Fatigue Analysis of Free Spanning Pipelines Subjected to Vortex Induced Vibrations

Author(s):  
F. Van den Abeele ◽  
F. Boël ◽  
M. Hill

Vortex induced vibration is a major cause of fatigue failure in submarine oil and gas pipelines and steel catenary risers. Even moderate currents can induce vortex shedding, alternately at the top and bottom of the pipeline, at a rate determined by the flow velocity. Each time a vortex sheds, a force is generated in both the in-line and cross-flow direction, causing an oscillatory multi-mode vibration. This vortex induced vibration can give rise to fatigue damage of submarine pipeline spans, especially in the vicinity of the girth welds. In this paper, an integrated numerical framework is presented to predict and identify free spans that may be vulnerable to fatigue damage caused by vortex induced vibrations (VIV). An elegant and efficient algorithm is introduced to simulate offshore pipeline installation on an uneven seabed. Once the laydown simulation has been completed, the free spans can be automatically detected. When the fatigue screening for both inline and cross-flow VIV indicates that a particular span may be prone to vortex induced vibrations, a detailed fatigue analysis is required. Amplitude response models are constructed to predict the maximum steady state VIV amplitudes for a given pipeline configuration (mechanical properties) and sea state (hydrodynamic parameters). The vibration amplitudes are translated into corresponding stress ranges, which then provide an input for the fatigue analysis. A case study from the offshore industry is presented, and sensitivity analyses are performed to study the influence of the seabed conditions, where special emphasis is devoted on the selection of pipe soil interaction parameters.

Author(s):  
Rune Yttervik ◽  
Carl M. Larsen ◽  
Gunnar K. Furnes

A section of a sub sea pipeline that is suspended between two points on an uneven seafloor is often referred to as ‘a free span pipeline’. Pipelines, installed on a seabed with a highly irregular topography, may have to be designed with several free spans. If a free span is exposed to a current flow, vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) of the suspended part of the pipeline may occur. These vibrations may cause unacceptable fatigue damage in the structure. Statistical distributions of current speed and direction close to a small mountain on the seabed (approximately 20 m high and 40 m wide) are established based on full-scale measurements of the current velocity in the area. Some results from recent model tests of VIV in free span pipelines, including some tests in which the flow direction was not perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the pipe, are shown. These results indicate that it is sufficient to use the component of the current velocity vector that is normal to the pipe when using empirical models for estimating the response due to vortex shedding. An existing empirical model for analysis of VIV [1] is extended such as to include oscillations in the same plane as the current flow (in-line VIV). The effect of including the directional variability of the current when estimating the VIV fatigue damage, using the extended VIV model on a typical free span pipeline, is demonstrated, and found to be of great importance. A parameter study, in which the length of the free span is varied, is also carried out. The conclusion from this study is that a reduction of free span length affects the parameters that govern the accumulation of fatigue damage differently. Stresses are increased, but the number of current conditions capable of inducing VIV is reduced when the length of the span is reduced. It is therefore difficult to predict whether the accumulated damage will increase or decrease when the span length is reduced, and detailed analyses are required for each particular free span and current distribution. The damage from in-line VIV is generally lower than the damage from the cross flow VIV for all but the shortest span lengths.


Author(s):  
Murilo M. Cicolin ◽  
Gustavo R. S. Assi

Experiments have been carried out on models of rigid circular cylinders fitted with three different types of permeable meshes to investigate their effectiveness in the suppression of vortex-induced vibrations (VIV). Measurements of amplitude of vibration and drag force are presented for models with low mass and damping which are free to respond in the cross-flow direction. Results for two meshes made of ropes and cylindrical tubes are compared with the VIV response of a bare cylinder and that of a known suppressor called the “ventilated trousers” (VT). All three meshes achieved an average 50% reduction of the peak response when compared with that of the bare cylinder. The sparse mesh configuration presented a similar behaviour to the VT, while the dense mesh produced considerable VIV response for an indefinitely long range of reduced velocity. All the three meshes have increased drag when compared with that of the bare cylinder. Reynolds number ranged from 5,000 to 25,000 and reduced velocity was varied between 2 and 15.


