Experimental and Numerical Study On Coupled Motion Responses of A Floating Crane Vessel and A Lifted Subsea Manifold in Deep Water

+ MODEL
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect
Publishing Services by Elsevier
International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering xx (2017) 1e16
http://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-naval-architecture-and-ocean-engineering/
Experimental and numerical study on coupled motion responses of a floating

crane vessel and a lifted subsea manifold in deep water
B.W. Nam*, N.W. Kim, S.Y. Hong
Korean Research Institute of Ship & Ocean Engineering, 104 Sinseong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-343, Republic of Korea
Received 2 September 2016; revised 2 November 2016; accepted 2 January 2017
Available online ▪ ▪ ▪
Abstract
The floating crane vessel in waves gives rise to the motion of the lifted object which is connected to the hoisting wire. The dynamic tension
induced by the lifted object also affects the motion responses of the floating crane vessel in return. In this study, coupled motion responses of a
floating crane vessel and a lifted subsea manifold during deep-water installation operations were investigated by both experiments and numerical
calculations. A series of model tests for the deep-water lifting operation were performed at Ocean Engineering Basin of KRISO. For the model
test, the vessel with a crane control system and a typical subsea manifold were examined. To validate the experimental results, a frequency-
domain motion analysis method is applied. The coupled motion equations of the crane vessel and the lifted object are solved in the fre-
quency domain with an additional linear stiffness matrix due to the hoisting wire. The hydrodynamic coefficients of the lifted object, which is a
significant factor to affect the coupled dynamics, are estimated based on the perforation value of the structure and the CFD results. The dis-
cussions were made on three main points. First, the motion characteristics of the lifted object as well as the crane vessel were studied by
comparing the calculation results. Second, the dynamic tension of the hoisting wire were evaluated under the various wave conditions. Final
discussion was made on the effect of passive heave compensator on the motion and tension responses.
Copyright © 2017 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Society of Naval Architects of Korea. This is an open access article
under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Keywords: Coupled motion; Crane vessel; Subsea manifold; Model test; Lifting operation
1. Introduction installation methods such as pendulum installation method,

