• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.179-187
• /
• 2013

Floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facilities are used at most of the offshore oil fields worldwide. FPSO usage is expected to grow as oil fields move to deeper water, thus requiring the reliability and stability of mooring wires and risers in extreme environmental conditions. Except for the case of predictable attack angles of external loadings, FPSO facilities with turret single point mooring (SPM) systems are in general use. There are two types of turret systems: permanent systems and disconnectable turret mooring systems. Extreme environment criteria for permanent moorings are usually based on a 100-year return period event. It is common to use two or three environments including the 100-year wave with associated wind and current, and the 100-year wind with associated waves and current. When fitted with a disconnectable turret mooring system, FPSOs can be used in areas where it is desirable to remove the production unit from the field temporarily to prevent exposure to extreme events such as cyclones or large icebergs. Static and dynamic mooring analyses were performed to evaluate the stability of a spider buoy after disconnection from a turret during cyclone environmental conditions.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.265-287
• /
• 2016

The change of the global performance of a turret-moored FPSO (Floating Production Storage Offloading) with DP (Dynamic Positioning) control is simulated, analyzed, and compared for two different internal turret location cases; bow and midship. Both collinear and non-collinear 100-yr GOM (Gulf of Mexico) storm environments and three cases (mooring-only, with DP position control, with DP position+heading control) are considered. The horizontal trajectory, 6DOF (degree of freedom) motions, fairlead mooring and riser tension, and fuel consumptions are compared. The PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) controller based on LQR (linear quadratic regulator) theory and the thrust-allocation algorithm which is based on the penalty optimization theory are implemented in the fully-coupled time-domain hull-mooring-riser-DP simulation program. Both in collinear and non-collinear 100-yr WWC (wind-wave-current) environments, the advantage of mid-ship turret is demonstrated by the significant reduction in heave at the turret location due to the minimal coupling with pitch mode, which is beneficial to mooring and riser design. However, in the non-collinear WWC environment, the mid-turret case exhibits unfavorable weathervaning characteristics, which can be reduced by employing DP position and heading controls as demonstrated in the present case studies. The present study also reveals the plausible cause of the failure of mid-turret Gryphon Alpha FPSO in milder environment than its survival condition.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
• /
• 2002.10a
• /
• pp.161-166
• /
• 2002

As offshore oil fields move towards the deep ocean, the oil production systems such as FPSO are being built these days. Generally, the FPSO is moored by turret mooring lines to keep the position of FPSO. Thus nonlinear motion analysis of moored FPSO must be carried out in the initial design stage because sea environments affect motion of it. In this paper the mathematical model is based on the slow motion maneuvering equations in the horizontal plane considering wave, current and wind forces. The direct integration method is employed to estimate wave loads. The current forces are calculated by using mathematical model of MMG. The turret mooring forces are quasi-statically evaluated by using the catenary equation. The coefficients of a model for wind forces are calculated from Isherwood's experimental data and the variation of wind speed is estimated by wind spectrum according to the guidelines of API-RP2A. The nonlinear motions of FPSO are simulated under external forces due to wave, current, wind including mooring forces in time domain.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
• /
• v.40 no.1
• /
• pp.20-27
• /
• 2003

The FPSO is moored by mooring lines to keep the position of it. The nonlinear motion analysis of the moored FPSO must be carried out in the initial design stage because sea environments affect motion of it. In this paper, the mathematical model is based on the slow motion maneuvering equations in the horizontal plane considering wave, current and wind forces. The direct integration method is employed to estimate wave loads. The current forces are calculated by using mathematical model of MMG. The turret mooring forces are quasi-statically evaluated by using the catenary equation. The coefficients of a model for wind forces are calculated from Isherwood's experimental data and the variation of wind speed is estimated by wind spectrum according to the guidelines of API-RP2A. The nonlinear motions of FPSO are simulated under external forces due to wave, current, wind including mooring forces in time domain.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.143-153
• /
• 2015

This paper presents the results of an experimental study on the motion of an FPSO (Floating production storage and off-loading) and the characteristics of the mooring systejavascript:confirm_mark('abe', '1');m according to the turret position. Model tests of a turret-moored FPSO were carried out in the Ocean Engineering basin of KRISO. The FPSO was moored using an internal turret and catenary mooring. The models (1/60 scale) that were prepared included the FPSO, turret, and mooring lines. The experiments were conducted in irregular waves and combined environments, with waves, currents, and winds. A time-domain simulation was performed using OrcaFlex. The motion response and mooring line tension from the present calculations were compared with the results of experiments, and the agreement was fairly good. In addition, the results showed that the weathervaning stability was improved when the position of the turret was moved in the bow direction.

