Overview and analysis on recent research and challenges of dropped objects in offshore engineering

Abstract

With an increasing number of offshore operations taking place at sea, the occurrence of dropped objects has become more widespread and frequent. These incidents can result in a variety of issues such as collisions with underwater structures, property damage, personal safety concerns, and environmental problems. Finding good solutions to address these problems is urgent and necessary for offshore operations such as oil & gas exploration and production, offshore space launches, and sea shipping.In this paper, the authors provide a comprehensive review and analysis of the deterministic and stochastic dropping processes associated with dropped objects in the field of offshore engineering. The deterministic process of dropped objects involves trajectory measurement, prediction, and optimization, while the stochastic process involves trajectory envelope and landing point predictions during free fall, and collision risk assessment. The review discusses the development history and application status of several research methods involved in the study of stochastic processes, including Monte Carlo simulation and Kalman filtering.After reviewing numerous studies related to trajectory analysis, prediction, optimization, trajectory envelope, and risk assessment of regular dropped objects, the paper concludes with a detailed description of the completed review results, current issues in the research area, and future directions.