pencil buoy method and sheave method, also have been
There are various installation methods for subsea equip- devised to overcome the limitation or disadvantage of the
ment in deep water. Conventional crane-wire installation crane-wire installation method.
method has been widely used in real-sea operations. For the A typical crane installation operation in deep water consists
safety of the crane lifting operations, it is required to check the of four main phases (DNV, 2011). First phase is lifting off
crane capacity, rigging design and the structural strength of the from deck of a transportation barge and maneuvering the ob-
lifted object. If the weight of the lifted object is considerable, ject, in which the transient behavior of the lifted object should
the coupled dynamics of the crane vessel and the lifted object be suppressed to avoid collision. Second phase is lowering
become quite important. Dynamic amplification factor of hook operation through the wave zone. In this stage, various
load can be increased by the coupled dynamic effect. As for external forces including weight, buoyancy, slamming force,
the subsea installation, the water depth is a critical parameter wave force are acting on the lifted object, changing in time
of the vertical resonance of the hoisting system. Recently, new according to the lifting locations of the object. The slack
condition of the hoisting wires also should be check. Third
phase is deep-water lowering (or lifting) operation, in which
* Corresponding author. Fax: þ82 42 866 3919.
E-mail address: bwnam@kriso.re.kr (B.W. Nam).
vertical oscillation of the lifted object can be a significant
Peer review under responsibility of Society of Naval Architects of Korea. factor. As the hoisting wire is getting longer, the first eigen
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnaoe.2017.01.002
2092-6782/Copyright © 2017 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Society of Naval Architects of Korea. This is an open access article under the
CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Please cite this article in press as: Nam, B.W., et al., Experimental and numerical study on coupled motion responses of a floating crane vessel and a lifted subsea
manifold in deep water, International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnaoe.2017.01.002
+ MODEL
2 B.W. Nam et al. / International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering xx (2017) 1e16
period of the hoisting system can be getting longer up to the They discussed the technical challenges to install the rigid
operational wave period. In this case, the resonant vertical pipeline with PLET, jumper and flying leads. Nam et al.
motions of the lifted object and the large dynamic tension of (2013) developed a time-domain analysis program for
the hoisting wire can occur during the lowering operation. floating crane vessel systems. They investigated the effect of
Final phase is touching down on sea bed and retrieval, which is heave compensator during lowering operation of subsea
landing stage. Horizontal offset and motions of the lifted ob- equipment.
ject, which are mainly affected by the low-frequency hori- Only a few model tests related to subsea installation or
zontal motions of the vessel as well as ocean current, can be floating crane can be found in literature survey. Clauss et al.
important considerations related to the accurate positioning of (2000) showed an experimental study of the nonlinear dy-
the subsea equipment. Appropriate weather conditions should namics of floating cranes. Fujarra et al. (2008) carried out a
be screened before the real-sea operation. seres of simplified model test in order to dimensioning the
During the deepwater lowering or lifting operation, a heave launching cables and to define the limit environmental con-
compensation system can be employed to mitigate the vertical ditions for the subsea installation. Nam et al. (2015) performed
resonant motion of the lifted equipment and reduce the dy- an experimental study on deepwater crane installation of
namic loads in the hoisting wire system. Three types of heave subsea equipment in waves. They carried out a model test for
compensators have been used in deep water lifts: Passive, deepwater lowering and lifting operation of subsea equipment
active and combined heave compensators. A Passive Heave under both regular and irregular wave conditions. They also
Compensator (PHC) is a kind of spring-damper systems which discussed the effect of passive heave compensator on the
shift resonant frequency of vertical motion of hoisting wire deepwater lowering operation of a manifold. To overcome the
system. The passive heave compensator is also designed to limitation of water depth in basin, new experimental technique
reduce impacts on offshore cranes by adding damping in the using truncated hoisting system was introduced.
hoisting wire. An Active Heave Compensator (AHC) uses In this study, coupled motion responses of a floating crane
either controlled winches or hydraulic pistons, and reference vessel and a lifted subsea manifold during deep-water instal-
signals. The active heave compensation systems generally use lation operations were investigated. A series of model tests for
information from vessel Motion Reference Unit (MRU) to the deepwater lifting operation were performed at Ocean En-
control payout length of winch line. gineering Basin of KRISO. To validate the experimental re-
Regarding the real-sea deepwater installation operation of sults, a frequency-domain motion analysis was carried out.
subsea equipment, dynamic analysis method is widely used in Under various irregular wave conditions, the motion responses
design stage to predict the motion responses of the subsea of the vessel as well as the lifted object were examined. The
equipment and determine the capacity of the installation dynamic tension of the hoisting wire were also evaluated
equipment and the weather windows. For example, Galgoul under the different wave period conditions. Discussion is made
et al. (2001) described the analyses and all the problems on the effect of passive heave compensator on the motion and
encountered during the installation project of a PETROBRAS tension responses.
manifold in a 1860 m water depth, at the Roncador field in the
Campos Basin, offshore Rio de Janeiro. They also pointed out 2. Model test
the axial resonance can be a major concern as the installation
depths increase to 3,000 m. Kimiaei et al. (2009) presented a 2.1. Experimental models
simplified numerical model for the accurate estimation of
hydrodynamic forces on subsea platforms and compared the A floating crane vessel named ‘HD2500’, which has been
results of the DNV guidelines. They carried out a series of used in real-sea installation project by Hyundai Heavy In-
sensitivity analyses using DNV guideline and OrcaFlex dustry (HHI), was selected in this model test. The main di-
models. Vries et al. (2011) described the monitoring campaign mensions of the crane vessel are 130 m(L)*36 m(B)
on a typical example of a deep water lowering operation. They *10.5 m(D). The displacement of the vessel is about 15,000
suggested the monitoring results about the subsea behavior of ton. Fig. 1 shows the image and experimental model for the
two suction piles during the installation operation in 2700 m crane vessel. The scale ratio of the model is 1:50 and the
water depth using a support vessel. They also compared the scaled vessel model was made of wood. The crane vessel is
monitoring results with numerical models used for dynamic equipped with dynamic positioning system for the deepwater
analysis and concluded that dynamic analysis methods can be operations. Four azimuth thrusters are located at each corner
applicable to prediction of the motion and load for subsea of the vessel. The GM value and roll natural period were
structure in deepwater installation operation. Legras and Wang adjusted by inclining and free-decay tests. The pitch gyration
(2011) suggested a new method to determine criteria for was measured with a swing table test. There is a single crane
lowering operations based on real time monitoring of the system with maximum capacity 2500 ton on the deck of the
vessel motion and time-domain simulation. They also vessel.
described the application of the method on an installation Among various types of subsea equipment, a typical subsea
vessel for lowering operations in West Africa. Wang et al. manifold was considered in this model test. Fig. 2 shows CAD
(2011) carried out pipeline installation analysis and jumper image and experimental model of the manifold. The present
lowering analysis by using the commercial software OrcaFlex. manifold has complex geometry, which consists of complex
+ MODEL
B.W. Nam et al. / International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering xx (2017) 1e16 3
Fig. 1. Image (left) and experimental model (right) for the floating crane vessel.
techniques. In order to adjust the model weight, the additional

lead weights are put inside the model of the manifold. Table 1
summarized the main dimensions of the crane vessel and the
manifold.
2.2. Crane system and passive heave compensator
The crane system is consisted of three main parts, i.e.

