Numerical Analysis of Submerged Pipelines for Deep Water S-Lay

Abstract

A mixed method to solve deep water S-Lay is presented. A singular perturbation technique is first used to determine the configuration of pipeline in the sagbend. The moment distribution of pipeline in the overbend is then determined by the nonlinear finite element method. The stinger is modeled as discrete supports in this study. Finally, an extensive parametric study is carried out to identify the optimal spaces of roller boxes for achieving minimum moment distribution of pipeline in the overbend.