Design and analysis of tapered stress joint for Top Tensioned Riser system

Stress Joint(SJ) plays a key role in the Top Tensioned Riser(TTR) system for deep water engineering.A preliminary design method of tapered SJ is proposed in the paper,which could help designers obtain accurate design data.After a further sensitive analysis is carried out,the related parameters choice and control methods are recommended in the engineering practice.By taking the extreme environment conditions into consideration,the effects of bending stress reduction and curve control are analyzed,and the 3-D FE models are established by ABQOUS for numerical evaluation to verify the correctness of design results.At last,dynamic analysis and fatigue analysis,based on actual project,are carried out with designed stress joint.The analysis results prove the feasibility and guidance of this method in the practical engineering applications.