boom, backstay and crane base. Fig. 3 shows CAD image and
experimental model of the crane system in which the main
crane frame is made of wood. The electric motors are utilized
for hoisting wire and boom rotation. The crane control motor
Fig. 2. Experimental models for the subsea manifold.
is connected to winch drum via reduction gear and coupling,
shown in Fig. 4. In this study, the hoisting wire tension was
measured by using 1-axis loadcell and pulley system. To
porous plates and truss frames. The main dimension of the match the vertical natural period of the hoisting system, the
manifold is 15.6 m(L)*12.3 m(B)*4.3 m(D). The air weight of axial stiffness of the hoisting wire in the model scale should be
the manifold is about 150 ton. The experimental model of the equivalent to that of the real system. In this study, several
manifold was made of plastic material by using 3-D printing nylon lines for fishing were tested and then the most appro-
priate one was chosen.
Table 1 Passive heave compensator can be modeled as additional
Main dimensions of the installation vessel and the subsea equipment. spring and damper. Fig. 5 shows a photo and schematic dia-
Item Installation vessel Manifold gram of the passive heave compensator. It is well-known that
the passive heave compensator reduces peak heave and tension
L 130.0 m 15.6 m
B 36.0 m 12.3 m response of the hoisting system by shifting the resonant period
D 10.5 m 4.3 m (Nam et al., 2013). Although actual passive heave compen-
Weight Abt 15,000 ton Abt. 150 ton sator has nonlinear spring and damping characteristics, a linear
Fig. 3. CAD model (left) and experimental model of the crane system.
+ MODEL
Fig. 4. Crane control motor (left) and tension measurement system (right).
Fig. 5. Photo (left) and schematic diagram (right) of passive heave compensator.
spring can be used to investigate the fundamental effect of of the vessel and the lifted manifold were examined under
passive heave compensator. In this study, passive heave various irregular wave conditions. Fig. 6 shows white noise
compensator is modeled as a linear spring, while damper is not and irregular wave spectra which have been used in the present
considered. model test. Irregular wave conditions are summarized in Table
2. The wave spectra used in this study are ITTC spectra. The
2.3. Experimental conditions and measurement significant wave height is fixed as 1.0 m because the instal-
lation operation is normally performed under the mild ocean
First, a white noise test was carried out to evaluate the environment when the significant wave height is less than
motion and tension RAOs. Then the coupled motion responses 1.0 m or 1.5 m. The wave periods range from 4.0 s to 14.0 s.
Fig. 6. White noise and irregular wave spectra.
+ MODEL
pot
Table 2 MV þ AV ðuÞ 063 B ðuÞ 063
u2 iu V
Irregular wave conditions. 036 MS þ AS 036 Bvis
S
Wave ID Spectrum Tz (sec) Tp (sec) Hs (m) hydro
xV CV þ Cwire Cwire
x
IRW01 ITTC 4.000 5.620 1.000 þ V VS V
xS Cwire
SV Cwire
S xS
IRW02 ITTC 6.000 8.429 1.000
IRW03 ITTC 8.000 11.239 1.000 FV ðuÞ
IRW04 ITTC 10.000 14.049 1.000 ¼
033
IRW05 ITTC 12.000 16.859 1.000
IRW06 ITTC 14.000 19.669 1.000 ð1Þ
Where, MV and MS are the inertia matrix of the vessel and
the lifted structure, respectively. AV ðuÞ and Bpot V ðuÞ are the
The wave periods longer than 10 s are less meaningful for added-mass matrix and potential damping matrix of the vessel,
normal installation sites. However, for some specific installa- which are basically functions of the motion frequency. These
tion areas, the swell conditions of long wave periods can be added-mass and potential damping coefficients of the surface
critical for the installation operations. In addition, we want to vessel can be easily evaluated by applying conventional wave
evaluate PHC performance under wide-range period Green function method with boundary element method. In this
conditions. study, higher-order boundary element method is applied to
In order to measure the motion of the lifted subsea equip- obtain the added-mass and damping coefficients of the vessel.
ment in water, a underwater jig and two cameras were intro- AS and Bvis S are the added-mass matrix and the viscous
duced in this model test, shown in Fig. 7. The underwater jig damping matrix of the lifted structure. If the lifting location is
was installed in the pit at water depth of 700 m. A black ball deep enough, the added-mass of the lifted structure can be
maker is attached to the subsea equipment in order to capture assumed to be constant and potential damping is negligible. In
the motion of the lifted object by applying image processing. this case, additional damping due to the viscous drag force
Fig. 8 shows the typical motion trajectories of the lifted becomes significant compared to the potential damping. In this
manifold extracted from the recorded experimental movie. study, linearized viscous damping is considered. Chydro V is the
hydrodynamic restoring matrix. Cwire V , C wire
S , C wire
VS , C wire
SV are
3. Numerical analysis the linear spring matrix due to the crane wire, which connects
the vessel and the lifted structure.
3.1. Equation of motion
3.2. Hydrodynamic coefficient of the manifold
In this study, it is assumed that the crane vessel experience
6-dof motions and the lifted object is subjected to only 3-dof The motion response of the lifted object in water are quite
translation motions. Total coupled motion equations can be dependent on the hydrodynamic forces which can be decom-
expressed like followings; posed into added-mass and hydrodynamic damping forces.
Fig. 7. Underwater jig (left), camera (middle) and image processing results (right).
Fig. 8. Motion trajectories of the lifted subsea manifold under the irregular wave conditions (water depth ¼ 700 m).
+ MODEL
The added-mass values of the submerged object is mainly

