Influence of wave approach angle on TLP's response

The current study focuses on the response analysis of triangular tension leg platform (TLP) for different wave approach angles varying from 0° through 90° and its influence on the coupled dynamic response of triangular TLPs. Hydrodynamic loading is modeled using Stokes fifth-order nonlinear wave theory along with various other nonlinearities arising caused by change in tether tension and change in buoyancy caused by set down effect. Low frequency surge oscillations and high frequency tension oscillations of tethers are ignored in the analysis. Results show that wave approach angle influences the coupled dynamic response of triangular TLP in all degrees of freedom except heave. Response in roll and sway degrees of freedom are activated which otherwise are not present in TLP's response to unidirectional waves. Pitch and roll responses are highly stochastic in nature indicating high degree of randomness. Variation in surge, sway and heave responses are nonlinear and are not proportional to change in wave height for the same period.     

Stability analysis of TLP tethers

Compliant offshore TLPs are essentially meant for deep oil/gas exploration and are usually constructed on the seashore and then towed down to the particular location for anchorage. They are connected to the sea bed by means of pretension cables. The increased use of TLPs in deep waters and necessity of reduction of usually high value of pretension make the effect of variable tension in the tether dynamics more significant. This work presents the dynamic analysis of tethers and TLPs considering the linearly varying tension along the tether length. The modal analysis considers a linear cable equation for tether modeling subjected to tension which varies along its length. A Mathieu stability analysis is then performed for TLPs of different shapes and different water depth vis-à-vis of 527.8, 872, and 1200 m respectively to obtain the amplitudes of tether vibrations. The unstable modes of vibration are also verified. The resultant modal forms for the tether's dynamic model are then obtained in form of Bessel's function. From the numerical studies conducted it is seen that increased tether tension not only leads to a stable platform but also improves the stability due to increased hydrodynamic loading contributing to added mass. From the studies conducted it is also seen that the triangular configuration TLPs with increased initial pretension are more stable compared to four leg TLP in the first mode of vibration.     

Wave interaction with tension leg platforms

The design of deep water offshore platforms requires the analysis of wave-structure interaction phenomena which have not been as critical for shallower water platform designs. In the case of tension leg platforms (TLPs) interaction phenomena such as wave run-up on the vertical legs and the amplification of the waves beneath the deck are major design considerations. The research investigation reported here focuses on a series of small scale wave tank tests on four column TLP models examining these phenomena. The role of vertical leg spacing and comparative tests of the TLP models with and without pontoons was investigated. As the vertical legs were moved closer an increase in wave run-up and a shifting of the incident wave period corresponding to the maximum wave upwelling were noted. Comparisons with wave measurements for single cylinders from previous experimental studies and the TLP configurations used in this study are presented. A design formula for estimating wave run-up on TLPs is suggested based upon these experiments. The wave run-up on a leg directly in the wake of another leg is presented. A comparison of the wave upwelling measurements with previously published numerical results are discussed. A wave uplift force model which allows for the inclusion of the experimentally obtained wave upwelling measurements is presented and discussed with regard to the design specification of platform deck elevation.     

Response Analysis of Tension-Based Tension Leg Platform Under Irregular Waves

Tension Leg Platform (TLP) is a hybrid structure used as oil drilling and production facility within water depths of 1200 m. The extension of this TLP concept to deeper waters is a challenge and warrants for some innovative design concepts. In this paper, a relatively new concept of TLP which is christened as Tension-Based Tension Leg Platform (TBTLP) and patented by Srinivasan (1998) has been chosen for study. Response analysis of TLP with one tension base under irregular waves for three different sea states has been performed using hydrodynamic tool ANSYS? AQWA?. Results are reported in terms of RAOs, response spectrums for surge, heave and pitch degrees of freedom from which spectral statistics have been obtained. The statistics of TBTLP have been compared with TLPs (without tension base) for two different water depths to highlight the features of the new concept. The effect of viscous damping and loading effects on the RAOs are also investigated.     

Response analysis of tension-based tension leg platform under irregular waves

Tension Leg Platform(TLP) is a hybrid structure used as oil drilling and production facility within water depths of 1200 m. The extension of this TLP concept to deeper waters is a challenge and warrants for some innovative design concepts. In this paper, a relatively new concept of TLP which is christened as Tension-Based Tension Leg Platform(TBTLP) and patented by Srinivasan(1998) has been chosen for study. Response analysis of TLP with one tension base under irregular waves for three different sea states has been performed using hydrodynamic tool ANSYS? AQWA?. Results are reported in terms of RAOs, response spectrums for surge, heave and pitch degrees of freedom from which spectral statistics have been obtained. The statistics of TBTLP have been compared with TLPs(without tension base) for two different water depths to highlight the features of the new concept. The effect of viscous damping and loading effects on the RAOs are also investigated.     

