Failure Analysis of the Tripping Operation and its Impact on Well Control

As the cost of drilling and completion of offshore well is soaring, efforts are required for better well planning. Safety is to be given the highest priority over all other aspects of well planning. Among different element of drilling, well control is one of the most critical components for the safety of the operation, employees and the environment. Primary well control is ensured by keeping the hydrostatic pressure of the mud above the pore pressure across an open hole section. A loss of well control implies an influx of formation fluid into the wellbore which can culminate to a blowout if uncontrollable. Among the factors that contribute to a blowout are: stuck pipe, casing failure, swabbing, cementing, equipment failure and drilling into other well. Swabbing often occurs during tripping out of an open hole. In this study, investigations of the effects of tripping operation on primary well control are conducted. Failure scenarios of tripping operations in conventional overbalanced drilling and managed pressure drilling are studied using fault tree analysis. These scenarios are subsequently mapped into Bayesian Networks to overcome fault tree modelling limitations such s dependability assessment and common cause failure. The analysis of the BN models identified RCD failure, BHP reduction due to insufficient mud density and lost circulation, DAPC integrated control system, DAPC choke manifold, DAPC back pressure pump, and human error as critical elements in the loss of well control through tripping out operation.

Efficient Simulation Method to Predict Green Water Loads on Superstructures

The numerical prediction of green water loads on super-structures is challenging due to the high number of required calculations to identify the critical operational conditions in the seaway which lead to overcoming seawater on deck. Further, the simulation of the non-linear behaviour of water on the deck and the prediction of impact loads require high computational effort. This paper presents an efficient three-step approach to simulate green water loads. The application of the developed procedure will be demonstrated on a mega yacht geometry.

Development of Operational Limit Diagrams for Offshore Lifting Procedures

Lifting operations with offshore cranes are fundamental for proper functioning of a platform. Despite the great technological development, offshore cranes load charts only consider the significant wave height as parameter of environmental load, neglecting wave period, which may lead to unsafe or overestimated lifting operations. This paper aims to develop a method to design offshore crane operational limit diagrams for lifting of personnel and usual loads, in function of significant wave height and wave peak period, using time domain dynamic analysis, for a crane installed on a floating unit. The lifting of personnel with crane to transfer between a floating unit and a support vessel is a very used option in offshore operations, and this is in many cases, the only alternative beyond the helicopter. Due to recent fatal accidents with lifting operations in offshore platforms, it is essential the study about this subject, contributing to the increase of safety. The sea states for analysis were chosen covering usual significant wave heights and peak periods limits for lifting operations. The methodology used the SITUA / Prosim software to obtain the dynamic responses of the personnel transfer basket lifting and container loads on a typical FPSO. Through program developed by the author, it was implemented the automatic generation of diagrams as a function of operational limits. It is concluded that using this methodology, it is possible to achieve greater efficiency in the design and execution of personnel and routine load lifting, increasing safety and a wider weather window available.

A Voxel-Based Numerical Method for Computing and Visualising the Workspace of Offshore Cranes

Workspace computation and visualisation is one of the most important criteria in offshore crane design in terms of geometry dimensioning, installation feasibility and operational performance evaluation. This paper presents a numerical method for the computation and visualisation of the workspace of offshore cranes. The Working Load Limit (WLL) and the Safe Working Load (SWL) can be automatically determined. A three-dimensional (3D) rectangular grid of voxels is used to describe the properties of the workspace. Firstly, a number of joint configurations are generated by using the Monte Carlo method, which are then mapped from joint to Cartesian space using forward kinematics (FK). The bounding box of the workspace is then derived from these points, and the voxels are distributed on planes inside the box. The method distinguishes voxels by whether they are reachable and if they are on the workspace boundary. The output of the method is an approximation of the workspace volume and point clouds depicting both the reachable space and the boundary of the workspace. Using a third-party software that can work with point clouds, such like MeshLab, a 3D mesh of the workspace can be obtained. A more in-depth description and the pseudo-code of the presented method are presented. As a case study, the workspace of a common type of offshore crane, with three rotational joints, is computed with the proposed method.

Mooring Analysis of a Turret Moored FPSO in a Squall Environment

The transient dynamic response of a FPSO in a squall environment is dependent on several input parameters. Because the response’s dependence on these input parameters is unclear prior to performing the analysis, a large number of parameter combinations need to be considered to find the combination that gives a worst-case load or response as required by reference [1]. Because the required time-domain simulations are computationally intensive, there is often a practical need to limit the number of simulations that are performed, raising questions about how many are necessary to meet the analysis objectives. This study investigates the effect of different squall scenarios on a turret moored FPSO in the West African offshore environment. A large number of cases with selected vessel headings, squall types, squall approach directions and vessel drafts are studied and parameters affecting the critical mooring loads and turret positions are identified. Possible reductions in the load case matrix along with a sensitivity study of a few parameters affecting the results are also discussed.

