Marine Operations.

A brief summary of operations and

engineering.
Helge Johnsgard & Elisabeth Gjølmesli
October 19, 2011

Abstract
This document summarizes the theory in the ”Marine Operations
module” in the course MEK 4450 at the University of Oslo autumn
2011. Typical marine operations that are covered ranges from laying
of electric cables and smaller units to tow- out and installation of enor-
mous oil platforms. This module covers several aspects of the marine
operations: organization of the projects, planning of the operations,
typical technical challenges, how analysis may help us out and finally
the content of the actual operation.
This document does not give a complete description of any aspect
or part of the marine operations. People with an other background
and experience will probably say that the document contains big holes
and shortcomings. Never the less, it is the authors hope and intention
that the document will serve as a gateway into the challenging and
exciting world of marine operations.

1 Marine operations.
Marine operations have been conducted through the whole history of man.
Fishing expeditions, as well as hunting of whales and other sea mammals,
are early examples of challenging operations,- often in hostile environments.
Transportation of different cargo’s along the seaways has also been conducted
with great skills and under demanding conditions. Other examples includes
naval warfare, pirate activities and other destructive actions.

1
 Both vessel designs, marine equipment and human skills have improved
substantially over the years. This have been achieved without much knowl-
edge of mathematics and dynamic systems. Instead, improvements have been
made by the ”trial and error”- method. The price has been high,- the ocean
is no doubt the greatest churchyard on this planet.
Today mathematical analysis and other systematic planning of the marine
operations have reduced the price substantially,- regardless if you count the
price in human lives or in dollars. The purpose of this document is to give
the reader an idea of how this is possible. The focus is on operations related
to oil field developments. Never the less, the knowledge will be relevant to
other types of existing and future marine operations.

1.1 The players in an offshore developement.

The activities and organizations involved in an offshore field development
may be divided in three levels, illustrated in figure (1).
The fundamental level consists of the oil and the oil company. The com-
panies ultimate goal is to bring the oil to shore and to sell it. To achieve this
they need a number of platforms, subsea modules, oil pipes and other items
installed offshore.
The next level is the contractors providing this items. Typical scope of
work is the engineering (E), procurement (P), construction (C) and instal-
lation (I). Some oil companies prefer to place a single contract covering the
whole scope,- this is denoted a ”EPCI contract”. Different parts of the scope
are then often subcontracted.
An successful oil field installation is crucial for the oil companies overall
economy. Substantial budget overruns occurs easily and frequently. A delay
of, say, a year, may cost much more and be far more critical. Due to this
the oil companies normally involve them self heavily into contractors work
during all phases of the project. This is why they often prefer to split the
main EPCI contract. In the figure (1) two main contracts are indicated,
covering the production of a certain oil field component(EPC) and the tow-
out and installation (T&I).
The oil company now have to take the responsibility of the interface
between the contractors. This is a lot of work, and require highly skilled
personnel, but it certainly adds to the degree of control the oil company
seeks.
The upper level of the figure represents different requirements that all
parties have to obey, and the organizations behind them. Typically there are
some requirements origination from the authorities, and some rules requested

2
by insurance companies. In addition, there are some fundamental laws of
nature and economics that need to be considered.
The national requirements to the offshore industry varies a lot from coun-
try to country. In some part of the world the requirements are weak, and the
oil companies have their own internal ”rules” that are more demanding, and
more in line with, say, Norwegian rules. For activities in Norwegian waters
the NORSOK requirements gives a good summary. NORSOK is written for
engineers, and in our eyes it contains ”what matters”.
It should be noted that the installation part is covered with less firm
requirements in the NORSOK rules. For the installation the rules from war-
ranty surveyor and the oil companies them self are normally more demanding.
The oil companies uses warranty surveyors to convince the insurance
companies that the planned marine operations are safe and well prepared.
Companies acting as warranty surveyors (WS) should be as independent as
possible. Ideally, they should be some kind of foundation. Larger WS have
comprehensive sets of rules and regulations, smaller ones will normally follow
the rules from one of the larger ones.
In addition to convincing the insurance company, the WS will assist the
companies when the quality of contractors work are examined. The role as
WS includes extensive quality check of reports and drawings, and various
types of formal and informal meetings / discussions with contractor.
Normally, alternative, paralell analysis and engineering work is not per-
formed by the WS. If this is requried it will be performed by an enginering
consultancy company. IThis role is denoted 3. party verification. It is im-
portant that there is no comerical link or competition between the 3. party
and the contractor.

1.2 Project phases for an installation contractor.

A typical offshore project runs through distinct phases, with milestone de-
liveries at each step. It is crucially important that all project participant
deliver in time, since time is short and people in other disciplines are waiting
for your result. To be a good project participant you need to:

• Strive to understand the information you receive from other disciplines

• Minimize your work scope to a necessary minimum

• Perform your work effective and accurately

• Strive to ensure that your results are fully understood by those who
need them

3
Figure 1: Marine operations: bird perspective

4
 The phases of a typical installation project is described in the subsections
below:

1.2.1 Start-up phase

The first thing to do when a contract is landed is to set up an organization
with qualified key personnel. The first thing these people need to do is to
fully understand the job and to make an overall plan. Important constraints
is given in the contractors offer to the client and in the contract. Hence, a
cooperation with the tendering personnel is useful.
It is important to determine all required deliverables, regarding drawings,
analyses, installation manuals, technical requisitions for purchasing equip-
ments etc. Further, it is important to establish which activities that need
input from each other.
The lines of activities that are most time consuming need to be given
special attention, these are denoted ”critical line”. Typically, some marine
equipments may have extremely long delivery time, hence analysis leading
to a specification of such equipment need to be finalized very early.
Typical output from this first phase is a ”master document and drawing
register”, ”MDDR”, defining milestone deliverables for different phases of
the project. Further, the total manning of the project is established and a
proper familiarization is conducted.

1.2.2 Engineering execution phase

This phase is normally the longest part of the project. In this phase it is
important that all project member stick to the plan, and deliver on time.
Normally, adjustment to the planned installation method should be avoided
if possible: a ”smart” idea may easily have unforeseen consequences for other
aspects of the operations. Pioneering within method development should be
made in studies, not during final design.
Time is short. If some activities need to be postponed due to delayed
input it may be a very good idea to finalize other part of the project scope.

1.2.3 Mobilization
At a certain date close to the marine operation the project takes the eco-
nomical responsibility for the day-hire of the offshore vessel. The project
will then ensure that the offshore crew are collected inboarrd, and certainly
also the marine equipment and tools. Familiarization of all personnel is im-
portant: everyone should have an idea of what will happen, and it must

5
be ensured that everyone understand their own tasks properly. The use of
simple sketches and 3-D animation is reccomended.
Finally, the object to be installed must be transfered to a ”transportation
mode”.

1.2.4 Marine operations

The marine operation consist of transportation and installation of the object.
Detailed step-by-step procedures are needed. Ad hoc adjustments to the
plans should be avoided, since unforeseen consequences may easily occur.
After all, changes in the method willnever be covered by engineerin to the
same extent as the original method.

1.2.5 De-mobilization
After installation the vessel goes to shore, and all marine equipment that are
not permanent need to be taken off the boat. The offshore crew are then
demobilized.
Normally the demobilization contains few technical challenges. Everyone
have the feeling that ”the job is done”, and they want to go home. This may
lead to sloppiness, and there are unneccesarily many dangerous episodes in
this phase.

1.2.6 Clean- up
In order to continuously improve the marine contractor need to learn from
every projects. This means that this last phase in many ways are the most
important one. Experience of all kinds need to be properly documented, ”as
installed” documentation need to be produced, analysis models need to be
stored in in a logical manner etc. it may be difficult to fond motivated person-
nel for all this tidy work, especially when new exciting projects are waiting.
But make now mistakes: experience that are not documented in a systematic
manner are of now value. Wait six months, and people will disagree upon
what the learned. The worst ink is better than the best memory.