determined of the object shape. Since the manifold has com-
plex truss frame and porous plate, it can be predicted that the
weight in water of the manifold can increases significantly
rather than the weight in air. However, it is hard to estimate the
added-mass values of this kind of complex geometry. In this
study, in order to estimate the added-mass of the manifold, the
extrapolation method based on the structure perforation is
applied. Fig. 9 shows the several manifold geometry with
different perforation values. Fig. 10 shows the added-mass
ratios according to the structure perforation values with
respect to the solid structure with no perforation. The
computational results are compared with the simplified esti-
mation formula which was suggested by DNV (2011). Based
on these calculation results, the estimated added-mass ratio
ranges around 10%e20% of the added-mass at the solid
Fig. 10. Added mass ratio values according to structure perforation.
manifold given in Fig. 9(a). In the later calculations, the
added-mass of the manifold is assumed as about 128 ton,
which corresponds to 15% of the added-mass of the solid were set as the natural periods of horizontal vessel motions
manifold with no perforation. became around 200 s. In this study, only port-side lifting op-
To estimate the drag coefficient of the subsea manifold, erations with single hoisting wire were taken into account.
CFD calculations were carried out by using commercial CFD Black ball makers, shown in Fig. 13(b), were attached to the
software (Park et al., 2013). Fig. 11 shows the CFD simulation manifold for the motion capturing by using image processing.
results in two opposite inflow angles. Based on the CFD re-
sults, the drag coefficient ðCD Þ is about 0:722, where the 4.1. Motion responses of the installation vessel
projection areaðAP Þ is 192:0 m2 . In this case, quadratic heave
damping coefficient ðbnon99 Þ is about 70 kN$s =m . The equiv-
2 2
The motion RAOs of the crane vessel, shown in Fig. 14,
alent linear heave damping coefficients ðbeq 99 Þ are shown in were obtained from the white noise test during the lifting
Fig. 12. In principle, the equivalent linear damping coefficient operation of the subsea manifold. In this case, the lifting
varies with excitation frequency and motion amplitude. As location is about 700 m under the still water and wave
shown in figure, the equivalent damping coefficient ranges heading is 180 . For the comparison, the frequency-domain
from 50 kN$s=m to 250 kN$s=m. calculation results are also plotted together with the experi-
mental data. Heave and pitch RAOs show typical motion re-
4. Results & discussions sponses of the barge vessel under the head sea conditions. The
maximum pitch motion of the vessel is about 1.3 per unit
In this study, a series of model tests were performed to incident amplitude when the wave frequency is around 0.6 rad/
evaluate deep-water crane operation of lifting the subsea s. If the wave length is similar to the vessel length at around
manifold. Fig. 13 shows photos for the floating crane vessel 0.8 rad/s, the pitch motion slightly decreases due to the
and the lifted subsea equipment during the model test. The pit cancelation effect and the heave motion locally increases. The
in the center of the basin was utilized to ensure the enough secondary pitch peak can be also found 0.9 rad/s. What is
water depth. The crane vessel was positioned so that the noticeable in the vessel motion is that the significant roll
lowering position was located in the center of the pit. motions occur even in the head waves. This is because the
Considering the scale ratio, the maximum water depth of the interaction with the lifted object via the hoisting wire tension
basin was equivalent to 700 m in real scale. The dynamic brings about the roll motions of the crane vessel. The roll
positioning system was used for the crane vessel without resonance of the crane vessel happens at around 0.60 rad/s and
mooring system, where proportional gains of the DP system the maximum roll motion is about 0.8 per unit incident
Fig. 9. Various manifold geometry with different perforation.
+ MODEL
Fig. 11. CFD simulation results of the streamlines and pressure contour around the manifold in uniform flow.
amplitude. In the roll motion RAOs, considerable discrep-

