Behaviour of a Suspended Wellbay Module and Flare Tower in Waves During Transit to Shore

The extended lift operation to deliver the Wellbay module (M5) combined with the Flare Tower (M8) from the Miller Platform in the North Sea to the shore using the Semi-Submersible Crane Vessel S7000 was restricted by the clearances between M5/M8 and the vessel crane booms. A method to calculate the clearances of the M5/M8 normal to the vessel crane booms has been developed and used in a frequency-domain response analysis to define operability limits. Investigations based on a series of scale model tests in regular waves and irregular short-crested waves including motion decay tests in calm water, conducted by the Maritime Research Institute (MARIN) in the Netherlands, were also made to further evaluate the behaviour of the suspended M5/M8 on S7000’s main hooks during transit. The time series of decay motions of the suspended M5/M8 obtained from the decay motion tests and a time domain analysis are compared and used to derive rigging damping. The numerical results of the frequency-domain analysis are validated with the experimental data for response amplitude operators (RAOs) found in regular waves and pink noise waves, significant and 3 hour most probable maximum/minimum (MPM) responses of interest in irregular waves.