• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.179-187
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• 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
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.261-277
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• 2015

Internal solitary waves occur due to density stratification and are nonlinear in nature. These waves have been observed in many parts of the world including the South China Sea, Andaman Sea and Sulu Sea. Their effect on floating systems has been an emerging field of interest and recent offshore developments in the South China Sea where several offshore oil and gas discoveries are located have confirmed adverse effects including large platform motions and riser system damage. A valid numerical model conforming to the physics of internal waves is implemented in this paper and the effect on a spar platform is studied. The physics of internal waves is modeled by the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation, which has a general solution involving Jacobian elliptical functions. The effects of vertical density stratification are captured by solving the Taylor Goldstein equation. Fully coupled time domain analyses are conducted to estimate the effect of internal waves on a typical truss spar, which is configured to South China Sea development requirements and environmental conditions. The hull, moorings and risers are considered as an integrated system and the platform global motions are analyzed. The study could be useful for future guidance and development of offshore systems in the South China Sea and other areas where the internal wave phenomenon is prominent.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.345-362
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• 2016

This study aims to develop the numerical method to estimate level ice impact load and investigate the dynamic interaction between an arctic Spar with sloped surface and drifting level ice. When the level ice approaches the downward sloped structure, the interaction can be decomposed into three sequential phases: the breaking phase, when ice contacts the structure and is bent by bending moment; the rotating phase, when the broken ice is submerged and rotated underneath the structure; and the sliding phase, when the submerged broken ice becomes parallel to the sloping surface causing buoyancy-induced fictional forces. In each phase, the analytical formulas are constructed to account for the relevant physics and the results are compared to other existing methods or standards. The time-dependent ice load is coupled with hull-riser-mooring coupled dynamic analysis program. Then, the fully coupled program is applied to a moored arctic Spar with sloped surface with drifting level ice. The occurrence of dynamic resonance between ice load and spar motion causing large mooring tension is demonstrated.