POLISH MARITIME RESEARCH Special Issue 2017 S2 (94) 2017 Vol. 24; pp.

154-163
10.1515/pomr-2017-0078

FATIGUE LIFE PREDICTION OF UMBILICALS CONSIDERING

NON-LINEAR STRESS

Lu Qingzhen1, Lecturer
Yin Yuanchao2, Ph. D.
Yang Zhixun2, Ph. D.
Chen Jinlong2, Ph. D.
Yan Jun2, Prof.
Yue Qianjin1,2, Prof.
1
School of Ocean Science and Technology, Dalian University of Tech Dalian, Liaoning, China
2
Department of Engineering Mechanics, Dalian University of Tech Dalian, Liaoning, China

ABSTRACT

The fatigue problem induced by wave loads and floater movements of dynamic umbilicals in deepwater is studied. The
prediction method of the fatigue life is investigated by considering no-linear local stress due to contact and friction
between components of the umbilical. A case study of a dynamic umbilical for 1500 meters depth in South China
Sea was presented. The results showed that the more accurate result of the fatigue life was calculated by considering
non-linear local stress. The fatigue life by considering local stress with the no-slip assumption was conservative. An
obviously longer fatigue life was obtained by considering local stress with the full-slip assumption.

Keywords: steel tube umbilical; fatigue life; contact and friction; non-linear local stress

INTRODUCTION the alternative load which can lead the fatigue failure of the
umbilical.
The Method of the fatigue life analysis based on Miner
Steel tube umbilical is one of the key equipment in subsea accumulated damage theory is usually recommended by
production system, which supplies a communication and many specifications for marine engineering. However, there
control link between the subsea system and surface vessels. A are still lots of uncertain factors during the analysis of the
typical umbilical consists of various functional components fatigue life because of the complexity of umbilical structures.
for electrical power, signal transmission and hydraulic such Hoffman et al.[1] and Jose et al.[2] presented a procedure
as electric cables, optical fiber cables and steel tubes. The of the fatigue life analysis of flexible rises and umbilicals
functional components are surrounded by amour wires and based on Miner accumulated damage method. Song et al. [3]
polymeric sheaths. All the components are unbonded together studied the dynamic response and the fatigue life analysis of
and can slide freely. The umblical near the vessel is usually flexible rises. The calculation method of dynamic analysis of
subjected to large tension load and alternative bending load global load had been a relatively perfect method during the
due to self-weight, currents, waves and motions of the vessel. fatigue life analysis of umbilicals. However, compared with
The accumulated damage of the component is induced by

