• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.129-141
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• 2016

Due to the structural complexity, the response of a flexible riser under axisymmetric loads is quite difficult to determine. Based on equilibrium conditions, geometrical relations and constitutive equations, an analytical model that can accurately predict the axisymmetric behavior of flexible risers is deduced in this paper. Since the mutual exclusion between the contact pressure and interlayer gap is considered in this model, the influence of the load direction on the structural behavior can be analyzed. Meanwhile, a detailed finite element analysis for unbonded flexible risers is conducted. Based on the analytical and numerical models, the structural response of a typical flexible riser under tension, torsion, internal and outer pressure has been studied in detail. The results are compared with experimental data obtained from the literature, and good agreement is found. Studies have shown that the proposed analytical and numerical models can provide an insightful reference for analysis and design of flexible risers.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.77-89
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• 2015

As the exploitation of oil and gas resources advances into deeper waters and harsher environments, the design and analysis of the flexible risers has become the research focus in the offshore engineering filed. Due to the complexity of the components and the sliding between the adjacent layers, the bending response of the flexible risers is highly non-linear. This paper presents the finite element analysis of the flexible risers under bending loads. The detailed finite element model of the flexible riser is established in ABAQUS software. This finite element model incorporates all the fine details of the riser to accurately predict its nonlinear structural behavior. Based on the finite element model, the bending moment-curvature relationships of a flexible riser under various axisymmetric loads have been investigated. The results have been compared with the analytical ones obtained from the literature and good agreements have been found. Moreover, the stress of the tendon armors has been studied. The non-linear relationship between the armor tendons' stress and the bending loads has been obtained.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.195-201
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• 2014

Flexible risers have been used extensively in recent years for floating and early production systems. Such risers offer the advantage of having inherent heave compliance in their catenary thereby greatly reducing the complexity of the riser-to-rig and riser-to subsea interfaces. Another advantage with flexible risers is their greater reliability. Concerns about fatigue life, gas permeation and pigging of lines have been overcome by extensive experience with these risers in production applications. In this paper, flexible riser analysis results were compared through coupled and uncoupled dynamic analyses methods. A time domain coupled analysis capability has been developed to model the dynamic responses of an integrated floating system incorporating the interactions between vessel, moorings and risers in a marine environment. For this study, SPM (Single Point Mooring) system for an FSU in shallow water was considered. This optimization model was integrated with a time-domain global motion analysis to assess both stability and design constraints of the flexible riser system.

• Journal of Coastal Disaster Prevention
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.149-155
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• 2014

Flexible risers have been used extensively in recent years for floating and early production systems. Such risers offer the advantage of having inherent heave compliance in their catenary thereby greatly reducing the complexity of the riser-to-rig and riser-to subsea interfaces. Another advantage with flexible risers is their greater reliability. Concerns about fatigue life, gas permeation and pigging of lines have been overcome by extensive experience with these risers in production applications. In this paper, flexible riser analysis results were compared through coupled and uncoupled dynamic analyses methods. A time domain coupled analysis capability has been developed to model the dynamic responses of an integrated floating system incorporating the interactions between vessel, moorings and risers in a marine environment. For this study, SPM (Single Point Mooring) system for an FSU in shallow water was considered. This optimization model was integrated with a time-domain global motion analysis to assess both stability and design constraints of the flexible riser system.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.171-194
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• 2011

A method to design a boundary controller for global stabilization of three-dimensional nonlinear dynamics of flexible marine risers is presented in this paper. Equations of motion of the risers are first developed in a vector form. The boundary controller at the top end of the risers is then designed based on Lyapunov's direct method. Proof of existence and uniqueness of the solutions of the closed loop control system is carried out by using the Galerkin approximation method. It is shown that when there are no environmental disturbances, the proposed boundary controller is able to force the riser to be globally exponentially stable at its equilibrium position. When there are environmental disturbances, the riser is stabilized in the neighborhood of its equilibrium position by the proposed boundary controller.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.91-99
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• 2016

