Performance evaluation of a new ice-resistant jacket platform based on field monitoring

Abstract

A new ice-resistant jacket platform was designed and constructed in the Bohai Sea, equipped with a series of techniques to mitigate the ice-induced vibrations. The vibration mitigating techniques include the following: 1) Single-leg design with double-ward fixed ice breaking cone at water level, so as to reduce ice load and dynamic response of the structure; 2) the steel-rubber bearing isolators and magnetorheological (MR) dampers, installed between the upper and lower deck of the platform, so as to reduce the vibration of upper deck and to protect the pipeline system transporting natural gas. In order to evaluate the performance of the new platform, different sensors were deployed on the structure to measure the accelerations of the deck levels and the relative displacement between the two decks. Based on the measured data, the ice-resist performance is discussed. It is shown that the conceptual design and related techniques used on this platform can be adopted during the design process of other structures in the future. ► A new ice-resistant jacket platform was designed in the Bohai Sea ► A field monitoring system was built to evaluate the ice-resistant performance ► The vibration of the structure with mitigating facilities gets smaller than that without mitigating facilities ► The new designed platform and accompanying vibration mitigating facilities are effective ► The conceptual design and related techniques can be adopted in the future.