Proceedings of the Nineteenth (2009) International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference

Osaka, Japan, June 21-26, 2009

Copyright 2009 by The International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE)
ISBN 978-1-880653-53-1 (Set); ISSN 1098-618

Evaluating the Impact Load on the Offshore Platform During Float-over Topside Installation
Jong-Jin Jung, Woo-Seob Lee, Hyun-Soo Shin
Maritime Research Institute, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.
Ulsan, Korea

Yun-Hak Kim
Offshore Installation Engineering Dep't, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.
Ulsan, Korea

this method has been utilized more frequently in last 2-30 years(White,
Ramzan, Rawstron and Miller, 1986; Kocaman and Kim, 2008). In the
80s only about 5 float-overs had been executed, while nowadays about
5 float-overs are executed each year(Seij and Groot, 2007).

ABSTRACT
For the installation of a topside of offshore platform onto jacket, lift
method with crane barge has been a common concept. However, the
increasing weight of topside and high costs for crane barges has led
designers to consider the float-over method as an alternative.

This paper summarizes briefly major installation equipments of floatover installation such as leg mating unit(LMU), deck support
unit(DSU) and fender system, in which impact loads occurs during the
mating operation.

The float-over method uses a floating barge to transport and install a

topside. The barge is maneuvered inside the legs of jacket and lowered
down to mate the topside onto the jacket. During the mating operation
the topside and jacket experience impacts through the contact points.

This paper also describes how to evaluate the impact load during floatover installation to design the contact substructures. The installation
operations are classified by docking, ballasting and undocking stages.
At each stage, the impact loads on LMUs, DSU and fenders are
evaluated with non-linear time domain analysis. The developed
analysis techniques have been applied to real offshore projects.

This paper describes how to evaluate the impact load during float-over
topside installation to design the contact substructures such as leg
mating unit(LMU), deck support unit(DSU) and fender system. The
installation operations are classified by docking, ballasting and
undocking stages. At each stage, the impact loads on LMUs, DSU and
fenders are evaluated with non-linear time domain analysis. The
developed analysis techniques have been applied to real offshore
projects.

INSTALLATION EQUIPMENT

Topside installation; float-over method; floating

barge; offshore platform; jacket; leg mating unit(LMU); deck support
unit(DSU); fender

In the float-over installation the barge is maneuvered inside the legs of

a jacket and lowered down to mate the topside onto the jacket. During
the mating operation the topside and jacket experience impacts through
the contact points.

INTRODUCTION

To establish the analysis methodology to evaluate the impact loads,

following equipments has to be considered among the various
equipments used in the float-over topside installation.

KEY WORDS:

Conventionally, the topside of offshore platform has been installed onto

jacket by crane barge with lift method, in which the topside is
constructed as modular parts in onshore and assembled during
installation. If a super heavy-lift crane barge is available the topside
could be installed with one integrated part. However, the increasing
weight of topside and high costs for crane barges has led designers to
consider the float-over method as an alternative.

Fenders
The surge and sway fenders are used to absorb impact loads on the
jacket and to keep the barge in its position. The sway fenders are
tapered to facilitate entry of the barge into the jacket slot(see Fig. 1).
Rigid fenders can be used for a narrow gap between barge and jacket
legs, or soft fenders can be used for a wide gap. The fender system has
to be designed considering deformation and energy absorption.

In the float-over method the topside is constructed as one integrated

part in onshore, transported and installed by a floating barge. Due to the
several benefits(Hartel and Beattie, 1996) for design and installation

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Fig. 1 Fender system

Fig. 4 Deck support unit(DSU)

Lines
ANALYSIS METHODOLOGY

When the barge goes into the jacket the motion of the barge can be
controlled by additional lines to limit the excessive motions and
accelerations(see Fig. 2).

Analysis cases, in which the load acting on the above equipment should
be evaluated, are determined to cover the several installation
procedures.

Analysis Procedure
The float-over installation stages can be subdivided into as Fig. 5.
Loadout stage
Transportation stage
Aligning stage

Fig. 2 Breasting lines

Deballasting stage
Docking stage

Load Transfer System

Ballasting stage

Various types of load transfer systems have been developed to

minimize the impact load acting on the legs of jacket and topside
during the mating operation.

Fig. 5 Float-over installation procedures

When the impact load is not excessive, it is enough to use passive type
system which has elastomeric elements only(see Fig. 3). Partially or
fully active system has hydraulic jack-up system as well as elastomeric
elements for load transfer operation.

The analysis is required at each stage, but the float-over installation

analysis focuses on docking, ballasting and undocking stages. In
docking stage the barge goes into the jacket legs. In ballasting stage, the
barge is ballasted down and topside weight is transferred from the
barge to the jacket. In undocking stage the barge goes out from the
jacket legs.

