Drilling risers are regularly deployed in deep water (over 1500 m) with large sections covered in buoyancy modules. The smooth cylindrical shape of these modules can result in significant vortex-induced vibration (VIV) response, causing an overall amplification of drag experienced by the riser. Operations can be suspended due to the total drag adversely affecting top and bottom angles. Although suppression technologies exist to reduce VIV (such as helical strakes or fairings), and therefore reduce VIV-induced amplification of drag, only fairings are able to be installed onto buoyancy modules for practical reasons, and fairings themselves have significant penalties related to installation, removal, and reliability. An innovative solution has been developed to address this gap: longitudinally grooved suppression (LGS). Two model testing campaigns were undertaken: small scale (subcritical Reynolds number flow), and large scale (postcritical Reynolds number flow) to test and confirm the performance benefits of LGS. The testing campaigns found substantial benefits measured in hydrodynamic performance that will be realized when LGS modules are deployed by operators for deepwater drilling operations.

Drilling risers are regularly deployed in deep water (over 1500 m) with large sections covered in buoyancy modules. The smooth cylindrical shape of these modules can result in significant vortex-induced vibration (VIV) response, causing an overall amplification of drag experienced by the riser. Operations can be suspended due to the total drag adversely affecting top and bottom angles. Although suppression technologies exist to reduce VIV (such as helical strakes or fairings), and therefore reduce VIV-induced amplification of drag, only fairings are able to be installed onto buoyancy modules for practical reasons, and fairings themselves have significant penalties related to installation, removal, and reliability. An innovative solution has been developed to address this gap; LGS (Longitudinally Grooved Suppression)1. Two model testing campaigns were undertaken; small scale (sub-critical Reynolds Number flow), and large scale (post-critical Reynolds Number flow) to test and confirm the performance benefits of LGS. The testing campaigns found substantial benefits measured in hydrodynamic performance that will be realized when LGS modules are deployed by operators for deepwater drilling operations.

Since Deepwater field developments started around year 2000, Deepwater Buoyancy has been dominated by syntactic foam and has not evolved significantly since then. Some Deepwater applications like towed Bundle, Steel Lazy Wave riser and Hybrid Riser towers require large amounts of it, both for temporary (installation aids) use and permanent use, becoming a significant part of the cost associated to those systems. In parallel, the present market conditions is pushing Oil companies to develop new technologies and to promote cost reduction initiatives. In this context, Subsea7 and Matrix, Composites & Engineering have developed a new concept of buoyancy, so called low cost buoyancy. This paper will present the Buoyancy concept, will provide insight on the qualification tests successfully passed, and present typical application where the low cost buoyancy is intended to be used.

Irregular seabed bathymetry around subsea pipelines can lead to the formation of pipeline free spans. When exposed to on-bottom currents these free spans can be subject to Vortex-Induced Vibration (VIV), with consequential effects on the fatigue life of the pipeline. Traditional VIV suppression technologies such as strakes and fairings present installation challenges and durability concerns due to the significant increase in overall diameter associated with the geometric profiles of strakes and fairings. Longitudinally Grooved Suppression (LGS) technology was developed from a concept stage through to field deployment on active drilling risers (Johnstone et. al., OMAE 2017) [1]. The low profile and VIV suppression abilities of LGS present an opportunity for a more effective and operationally beneficial VIV suppression solution for pipeline free spans. Based on existing Class guidance for assessing pipeline free spans, a simplified framework for assessing free spans with LGS under a response based approach is presented. The simplified assessment implied a suppression efficiency (reduction in vibration amplitude) of up to 80%. An alternative comparative analysis using a force based approach was also performed in SHEAR7 of a bare pipeline and a LGS-wrapped pipeline. The requirements for qualification of new VIV mitigation technologies are also addressed and an example of an actual field installation of the device is presented, on an existing pipeline free span with low seabed clearance.

Instrumented field trials of Longitudinally Grooved Suppression (LGS) VIV suppression buoyancy modules have been completed on deep water drilling risers in the Gulf of Mexico. The field trials were used to validate the performance of the technology, which had previously been evaluated using prototype scale model tests. The measured riser responses over two drilling campaigns spanning more than six months were compared with each other and the outputs of computational riser modeling to validate the hydrodynamic parameter set derived through scale model tests and provide validated assessments of the suppression technology performance. The measured response of drilling risers equipped with LGS buoyancy has been compared with a publicly available dataset for the VIV response of a conventionally buoyed riser, showing reduced VIV response in agreement with model test results. Measured flex joint angles, current profiles and riser accelerations were used to validate the hydrodynamic parameters used in numerical riser analysis. Using the validated hydrodynamic parameters, the VIV and drag suppression performance was demonstrated by comparison with the model predictions for risers equipped with conventional buoyancy modules. Eddy current occurrence statistics for a location in the Gulf of Mexico were used to calculate the expected annual operability performance for both configurations. For the base case parameters, 12 days of annual operability improvement was predicted when using LGS buoyancy modules. A sensitivity study determined the effect of varying analysis assumptions on the predicted operability improvements. Measured current data from 2014 was also used to determine the operability benefits which could be realized within a year in which severe eddy current activity occurred. The analysis performed serves to validate the previous laboratory tests as well as answer questions about the applicability of high Reynolds Number test results to VIV suppression devices in the field. The use of previously validated testing and analysis methods is shown to provide reliable estimates of suppression technology performance which are borne out by testing in the field. This paper presents the first published field trial of shaped buoyancy type VIV suppression, a group of technologies which have until now only been demonstrated using scale model tests and Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations.