Structures

The overall description of the proposed research is to investigate and conclude current state of industry practice and technology gaps with respect to evaluating slugging effects on pipeline, spools and riser, to investigate alternative methodologies analysis methods for defining slug and turbulence loading and assessing structural response in pipeline and spool and riser, to develop best practices guideline for modeling and analysis of slug and turbulence loading and response of pipeline, spool and risers.

The study will examine the effects of deformation damage on the mechanical behavior of sea ice and whether such deformation lowers ice strength. Offshore exploration and production structures must be designed to resist forces and damage that result during contact with wind-driven floating ice sheets.

The objective of the proposed project is to assemble historical data on the characteristics and causes of encroachment events on man-made facilities and the natural shoreline in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea. The method involves:

Perform a review of existing API, NORSOK, and ISO offshore structural standards with respect to specifically agreed structural integrity aspects and produce a comparison report identifying differences and recommendations for their possible resolution for application in US Gulf of Mexico and the West Coast. This study will focus on the parts of the three codes which impact the platform's structural integrity.

This project assesses the characteristics of Gulf of Mexico current forcing in the 500 to 1,000 meter range and occurrence of elevated events and to use those data to assess the importance of such currents on the fatigue and design of risers, moorings and TLP tendons. The project team includes members from MCS Kenny, Fugro, and Princeton University.

The original scope of work for this effort entailed the following six tasks:

1. GOM Structures Overview: Utilize information from previous TAP studies to categorize existing platforms according to their condition with regards to remaining fatigue life.

2. Platform Vintage and Condition: Assessing the conditions of the primary structural joints and numbers of a platform will be specified and applied to the main types of GOM platforms.

The three main objectives of this project were to:
Study the governing load cases and load effects for wind turbines subjected to tropical revolving storms on the US OCS.
Review and evaluate the existing methods of calculating the breaking wave slamming loads inflicted on offshore wind turbine support structures.
Provide recommendations to support future enhancements to the relevant design criteria for offshore wind turbines. The scope of work was broken up into the following tasks:

This JIP is initiated to collect and investigate results of past studies on fiber ropes, test procedures and data, code requirements, and fiber rope mooring analysis methods. The JIP will also conduct sensitivity analysis to identify important model and design parameters. Based on the results of the investigation, conservative and practical stiffness models, testing procedure, and mooring analysis method will be developed. The results from this JIP can be used in supporting fiber rope code developments and polyester mooring projects.

This project studies the effects of ice on Arctic offshore structures. It aims to present a common and documented approach to achieve acceptable safety levels for offshore structure designs in cold climate regions, by adhering to the normative provision of the ISO 19906 Standard, and by supplementing it through the provision of practical design recommendations and case studies.

The objective of this study was to advance our understanding of the Arctic Ice conditions and formation in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas offshore Alaska. The study had six (6) individual goals:
Describe the ice conditions at several stages during the freeze-up seasons;
Document early shear zone and landfast ice development;
Locate and map ice features for the design and operation of offshore facilities;
Locate and map ice encroachment and measure ice thicknesses associated with ice pile-ups;