154 POLISH MARITIME RESEARCH, No S2/2017

the stress analysis of metal pipes of rigid rises which can API standards [13, 14] to predict the fatigue life of marine
be calculated by simple formulas, the local stress analysis structures. The standards also state that the predicted fatigue
was still difficult due to the nonlinear factor induced by the life of umbilical should be 10 times the service life [15].
friction of adjacent components. Regarding the complexity The procedure of the fatigue analysis based on Miner
and importance of the local stress of umbilical, numerous accumulated damage theory is shown as below.
studies have been conducted in this field over last decades.
Skeie et al. [4] analyzed the stress induced by tension, 1. Global Analysis
bending and friction, respectively. The local stress in the Time domain analysis based on the lumped-mass method
fatigue analysis was calculated by adding the tension stress, is used in the global analysis of umbilicals. The umbilical is
bending stress and friction stress. Knapp [5] established divided to a series of segments without mass and nodes with
a two-dimensional finite element model of umbilical to mass. The properties of the tension, torsion and bending
analysis the deformation and stress. All the components stiffness of the umbilical are given by the segments. The
in the model were modeled by macro-elements. Sævik [6,7] properties of the mass, gravity and buoyancy are shown on
presented a finite element model for predicting the stress of the nodes [16]. According to Longuet-Higgins equation [17],
umbilcals by curved-beam kinematics and thin-shell theory. the given scatter diagrams of the irregular wave is dispersed
The contact and friction between components are set by spring into a serious of scatter diagrams of the regular wave. The
elements. Wang and Ekeberg [8] studied the influence of time domain of tension and bending under each sea state is
friction on the fatigue life. The results shown the fatigue calculated, respectively. The frequency probability of the sea
life without considering friction was nearly ten time the life state in one year is pi. The corresponding period of the sea
with considering friction. Parsinejad et al. [9] analyzed the state is Tzi. The number of the sea state in one year ni, which
fatigue stress and life of two different types of umbilicals by can be expressed as:
considering friction. Probyn et al. [10] established a three-
dimension finite element model of a steel tube umbilical by ni 365* 24*3600* pi * Tzi (1)
ABAQUS. Contact and Coulomb friction was defined between
the adjacent components. The functional components and 2. Local Stress Analysis
polymeric sheaths were modeled by solid elements and beam The tension and bending load calculated in the global
elements, respectively. Corre and Probyn [11] used beam analysis are acting on the local structure. The local stress of
elements instead of solid elements to save the calculation the critical component can be calculated based on the Eq.(2).
resources. Li and Yang [12] established a three-dimension
finite element model of an umbilical with six steel tubes. The V K tT  K c C x sin T  C y cos T (2)
stress under different load case and the influence of friction
coefficients were investigated. Where Kt represents the coefficient of the tension stress, Kc
Non-linear local stress due to contact and friction between represents the coefficient of bending stress, θ is the stress of
components of the steel tube umbilical is presented. A the calculated point along the circumference, Cx represents
numerical model is established by using Orcaflex to predict curvature in the x direction of the component, Cy represents
the fatigue life by considering non-linear local stress as the curvature in the y direction of the component.
input parameters. A case study of a dynamic umbilical for
1500 meters depth in South China Sea was presented. The 3. S-N Curve of Material
results showed that the fatigue life by considering local stress The fatigue property of the material is usually expressed
with the no-slip assumption was conservative. An obviously by a S-N curve, which is a graph of the alternating stress
longer fatigue life was obtained by considering local stress against the logarithmic scale of cycle times to failure
with the full-slip assumption. The more accurate result of the (Ni)
fatigue life was calculated by considering non-linear local (3)
stress. The method presented in this paper provide a technical
(4)
support for the design and application of umbilicals.
a and m are material constants.

ANALYSIS METHOD OF FATIGUE LIFE 4. Fatigue Life of Umbilical

The fatigue accumulated damage of the umbilical can
The method of the fatigue life analysis based on Miner be calculated based on formulas above, which can be
accumulated damage theory is shown in this section. Firstly, written as:
the time-domain respond of the global load under short sea N
ni
states should be calculated. Then, the time-domain respond D ¦( N ) (5)
of local stress could be analyzed under the global load. The i 1 i
long-term of the accumulated fatigue damage and the fatigue
life are obtained by probabilistic statistics and S-N curve Where N represents the number of the alternating stress,
of the material. The method is recommended by DNV and D represents the fatigue accumulated damage. Fatigue failure

POLISH MARITIME RESEARCH, No S2/2017 155

occurs when D=1. No damage accumulates are generated 1. Tension Stress
when D=0. The fatigue life is the reciprocal of D, which can Tension stress of each steel tube is determined by the total
be expressed as: tension stiffness of the umbilical and the tension stiffness of
1 the steel tube, which can be calculated by:
Life (6)
D (7)
The flow of the fatigue life analysis is shown in Fig.1.
Where 'V T (t ) represents the time-domain of the tension
stress, T (t ) represents the time-domain of the tension load,
KT represents the tension stiffness of umbilical, E, A denotes
the elastic modulus and the cross-section area of the steel
tube, respectively.

Fig.2 Compositions of a steel tube umbilical

2. Bending Stress
The inside conditions of umbilicals can be divided into a
no-slip stage and a full-slip state during bending. The period
Fig. 1 Fatigue analysis flow of dynamic umbilical of the no-slip stage can be increased as the increase of the
tension load. The bending stress can be expressed by different
stages.
The fatigue life analysis of dynamic umbilical is more
difficult than steel rises. The material of steel tubes is more Bending Stress of No-slip Stage
homogeneous compared with the material of umbilicals. The The steel tube is bent with the center axis of the umbilical
stress analysis is relatively simple because of the ring structure before the component slides. The bending stress is equal to
of the cross-section. The stress state of umbilica is complex the static friction stress, which can be expressed as:
and the calculation of the local stress is more difficult.
Non-linear local stress due to contact and friction between (8)
components of the steel tube umbilical is important for the
fatigue analysis of umbilical. A more accurate fatigue life Where is the time-domain of the bending stress
could be got based on the non-linear local stress before slipping, N (t ) is the time-domain of the curve, R L
is the distance between the center of the steel tube and the
umbilical.
ANALYSIS METHOD OF LOCAL STRESS
Bending Stress of Full-Slip Stage
The structure of a typical steel tube umbilical is shown in The bending stress caused by bending is determined
Fig.2. The functional components and armor wires are helical by the diameter of each steel tube after the sliding of the
wound by a special angle. The helical angle of the functional component. The bending stress can be calculated by the
components is usually less than 10 degree. The armor wires formula below:
are wound at an angle above 20 degree. The steel tube is the
most critical components during the fatigue failure. The stress (9)
of the steel tube can be calculated by tension stress, bending
stress and friction stress. is the time-domain of the bending stress after
slipping, R is the diameter of the steel tube.

