P-${\Delta}$ Effects on the Reliability of Offshore Platforms

A typical marine platform in the Bay of Campeche is studied from the standpoint of structural reliability, and several characteristics of its deck such as slenderness and diameter/thickness ratios of the legs and actual degree of correlation between some variables are taken into account. The global and local buckling capacities of the deck legs are compared and the correlation coefficient between the critical axial load and the critical moment is assessed in order to validate its influence on the structural reliability. In addition, the influence of the vertical load, and its uncertainty, on the variance of the decks capacity, and latter on, on the platform's failure probability is assessed. The results presented may be used in future studies to further extend and upgrade the first version of the Reference Norm (PEMEX, 2000) and, in the longer term, to improve the current practice in the Design and Requalification of Offshore Marine Platforms in the Bay of Campeche.