ancies can be found between experiments and calculations at
the wave frequency lower than 0.5 rad/s. At around 0.3 rad/s,
the roll RAO values become less accurate because of the
reduced wave energy. In addition, it can be understood that the
more roll motions are induced because the experimental
models cannot be perfectly arranged along the incoming
waves.
It is noteworthy that the roll motion can be strongly
affected by the weight of the lifted object. Fig. 15 shows the
effect of the manifold weight on the roll responses of the crane
vessel. As the manifold is getting heavier, the roll motion of
the crane vessel also increases especially near the roll and
pitch natural period.
Fig. 12. Added mass values according to structure porosity.
Fig. 13. Photos for deep-water lifting experiments with a floating crane vessel and a subsea manifold.
+ MODEL
Fig. 14. Motion RAOs of the crane vessel during the lifting operation of the subsea manifold.
Fig. 16 compares the motion Root Mean Square (RMS)

values of the crane vessel under five different irregular wave
conditions. The heave responses of the vessel increases as the
wave period is getting longer. Roll and pitch motions maxi-
mized when the wave period is 10.0 s that is close to the
natural period of roll and pitch motions. For all cases, the
heave response is less than 0.25 m and angular motions are
less than 0.3 . Calculation results show good agreements with
the experimental data in heave and pitch responses of the
vessel. However, it can be observed that there are some
discrepancy in roll motions especially near the roll natural
period. These discrepancies are partly attributed to the roll
viscous damping of the vessel and the nonlinear heave
damping of the lifted object.
4.2. Motion responses of the lifted object
The heave motion RAO of the lifted subsea manifold from

the model test is shown in Fig. 17 with the comparison of the
calculation results. It can be observed that there are three
Fig. 15. Effect of the manifold weight on roll RAOs of the crane vessel. different peaks in heave responses of the lifted manifold. First
+ MODEL
Fig. 16. Motion RMS values of the installation vessel during lifting the subsea equipment.
motion responses around 0.5 rad/s are greatly reduced due to

