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Load Assessment on the Horizontal Braces of Semi-submersible Drilling Platform Under Ocean Wave

  • Research Article - Mechanical Engineering
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Abstract

In order to make sure the horizontal braces of semi-submersible drilling platform are safe during its service life, this research studies the load assessment on the horizontal braces of a platform under harsh wave loads. The hydrodynamic structure model of the platform has been established, and hydrodynamic conditions have been determined firstly. The model test in a wave tank is used to verify the accuracy of the established model in this research. Then, the loads response of the horizontal braces under several typical wave loads which affect the strength of floating structures greatly are evaluated. The results of the research indicate that (a) the splitting force between pontoons and vertical bending moment are found affecting the strength of the horizontal braces greater than the other loads; (b) both the splitting force and vertical bending moment would occur when the platform encounter beam wave; (c) the horizontal braces are loaded on 4.16% of splitting force between pontoons and 2.78% of the vertical bending moment respectively during its service life.

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Abbreviations

A :

Area matrix for the platform

\(A_{1}\) :

Transverse section area of the platform (\(\hbox {m}^{2}\))

\(A_{2}\) :

Cross section area of the horizontal brace (\(\hbox {m}^{2}\))

\(\mathbf{B}_{\mathbf{v}}\) :

Linearized viscous damping matrix

\(C_\mathrm{D}\) :

Drag coefficient

\(C_\mathrm{m}\) :

Add mass coefficient

\(C_\mathrm{M}\) :

Inertial coefficient

\(E_{1}\) :

Elastic modulus of the deck (Pa)

\(E_{2}\) :

Elastic modulus of horizontal brace (Pa)

\(\hbox {EI}_{1}\) :

Bending stiffness of the deck

\(\hbox {EI}_{2}\) :

Bending stiffness of the braces

\(F_{S2}\) :

Tension force on each horizontal brace (N)

\(\mathbf{F}_{\mathrm{R}k}\) :

Radiation force (N)

\(\mathbf{F}({\omega },{\beta })\) :

Exciting force vector for frequency \(\omega \) and incident wave heading angle \(\beta \) (N)

K :

Hydrostatic restoring matrices

\(\mathbf{K}_{\mathbf{e}}\) :

External restoring matrices

\(L_{1}\) :

Width of the deck (m)

\(L_{2}\) :

Length of the horizontal brace (m)

\(\Delta L\) :

Elongation of the deck and braces (m)

M :

Mass matrix of the platform structure

\(\mathbf{M}_{\mathbf{a}}\) :

Added mass matrix including either the frequency dependent added mass or added mass from Morison equation, or both of them

\(M_\mathrm{B2}\) :

Bending moment on each horizontal brace (N m)

n :

Number of the horizontal brace

\(n_{k}\) :

Outward unit normal vector at the body wet surface, (\(k=1, 2,{\ldots }, 6\))

S :

Height of the column (m)

\(\mathbf{u}\) :

water particle velocity (m/s)

\(\dot{\mathbf{u}}\) :

water particle acceleration (\(\hbox {m}^{2}\)/s)

V :

Volume matrix for the platform

\(\rho \) :

Water density (kg/\(\hbox {m}^{3}\))

a :

Incident wave amplitude

\(v_{j}\) :

Complex amplitude component, (\(j=1, 2,{\ldots }, 6\))

\(\mu _{kj}\) :

Added mass coefficient

\({\varvec{\lambda }}\) :

Frequency dependent potential damping matrix

\(\lambda _{kj}\) :

Potential damping

\(\dot{\zeta }_j \) :

Linear motion velocity vector of the floating structure (m/s)

\(\ddot{\zeta }_j \) :

Linear motion acceleration vector of the floating structure (\(\hbox {m}^{2}\)/s)

\(\dot{\zeta }\) :

Linear motion velocity vector of the small-scale structure (m/s)

\(\dot{\zeta }\) :

Linear motion acceleration vector of the small-scale structure (\(\hbox {m}^{2}\)/s)

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Grant No. 2012AA09A203 from the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) and Researching and Producing of Vertical Sub-sea Tree Project form the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China.

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  1. School of Mechatronic Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, 610500, Sichuan, China

    Wang Fei & Liang Zheng

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  1. Wang Fei
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Correspondence to Wang Fei.

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Fei, W., Zheng, L. Load Assessment on the Horizontal Braces of Semi-submersible Drilling Platform Under Ocean Wave. Arab J Sci Eng 42, 4789–4799 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-017-2676-y

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