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Dynamic analysis of drillship under extreme metocean hurricane condition in ultra-deep water

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Abstract

Drillships are used for exploratory drilling operations in a water depth above 3000 m. Design variants in the new-generation drillships include flexible internal storage and payload capacity. While their operations are quite satisfactory in moderate weather conditions, response under metocean hurricane conditions to preserve operation versatility poses challenges. The design and operation of drillships, which are intricate and domain-specialized vessels, need attention. This study examines the motion characteristics of a drillship for different sea states and environmental conditions. Their stability across critical sea states is also assessed. Based on the numerical studies, it is seen that they experience a modest degree of instability due to excessive roll and pitch under extreme environmental loads. While preliminary checks under mild heave motion showed that the coupled heave–pitch motion dominates the design shear and longitudinal bending, they are critically influenced by the pitch motion. The forces of second-order steady drift in the far field and the near field are compared in the frequency domain. This study identifies parameters that influence its strength and stability, and the results are useful for improving the operational safety and reliability of drillships under challenging offshore conditions.

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Data availability

The corresponding author can provide the datasets produced during and/or analyzed during the current investigation upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

ABS:

American Bureau of Shipping

API:

American Petroleum Institute

BEM:

Boundary element method

BM:

Bending moment (N)

BOP:

Blow out preventer

CAD:

Computer-aided design

CAE:

Computer-aided engineering

CG:

Centre of gravity (m)

DOF:

Degree of freedom

DPS:

Dynamic positioning system

DWT:

Deadweight (kg)

FEA:

Finite element analysis

FEM:

Finite element method

GoM:

Gulf of Mexico

IMO:

International Maritime Organization

ISSC:

International Ship Structures Congress

ITTC:

International Towing Tank Conference

JONSWAP:

Joint North Sea Wave Project spectrum

LCG:

Longitudinal center of gravity (m)

MODU:

Mobile offshore drilling unit

PM:

Pierson–Moskowitz spectrum

PSD:

Power spectral density (m2 s (or) deg2 s)

QTF:

Quadratic transfer function

RAO:

Response amplitude operator (m m−1 (or) deg m−1)

RMS:

Root mean square value

SD:

Standard deviation

SF:

Shear force (N m−1)

TCG:

Transverse center of gravity (m)

VCG:

Vertical center of gravity (m)

WPA:

Waterplane area \({\mathrm{m}}^{2})\)

\({A}_{wp}\) :

Water plane area (\({\mathrm{m}}^{2})\)

\({A}_{wetted}\) :

Wetted surface area (\({\mathrm{m}}^{2})\)

\({b}_{m}\) :

Breadth of the moonpool (m)

B:

Overall breadth of the molded drillship (m)

\({B}_{waterline}\) :

Maximum waterline beam (m)

\({C}_{B}\) :

Block coefficient of drillship

\({C}_{ij}\) :

Matrix of the hydrodynamic damping coefficient (Kg s−1)

D:

Overall water depth (m)

\({D}_{0}\) :

Current zero-speed depth (m)

f:

Frequency (rad s−1)

\({f}_{drag}\) :

Drag multiplying factor

\({f}_{slam}\) :

Slam multiplying factor

F:

Freeboard of the drillship (m)

\({\mathrm{F}}_{\mathrm{b}}\) :

Buoyancy force (N)

F(t):

External excitation force (N)

\({F}_{ij}\) :

Excitation forces (N)

g:

Gravity due to acceleration (m s−2)

\(\overline{G{M }_{L}}\) :

Longitudinal metacentric height (m)

\(\overline{G{M }_{T}}\) :

Transverse metacentric height (m)

\({H}_{S}\) :

Significant wave amplitude (m)

\({I}_{axis}\) :

Mass moment of inertia for rotational DOF (Kg m2)

\({k}_{axis}\) :

Radius of gyration about the coordinate axes (m)

\({K}_{ij}\) :

Matrix of the hydrodynamic stiffness coefficient (Kg m−1)

Kn:

Knots

\({l}_{m}\) :

Length of the moonpool (m)

\({L}_{OA}\) :

Length overall (m)

\({L}_{waterline}\) :

Waterline length (m)

\({L}_{PP}\) :

Length between perpendiculars (m)

\({[\mathrm{M}}_{\mathrm{a}}]\) :

Added mass matrix (kg)

\({M}_{ij}\) :

Matrix of the hydrodynamic added mass coefficient (kg)

\({M}_{ij}\)(t):

Excitation moments (Nm)

P:

Pressure (pa)

\({R}_{direction}\) :

Wind force coefficient (Ns2m−2)

\({s}_{u}^{+}\) :

Wind spectral density

T:

Draught of the drillship (m)

Tz :

Zero crossing period (s)

t:

Time period (s)

U0 :

Surface speed of current (m s−1)

\(\overline{U }\) :

Current speed at mid-profile (m s−1)

\({\overline{U} }_{10}\) :

1-Hr mean wind speed at the height of 10 m above MSL (m s−1)

v:

Velocity along the body plane surface (m s−1)

w(x):

Weight distribution across the drillship (kN)

X:

Structural displacement (m)

\(\dot{X}\) :

Structural velocity (m s−1)

\(\ddot{X}\) :

Structural acceleration (m s−2)

\({Z}_{s}\) :

Thickness of the surface layer

α:

Cutout angle (deg)

\(\overline{\alpha }\) :

Phillips constant

θ:

Rotational displacement (deg)

\({\rho }_{air}\) :

Density of the air at ocean level (Kg m−3)

\({\rho }_{fluid}\) :

Density of the ocean saline water (Kg m−3)

\({\Delta }_{weight}\) :

Weight displacement (mt)

\({\nabla }_{volume}\) :

Volume displacement (m3)

\(\Delta (x)\) :

Displacement at the deep draught of the drillship hull (ton)

\(\omega\) :

Natural frequency (rad s−1)

\({\omega }_{p}\) :

Peak frequency (rad s−1)

\({\sigma }_{u}{\left(z\right)}^{2}\) :

Variance in wind speed U(t) at a 10 m reference height

\(\gamma\) :

Peakedness parameter

\({\gamma }_{steel}\) :

Unit weight of the material (Kg m−3)

\(\phi\) :

Velocity potential (m2 s−1)

\(\eta\) :

Free surface elevation (m)

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the support provided by Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India for the research assistance extended to carry out this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ocean Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India

    Srinivasan Chandrasekaran, Rajiv Sharma & N. Muthu Selvakumar

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  1. Srinivasan Chandrasekaran
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  2. Rajiv Sharma
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  3. N. Muthu Selvakumar
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Correspondence to Srinivasan Chandrasekaran.

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Chandrasekaran, S., Sharma, R. & Selvakumar, N.M. Dynamic analysis of drillship under extreme metocean hurricane condition in ultra-deep water. J Mar Sci Technol 28, 784–803 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00773-023-00957-2

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