the increase of the damping. Fig. 18(b) shows the added-mass
effect on the motion responses of the lifted object. In this case,
the added-mass values are changed according to the perfora-
tion percentage. It can be seen that as the added-mass in-
creases, the motion responses of the lifted object also largely
increased.
Left figures in Fig. 19 shows the original heave time series
of the lifted manifold in irregular waves. What is clearly
observed from these figures is that the lifted object experiences
both wave-frequency and low-frequency heave motions. The
wave-frequency heave motion of the lifted object is directly
generated by the hoisting system dynamics excited by the
crane tip heave motion. In addition, it can be understood that
large surge motion causes the low-frequency heave motion of
the lifted object because the manifold is lifted with a long
crane wire similar to the pendulum. The right figures in Fig. 17
are the wave-frequency component of heave motions by
Fig. 17. Heave motion RAO of the lifted subsea manifold during the deep- applying a band-pass filter. As the wave period increases, the
water lifting operation. heave motions also slightly increase. When the zero-
upcrossing wave period is 8.0 s, the maximum heave ampli-
tude of the wave-frequency component is about 0.5 m. If the
peak can be found at around 0.5 rad/s where the coupled wave period becomes 14.0 s, the maximum heave amplitude of
heave and pitch motions of the crane vessel cause a large the wave-frequency component is about 0.7 m.
vertical motion of the crane tip. There are second peak at The direct comparisons of the heave response spectra of the
around 0.6 rad/s which is close to pitch and roll natural fre- lifted manifold between experimental data and calculation
quencies. The last peak is located at around 0.9 rad/s. This results are shown in Fig. 20. It can be clearly observed that as
peak is induced by the vertical resonance of the hoisting the wave period is getting longer, the spectrum area increases.
system. Overall comparison between experiments and calcu- All the motion spectra also reveals not only the wave-
lations shows fairly good agreement. However, there are some frequency component but also low-frequency component. As
discrepancies especially in high frequency regions, in which for the wave-frequency component, the calculations predict
the constant equivalent linear damping coefficient results in similar motion response spectra for all wave periods. However,
relatively less damping force rather than quadratic drag force. the calculation results gives slight bigger motion spectra rather
To estimate the motion responses of the lifted object, the than experiments. It can be understood that nonlinear hydro-
appropriate estimation of the hydrodynamic coefficient is dynamic damping characteristics gives discrepancy between
critical. It can be expected that the motion responses of the the calculations and the experiments. Fig. 21 compares the
lifted object are strongly affected by the added-mass and RMS values of the heave motions of the lifted manifold.
hydrodynamic damping of the lifted object. Fig. 18(a) shows Overall trends are quite similar between experiments and
the damping effect on the motion responses of the lifted ob- calculations. As the damping force increase, it can be found
ject. As the hydrodynamic damping increases, the motion that the numerical estimations is getting closer to the experi-
responses of the lifted object decreases. In particular, the mental data.
+ MODEL
Fig. 18. Heave responses spectra of the crane tip and lifted subsea equipment during the deep-water lifting operation in irregular waves.
Fig. 19. Heave time series of the manifold during the deep-water lifting operation in irregular waves (Manifold, water depth ¼ 700 m).
+ MODEL
Fig. 20. Comparison of heave responses spectra of the lifted manifold in irregular waves.
Fig. 22 shows estimated heave motion responses of the 4.3. Dynamic tension of hoisting wire
lifted subsea manifold under various wave height conditions.
As the wave period is getting longer, the heave motion re- The dynamic tension of the hoisting wire is determined by
sponses of the lifted manifold increase. If the wave period is relative heave motion between the crane tip and the lifted
enough long, heave SDA (Significant Double Amplitude) object. Thus, the dynamic tension RAOs of the hoisting wire
value is similar to the significant wave height of the incident are largely affected by the motion response of the lifted object.
wave spectrum. This means that the motion response of the Fig. 23 compares the tension RAOs between the experiments
lifted object is similar to the incident wave elevations as the from the white noise test and calculation results. Similar to the
wave period is getting longer. heave motion RAOs of the lifted manifold, the tension RAOs
also shows three peak responses. The maximum dynamic
tension is about 18 tonf which is correspond to 12% of the
Fig. 21. Comparison of the wave-frequency heave RMS values of the lifted Fig. 22. Estimated heave motion responses of the lifted subsea manifold under
subsea equipment under the irregular wave conditions. various wave height conditions.
+ MODEL
response is maximized. The overall calculations results of the

tension spectra are quite similar trends to the experimental
data. In Fig. 27, the significant positive amplitudes of the
hoisting wire tension are compared between experiments and
calculation results. In this study, zero-upcrossing analysis
method is applied to extract the statistical values from the
tension time series. The comparison shows quite good
agreement.
4.4. Effect of passive heave compensator
The performance of the passive heave compensator (PHC)

