Effects of Wind on the Heat Flow of FPSO Topsides Subject to Fire: An Experimental and Numerical Study

The aim of this paper is to examine the effect of wind on the thermal diffusion characteristics of floating production storage and offloading (FSPO) topside models subject to fire. It is motivated by the need to identify the fire loads on FPSO topsides, taking into account the effects of wind speed and direction. The results of an experimental and numerical study undertaken for these purposes are reported here. This paper is part of Phase II of the joint industry project on explosion and fire engineering of FPSOs (EFEF JIP) [1]. An experiment was performed on a 1/14-scale FPSO topside model using a wind tunnel test facility. The locations of the heat source of the fire were varied, as were the speed and direction of the wind, and the temperature distribution was measured. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations using the ANSYS CFX program were performed on the test model, with the results obtained compared with the experimental results. It is concluded that wind has a significant effect on the thermal diffusion characteristics of the test model and that the CFD simulations are in good agreement with the experimental results. The insights developed in this study will be very useful for the fire engineering of FPSO topsides.

Load Characteristics of Steel and Concrete Tubular Members Under Jet Fire: An Experimental and Numerical Study

The aim of this study was to evaluate the load characteristics of steel and concrete tubular members under jet fire, with the motivation to investigate the jet fire load characteristics in FPSO topsides. This paper is part of Phase II of the joint industry project on explosion and fire engineering of FPSOs (EFEF JIP) [1]. To obtain reliable load values, jet fire tests were carried out in parallel with a numerical study. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation was used to set up an adiabatic wall boundary condition for the jet fire to model the heat transfer mechanism. A concrete tubular member was tested under the assumption that there is no conduction effect from jet fire. A steel tubular member was tested and considered to transfer heat through conduction, convection, and radiation. The temperature distribution, or heat load, was analyzed at specific locations on each type of member. ANSYS CFX [2] and Kameleon FireEx [3] codes were used to obtain similar fire action in the numerical and experimental methods. The results of this study will provide a useful database to determine design values related to jet fire.

Research on Corner Structure Under Explosive Loading for War-Ship Cabin

For the warship cabin under explosive loading, the detail structure in cabin corner can easily be torn by the high-strength shock wave converging at the structure corner. In order to avoid that the crevasse occurs at the corner firstly, three strengthening structure forms were designed for the cabin corner: thickening connection, circular connection and inclined plate connection. Failure process of the joint in the two-cabin structure under the explosive loading was simulated by the nonlinear dynamic software DYTRAN. Comparing the response of the corner strengthening structure to that of the conventional structure, it was concluded that three strengthening structure forms changed failure mode of the cabin structure effectively and the crevasse initiated at the explosion pressure release hole on the transverse bulkhead, which reduced the tearing of the cabin corner. To seek more reasonable corner strengthening structure, the pressure and the stress on the bulkhead under the explosive loading of the three corner strengthening structures were compared. The results showed the inclined plate connection can prevent the shock wave from concentrating at the corner, decrease the stress on the longitudinal bulkhead, and resist the shock wave spreading into the inner cabins most effectively in the three strengthening forms.

Fatigue Analysis on Key Components of Semi-Submersible Platform

Fatigue damage is one of the main reasons of the failure of Semi-Submersible platform. As the complex of random loading, it is difficult to analyze fatigue life accurately and determine the sensitivity of parameters. In this paper, the fatigue life on key-components of semi-submersible platform is analyzed with Spectral-based analysis method. Firstly, the stress responses of whole model platform under the random wave loads are calculated. The calculation results of whole model platform for cut-boundary interpolation are used in local model to calculate the key-component stress responses of local model. Generating the fatigue stress energy spectrum by scaling the wave energy spectrum and the complex fatigue stress transfer function in detail local model is described next. The stress response of short-term sea-state is assumed to obey Rayleigh distribution, and the spectral moments are calculated. Finally, the fatigue life of key components is analyzed according to S-N curve and Palmgren-Miner’s rule. The results show that the fatigue life of the connection meets the specification requirements, and the key components are the fatigue sensitive areas of semi-submersible platform.

Sensitivity Study of Critical Parameters Influencing the Uncertainty of Fatigue Damage in Steel Catenary Risers

The most challenging aspect of a deepwater development is the riser system, and a cost-effective choice is the Steel Catenary Riser (SCR). Fatigue is often a governing design consideration, and it is usually most critical at the touchdown point (TDP) where static and dynamic bending stresses are highest. Unfortunately, it is also at this region that uncertainty is the maximum. The increased uncertainty casts doubt on the applicability of generic safety factors recommended by design codes, and the most consistent way of ensuring the structural safety of the SCR is to employ a reliability-based approach, which has so far not received attention in SCR design. As the number of basic random variables affects the complexity of a reliability analysis, these variables should be selected with caution. To this end, the aim of this paper is to draw up a comprehensive list of design parameters that may contribute meaningfully to the uncertainty of the fatigue damage. From this list, several parameters are selected for sensitivity studies using the commercial package Orcaflex. It is found that variations in seabed parameters such as soil stiffness, soil suction and seabed trench can have a pronounced influence on the uncertainty of the fatigue damage at the touchdown point.