Triangular Configuration Tension Leg Platform behaviour under random sea wave loads

This study investigates the dynamic response of a Triangular Configuration Tension Leg Platform (TLP) under random sea wave loads. The random wave has been generated synthetically using the Monte-Carlo simulation with the Peirson–Moskowitz (P–M) spectrum. Diffraction effects and second-order wave forces have not been considered. The evaluation of hydrodynamic forces is carried out using the modified Morison equation with water particle kinematics evaluated using Airy's linear wave theory. Wave forces are taken to be acting in the surge degree-of-freedom. The effect of coupling of various structural degrees-of-freedom (surge, sway, heave, roll, pitch and yaw) on the dynamic response of the TLP under random wave loads is studied. Parametric studies for random waves with different H_s and T_z under the presence of current have also been carried out. For the orientation of the TLP, surge, heave and pitch degrees-of-freedom responses are influenced significantly. The surge power spectral density function (PSDF) indicates that the mean square response is affected by the amplification at the natural frequency of the surge degree-of-freedom and also at the peak frequency of the wave loading. The PSDF of the heave response shows higher peak values near the surge frequency and near the peak frequency of the wave loading. Surge response, therefore, influences heave response to the maximum. Variable submergence seems to be a major source of nonlinearity and significantly enhances the responses in surge, heave and pitch degrees-of-freedom. In the presence of current, the response behaviour of the TLP is altered significantly introducing a non-zero mean response in all degrees-of-freedom.     

Dynamic behaviour of square and triangular offshore tension leg platforms under regular wave loads

Among compliant platforms, the tension leg platform (TLP) is a hybrid structure. With respect to the horizontal degrees of freedom, it is compliant and behaves like to a floating structure, whereas with respect to the vertical degrees of freedom, it is stiff and resembles a fixed structure and is not allowed to float freely. The greatest potential for reducing costs of a TLP in the short term is to go through previously applied design approaches, to simplify the design and reduce the conservatism that so far has been incorporated in the TLP design to accommodate for the unproven nature of this type of platform. Dynamic analysis of a triangular model TLP to regular waves is presented, considering the coupling between surge, sway, heave, roll, pitch and yaw degrees of freedom. The analysis considers various nonlinearities produced due to change in the tether tension and nonlinear hydrodynamic drag force. The wave forces on the elements of the pontoon structure are calculated using Airy's wave theory and Morison's equation, ignoring the diffraction effects. The nonlinear equation of motion is solved in the time domain using Newmark's beta integration scheme. Numerical studies are conducted to compare the coupled response of a triangular TLP with that of a square TLP and the effects of different parameters that influence the response are then investigated.     

Hydrodynamic interactions in floating cylinder arrays—I. Wave scattering

The hydrodynamic interactions due to wave scattering between the numbers of an array of stationary, truncated circular cylinders simulating the columns of an idealized tension-leg platform (TLP) are investigated. The method of solution for the fluid velocity potential involves replacing scattered waves by equivalent plane waves together with non-planar correction terms. This technique is, therefore, essentially a large spacing approximation. Use of this approach makes it possible to determine the hydrodynamic interactions between the array members utilizing only the diffraction characteristics of an isolated cylinder.Numerical results are presented for six array configurations consisting of 2–6 cylinders representing the legs of idealized TLPs. Calculations of the wave loads on these cylinders have been performed for a range of wave and structural parameters. It is found that, for certain parameter combinations, the influence of neighbouring bodies on the total wave field leads to hydrodynamic loading on individual columns which is significantly greater than the loading they would experience in isolation. The presented results demonstrate the significance of hydrodynamic interactions between TLP columns and clearly indicate that these effects should be considered by the designers and researchers associated with TLPs.     

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.     

