Sharif Digital Repository

In order to maintain the production of offshore oil wells, the National Iranian Oil Company periodically services facilities and equipment located in oil wellheads with mobile wellhead servants. It also gives technical supports to oil wellheads and mobile wellhead servants with supporter vessels. Due to supply limitations, there are not enough special vessels (namely supporter vessels and mobile wellhead servants) compared to the number of oil wellheads. The failure of special vessels to service oil wellheads and supporter vessels to technically support mobile wellhead servants based on a predetermined plan, will lead to considerable loss in production performance of oil wells and hence... 

The aim of this paper is to consider the ability of endurance time (ET) method to estimate the seismic response of fixed offshore platforms at various excitation levels. In this way, various sources of nonlinear behaviour and challenging issues in the ET approach are included in the three-dimensional model of a real jacket platform utilising the finite element method. In addition to common-designed, over-designed and under-designed cases of this platform have been investigated to examine the effects of the structural characteristics on the ET response. To consider the accuracy and reliability of this approach, results of the ET method are compared with results of nonlinear time history... 

The aim of this paper is to consider the ability of endurance time (ET) method to estimate the seismic response of fixed offshore platforms at various excitation levels. In this way, various sources of nonlinear behaviour and challenging issues in the ET approach are included in the three-dimensional model of a real jacket platform utilising the finite element method. In addition to common-designed, over-designed and under-designed cases of this platform have been investigated to examine the effects of the structural characteristics on the ET response. To consider the accuracy and reliability of this approach, results of the ET method are compared with results of nonlinear time history... 

Wind and ocean waves highly influence the performance and functionality of structures, requiring an efficient control element. The structural behavior of one of the most recent structural control elements, namely shape memory alloys (SMA)-based control element, under cyclic loadings of oceans waves, has been investigated. Shape memory alloys are one of the attractive smart materials with the ability to return to the initial shape after experiencing large deformation. Experimental tests have been conducted to study the effects of cyclic loads on several specimens of the SMA wires. The SMA wires are being used in the SMA-based structural control system to dissipate the energy of external... 

Dynamic environmental loads, such as winds and waves, make the stability of offshore structures at high risk, requiring reliable yet efficient control elements to ensure the stability of such structures under lateral loads. Among the variety of control elements that have been developed to enhance the stability of a structure, shape memory alloy (SMA)-based control elements are promising as they are low-cost, easy to embed into the main control element, and do not need an external power supply. However, cyclic loads may highly influence the performance and functionality of SMA-based elements. The present work investigates the effects of pre-straining SMA components in energy dissipation... 

Accurate estimation of the capacity curve of offshore jacket structures to achieve performance levels and ductility is of great importance. Proper modeling of compressive members to correctly investigate global and local buckling is crucial in estimation of the capacity curve. Buckling modes and deformations due to local buckling can be considered, if the compressive braces are modeled by shell or solid elements. The purpose of this paper is to achieve the correct compressive behavior of braces with solid type elements and investigate the effects of five different parameters such as D/t, L/D, mesh size, mesh size ratio, and imperfections. ABAQUS FE software is used for this purpose. The... 

Accurate estimation of the capacity curve of offshore jacket structures to achieve performance levels and ductility is of great importance. Proper modeling of compressive members to correctly investigate global and local buckling is crucial in estimation of the capacity curve. Buckling modes and deformations due to local buckling can be considered, if the compressive braces are modeled by shell or solid elements. The purpose of this paper is to achieve the correct compressive behavior of braces with solid type elements and investigate the effects of five different parameters such as D/t, L/D, mesh size, mesh size ratio, and imperfections. ABAQUS FE software is used for this purpose. The... 

In this article, the effects of the changes in the mass of the floating wind turbine (as a multi-body system) on its nonlinear vertical vibrations are investigated. The fluctuations of the hydrodynamic added mass of the floating platform and the mass of the vibration absorbers, which added to the structure to mitigate the lateral vibrations, change the mass and consequently the dynamics of the vertical vibrations. In this regard, first, the governing equations of the vertical vibrations of the floating wind turbine are derived. The FAST code is used to validate the proposed model of the dynamics of the vertical vibrations through numerical simulations. Then, derived equations are solved... 

Heave plates are structural components used for reducing the vibrations caused by environmental forces on marine and offshore structures by changing the hydrodynamic properties. The fact that the added mass increase via heave plates does not always lead to the structural response reduction underscores the role of damping in maintaining the vibration amplitude within allowable limits. In the present experimental study, a novel combined rigid-elastic design is used to improve the damping through the velocity increase in the elastic part and added mass creation in the central rigid part. The desired percentage of total added mass and damping can be adjusted by changing the rigid-to-elastic... 

Heave plates are structural components used for reducing the vibrations caused by environmental forces on marine and offshore structures by changing the hydrodynamic properties. The fact that the added mass increase via heave plates does not always lead to the structural response reduction underscores the role of damping in maintaining the vibration amplitude within allowable limits. In the present experimental study, a novel combined rigid-elastic design is used to improve the damping through the velocity increase in the elastic part and added mass creation in the central rigid part. The desired percentage of total added mass and damping can be adjusted by changing the rigid-to-elastic... 

