On experimental investigation of load-out,launching and upending of offshore steel jackets

Load-out, launching and upending are major sequential installation operations of the offshore steel jackets. Due to vital engineering importance of these high risk operations, a thorough scientific understanding of their mechanics is desirable and a physical simulation approach using scaled models is a powerful method to achieve this end. This paper presents such an approach in the context of a case study which is oriented towards gaining adequate understanding of the modelling principles, model design and simulation of operations. It also highlights the role of decisive parameters as they affect the operational performance. Some of the experimental techniques of interest are also presented.