Polyester mooring for the Mad Dog spar—design issues and other considerations

The Mad dog project will use a polyester mooring system on the drilling and production truss spar. This will be the first use of a permanent polyester mooring system on a Floating Production System (FPS) outside of Brazil and the first time polyester has been used on a spar. As such, there were many challenges, which include:

• Regulatory approval.

• Designing a mooring system which is dominated by current loadings.

• Largest polyester rope break load ever required.

• Rope design qualification and testing.

• Quality control and assurance.

• Inspection, Maintenance, Repair and Retirement (IMRR) of such a mooring system.

This paper will focus on the design issues, rope design, manufacturing, qualification and testing, and the IMRR plan that was developed to provide the assurance that the polyester mooring system could be safely operated over the 20-year field life.     

The regional approach to the ocean, the ocean regions, and ocean regionalisation—a post-modern dilemma

Essentially, this paper aims at considering how the ocean regionalisation may be implemented focusing on the principle of sustainable development, on the subsequent criteria designed by the inter-governmental organisation framework, and on the approaches from the scientific literature. In this respect, a model is proposed, according to which two main stages are identified: (i) the stage of the modern approach to the ocean, which was operated by the modern society and was supported by the culture of modernity; (ii) the stage of the post-modern approach, which has been triggered by the converging inputs from the changes in society and nature. The watershed between these two stages may be located in the 1970s. The investigation may be carried out considering a triangular relationship between (i) the changing ocean reality (ontological dimension), (ii) the representation of this reality (semiological dimension), and (iii) the building up of signified, consisting in theories, meta-theories and values (epistemological and ethical dimensions). In this framework, special relevance is attributed to the interaction between science and policy.Moving from this basis, how ocean regionalisation had been conceived by oceanography, geography and law is considered focusing on the implications that have arisen in terms of ocean management. Analysis is essentially focused on three questions: (i) how much the conceptual implications of the approach to the ocean regional scale have been underestimated, and how ample the political consequences have been; (ii) why the political designs referring to this spatial scale of the ocean, which have been carrying out since the 1970s, have been marked by a lack of consistency of the legal framework with the prospect of operating sustainable management programmes; (iii) whether, and what kind of, discrepancy has solidified between the legal framework, provided by the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the ecosystem-oriented approach to the ocean, designed by the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).These considerations lead to identify three cardinal needs. First, the need to try lessons from the Regional Seas Programme of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) by carrying out a critical analysis of the conceptual background and methodological endowment which it was based on, and of the subsequent political outcomes. Secondly, an increasing need for scientific approaches supported by the consideration of the ocean as a bi-modular system consisting in ecosystems and organisational patterns, being both modules subject to the impacts from global change and globalisation. Thirdly, a need to design and operate a more effective interaction between science and policy, and, as far as science in itself is concerned, the need to design a more epistemologically-sound interaction between natural and social disciplines.Moving from this discussion, it is proposed to distinguish the mere ocean area, where the organisational patterns have not yet created a real ocean system, from the ocean region, which differently has acquired the features of an ocean system. These two kinds of spaces may be found in the coastal milieu, extending up to the outer edge of the continental margin, in the deep-ocean, extending seawards from the continental margin, or they may extend across the continental margin and the deep-ocean. Where it is agreed that ocean reality may evolve on the basis of these two reference patterns, the following sequence of conceptual mises-au-point and statements may be considered.

• The ocean area—This kind of ocean space may solidify in those areas where the ocean is frequented and used in the traditional ways without benefiting from a well-designed organisational pattern. Human presence and resource uses have brought about spatial differentiation but not such a real cohesion which may be only achieved by adopting an organisational plan.

• The ocean region—This occurs only where an ocean area is endowed with such an organisational framework that allows the pursuit of clearly pre-determined objectives in terms of environmental, resource management, and economic development. This is the product of an extensive human interaction with the ocean ecosystem, and of a substantial political approach to the ocean milieu.

Where it is agreed that ocean reality may evolve on the basis of these two reference patterns, the following sequence of conceptual mises-au-point and statements may be considered:

• The ocean region and regional strategy—At the present time, ocean regions may be found only in quite limited parts of the ocean world.

