Project brief

SCR Steel Catenary Riser (SCR) is a kind of risers which is hanged from the production vessel with particular hang off angle. Another end of the riser is laid on the sea bed which might be connected to the subsea terminals, well heads or pipelines. So we have two critical points which are very important in design: 1touch down point (TDP), 2- hang off point. These risers are usually used in semi-submersibles, spars, and other vessels with heave motion, but these days the researchers are working to use it in FPSOs which needs higher technology. Nowadays, oil industry step into deep waters and the need for SCR are increasing, and these risers are a preferred solution for deepwater wet-tree production, water/gas injection and oil/gas export. So a new technology and researches are demanded due to the various and complicated circumstances.

Challenges One of the main challenges associated with all tubular structures is vortex induced vibration (VIV) which imposes serious loads on these structures. This vibration is free vibration and is divided into in-line and cross flow vibration. The cross flow response is more significant than the in line response. These vibrations are highly related to velocity and Re number. In deep water the flow velocity profiles are more complicated than intermediate and shallow water so the number of frequency is more and analysis of higher modes are complicated. The increased length of the riser lowers its natural frequency thereby lowering the magnitude of current required to excite VIV. In addition, most of analyses were 2D but 3-D analysis is needed due to the variety of velocity magnitude, direction and profiles in different elevations. The difficulty come from both the fluid and structural aspect of the problem .The flow past a stationary cylinder has a 3-D turbulent wake for Reynolds numbers (Re=Ud/) above about 300. Computationally, it is very difficult to capture the full features of this 3-D flow, especially for larger values of Reynolds number. The typical pipes in offshore industry have length-to-diameter ratio of

several thousand. If the cylinder were vibrating over its entire length, then the solution complexity would be increased by several orders of magnitude. Thus, some sorts of simplifications are needed so we can divide it into many segments to analyze it.

Touchdown point (TDP) is a hot spot in a SCR. The fatigue due to the VIV and floater motions in TDP is higher than other point on the SCR. This point is not a fix point on the riser because of the riser's motions so it changes through a line on lower part of SCR which makes it complicated to analyze this fatigue in this variable point. Another challenging problem is seabed- riser interaction which affects fatigue of TDP. This fatigue would be increased if the soil stiffness were increased. Generally, fatigue design near the TDP is often difficult to predict and can lead to a conservative design approach. It is important to minimize this conservatism in response prediction with modeling the soil accurately. In addition, trenching near the TDP is an important problem which should be taken into account.

Fatigue damage of the deepwater SCRs due to the Vortex Induced Vibration (VIV) is the main subject of this project. VIV effects will be studied with oracaflex VIV toolbox for various types of current velocity profiles (uniform flow, shear flow, variable profile) and directions (left to right, right to left, perpendicular , multi direction profile). The platforms need a very good mooring system to minimize the platforms motions (heave, surge) due to the sea state and wind condition. Tahiti project in Gulf of Mexico with depth of 4200 ft has been selected as a project prototype so the conditions, water depth, riser specifications, and topside platform (spar) are similar to the real project. Spar and FPSO have been selected as two topside platforms in used in this project because FPSOs are getting more popular these days. These platforms will be designed by AutoCAD and imported to Orcaflex with DWX format. The effects of following issues on fatigue damages will be studied in this project: VIV produced by current Platform motions Wind profiles

As mentioned, fatigue damage in TDP is maximum. So the interaction between soil and structure is significant which will be modeled in both linear and non-linear to study the interaction, soil suction and penetration in the contact zone. These studies are done for other type of riser like flexible riser in various configurations.

Finally, some different risers will be added similar to a real project and the results are studied for group of risers.

Modeling phase: Topside platforms design by AutoCAD based on DNV codes o Spar o FPSO Modeling a fine mooring system with minimized motions Riser modeling based on real project specifications and DNV codes o SCR o Flexible risers with various configurations Import sea states o Waves o Current velocity profiles

Wind profiles Soil models o Linear o None-linear

Analysis phase: VIV o Current with wave effect(In various directions) With wind Without wind Current without wave effect(In various directions) With wind Without wind

Vessels motions VIV and vessel motions effects on soil-structure interactions The analysis for group of risers