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.     

Numerical analysis on random wave-induced porous seabed response

Research on the response of random wave on offshore structures has received great deal of attention of many researchers and engineers in the design of marine structures. Most previous investigations have been limited to the regular waves. In this paper, based on Longuet–Higgins random wave theory and finite element method, a numerical model for random wave-induced seabed response is established. The seabed is treated as poroelastic medium and characterized by Biot’s partly dynamic equations (u–p model). The JONSWAP spectrum is adopted in Longuet–Higgins model, which is based on the cumulative superposition of linear diffraction solution. Based on the numerical results, the effects of random wave on seabed response are investigated by comparing with the corresponding Stokes wave and cnoidal wave. Then, a parametric study is conducted to examine the effect of wave and soil characteristic on the seabed.     

畸形波作用下半潜式平台波浪爬升与气隙响应特性

半潜平台的波浪爬升与气隙响应是设计过程中的重要考量因素。为探究随机波浪场中畸形波对半潜平台波浪爬升及气隙响应的影响,将含畸形波的随机波浪试验与一般随机波浪试验结果进行了对比研究分析。对模型试验测得的运动以及监测点处的波浪爬升及气隙进行频谱分析以及极值统计分析。研究发现,纵荡和纵摇的极大值主要受畸形波的影响而显著增大,纵荡、垂荡以及纵摇响应谱几乎不受单个畸形波影响;波浪爬升与气隙的极大值受到畸形波的影响而增大,同时,畸形波对气隙响应谱造成极大影响,增强了波浪爬升与气隙响应的非线性性。     

深海立管相互碰撞的响应面法研究

针对深海立管在理想环境和外部水环境中发生碰撞的情况,从立管碰撞最大径向位移和应力峰值两方面展开研究,充分利用ABAQUS仿真得到的数据,基于数值模拟和回归分析,提出四因素三水平的立管碰撞响应面分析方法。采用Design-Expert软件的BOX设计,对立管的非线性碰撞过程中的碰撞应力峰值和最大径向位移等两个试验指标进行回归分析并分别建立二次响应面回归模型。通过将响应面分析所得最优化解与有限元计算结果的对比,最终验证了响应面分析方法及所得模型的准确性。     

Extreme dynamic, non-linear response of fixed platforms using a complete long-term approach

The general theoretical basis for application of the direct long-term approach to offshore structures with non-Gaussian response is outlined. The key to the method is the determination of the short-term response distribution. Special considerations should be taken, depending on the application, and the Weibull distribution with a special fitting procedure is suggested as a short-term probability model for fixed offshore platforms. The efficiency of the method is improved by introducing smoothing functions for the variation of the Weibull parameters with the seastate.

The method is applied to a jacket and jackup platform. The results show that smoothing functions increase the efficiency considerably. The design storm method compares well with the long-term results for the selected structures, but only the long-term approach yields realistic estimates of the design extreme response when both extreme and resonant seastates contribution to the 100-year response.     

不规则波下船舶运动响应特征数值分析

针对不规则波浪作用下Wigley型船的运动响应问题进行了系统的研究,采用统计学方法深入探讨了船舶不规则运动幅值和响应周期的分布规律,并通过傅里叶变换对船舶运动响应进行了频谱特征分析。结果表明,船舶横摇方向与升沉和纵摇方向随机运动的响应特征有显著差异。在升沉与纵摇方向,波浪谱峰频率远离自振频率,前十分之一大振幅运动对应周期离散性较小,基本稳定在波浪谱峰周期附近,但小振幅运动周期分布离散性较大,频谱分析指出船舶升沉与纵摇运动响应频谱在波浪谱峰频率附近出现明显峰值。而在横摇方向,波浪谱峰频率与自振频率相耦合,不同振幅的横摇运动响应周期均稳定在自振周期附近,且周期离散性较小,频谱分析也表明横摇运动响应频谱主要集中于船舶运动自振频率附近。     

Dynamic Stability Analysis of Caisson Breakwater in Lifetime Considering the Annual Frequency of Severe Storm

In the dynamic stability analysis of a caisson breakwater, most of current studies pay attention to the motion characteristics of caisson breakwaters under a single periodical breaking wave excitation. And in the lifetime stability analysis of caisson breakwater, it is assumed that the caisson breakwater suffers storm wave excitation once annually in the design lifetime. However, the number of annual severe storm occurrence is a random variable. In this paper, a series of random waves are generated by the Wen Sheng-chang wave spectrum, and the histories of successive and long-term random wave forces are built up by using the improved Goda wave force model. It is assumed that the number of annual severe storm occurrence is in the Poisson distribution over the 50-year design lifetime, and the history of random wave excitation is generated for each storm by the wave spectrum. The response histories of the caisson breakwater to the random waves over 50-year design lifetime are calculated and taken as a set of samples. On the basis of the Monte Carlo simulation technique, a large number of samples can be obtained, and the probability assessment of the safety of the breakwater during the complete design lifetime is obtained by statistical analysis of a large number of samples. Finally, the procedure of probability assessment of the breakwater safety is illustrated by an example.     

