SIL analysis of subsea control system components based on a typical OREDA database

Abstract

AbstractProper performance evaluation of subsea system components is of high significance for reliable operation and remote monitoring or the replacement of the components before the occurrence of any failure. As a part of subsea systems, subsea control system (SCS) plays a key role in accomplishing a reliable performance. Hence, achieving knowledge of the components’ failure rates is highly important in the safety analysis of SCS. To the author's knowledge, limited work is done on the safety analysis of SCS using failure rates for a multitude of components. Also, the number of research papers that are based on industrial works is restricted. Hence, this paper aims to provide a noticeable contribution in fulfilling the referred gap. For this purpose, a safety integrity‐level (SIL) analysis is proposed based on a typical OREDA database. In the implementation of the proposed SIL, a failure mode classification table is provided for a selection of SCS components. This is followed by the estimation of several parameters, such as the total time in service, as well as obtaining the values of critical failure rates. The analysis indicates that signal failure is the failure mode occurring more than the other ones. Also, the subsea electronic module yields the highest value of critical failure rates. Besides, a comparison of parameter values is provided for two different versions of the utilized database.