• The final objective—Where the decision-making centres conform their programmes and actions to the principles and guidelines from UNCED, the objective of each ocean region should be the pursuit of sustainable development on the regional scale.

• Sustainable region—This occurs where the regional organisation is primarily based on the protection of the ecosystem integrity, where economic development operates through the optimisation of resource usage, and where social equity, including the access to the natural and cultural heritage of the ocean environment, is guaranteed.

• Ocean regionalisation—When an individual ocean is subject to the organisational forces that lead to the creation of regions, it can be stated that an ocean regionalisation has occurred.

• Global change—Ocean regionalisation should be viewed as one of the most important consequences of the global, environmental and social change that characterises the present phase of society.

• Globalisation—The setting up of a transport and communication global network, together with the associated establishment of global production and consume patterns, of market strategies and social behaviour, may be regarded as the cardinal set of socio-economic factors, which ocean regionalisation is going to increasingly depend on.

• Enlargement of the geographical approach—The development of ocean regions encourages to set up effective inter-disciplinary approaches, that primarily should focus on: (i) the consistency of the regional organisation with the regional objectives; (ii) the consistency of the ocean resource use with the protection of the ecosystem, primarily the safeguard of its biodiversity, productivity and resilience; and (iii) the configuration and functions of the decision-making system in guiding regional organisation.

• Ocean region and ecosystem—The most desirable conditions in terms of optimal ocean organisation on the regional scale occur where the spatial extent of the ocean, which is encompassed by an individual regional management programme, fully coincides with the spatial extent of an ocean ecosystem, or with a set of contiguous ecosystems.

• Decision-making systems—The more the co-operative process between decision-making systems operating in contiguous ocean regions develops, the greater the potential for a holistic political approach to the oceans becomes. The spatial consequences deriving from the interaction between the decision-making centres are of peculiar interest.

Video cathodoluminescence microscopy of diagenetic cements and its applications

Diagenetic studies of sedimentary rocks using cold cathodoluminescence (CL) microscopy have been severely limited because of the very low intensity of visible luminescent emissions, which required long photographic exposure times, and because of the difficulty in obtaining quantitative data from CL observations. The solution to this problem is to fit the microscope with a high-sensitivity digital colour video camera linked to a computer with image enhancement and image analysis software. The new technique described in this paper:

• produces digital CL images of consistent high quality, both quickly and cheaply;

• controls the capture and editing of CL images, to reveal detailed textural information even from minerals exhibiting low level luminescence such as quartz;

• acquires quantitative information on pore systems and the abundance of cement zones from CL images.

Examples are presented to demonstrate the high quality of images produced in this way and the range of uses to which the new technique can be applied. The ability to image exactly the same field of view in both plane polarised light and CL is a particular advantage. Image analysis techniques have been developed to give a statistical characterisation of both pore systems and cement phases that infill them. The abundance of contrasting cement zones seen in CL can be measured and the abundance of cement phases can be mapped across a reservoir. The history of porosity occlusion can be reconstructed quantitatively and integrated with burial history and hydrocarbon migration. Porosity can be measured accurately and, since the technique obtains data on pore geometry as well as abundance, the pore system can be characterised by pore size distributions and pseudo-capillary pressure curves. This also opens the possibility of estimating permeability from thin sections.     

The response of a hydrofoil to wave orbital velocity fields

For study purposes, a simplified model of a hydrofoil craft is constructed with the assumption that it has:

• heave only motion;

• no surface proximity effect on the foil;

• no foil broaching.

It is then shown that a fully submerged hydrofoil, mounted at the bottom of rigid struts, can transmit large vertical force fluctuations to the hull, even in an idealized sinusoidal seaway because of the orbital velocity field in the water. But if the foil support struts are hinged, inclined aft and resiliently supported, so that the hydrofoil can swing about the strut's pivot in response to the changes in local water velocity, then the vertical accelerations transmitted to the hull are reduced. The more the strut is inclined to the vertical, the smaller are the accelerations transmitted to the hull. A hinged strut whose equilibrium angle (for 1 g) is 60° to the vertical can reduce the vertical accelerations by an order of magnitude. It also has two other practical advantages. The strut(s) and foil will ride up towards horizontal during the rare but inevitable impacts with large marine objects (such as whales or flotsam) and during groundings. And when they encounter a region of water moving rapidly downward (which can cause a conventional fully submerged hydrofoil to experience a violent hull impact on the water) they move in such a way as to maintain a roughly constant lift force on the hull, so that there is negligible hull motion in heave.     

