OFFSHORE FACILITIES

Design of Steel Catenary Risers for Deepwater Offshore Brazil

Petrobras has been investigating the

steel-catenary-riser (SCR) alternative
since the beginning of the 1990s. Since
then, fatigue verification has been an
important issue, demanding good representation of the loading conditions
that occur during the lifetime of the
riser. The concern with fatigue has
motivated Petrobras to research several
areas, such as metocean data acquisition, hull design for motion optimization, special touch-down-point (TDP)
joints, accurate models for vortexinduced-vibration (VIV) analysis, and
the corrosion-fatigue effect.

Introduction
Installation of the P-18 SCR was a pioneer
project of a free-hanging SCR connected
to a semisubmersible, and it proved
the technical feasibility of the concept.
Although this riser was installed as a
prototype, it is still working in the gas
transfer from platform P-18 to platform
P-26. It has been monitored since 1999,
and the results are being compared with
the design data and with simulations
performed with in-house computer programs and other commercial packages
that include the complete design methodology. Other SCRs were studied, such
as the 12-in. oil-export riser for the P-19
This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains
highlights of paper OTC 19249,
Influence of Fatigue Issues on the
Design of SCRs for Deepwater Offshore
Brazil, by A.L.F.L. Torres, M.M.
Mourelle, S.F. Senra, E.C. Gonzalez,
and J.M.T. da Gama Lima, Petrobras
S.A., originally prepared for the 2008
Offshore Technology Conference,
Houston, 58 May. The paper has not
been peer reviewed.
Copyright 2008 Offshore Technology
Conference. Reproduced by permission.

semisubmersible in 770 m of water and

the 10-in. oil- and gas-export lines for
the P-36 semisubmersible at a water
depth of 1360 m.
The free-hanging SCR configuration
is considered as an available technology
for semisubmersible applications, and
there is interest in the application of
SCRs connected to floating production,
storage, and offloading units (FPSOs)
because of the trend to use these units
for exploration and production in deep
water. This has caused a need to study
this concept carefully, given the high
offsets and heave motions imposed by
the vessel at the top of the riser.
Fatigue verification is an important
issue that requires accurate evaluation
of the loading conditions that occur
during the riser lifetime, and it also
requires a precise knowledge of construction aspects that could decrease or
change riser-materials resistance.
Wave-Induced Fatigue
Over the past few decades, Petrobras
has acquired Campos basin wave, current, and wind data, resulting in a
metocean database containing more
than 7,000 records. Within these data,
the occurrence of multimodal/multidirectional sea states was identified. To
use this database in riser design, the
in-house software tools for structural
fatigue analysis were upgraded to consider bimodal/bidirectional sea states.
Because fatigue verification is an
important issue in steel-riser design, a
good representation of loading conditions that occur during the riser lifetime
is needed and use of the entire database
is recommended. However, the riser
design schedule can be affected if a
random time-domain analysis is used.
To minimize this, one solution adopted
was to develop a statistical procedure
to reduce the database to a reasonable
number of representative loading cases

to be used in fatigue-damage verification. This method resulted in the

adoption of approximately 150 fatigueloading cases. The combined wave,
current, and wind data are preserved in
the loading conditions that were chosen to represent all the usual metocean
situations in Campos basin.
Hull Design To Reduce Motion. In
the Campos basin, the wave fatigue
environment has been shown to be
the limiting factor for SCR feasibility.
The alternative of optimizing platform
motions has been one of the ways to
increase the possibility of SCR applications. Among dynamic motions, heave
has been identified as the most damaging. For the P-52 design, in 1800 m of
water in the Roncador field, a limit for a
maximum heave at an extreme point in
the hull has been established, and these
data determined the choice between
existent hull models.
When starting a new hull design for
the P-55 unit, more-complete criteria
was used, with a set of operational
waves chosen from the traditionally
most damaging ones. The P-52 motions
were taken as a reference. There was
interest in knowing what level of
minimized motions could be obtained
considering a deep-draft-hull concept.
A study was conducted with a large
number of hull geometries, and the
most adequate ones, in terms of constructability and other naval aspects,
were chosen. The amplitudes of heave
motions for these hull models were verified to be from 15 to 20% smaller than
those obtained for the P-52 hull. On the
basis of this, a set of maximum motions
under medium- and high-fatigue wave
conditions has been established.
The monohull concept also has been
designed to achieve minimized heave
motions. The same criterion has been
applied as a guide to the models stud-

The full-length paper is available for purchase at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.

