Mechanical model and characteristics of deep-water drilling riser-wellhead system under internal solitary waves

Abstract

Internal solitary waves with a huge amount of energy easily trigger the large dynamic responses of riser-wellhead system and threaten its structural safety. However, previous studies have only focused on the dynamic response of the riser under internal solitary waves. The riser may experience excessive traction from the platform, especially from the mooring platform, in response to the arrival of internal solitary waves. The bottom of the riser connects to the wellhead system, which in turn exerts a reaction force on the riser. To address this problem, a coupled dynamic model of deep-water drilling mooring platform-riser-wellhead system under internal solitary waves is developed in this paper. A dynamic response analysis method based on the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method and finite element method is also proposed for the mooring platform-riser-wellhead system. A dynamical solver for the coupled system is then developed using MATLAB. The dynamic response characteristics of the riser-wellhead system under internal solitary waves are calculated. Results show that the displacement and bending moment of the system initially increases and then decreases along with the propagation of internal solitary waves, and finally reach equilibrium position. The displacement and bending moment reach their peak before the trough of internal solitary waves passes through the riser-wellhead system. The dynamic responses of the riser-wellhead system under the influence of internal solitary wave loads are much larger than those without the effect of internal solitary wave loads. The riser system experiences shearing loads at the interface of internal solitary waves, which trigger a step-like bending moment variation. The bending moment of the conductor under the mudline is greatly increased by the internal solitary waves.