Offloading Operability of Small Scale AG FLNG With Side-by-Side Moored Small Scale LNG Carrier in Offshore West Africa

This study describes one of the technical solutions for Small Scale FLNG (SSFLNG)[1] development specifically designed to monetize Associated Gas (AG) of producing oil fields located within convenient distance of an existing LNG Plant or Port with LNG storage facility. Limited production capacity combined with short range small scale LNG carriers (SSLNGC), provide a cost effective means for LNG production. Ship to ship off-loading operation by loading arm has been considered in AG SSFLNG. Produced LNG is to be off-loaded from the SSFLNG to side-by-side moored SSLNGC. Relative motion and dynamic load acting on loading arm system in side-by-side mooring arrangement is one of key factors to estimate the offloading operability of the AG SSFLNG. In this paper, a numerical two-body motion analysis for the side-by-side moored SSFLNG in frequency- and time-domain is carried out. Also, the basic engineering work is carried out for the marine loading arms (MLA). Since the MLA reacts approximately as a linear system, it is calculated by a full spectral RAO analysis for each of the worst load cases issued from the spectral ranking. All loads and stresses inside the MLA are verified in accordance with EN1474-1[2] for the situations identified in the previous step. A high level fatigue analysis focused on the cryogenic swivel joints is carried out. Based on the numerical calculation for relative motion in side-by-side moored FLNG, we have been performed structural assessment for MLA in several environment conditions. The structural integrity of both MLA and the LNGC manifold are validated during offloading for Offshore West Africa.

Yaw Galloping of a TLWP Platform Under High Speed Currents by Analytical Methods and its Comparison With Experimental Results

Flow Induced Motions are always an important subject during both design and operational phases of an offshore platform life. These motions could significantly affect the performance of the platform, including its mooring and oil production systems. These kind of analyses are performed using basically two different approaches: experimental tests with reduced models and, more recently, with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) dynamic analysis. The main objective of this work is to present a new approach, based on an analytical methodology using static CFD analyses to estimate the response on yaw motions of a Tension Leg Wellhead Platform on one of the several types of motions that can be classified as flow-induced motions, known as galloping. The first step is to review the equations that govern the yaw motions of an ocean platform when subjected to currents from different angles of attack. The yaw moment coefficients will be obtained using CFD steady-state analysis, on which the yaw moments will be calculated for several angles of attack, placed around the central angle where the analysis is being carried out. Having the force coefficients plotted against the angle values, we can adjust a polynomial curve around each analysis point in order to evaluate the amplitude of the yaw motion using a limit cycle approach. Other properties of the system which are flow-dependent, such as damping and added mass, will also be estimated using CFD. The last part of this work consists in comparing the analytical results with experimental results obtained at the LOC/COPPE-UFRJ laboratory facilities.

Less=Moor: A Time-Efficient Computational Tool to Assess the Behavior of Moored Ships in Waves

In the field of port design there is a need for a reliable but time-efficient method to assess the behavior of moored ships in order to determine if further detailed analysis of the behavior is required. The response of moored ships induced by gusting wind and/or waves is dynamic. Excessive motion response may cause interruption of the (un)loading operation. High line tension may cause lines to snap, introducing dangerous situations. A (detailed) Dynamic Mooring Analysis (DMA), however, is often a time-consuming and expensive exercise, especially when responses in many different environmental conditions need to be assessed. Royal HaskoningDHV has developed a time-efficient computational tool in-house to assess the wave (sea or swell) induced dynamic response of ships moored to exposed berths. The mooring line characteristics are linearized and the equations of motion are solved in the frequency domain with both the 1st and 2nd wave forces taken into account. This tool has been termed Less=Moor. The accuracy and reliability of the computational tool has been illustrated by comparing motions and mooring line forces to results obtained with software that solves the nonlinear equations of motion in the time domain (aNySIM). The calculated response of a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) moored to dolphins located offshore has been presented. The results show a good comparison. The computational tool can therefore be used to indicate whether the wave induced response of ships moored at exposed berths proves to be critical. The next step is to make this tool suitable to assess the dynamic response of moored ships with large wind areas, e.g. container ships, cruise vessels, RoRo or car carriers, to gusting wind. In addition, assessment of ship responses in a complicated wave field (e.g. with reflected infra-gravity waves) also requires more research effort.

Qualification and Certification of Polyester Rope for Seabed Contact

The Aasta Hansteen spar in the Norwegian Sea is designed to be moored with a taut polyester rope mooring system. The water depth at the field is 1300 meters, and due to the short installation season the most efficient hookup is with pre-installed mooring lines, which require the mooring lines to be laid down on the seabed. DNV certification does not allow seabed contact for polyester ropes unless proven that no soil ingress and damage takes place. To be able to certify the ropes Statoil developed a test method including contact with soil, rope movement and forced water flow through the filter construction. Full scale tests were performed with actual rope and Aasta Hansteen soil, both in laboratory and at site. This paper discusses the certification requirements and presents adequate qualification test together with results from testing.