Estimation of Fluctuating Propeller Torque of Full-Scale Ship Using Free-Running Model in Waves

The authors propose a method to estimate full-scale propeller torque consisting of low-frequency and high-frequency components in waves using measured data of free-running model ship. The duct fan auxiliary thruster (DFAT) [1] and the rudder-effectiveness and speed correction (RSC) [2,3] ensure similar model ship motion to full-scale in external forces, where RSC controls the model ship propeller rate of revolution and the auxiliary thrust depending on measured model ship speed. Analyzing a fluctuating component of effective inflow velocity to propeller due to waves, the method estimates full-scale fluctuating propeller torque in waves. This method also makes it possible to adopt into free-running model ship tests any engine model simulating interaction between propeller torque and engine torque. Trial application of the method exemplifies the property of full-scale fluctuating propeller torque comparing with that of model ship.

A Time-Domain Boundary Elements Method Applied to Multi-Body Simulations With Large Relative Displacements

This paper presents a time domain boundary elements method that accounts for relative displacements between two bodies subjected to incoming waves. The numerical method solves the boundary value problem together with a re-meshing scheme that defines new free surface panel meshes as the bodies displace from their original positions and a higher order interpolation algorithm used to determine the wave elevation and the velocity potential distribution on new free surface collocation points. Numerical solutions of exciting forces and wave elevations are compared to data obtained in a fundamental experimental text carried out with two identical circular section cylinders, in which one was attached to a load cell and the other was forced to move horizontally with a large amplitude oscillatory motion under different velocities. The comparison of numerical and experimental result presents a good agreement.

An Investigation on Turbulence Assessment Methods for the Offshore Helideck Availability Study

The aim of this study is to investigate methods of assessing the turbulence effect for the helideck availability study. Due to the limited space on offshore platforms, a helideck is normally positioned on cramped areas and this makes turbulence flows around the helideck. CAP 437, the representative standard for the offshore helideck design suggests various criteria for the helideck availability assessment and recommends a Standard Deviation of Vertical airflow Velocity (SDVV) value to be used for the turbulence effect assessment. Although there is a specific value of SDVV recommended in CAP 437, different interpretations are possible in the calculation of the value resulting in totally different assessment outcomes even under the same analysis condition. In this study, two different approaches are investigated and their results are compared. One approach is based on the spatial variation of the mean vertical velocity while the other utilizes the Turbulence Kinetic Energy (TKE) value from the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation. With a CFD tool, Kamelon FireEX (KFX), a couple of 3-dimensional simulations is performed and turbulence flows around an offshore semi-rig are obtained. SDVV values are calculated using both approaches and compared each other as well as with criteria recommended in CAP 437. It is hoped that the result of this study is helpful to engineers for understanding evaluation methods of turbulence effects in the helideck availability assessment.

Experimental Investigation of the Stick-Slip Phenomena of the Drill Pipe

The stick-slip is one of the critical problems for the scientific drilling, because it causes a crushing of the sampled layer. The present study investigates the characteristics of stick-slip phenomena of the drill pipe with the model experiments and numerical methods. The model experiments are carried out using a 1m length drill pipe model made with the Teflon. The angular velocity at the top and the bottom of the pipe are measured with the gyro sensor on some conditions of rotating speed at the pipe top and the weight on bit (load at the pipe bottom). The numerical simulations are also carried out to reproduce the stick-slip phenomena of the model experiments. The stick-slip is a kind of torsional vibration which is governed by the convection equation. By considering the boundary condition at the top and bottom of the pipe, we can obtain a neutral delayed differential equation (NDDE). The solutions of the NDDE is depend on not the initial value but the initial history of the solution, because NDDE contains a delayed function term. Therefore, it should be solved carefully to avoid the numerical error. The NDDE is solved with the 4th order Runge-Kutta scheme with very small time increment until the truncation error could be neglected. And also, we have found out that the effect of the initial history on the solution become to be very small after a certain period of time. The experimental results are compared with the numerical results under the same rotating condition. The experimental results of the stick-slip suggest that the period of the slip is mainly depend on the rotation speed at the pipe top and the magnitude of the slip is mainly depend on the weight on bit. Those characteristics of the stick-slip such as the period or the magnitude of slip are also obtained with the numerical calculations. However, in order to obtain an acceptable numerical results of NDDE, we have to adjust the frictional torque acting on the drill bit. Though, the frictional torque model was determined by reference to the measured torque at the top of the drill pipe model in the present study, it is desired to be improved. Therefore, the physical model of the frictional torque on the drill bit should be evaluated much carefully for the precise estimation of the stick slip in the future.