and BOP. nusoidal, which is shown in Fig. 5. However, the moment of

8
Y. Wang and D. Gao Ocean Engineering 189 (2019) 106406

Fig. 13. The influence of frequency of the heave motion on the clearance be­
Fig. 12. The influence of amplitude of the heave motion on the clearance be­
tween LMRP and BOP.
tween the LMRP and BOP.

disconnection and heave motion does not take place at the same time.
So, there is a phase difference between them. The clearance between the
LMRP and the BOP is shown is Fig. 10 if the phase difference changes
from 0� to 330� .
As shown in Fig. 10, the phase difference has a significant influence
on the recoil response. For deepwater drilling, it is indispensable to
avoid the collision between the released LMRP and the BOP to ensure
the safety of the subsea wellhead. Therefore, the minimum clearance
between them is the most important issue. Table .3 presents the
maximum and minimum clearance and the occurrence time under
different phase difference.
As shown in Table .3, when the phase difference is 60� , the riser has
the maximum upward displacement which is 15.12m occurring at 1.4s
after disconnection. When the phase difference is 180� , it has the min­
imum upward displacement which is 7.22m occurring at 24.8s after
disconnection. When the phase difference is 90� , it has the maximum
downward displacement which is 10.25m occurring at 6.9s after
disconnection. When the phase difference is 60� , it has the minimum
upward displacement which is 1.67m occurring at 14.6s after discon­
nection. Therefore, from the perspective of avoiding collision between
Fig. 14. The influence of the DAT stiffness on the clearance between the LMRP
the LMRP and the BOP, the most advantageous phase difference is 60� . and the BOP.

4.4.2. Water depth

“peak value” is very sensitive to the amplitude of the heave motion. In
Emergency disconnection operations can be implemented in
this case, when the amplitude increases from 2.21m to 13.26m, the
different ocean environment. The recoil response of riser under different
maximum clearance increases from 6.22m (4.8s after disconnection) to
water depth when the phase difference is 0� is shown in Fig. 11.
18.69m (4.8s after disconnection), and the minimum clearance de­
As shown in Fig. 11, with the increase of water depth, the upward
creases from 1.24m (9.7s after disconnection) to 10.36m (9.7s after
maximum and minimum clearance between the LMRP and BOP gradu­
disconnection). Therefore, effective countermeasures should be taken to
ally increase. Specifically, when the water depth is 500m, the vibration
control the amplitude of heave motion to ensure the safety of the
displacement of the LMRP is always above the BOP. The minimum
emergency disconnection.
clearance between them gradually decreases as the water depth in­
creases. When the water depth increases to 3000m, the LMRP will
4.4.4. Frequency of the heave motion
vibrate below the BOP. This means that the deeper the water depth is,
The frequency is also a key parameter affecting the heave motion.
the greater the possibility of collision between the LMRP and BOP is.
When the frequency changes from π =20 to π =2, the clearance between
the LMRP and BOP is shown in Fig. 13.
4.4.3. Amplitude of the heave motion
As shown in Fig. 13, with the increase of frequency, the maximum
After emergency disconnection, the riser top is still connected to the
clearance decreases first and then increases while the minimum clear­
piston rod of the tensioner, as shown in Fig. 3. It is forced to vibrate
ance increases and then decrease, which means there is an optimal
under the heave motion of the piston rod. When the amplitude of the
frequency making the LMRP be most unlikely collision with the BOP.
heave motion changes, the clearance between them is shown in Fig. 12.
The optimal frequency is codetermined by the riser configuration and
As can be seen from Fig. 12, with increase of the amplitude, both the
the parameters of the top tension system.
maximum and the minimum clearance between them increase. But the
moment when the “peak value” appears is not changed. However, the