1.3 Why analyses and engineering.

As an applied mathematician your typical challenges in a project will be to
perform analyses and other engineering to ensure safe and efficient opera-
tions. There may be a general attitude among some project participants
that the analyses and engineering ais a waste of time. Their argument may
be we have done this before. Normally, this is not necessarily a valid point,-

6
 Figure 2: Why do we need marine engineering?

most operations contains new elements. It will be your job to ensure that
proper analyses are performed. Some important tasks are discussed in the
following.

1.3.1 Sufficient clearance and accessibility

Suprisingly often marine operartions are postponed or come into other types
of trouble due to ”geometrical mismatch”. Examples are shackles that should
fit into chain links, sufficient deck space to store modules that will be trans-
ported, sufficient space to remove sea fastening and lift the object out, clear-
ance when vessels enter in between two platforms etc. The clearances should
allow for motions induced by waves and other environmental forces, opera-
tional induced motions, production tolerances etc.
In many cases some kind of guiding need to be designed, so that if the
installed object is inserted inside the guide openings and forced to intrude
further it is guided into correct position. Typically, the guide is wide at the
opening and become more and more narrow. An example is illustrated in
figure (3)
Notice that the access and clearance for safe and efficient manual work

7
 Figure 3: Conical guiding to ensure correct final position for lifted object

need to be considered. This include access for various tools and machines
that are to be used. The safety and health of the deck crew should also
be considered. Sufficient barriers versus wire ruptures, avoid working un-
der hanging load and avoid working for hours with curved back are some
examples.

1.3.2 Sufficient structural capacity

When objects are installed it will be forces in lifting wires, guides, toward
ship deck, internally in installed object etc. These forces are induced by
static weight and buoyancy, environment and operational actions. One of
the main purposes with marine analyses is to establish these loads and verify
sufficient structural capacity.

1.3.3 Sufficient stability and capacity

Most marine installation are spectacular operations including a certain amount
of novelty. This means that unexpected instability mechanisms may occur.
Even when the equipment are able to do the job in principle, the maximum
capacity may be to low: total bollard pull from the towing vessels are to small

8
 Figure 4: Waiting on weather

compared to the wind, total buoyancy from the barge to small compared to
the cargo etc. All this need to be verified with analyses

1.3.4 Determine maximum environmental conditions for the op-

erations
The maybe most common task for an analysis engineer is to quantify the
effect of waves and other environmental impacts on the marine operation.
This is used to establish the environmental criteria for operation start- up.
If you perform wrong calculations, and establish too low design waves,
there will be huge extra costs due to waiting on weather. If your design waves
are too high it may cost lives.
The elements of the marine operation (vessels, cranes, wires, fenders etc)
are defined. Key parameters are established. These key parameters will
define tings like (examples)
• Structural capacity of an object
• Forces being transferred to the object at a given wind speed

9
 • Buoyancy of an object for a given submergence
• Roll angles for a vessel for a given incident wave system
All this elements are put together in a mathematical model, either based
on hand calculations or (more normal) a numerical model. The model is
exposed for a user defined environmental condition. Typically, the user will
try to increase wave heights etc until critical responses from the model occurs.
This will define the design environmental condition.
Alternatively, the iteration will consist of modifying the system (i.e. in-
creasing wire diameters, selecting larger vessels etc) until the marine opera-
tion is able to withstand the desired design environmental condition.
According to requirements from various regulatory bodies the actual ma-
rine operation shall not be performed if the forecasted weather is higher
than a certain operational environmental condition. The operational con-
ditions typically equals the design condition times a certain reduction fac-
tor, denoted ”aplha”. The alpha- factor compensate for uncertainties in the
weather forecast, i.e. the weather is coming up faster during the marine
operation than expected. It will also cover up for uncertainties in defining
the actual environmental condition. Typically: how large are the waves we
are seeing out of the window? Due to this the alpha- factor depends of the
duration of the marine operation and the equipments and means available for
accurate determination of weather and weather forecast. The alpha- factor
is not intended to cover up for any other uncertainties, and does not replace
any other safety factors. Some people may claim this, but they are wrong.

1.3.5 The walk- through

There are another positive effect of analyses in an offshore project that should
not be underestimated: analysis models have a clear tendency to reveal prob-
lems that anyone can see in retrospect. After all the analyses may provide a
mental walk- through of the whole method. Hence, even ”overly accurate”
models may add an extra layer of safety to the operations.

1.4 Ethical squeeze

An offshore project will normally contain a series of ethical challenges. Some
examples are listed below
• You discover an error in your calculations. It is probably not important,
but you are not sure. Rerunning your analyses to find out will take a
lot of time. The offshore mobilization starts tomorrow, hence any delay
will have an substantial cost impact.

10
 • It’s your first day in the project. Your engineering manager tells you
which part of the marine operations that need to be verified by analyses,
and the available man hours for this job. In your opinion more analyses
need to be performed. Further, the number of man hour is not sufficient
to ensure quality even for the limited scope. A possible solution is to
use more resources (people / money).

• The contractor have won a job because they can promise the oil com-
pany that they will use a certain vessel ”A” which is very well suited
for the job. In the early project phase the contractor finds out that the
vessel need to be replaced with a simpler vessel, ”B”. If the client finds
out, the contract may be canceled. If this matter comes up imedeately
before the marine operations the company will accept vessel B. The con-
tractor have good experience with using vessel B. Should they inform
the client? act may be canceled. If this matter comes up imedeately
before the marine operations the company will accept vessel B. (Yes,
this is how things works!) The contractor have good experience with
using vessel B. Should they inform the client?

• During an offshore campaign there is a breaksown in the main crane.

The alternatives is to utilize the smaller stern crane or to go to shore for
repair. The cost of the last alternative is tremendous,- your company
is in financial trouble, this may the the final nail in the coffin. The
experienced saileros says that the smaller crane will do the job.
As engineering support onboard you are told to perform lift analyses to
verify the operations. The client representative says that your results
will be crucial for his decision,- and hence for the whole operations. In
your opinion the time is way to short for a proper lifting analysis. Some
simple calculations looks promising. You would never have accepted
this as a proper lift analysis if you had more time.

All examples are real cases.

2 Hand calculation models.

Hand calculations are used frequently in marine industry. The purpose may
be to establish final design values or perform final verifications. More fre-
quently, the purpose is:

• To provide input to more complex numerical analyses.

11
Figure 5: Ethical squeeze. Who are you?

12
 • To provide quick estimates in an early project phase.

• To clarify if a complex numerical models gives reasonable results

• To gain increased physical insight in the involved phenomena

Local structural analyses are often performed using hand calculations,

even in final design. Standard text book and recommendations from regu-
latory bodies contain procedures for checking structural capacity of beams,
wire slings, bolts and nuts, welding etc. For more complex structures a nu-
merical method called the finite element method (FEM) is used.
Although structural analysis are a vital part of the engineering we will not
go deeper into these methods. Instead, we will focus on some other examples:

• Formulas used for establishing the shape of free hanging chain

• simple calculation of viscous towing force at constant speed

• Simple calculation of hydrodyanmic forces for cases including acceler-

ation

In several exercises given at the end of this document we are combining

the calculated hydrodynamic force with point mass dynamics to achiev simple
mathematical models of marine operations.

2.1 Catenary
The catenary is the curve that an idealized hanging chain or cable assumes
when supported at its ends and acted on only by its own weight. The curve
is the graph of the hyperbolic cosine function, and has a U-like shape, su-
perficially similar in appearance to a parabola (though mathematically quite
different). The word catenary is derived from the Latin word catena, which
means ”chain”. Investigation of the catenary and determination of the shape
of this curve is among the classic problems in mathematics.
Catenary curves occurs frequently within the offshore industry. Typically,
this phenomenon occurs when flexible elements are supported at a floater and
are hanging in a half U- shape to a touch-down point at the sea floor. This
configuration is illustrated in figure (6). The key parameters are defined
properly in section 7. Here catenary formulas relating them to each other
are provided.
Mooring lines for offshore vessels are often forming catenay shapes,- so
called catenary mooring. This type of mooring will lead to a soft positioning
system keeping the vessel in position, but still not arresting the wave induced

13
 Figure 6: The catenary configuration. Key parameters.

motions of the vessel. To achieve this a relatively heavy mooring line is

needed. Huge chains are often used.
Another typical offshore application is the shape of electric cables and
similar objects being laid down and installed along a route on the sea floor.