Undocking stage

Dynamic Analysis
Dynamic analysis for the float-over installation can be performed in
frequency or time domain. Frequency domain analysis is easier and
would be used in the initial design stages. But, frequency domain
analysis is not adequate to consider non-linearities associated with
structural contacts. Frequency domain analysis gives maximum load
acting to the structures, but cannot offer the load distributions
corresponding to each maximum load for the structural design.
Time domain analysis is more useful, which can consider the nonlinearities of the system and also offer the load distributions. But, when
the system is modeled in the time domain it should be careful to
confirm the convergence of the time domain calculation.

Fig. 3 Leg Mating Unit(LMU)

Analysis Cases

Topside-DSU couplings

At least, 9 main analysis cases have to be studied for the float-over

installation analysis with the first order wave forces, wave drift, wind
and current forces. The main cases consist of 3 docking stages, 3
ballasting stages and 3 undocking stages with wind and current(see Fig.
6).

During transportation and installation the topside is supported on the

DSU. Sand tanks connected to conical sand dishes can be used to
reduce the impact loads between the topside and DSU during separation.

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In addition, docking and undocking cases without wind and current can
be also studied if larger loads and motions occur. The static forces due
to the wind and current can press the barge to contact on fenders, which
can decrease the possibilities of impact.

marine operations and has been used for years within Aker and
Marintek AS. The hydrodynamic coefficients and wave forces used by
SIMO are obtained from the recognized 3D radiation-diffraction
program WADAM that is a part of the SESAM package.

NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
Docking Stage
Docking 0%

Docking 50%

Docking 100%

Load
Transfer 50%

Load
Transfer 100%

Undocking 50%

Undocking 100%

The developed analysis methodology has been applied to the following

topside installation project(see Fig. 8) implemented by Hyundai Heavy
Industries Co., Ltd. The properties of barge and topside are presented in
Table 1.

Ballasting Stage
Load
Transfer 0%

Undocking Stage
Undocking 0%

Fig. 6 Analysis steps

Each stage of Fig. 6 should be analyzed in static positions and with
enough time duration in time domain, for example 3 hours, to find
extreme responses.
The docking 0% , 50% and 100% stages can be defined as Fig. 7. The
undocking stages are defined similarly to docking stages.
jacket
leg

topside

Fig. 8 Real Offshore project of float-over topside installation

Table 1 Barge and topside properties
Barge properties

barge

Length
Breadt
Depth

docking
direction

145 m
32 m
10 m

Topside properties
Weight
Length
Breath
Height

(a) Docking 0% (or Undocking 100%)

6,332 ton
33 m
66 m
33 m

Vessel Model
The added mass, damping and exciting forces and moments are
calculated in the frequency domain for each specified wave direction
using WADAM. The panel model of the barge is presented in Fig. 9.

(b) Docking 50%(or Undocking 50%)

In SIMO the hydrodynamic coefficients and wave excitation forces are

transformed to the time domain.

(c) Docking 100%(or Undocking 0%)

Fig. 7 Docking stages(or Undocking stages)

Analysis Tool
The SIMO program is introduced to simulate the float-over installation
stages in the time domain. The program is custom-made for simulating

Fig. 9 Panel model of the barge

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Spring Model

The vertical and radial horizontal stiffness is weakly non-linear but

modeled as bi-linear and linear spring, respectively. Similarly to the
fender springs, the flexibility of the topside affects the stiffness of LMU
springs.

A typical numerical model of the float-over installation including barge,

topside and springs is shown in Fig. 10.

Fig. 10 Analysis model

The stiffness of surge and sway fenders, lines, LMUs and topside-DSU
couplings is modeled according to the general force-elongation
relationship. The positioning systems are modeled either as linear, bilinear or non-linear springs. Fig. 11 illustrates the different types of
springs.
Fig. 12 LMU system

Fig. 11 Stiffness types of springs

Surge and sway fenders
Fig. 13 Radial stiffness in LMUs

The surge and sway fenders are modeled as bi-linear springs acting in
surge and sway direction, respectively. Their stiffness includes both the
flexibility of fenders and the one of the jacket leg.

Topside-DSU couplings

The jacket leg stiffness varies with installation stages. For example, the
sway fender stiffness without topside is 2,574t/m, which is used in the
docking and ballasting cases. The sway fender stiffness with topside is
3,349t/m, which is used in the undocking case.

Fig. 14 shows the DSU system which is located on the deck of the
barge.

A friction coefficient between sway fenders and jacket legs is

introduced. The friction acts in surge and heave direction when the
sway fender is compressed.
LMU system
Fig. 12 shows the LMU system which is located on the upper part of
jacket leg in this project.
The vertical LMU is modeled as bi-linear. The horizontal LMU is
modeled as docking springs which is supported SIMO and illustrated
in Fig. 13. When the stabbing cone enters into the receiver cone, the
transverse motion of the stabbing cone will be limited by the clearance
radius at the respective longitudinal distance, Z , in the figure. When
this radius is exceeded, structural stiffness will give a restoring force
directed towards the centre.

Fig. 14 DSU system

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In docking cases the barge and topside are model as one body, while in
ballasting cases they are model as two-bodies. The topside and barge
are connected with topside-DSU couplings.

that there are the gap between sway fender and jacket, which lead to the
non-linear response and time domain analysis.
Fig. 16 shows time load history of the LMU vertical. The time load
history of DSU vertical is similar with Fig. 16.

