Min-Cheol Ryu

Damage Assessment of Free-fall Dropped Object on Sub-seabed in Offshore Operation

This paper presents the damage assessment of a free-fall dropped object on the seabed. The damage to a dropped object totally depends on the relationship between the impact energy and the soil strength at the mudline. In this study, unexpected dropping scenarios were first assumed by varying the relevant range of the impact velocity, structure geometry at the moment of impact, and soil strength profile along the penetration depth. Theoretical damage assessments were then undertaken for a free-fall dropping event with a fixed final embedment depth for the structure. This paper also describes the results of a three-dimensional large deformation finite element analysis undertaken for the purpose of validation. The analyses were carried out using the coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian approach, modifying the simple elastic-perfectly plastic Tresca soil model. The validation exercises for each dropping scenario showed good agreement, and the present numerical approach was capable of predicting the behavior of a free-fall dropped object.

Prediction and improvement of the solid particles transfer rate for the bulk handing system design of offshore drilling vessels

Abstract Numerous experiments with a scaled pilot facility were carried out to compare the relative bulk transfer performance of three special devices for applications to drilling systems. The pipe diameter for bulk transportation was 3 in., which corresponds to around half of the actual system dimensions. Two different pressures, 3 and 4 bar, were considered to check the relative performance under different pressure conditions at a bulk storage tank. And to make a practical estimation method of the bulk transfer rate at the early design stages of the bulk handling system, a series of experiments were conducted for real scaled bulk handing systems of two drilling vessels. The pressure drops at each pipe element as well as the bulk transfer rates were measured under different operating conditions. Using the measured results, the friction factor for each pipe element was calculated and a procedure for transfer rate estimation was developed. Compared to the measured transfer rate results for other drilling vessels, the estimated transfer rates were within a maximum 15% error bound.