Cross-shore separation of adult and juvenile euphausiids in a shelf-break alongshore current

Euphausiids are an important component of the zooplankton in boundary current upwelling regions, including the Pacific Northwest continental margin. Many aspects of euphausiid distribution and ecology in this region are well known. However, some features of their spatial and temporal distribution are less understood:

• How and why euphausiids aggregate near the shelf-break upwelling center.

• How and why there is (within an alongshore band of high abundance of all stages) spatial segregation of adults and larvae.

• Why, despite spatial association with upwelling, euphausiid abundance off Vancouver Island is weakly or negatively correlated at interannual time scales with upwelling intensity.

To address these, we made km-resolution surveys of adult, juvenile, and larval euphausiid horizontal distributions, water properties, and currents across the Vancouver Island shelf break in mid-to-late spring of two successive years. Survey timing was before (1997) and after (1998) the spring transition to upwelling conditions, and near the annual spring reproductive peak. In both years, early developmental stages occupied an alongshore band that was offset from the late juveniles and adults. The direction of the offset differed between the two surveys. Early life history stages (larvae and early juveniles) were shoreward of adults in April 1997 (downwelling-conditions), but seaward of adults in May 1998 (upwelling-conditions). Separation distance (order 5–10 km) was consistent with expected differences in cumulative wind-driven (and vertically-sheared) cross-shore transport of surface-dwelling larvae and early juveniles vs. transport of diel migratory late juveniles and adults. Separation direction was consistent with recent history of winds and Ekman transport—shoreward during poleward winds, and seaward into blue water (and usually into a strong equatorward current) during equatorward winds.     

A prediction technique for the transverse vortex-induced oscillations of tensioned risers

In this paper, a model for the prediction of the vortex-induced transverse oscillations of tensioned risers is proposed.The model, based on the peak amplitudes of the oscillations recorded for cylindrical bodies in a uniform current, has been extended to multimodal oscillations in a sheared flow condition through a modal priority technique. The difference between this model and other similar ones lies in the following features:

the hydrodynamic damping, which has been introduced in a more general form without ‘a priori’ approximations;

the modal priority, which is based on the local amplitudes of the active vibration modes, rather than on their frequencies.

Some comparisons with experimental and numerical results available in the literature are presented and discussed.     

Impact of El Niño events and climate regime shift on living resources in the western North Pacific

Features of El Niño events and their biological impacts in the western North Pacific are reviewed, focusing on interactions between ENSO and the East Asian monsoon. Impacts of El Niño on the climate in the Far East become evident as ‘cool summers and warm winters’. Effects of climate regime shift on ENSO activities, western boundary currents and upper-ocean stratification, as well as their biological consequences are summarized. These have been:

1. In the western equatorial Pacific, an eastward extension of the warm pool associated with El Niño events induces an eastward shift of main fishing grounds of skip jack and big eye tunas.

2. The surface salinity front in the North Equatorial Current region retreats southward, associated with El Niño events. This leads to a southward shift of the spawning ground of Japanese eel, which is responsible for a reduction in the transport of the larval eels to the Kuroshio and Japanese coastal region, causing poor recruitment.

3. Intensification of winter cooling and vertical mixing associated with La Niña (El Niño) events in the northern subtropical region of the western (central) North Pacific reduces surface chlorophyll concentration levels and larval feeding condition for both Japanese sardines and the autumn cohort of Neon squid during winter–early spring. The semi-decadal scale calm winter that occurred during the early 1970s triggered the first sharp increase of sardine stock around Japan.

4. A remarkable weakening of southward intrusion of the Oyashio off the east coast of Japan during 1988–91, resulted in a decrease in chlorophyll concentrations and mesozooplankton biomass in late spring–early summer of the Kuroshio-Oyashio transition region. Changes occurred in the dominant species of small pelagic fish, through successive recruitment failures of Japanese sardine.