Dynamic Stability Analysis of Caisson Breakwater in Lifetime Considering the Annual Frequency of Severe Storm

In the dynamic stability analysis of a caisson breakwater, most of current studies pay attention to the motion characteristics of caisson breakwaters under a single periodical breaking wave excitation. And in the lifetime stability analysis of caisson breakwater, it is assumed that the caisson breakwater suffers storm wave excitation once annually in the design lifetime. However, the number of annual severe storm occurrence is a random variable. In this paper, a series of random waves are generated by the Wen Sheng-chang wave spectrum, and the histories of successive and long-term random wave forces are built up by using the improved Goda wave force model. It is assumed that the number of annual severe storm occurrence is in the Poisson distribution over the 50-year design lifetime, and the history of random wave excitation is generated for each storm by the wave spectrum. The response histories of the caisson breakwater to the random waves over 50-year design lifetime are calculated and taken as a set of samples. On the basis of the Monte Carlo simulation technique, a large number of samples can be obtained, and the probability assessment of the safety of the breakwater during the complete design lifetime is obtained by statistical analysis of a large number of samples. Finally, the procedure of probability assessment of the breakwater safety is illustrated by an example.     

Earthquake response of sea-based storage tanks

An effective method for the linear analysis of dynamic response of submerged underwater oil storage tanks resting on a horizontal seabed to horizontal earthquake excitations is presented. The tank is axisymmetric in shape, has a flexible wall/roof, and is filled with oil and water. A general hybrid-finite element solution procedure has been formulated, wherein the tank structure, the interior fluids, as well as the near-field of the exterior water region are discretized into a toroidal finite-element network. The tank displacement is calculated as a superposition of the first few modes of the structure's free vibration. Contribution from the hydrodynamic interaction to the coupled motion is obtained by solving the Laplace equation with the appropriate boundary conditions, which includes a matching to the exterior far-field pressure (analytic) representation to simplify the computation process. The effects of fluids surrounding and inside the tank are studied. It is demonstrated that these effects have, in general, a significant impact on the tank earthquake response analysis.A comprehensive and predictive computer program for use in such tank response analysis has been developed for engineering applications.     

Approximate methods in short-term wave response distribution

The design and performance of an offshore structure depends largely upon the response of the structure to the environmental loading such as waves. The extreme response chosen for the design of a structure should meet its lifetime response, operational response as well as the fatigue damage. The failure of the structural member may be caused by the maximum instantaneous stress experienced by the member due to a given environment. This is considered short-term as opposed to long-term or fatigue damage. The short-term response statistics are obtained on the basis of one particular seastate. Since this seastate is invariably high, nonlinearity in the excitation and response of the structure is almost invariably present. The general nonlinear problem in the extreme response prediction is largely unsolved. Response characteristics are often obtained from the perturbation methods and equivalent linearization techniques. Unlike nonlinear problems, these methods greatly simplify the analysis for extreme values. This paper reviews the available approximation techniques in the response computation and the limits of their applicability in a design situation. Results are illustrated so that a designer may evaluate the suitability of a method in a particular design condition.     

Heave response of long riserless drill strings

The sensitivity of heave response predictions for long riserless drill strings hanging from a floating vessel are examined. A general analytical procedure is presented which is suitable for a variety of deepwater pipe systems. The dynamic response behavior is characterized in terms of the dynamic magnification, phase angle and total stress. The examples presented here focus on drill string systems, which vary in length from 9000 ft (2743 m) to 27,000 ft (8230 m) and can include a large package to be lowered to the seafloor. A procedure for evaluating the undamped natural periods and the corresponding mode shapes is presented. The sensitivity of the natural period estimates to hydrodynamic added mass approximations is examined. Numerical results for both design wave and random sea simulations are used to illustrate the sensitivity of the dynamic response in near resonant conditions and the possibility of exciting higher modes for very long riserless drill string systems. Finally, the sensitivity of the displacement predictions to reasonable variations in skin friciton and viscous drag coefficients are presented and discussed.     

