Abstract
Spar platforms have been installed as a competitive alternative offshore production structure for deepwater oil field. Since the first spar platform was constructed, its configuration has evolved to the so-called the truss spar and then the cell spar. This paper describes the dynamic analysis and fatigue life assessment of steel catenary riser (SCR) connected to cell spar platform. Two different cell spar platforms are considered herein; the original cell spar and the modified one. The original cell spar was modified by introducing an additional damping plate at its bottom in order to reduce wave-frequency motions. Firstly the wave-frequency motions of cell spar platforms are calculated based on the potential theory. Then, the dynamic responses of SCR induced by platform motions are computed. Finally the fatigue life of SCR is estimated by spectral method and the performance of two spar platforms are compared in terms of the fatigue life. Through the present study, it is found that the fatigue life of the modified cell spar increases only slightly.