A hydro-structural analysis program for TLPS

The TLP configuration in this paper comes from the case study of the ISSC Derived Loads Committee I.2 in 1985. Two models, Model 1 and Model 2, are created aiming at developing a computational tool to handle hydro-dynamic and structural aspects together to help the TLP designer. Another objective is to generate relevant information for a non-linear static local stress analysis of TLP components from a dynamic hydro-structural global analysis. Model 2 is developed for LUSAS, a general purpose, well established, FE software, to validate the in-house program DCATLP. Model 1 and Model 2 are purposely made slightly different in the tether modelling so that the non-linear formulations in DCATLP to treat a TLP as a coupled system with the hull and tethers can be verified with a straightforward linear step-by-step dynamic analysis in LUSAS. The code in DCATLP has advanced features to account for some complex aspects of TLPs, such as compliant characteristics. The results from DCATLP can be directly used in the reliability based structural design of TLP components and subsequent optimisation studies.     

Adaptive second-order Volterra filtering and its application tosecond-order drift phenomena

This paper presents an adaptive second-order Volterra filter and its application to model-test data of a prototype tension leg platform (TLP). The least-squares approach of a second-order Volterra model and its adaptive filtering algorithm based on recursive least-squares are introduced. The second-order Volterra filter is applied to identify the linear and quadratically nonlinear relationship between irregular sea wave excitation and the surge response of a tension leg platform. Next, a deconvolution technique, based on the impulse invariance standard Z-transform, is utilized to recover the linear and quadratic forces exerted on the TLP     

Nonlinear coupled response of offshore tension leg platforms to regular wave forces

Among the compliant platforms, the tension leg platform (TLP) is a vertically moored structure with excess buoyancy. The TLP is designed to behave in the same way as any other moored structure in horizontal plane, at the same time inheriting the stiffness of a fixed platform in the vertical plane. Dynamic response analysis of a TLP to deterministic first order wave forces is presented, considering coupling between the degrees-of-freedom surge, sway, heave, roll, pitch and yaw. The analysis considers nonlinearities produced due to changes in cable tension and due to nonlinear hydrodynamic drag forces. The wave forces on the elements of the pontoon structure are calculated using Airy's wave theory and Morison's equation ignoring diffraction effects. The nonlinear equation of motion is solved in the time domain by Newmark's beta integration scheme. The effects of different parameters that influence the response of the TLP are then investigated.     

Application of Tension Leg Platform Combined with Other Systems in the Development of China Deepwater Oil Fields

1 .IntroductionAfter enteringthe twenty-first century,offshore oil field development in China is rapidly expand-inginto deepwater (Zeng,2005 ;Liu and Pan,2002) .The conventional fixed platformmodels cannotsatisfythe requirement of newfield development .Floatingsystems ,suchastensionleg platform(TLP)or Spar ,will be neededfor oil field development .FPSOhas been usedfor offshore oil field development in China since 1980’s (Xu and Li ,2002 ;Chen and Qian,1999 ; Chen,2003) .Since early 19…     

张力腿平台局部节点强度可靠度分析方法

局部节点可靠度分析对张力腿平台(TLP)整体安全性评估具有重要意义。提出了一个TLP平台局部节点可靠度的分析方法,首先对TLP平台整体进行分析,统计局部节点各种失效模式并得到典型失效模式及对应的典型荷载工况;然后应用改进的子模型技术对TLP平台局部节点进行极限承载能力分析,确定了局部节点在典型荷载工况下的极限承载力;对局部节点极限承载力及南海某区域的波浪荷载进行统计分析,得到其概率统计特性;在此基础上计算了TLP平台局部节点对应典型失效模式下的可靠度指标。通过算例分析表明,该TLP平台各节点可靠度指标值均大于3.1;立柱与浮箱连接节点在不同荷载工况下失效模式不同,而立柱与甲板连接节点易发生管交汇处剪切破坏。为TLP平台的安全性评估提供了一种有效的分析方法,具有一定的理论价值及实用价值。     

Large motion analysis of compliant structures using euler parameters

The large motions that a compliant offshore structure experiences were analysed using Euler parameters. Firstly, the equations of motion of a rigid body undergoing large translations and rotations were obtained using the Lagrangian formulation. Secondly, the hydrodynamic forces acting on the structure were calculated using the modified Morison's equation. A tension-leg platform (TLP) subjected to an oblique incident wave was then analysed using the above formulation. This was followed by an analysis of an articulated tower for comparison with the results of other researchers. An example showing the tower undergoing subharmonic oscillations was also included.     