2.2 Viscous drag

We now turn our attention to one of the classic problems in fluid mechanics:
a body with arbitrary shape is towed with constant speed V through the
water: which force is required. It is evident that for a given body and a
given fluid type, the force will be a unique function if the towing speed. This
is illustrated in the next slide. There are two mechanisms that may generate
a towing resistance: the pressure drop between the windward and the lee
side, and the shear tensions (skin friction) along planes nearly parallel to
the towing direction. The first type will occur at moderate and high speed,
since an unorganized flow pattern with reduced pressure is generated in the
wake. For a surface piercing body the generation of waves will contribute to
the total pressure drop. The relationship between the towing force and the
velocity is normally written as

14
 1
(1) F = − ρSCD V |V |
2
where ρ is the sea water density, S is a reference area and CD is a dimen-
sionless drag coefficient. Normally, S is selected as the frontal area of the
object, then CD normally will be of order 1.
CD is normally a function of flow properties, for instance the Reynolds
number Re = VνL , where L is a length scale of the object and ν is the
kinematic viscosity coefficient. In many cases a constant value for CD may
be appropriate. The actual value may be found in tables provided in standard
textbook, by the DNV etc.
Alternatively, CD may be calculated using numerical method. Many pit-
falls are present for the last strategy. Grid refinement tests and parameter
sensitivity tests are highly recommended.
For complex geometries consisting of several shapes with known coeffi-
cient a block building strategy with simple summation is tempting. Notice,
however, that interaction effect like shielding may need to be considered.
Semi- empirical formulas for this may be found in the literature, covering at
least some types of interaction.

2.3 Added mass

We will no considered the towed object for a body starting from rest, with
acceleration a. In the first stages of the process the velocity is small, and the
viscous effects may be neglected.
If the object contains pockets with trapped water, like for instance a
bucket will do, there will be a distinct volume of fluid having the same
acceleration a. The forces needed to accelerate this water is then Mb a ,
where Mb is the mass of the trapped water. This force has occurred as a
contact force between the object and the fluid. According to the third law of
Newton, we then conclude that the hydrodynamic resistance for the object
contains a term Mb a.
In addition to this trapped water there will be accelerated volumes of wa-
ter surrounding the object. Different small portion of fluid will have their in-
dividual acceleration, forming an acceleration field. The sum of small masses
times individual accelerations may be replaced by a term ”a factor times
a”. The proportionality factor has dimension mass and is normally denoted
”added masss” or Ma . Hence the force needed to accelerate the water may
be written Ma a.

15
 We conclude that for vanishing velocities the hydrodynamic force may be
written F = Ma a. If relevant, Mb is included in Ma .
The value for Ma are tabulated in textbooks and publications from DNV
etc. Alternatively, the value may be determined using numerical methods.
Although this need to be done with care, it is a simpler procedure than
determining viscous drag coefficients.
Shielding effects etc are equally important when using the block- building
strategy as for viscous effects, see discussion in previous section.
It should be noted that the following formula is valid for cases where the
object is accelerating, while the fluid is at rest. Alternative formulations
valid for accelerated fluids exist. Details are not provided here, but it is not
correct to simply replace a with fluid acceleration!

2.4 Morisson equation

In many cases both acceleration and velocity is important, and both theories
discussed so far will fail. It is much more difficult to investigate the interme-
diate stage accurately, since no simple model of the wake exist. Typically,
for the case with constant velocity and zero acceleration a fully developed
wake will occur, and for the opposite case there will be no wake at all. In
the intermediate case the object is moving in and out of its own not fully
developed wake, leading to more unpredictable dynamics.
Never the less a very simple approach exist, named after the man who
first developed the theory: Morissons law. This law simply states that the
actual hydrodynamic force is a sum of the viscous force and the inertia force
as developed above

1
(2) F = ρSCD V |V | + Ma a
2
More accurate methods and laboratory tests has shown that this formula
is a usable simplification for many typical offshore applications. Never the
less it need to be stressed that no formal justification of the formula exists
for the summation. Morissons law is not a law of nature.
Due to a desperate need for design values,- and a quick determination of
them,- the offshore industry are using Morissons law extensively. The order
of magnitude provided by the formula combined with several safety factors
are normally leading to acceptable designs.

16
3 Commercially available calculation tools.
3.1 Hydrostatic stability analyses
Stability analyses of floating objects are the oldest and most important anal-
ysis type within marine industry. Complex and highly relevant analyses were
performed long before computers become available. This included both an-
alytical calculations and numerical simulations by hand.
Today, commercial hydrostatic analysis programs are available and fre-
quently used. Typically, such programs are purpose made for free floating,
ship shaped floaters. Both input and output are streamlined toward tradi-
tional vessel operations. The basic input to a hydrostatic analysis program
is the total mass and center of gravity, and the shape of the wet part of the
hull. The distribution of masses, i.e. radius of gyration etc, are not relevant
for this type of analyses. Notice that the parts of the hull which may become
wet during tilting for need to be defined. Further, hull openings that are not
allowed to be submerged need to be defined.
The vessel geometry is defined through line spans, the same formats that
are used by the ship yards to define and document their construction pro-
cess. The masses are defined through various point masses representing steel
weights, cargo etc. Swift methods for defining tanks and filling them to a
certain level with various constant are available. The output of the program
is also Tailor made for ship designers and operators, where complex rules for
stability checks given by DNV etc are implemented and tested automatically.
A more general formulation allowing for non-standard destabilizing phe-
nomena, is normally not possible. Some examples that may be difficult are
listed below:
• Forces and force-elongation characteristics introduced from contact with
winch or crane wires, fenders, sea floor etc.

• Interaction between two floating objects, i.e. a vessel lifting a floating

object out of the water

• Air filled compartment communicating with the open sea. Changing

hydrostatic pressure at sea water opening compress / expand the air
inside and leads to changes in buoyancy.

3.2 Frequency domain analyses

One of most fundamental hydrodynamic problem you may deal with is the
interaction between a floating object and an incident waves. The simplest

17
 Figure 7: A vessel with poor stability.

approach to this problem is to study a singe harmonic (sinusoidal) wave

component and assume low amplitude wave and responses. This lead to
linear equations and to harmonic responses.
Analysis programs based on this approach requires the geometry of the
wet part of the hull and the mass distribution. The mass may be defined by
the user through a list of individual point masses with positions, or through
integrated properties like radius of gyrations etc. Notice that each point mass
should represent relatively confined parts of the structure.
Although viscous damping is not a part of the basic formulation of this
type of programs, such effect may be ”‘taken in the back door”’. This may
be necessary if incident waves close to the resonance period are studied. For
a vessel like geometries the most relevant example is side sea with period
near the eigenperid in roll motion.
The input to the program consists of directions and wave periods required
for the analyses. Since the analysis consists of stepping through and solving
the problem for a set of different frequencies, the method is denoted frequency
domain
The fundamental output of this type of programs are the amplitude and
phase delay of various responses. Typically, the results are displayed as a

18
function of incident wave periods, and denoted transfer functions or response
amplitude operators (RAO). In addition, hydrodynamic vessel characteristics
needed for more sophisticated calculations with other types of programs are
provided.
The most well-known RAO- curves are those showing the vessel motion
response for all six degrees of freedom. RAO- curves may also display re-
sponses like total wave forces, pressures at certain locations etc. The RAO
curves are often postprocessed to give new responses not directly outputted
by the program: the bending moment in a midship section, the vertical
avveleration in the crane tip etc.
Actual seastates consists of a huge set of harmonic waves with different
periods and directions. Statistical post processing methods have been devel-
oped where RAO’s and the wave spectrum is combined to give most likely
aximum for the response.
There are two main motives for running frequency domain analyses: a)
the free floating responses discussed above may be useful by them self, and
b) the program produces coefficients needed for more sophisticated analyses.