156 POLISH MARITIME RESEARCH, No S2/2017

 Friction Stress The steel tube begin sliding when the axial force
When the steel tube is under the full-slip stage, the gradient˄dN/dS˅ reaches the static friction force f of per
static friction force turns to the dynamic friction force. The unite length.:
following assumptions have been made for the derivations
and analysis in this paper: (13)
1) The sliding is only occurred along the helix axis of
the steel tube;
2) The end effects can be neglected; The tension gradient reaches the max value when M =0,
3) The dynamic and static friction coefficients are the steel tube begins sliding at the neutral axis. The critical
equal. curvature can be established as:
Only one steel tube is analyzed as shown in Fig. 3. The
model of the friction stress analysis can be established by the (14)
equilibrium between the axial force caused by bending and
the static friction force which prevent the axial movement
of the steel tube. The friction force F equals the static friction force N When
The sliding criterion can be established based on the the full sliding occurs at the neutral axis.
equilibrium equation along the axial direction of the steel
tube. (15)

(10)

Where N is the axial force, f is the friction load per unit (16)
length.

fds
S
N N  dN The full-slip state is assumed to be started when M ,
the max critical curvature can be expressed as: 2
ds

Fig.3 Force on infinitesimal helix element ds (17)

The sliding friction stress can be obtained by:

The steel tube is assumed to be fully fixed on the cylinder.
The axial load caused by bending can be expressed as: (18)

N  EARL cos 2 D sin (M )N

(11)
The friction force of the steel tube is affected by the friction
Where D is the helical angle of the steel tube, M is the coefficient and the length of the contact.
angle of the helical point, as shown in Fig.4. S is the length of
the steel tube along the helical direction. The relation between (19)
M and S can be written as:
S
M sin D (12) The key problem to calculate the friction force is to
RL accurately determine the friction coefficient P between
components, the contact stress qc and the contact length Lc.
The contact stress is analyzed by finite element model which
is established by ANSYS software. The radial contact pressure
induced by tension is acted on the finite element model to
calculate the contact stress qc and the contact length Lc of
the critical steel tube. The 2-D FE model of the umbilical is
shown as Fig.5.