The topside-DSU couplings are modeled using one vertical spring and
two horizontal springs(x-direction and y-direction) in the ballasting
cases. The stiffness of the topside has the influence on the DSU

600

Load(ton)

The couplings are modeled differently according to the load transfer

level. The horizontal springs are modeled in initial and intermediate
load transfer cases. The horizontal springs are removed in final load
transfer case because topside would be free from the DSU.

0
11150

Environmental Conditions

Load(ton)

Table 2 Environmental conditions

Hs[m]

Tp[sec]

Stern sea
Stern quartering sea

1.50
1.33
1.17
1.00
0.83
0.67
0.50
0.67
0.83
1.00
1.17
1.33
1.50

6
6
6
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
6
6
6

LMU vertical
DSU vertical

Load-Transfer 0%

Sway Fender

2,095

11310

10940

10980
Time(sec)

11020

11060

Fig. 16 Time load history of the LMU vertical

The maximum load at fender system occurs at undocking 100% stage
without wind and current. Sometimes, the maximum load would occur
at docking 0% because yaw motion of barge, when entering or exiting,
gives rise to the impact on fender system. The impact load due to the
gap is more important than static force of wind and current, which is
the reason why the maximum load occurs at the condition without wind
and current.
The maximum load at topside-DSU couplings occurs at load-transfer
0% stage, while the maximum load at LMUs occurs at load-transfer
100% stage. This presents that the static load induced from the weight
of the topside is more dominant to the maximum load then dynamic
load due to the motion.
There are 4 LMUs and 4 couplings in the system, so each LMU and
DSU coupling has the maximum static load to be about 1,583 ton
(=6,332ton/4). Table 3 shows that the dynamic contribution is about
500ton, or 30% to the maximum load in this project.

It is important to evaluate the impact loads acting at LMUs, topsideDSU couplings and fenders to carry out the structural design. Table 3
shows maximum impact loads at the interesting points.
Table 3 Maximum impact loads
Analysis stage
Load
[ton]
Undocking 100%
552
- No wind and current
Load-Transfer 100%
2,089

11270

1600

1100
10900

Analysis Results

Loads

11230

2100

Time domain analyses are carried out 3 hours for each environmental
condition to estimate the extreme responses. Based on these results, the
maximum impact load is estimated as a statistical value.

Heading

11190

Time(sec)
Fig. 15 Time load history of the sway fender

Table 2 shows the environment conditions of the example project.

Generally, the wave height to assure the float-over mating operation is
not high because this method is very sensitive to weather condition.

0
15
30
45
60
75
Beam sea
90
Head quartering sea
105
120
135
150
165
Head sea
180
Current = 0.5m/s, wind = 10m/s

300

The maximum load occurs when the wave heading is quartering sea,
which presents that the yaw motion is still important in ballasting cases
like docking and undocking cases.
Finally, time domain analysis offers the load distributions in LMUs,
DSU couplings and fenders corresponding to each maximum load for
the structural design.

Heading
[deg]
120
30

CONCLUSIONS

120

Recently, many float-over installations of topside are reported and are

getting increased due to its technical and commercial merits. To assure
the safe installations and optimal structural design, the analysis
methodology for the float-over installation in non-linear time domain
has been developed.

Fig. 15 shows time load history of the sway fender when the maximum
load of Table 3 occurs, which is part of 3 hours. In Fig. 15 we can see

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The important contact substructures such as LMUs, topside-DSU

couplings and fenders are studied, which compose the boundary springs
in analysis model.

REFERENCES
Abbot, PA, et al (1980). "A New Integrated Deck Concept, " Offshore
Technology Conference , OTC 3879, pp. 231-244.
Hartel, WD, and Beattie, SM, (1996). "Integrated, Float-Over Deck
Design Considerations," Offshore Technology Conference, OTC 8199,
pp. 15-30.
Kocaman, AA and Kim, D, (2008). "Float-Over Technical Challenges,"
Offshore Technology Conference, MOSS2008, pp. 184-195.
Seij, M, and Croot, H (2007). "State of the Art in Float-Overs," Offshore
Technology Conference, OTC 19072.
White, GJ, Ramzan, FA, Rawstron, PJM., and Miller, BL (1986).
"Offshore Installation of an Integrated Deck onto a Preinstalled Jacket,
" Offshore Technology Conference, OTC 5260, pp. 321-330.

The analysis cases are classified into 3 docking, 3 ballasting and 3

undocking stages. At each stage, the impact loads on LMUs, DSU and
fenders are evaluated.
In docking stage the topside and barge are modeled as one body, while
in ballasting stage they are modeled as two bodies. In analysis model
the boundary springs are modeled either as linear, bi-linear or nonlinear springs.
The developed analysis methodology has been applied to several real
offshore projects and could evaluate successfully the impact loads
during float-over topside installation.

210