3.3 Time domain analysis

Although the basic hydrodynamic analyses as described in previous section
may provide useful results in many situation, the limitations are striking:

• Nonlinear hydrodynamic features in the wave description and in the

floater response analyses, can not be included. This is less critical for
marine operations than for a survival analyses: a marine operation is
not performed during a storm.

• Nonlinear contact characteristics between different objects can not be

included. Such contacts may represent fenders, lifting wires, sea bed
contact etc.

• Although viscous damping can be included, the description of these

effects are poorly represented.

The traditional way to deal with the phenomena above is to perform

computer simulations with time stepping. Here, the solution on current
and previous time steps are used to establish solutions on next time step.
Repeating this operations leads to a so called time domain simulation.
Time domain analyses may be performed in many ways, and for many
reasons. We will focus on a certain class suited for simulation marine opera-
tions. Whithin this class of methods the following elements exists:

19
Figure 8: Time domain simulation of a marine operation.

20
 • Environment: Incident sea state parameters, wind speed etc, user de-
fined.

• Coeffisients: Simple rules transfeering environmental actions into force,

e.g. wind speed into wind force.

• Links: fenders, wires, sea floor etc, connecting different rigid bodies.
Each link may have an arbitrary user defined force- elongation charac-
teristics.

• Rigid bodies. Standard dynamic equations are solved for these bodies.
The bodies receive forces from link elements attached to them, and
from environmental forces through the coefficients. A vessel requires
coefficients calculated by a frequency domain program, while a small
buoy requires a much simpler representation.

The inclusion of a flexible element like a long steel pipe or an electric cable
requires an element combining the link and the body properties. The mass
need to be distributed along the element, and the axial and bending stiffness
need to be defined. Normally, a fully nonlinear beam theory is required, while
the hydrodynamic loads are performed according to Morisson equation.
The basic output from time domain simulations are time series for various
types of responses. These series need to be post processed to achieve design
values.

3.4 CFD
The time domain analyses described at previous theory slide provides a quick
and efficient way of simulating marine operations. The critical factor is the
use of coefficients: predefined numbers telling how large motions or forces
that will occur for a given wave height, wind speed or similar. The accuracy
of the method depends crucially on the accuracy and relevancy of these coef-
ficients. In order to study this further we need an analysis model where the
actual velocity fields are simulated. T
his is done in the CFD method, where the celebrated Navier Stokes equa-
tions are solved. CFD programs may include important features like turbu-
lence, a free surface and simple bodies performing prescribed motion. Never
the less, a full simulation of a marine operation, including interaction with
freely moving bodies with complex shapes, are not jet feasible. This means
that, for marine operations, the main use of CFD will be to investigate and
quantify hydrodynamic and aerodynamic coefficients.

21
 Typical input to a CFD program are the geometry occupied by the fluid,
and fluid properties like viscosity and density. Turbulence occurs for many
practical applications, then parameters used to select turbulence modeling
need to be defined. Further, the condition along the boundary need to be
given.
The basic output from such programs are time series for local values of
velocity, pressure and other stress components. Integrated quantities giv-
ing the total force on a certain object, the total mass flux through certain
boundary etc may easily be obtained

4 Laying of flexible.
Flexible products ranges from huge steel pipes used for oil transportations
to electric and even fiber optic cables. The two main groups are
• Pipelines. Made of steel, used for transportation of oil and gas. Further
divided into rigid and flexible pipelines.
• Umbilicals and power cables. Umbilicals often contains several com-
ponents, like hydraulic pipes, smalleer electric cables, fiber otic cabels
etc. Power calbles are intended for massive transfer of electric energy.
This section covers installation challenges for these product types.

4.1 Product description, rigid and flexible pipeleines

Smaller diameter rigid pipelines may be installed by reeling, i.e. spooled onto
a large reel onboard the installation vessel. This involves straining of the pipe
material to an order of ODpipe/Dreel. As the reel diameter is limited by the
size of the installation vessel, and as acceptable amount of plastic straining is
limited by the material properties of the steel pipe, installation by reeling is
normally limited to 12” - 16” diameter pipes. Size of the reel will also limit the
length of pipe that it can carry, so if total pipeline length exceeds the capacity
of the reel, it will have to be installed in two or more campaigns. Between
each campaign, the installation vessel will have to return to the spoolbase
(where pipe sections are welded into pipe strings) to pick up another section
of the pipeline.
Larger diameter pipelines are installed without straining the steel material
plastically. Pipe segments are then welded together continuously onboard the
installation vessel as the pipe lay operation progresses. And in order to avoid
plastic bending of the pipe during over-boarding, a large stinger or a vertical
lay tower (a so-called J-lay tower) is required.

22
 Vessels for rigid pipe lay are typically large purpose built vessels that are
not particularly suited for other types of offshore operations. Consequently,
the day rate for such vessels may be considerably higher than the day rate
for a vessel suitable for installation of flexible pipelines. On the other hand,
the cost of a flexible pipeline is generally higher than the cost of a similar
size rigid pipeline. In most cases it will therefore prove to be cost effective
to use flexible pipelines for shorter lines of only a few kilometers, typically
within an oil or gas field, while rigid pipelines are typically used for larger
pipelines used for export of oil and gas to shore.
Due to their flexible nature, flexible pipes are often preferred to rigid
pipes between a floating production unit (platform) and the seabed. These
so-called dynamic risers are typically connected subsea to a rigid pipeline at
a riser base or manifold.

4.2 Umbilicals and power cables

While flexible pipelines normally installed between platforms and/or subsea
structures, power cables and umbilicals may terminate onshore and/or at an
offshore facility such as a platform or an offshore substation for a wind farm.
So-called inter-connector cables are power cables installed between two
onshore facilities. Typical examples are the power cables connecting the
Norwegian power grid to the Danish and Dutch power grids. These days
power cables may be installed to provide offshore facilities with power from
shore in order to reduce CO2 emissions from offshore gas turbines.
Umbilicals provide remote control of subsea equipment such as manifolds
and subsea compressors. Depending on the field lay-out, umbilicals may be
installed between the subsea equipment and a platform or between the subsea
equipment and shore.

4.3 Load-out
An offshore campaign involving installation of flexible pipes, umbilicals or
cables (product) is normally initiated by load-out of the product to the in-
stallation vessel at the manufacturer’s production site. The product may be
stored on reels that are lifted directly onboard the vessel, or it is spooled from
an onshore reel or turntable directly onto a reel, carousel or turntable on-
board the installation vessel. During load-out it is important to ensure that
the product is not damaged by compression or over-bending. It is therefore
common to establish a catenary between the vessel and the quay-side in order
to compensate for uncoordinated tensioner speeds onshore and onboard the
vessel, and to allow flexibility in the event of a sudden stop either onshore or

23
 Figure 9: Various flexible products

onboard the vessel. Upon completion of the load-out operation, a pressure

test and/or electrical tests are normally performed in order to ensure that
the product is intact prior to installation.
Load-out of rigid pipelines to be installed by reeling is performed at a
spoolbase, where pipes are welded into strings of typically 1000 m length.
During load-out, pipe strings are welded together into longer lengths to fill
the vessel reel or achieve total pipeline length. The pipe string is then spooled
onto the vessel reel with a certain back-tension to prevent pipe buckling and
to ensure a compact spooling.
Large diameter pipes to be installed by use of stinger or J-lay tower are
typically transported from shore to the installation vessel by a smaller vessel
or a barge. The pipes (typically 12 m length) are then lifted onboard the
installation vessel by crane.

4.4 Installation aids

Reference is made to the theory slide in the presentation given 20/10-2011.
Read this before proceeding. Laying equipment for flexibles will normally
consist of three components:

• Storage unit

24
 Figure 10: Proper packing of product to fully utilize the storage capacity

• Unit providing hold-back force to compensate for product weight in

water column, and pay out / in product.