Fig.4 Helix positions for steel tube

POLISH MARITIME RESEARCH, No S2/2017 157

 EXPRERIMENT METHODS TO APPROACH
FATIGUE LIFE
As the structure of umbilical is complicated, accurate
fatigue life is hard to approach by theoretical calculation or
finite element method. An important way to access the fatigue
life of an umbilical is to conduct a fatigue test, especially for a
new designed cross section. The length in actual application of
a typical dynamic umbilical is usually over a thousand meters.
The sea state is also complicated. So it is impossible and useless
to simulate the whole length of umbilical under the floater
and wave condition in a laboratory. A feasible solution is to
cut out the critical umbilical location and exert the load-time
Fig.5 2-D model of the umbilical core
history calculated by global analysis to the test specimen by
an actuator. In order to approach the fatigue life accurately,
the real load case should be conducted to the test umbilical
 specimen by the test machine and test method, a more precise
The transfer stage between no-slip to full slip is very short. deformation of each elements should be measured.
The stress calculation of the stage is also quite difficult. So, A typical set up for a dynamic fatigue test is to simulate
the friction stress is assumed to be divided into two stages: the real in-place condition of an umbilical while the force is
no-slip stage and full-slip stage. As shown in Fig.6, the value tension combined with bending. The specimen was cut off at
of the no-slip stage is that of the bending stress. When the the critical location which is at the top of the umbilical. The
critical curvature reach to , the full-slip occurs. The test sample comprises the assembly of the umbilical body, end
value of the friction stress is that of the slip friction stress. fittings, fasteners, and all devices and components simulate
Two straight lines is used to simulate the variation trend of the umbilical top connection, and a bend stiffener/bellmouth
the fatigue stress in this study. [18]. The tension and curvature distribution at the critical area
V FC
can be calculated through the global analysis of the dynamic
VF umbilical. The tension and curvature can be applied by the
force or displacement actuators at either end of the umbilical
sample. Nondestructive measurement should be conducted
during and after the fatigue test, which includes:
1) Tension stiffness. When the tension stiffness is
V FB declined over 20% or the rupture percent of the
armor wire is over 5%, the tensile armor layer is
regarded as failure.
2) Inner pressure of the steel tube. The decompression
should be monitored during and after the fatigue test.
3) The DC power and insulation resistance of the
N crmax electric cable.
4) The signal attenuation of the optical fiber cable.
Fig.6 Definition of friction stress The dynamic fatigue test which simulates real working
condition usually requires a large-sized test device. The
length of test sample is greater than 8 meters, real end fitting
and bend stiffener are also required. The whole test usually
3. Local Stress takes a long time over 3 months. The cost of the test is also
The local stress at the no-slip stage is the sum of the tension very expensive. With the study of umbilical cable, a pure
stress and the bending stress. It can be expressed as: bending fatigue test can be conducted to test the fatigue life
of umbilical for cost saving.
(20) The load response at critical area can be obtained through
global analysis. Then the local stress can be obtained by
The local stress at the full-slip stage is the sum of the accurate analysis, which contains tension stress, bending
tension stress, the bending stress and the friction stress, stress and stress caused by friction. This test method can save
which can be written as: the time and cost of a typical dynamic fatigue test. The local
stress should be estimated accurately and the influence of end
(21) fittings and bend stiffness cannot be is neglected. The fatigue
damage at critical area can be calculated to pure bending
stress damage, which is more easy to exert by the test device.

158 POLISH MARITIME RESEARCH, No S2/2017

 Tab. 1 Parameters of umbilical system
The fatigue property of umbilical can be tested faster by this
method.
Parameters Value Parameters Value

Length of Size of the soft

1850m 37.2 m×37.2 m
umbilical cabin
Angle of top Height of the soft
6° 6.1 m
point cabin
Diameter of the Length of main
37.19 m 94.5 m
stiff cabin truss
Height of the stiff
80.77 m Centre of gravity 98.66
cabin

Tab.2 Parameters of the umbilical

Fig.7 Testing rig of bending fatigue

Parameters Value
Outer diameter(m) 0.1
The testing rig of bending fatigue is shown in Fig.7. The test
Dry weight(kg/m) 25.3
specimen is placed on the holder, there were four constrained
point of the test rig. The test rig should be axial symmetry Wet weight(kg/m) 15.9
during and after the fatigue test. The right constrained point Tension stiffness(KN) 3.5e5
on the holder is clamped to the umbilical specimen, while Torsion stiffness(KNm2) 35.9
the specimen is free to slide at the other three points. The Bending stiffness(KNm ) 2
6.6
bending movement is exerted by a hydraulic actuator

The wave scatter diagram is the probability distribution

A CASE STUDY of the wave height and the period, as shown in Tab.3. The
given scatter diagram of the irregular wave is dispersed into
1. Case Description a serious of scatter diagram of the regular wave according to
A dynamic umbilical with a catenary curve of an Longuet-Higgins equation. The coverage rate of this method
application of 1500m meters is shown in Fig.8. The seabed is can be reached 99%. The cases of the regular wave used
plain and the solid can be considers as sandy slit. The structure in this paper are shown in Tab. 4. The conditions of near,
of the umbilical is shown in Fig.1. The system parameters of far and lateral position of the vessel are considered during
the umbilical and the Spar platform are listed in Tab.1. The the analysis. Each condition is set at a 33.33% probability.
structural parameters which contains the diameter, weight, The proportion of a 0° angle of the heat sea wave is 60%,
tension, torsion and bending stiffness are listed in Tab.2. while the proportion of a 30° angle is 40%. The probability
distribution of the wave is divide to 42 blocks of the scatter
diagram of the regular wave. 252 load cases are considered
in the calculation example.
A numerical model of the dynamic umbilical is established
by using Orcaflex software. The joint between the umbilical
and the bottom of the Spar platform is fixed with a draft of
164.6m. The terminal end of the umbilical is anchored to the
seabed. The axial friction coefficient between the umbilical
and the seabed is set as 0.25. The overall length of the model
is 1850m. The response amplitude operator of the movement
is set at the gravity center of the platform. Different meshing
is adopted in order to get the real respond of the umbilical.
There is a high mesh density at the sensitive areas of the
model. The whole model of the umbilical is divided into
four parts. The upper area connected to the floater and the
bottom area near the touchdown point are sensitive areas
Fig.8 A dynamic umbilical in depth of 1500m
with a high mesh density. The length of each element of
these areas is 1 meter. The static part on the seabed and the
middle part of the model are divided into elements with 5
meters in length.

