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BS Consulting has just launched a joint industry project (JIP) to investigate the use |
of continuous structural monitoring of oil and gas platforms in the North Sea.
The wind, waves and currents that pummel North Sea producing structures cause them to sway and twist, which over time can lead to fatigue and eventually cracks.
"This alters the structural stiffness and changes the platform motions – something that operators can now detect quickly if they continuously monitor platform movements," says Simon Thurlbeck, Engineering Manager, ABS Consulting, Warrington, United Kingdom.
Remote continuous monitoring, he says, "is the best way of ensuring structural integrity…. It is cheaper and safer than traditional periodic inspection approaches."
Those traditional inspections have employed divers and support vessels every two to three years at costs that can run to $150,000 per day.
To help undertake the research, ABS Consulting has joined forces with Fugro Structural Monitoring, a firm that provides such remote monitoring services.
An advantage of remote continuous monitoring is its ability to detect problems immediately and allow swift corrective action that minimizes risk exposure.
Many of the platforms participating in the JIP have been in service for more than 20 years and were purposely overengineered.
While this minimizes the impact that failure of a single structural member may have on sway frequency, it also means that problems may not be detected until several members fail and damage is seriously advanced.
With remote continuous monitoring, early detection could avert such problems.
Backing the JIP are several North Sea operators and the U.K. Health and Safety Executive, the principal Government department overseeing offshore safety issues.
Twelve of the platforms are in U.K. waters and one in the Norwegian sector. Their identities remain confidential, but they represent a wide variety of designs and operational factors.
Survey work under the JIP is slated for completion in October. ABS Consulting hopes the results will encourage operators of steel platforms worldwide to adopt and deploy this monitoring technology to increase the margin of structural safety on units of all ages.
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