半潜式支持平台系泊系统的设计方法及应用

系泊系统是半潜式支持平台抵抗恶劣海洋环境作用、限制平台偏移、实现海上定位的重要设备，辐射状多点系泊是常用的布置方式。针对该平台系泊系统开展了设计方法和分析流程研究，阐述了系泊系统配置设计，包括系泊缆的数量、抛出长度、单根系泊缆的刚度、直径、破断负荷、定位锚的型式、最大抓力等；系泊系统的布置设计，包括系泊缆之间的水平夹角、系泊绞车、导缆器、定位锚的位置等；同时归纳风载荷、流载荷以及波浪慢漂载荷的常用估算方法；总结适用于该类平台系泊系统设计的规范要求。将上述方法和流程应用于某型半潜式支持平台系泊系统的开发和设计，采用系泊定位分析程序MIMOSA对该系统的定位能力进行分析，研究了系泊缆形状、夹角等参数随张力的变化特征，同时系泊缆按照船级社的规范要求进行衡准，反复调整和优化系泊系统的配置和布置方式，直至系泊系统满足要求，最终设计出较合适的系泊系统。相关方法、流程和结论为实际工程项目提供重要的设计思路。     

Effect of Failure Mode of Taut Mooring System on the Dynamic Response of A Semi-Submersible Platform

Mooring system failure can lead to largely different dynamic response of floating structures when compared to the response under the condition of intact mooring system. For a semi-submersible platform with taut mooring system under extreme environmental conditions, the typical mooring system failure includes anchor line breaking failure due to the broken anchor line, and the anchor dragging failure caused by the anchor failure in the seabed soil due to the shortage of the anchor bearing capacity. However, study on the mooring failure caused by anchor failure is rare. The current work investigates the effect of three failure modes of taut mooring system on dynamic response of a semi-submersible platform, including one line breaking failure, two lines breaking failure, and one line breaking with one line attached anchor dragging failure. The nonlinear polynomial mooring line model in AQWA was used with integrating the load and displacement curve from the anchor pulling study to characterize the anchor dragging behavior for mooring system failure caused by the anchor failure. The offsets of the platform and the tension of mooring lines were analyzed for mooring system failure with 100-year return period. It is found that the mooring failure of one line breaking with one line attached anchor dragging is a case between the other two mooring failures. The traditional mooring analysis considering only the damaged condition with one line breaking is not safe enough. And the simple way of mooring analysis of two lines breaking is too conservative for the costly offshore engineering.

     

海洋平台抛锚方式模糊优化设计方法

海上钻井平台由于工作地点经常发生变化,工作环境条件随之改变,锚泊抛锚方式就要相应更改。本文针对深海半潜平台及其悬链线式系泊定位系统,运用平台与锚链耦合运动时域分析方法,对其水动力性能进行探索,并提出一种运用模糊算法计算平台抛锚方式优化设计方法,此方法可使钻井平台在风暴自存工况和钻井工作工况下更快更好地找到最佳抛锚方式。以一典型的半潜式钻井平台为例进行数值模拟,结果表明本文提出的方法是可行的,能够很方便地找到比较好的抛锚方式来满足相关要求。这种锚泊优化设计方法可为平台及其系泊系统设计提供参考。     

Altimeter-derived surface circulation in the large–scale NE Pacific Gyres. : Part 1. seasonal variability

The seasonal variability of sea surface height (SSH) and currents are defined by analysis of altimeter data in the NE Pacific Ocean over the region from Central America to the Alaska Gyre. The results help to clarify questions about the timing of seasonal maxima in the boundary currents. As explained below, the long-term temporal mean of the SSH values must be removed at each spatial point to remove the temporally invariant (and large) signal caused by the marine geoid. We refer to the resulting SSH values, which contain all of the temporal variations, as the ‘residual’ SSH. Our main findings are:

1. The maximum surface velocities around the boundaries of the cyclonic Alaska Gyre (the Alaska Current and the Alaska Stream) occur in winter, at the same time that the equatorward California Current is weakest or reversed (forming the poleward Davidson Current); the maximum surface velocities in the California Current occur in summer. These seasonal maxima are coincident with the large-scale atmospheric wind forcing over each region.