• Journal of Ship and Ocean Technology
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.26-39
• /
• 2004

A vessel/mooring/riser coupled dynamic analysis program in time domain is developed for the global motion simulation of a turret-moored, tanker based FPSO designed for 6000-ft water depth. The vessel global motions and mooring tension are simulated for the non-parallel wind-wave-current 100-year hurricane condition in the Gulf of Mexico. The wind and current forces and moments are estimated from the OCIMF empirical data base for the given loading condition. The numerical results are compared with the OTRC(Offshore Technology Research Center: Model Basin for Offshore Platforms in Texas A&M University) 1:60 model-testing results with truncated mooring system. The system's stiffness and line tension as well as natural periods and damping obtained from the OTRC measurement are checked through numerically simulated static-offset and free-decay tests. The global vessel motion simulations in the hurricane condition were conducted by varying lateral and longitudinal hull drag coefficients, different mooring and riser set up, and wind-exposed areas to better understand the sensitivity of the FPSO responses against empirical parameters. It is particularly stressed that the dynamic mooring tension can be greatly underestimated when truncated mooring system is used.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.231-240
• /
• 2015

FPSO model tests of mooring line failure were carried out in the ocean basin at KRISO. The characteristics of the motions and mooring lines were investigated. The FPSO ship was moored using an internal turret and catenary mooring. The test model was 1/60 scale. The mooring lines were designed to satisfy the characteristics of the original mooring lines using the truncation method. The experiments were conducted under various environments: a safe wave, current and wind condition; single broken mooring line condition; and transient mode condition. The moment of the break was determined based on experimental test results. The results showed that the FPSO behavior and mooring line tensions were acceptable under the failure condition.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.1-6
• /
• 2009

The paper describes results of a sensitivity study on an optimum mooring cost as a function of safety factor and allowable maximum offset of the offshore floating structure by finding the anchor leg component size and the declination angle. A harmony search (HS) based mooring optimization program was developed to conduct the study. This mooring optimization model was integrated with a frequency-domain global motion analysis program to assess both cost and design constraints of the mooring system. To find a trend of anchor leg system cost for the proposed sensitivity study, optimum costs after a certain number of improvisation were found and compared. For a case study a turret-moored FPSO with 3 ${\times}$ 3 anchor leg system was considered. To better guide search for the optimum cost, three different penalty functions were applied. The results show that the presented HS-based cost-optimum offshore mooring design tool can be used to find optimum mooring design values such as declination angle and horizontal end point separation as well as a cost-optimum mooring system in case either the allowable maximum offset or factor of safety varies.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.387-395
• /
• 2014

In this paper, a numerical analysis for an internal turret moored vessel located at a 400-m water depth is conducted. The target vessel has an internal turret that is located at the 0.2 Lpp position from the fore-side, with $3{\times}4$ complex mooring lines installed around the turret circumference. To investigate the motion response of the vessel and the structural reliability of the lines, model tests were conducted. The KRISO ocean basin has a water depth of 3.2 m, which represents 192m using a scaling of 1:60. In order to precisely represent the real-scale condition, equivalent mooring lines needed to be designed. Truncated mooring lines were designed to supplement the restriction of the flume's water depth and increase the reliability of the model testing. These truncated mooring lines were composed of two different chains in order to match the pre-tension, simultaneously restoring the curve and variation in the effective line tension. The static similarities were compared using a static pull-out test and free decaying test, and the dynamic similarities were matched via a regular wave test and combined environments test. Consequently, the designed truncated mooring system could represent the prototype mooring system relatively well in the aspects of kinematics and dynamics.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.8-14
• /
• 2004

As the number of offshore structure is glowing in deep waters, there have been increased damages of it. These floating structures in offshore locations exposed to harsh environmental conditions. In recent years, there has been a slowing attention around damages on bow and deck on FPSO caused by waves in steep storm condition. This paper describes a study of the water on deck due to the dynamic behavior of a FPSO with turret mooring system. The nonlinear motions of the FPSO are simulated under external forces due to wave, current, wind, and mooring forces in the time domain. The direct integration method is employed to estimate low frequency drift wave forces. The current forces are calculated by using slow motion maneuvering equations in the horizontal plane. The coefficients of a model for wind forces are calculated from Isherwood's experimental data and the variation of wind speed is estimated by wind spectrum according to the guidelines of API-RP2A.