Effects of Top-End Vessel Heave on Submarine Riser VIV of Deep Water Platform

Abstract

The dynamic coupling between moving top-end vessel and submarine riser becomes more remarkable for a floating platform in deeper water due to the larger top-end motion amplitude, compared with the fixed platform in shallow water. In this study the impacts of top-end heave on the riser undergoing vortex-induced vibration (VIV) are explored in terms of the parametric excitation and the consequent dynamic behaviors. By using finite element simulations based on a coupled hydrodynamic force approach, the dynamic responses of the integrated system including both a floating top-end and the riser experiencing VIV are examined.Our numerical results show that the riser displacement becomes several times larger than the displacement for the case without top-end motion, and the impact of heave on riser VIV response gets larger as the modal order number dropping. Riser VIV amplitude becomes, almost linearly, more profound when the tension ratio, as one of critical parameters that influence the riser dynamic response, gets larger. Moreover, an interesting phenomenon called mode transition is observed, particularly at lower frequency, during modal dynamics response.