9
Y. Wang and D. Gao
Fig. 15. The influence of riser geometric size on the clearance.
4.4.5. Stiffness of the DAT
In the above analysis, the heave motion of the DAT is simplified as a
spring and the maximum spring stiffness is chosen to analyze the recoil
response. The clearance between the LMRP and the BOP is shown in
Fig. 14 under different situations of spring stiffness.
As shown in Fig. 14, when the DAT stiffness increases from K to 4K,
the variation of the clearance changes slightly. However, when the
stiffness decreases from K to K =2, the maximum clearance increases
form 7.25m–16.84m and the minimum clearance decrease from 0.12m
to 7.51m. So, strict control measures should be taken to ensure the
stability of stiffness.
4.4.6. Riser geometric size
The riser geometric size will not only change the mass of the three
blocks but also affect the frictional resistance, which has a comprehen­
sive influence on the recoil response. Fig. 15 shows the response curve
under the different conditions of riser outer diameter and wall thickness.
As shown in Fig. 15, riser geometric size has a slight influence on the
clearance between the LMRP and the BOP. Specifically, under the con­
dition of the same outer diameter, the greater the wall thickness is, the
smaller the maximum clearance is. When the wall thickness is constant,
the larger the outer diameter is, the smaller the maximum clearance is.
5. Conclusions and further study
(1) In this paper, the mechanical model of mass-spring-damping
system with three degrees of freedom has been established to
analyze the riser recoil response. The model can consider the
influence of the frictional resistance during mud discharge and
the elastic potential energy stored in the riser. The clearance
between the LMRP and BOP after disconnection has been figured
out.
10
Ocean Engineering 189 (2019) 106406
(2) The phase difference has a significant influence on the recoil
response. The most favorable phase difference is 60� . The possi­
bility of collision between the LMRP and the BOP increases with
water depth and amplitude of the DAT. The top tensioner has an
optimal heave motion frequency, which is the most advantageous
for implementing riser emergency disconnection. Corresponding
measures should be taken to prevent spring stiffness of the DAT
from decreasing. Besides, riser with large diameter and wall
thickness is conducive to a safe disconnection.
(3) This paper can provide reference for the study on riser recoil
response. However, further study should be implemented to
obtain a comprehensive understanding of this mechanical phe­
nomenon, which include: the fitting curve should be studied
further to improve the accuracy of the frictional resistance during
mud discharge, innovative mechanical model should be estab­
lished with consideration of the mass-spring-damping system
with infinite degrees of freedom, the mechanical state of riser
after disconnection should be studied through 3-D dynamic
model with consideration of the wave-current effect to ensure no
mechanical failure will occur. In addition, the safety of the moon
pool is also needed to be assessed during the recoil response.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the
Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant numbers: 51804321,
51821092, U1762214 and 51734010). This research is also supported
by Science Foundation of China University of Petroleum, Beijing
(No.00000),and also supported by other projects (Grant numbers:
2017ZX05005-005-007, 2017ZX05009-003, 2016YFC0303303, and
2018YFB0605502).
Y. Wang and D. Gao Ocean Engineering 189 (2019) 106406

Appendix D. Supplementary data

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2019.106406.

Appendix A

The appendix shows the solving process of the frictional resistance on the riser inner wall during mud discharge.
The frictional resistance caused by drilling mud and seawater can be expressed as:
8
< fr1 ¼ Δpr1 Aa ; fr2 ¼ Δpr2 Aa
fd1 ¼ Δpd1 Aa ; fd2 ¼ Δpd2 Aa (A-1)
:
fp1 ¼ Δpp1 Ain ; fp2 ¼ Δpp2 Ain

where, Δpr1 is the pressure drop between seawater and riser inner wall; Δpr2 is the pressure drop between drilling mud and riser inner wall; Δpd1 is the
pressure drop between seawater and drill pipe outer wall; Δpd2 is the pressure drop between drilling mud and drill pipe outer wall; Δpp1 is the pressure
drop between seawater and drill pipe inner wall; Δpp2 is the pressure drop between drilling mud and drill pipe inner wall; Aa ¼ πðR2ri R2so Þ is the
annular cross-sectional area between riser and drill pipe; Rri is the inner radius of riser; Rso is the outer radius of riser; Ain ¼ πR2si is the inner area of drill
pipe; Rsi is the inner radius of drill pipe.
According to the Darcy-Weisbach equation, the pressure drops can be calculated by:
8
>
> ρw v2 fwc1 Lw ρ v2 fmc1 Lm
>
> Δpr1 ¼
> ; Δpr2 ¼ m
>
> 2ðRri Rso Þ 2ðRri Rso Þ
>
>
<
ρw v2 fwc2 Lw ρ v2 fmc2 Lm
Δpd1 ¼ ; Δpd2 ¼ m (A-2)
>
> 2ðRri Rso Þ 2ðRri Rso Þ
>
>
>
>
>
> ρ v2 fwc3 Lw ρ v2 fmc3 Lm
>
: Δpp1 ¼ w ; Δpp2 ¼ w
4Rsi 4Rsi

where, ρw is the density of seawater; ρm is the density of drilling mud; v is the discharge velocity of the whole column. fwc1 , fwc2 , fwc3 , fmc1 , fmc2 and fmc3
are dimensionless coefficients, which can be described by the Haaland formula as shown in Eq. (A-3).
8 � � � �
>
>
> 1 6:9 � ε1 �1:11 1 6:9 � ε1 �1:11
>
> p ffi ffiffiffi ffiffi
ffi ¼ 1:8 log þ ; p ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi ffi
ffi ¼ 1:8 log þ
>
> fwc1 Rew 3:7 fwm1 Rem 3:7
>
>
>
< 1 � � � �
6:9 � ε2 �1:11 1 6:9 � ε2 �1:11
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ¼ 1:8 log þ ; pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ¼ 1:8 log þ (A-3)
>
> f Rew 3:7 fwm2 Rem 3:7
> wc2
> �
>
> � � � �
6:9 � ε3 �1:11
�
> pffi1ffiffiffiffiffiffi ¼ 1:8 log 6:9 þ ε3 1:11 ;
>
>
1
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ¼ 1:8 log þ
>
: fwc3 Rew 3:7 fwm3 Rem 3:7

where, Rew and Rem are Reynolds number of seawater and drilling mud respectively; ε1 , ε2 and ε3 are the relative roughness of riser inner wall, riser
outer wall and drill pipe inner wall.
Considering that the riser outer wall is surrounded by seawater, the pressure difference on the top and bottom surfaces of the whole column can be
calculated by:
Ftop Fp ¼ ðρm ρw ÞgLm (A-4)