JPT FEBRUARY 2009

75

Infield and Export RisersD-Class Weld at Outer Diameter

100%
90%
80%

Damage, %

70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

Production A

Production B Water Injection

Gas Export

VIV long term

VIV short term

Heave-induced VIV
(100-year wave) *

1st- and 2nd-order damage

Oil Export A

Oil Export B

Heave-induced VIV
(1-year wave) *
* Relatively low damage values

Fig. 1Fatigue-damage contribution at the TDP.

ied for the monobore design, with and

without storage capacity.
Coupled Models. The use of coupled
analysis tools in the design of SCRs
becomes even more important because
a large number of risers and mooring
lines are connected to the platform and
the system is in deep water like the P-18,
P-52, and P-55 systems. Petrobras has
developed in-house software programs
to analyze the coupling between the
nonlinear hydrodynamic behavior of the
hull and the structural and hydrodynamic behavior of the lines. Hybrid methods
that combine the use of programs based
on coupled and uncoupled formulations
have been considered the possible roadmap toward a fully coupled analysis and
design methodology. The coupled analysis carried out with the hybrid model
is attractive in contrast to the excessive
computer cost of the fully coupled method because a large number of analyses
for calculation of the fatigue behavior on
risers are necessary with it.
In recent studies of SCR design for
the P-55, the numerical model of the
system was generated in three different
coupled programs, and the results were
compared with the empirical data from
the model tests in terms of platform
motions and line tensions. Calibrations

78

could be adjusted to obtain a more

reliable numerical model of the entire
system. Some investigations have been
conducted related to riser fatigue-damage response, comparing the use of
coupled and uncoupled methods.
Another issue identified in the model
test of the P-55 was vortex-induced
motions (VIMs) in this deep-draft semisubmersible platform. The VIMs can
result in additional oscillations in riser
and mooring-line tension, as well as
additional fatigue loading of the riser
TDP. These effects are under investigation through towing tests and computational-fluid-dynamics (CFD) calculations to verify if it is necessary to use
some mitigation device on the hull.
Frequency-Domain Approach. A nonlinear random time-domain analysis has
been adopted in fatigue-analysis verification because model nonlinearities are
modeled properly and the environmentalloadings random behavior is considered.
The disadvantage is the high computer
time required. Because fatigue-damage
calculation depends on stress variations
during the lifetime of the structure, the
set of loads used in the analysis should
be sufficiently complete to represent all
possible situations. Because Petrobras
uses its own measured environmental

database that contains a large number

of data points, the use of time-domain
analysis may affect the design schedule. Another solution, besides the statistical treatment procedure to reduce
the database, was the development of a
frequency-domain methodology, based
on linearization techniques, that was
implemented in in-house software to be
used as an alternative tool for the initial
phase of riser design.
In general, results indicated agreement
between frequency- and time-domain
approaches in identification of criticaljoint and critical-loading cases. In terms
of fatigue-damage calculation, frequency-domain analysis when compared to
time-domain analysis furnished better
results for the lazy-wave SCR configuration. For the free-hanging configuration, larger differences were found and
the frequency-domain approach tends
to be more conservative. Research to
evaluate the soil-structure interaction,
aiming at representing the TDP variation that is significant in the free-hanging configuration is ongoing.
VIV Fatigue
Campos Basin Currents. Campos basin
current profiles for deep water are composed of two layers coming from different sources. These layers have different