Author(s):  
Baiheng Wu ◽  
Jorlyn Le Garrec ◽  
Dixia Fan ◽  
Michael S. Triantafyllou

Currents and waves cause flow-structure interaction problems in systems installed in the ocean. Particularly for bluff bodies, vortices form in the body wake, which can cause strong structural vibrations (Vortex-Induced Vibrations, VIV). The magnitude and frequency content of VIV is determined by the shape, material properties, and size of the bluff body, and the nature and velocity of the oncoming flow. Riser systems are extensively used in the ocean to drill for oil wells, or produce oil and gas from the bottom of the ocean. Risers often consist of a central pipe, surrounded by several smaller cylinders, including the kill and choke lines. We present a series of experiments involving forced in-line and cross flow motions of short rigid sections of a riser containing 6 symmetrically arranged kill and choke lines. The experiments were carried out at the MIT Towing Tank. We present a systematic database of the hydrodynamic coefficients, consisting of the forces in phase with velocity and the added mass coefficients that are also suitable to be used with semi-empirical VIV predicting codes.


Author(s):  
C. Shi ◽  
L. Manuel ◽  
M. A. Tognarelli ◽  
T. Botros

This study is concerned with vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of deepwater marine risers. Riser response measurements from model tests on a densely instrumented long, flexible riser in uniform and sheared currents offer an almost ideal set-up for our work. Our objectives are two-fold: (i) we use the measured data to describe complexities inherent in riser motions accompanying VIV; and (ii) we discuss how such data sets (and even less spatially dense monitoring) can be used effectively in predicting fatigue damage rates which is of critical interest for deepwater risers. First, we use mathematical tools including Hilbert and wavelet transforms to estimate instantaneous amplitudes and phases of cross-flow (CF) and in-line (IL) displacements for the model riser as well as scalograms to understand time-frequency characteristics of the response; this work confirms that the motion of a long flexible cylinder is far more complex than that of a rigid cylinder, and that non-stationary characteristics, higher harmonics, and traveling waves are evident in the riser response. Second, a well-established empirical procedure, which we refer to as Weighted Waveform Analysis (WWA), is employed to estimate the fatigue damage rate at various locations along the length of the riser from strain measurements at only eight sensors. By iterating over numerous different combinations of these eight strain sensors as inputs (from among all the twenty-four available locations on the riser), optimal locations for the eight sensors on the riser are identified by cross-validation, whereby predicted strains and fatigue damage rates at locations of instrumented sensors are compared with strains and fatigue damage rates based on actual recorded measurements there. We find that, if properly placed, as few as eight sensors can provide reasonably accurate estimates of the fatigue damage rate over the entire riser length. Finally, we demonstrate how more accurate fatigue damage prediction can result when non-stationary response characteristics are considered and a modified WWA method (that more effectively accounts for traveling waves than the WWA method alone does) is employed.


2012 ◽  
Vol 204-208 ◽  
pp. 4598-4601
Author(s):  
Jie Li Fan ◽  
Wei Ping Huang

The two-degrees-of-freedom of vortex-induced vibration of circular cylinders is numerically simulated with the software ANSYS/CFX. The VIV characteristic, in the two different conditions (A/D=0.07 and A/D=1.0), is analyzed. When A/D is around 0.07, the amplitude ratio of the cylinder’s VIV between in-line and cross-flow direction in the lock-in is lower than that in the lock-out. The in-line frequency is twice of that in cross-flow direction in the lock-out, but in the lock-in, it is the same as that in cross-flow direction and the same as that of lift force. When A/D is around 1.0, the amplitude ratio of the VIV between in-line and cross-flow in the lock-in is obviously larger than that in the lock-out. Both in the lock-in and in the lock-out, the in-line frequency is twice of that in cross-flow direction.


Author(s):  
Billy Ballard ◽  
Yi-Hsiang Yu ◽  
Jennifer Van Rij ◽  
Frederick Driscoll

Abstract Unique umbilical designs for wave energy converters (WECs), including the ability to handle significantly larger motions and loads over long deployments, are often required when conventional marine umbilical designs for offshore oil and gas and offshore wind may not meet the design and cost needs of wave energy technologies. This study details a fatigue analysis of a dynamic power umbilical attached to a two-body floating point absorber WEC system, using the sea states provided for the PacWave testing facilities. The 6 degrees of freedom motion time history for the WEC was simulated, and the motions of the attachment point for the umbilical on the WEC and respective sea states were used to analyze the dynamic motions and fatigue of the connected power umbilical to predict the fatigue life. The results show that the fatigue damage observed is more significant in shallow water, and extensive fatigue damage may occur because of the larger curvature response of the umbilical. The umbilical configurations departing at 90 deg off incoming waves were found to have the highest fatigue life attributed to less extension or compression of the umbilical. However, additional bend stiffener/limiter features may need to be incorporated into the buoyancy section and touchdown regions to minimize curvature-induced fatigue.