• Unit preventing overbending of product at overboarding, typically U-

shaped with bending radius larger that minimum bending radius for
product
In some cases the functionality in unit 1 and 2 is combined in one unit.
Normally steel pipes have huge bending radius. In order to utilize the type
of equipment used for cables and umbilicals the pipe need to be deformed
plastically. A strightener is then needed before overboarding. This is feasible
for flexible pipes.
Rigid pipes are transported to field as a set of separate sections, then
welded together one by one during overboarding.

4.5 Shore pull

An installation operation may be initiated or completed by pulling the prod-
uct onshore at the shore landing site. The vessels draft will determine how
close to shore the vessel may come. From this set-up location, the product
is floated to shore, pulled by an onshore winch. Required winch capacity is
determined based on anticipated drag due to wind and current, as well as
friction due to contact with rollers, conduit surface etc.

4.6 Lay operation in shallow water

In water depths up to 30-50 m, product tension and bending is typically
controlled by measuring the product angle with the vertical at the vessel

25
Figure 11: A chute ensuring smooth transition of the cable into the sea

26
interface. Maximum and minimum allowable lay angles must therefore be
pre-determined by analyses and shall be specified in the operational proce-
dures.

4.7 Lay operation in steep slopes

Steep slopes are typically found on the sides of a fjord or at the edge of
the continental shelf. When laying umbilicals or cables in steep slopes, the
following issues should be considered:

• lay direction, i.e. uphill or downhill

• need for anchoring of product, and

• risk of VIV and need for VIV suppression strakes.

When laying a product uphill, there is a risk that the product may slide
unnoticed every time the tension at touchdown is low. The steeper the
slope, the higher the tension required to prevent sliding. And the higher
the waves, the more vessel motion, resulting in a higher variation in tension
at touchdown. Consequently, top tension must be increased to ensure that
touchdown tension is adequate. On the other hand, increasing the lay-back
distance also increases the maximum tension at touchdown. This may cause
a tightening of the product on the seabed, potentially resulting in free spans.
Another factor that may physically restrict the lay-back distance is the slope
geometry, i.e. the slope itself. The consequence of restrictions in lay-back is
a restriction in the weather criteria for this operation.
As a product is laid downhill, the geometry of the seabed slope will im-
prove the dynamics of the product catenary, making it more flexible. Conse-
quently, there is less risk of both compression and product over-bending at
touchdown. Laying downhill also offers more flexibility with respect to ad-
justing the lay-back distance. On the other hand, increasing lay-back results
in an increase in touchdown tension, which again may lead to the formation
of free spans. Free spans may also develop behind touchdown, i.e. higher up
the slope, as a result of too high tension at touchdown.
In order to prevent product over-bending at touchdown, slippage down
the slope during laying, or the generation of free spans, step-by-step vessel
movement and product pay-out should be analyzed in detail for applicable
weather conditions and specified in the operational procedures.
Particularly when laying downhill, the need for anchoring of the product
uphill of a slope should be considered to prevent slippage due to excessive
tension at touchdown. In addition, the need for anchoring of the product to

27
account for the effect of waves and current that may cause the product to
work its way down the slope over time, should be considered.
The risk of generating free spans is often higher in relation to laying in
steep slopes, as free spans may result both uphill or downhill of the slope
(depending on lay direction) and along the slope itself (depending on seabed
topology). The concern related to free spans is the risk of Vortex Induced
Vibrations (VIV) that may be induced in the suspended product as a result
of current. Therefore, as a general rule, VIV analyses should be performed
as part of the installation engineering in order to establish the maximum
allowable free span length. If free spans are unavoidable, remedial action
such as installation of VIV suppression strakes or free span rectification (e.g.
by rock dumping) should be performed.

4.8 General lay operation

Although the vessels required for installation of rigid and flexible pipelines
differ, and although a rigid pipe is much less flexible than a flexible pipe
- or an umbilical or cable for that matter - the same criteria apply during
installation:

• Maximum tension (typically at the vessel interface) must not exceeded

the capacity of the product (pipeline, umbilical or cable)

• Maximum compression in the product (typically at the seabed inter-

face) must not cause any damage

• Product bend radius over a chute, stinger or deflector must not be less
than the specified limit for the applicable installation tension

• Product bend radius at the seabed interface (sag bend) must not be
less than the specified Minimum Bend Radius (MBR)

• The grip force applied on the product by the installation tensioner must
be sufficient to support product tension, but must not exceed the crush
capacity of the product

During laying, the product will be affected by both current and the mo-
tion of the installation vessel. With increasing vessel motion, the lay-back
distance will have to be increased in order to prevent product over-bending
at touchdown, and consequently both top tension and residual tension in
the product increases. Installation analyses should therefore be performed
to determine minimum required and maximum acceptable lay angle, product
tension and/or lay-back distance for a range of weather conditions based on

28
 Figure 12: A lay rout minimizng laying challenges

the criteria stated above. Based on these analyses, limiting weather condi-
tions should be determined, i.e. the maximum waves in which the laying
operation may be performed.
During laying, product integrity is controlled by ensuring that the prod-
uct lay angle, i.e. angle of product with the vertical at the vessel interface,
product tension at the vessel and/or the distance between the vessel and
the point where the product touches down on the seabed, i.e. the lay-back
distance are maintained within the ranges determined by the analyses. Note
that the lay-back distance is measured by maintaining a Remotely Oper-
ated Vehicle (ROV) above the point where the product touches down on the
seabed, i.e. touchdown point.
As a general rule, residual tension, i.e. product tension after installation,
should be minimized in order to prevent the formation of free spans and to
enable trenching of the product, if applicable. Consequently, the distance
between the vessel and product touchdown, i.e. the lay-back distance, on
the seabed should be minimized without risking excessive compression in or
over-bending of the product.
Typical lay speed for flexible products (flexible pipes, umbilicals and ca-
bles) is 5 - 10 m/minute (300 - 600 m/hour), depending on parameters such as
route, seabed conditions and installation tolerances. Handling, over-boarding
and installation of accessories such as end terminations and buoyancy mod-
ules will, however, slow down the operation considerably.

29
4.9 Stand-by Conditions/Waiting on Weather
If the expected duration of an operation, including contingency, exceeds the
time frame of a reliable weather forecast, typically 72 hours, contingency
operations should be planned and analyzed in detail. Such contingency pro-
cedures may involve the use of buoyancy to establish a suitable stand-by
configuration, or cutting and emergency abandonment of the product.
Detailed analyses are required in order to establish step-by-step vessel
motion versus product pay-out to achieve the stand-by configuration or lay
down the product end on the seabed. Note that a contingency operation may
have to be performed without the assistance of an ROV, as simultaneous
recovery of the ROV is often performed to save time.

4.10 Pull-in to Offshore Unit

An installation operation may be initiated or completed by product pull-in
to an offshore unit, e.g. a platform or an offshore substation for a wind farm.
In general, the operation involves transfer of the product end termination
from the vessel to the offshore unit, and is achieved by use of a winch located
onboard the offshore unit. Required winch capacity is determined based
on maximum expected distance between the vessel and the offshore unit,
vessel/product dynamics, friction due to product contact with J-tube or I-
tube at the platform/offshore unit interface, and drag due to current acting
on the submerged product catenary.
Due to tolerances inherent in all length measuring devices, flexible pipelines,
umbilicals and cables are manufactured with a certain over-length to ensure
that the delivery length is not too short. The resulting surplus length may
be cut off on site, as soon as the actual surplus length may be measured,
but in most cases this would require assembly of an end termination offshore
that can take several days to complete. Therefore, it is more common to
deposit surplus length by laying the product in curves on the seabed. For an
infield pipeline or umbilical, the surplus length may be in the order of 50-100
m, while it may be as much as 1 km for the longer lengths of umbilicals
and cables between platforms and shore. Space required for deposition of
surplus length may therefore have to be planned carefully, as the area close
to a platform or subsea structure is often congested.