is quite dependent on the spring and damping characteristics
of the PHC system. Left figures of Fig. 28 show the heave
RAOs of the manifold from the model tests when the three
different passive heave compensators are applied. In this case,
‘PHC1’, ‘PHC2’ and ‘PHC3’ have the stiffnesses of 120 kN/
m, 250 kN/m and 490 kN/m, respectively. ‘PHC1’ has rela-
Fig. 23. Tension RAOs of the hoisting wire during the lifting operations. tively softer stiffness rather than ‘PHC2’ and ‘PHC3’. When
‘PHC1’ is used, it can be clearly seen that the passive heave
compensator is effectively working, in which the usage of the
manifold weight in air. Maximum dynamic tension happens at passive heave compensator reduces the heave motion if the
around 0.6 rad/s which is close to the pitch and roll resonant wave frequency is higher than 0.4 rad/s. However, when
conditions. As shown in the figure, another peak response can ‘PHC2’ or ‘PHC3’ is used, the effect of the passive heave
be found at around 0.9 rad/s. These second peak is attributed compensator is not clearly seen and the heave motions of the
to the vertical resonance of the hoisting system which is lifted manifold increase instead. Similar to the experimental
dependent on the hoisting wire stiffness and the lifted object data, calculation results also indicate that the usage of ‘PHC1’
weight. The dynamic tension response of the hoisting wire only reduces the heave motion of the lifted manifold.
also can be changed by the hydrodynamic coefficient of the The effect of passive heave compensator can also be found
lifted object. Fig. 24 shows the effect of added-mass and hy- in tension RAOs shown in Fig. 29. While ‘PHC2’ and ‘PHC3’
drodynamic damping on the tension RAOs of the hoisting wire increases the tension response of the crane wire, only ‘PHC1’
during the lifting operation. greatly reduces the tension responses for all frequency ranges.
Figs. 25 and 26 show the time series and spectra of the The calculation results also demonstrates that only ‘PHC1’ is
dynamic tension of the hoisting wires under the irregular wave effective to reduce the dynamic tension of the crane wire.
conditions, respectively. As the wave period is getting longer, There results indicate the optimal design of the passive heave
the tension response spectrum is also shifted to the low fre- compensator is critical factor when we consider the passive
quency ranges. When the wave period is 10.0 s, the tension heave compensator in the crane lifting operation.
Fig. 24. Tension RAOs of the hoisting wire during the lifting operations.
+ MODEL
Fig. 25. Time series of the dynamic tension of the hoisting wires during the lifting operation under the irregular wave conditions (water depth ¼ 700 m).
Fig. 30 shows the effect of the passive heave compensator Fig. 31(a) compares the heave RMS values of the manifold
by showing the direct comparison of the heave time series of and dynamic tension responses of the hoisting wire under five
the manifold and the dynamic tensions of the hoisting wires different irregular wave conditions from the model tests. As
under three different irregular wave conditions. Relatively, can be seen, the heave compensation effect is not clearly
heave compensation effect is not clearly observed for all wave observed. If the wave period is longer than 10.0 s, the passive
conditions. Whereas, the dynamic tension of the hoisting wires heave compensator causes the increase of the heave motion of
are significantly reduced if the wave period is less than 10.0 s. the manifold. This is because the shift of the resonance by the
Fig. 26. Dynamic tension spectra of the hoisting wire in irregular waves.
+ MODEL
usage of PHC results in high heave motion under the long

