The free-hanging SCR (Steel Catenary Riser) was adopted by Petrobras as a cost-effective alternative for oil and gas export lines on deepwater fields, where large diameter flexible risers present technical and economic limitations. It is considered an available technology for semi-submersible application. There was interest in applying SCR’s attached to FPSO (Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading) units due to the trend of using these units for exploration and production in Brazilian deep waters. This alternative has to be carefully studied due to the high offsets and heave motions imposed by the vessel on the top of the riser. This work presents the approach and methodology adopted in Petrobras to study the structural integrity and feasibility of a lazy-wave SCR attached to a bow turret-moored FPSO at a water depth of 1290 m. The analysis was performed using the Petrobras’s in-house computer codes ANFLEX and POSFAL developed and implemented as part of projects from CENPES with “COPPE/UFRJ - The Engineering Post-Graduating Coordination of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro”. For VIV (Vortex Induced Vibration) fatigue damage calculation SHEAR7 was used.

Several feasibility studies on the use of large diameters steel catenary’s risers for higher water depths have been made by PETROBRAS. It should be mentioned that the structural design criteria, traditionally employed for such risers under extreme and operational conditions, were based on the API-RP-2RD. This design criterion makes use of single safety factor on von Mises stress. Recently, a new design standard DnV-OS-F201 for metallic risers has been proposed. This standard, based on limit state design principles, are presented on the LRFD (Load and Resistance Factor Design) format, allowing different riser design alternatives to take into account the environmental conditions. This paper presents the main feasibility study outlines of an 18” Steel Lazy Wave Riser (SLWR), attached to the border of a spread-moored FPSO at 1800 water depth, for an extreme design condition, considering both the API and DnV criteria. All numerical analysis were accomplished by the PETROBRAS’s in-house computer code ANFLEX.

The steel catenary riser was adopted by Petrobras as a cost-effective alternative for oil and gas export and for water injection lines on deepwater fields, where large diameter flexible risers present technical and economic limitations. The installation of the P-18 SCR was a pioneer project of a free-hanging steel catenary riser linked to a semi-submersible [1] and demonstrated the technical feasibility of the concept. Fatigue damage verification is an important issue in SCR design, demanding a high number of loading cases to be analyzed. The random time domain nonlinear analysis is considered an attractive and reliable tool for fatigue analysis as nonlinearities are properly modeled and the random behaviour of environmental loadings is considered. As time domain analysis is high computer time consuming, the frequency domain analysis has been considered as an alternative tool for the initial phases of riser design to be used mainly for fatigue damage verification. This paper presents a methodology developed to perform a linearized frequency domain analysis aiming at fatigue damage verification. Two drilling risers were analyzed with the frequency domain procedure developed. The model of a steel lazy-wave riser was analyzed both in frequency and time domain in order to compare fatigue damage results. The analyses were performed using the Petrobras’s in-house computer codes ANFLEX, ALFREQ and POSFAL developed and implemented as part of projects from CENPES/PETROBRAS with “COPPE/UFRJ -The Engineering Post-Graduating Coordination of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro”.

Petrobras R&D Center developed feasibility studies of the lazy-wave configuration of steel catenary risers (SLWR) connected to a turret-moored FPSO and to the border of a spread-moored FSO, in Campos Basin, at water depths of 1290m and 1800m, respectively. In both projects the fatigue analysis considered the bimodal/bidirectional characteristics of sea-states. Special methodologies for environmental data statistical treatment and riser fatigue analysis were developed. This paper presents the study performed to evaluate the importance of considering the bimodal/bidirectional characteristic of Campos Basin sea-states in the steel catenary risers (SCR) fatigue damage verification.

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