In this paper, we assume that the mud is discharged directly through the LMRP. So, the frontal force (Rinaldi and Paȉ;doussis, 2010) can be written
as:
1
Fend ¼ ρm ðAa þ Ain Þv2 (A-5)
2

Appendix B

The appendix presents the detailed derivation process of Eq. (3) and Eq. (4).The analysis model of tension force and stiffness is shown in Fig. B-1.
The following assumptions are accepted to analyze the tension force and stiffness of the DAT, which are:

i) It is assumed that the gas in the tension system conforms to the rule of adiabatic state.
ii) The tension force is far greater than the weight of piston and piston rod. So, the weight of them is neglected.
iii) The liquid in the hydraulic cylinder is incompressible and the leakage of it is ignored.
iv) The damping effect of the piston is also neglected.

11
Y. Wang and D. Gao Ocean Engineering 189 (2019) 106406

Fig. B-1. The analysis model of tension force and stiffness.

When the piston has displacement xp relative to the cylinder, the volume of the rod end Vh is:
Vh ¼ Vhi þ Ar xp (B-1)

The volume of the rear end Vl is:

Vl ¼ Vli Ap x p (B-2)

According to the first assumption, one obtains:

( �n
phi V nhi ¼ ph Vhi þ Ar xp
� n (B-3)
pli V nli ¼ pl Vli Ap xp

So, the tension force on the piston rod can be written as:
Ft ¼ p h A r p l Ap (B-4)

Eq. (3) can be obtained through substituting Eq. (B-3) into Eq. (B-4).
The stiffness of a single tensioner can be obtained through taking derivative of the tension force with respect to the relative displacement in Eq. (B-
4). Assume that all the tensioners are connected to the tensioner ring, the model, which is shown in Fig.B-2can be regarded as parallel springs with
number of N.

Fig.B-2. The stiffness analysis model for parallel springs.2

Supposing that the stiffness of each tensioner spring is k1 k2 ; :::; kN and the elongation under the external force is x0 , then the external force can be
written as:
X
N
F¼ ki x0 (B-5)
i¼1

Therefore, the total stiffness of the tension system is:

P
N
ki x0 X N
Kt ¼ i¼1 ¼ ki (B-6)
x0 i¼1

Since the structure and parameters of each tensioner are the same, the spring stiffness of each tensioner is the same accordingly. So, the total
stiffness of the tension system can be obtained as shown in Eq. (4)

Appendix C

This appendix shows the determination procedure of the riser axial stiffness.
The axial stiffness of the riser can be calculated according to the work of the external force equaling to the elastic strain energy, which is:
Z L
N 2 ðxÞ 1
dx ¼ Ke ðΔLÞ2 (C-1)
0 2EA 2

where, ΔL is the total elongation of riser; NðxÞ is the axial tension force along riser; E is the elastic modulus of riser; A is the cross-sectional area of riser;

12
Y. Wang and D. Gao Ocean Engineering 189 (2019) 106406

Ke is the equivalent stiffness of the riser.

The axial tension force can be calculated by:
NðxÞ ¼ F0 ωx (C-2)
Where, F0 is the top tension, which is 1.35 times the total weight of riser in sea water. ω ¼ ms g ωb is the per length weight of riser in sea water; ωb
is the buoyancy.
So, the axial elongation can be written as:
Z L
NðxÞ
ΔL ¼ dx (C-3)
0 EA
Then, the axial stiffness can be obtained after substituting Eq. (C-2) and Eq. (C-3) into Eq. (C-1), which is:
� � �
EA F 20 L þ ω2 L 3 F0 ω
Ke ¼ (C-4)
ðF0 ωL=2Þ2
If γ represents the over-tension coefficient of riser, Eq. (C-4) can be written as:
γ2 þ γ þ 1=3 EA
Ke ¼ (C-5)
γ2 þ γ þ 1=4 L
In this paper, the mechanical model of stiffness is obtained through dividing the whole riser into 2 parallel segments, which is shown in Fig. C-1.

Fig. C-1. The analysis model for riser axial stiffness.3

Since the axial force is evenly distributed along riser, one obtains:
N1 þ N3 N1 þ N2 N2 þ N3
¼ þ (C-6)
2Ke 2Kr 2Kr

where, N1 , N2 and N3 are the external force on the three mass blocks.
According to Eq. (C-6), one obtains,
N1 þ 2N2 þ N3
Kr ¼ Ke (C-7)
N1 þ N3
Due to F0 ¼ ð1 þ γÞωL, N1 ¼ ð1 þ γÞωL, N2 ¼ ð1=2 þ γÞωL and N3 ¼ γωL.
Thus, the axial stiffness of each segment can be written as:
ð1 þ γÞ þ 2ð1=2 þ γÞ þ γ
Kr ¼ Ke ¼ 2Ke (C-8)
ð1 þ γÞ þ γ

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