The Bayesian Networks Applied to a Steering Gear System Fault Diagnostics

In this paper it is presented a brief description of a method that consists in using Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) created by converting Fault Trees (FT) to determine the most probable causes of a failure in a system given some evidence through observation. In addition, it is presented an example based on the steering gear system of a containership focusing on the cases in which the vessel is operating in restricted waters or performing the procedure for mooring/unmooring. The steering gear system was chosen due to its importance to restricted water navigation and to the mooring operation. The system must be completely available for these situations; otherwise, the ship security and the crew safety are implicated.

Collision Character Research for Semi-Submersible Through Model Test, Simplified Analytical and Numerical Simulation Method

The characters of the collision scenario when a semi-submersible is struck by a containership are studied in this paper, through the model test, simplified analytical method and numerical simulation. The model test is conducted in the Deepwater Offshore Basin in Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Two special devices are designed to fulfill the model test. One is Ship Launching Device, simplified as SLD, who can launch the striking ship with controllable velocity and in any horizontal direction. The other is Energy Absorbing Device, simplified as EAD, who can simulate the buffer effect of the column structure and collect the collision force as well. A numerical simulation is completed to get the approximate stiffness of the column structure, which is used to adjust the property of EAD. The motions of semi-submersible are obtained, and the collision force and the tension forces of mooring lines are also got. Collision scenario characters for semi-motion and tension force are summarized by the analysis of the model test results. The second collision phenomenon is observed. The collision force dominates the collision moment and the tension force of the mooring lines lags behind. A NTNU in-house program developed by analytical simplified method is also verified by the model test result. The comparison proves the feasibility of the program.

Probabilistic Assessment of the Clashing Between Flexible Marine Risers

Flexible marine risers are compliant to external forces from waves, current and platform motions, and clashing between risers is an important concern. In deepwater developments where the number of connected risers is large, it is not economical to space them too far apart. In this regard, it is necessary to establish the probability of riser clashing throughout the service life; however, at present there appears to be no systematic procedure for assessing this risk. This paper presents a novel procedure for estimating the probability of riser clashing based on post-processing results obtained from time domain simulations of flexible risers subjected to random wave loads. First, an efficient technique is employed to sieve out critical pairs among riser elements. From these element pairs, the time history of a normalized clearance parameter is derived from the nodal displacements of the elements. Subsequently, the mean up-crossing rate of this parameter is extracted and extrapolated to the threshold of clashing using extreme value theory. As this method is still in its early developmental stage, critical effects such as vortex-induced vibrations and wake interference will not be considered in the present work.

Computing Methods and Application Development of Longitudinal Strength of Damaged Ships

In this paper, it starts by providing a description of the scenarios of damages that can be found in the various accidental events. Based on a traditional standardized approach for calculating longitudinal strength of ships, an improved method for longitudinal strength of damaged ships, which can be applied to any traditional type of ships, is presented in next section. The variation of loads in damaged ships is related to the effects of the ingress of water with the consequences of changing the ship displacement, a non-symmetric floating body, and the load case of compartments before damage, etc. The computing methods used in this paper allow for research on corresponding applications. Using this computer program, a few case studies are carried out and the results are discussed.

Computational Modeling of Interaction Between Actions and Action Effects of FPSO Topside Structures Subject to Jet Fire

This paper presents a computational modeling of accidental fire actions on the topside structures of a floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit. According to the assumed scenario, the accident results in a jet fire, which loads the structure by temperature increments and pressures generation on their exposed surfaces. Temperature distributions were obtained by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, using the ANSYS CFX commercial code. The temperature versus time histories computed were first approximated (idealized) by smoother curves, based on fewer time-points, while retaining the maximum and minimum values. A similar procedure was also followed for the pressure variations. For the consequence (action effect) analysis the LSDYNA nonlinear finite element program was employed and the structures were modeled using shell finite elements with nonlinear (elastic-thermal plastic) constitutive relations. On the structure surfaces non coinciding grids were used for the two kinds of analyses (i.e., the CFD and FEM), in order to accommodate the diverse requirements of the different problems. The procedure of assignment the pressure and temperature loadings directly from the CFD results to the FEM model is described and representative results are given through the application of the methodology to a sample problem.