2. Most of the seasonal variability occurs as strong residuals in alongshore surface currents around the boundaries of the NE Pacific basin, directly connecting the boundaries of the subpolar gyre, the subtropical gyre and the Equatorial Current System.

3. Seasonal variability in the surface velocities of the eastward North Pacific Current (West Wind Drift) is weak in comparison to seasonal changes in the surface currents along the boundaries.

4. There is an initial appearance next to the coast and offshore migration of seasonal highs and lows in SSH, alongshore velocity and eddy kinetic energy (EKE) in the Alaska Gyre, similar to the previously-described seasonal offshore migration in the California Current.

5. The seasonal development of high SSH and poleward current residuals next to the coast appear first off Central America and mainland Mexico in May–June, prior to their appearance in the southern part of the California Current in July–August and their eventual spread around the entire basin in November–December. Similarly, low SSH and equatorward transport residuals appear first off Central America and Mexico in January–February before spreading farther north in spring and summer.

6. The maximum values of EKE occur when each of the boundary currents are maximum.

半潜式起重平台系泊系统设计与优化研究

近年来,国内兴起了大力发展半潜式起重平台的势头,系泊系统的设计与优化是该类型平台开发中的关键问题之一。采用时域方法对半潜式起重平台系泊系统进行耦合动力分析,研究系泊系统主要参数对其动力响应特性的影响,并给出主要参数的设计优化流程,在此基础上,以能够满足安全校核且性能较优的系泊方案为目标,对该半潜式起重平台的系泊系统进行优化设计,并研究单根系泊缆发生破断对整个系泊系统的影响。结果表明:基于主要参数对系泊性能的影响规律,经优化设计得到的系泊方案,预留的安全欲度适中,能够保障半潜式起重平台在恶劣海况下的生存能力,同时具备较好的经济性。     

Long-term response analysis of FPSO mooring systems

The design of mooring systems for floating production units usually considers extreme environmental conditions as a primary design parameter. However, in the case of FPSO (Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading) units, the worst response for the mooring system may be associated with other sea state conditions due to the fact that its extreme response may be associated with a resonant period instead of an extreme wave height. The best way to deal with this problem is by performing long-term analysis in order to obtain extreme response estimates. This procedure is computationally very demanding, since many short-term environmental conditions, and their associated stochastic nonlinear time domain numerical simulations of the mooring lines, are required to obtain such estimates. A simplified approach for the long-term analysis is the environmental contour-line design approach. In this paper a Monte Carlo-based integration procedure combined with an interpolation scheme to obtain the parameters of the short-term response distribution is employed to hasten the long-term analysis. Numerical simulations are carried out for an FPSO at three different locations considering a North Sea joint probability distribution for the environmental parameters. The long-term analysis results are compared against those obtained using extreme environmental conditions and environmental contour-line methodology. These results represent the characteristic load effect for the design of mooring systems of floating units using the reliability analysis for mooring line. The results show that the long-term results are usually more critical than those obtained with the other approaches and even different mooring lines can be identified as the critical ones.     

半潜式钻井平台复合锚泊系统组分配比优化设计

从提高锚泊系统收放时效性入手,提出了一种半潜式钻井平台复合式锚泊系统组分配比优化设计方法,旨在尽可能降低复合式锚泊系统的钢链配比长度,提高收放效率。结合锚泊系统设计参数,制定优化设计准则,建立优化分析流程,采用ANSYS-AQWA建立锚泊定位半潜式平台水动力分析模型,获得平台运动参数和锚链动力参数,对平台漂移量、锚链最小安全系数、走锚临界张力、锚链最小卧底长度和起锚力进行无量纲指标分析,并综合考虑张力倾角与预张力对优化结果的影响,获得复合式锚泊系统钢链与钢缆的最优配比关系,确定最优钢链长度为395 m,较原钢链长度缩短225 m,钢链收放时间降低36%,进一步提高锚泊系统收放时效性,并降低平台可变荷载。     

