Research on the Pressure Field and Production Ability of Compound Hydrocyclone

Compound hydrocyclone is an important separation equipment in oilfield waste water treatment. In order to grasp the equipment separation characteristics, its pressure field and production ability research is becoming more and more important. In the process of pressure or pressure drop deduced, the hydrocyclone’s vortex field is divided into two parts: semi-free vortex area and compulsive vortex area. In the free vortex area, the pressure and the pressure drop are all deduced by the tangential equation, the pressure gradient equation and the relationship equation of tangential velocity in the hydrocyclone body and the velocity of the rotary crib. In the compulsive vortex area, the pressure and the pressure drop are deduced by the velocity equation and the hydrocyclone’s separation equation. As to the respect of the production ability, it is fixed on the relationship of the inlet flow-rate, overflow pipe diameter, the main diameter of the compound hydrocyclone, pressure drop and the inlet liquid density. The research indicates that the pressure or the pressure drop are all connected with compound hydrocyclone’s diameter, rotary crib’s running velocity and diameter of the maximum tangential velocity track face. As the results of the research, the ascertained key operators, pressure and the pressure drop, the hydrocyclone’s production ability can provide designing consult for the hydrocyclone designers.

Structural Analysis of an Offshore Jacket Model Under Seismic Excitation

In the present work the action of earthquakes upon offshore jacket structures is analysed by means of ADINA software. Our case-study refers to an existing model structure, previously constructed at the Laboratory of Fluid Mechanics of UBI, which has been analysed from the hydrodynamic point of view — Mendes et al. [1, 2]. The seismic excitation will be imposed at the base of this model structure, with frequencies and amplitudes corresponding to actual earthquake conditions transposed to the model scale of 1:45. The FEM software is utilised to calculate the natural frequencies of the model and to obtain stresses at selected members, as well as their nodal displacements. Our purpose is to quantify maximum stresses occurring in critical structural members and to verify the survivability criterion. The predictions of the numerical model, in terms of the reaction forces at the base and acceleration at the top of the structure, are then correlated with the experimental measurements performed when the model structure is excited in an especially designed shaking table (Correia [3]), revealing a good agreement between both results.

Experimental Research on the Vibration Reduction and Impact Resistance Performances of Offshore Structure Based on Magnetorheological Damper

This paper presents a new kind of vibration reduction and impact resistance isolator system based on magnetorheological technique, and its experiment results. The vibration and impact experiments were designed using MTS hydraulic loading system. There were many load cases being applied in the experiment with different mass of the model, exciting forces, and controllable electricity of MR damper (Magnetorheological Damper). The experiment results indicate that this isolator system can control the vibration response very well, especially near the natural frequency of the system; and the isolator system has a good performance in the impact experiment too, the response acceleration was evidently reduced, but the characteristic of MR damper was different form its performance in vibration experiment.

Seismic Analysis of a Double-Hinged Articulated Offshore Tower

The response of offshore structures under seismic excitation in deep water conditions is an extremely complex phenomenon. Under such harsh environmental conditions, special offshore structures called articulated structures are feasible owing to reduced structural weight. Whereas, conventional offshore structure requires huge physical dimensions to meet the desired strength and stability criteria, therefore, are uneconomical. Articulated offshore towers are among the compliant offshore structures. These structures consist of a ballast chamber near the bottom hinge and a buoyancy chamber just below the mean sea level, imparting controlled movement against the environmental loads (wave, currents, and wind/earthquake). The present study deals with the seismic compliance of a double-hinged articulated offshore tower to three real earthquakes by solving the governing equations of motion in time domain using Newmark’s-β technique. For this purpose Elcentro 1940, Taft 1952 and Northridge 1994 earthquake time histories are considered. The tower is modeled as an upright flexible pendulum supported to the sea-bed by a mass-less rotational spring of zero stiffness while the top of it rigidly supports a deck in the air (a concentrated mass above water level). The computation of seismic and hydrodynamic loads are performed by dividing the tower into finite elements with masses lumped at the nodes. The earthquake response is carried out by random vibration analysis, in which, seismic excitations are assumed to be a broadband stationary process. Effects of horizontal ground motions are considered in the present study. Monte Carlo simulation technique is used to model long crested random wave forces. Effect of sea-bed shaking on hydrodynamic modeling is considered. The dynamic equation of motion is formulated using Lagrangian approach, which is based on energy principle. Nonlinearities due to variable submergence and buoyancy, added mass associated with the geometrical non-linearities of the system are considered. The results are expressed in the form of time-histories and PSDFs of deck displacement, rotational angle, base and hinge shear, and the bending moment. The outcome of the response establishes that seismic sea environment is an important design consideration for successful performance of hinges, particularly, if these structures are situated in seismically active zones of the world’s ocean.

