Evaluation of Impact Loads on Offshore Jacket Platform During Float-Over Mating Operation

Abstract

Abstract In the mating phase of float-over operation, the topsides deck load from the vessel is transferred onto the jacket either by ballasting the vessel or by the combination of ballasting and hydraulic jacking system. During this phase of operation, the topsides and jacket experience impact loads through the contact points in a short duration of time. To evaluate the impact loads and to capture the transient effects precisely, a non-linear time domain hydrodynamic analysis is required. To obtain the design loads, generally the numerical jacking simulation is initiated at the time instant of maximum wave height when the jacking system is used. However, the conservative response may also depend on the relative velocity between the jacket and topsides legs. In this paper, a series of non-linear time domain as well as linear frequency domain hydrodynamic analyses are performed to evaluate the impact loads between 9000 tonne integrated topsides deck and a 4-legged jacket in a water depth of 50 m during float-over mating operation. The simulations are performed using MOSES software. The float-over hardware such as LMUs (leg mating unit), DSUs (deck support unit), Jacks, Fenders and Mooring lines are modelled as appropriate linear / nonlinear springs. The principle of the mating operation is considered through a combination of vessel ballasting and jacking operation. This paper discusses about random wave seed selection, effect of vessel response and wave headings on the impact loads of LMUs and Jacks/DSUs.