Nonlinear riser-seabed interaction response among touchdown zone of a steel catenary riser in consideration of vortex-induced vibration

Abstract

Steel catenary riser (SCR) is a preferred solution for deepwater oil and gas exploitation under harsh marine environment. Its riser-seabed interaction (RSI) among touchdown zone (TDZ) in consideration of the vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of sag bend is at present a research frontier in ocean engineering. This paper integrates Randolph-Quiggin model into a published global numerical riser model, to investigate the nonlinear RSI response among TDZ of an SCR with VIV. The adopted numerical model is validated against some published experimental measurements for VIV and RSI respectively. Three combined cases with top-end platform heave motion and VIV are simulated, and the trench development as well as the SCR's response characteristics among TDZ is analyzed. VIV makes the trench develop more smoothly, and the trench length as well as depth turns smaller. The VIV effect on RSI is relatively significant with violent heave excitation, under which the P-z curves present clearer interaction mode transitions. VIV enlarges the maximum bending moment visibly, and makes the sag bend of SCR dominated by higher-order modes, which are both detrimental to the structural safety. The coupling effect between RSI and VIV on the riser's dynamic response needs to be considered for the design of full-scale SCRs.