Author(s):  
Wei Yang ◽  
Chuanzhen Ma ◽  
Zhuang Kang ◽  
Cheng Zhang ◽  
Shaojie Li

Abstract In order to understand the relation between top-motion and VIV of flexible risers, this paper presents an experimental investigation on concomitant vortex-induced vibration and top-motion excitation with flexible risers. The riser can was mounted vertically, with the diameter of 2 cm and the length of 5 m. The responses of amplitude, frequency and other parameters were analyzed in detail under conditions of different excitation amplitude and frequency in uniform flow. It was found that the concomitant VIV and top-motion excitation significantly affects the flexible cylinder response when compared to the pure VIV tests. The amplitude analysis results show that when the reduced velocity is small (less than about 15), the top-motion excitation has an important influence on amplitude of in-line directions. However, the excitation amplitude and frequency of in-line direction have a little influence on amplitude of cross flow direction. The frequency analysis results show that when the reduced velocity is small (less than about 5), the riser motion amplitude is small and irregular in different excitation and when the reduced velocity is large (5 < Ur < 55), the in-line vibration frequency is two times the cross-flow vibration frequency. A strong connection between the top-motion excitation frequency and the vibration frequency was also found. Overall, some phenomena and characteristics observed in the VIV considering top-motion excitation are different from those in classic VIV, which may provide basic reference for the VIV investigation involving the effect of floating bodies.


Author(s):  
Marlow Springer ◽  
Rajeev K. Jaiman ◽  
Steve Cosgrove ◽  
Yiannis Constantinides

Due to the complex interactions of vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) and downstream wake dynamics, the design of riser arrays has been an area of great uncertainty in the offshore industry. Numerical methodology can play an important role in predicting the hydrodynamic forces and motion of riser arrays from both design and operational standpoints. The focus of this study is to investigate the VIV response of two flexible risers in cross-flow using a CFD solver. Bare and straked geometries are simulated, and the results are successfully compared against experimental results. The basic hydrodynamic features are well captured and the numerical technique is an improvement over the existing empirical and experience-based methods.


Author(s):  
Jie Wu ◽  
Malakonda Reddy Lekkala ◽  
Muk Chen Ong

Steel lazy-wave riser (SLWR) are attractive deepwater applications for offshore oil and gas industry. When subjected to current, both the buoyancy elements and the riser may experience Vortex Induced Vibrations (VIV). Such vibrations are the result of the periodic hydrodynamic forces that are induced by the interaction of slender bodies and external fluid flow. If the vibration period is close to the natural period of the system, it can lead to fast accumulation of fatigue damage to the risers and amplified drag loads. There is a competition between the vortex induced forces acting on the buoyancy element and the riser segment due to its different diameters. The interaction of the vortex shedding from the riser and the buoyancy element depends on many parameters, such as the arrangement of the buoyancy element, aspect ratio of the buoyancy element, etc. Shell Oil Company conducted VIV model tests with a straight flexible cylinder and staggered buoyancy elements corresponding to a buoyant section of a SLWR in MARINTEK in 2011. Five different buoyancy element configurations were tested. The test data has been extensively studied (Rao, et al 2015 and Jhingran, et al 2012). The interaction of the buoyancy elements and bare riser and its influence on the riser response (frequency, displacement and fatigue damage) have been investigated. Semi-empirical VIV prediction software, such as VIVANA [4], SHEAR7 [13] and VIVA [11] are most commonly used by the offshore industry in the riser systems design against VIV loads. However, these software are not purposely designed to account for the interaction of the bare riser section and the buoyancy elements. It is of great interest to evaluate the prediction accuracy. The purpose of this study is to benchmark the VIV prediction of riser with buoyancy elements using VIVANA. The prediction is compared with Shell model test results with focus on CF responses. Uncertainty and improvement of the prediction are also discussed.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document