Computer simulation and analysis of deepwater Steel Catenary Riser

Computer has been used in many aspects including design, fabrication and installation of the industry field. As the processor and memory have been rapidly developed in the past decades, computer has been used much more abroad. This paper is mainly about computer application in Offshore Engineering. ABAQUS was the primary tool used for this simulation and analysis of deepwater Steel Catenary Riser (SCR) in association with other riser analysis tools. The simulation and analysis included storm analysis, semisubmersible motion fatigue analysis and Vortex-Induced Vibration (VIV) fatigue calculation. To demonstrate the computer application, an example of 20 inches SCR is given based on a deepwater SCR project. SCR wall thickness is preliminarily selected according to the industry codes. Static and dynamic strength analyses are preformed to verify the riser wall thickness. Fatigue analysis is then carried out to evaluate fatigue strength of the riser. The fatigue analysis covers different sources such as wave, current and platform motion. The metocean data in Gulf of Mexico are used for the vessel global motion calculation. The current data are used to compute the riser fatigue caused by VIV. Through the work of computation and analysis above, it was concluded that the design proposal of the SCR is reliable.