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My involvement in the design and installation of offshore installations, amongst other things, has given me a wealth of experience in many engineering disciplines. As well as carrying out the theoretical work in the office, my duties have also included project engineering and getting the hands-on experience of following on through the offshore installation phase of the projects.
Typical Projects
My career has included about 5 years as tether specialist on the Conoco Hutton Tension Leg Platform (TLP) Project and then about 4 years as tether specialist on the Saga Snorre TLP Project, being on both projects from the early design stage through to platform installation and beyond.
Note:
TLP's are large floating oil production platforms that are held in place by four vertical steel tubes (tethers) in each corner. These tethers are kept under tension by excess buoyancy in the hull of the platform, and so the system behaves rather like an upside-down pendulum. TLP's are also expensive, with the total field development cost for Snorre approaching 20 billion Norwegian kroner, or well in excess of Ł1,500 million.
The Hutton TLP was the first of this type of platform to be built, and the Snorre TLP was the first in the Norwegian sector, so both presented many unique challenges in the design, fabrication and installation stages, with no previous experience to fall back on.
My contributions to these projects were mainly in simulating the behaviour of the TLP, the tethers and the installation equipment with the objective of determining the tether loads during and after installation and also to develop the installation procedures. I went offshore as the tether specialist during the installation of both of these platforms, advising on procedures and adjustments and confirming that all the installation tolerances were achieved.
In carrying out this work I had to develop algorithms to describe the behaviour of the global TLP system and of various mechanical and hydraulic sub-systems, and then solve these algorithms by hand or by developing my own computer software. These programs could be quite complex. For example, the simulation of the heave suppression operation involved solving the dynamics in the time domain of a non-linear statically indeterminate system.
It is reassuring to report that there was generally very good correlation between my predictions and the actual events on the day. Even my surprising prediction that one of the critical phases in the Hutton installation operation would not work in calm weather was borne out by events.
My more recent projects have tended to be less glamorous but still challenging, with the trend being away from the large offshore structures and towards smaller more efficient developments. Events have also pushed me more towards the project engineering side, which is a trend that I am trying to reverse.
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Alan Waters (MA, CEng, MIMarE)
Rosewood Engineering Ltd.
2 St Clair Close
Reigate
Surrey
RH2 0QB
United Kingdom
Tel: 01737 248811
Fax: 0870 161 5439
Email: alan@rosewood-engineering.co.uk