Dynamic analysis of a vertical plate exposed to breaking wave impact

From the experimental studies in recent years, it has become known that when a wave breaks directly on a vertical faced coastal structure, high magnitude impact pressures are produced. The theoretical and experimental studies show that the dynamic response of such structures under wave impact loading is closely dependent on the magnitude and duration of the load history. The dynamic analysis and design of a coastal structure can be succeeded provided the design load history for the wave impact is available. Since these types of data are very scarce, it is much more convenient to follow a method which is based on static analysis for the dynamic design procedure. Therefore, to facilitate the dynamic design of a vertical plate that is exposed to breaking wave impact, a multiplication factor called “dynamic magnification factor” is herein presented which is defined as the ratio of the maximum value of the dynamic response to that found by static analysis. The computational results of the present study show that the dynamic magnification factor is a useful ratio to transfer the results of static analysis to the dynamic design of a coastal plate for the maximum impact pressure conditions of p_max/γH₀≤18.     

Neural networks in the dynamic response analysis of slender marine structures

Risers and anchor lines play important roles in offshore oil exploitation activities nowadays. For this reason the proper analysis and design of such slender structures has been of a paramount interest. The principal characteristics to be accounted for in riser and mooring line analysis are the severe nonlinearities involved and the random dynamic effects associated. The Finite Element Method (FEM) is an essential step to cope with this kind of analysis. But the use of the FEM can be computationally very expensive for the solution of the resultant nonlinear differential equations of motion, because the time-domain integration should produce sufficiently long response time-histories using small time-steps in order to obtain reliable time-series statistics of any structural response parameter, e.g., top tension in an anchor line or stresses occurring at a critical section in a steel catenary riser (SCR). This paper presents a very efficient hybrid Artificial Neural Network (ANN)–Finite Element Method (FEM) procedure to perform a nonlinear mapping of the current and past system excitations (inputs) to produce subsequent system response (output) for the random dynamic analysis of mooring lines and risers. Firstly, a quite short FEM-based time-domain response simulation is generated. Then, an ANN is used to predict the remaining structural response time-history simulation. The hybrid ANN–FEM approach can be very efficient for predicting long response time-histories. It has been observed that a 3 h response time-history can accurately be obtained with approximately the computational cost of a 500 s one, i.e., 20 times faster than a complete simulation using finite element-based solution. Roughly, this can represent a reduction of about a dozen of hours of computer time for a single mooring line analysis and about two dozens of hours (or more) for a single SCR analysis, both belonging to a deep-water floating unit.     

Long-term environmental exposure to metals (Cu,Cd, Pb,Zn) activates the immune cell stress response in the common European sea star (Asterias rubens)

The common sea star Asterias rubens represents a key-species of the North-Eastern Atlantic macro benthic community. The cells of their immune system, known as coelomocytes, are the first line of defence against environmental hazards. Here, we report the results of investigations on the immune cells response of sea stars exposed to marine environmental pollution for long periods. We show that levels of the heat shock cognate protein 70 (HSC70) in coelomocytes from A. rubens, which were collected during a field study in the Sǿrfjord (North Sea, SW coast of Norway) along a contamination gradient, are directly associated with the long-term accumulation of Cd, Cu heavy metals exclusively in the tegument. Conversely, Pb and Zn accumulation in the tegument did not relate to HSC70 levels and none of the metals were found accumulated in the pyloric coeca. In addition the coelomocytes from A. rubens, collected in high and low metal impacted stations were examined by a proteomic approach using two-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE). By comparison of the proteomic maps, we observed that 31 protein spots differed in their relative abundance, indicating a gene expression response to the metal mixture exposure. All together, our results confirm that the echinoderm immune cells are a suitable model for the assessment of long-term exposure to environmental pollution, moreover that the increased level of HSC70 can be considered a signal of an acquired tolerance within a large spectrum of protein profile changes occurring in response to metal contamination.     

Studies of TLP dynamic response under wind, waves and current

Investigated is the coupled response of a tension leg platform (TLP) for random waves. Inferred are the mass matrix, coupling stiffness matrix, damping matrix in the vibration differential equation and external load of TLP in moving coordinating system. Infinitesimal method is applied to divide columns and pontoons into small parts. Time domain motion equation is solved by Runge-Kutta integration scheme. Jonswap spectrum is simulated in the random wave, current is simulated by linear interpolation, and NPD spectrum is applied as wind spectrum. The Monte Carlo method is used to simulate random waves and fluctuated wind. Coupling dynamic response, change of tendon tension and riser tension in different sea conditions are analyzed by power spectral density (PSD). The influence of approach angle on dynamic response of TLP and tendon tension is compared.     