POLISH MARITIME RESEARCH, No S2/2017 159

 Tab.3 Wave scatter diagram (Joint probability distribution of irregular wave)

Periods (s)
Probability (%)
<=3 3~4 4~5 5~6 6~7 7~8 8~9 9~10 >10
0~0.5 0.29 1.13 5.35 8.20 1.47 0.12 0.01 0.00 0.00
0.5~1.0 0.05 0.67 7.05 6.61 4.62 1.64 0.30 0.03 0.00
1.0~1.5 0.00 0.02 1.46 8.34 5.05 2.06 0.97 0.37 0.03
1.5~2.0 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.24 7.91 2.21 1.09 0.69 0.16
2.0~2.5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.01 3.72 4.68 0.86 0.56 0.33
Wave 2.5~3.0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.13 4.29 1.67 0.34 0.34
height
3.0~3.5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.91 3.17 0.38 0.20
(m)
3.5~4.0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.05 1.81 1.00 0.23
4.0~4.5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.33 1.38 0.30
4.5~5.0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.81 0.46
5.0~6.0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.17 0.84
>6.0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.86

Tab.4 Regular wave cases for fatigue calculation of umbilical

Wave
Probability
height
13 12.4 14.4
11 1.9 77.1 80.6 2.4
9 33.5 422.9 378.9 23.8
7 522.1 2095.9 1450.6 159.6 7.36
5 137.2 7660.4 10058.3 5165.8 820.1 80.28 27.1 4.2
3 183.9 24073.8 85651 42299.1 18816.5 4176 675.8 348.7 86.5
1 383617 531684 354077 106386 53435.6 18850 4931.0 3681.4 1326
Period 3 5 7 10 12 18 25 30 50

2. Analysis of Local Stress

The steel tube of the innermost layer is squeezed by the
armor wires and adjacent components. The contact pressure
is analyzed by finite element method of the model which is
shown in Fig. 5. The results of the contact stress is shown
in Fig.9. The biggest contact stress is occurred at the points
where the outer steel tubes couple with the inner steel tube.
The value of the contact stress are extracted from the crossover
elements. The result shows that the maximum contact stress is
at the connection area between the outer tube and the center
tube. The value of the contact stress of all steel tube elements
along the circle is shown in Fig. 10.

Fig. 9 Result of contact stress

160 POLISH MARITIME RESEARCH, No S2/2017

 processing of umbilical fatigue life analysis. Each square of
the rectangle represents the occurrence times probability of a
range of alternating stress as shown in Fig. 7. The total times
in Fig 7 is 91%. The relationship between alternating stress
'V and pure bending curvature N can be established as:

'V 2u E u R uN (22)

Fig.10 Contact stress values of the nodes along the tube The alternating stress in Fig. 12 can be equivalent to
pure bending curvature. The fatigue amplitude should be
accelerated for determine the loading of fatigue test. The
The critical curvature where the components begin to slide curvature of 0.03, 0.04, 0.05 and 0.06 were chosen to conduct
can be calculated by Eq. (17). The value of the sliding friction the fatigue test. The probability of occurrence times of each
stress of each unit length can be obtained by Eqs. (18), (19). curvature is 36%, 24%, 16% and 15%. The curvature and
The total stress as the change of curvature can be got by Eqs. damage times of alternating stress based on S-N curve is
(20), (21). In addition, the other two assumptions of the stress shown in Tab. 5.
condition are also considered. In the no-slip assumption,
the stress is equal to the static frictional stress which can be Tab.5 Curvature and damage times of alternating stress
calculated by Eq. (20). In the full- slip assumption, the stress
is obtained based on Eq. (21). The results of the total stress
curvature damage times of
under three conditions are shown in Fig. 11. type
(rad/m) alternating stress