Heave plates are structural components used for reducing the vibrations caused by environmental forces on marine and offshore structures by changing the hydrodynamic properties. The fact that the added mass increase via heave plates does not always lead to the structural response reduction underscores the role of damping in maintaining the vibration amplitude within allowable limits. In the present experimental study, a novel combined rigid-elastic design is used to improve the damping through the velocity increase in the elastic part and added mass creation in the central rigid part. The desired percentage of total added mass and damping can be adjusted by changing the rigid-to-elastic... 

Accurate estimation of the capacity curve of offshore jacket structures to achieve performance levels and ductility is of great importance. Proper modeling of compressive members to correctly investigate global and local buckling is crucial in estimation of the capacity curve. Buckling modes and deformations due to local buckling can be considered, if the compressive braces are modeled by shell or solid elements. The purpose of this paper is to achieve the correct compressive behavior of braces with solid type elements and investigate the effects of five different parameters such as D/t, L/D, mesh size, mesh size ratio, and imperfections. ABAQUS FE software is used for this purpose. The... 

Multiple co-axial heave plates of uniform geometry are attached to offshore platforms for inducing damping and added mass. These effects generally decrease the magnitude of the dynamic response of the platform under applied environmental excitation forces. When spacing between heave plates is decreased the damping and added mass performance are altered due to their strong vortex interaction. A new non-uniform plate configuration is proposed that may create different hydrodynamic characteristics. The modes of vortex shedding around plate edges in a non-uniform arrangement under forced harmonic oscillation are investigated via the CFD method. Furthermore, a new simplified formula for the total... 

Floating wind turbines are subjected to highly dynamic and complicated environmental conditions leading to significant platform motions and structural vibrations during operation and survival conditions. These motions and vibrations alter the induced loading characteristics; and consequently, affect the dynamic behavior of the system. In order to better understand the influence of such motions and structural vibrations, herein elastic structural disturbance of tower, on the system behavior, the spectral and statistical characteristics of a floating wind turbine dynamic responses under operational and survival conditions are fully explored using a fully coupled... 

Metal plates are essential parts of structures such as ship hulls and offshore oil platforms. These plates are typically under compressive axial forces. Hence, one of the main mechanisms for failure and collapse of such structures is buckling of plates. Thus, for safe and secure design, buckling strength of plates should be evaluated. Finite element analysis techniques are perfect tools for this purpose because of the accuracy and flexibility for performing simulations with different variables. In this study, the strength of aluminum plates has been studied using finite element analysis software and it was tried to study the influence of variables such as initial imperfections, plate... 

Multiple co-axial heave plates of uniform geometry are attached to offshore platforms for inducing damping and added mass. These effects generally decrease the magnitude of the dynamic response of the platform under applied environmental excitation forces. When spacing between heave plates is decreased the damping and added mass performance are altered due to their strong vortex interaction. A new non-uniform plate configuration is proposed that may create different hydrodynamic characteristics. The modes of vortex shedding around plate edges in a non-uniform arrangement under forced harmonic oscillation are investigated via the CFD method. Furthermore, a new simplified formula for the total... 

Multiple co-axial heave plates of uniform geometry are attached to offshore platforms for inducing damping and added mass. These effects generally decrease the magnitude of the dynamic response of the platform under applied environmental excitation forces. When spacing between heave plates is decreased the damping and added mass performance are altered due to their strong vortex interaction. A new non-uniform plate configuration is proposed that may create different hydrodynamic characteristics. The modes of vortex shedding around plate edges in a non-uniform arrangement under forced harmonic oscillation are investigated via the CFD method. Furthermore, a new simplified formula for the total... 

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods are mostly based on different phenomena taking place at the interfaces between fluid–fluid and rock–fluid phases. Over the last decade, carbonated water injection (CWI) has been considered as one of the multi-objective EOR techniques to store CO2 in the hydrocarbon bearing formations as well as improving oil recovery efficiency. During CWI process, as the reservoir pressure declines, the dissolved CO2 in the oil phase evolves and gas nucleation phenomenon would occur. As a result, it can lead to oil saturation restoration and subsequently, oil displacement due to the hysteresis effect. At this condition, CO2 would act as in-situ dissolved gas into the oil... 

Hydrodynamic analysis of semi-submersible offshore structures has been the topic of many researches performed numerically and experimentally in the past. In this paper, the effect of structure alignment and mooring lines on dynamic behaviour of semi-submersible platforms has been taken into account. The contribution of pitch and roll in heave motion of side points is also investigated. Mooring lines are connected to semi-submersible at sides and therefore total displacement of side points is related to total displacement of mooring lines and total tension as well. A three dimensional boundary element model of Amirkabir platform in Caspian Sea is implemented using boundary element method... 

Persian Gulf is a semi-enclosed highly saline reverse estuary that is exposed to the risk of oil spills in offshore oil and gas activities. In the early 2000s, a specific version of NOAA's Trajectory Analysis Planner (TAP II) was developed for Persian Gulf to assist regional organizations in preparing oil spill contingency plans. In this research, a new stochastic model is developed to cover the limitations of TAP II. The new model is based on an advanced trajectory model, which is now linked with high resolution spatiotemporal data of the wind and sea current. In a case study, the developed model is compared with TAP II, and evaluated by multiple tests designed for analysis of uncertainty,...