A single mooring system with sag-extensibility and flexural rigidity applied to offshore platform

Floating platform system has been extensively used in ocean exploitation, particularly for a tension-leg platform (TLP) system in deep water. Most of the TLPs are multi-mooring systems, where multi-joints are connected to the tension-legs so that the platform is not allowed to twist freely and may subject to enormous force induced by large incident waves in the weak-direction of the structure. This study aims to exploit a single moored offshore platform system that may attract less force and can be operated with less effort. In our analysis, in addition to mechanical properties of the tether, two important properties are also taken into consideration for the single mooring tether with expanded cross sectional dimension and utilization of stronger material, namely, the sag-extensibility and the flexural rigidity. Finally, the dynamic structural behavior produced by the mechanical effects on the new system is investigated and compared with that of traditional design while the wave-structure interactions of large body are also accounted for. Our study finds that the neglect of sag-extensibility or the flexural rigidity of large, strong mooring cable may result in a conservative but not necessarily safe design.     

Regular waves onto a truncated circular column: A comparison of experiments and simulations

Accurate prediction of hydrodynamic forces on offshore structures is critical for safe and cost effective design of fixed and floating offshore structures exposed to a harsh environment. In the present paper, nonlinear interactions between regular waves and a single surface-piercing truncated circular column have been investigated using a frequency domain potential flow solver (DIFFRACT) and a full CFD solver in OpenFOAM for direct comparisons. Both the predicted free surface elevation around the column and the total force acting on the column have been analysed and compared with experimental data from MOERI. The degree of non-linearity and the contribution of each harmonic to the free surface run-up and wave forces have been examined, and evaluations of the accuracy and computational efficiency of the potential flow solver and the full CFD solver are provided and compared in the paper. Also of note are the local forms of the scattered waves around the column in numerical simulations, which are consistent with the Type-1 and Type-2 patterns identified in physical experiments at Imperial College.     

张力腿平台内孤立波作用特性数值模拟

依据三类内孤立波理论KdV、eK dV和MCC的适用性条件,采用Navier-Stokes方程为流场控制方程,以内孤立波诱导上下层深度平均水平速度作为入口边界条件,建立了两层流体中内孤立波对张力腿平台强非线性作用的数值模拟方法。结果表明,数值模拟所得内孤立波波形及其振幅与相应理论和实验结果一致,并且在内孤立波作用下张力腿平台水平力、垂向力及力矩数值模拟结果与实验结果吻合。研究同时表明,张力腿平台内孤立波载荷由波浪压差力、粘性压差力和摩擦力构成,其中摩擦力很小,可以忽略;水平力的主要成分为波浪压差力和粘性压差力,粘性压差力与波浪压差力相比较小却不可忽略,流体粘性的影响较小;垂向力中粘性压差力很小,流体粘性影响可以忽略。     

在平台振荡条件下TLP张力腿的涡激非线性响应

给出了预测张力腿涡激横向振动的时域分析,考虑了波浪、海流、张力腿平台的横漂与垂荡诸因素.张力腿平台的垂荡引起张力周期性变化,对张力腿的涡激横向振动起参数激励的作用,使其动力响应更为复杂.讨论了参数激励下涡激响应的共振条件;以尾流振子模型为基础,发展了分析张力腿在动张力作用下的涡激振动的工程方法,并分析了一座TLP实例,给出了在横漂周期内张力腿上质点的相对位移、弯矩、剪力幅值的时间历程.结果表明,平台垂荡使张力腿的涡激响应幅值升高、高频成分增加,因此它对张力腿的疲劳设计是重要的.     

张力腿平台绕流数值模拟分析

在一定来流条件下,张力腿平台(tension leg platform,简称TLP)的立柱后缘出现周期性的交替旋涡脱落,致使立柱受到垂直于来流方向的升力和平行于来流方向的阻力作用,导致TLP产生大幅度往复运动,显著增加平台结构和系泊系统的负载。目前,关于单柱、多柱结构绕流问题的研究较多,但对于TLP绕流特性的研究较少,机理尚存不明确的地方。为研究TLP的绕流力变化情况和流场特征,开展了数值模拟分析。利用计算流体动力学数值模拟软件,基于雷诺平均(RANS)法和分离涡模拟(DES)法对TLP绕流场进行仿真分析,揭示了TLP的绕流特性。结果表明,在3种来流角度和多个折合速度V_r下,TLP绕流的流体力系数存在明显差异,升力系数时域曲线呈现脉动性。TLP的上、下游立柱间存在明显的相互作用,影响了旋涡的形成与发展。TLP的旋涡脱落大多集中在平台固有频率附近,且在V_r=7,来流角度为0°时,升力系数频谱峰值最大,旋涡脱落集中。