基于海洋结构谱响应波浪载荷参数识别

波浪谱是研究随机波浪的主要方法,也是海洋工程设计的重要依据.介绍在线性波情况下圆柱形结构响应施加了白噪声之后频域内的载荷识别方法,根据谱分析的方法,考虑线性波前后桩腿相位差的影响,比较单个频点反演与采样频率内利用对频率取矩法反演结果的准确度,结果表明在已知波浪谱的情况下利用矩来进行反演识别有明显的优越性.     

A dynamic response analysis of tension leg platforms including hydrodynamic interaction in regular waves

A numerical procedure is described for predicting the motion and structural responses of tension leg platforms (TLPs) in waves. The developed numerical approach, in a TLP is assumed to be flexible instead of rigid, is based on a combination of the three dimensional source distribution method and the finite-element method. The hydrodynamic interactions among TLP members, such as columns and pontoons, are included in the motion and structural response analysis. Numerical results are compared with the experimental and numerical ones. The results of comparison confirmed the validity of the proposed approach.     

不同海洋微藻对石油污染的响应差异

微藻对油污染物的不同响应,势必造成其群落种类组成和结构的变化,进一步影响海洋生态系统的变迁。由于油污染对于浮游植物的影响具有污染源及生物响应的多样性、多维度性和复杂性,产生影响的时效长但可显示度低等特点,造成该研究领域的极大限制。作者以石油标准品20-3和3种石油化学品(双酚、对苯二甲酸、对二甲苯)作为油污染源,利用多孔板高通量检测方法及大数据处理分析软件Simca-P,对中国沿海常见单种微型藻类的种群消长受油污染影响进行了研究。以石油标准品20-3为油污染源,分析了31株微藻增殖对不同油标浓度的不同响应;利用Simca-P软件对3种不同浓度的石油化学品对4种典型微藻(柔弱角刺藻(Chaetoceros debilis)、球等鞭金藻(Isochrysis galbana)、东海原甲藻(Prorocentrum donghaiense)、剧毒卡罗藻(Karlodinum veneficum))增殖的影响进行了比较分析。研究结果显示:不同种类微藻因油污种类及其浓度不同,其响应存在显著差异。利用多孔板以及微藻的吸光特征,可以高通量快速筛查不同微藻对不同油污及其不同浓度的响应差异,并利用计算机软件对大数据的分析能力,挖掘和比较不同微藻与不同油污之间的相互关系,从而就油污染对微藻影响这种多维度复杂关系进行研究。     

Long-term shoreline response of a nontidal,barred coast

Long-term variations of shoreline positions along the southern Baltic coast were investigated using multichannel singular spectrum analysis (MSSA) to determine the most dominant long-term response patterns. The investigated beach is located at Lubiatowo on the Polish Coast and is mildly sloping with multiple bars. Data on coastal morphology have been collected at Lubiatowo including (1) bathymetric surveys since 1987 twice a year, and (2) beach topography surveys since 1983 every 4 weeks on the average, extending from the shoreline to the dune foot. Furthermore, several dedicated field campaigns have been carried out at Lubiatowo, as well as measurements of deep-water wave properties since 1998. MSSA was employed to the whole data set of shoreline position from all survey lines. In summary, three patterns emerged reproducing alongshore standing waves with different periods 7 to 8, 20+ and several decades. They represent long-term shoreline response, such that at some locations the longest wave is most predominant, at other locations the medium cycle predominates, whereas the shortest is the most prominent at yet other locations. However, all three can be detected at every location monitored, eliminating the confusion resulting from ordinary singular spectrum analysis (SSA) analysis, done previously for the same data set.     

Probability models for offshore structural response due to Morison wave loading Part I: Drag-only response

Offshore structures are exposed to random wave loading in the ocean environment and hence the probability distribution of their response to wave loading is a minimum requirement for efficient probabilistic analysis of these structures. Due to nonlinearity of Morison wave loading and also due to intermittency of wave loading on members in the splash zone, the response is often non-Gaussian. Analysis of simulated data has, however, shown that neither of the two probability models proposed in the literature can accurately predict the tails of the response distribution. New probability models are therefore required to overcome this deficiency. This paper is composed of two parts: Part I is devoted to the development and validation of a new probability model for drag-only responses (i.e. responses due to the drag component of Morison wave loading), while Part II is devoted to the development and validation of new probability models for both inertia-only and total responses.