SUMMARY

Offshore drilling and production installations are designed keeping in mind the offshore environment
.Offshore environment includes meterological conditions such as atmosphere,wind ,weather ,clouds
and oceanographic conditions which includes waves,currents ,tides and sea ice .Wind is caused by the
unequal heating of the earth’s surface due to different angle at which sun’s rays strikes the earth’s
surface which creates region of high pressure and low pressure .Coriolis force which arises due to
rotation of earth affects the wind direction in both the northern and southern hemisphere.Because of
the larger radius tangential velocity at the equator is greater than that at the poles which causes wind to
move clockwise in the northern hemishphere and anticlockwise in the southern hemisphere.Wind speed
is given in knots. Beaufort number greater than 7 indicates rough offshore conditions.Wind speed
increases as height increases.Air fronts are formed whenever 2 different air masses collide. In cold front
cold air is pushing the hot air and the hot air rises and cold air goes down.It causes rain .Moisture
content is high .In hot front , hot air is pushing the cold air and the moisture content is low because of
the increased temperature.Stationary fronts are formed when both the fronts have same energy
.Occluded fronts are formed when cold front overtakes the hot airfront and both are moving in the
same direction with cold front at a higher speed.Wind waves are caused by due to the friction between
air and water surface and influences offshore operations significantly.Tidal waves are caused by the
unequal gravitational force of moon and sun on the earth. 2 methods for evaluating sea bed soil are
geophysical methods and in situ methods.Geophysical methods include echo sounders with frequency
range 30-210 KHZ ,sub-bottom profiler with frequency range of 3.5-7 khz. Sparker uses electrical sparks
whereas boomer uses vibrating membrane and is better controlled and more efficient.sSide scan sonar
is also used.In –situ soil testing includes the dynamic standard penetration test(SPT) and the static
cone penetration test (CPT). In SPT, split spoon sampler is used.Number of blows required to
penetrate 150 mm of soil is recorded.First 150 mm reading is not important as it comes from the loose
soil .Number of blows for 2nd and last 150 mm are recorded collectively called N value that we get in
Spt test .Corrections for pressure,borehole diameter ,hammer type and sampler used is also
applied.The soil sample retrieved is send for laboratory testing of the soil.In CPT we determine the
soil properties and soil stratigraphy .It is executed by pushing cone by hydraulic pressure of water .

Buoyancy force on an object is equal to the wight reduced when immersed in water.Metacentre is
the point about which the system rotates .For stable equilibrium it should be above centre of gravity
.If M=G , it is neutral equilibrium and if M< G ,it is unstable system.Metacentric height is the distance
between metacentre and centre of gravity whereas metacentric radius is the distance between
metacentre and centre of buoyancy .Angle of heel for a conventional ship is greater than that of a
drilling unit because of the uniform distribution of mass which allows the ship to come back to its
original position even after significant tilt.

Offshore structure includes :Fixed platform,compliant platform and the mobile platform
units.Fixed platform includes steel template and concrete gravity structures.
Steel template structure uses hollow cylindrical legs for buoyancy ,dissipation of forces
because of curved shape, ,lesser weight used.It includes well protector platform ,self
contained template structure , self contained tower platform and tender platform
.Gravity platform includes the condeep platform ,andoc and sea tank platform and CG
doris platform .Well protector type uses 2 types of jackets:slip –over type which is used
for 1 well and development type used for multiple wells.Self contained platforms have
the capacity to support the entire drilling rig with its auxillary equipments,living
quarters.Tower type uses bigger diameter legs and can be floated to location using the
buoyancy of larger diameter legs.
Gravity structures rest directly on the sea bottom by virtue of their own wight and are
more durable ,resistant to corrosion.Compliant structure includes the guyed tower,
Tension leg platform and articulated tower .They can handle relatively more hostile
conditions .Bottom supported mobile units include the submersible and jack
up.Submersible uses hull and pontoons.It has 2 hulls.
Important components of jack up includes footings ,legs ,jacking system and hull .There
are 2 types of footings : spud cans and mats.There are 2 types of jack up rigs : slot type
and cantilever type. Spud cans are more favourable in uneven sea bed whereas mats are
useful in lesser strength soil as it has more area .Cantilever type is the mostly used jack
up rig.