Steel Catenary Riser Design and Analysis for Petrobras Roncador Field Development

Abstract

TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435. AbstractPetrobras as the operator of the Roncador field located offshore Brazil plans to develop part of this field utilizing a semi-submersible unit located in approximately 1800 meters of water depth. The paper presents key engineering challenges, solutions, and lessons learned from the design and analysis of a large number of steel catenary risers (SCRs) attached to this floating production unit (FPU).To demonstrate the robustness of the SCR design, sensitivity studies were performed with respect to governing parameters including hang off angle, soil properties, current data, hang off system, strake coverage, computer modeling, fatigue design data and other design inputs.The lessons learned from the execution of the SCR design are summarized and discussed. These lessons will have significant relevance to the future SCR projects not only in offshore Brazil but also other geographical locations.It has been concluded that the Roncador SCR design can safely withstand environmental loads and the effects of the FPU motion and that the system is reliable and robust.

Review of research on interactions between deepwater steel catenary risers and soft clay seabeds

“…The use of SCR in deepwater developments is becoming more popular with a number of SCR's already installed offshore Brazil and in the Gulf of Mexico, and West Africa [8][9][10][11][12][13] . Current development of SCR technology has focused on better understanding of the touch down region and its interaction with the seabed.…”

Modeling the Forces Induced by the Two-Phase Flow on Deep Water Production Risers

“…There is a vast amount of research considering the effects of sea currents, waves, and the movement of the floating production unit on the dynamics of the risers (Gonzales, Mourelle et al, 2005;Pereira, Morooka et al, 2007); comparatively, very little is found in the literature regarding the impact of the internal flow (Patel & Seyed, 1989;Valdivia, Morooka et al, 2007). The present paper describes the introduction of the internal flow forces on the numerical simulation of the dynamics of risers.…”

Influência dos parâmetros de solo na resposta dinâmica de risers em catenária para águas ultraprofundas

“…Na região de topo, é possível utilizar uma junta flexível (flex joint) ou uma mísula para reduzir as tensões resultantes, conforme ilustra a Figura 3.3. Na TDZ, as soluções seriam de aumentar o ângulo de topo ou de variar a espessura do riser (Gonzalez et al, 2005).…”