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Structural Technologies In Offshore Environments

PRESENTATION
by

Adedeji Oluwaseyi AWODELE

Structural Technologies In Offshore Environments Scope The need to go offshore.

Offshore Environments.
Offshore Structures. Loads on offshore structures. Parts of an Offshore Structure Offshore Codes and Standards

Structural Technologies In Offshore Environments The Need To Go Offshore Rapid industrialization and expanding populations Increased demand for energy resources to drive daily life.

Depletion of onshore and shallow water resources.

It simply makes good business sense!

Structural Technologies In Offshore Environments

Offshore Environment
The offshore environment differs particularly from the onshore environment with regards to the magnitude of the environmental factors encountered in both cases. The offshore environment can be characterized by: water depth at location soil condition at sea bottom ocean bottom terrain wind speed, air temperature waves, tide and storm surge, current ice
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Structural Technologies in Offshore Environments

Offshore Structures Definition: A structure which has no fixed access to land and may be required to stay in position in all weather conditions.

The ocean conditions can be categorized based on the ocean depth at the site of installation into
i. Shallow Water: depths of <350m; ii. Deep Water: depths of between 350 and 1500m; and iii. Ultra Deep Water: depths over 1500m.

The installation depth is a major factor in determining which range of structural technologies can be applied at the field. All offshore structures can be grouped into one of two categories viz
Bottom Supported; or Floating

Structural Technologies In Offshore Environments

Structural Technologies in Offshore Environments

Bottom Supported Structures Bottom supported Structures are typically constructed from welded steel tubular members. Can either be Fixed or Compliant. Bottom supported structures are termed fixed when their lowest natural frequency is higher than the wave excitation frequency; Compliant if their natural frequency is below the energy of the waves

Common Examples of fixed structures include:

Steel Jackets Concrete Gravity Based Structures (GBSs)

Examples of compliant structures include Compliant Tower Guyed Tower

Bottom Supported Structures

STEEL JACKET STRUCTURES Made of steel tubular sections connected at the joints to form a truss. They provide the substructure for the topside and laterally support the well conductors and production risers. Usually tapered at an angle to improve the stability of the structure. They transmit the load to the soil by means of steel piles driven through the legs of the steel jacket. Skirt piles may also be used at the base of the steel jackets.

Bottom Supported Structures

CONCRETE GRAVITY BASED STRUCTURES. GBS are massive concrete structures that are directly placed on the seabed. They are held in place by their sheer mass and as such there is no need for any piles. Suitable for field development in waters of about 300m. Possess storage chambers at the base therefore advantageous for production and storage.

Floating Structures
Offshore floating structures are usually constructed of stiffened plate panels which make up a displacement body. They usually have various degrees of compliancy. Floating structures can be categories into two viz Neutrally buoyant and Positively buoyant floating structures. Neutrally buoyant structures such as semi submersibles, SPARs, FPSOs are designed to possess six degrees of freedom and are dynamically unrestrained. Positively buoyant structures only possess five degrees of freedom and are usually heave restrained. Examples include Tension Leg Platforms.

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Tension Leg Platforms

TENSION LEG PLATFORMS Consists of a semi-submersible platform which is held in place by taut tethers. TLPs are designed such that they possess excess buoyancy to keep the platform heave resistant Suitable for application in deep water developments.

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Spar Platforms
SPAR PLATFORMS Possesses a large deep draft cylindrical caisson designed to support drilling and production operations Payload support is usually by buoyancy It is generally anchored to the seafloor by means of multiple taut mooring lines Currently, the worlds deepest SPAR operates at a water depth of 2,400m.

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Semi-Submersibles
SEMI SUBMERSIBLES It is a multi-legged floating structure with a large deck The legs are connected at the bottom underwater with horizontal buoyant members called pontoons Station keeping can be done by the means of catenary mooring lines or use of thrusters; sometimes a combination of both Suitable deepwater drilling, production and storage.

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Floating Production Storage and Offloading Vessel (FPSO)

FPSO It is a usually ship-shaped mono-hull structure equipped with processing facilities. Usually moored in location by means of mooring lines, although new FPSO designs also utilizes dynamic thrusters for station keeping Very versatile technology for offshore field development. The FPSO operating in the deepest waters is moored at a depth of 2,600m in the GOM.

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Loads on Offshore Structures

Loads On Offshore Structures Whilst the design of buildings onshore is usually influenced mainly by the dead and live loads, the design of offshore structures is dominated by environmental loads, especially waves, and the loads arising in the various stages of construction and installation. Loads on offshore structures can be grouped into Gravity Loads: These are loads due to the self weight of the structure and the various equipment being carried by the structure. Environmental Loads: These are loads due to the forces of nature that impact the structure due to its environment. Environmental loads experienced by offshore structures include wave loads, wind loads, currents.
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Environmental Loads
Wave Loads Usually the most important of all environmental loadings for which the structure is to be designed Wave forces on the structure is caused by the motion of water due to waves generated as a result of action of wind on the ocean surface. Determination of the wave forces on the structure requires a computation of the sea state by idealizing the wave surface profile and the wave kinematics using an appropriate wave theory. The loads on individual members are obtained by inputting the wave kinematic parameters into the Morrison's Equation. Usually, a design wave (a regular wave with a specified height and period) having a 100year return period is chosen to carry out the loading and structural analysis; alternatively, a wave spectra analysis could also be used.

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Environmental Loads
Wind Loads
Wind loads act on the portion of the platform above the water level, and on any equipment, derrick, housing etc on the deck. For combination with wave loads, design codes recommend the most unfavorable of the following: 1 minute sustained wind speed combined with extreme waves 3 second gusts From the design wind velocity, the static wind force acting perpendicular to an area can be computed as follows : Fw = (1/2) V2 Cs A Fw is the wind force, is the density, V is the wind velocity, Cs is a shape coefficient and A is the exposed area.

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Parts of An Offshore Structure Topside

It supports the various processing equipment, drilling derrick, accommodation for staff and the helideck The layout of the Topside is

done to achieve space and

weight saving.

Parts of An Offshore Structure

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Parts of An Offshore Structure

Moorings They are used to hold the platform in place They could be made of steel chain, steel wire rope or synthetic fiber rope. Mooring could either be in a catenary shape or taut.

Parts of An Offshore Structure

Risers They serve as the connection between the subsea field developments and the platform They are used during drilling and also during production from the drilled wells.

Parts of An Offshore Structure

Various configurations exist for platform risers. They could either be Steel Catenary Risers Top Tensioned Risers Free Standing Hybrid Risers

Parts of An Offshore Structure

Platform Foundation Foundations for offshore structures can be grouped into: Shallow Foundations: such as those for Gravity Based Structures Deep Foundations: such as those for Jacket structures

Shallow Foundation

Deep Foundation

Offshore Standards / Codes

Most countries have different codes of practice for offshore structural engineering. Some of the more popular ones include: DNV-OS-C101 published by Det Norske Veritas in Norway; API-RP-WSD published by American Petroleum Institute in the USA; and BS 6235: Code of practice for fixed offshore structures published by the British Standards Institution.

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Thank you for Listening.

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