JPT FEBRUARY 2009

directions. The first layer covers the

depths from sea level to approximately
300 to 400 m, going predominantly
to the south and southwest directions.
Below this level, another layer becomes
dominant going to the north and northeast direction.
From the first VIV calculations, as a
function of the 2D characteristic of the
software, the current velocities along
the depth were projected to the riser inplane and out-of-plane directions. This
was supposed to capture the characteristic of directionality of the Campos
basin current profiles.
Short-Term Response. The idea of considering a short-term response came
from the necessity of predicting the
riser response when facing a 100-year
current event during its operational life.
No extreme stresses were expected, but
it was necessary to know the magnitude
of the induced fatigue damage. The
approach used assumes that the damage from the worst-possible extreme
event will be resisted by the riser. The
extreme events, however, are not very
well characterized in terms of duration
and the way the phenomenon evolves.
In recent applications, the short-term
damage represented a significant percentage of the total damage, as the case
for the P-55 design for an 1800-m waterdepth application for the Roncador field,
shown in Fig. 1.
Alternative CFD Model. As an alternative to VIV traditional-model use, the
initiative was to incorporate a CFD procedure into the in-house riser-analysis
package. The discrete-vortex method has
been implemented and is being tested
and compared to the traditional-model
results for some real applications. The
method brings the possibility of using
the current profiles with their directional
characteristics, and results obtained so far
indicate some less conservative results.
Materials
The first SCR applications developed
by Petrobras were related to import
and export lines. When the use of SCRs
started to be planned for production
lines, as in the P-52 project, the problem
of how to face the highly corrosive environment turned out to be a major one.
The presence of carbon dioxide (CO2)
and/or hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in the
produced stream created doubt about
the applicability of the S-N curves used.

JPT FEBRUARY 2009

P-18 SCR
The P-18 SCR is the only operating
SCR currently in the Campos basin. At
the time it was installed in 1998, the
riser was the first SCR to be installed
on a semisubmersible unit. A complete
monitoring system was installed, and
the measurement campaign lasted for
approximately 2.5 years.
Many issues were investigated, and
today the generated database still is
being used in studies. The confirmation
of the expected riser behavior, characterization of platform motions, and
identification of critical current profiles
for VIV response have been some of the
results obtained.
The measured data at strain gauges
at the riser top, associated with the
measured flex-joint-angle variations,
are being used in the reassessment of
flex-joint fatigue life. The data, besides
including real values, include VIVinduced axial vibrations that were not
included in the design phase of the flex
joint, and today it is the main reason
for revisional work regarding the top
connection system.
The riser was installed without any
suppressor device for VIV. The updated
method regarding VIV and wave fatigue
is being applied to define what will be
considered as the riser updated-design
fatigue life. The TDP is the main focus
because it is the region that suffers
damage from platform-induced wave
motions and also from VIV.
The reassessment plan includes the
generation of an updated engineering
critical assessment and inspection of
welds by two methods, one performed
externally and another by umbilical
pig. The accuracy of the field inspection may not correspond to ideal values; neither may have the same level
of accuracy obtained during riser construction, but both will give important
reference values that will support the
riser-integrity evaluation. A permanent
monitoring system has been designed
for the top section of the P-18 SCR that,
once field tested, will be considered as
a model for other SCRs to be installed
in the future.
General Comments
When planning for a platform with a
large number of SCRs, the interference
between the adjacent risers can become
an issue. Besides working on the distance between supports and in the
difference between the azimuths of the

risers, frequently it is necessary to consider a difference in top angles between

neighboring risers. As a function of this,
the necessity of using top-angle values
of 15 to 17 for some risers, in the
vicinity of other risers with 20 of top
angle, became the usual practice during design. For reduced-heave-motion
units, such as the deep-draft unit P-55,
the adoption of 17 or even 15 did not
cause problems.
Conclusion
From the last results obtained with
Petrobras design methodology and
updated data, it is impossible not to
consider the option of using VIV suppressors for an SCR. The question
is the relative length to be used, but
when analyzing total length variation
of strakes, their VIV efficiency, and
their location along the SCR, the results
obtained through traditional modeling
do not present monotonic results, thus
making it difficult to make decisions
about the length of the strakes.
The successive evolution in the set
of design currents applied for longterm and short-term response calculations has caused the design to be more
robust and realistic, but up to now,
always increasing the effect of VIV on
the overall riser design.
The incorporation of CFD procedures, which can keep the Campos
basin current profiles directionality
characteristic, is a promising way to
obtain less conservative results. Up to
now, the design for production risers
subjected to corrosive fluids has led
to clad sections, corresponding to less
than 20% of total riser length. This
trend represents specific conditions of
the Roncador field. More-severe situations may occur that can force the use
of longer clad sections. Application
of clad pipes in the critical regions
requires a better understanding of the
weld behavior, geometrical imperfections, and nondestructive-test results.
Monitoring new risers to be installed
is a key point that can support the
evolution of design methodology for
VIV and also with respect to waveinduced platform motions. The monitoring system can be planned to be
composed of some equipment on the
top section that will operate during
the entire riser lifetime, and another
set of equipment that will be used for
a limited duration for evaluation of the
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design methodology.

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