Fatigue approaches for mooring chains subjected to wear degradation
Fatigue approaches for mooring chains subjected to wear degradation
There are currently 365 FPSOs in service around the world. These vessels all use mooring lines to maintain position and provide stability, keeping the vessel and cargo safe. However, more than 21 failures have occurred between 2001 and 2011 and approximately 50% of the reported failures occurred in the first 3 years of 20-year design life. Each mooring line failure represents the potential for serious environmental and economic consequences. Based on industry surveys, the most common failure mode is fatigue failure. In the current offshore standards, the surface degradation due to wear and corrosion is modelled as a diameter loss at a standards rate. To assess whether the uniform reduction in chain diameter suggested in the offshore standards is able to explain the early chain failures seen in service, this paper incorporates two wear rates into a fatigue life calculation; one wear rate is taken from DNV-OS-E301 and is compared against one taken from NORSOK M-001. Three fatigue life estimation approaches: tension, nominal stress and hotspot, are used to compare the differences in fatigue method. The stress in the chain is calculated using an analytical model, which is verified against an FE model. The effect of wear degradation on the ultimate strength of the chain is calculated based on the minimum breaking load. The results show that the diameter loss rates suggested in the offshore standards are not able to explain the early mooring chain failures seen in the past and that the reduction of diameter cannot solely explain the early failures seen in service. The hotspot approach, not often used in mooring line predictions, is best able to predict these shorter lives, as it offers more accurate fatigue predictions by considering high peak stresses compared to standard methods such as tension and nominal stress approaches.
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Gemilang, Gilang, Muhammad
8bf58690-0ac6-4dfb-9772-e90dbb33befb
Sobey, Adam
e850606f-aa79-4c99-8682-2cfffda3cd28
Reed, Philippa
8b79d87f-3288-4167-bcfc-c1de4b93ce17
10 July 2019
Gemilang, Gilang, Muhammad
8bf58690-0ac6-4dfb-9772-e90dbb33befb
Sobey, Adam
e850606f-aa79-4c99-8682-2cfffda3cd28
Reed, Philippa
8b79d87f-3288-4167-bcfc-c1de4b93ce17
Gemilang, Gilang, Muhammad, Sobey, Adam and Reed, Philippa
(2019)
Fatigue approaches for mooring chains subjected to wear degradation.
In ASME2019 38th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore & Arctic Engineering: OMAE2019.
vol. Volume 1: Offsh,
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
12 pp
.
(doi:10.1115/OMAE2019-96386).
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
There are currently 365 FPSOs in service around the world. These vessels all use mooring lines to maintain position and provide stability, keeping the vessel and cargo safe. However, more than 21 failures have occurred between 2001 and 2011 and approximately 50% of the reported failures occurred in the first 3 years of 20-year design life. Each mooring line failure represents the potential for serious environmental and economic consequences. Based on industry surveys, the most common failure mode is fatigue failure. In the current offshore standards, the surface degradation due to wear and corrosion is modelled as a diameter loss at a standards rate. To assess whether the uniform reduction in chain diameter suggested in the offshore standards is able to explain the early chain failures seen in service, this paper incorporates two wear rates into a fatigue life calculation; one wear rate is taken from DNV-OS-E301 and is compared against one taken from NORSOK M-001. Three fatigue life estimation approaches: tension, nominal stress and hotspot, are used to compare the differences in fatigue method. The stress in the chain is calculated using an analytical model, which is verified against an FE model. The effect of wear degradation on the ultimate strength of the chain is calculated based on the minimum breaking load. The results show that the diameter loss rates suggested in the offshore standards are not able to explain the early mooring chain failures seen in the past and that the reduction of diameter cannot solely explain the early failures seen in service. The hotspot approach, not often used in mooring line predictions, is best able to predict these shorter lives, as it offers more accurate fatigue predictions by considering high peak stresses compared to standard methods such as tension and nominal stress approaches.
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Accepted/In Press date: 10 July 2019
Published date: 10 July 2019
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Local EPrints ID: 436243
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/436243
PURE UUID: edb218b3-a9ce-4bb8-946f-23726c596395
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Date deposited: 04 Dec 2019 17:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:10
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