Experimental and Numerical Evaluation of the Installation of Sub-Sea Equipments for Risers Support

The installations of sub-sea equipments are very complex operations, requiring previous analysis in order to define the correct procedure and the environmental “window” for a safe operation. This paper addresses the installations of a Mid Water Arch (MWA) that consists of a structure to provide risers support. Connecting the risers to the MWA largely eliminates the dynamic forces that would otherwise cause friction and fatigue. Such structure is composed by the riser guides and several buoyancy tanks. It is kept in the water by means of tethers connected to an anchor. The MWA is to be installed 42m from the seabed. The installation procedure has several steps evolving the launching of each component of the MWA (anchor, main structure and the tethers). A tug boat with an A-frame is used during the whole launching, and an assisting vessel is required to keep the buoy away from the tether and the launching cable. The presence of exciting waves induces oscillatory motions in the whole system, and may cause large dynamic forces in the cables and tethers. Due to the complexity of the multi-body system, a comprehensive numerical and experimental analysis was then carried out in order to dimensioning the launching cables and to define the limit environmental condition. The numerical analysis was carried out in the Numerical Offshore Tank (TPN), a multi-processor offshore system simulator that considers the 6 DOF of each body and all environmental forces acting in them. The lines are modeled by finite-element method. Furthermore, a full set of small-scale experiments were carried out at the State of Sa˜o Paulo Technological Research Institute (IPT) towing tank, considering the system excited by a sinusoidal motion at the top, emulating the wave excitation. Comparisons between numerical and experimental results were performed, with good adherence between them. The validated numerical simulator was then used to make predictions of the behavior of the systems during the installation, considering several environmental conditions and configurations.

Calibration of Mooring Line Damping for Taut-Leg FPSOs Model Testing

The paper discusses alternatives to represent the MLD (Mooring Line Damping) in models tests with truncated mooring lines. The work has performed both numerical experiments and reduced model tests. The results for stiffness and damping have been compared. This allows further considerations for future designs.

Coupled Analysis of an FPSO and Dry Tree Unit Connected by a Gravity Actuated Pipe (GAP)

MURPHY Sabah Oil Co. Ltd. has developed the Kikeh Field located offshore Malaysia in the South China Sea in a water depth of 1325m. This field development is based on a Floating Production Storage and Offloading unit (FPSO) and a Spar Dry Tree Unit (DTU). Fluids are transported in fluid transfer lines (FTL) using SBM’s newly developed and patented Gravity Actuated Pipe (GAP) system. To our knowledge this is the first time two large moored floaters are connected together by a slender body closing a gap of 1600m. It was not clear at the beginning of the project to what extent the first and second order motions of the two floaters were coupled, if at all, owing to the presence of the GAP system. To investigate the extent of coupling, both frequency domain (modal analysis) and time domain analyses of the FPSO, GAP system and Dry Tree Unit were performed. The salient features and results are presented.

Hydroelastic Response of a Subsea Production Platform

The use of subsea production platforms and systems is widely employed in the course of deep and ultra deep waters exploration and exploitation activities. The increasing importance of these structures is driven in part by the global prospecting effort for deep and ultra deep waters oil/gas resources. Nonetheless, these structures and systems are constantly under the influence of hydrodynamic forces that prevail in such locations. In this paper, the nonlinear hydroelastic response of a subsea production platform idealized as a rectangular template supported on four cylindrical tensioned legs that are partly buried in a moving nonlinear elastic medium is investigated analytically. By employing singular perturbation with multiple scales and integral transforms, the effect of waves and the subsoil layer characteristics on the natural frequency of the systems and dynamic response interaction are reported for design analysis and application.

Global Performance and Sloshing Analysis of a New Deep-Draft Semi-Submersible LNG FPSO

A new concept of LNG FPSO based on a deep-draft semi-submersible hull is introduced. With the deep draft, small water plane area, low center of gravity and large radius of gyration, the new LNG FPSO offers very low motions. This low-motion LNG FPSO platform provides more options and flexibilities in the selection of LNG liquefaction units, LNG containment systems, construction sites, installation methods, mooring systems (i.e. no requirements for weather-vaning), riser system and less down time compared with a conventional FPSO hull. Global performance and sloshing analyses for the new LNG FPSO hull and the conventional FPSO hull are performed to compare their operating performance for West Africa and the Northwest Australia environments.

Experimental Study of Sloshing Effects in Roll Motion of Floating Units

Usually, the hydrodynamic loads due to sloshing are considered in the design of liquid cargo ship or floating units concerning the structural. Owing to the increasing size of these structures, resonant sloshing motions may occur and result in the amplification or attenuation of motion of the vessel. In order to assess the effect of sloshing, traditionally the motion of the vessel is calculated at first without considering the dynamic of the liquid inside the tank. After that, this motion of the vessel is inputted as excitation motion acting on the tank and, finally, the sloshing effect is evaluated. In the other words, the coupling effects of sloshing and sea wave in the vessel’s motion are ignored. A bibliographical survey shows that there are few studies that consider the effect of sloshing on the ship motion, acting as a passive device of absorption of the movements. The main goal of this research is to investigate experimentally the roll motion amplification and reduction due to sloshing. The coupling effects of sloshing and sea wave in the vessel’s motion are taking into account by recording the motions, in regular waves, of a free floating model with a partially filled liquid tank. For this purpose, a two-dimensional model is designed to carry out measurements with fixed cargo and partially filled liquid cargo. The experimental results are evaluated by comparing the measured motion of the free-floating model with fixed cargo against the results obtained by traditional approach. Then, the effects of sloshing on floating units are shown by comparison of the measurements from free-floating model with fixed cargo and liquid cargo. The results shown herein provide data for the validation of new numerical approaches for the study of the coupled motions of the floating units and sloshing.