4.11 Subsea lay-down of product end termination

Umbilicals and flexible pipelines are normally installed between a platform
and a subsea structure, or between two subsea structures. In either case

30
the subsea end of the umbilical or pipeline is usually attached to an end
termination that may be large and heavy.
The installation operation may be initiated by installation of the subsea
termination, i.e. a so-called first end installation of the termination. The
termination may be installed hanging by the product, or by use of a crane
and/or winch to support the weight of the termination during lowering and
landing. The installation method depends on the weight and design of the
termination, i.e. whether or not it must be installed upright.
If the termination is lowered hanging by the product, a bend restrictor
is required at the termination interface to protect the product from over-
bending as the termination is tilted and laid down on the seabed. The
bend restrictor must be designed for the moment resulting at the termination
interface, including the effect of dynamics.
If the termination is lowered by use of a crane, the over-boarding opera-
tion, i.e. lowering the termination from deck level through the surface, may
be critical. During this phase, vessel motion may cause the termination to
swing like a pendulum, potentially causing compression and over-bending of
the product between the termination and the vessel. During lowering and
landing of the termination, product tension (and corresponding moment in
the bend restrictor) must be kept within allowable limits.

4.12 Initiation of rigid pipeline installation subsea

If the first end of a rigid pipeline is to be installed subsea, a hold-back
anchor is normally required due to the relatively high residual tension in the
pipeline during laying. The pipeline is then secured to the anchor before the
lay operation starts in order to prevent it from sliding towards the vessel.

4.13 Rigid spools

A rigid spool is an assembly of pipe segments designed to connect a pipeline
to a subsea structure, e.g. riser bases, manifolds or similar. Design of the
spool is based on actual measurements of as-installed positions of pipeline
end flange and subsea structure. Typical spools are U-shaped or S-shaped.
Rigid pipe spools are typically lowered and lifted into place by use of the
vessel crane.

31
5 Installation of subsea modules.
In a typical offshore lifting operation a heavy subsea unit is lifted from deck
of the crane vessel and lowered to the sea floor. Alternatively, the operation
involves two vessel, a transportation barge / vessel and a crane vessel. Op-
erations where subsea modules are lifted from sea floor to deck for removal
/ repair, or moved from one location to another, is also denoted lifting.
The different phases of an offshore lifting operation is discussed in the
subsections below.

5.1 Load-out
The module is lifted or skidded from a production / storage site and onto
the crane vessel deck. Since a full utilization of the expensive crane vessels
are desired, the deck tends to be crowded. This need to be planned carefully,
to ensure simple and safe lifting routes in air at the offshore installation site.

5.2 Transportation
A proper sea fastening of all modules on deck is required. Further, the deck
strength need to be checked, both local damages and a complete collapse of
the hull may need to be considered. Finally, for tall and heavy units, the
stability of the vessel may be an issue. The most dominant loads for the
sea fastening and deck strength are module self weight and wave induced
accelerations and deck tilts. This means that a hydrodynamic analysis may
be relevant. A proper planning of the sea fastening, ensuring easy, swift and
cost efficient installation and removal, should be focused on.

5.3 Lifting from deck of vessel

Upon arrival the sea fastening need to be removed and the module is lifted
along a route to a location ready for lowering. The involved crane operations
should be as simple as possible. Test-lifting inshore is highly recommended,
these costs may be a very good investment. Pendulum oscillation of the
object easily occur, both due to wave induced motions and due to quick shift
of horizontal centre of gravity during crane operation. Although this is a
substantial problem in reality, analysis models will often predict even worse
results. This is typical for resonant dynamic systems, where the small amount
of damping that actually exists is hard to quantify. Analysis of lift in air is
an area which probably will be given much attention in the years to come.
A challenge, besides the damping issue, is that this is manually controlled

32
 Figure 13: Lifting suction anchor off transportation barge deck

operations,- it is not possible to calculate how clever a crane driver is going

to be.
The stability of the vessel are reduced when the heavy load is lifted from
deck, stability-wise it correspond to place the module weight in the crane
hook. The accidental case occurring if the load is suddenly dropped also
need to be addressed.

5.4 Splash-zone
Any pendulum motion of the lifted object will be dramatically reduced when
the object is lowered and penetrates the free surface. Seen from a crane
drivers point of view this will be a point of the operation where he can relax.
Never the less, the splash zone is where the most violent dynamics occur,
and normally where the crane wire loads will reach their maximum. Different
types of relative motions between the object and the water will contribute:
particle velocity and acceleration due to wave motion, slamming toward flat
members of the object and object motions due to crane tip motions. The
wave induced vessel motions will normally represent a higher contribution
than the operationally defined lowering speed of the object.
The purpose of the analyses for this stage is to establish design dynamic
loads. This is normally done using a time domain analyses. The hydrody-
namic coefficients that are input to this program quantifies the hydrodynamic

33
 Figure 14: Lifting through splash- zone. Air evacuation.

forces. These coefficients may be hard to quantify, especially the slamming

coefficient.
The stability of the object may also be a point of interest. Although the
crane load itself normally acts at a high level and stabilize the lift, destabi-
lizing effects may become critical. Typical destabilizing effects are buoyancy
forces acting below centre of gravity, partly water filled compartment, air
filled compartment communicating with the open sea etc. Further, the effect
of the crane load can not be fully understood without including some kind
of interaction with the lifting vessel. Traditional stability programs are not
able to handle this, hence a hand calculation or a time domain simulation
may need to be performed.

5.5 Further lowering.

When the object is lowered further the direct impact from the waves will
vanish, and the dynamics are governed by the wave induced crane tip mo-
tion only. This means that the splash zone normally is governing for the
dimensioning forces. One important exception occurs at ultra- deep sites,
where the long lifting wire represent a softer system, leading to large eigen-
periods. If the eigenperiods becomes similar to the period of the surface wave
and crane tip motion resonance may occur. This is discussed further in an
exercise. Other things that need to be considered during further lowering is
wire weight in upper position and the wire wear.

34
Figure 15: Landing of subsea module into a template. Do you see the guid-
ing?

5.6 Landing.
A soft landing of the object is important, partly to protect the lifted object,
and partly to avoid damages to the soil supporting the object after instal-
lation. Further, an accurate positioning of the object are required. Time
domain simulations may become relevant even for this phase. During the ac-
tual operations some kind of load or motion compensator are frequently used
for this phase. The force characteristics of such devices are very complex,
and the crane manufactures tends to keep the algorithm as an secrete. This
makes it difficult to quantify their effect for a marine contractor.

5.7 Recovery.
Removal of old subsea modules for demolition or repair is an increasing mar-
ket for installation contractors. Further, a recovery of the module may be a
contingency case required by the client for a typical installation case. The
engineering concerns for the recovery are similar to installation. Two addi-
tional challenges are the suction forces from the soil, that suddenly yields,
and the weight of trapped water when lifted in air.

35
6 Platform installation.
Even though completely submerged solutions for offshore oil productions
are feasible and have been made, the vast majority of the oilfields contains
surface piercing platforms. Some of the most typical oil platforms and their
installation is discussed in the following.
Typically, the platform consist of a fixed or floating fundament, and an
upper unit with living quarters, production facilities and units for separation
of oils and gas and various other processes. In cases where the upper unit is
clearly separated from the rest it is denoted topside.
The transportation to field is consist of towing or, if relevant, using the
platforms own propulsion. Two types of towing are used: wet tow, where the
platform is floating, and dry tow, where the platform is located on deck of
a transportation barge. In both cases the towing fleet is a main cost driver,
hence calculating the required towing resistance is one of the main tasks for
the engineer.

6.1 Jacket
The steel jacket type platform on a pile foundation is by far the most common
kind of offshore structure and they exist worldwide. The ”substructure” or
”jacket” is fabricated from steel welded pipes and is pinned to the sea floor
with steel piles, which are driven through piles guides on the outer members
of the jacket.
The phases of a jacket installation are

• The production site is normally at a yard with a huge keyside. Prepa-

ration of different jacket parts in production halls, assemble at key side.
Production logistic to ensure effective use of material and man hour is
a main cost- driver.

• The jacket is transferred to a transportation barge with skidding or

trailers

– Skidding: Low friction shoes underneath the jacket, use of winch-

ing or jacks.
– Trailers: Wheels mounted underneath the jacket to provide van-
ishing friction.