Semi-Empirical Crest Distributions of Long-Crest Nonlinear Waves of Three-Hour Duration

In wave basin model test of an offshore structure, waves that represent the given sea states have to be generated, qualified and accepted for the model test. For seakeeping and stationkeeping model tests, we normally accept waves in wave calibration tests if the significant wave height, spectral peak period and spectrum match the specified target values. However, for model tests where the responses depend highly on the local wave motions (wave elevation and kinematics) such as wave impact, green water impact on deck and air gap tests, additional qualification checks may be required. For instance, we may need to check wave crest probability distributions to avoid unrealistic wave crest in the test. To date, acceptance criteria of wave crest distribution calibration tests of large and steep waves of three-hour duration (full scale) have not been established. The purpose of the work presented in the paper is to provide a semi-empirical nonlinear wave crest distribution of three-hour duration for practical use, i.e. as an acceptance criterion for wave calibration tests. The semi-empirical formulas proposed in this paper were developed through regression analysis of a large number of fully nonlinear wave crest distributions. Wave time series from potential flow simulations, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and model test results were used to establish the probability distribution. The wave simulations were performed for three-hour duration assuming that they were long-crested. The sea states are assumed to be represented by JONSWAP spectrum, where a wide range of significant wave height, peak period, spectral peak parameter, and water depth were considered. Coefficients of the proposed semi-empirical formulas, comparisons among crest distributions from wave calibration tests, numerical simulations and the semi-empirical formulas are presented in this paper.

Simulation of Passing Vessel Effects on Moored Vessel Mooring Response due to Environmental Loads

A critical review of literature on the mooring forces on the berthed ship together with the passing vessel effects indicates limited data, thus requiring additional studies. Four methods have been found in the literature namely (a) Seelig’s, (b) Flory’s, (c) Kreibel’s, and (d) Modified Seelig’s methods. A comprehensive review and comparison of existing methods has been carried out to verify the applicability of each method to certain conditions and also to establish the parameters for study. It has been found that displacement of the vessels, separation distance between the vessels and velocity of the passing vessel greatly influence the passing vessel forces on moored ship. The software OPTIMOOR has been used to verify Flory’s and Seelig’s methods with the experimental data of Remery and also to study the combined effect of environmental loads and passing vessel effects on mooring lines. The results indicate that the interaction of waves and passing vessel effects are too onerous. Conclusions have been arrived based on the results that for separation distance of 100 m or less between vessels has a greater influence on mooring line forces, leading to breakage of lines.

Sloshing and Swirling in Partially Loaded Prismatic Chamfered Tanks

In this study a sloshing experiment using a partially filled membrane tank model was carried out and compared with numerical simulation. The pressure was measured at 10 points and a load cell measured the longitudinal and transversal forces, under regular and irregular excitation. A 3D finite difference method based solver was used for the numerical simulation. When the prismatic tank length to breadth ratio is near 1, swirling, i.e., liquid free surface’s rotating motion in the tank might occur when the tank is excited near its natural frequency, especially for medium and low tank filling levels. According to the experimental and simulation data, the magnitude of the forces and impact pressures in this situation can be significant and therefore cannot be neglected. Tank designs might use different length to breadth ratios (Lt/Bt) depending on the ship size and number of tanks, so the problem is worth being investigated. The Lt/Bt and the occurrence of swirling was then investigated. The pressure distribution when the swirling occurs is then compared with the 1st mode sloshing pressure distribution, and considerations about the tank safety are inferred.

Fuzzy Logic Controller for Dynamic Positioning of an Offshore Supply Vessel

The purpose of this paper is to examine the performance of fuzzy controller applied to a dynamic positioning system of ship by numerical simulation. By definition, dynamic positioning system is computer controlled system which uses the active thrusters to automatically maintain the position and heading of the ship. The proposed control scheme consist of low pass filter in cascade with three proportional derivative type fuzzy controller with Mamdani type inference scheme. Feed-forward compensation decoupling scheme is employed to reduce coupling between sway and yaw. Robustness of control scheme is assessed for Cybership II in presence of wave disturbances.

Steep Wave Effects on Wave Induced Vertical Bending Moment Using a 3D Numerical Wave Tank

This paper presents a detail comparative study on wave induced vertical bending moment (VBM) between linear and approximate nonlinear calculations using a 3D numerical wave tank (NWT) method. The developed numerical approach is in time domain where the ambient incident waves can be defined by any suitable wave theory. Certain justifying approximations employed in the solution of the interaction hydrodynamics (diffraction and radiation) enabling the NWT to generate stable long duration time histories of all parameters of interest. This is an extension of our earlier works towards the development of a practical NWT based solution for wave-structure interactions [1]. After a brief outline of the implemented numerical details, a comprehensive validation and verification of vertical shear force (VSF) and bending moment RAOs computed using the linearized version of the NWT against the usual linear results of strip theory and 3D panel codes are presented. Next we undertake the comparative study between the fully linear and approximate nonlinear versions of the present code for different incident wave steepness. In the approximate nonlinear formulation, the ambient incident wave is defined by the full nonlinear numerical wave model based on Fourier approximation method which can generate very steep steady periodic nonlinear waves up to the near wave breaking limit. The nonlinearities associated with the incident Froude Krylov and hydrostatic restoring forces/moments are exact up to the instantaneous wetted surface at the displaced location, but the hydrodynamic diffraction and radiation effects are linearized around the mean wetted surface. The standard S175 container hull is considered for the comparative studies because of its geometric nonlinearities. Numerical simulations are performed for four different wave lengths with increasing wave steepness. It is observed that the computed wave induced VBM amidships from the approximate nonlinear results can be almost 30% higher compared to the results from a purely linear solution, which can be a critical issue from the safety point. Significant higher harmonics are also observed in the approximate nonlinear results which at some times may be responsible for exciting the undesirable whipping/springing responses.