wave period conditions. However, dynamic tension values is
clearly reduced due to the usage of PHC. In particular, when
the wave period is less than 10.0 s, the PHC reduces the dy-
namic tension of the hoisting wire by about 30e50%. The
calculations results, shown in Fig. 31(b), also reveals the PHC
effect on heave motion and tension responses. However, the
tension reduction effect due to the PHC usage is relatively
smaller rather than the experimental data. This is mainly
attribute to the discrepancy of the tension responses in low-
frequency range.
5. Conclusions
Fig. 27. Comparison of tension responses of the hoisting wire under the
irregular wave conditions (water depth ¼ 700 m). An experimental and numerical study was conducted for
investigating deepwater crane installation operation of the
Fig. 28. Effect of the passive heave compensator on heave RAOs of the manifold.
Fig. 29. Effect of the passive heave compensator on dynamic tension RAOs of the hoisting wire.
+ MODEL
Fig. 30. Comparison of the manifold heaves and the wire tensions in irregular waves due to the passive heave compensator.
Fig. 31. Comparison of heave RMS of the manifold and dynamic tension RMS of the hoisting wire due to the passive heave compensator under five different
irregular wave conditions.
+ MODEL
subsea equipment in waves. From a series of model tests and “Development of deep water installation design and analysis
numerical calculations, the following conclusions are drawn. technology” & No. 10042452, “Engineering Technology
Development for the 3,000 m Deepwater Subsea Equipment and
The crane vessel experience the significant roll motions URF Installation to advance to Deepwater Offshore Plant
even in the head waves because the interaction with the Market”).
lifted object via the hoisting wire tension brings about the
roll motions of the vessel. These roll motions are greatly References
affected by the weight of the lifted object.
Heave motion of the lifted subsea manifold reveals three Clauss, G.F., Vannahme, M., Ellermann, K., Kreuzer, E., 2000. Subharmonic
peak responses which is mainly caused by crane-tip mo- oscillations of moore floating cranes. In: Proc Offshore Technology Con-
ference, Houston, OTC-11953.
tion and the vertical resonance of the hoisting system. The DNV, 2011. Modelling and Analysis of Marine Operation. DNV-RP-H103.
heave motion are strongly affected by the added-mass and Fujarra, A.L.C., Tannuri, E.A., Masetti, I.Q., Igreja, H., 2008. Experimental
hydrodynamic damping of the lifted object. and numerical evaluation of the installation of subsea equipments for risers
The dynamic tension responses of the hoisting wire are support. In: Pro Int Conf on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Eng, Hono-
greatly changed by the hydrodynamic coefficient of the lulu, OMAE 2008e57472.
Galgoul, N.Z., Labanca, E.L., Claro, C.A., 2001. Experience gained during the
lifted object. Maximum dynamic tension happens at the istallation design of the poncador manifold in a 1860m water depth. In: Prc
pitch and roll resonant conditions. Int Conf on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Eng, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
The effect of passive heave compensator is clearly OMAE 2001/OTF-1063.
observed during deep-water lifting operations It is Kimiaei, M., JiaJing, X., Yu, H., 2009. Comparing the results of a simplified
confirmed that the passive heave compensator shifts the numerical model with DNV guidelines for installation of subsea platforms.
In: Prc Int Conf on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Eng, Honolulu, OMAE
resonant frequency of the hoisting system to the low fre- 2009e79356.
quency range. For short wave periods, the efficiency of the Legras, J.L., Wang, J., 2011. Criteria for the operation of lowering a structure
passive heave compensator is maximized in reducing dy- to the seabed based on the installation vessel motion. In: Proc Offshore
namic tension of hoisting wire. Technology Conference, Houston, OTC-21250.
The present calculation method in frequency domain Nam, B.W., Hong, S.Y., Kim, Y.S., Kim, J.W., 2013. Effects of passive and
active heave compensators on deepwater lifting operation. Int J Offshore
shows fairly good agreement with the experimental data. Polar Eng 23 (1), 33e37.
Some discrepancies are found especially at high frequency Nam, B.W., Kim, N.W., Choi, Y.M., Hong, S.Y., Kim, J.W., 2015. An
ranges, where nonlinear damping characteristics is sig- experimental study on deepwater crane installation of subsea equipment in
nificant. In the future, nonlinear time-domain simulations waves. In: Proc of Int Offshore and Polar Eng Conf, Kona, Big Island,
with nonlinear drag model will be carried out to evaluate Hawaii, USA, pp. 1279e1283.
Park, Y.S., Kim, W.J., Nam, B.W., 2013. CFD simulation of hydrodynamic
the nonlinear coupled dynamics between the crane vessel forces acting on subsea manifold templates at wave zone. In: Proc of Int
and the lifted object. Offshore and Polar Eng Conf, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, pp. 654e661.
Vries, J.P., Drunen, Dijk, R., Zoontjes, R., 2011. Offshore monitoring
campaign on installation of suction piles in deep water fields. In: Proc
Acknowledgements Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, OTC-21291.
Wang, J., Hagen, R.K., Radan, E., Bullock, J., 2011. Technical challenges and
success for rigid pipeline with PLET, jumper and flying leads installation
This research has been partly funded by a Grand-in-Aid for in conger 9 field. In: Proc Offshore Technology Conference, Houston,
Strategy Technology Development Programs from the Korea OTC-21209.
Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (No. 10038598,

Experimental and Numerical Study On Coupled Motion Responses of A Floating Crane Vessel and A Lifted Subsea Manifold in Deep Water

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Experimental and Numerical Study On Coupled Motion Responses of A Floating Crane Vessel and A Lifted Subsea Manifold in Deep Water

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Experimental and Numerical Study On Coupled Motion Responses of A Floating Crane Vessel and A Lifted Subsea Manifold in Deep Water

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

+ MODEL

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

Experimental and numerical study on coupled motion responses of a floating

1. Introduction installation methods such as pendulum installation method,

techniques. In order to adjust the model weight, the additional

2.2. Crane system and passive heave compensator

The crane system is consisted of three main parts, i.e.

Fig. 6. White noise and irregular wave spectra.

The added-mass values of the submerged object is mainly

Fig. 9. Various manifold geometry with different perforation.

amplitude. In the roll motion RAOs, considerable discrep-

Fig. 16 compares the motion Root Mean Square (RMS)

4.2. Motion responses of the lifted object

The heave motion RAO of the lifted subsea manifold from

motion responses around 0.5 rad/s are greatly reduced due to

response is maximized. The overall calculations results of the

4.4. Effect of passive heave compensator

The performance of the passive heave compensator (PHC)

usage of PHC results in high heave motion under the long

You might also like