• Transportation to field,- dry towing

• Small jacket: lifted off barge deck and upended with crane vessel

36
 Figure 16: jacket with topside

• Larger jackets are launched: barge is ballasted to a certain trim angle,

jacket slides into the water. Then upending with a crane vessel
• Crane assisted positioning and set-down on sea floor.
• Piling
The installation analysis determine loads that need to be included both
for the jacekt design and for the design of temporary buoyancy tanks. Some
challenges during jacket launch and upending is listed below
• Position and size of temporary buoyancy tanks
• Maximum conatct force between jacket and barge.
• Maximum depth during launch
• Structural loads due to hydrostatic pressure
• Bottom clearance
• Floating condition after launch. Ensure access to lifting arrangement
• Upending. Check of structural loads crane load and bottom clearances.
• Proper upright position. Ballasting of side legs

37
 Figure 17: launching and crane assisted upending of jacket.

6.2 Topside
After securing the jacket with piles the topside installation follows. A light
topside is normally installed in a single lift operation with a offshore crane.
For heavier topsides, crane vessels may be unavailable or too expensive. The
traditional alternative is an installation piece by piece. Another option is
the floatover method: an opening in the top of the jacket is designed where
the transportation barge may enter. After entry, the barge is ballasted,
and conical units underneath the topside enter into receptors in top of the
jacket corner legs. Some kind of rubber of shock- absorbing material may
be needed. The barge is ballasted to a proper air gap to the transported
topside and pulled out. After installation of the topside the electric cables,
risers etc are pulled in, all equipments and facilities are commissioned and
the production may start. The oil wells are normally predrilled to ensure a
quick start-up of the production. When the floatover method is used for a
floating platform the operation is normally denoted mating

6.3 Gravity based structures

A gravity-based structure (GBS) is a support structure held in place by
gravity. These structures are often constructed in fjords, especially for units
with extremely deep drafts. Fjords gives sufficient depths and are sheltered
from extreme waves. The fjord sill will normally be dimensioning for the
maximum draft that can be made.
The extremely tall GBS concept used in the North Sea, denoted Condeep

38
Figure 18: Gravity based structure, Jackup and Floater (Semi Submersible)

platforms, were made this way. This type of platforms lost their popularity
in Norwegian sector after the sinkage of the first Heidrun platform. Today
there is an increasing interest for GBS- platforms all over the world, both
Condeep- type and solutions suited for more shallow water.
A GBS is normally constructed of steel reinforced concrete, often with
tanks or cells which can be used to control the buoyancy of the finished GBS.
The topside may be mated or otherwise installed before or after tow-out.
Mating before transportation was normally done for the Condeep platform
in Norwegian sector. These platforms are the largest man made structures
ever been transported. Due to the extreme weights the only option is to wet-
tow the platforms to site. A huge fleet of towing vessels is normally required.
This is shown on the next slide, for a Condeep platform.
Upon arrival at the offshore site the platform need to be positioned and
ballasted down to the sea floor. Finally, the platform is filled with grout, a
sort of concrete, to ensure a stable platform even in extreme weather.
A jackup is a floating barge fitted with long support legs that can be
raised or lowered. The jackup is maneuvered (self-propelled or by towing)
into location with its legs up and the hull floating on the water. Upon
arrival at the work location, the legs are jacked down onto the seafloor.
Then ”preloading” takes place, where the weight of the barge and additional
ballast water are used to drive the legs securely into the sea bottom so they
will not penetrate further while operations are carried out. After preloading,
the jacking system is used to raise the entire barge above the water to a
predetermined height or ”air gap”, so that wave, tidal and current loading
acts only on the relatively slender legs and not on the barge hull.
The jackup may stay on a certain location for long time periods. Never
the less, the platform type is particularly useful for short time engagements

39
and frequent transits. The jackup will meet new soil conditions at each new
location. This means that geotechnical issues and proper planning need to be
constantly focused on. The most dangerous phenomenon is denoted punch
through. This may occur if the soil is soft underneath a relatively firm layer.
If the firm layer withstand the static loads and normal dynamic loads the
installation process may be regarded as successful. During a storm event the
overturning forces acting on the platform may lead to a leg punch trough
of the firm layer, and a sudden lack of platform support. Critical structural
damages may then occur.
The normal way to prevent punch through is to apply an even higher static
load during installation. This preloading may be performed by ballasting
the barge when the legs have been lowered. Alternatively, for a four legged
platform, two diagonal legs may be raised simultaneously. This means that
a three legged platform normally need to be equipped with larger ballast
tanks. On the other hand, the fact that three vertical supports defines a
statically determined system proves to be a safe and robust solution to several
operational and accidental scenarios.
Almost all Jack Up Units have footings. Their purpose is to increase
the legs bearing area, thereby reducing the required capacity of the soil to
provide a solid foundation upon which the Jack Up will stand and transfer
weight, operational, and environmental loads to the seabed. There are two
main footing types: mats and spud cans. Mat footings connect all the Jack
Up Units legs to one common footing. Mats provides a stable solution for
extremely soft soils, but there are technical challenges at uneven seabea and
when debris are present.
Spud cans are conical shaped individual footings underneath each leg.
This will provide a stable fundament even in harder soil conditions. Pictures
displaying installation steps and the design issues discussed above is provided
in the following slides. Some analysis challenges are FEM analyses of leg
strength during transport and installation and hydrostatic analyses to find
spud can force.

6.4 Tension leg platforms

A tension leg platform (TLP) is a floating platform with strong vertical
mooring (tendons or tension legs). After connecting the platform to the
tendons a high tension is achieved through combinations of winching and
deballasting. The fundamental idea is to arrest the vertical wave induced
motion, while letting the horizontal motions remain. Vertical motions are
the most challenging ones for risers, cables etc. Hence, the TLP may provide
a more cost efficient solution than fixed platforms in deep water, without

40
 Figure 19: Tension leg platform

introducing the critical motions of a floater.

The installation steps may differ from platform to platform, but a typical
installation may consist of the following steps:

• The fundaments for the tendons are lowered to the sea bed and secured
with piles. Use of rock dumping or similar may add to the fundament
stability

• A huge set of pipe sections are transported to the field. A crane ves-
sel will upend and lower one section by section. Each new section is
attached to the previous section by use of some mechanism installed
at the pipe section ends. When the first section reach the sea floor it
is attached to the fundament. A buoy is attached in the upper end to
provide tension in the tendon, at a suitable water depth close to the
surface

• Eventually all tendons are installed with buoys in the top end. Analyses
need to be performed to ensure that the tendons do not tangle up for
the expected worst environment that will occur in the period before
the platform arrives.

• Meanwhile a floating substructure or hull is constructed towed to field.

The topside modules may be attached to the hull inshore or at site.

41
 • The hull is then positioned above the preinstalled tendons. Winches
are attached to the tendons. A high tendon pretension is then achieved
by winching and ballasting. Normally the tendon elements need to be
secured to the hull and the winches released before the final stages of
deballasting and pretension takes place.

6.5 Floating platforms

Floating offshore platforms may be defined as platforms with a soft position-
ing system, where the wave induced motions are not arrested. According
to this definition the TLP is not a floater. The purpose of the positioning
system is merely to compensate for drift forces from the environment. This
is normally achieved with a soft, catenary mooring. A so called DP may also
be used. A DP is a computer system controlling several thrusters who con-
tinuously will change force and direction to compensate for slowly varying
environmental forces. Floating platforms have several advantages, among
them are

• Uncertainties related to soil conditions are reduced to a minimum. No-

tice that anchors are required if a DP is not used.

• For deep water the price of an extreme tall structure is avoided.

• It is easy to move to other locations, take platform to land for repair

etc.

The disadvantage compared to all platforms discussed earlier is the in-

creased vertical motions. The entry of flexible products into the platform
(cables, pipleines etc) becomes more challenging.
The installation of a floater will normally go through the following steps.

• A set of anchors and mooring chain will be installed on the sea floor.
The anchors will form a ring around the platforms, and the mooring
chain will be attached to the anchor and oriented toward the center,-
the future platform location. The chain will be laid in a U- turn toward
the center, and some kind of mechanism and plans for picking it up are
made.