深水圆筒型钻井平台张紧式系泊系统设计

基于我国南海海域环境条件,对一座深水圆筒型钻井平台设计一套张紧式系泊定位系统,利用SESAM软件对平台运动响应和缆索张力进行分析计算,得到主要运动响应为纵荡、纵摇和垂荡。分别考虑0°和180°的环境载荷方向,对比得到0°方向的缆索张力更大,且6号和7号缆承受了主要的环境力。分析了平台运动的影响因素,认为缆索夹角设定为35°时较优,适度增大系泊缆初始长度和减小两端锚链长度可较为有效地降低系泊缆受力,系泊缆总根数保持12时（4根×3组）为最优方案。根据分析结果对初始系泊方案进行了优化,在风暴工况下系泊缆最大受力减小了约14.8%。钻井作业工况和一根系泊缆破断工况下,系泊缆受力和平台位移均能满足规范要求。     

混合模型试验等效水深截断系统优化设计研究

进行了深海海洋平台混合模型等效水深截断系统优化设计试验研究,优化方法选用混合离散变量模拟退火法,目标函数为截断系统和原系统的静力特性相似程度。以一个转塔式系泊浮式生产系统为例进行了等效水深截断系统优化设计计算。     

浸没式可移动外输终端系泊系统优化研究

我国的边际油田大多年产量小且开发年限短，周围没有可依托设施的油田。针对此情况，可采用“蜜蜂式”开发模式。针对浸没式可移动外输终端这一新型概念设计，选取关键工况开展了时域耦合分析，研究了系泊系统参数对可移动外输终端最大水平位移和系泊缆最大张力的影响。以可移动外输终端最大水平位移和系泊缆最大张力最小为优化目标，以系泊缆结构安全为约束条件，构建了系泊系统多目标优化模型。分别建立了基于NSGA-Ⅱ和多目标粒子群算法的系泊系统优化框架，并应用这两种算法对系泊系统进行了优化设计。结果表明，NSGA-Ⅱ和多目标粒子群算法均可以解决系泊系统多目标优化问题，粒子群算法优化速度快，但通过NSGA-Ⅱ得到的Pareto前沿优化性能更好，因此更适合开展浸没式可移动外输终端的系泊系统优化。     

Response-based method for determining the extreme behaviour of floating offshore platforms

The accurate prediction of extreme excursion and mooring force of floating offshore structures due to multi-variete environmental conditions which requires the joint probability analysis of environmental conditions for the worst case situation is still impractical as the processing of large amount of met-ocean data is required. On the other hand, the simplified multiple design criteria (e.g. the N-year wave with associated winds and currents) recommended by API known as traditional method does lead neither to the N-year platform response nor to the N-year mooring force. Therefore, in order to reduce the level of conservatism as well as uncertainties involved in the traditional method the response-based method can be used as a reliable alternative approach. In this paper this method is described. In order to perform the calculations faster using large databases of sea states, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) is designed and employed. In the paper the response-based method is applied to a 200,000 tdw FPSO and the results are discussed.     

Dynamic Analysis of Semi-Submersible Production Platform Under the Failure of Mooring Lines

This paper quantitatively studies the transient dynamic response of a semi-submersible production platform with the loss of one or several positioning mooring lines.A semi-submersible platform,production risers,and positioning mooring lines are all included in the numerical simulation.Increased motion of the semi-submersible platform,tension variation of the remaining mooring lines/risers and the risk of mooring line or riser clashing are all investigated through fully coupled time-domain analysis.Combined environmental loads are selected from irregular waves and the steady current varying from very rough to extreme sea conditions.Three dimension radiation/diffraction theories and Morison’s equation are applied to calculate first-order wave force and second-order mean drift force of floating semi-submersible platform.Nonlinear time-domain finite element methods are employed to analyze the behavior of mooring lines and risers.Results show that the failure of mooring lines seriously reduce the platform’s stability performance.The tension of the rest lines is also increased accordingly.Remaining lines which are closer to the failed lines will have larger tension increase to compensate.Line-Line distance provides practical information for the risk of clashing investigation.