The global demand for oil and natural gas has increased, and resource development is moving to the deep sea. Floating and flexible offshore structures such as semi-submersible, spar, and FPSO structures have been widely used. The major equipment of floating structures is always exposed to waves, currents, and other marine environmental factors, which cause structural damage. Moreover, flexible risers are susceptible to an exciting force due to the motion of the floating body. The inline and transverse responses from the three-dimensional behavior of a floating structure occur because of various forces. Typical risers are made of steel pipe and applied in the oil and gas development field, but flexible materials such as polyethylene are suitable for OTEC risers. Consequently, the optimal design of a flexible offshore plant requires a dynamic behavior analysis of slender bodies made of the different materials commonly used for offshore flexible risers. In this study, a three-dimensional motion measurement device was used to analyze the displacements of riser models induced by external force factors, and forced oscillation of a riser was linked to forced oscillation under a steady flow and regular wave condition.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.521-529
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• 2019

Interlocked armor layers of unbonded flexible risers may crush when risers are being launched. In order to predict the behavior of interlocked armor layers, they are usually simplified as rings with geometric and contact nonlinearity ignored in the open-literature. However, the equivalent thickness of the interlocked armor layer has not been addressed yet. In the present paper, a geometric coefficient ${\gamma}$ is introduced to the equivalent stiffness method, and a linear relationship between ${\gamma}$ and geometric parameters of interlocked armor layers is validated by analytical and finite element models. Radial stiffness and equivalent thickness of interlocked armor layers are compared with experiments and different equivalent methods, which show that the present method has a higher accuracy. Furthermore, hoop stress distribution of interlocked armor layer under crushing is predicted, which indicates the interlocked armor layer can be divided into two compression and two expansion zones by four symmetrically distributed singular points.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.923-938
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• 2019

Surge motion of top-end platform induced by periodic wave makes marine flexible riser encounter equivalent sheared-oscillatory flow, under which the Vortex-induced Vibration (VIV) response will be more complicated than pure sheared flow or oscillatory flow cases. Based on a time domain force-decomposition model, the VIV response characteristics under sheared-oscillatory flows are investigated numerically in this paper. Firstly, the adopted numerical model is validated well against laboratory experiments under sheared flow and oscillatory flow. Then, 20 sheared-oscillatory flow cases with different oscillation periods and top maximum current velocities are designed and simulated. Under long and short oscillation period cases, the structural response presents several similar features owing to the instantaneous sheared flow profile at each moment, but it also has some different patterns because of the differently varying flow field. Finally, the effects and essential mechanism of oscillation period and top maximum current velocity on VIV response are discussed systematically.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.650-658
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• 2021

Flexible risers are usually used as conveying systems to bring ocean resources from sea bed up to onshore. Under ocean environments, risers need to bear complex loads and it is crucial to comprehensively examine riser's configurations and to analyze structural dynamic performances under excitation of bottom vehicle motions, to guarantee structural safe operation and required service lives. In this study, considering a saddle-shaped riser, the influences of some important design parameters, including installation position of buoyancy modules, buoyancy ratio and motion of mining vehicle, on riser's configuration and response are carefully examined. Through our FEM simulations, the spatial distributions of structural tensions and curvatures along of riser length, under different configurations, are compared. Then, the impacts of mining vehicle motion on riser dynamic response are discussed, and structural tolerance performance is assessed. The results show that modules installation position and buoyancy ratio have significant impacts on riser configurations. And, an appropriate riser configuration is obtained through comprehensive analysis on the modules positions and buoyancy ratios. Under this proposed configuration, the structural tension and curvature could moderately change with buoyancy modules and bottom-end conditions, in other words, the proposed saddle-shaped riser has a good tolerance performance to various load excitations.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.258-265
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• 2016

A flexible riser consists of several layers which have different materials, shapes and functions. The layers designed properly can take the design load safely, and each property of layer provides a complexity of flexible riser. Such complexity/unit-property is an input for global analysis of flexible riser. There are several approaches to calculate the complexity of flexible riser, those are experimental, numerical and theoretical methods. This paper provides a complexity from numerical and theoretical analysis for 2.5 inch flexible riser of which details and the experimental data are already produced under tension, external pressure, and bending moment. In addition, comparison of stiffness and stress are also provided. Especially, analysis of stress could lead to researches on ultimate strength or fatigue strength of flexible risers.