• The floater are normally made on a ship yard, and topside modules
lifted in and installed. Often the simplest work is done in low- cost
areas, while the more technical challenging outfitting is done other at
more suitable locations.

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 • The floater is towed out and positioned between the anchors. The
chains are then picked up by anchor handling vessels and handed over to
the platform one by one. Each mooring line is connected to the platform
winches. Finally, all lines are winched in to a proper pretension
Hydrostatic and hydrodynamic analyses may be needed for the trans-
portation of anchors to field, for stability checks and seafastening loads. FEM
analyses needed for strength check of sea fastening. Installation of suction
anchors normally requires a typical lifting analyses. Laying of anchor chain
is verified with laying analysis similar to laying of electric cables etc. Towing
force for vessel selection necessary for tow- out of the floater. The strength
of the floater itself in heavy sea not checked,- the design storms used by
the platform manufactures are worse. Hook-up of platform to preinstalled
mooring lines checked with time domain analyses

7 Some useful formulas.

7.1 Tensioner Grip Force
A tensioner is a mechanism mounted onboard an installation vessel to en-
able sufficient holding capacity for the flexible product being installed. The
tensioner consists of several belts, each having contact with the product over
a certain length. The belt may be run to pull in ot give out the flexible
product.
Product tension is transferred to the tensioner(s) by the friction force
generated between the tensioner belts and the product. The friction force is
increased by increasing the tensioner grip force. However, maximum allow-
able grip force on the product given by the supplier must not be exceeded.
Therefore, if sufficient friction force is not achieved at maximum allowable
grip force, the contact length between the tensioner belts and the product
must be increased. This may be achieved by installing two or more tensioners
in series. A rough estimate of required contact length between the tensioner
belts and the product is given by:

Tmax
(3) lmin =
Fallow N µ
where
lmin = Minimum required contact length between tensioner belts and
product
Tmax = Maximum installation tension

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 Fallow = Maximum allowable tensioner grip force pr length (one belt)
N = Number of tensioner tracks (belts)
µ = Minimum friction coefficient
In order to prevent the product internals from slipping through the outer
sheath, the friction coefficient between the sheath and the underlying layer
(normally armor wires) should also be considered, as it may be lower than
the friction coefficient between the sheath/roving and the chute surface.
Note that a safety factor should be applied to account for inaccuracies
in tensioner settings and tolerances of gauges or other equipment used to
measure tensioner grip force.

7.2 Chute Contact Force

A chute is a mechanism that may be use for overboarding flexible product
during installation. A chute consists of a smoothly curved surface with side
walls than protect the product from overbending.
The radius of the installation chute is given by the minimum of the fol-
lowing:

• Minimum bend radius at maximum installation tension specified by the

product supplier, and

• The radius corresponding to the maximum contact force specified by

the product supplier.

Minimum chute radius to comply with maximum allowable contact force

may be determined as follows:

Tmax
(4) Rmin =
Nallow
where
Rmin = Minimum required chute radius
Tmax = Maximum installation tension
Nallow = Maximum allowable product contact force with chute

7.3 Required Recovery Tension over Chute

An installation operation shall in general be reversible. In order to enable
recovery of a product over a chute, friction must be accounted for. An
estimate of required recovery tension may be found as follows:

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 Figure 20:

(5) Trec = Tmax eµα

where Trec = Required recovery tension

Tmax = Maximum installation tension immediately outside vessel
µ = Friction coefficient between product and chute.
α = = Angle of sector (in radians) where the product is in contact with
the chute

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 Figure 21: The semi submersible. Wet part only.

8 Exersises.
Exercise 1 (Towing a semi submersible) Your company is going to con-
duct a wet- towing of a semi submersible unit. A subcontracting company has
been used to calculate the required towing force. Your boss do not thrust their
work. He comes over to you, puts their towing analysis report on your desk
and says:
”You join in in tomorrows meeting. And have an opinion! Should we ask
for an independent 3. party verification for the towing analysis. Or do we
thrust them? I don’t!
Look here: they claim that under zero environmental forces (flat sea),
they can tow the unit with 5m/s, using one towing vessel only: a tug with
40tonne pull force. This is bull sh....”
Perform some simple calculations. Can you substantiate the statements
from your boss?
The platform is displayed in figure (21). The rectangular, horizontal pon-
toons have dimensions 20m × 10m, while the vertical corner column have
dimensions 20m × 20m. The openings between the columns are 60m. The
draft (distance from still water level to bottom of pontoons) is 40m.

Exercise 2 (A salesman’s death?) The vessel your company is using when

laying electric cables have capacity to install cable with 10tons top-tension.
Your company’s salesman are about to win a new job for your company where
you are going to lay an electric cable across a fjord. The deepest location is
1000m.
The following key parameters apply

• Cable weight is 10kg/m

• The minimum bending radius for the cable is 5m.

46
What should you do?

Exercise 3 (Torpedo anchor) A torpedo- shaped anchor are to be dropped

from a certain height above the sea floor. The purpose is to penetrate the sea
floor to a certain depth and provide a safe anchoring point.
According th the geotechnical report a collision speed of 100m/s is appro-
priate for a correct seabed penetration.
The key parameters are defined as

• Weight m = 50tons

• Buoyancy m = 5tons

• Added mas ma = 5tons

• Dimensionless drag coefficient CD = 0.2. Corresponding frontal area

S = 1.5m2 .

At what height should you drop the anchor? You may assume that wires
and chains attached to the anchor have no impact in the anchor motion after
being dropped.

Exercise 4 (Lifting operations) In this exercise you will develop a math-

ematical model for a crane assisted deep sea lowering of a subsea module.
We are investigating a situation where the lowering have stopped, so that
wave induced motions only remains. The crane hook is performing prescribed
(known) vertical motion Zc (t) + C, where C is the average position of the
crane hook. The module performs vertical motions Zm (t) + M , where M is
the average position of the module. Typically, M is a huge negative number
for deep lowering. Zm (t) is the fundamental unknown of the problem.
We assume verical motions only
The following key parameters can be regarded as known
M = Mass of module
Ma = Added mass of module
B = Buoyancy of anchor
CD = Drag coeffisient for the module
S = Horizontal projected area of the module
E = Elastic modulus of wire
A = Cross sectional area of wire
L = C − M = Static distance from crane tip to module
ρ = Sea water density
g = Acceleration due to gravity

47
 a) Show that the wire force F acting on the module can be written

(6) F = −K(Zm (t) − Zc (t)) + T

Express K and T using the known parameters listed above

b) Show that

∂ 2 Zm ∂Zm ∂Zm
(7) M̂ + F | | + KZm = KZc
∂t2 ∂t ∂t

Express M̂ , F and K using the known parameters listed above.

c) Find an expression for the ressonance period of the system. Make a
sketch displaying how this period is related to L.

Exercise 5 (Convince the client I) Your friend who works in an oil com-
pany have a problem: they are going to install a subsea electric cable, and the
installation company they normally are using has gone bankrupt. He happens
to know that your company are trying to enter into the same market. He ask
you to send him a mail who will convince his boss that your company are
capable of doing the job. The mail should contain a short description of how
you would organize and execute the project, what kind of technical challenges
you see,what kind of engineering you find relevant etc. ”make my boss un-
derstand that you have the right focus both regarding project execution and
technical challenges”, he says. ”But make it short,- maximum 2000 words +
some pictures, sketches etc.”
Write this mail.

Exercise 6 (Convince the client II) See previous exercise. Your friend
calls again, with a similar problem. This time it is a huge offshore module
that are to be placed on the sea floor at a subsea location. Again, provide him
with a convincing mail.

Exercise 7 (Convince the client III) See previous exercise. Your friend
calls again, with a similar problem. This time it is a steel jacket that are ti
be dry- towed to an offshore location and installed using launching. Again,
provide him with a convincing mail.

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References
[1] Norman, O., Oljebransjen,- en dans på roser?, Journal of stupid ques-
tions.

49
A The First Appendix
BlaBla

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