1 0.03 12501524.45

2 0.04 4567487.80

3 0.05 2091666.06

4 0.06 1104989.08

Fig. 11 Results of the total stress

3. Prediction of Fatigue Life

The load case of fatigue at the upper dangerous point
are considered. When the stress considering the no-slip
assumption are inputted, the calculated fatigue life is 1850
years. The service life is 185 years by considering a safety
factor of 10 times. The fatigue life is 250 years by considering
the non-linear stress as input. It is 35% larger than the life Fig. 12 Alternating stress-times probability
calculated under the no-slip assumption. When the stress
considering the full-slip are inputted, the calculated life is
3116 years, which is far larger than the other conditions. Where IL is the loading frequency (which is 0.5 Hz in this
test) and KL is the loading time(hours).
The relationship between accumulated damage ' L and
TEST VERIFICATION loading times QL and total number 1 L can be accessed by
Miner accumulated damage theory, which can be established
Dynamic fatigue test can be conducted by a pure bending as:
fatigue device to qualify an umbilical for its service life. The ni
fatigue test stated in this paper is to qualify the 250 years’ Di (24)
Ni
service life of a dynamic umbilical.
The loading procedure of the fatigue test should be given by The fatigue life of the umbilical is 1850 years. In order to
the global analysis. The relationship of alternating stress and guarantee the service life of 250 years, the load case times
the probability of the actual number can be accessed by post

POLISH MARITIME RESEARCH, No S2/2017 161

 China Sea was presented. The fatigue life of an umbilical is
should get the fatigue damage to ' L =250/1850=0.176. The verified by a pure bending fatigue test. The results show that:
load case of fatigue test is shown in Table 6. 1) The fatigue life of the umbilical by considering
local stress with the no-slip assumption was
conservative. The difference is 35%, which may
cause unnecessary waste for engineer.
2) An obviously longer fatigue life was obtained by
considering local stress with the full-slip assumption,
which has a certain risk.
The more accurate result of the fatigue life was calculated
by considering the non-linear local stress as the inputs. The
conclusion of this paper provides a technical support for
design of and application dynamic umbilical.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Financial support for this research was provided by

the program of NSFC˄51509034˅and the National High
Technology Research and Development Program of
China˄2014AA09A224˅. Their supports are gratefully
appreciated.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Hoffman J: Dupont W, Reynolds B. A fatigue-life prediction

Fig. 13 Broken-out section view of umbilical after test model for metallic tube umbilicals. Proceeding of Offshore
Technology Conference, Houston, 2001.
In order to check the fatigue damage of the body and each
element of the umbilical, a dissection was conducted to the 2. de Sousa J R M, de Sousa F J M, de Siqueira M Q, et al: A
umbilical after the test which is shown in Fig. 13. There was theoretical approach to predict the fatigue life of flexible
wear between the armor wires and no damage happens. A pipes. Journal of Applied Mathematics, (2012), 2012, p.1-29.
hydrostatic pressure test was conducted to the steel tube
with a 2 Mpa inner pressure. No decompression or leakage 3. Song L J, Fu S X, Chen X Q: Deepwater umbilical overall
occurs during the test, which indicates there was no damage response characteristic comparison research. Journal of
of the steel tubes. Vibration and Shock (China), 33(1), 2014, p.119-124.

4. Skeie G, Sodahl N, Steinkjer O: Efficient fatigue analysis

CONCLUSION of helix elements in umbilicals and flexible risers: Theory
and applications. Journal of Applied Mathematics, (2012),
The fatigue life of umbilicals is investigated in this paper. 2012, p.1-22.
A prediction model of the fatigue life is presented. Non-linear
stress due to contact and friction between components of 5. Knapp R H: Structural analysis of composite umbilical
umbilicals is considered during the local analysis in this cables. International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers,
method. A numerical model was established by Orcaflex Lisbon, 2007, p.3487-3491.
software based on Miner accumulated damage theory. A case
study of a dynamic umbilical for 1500 meters depth in South
Tab. 6 Load case of fatigue test

type curvature frequency time test times damage times of fatigue

(rad/m) (Hz) (hours) alternating stress damage
1 0.03 0.5 96 172800 12501524 0.014
2 0.04 0.5 75 135000 4567487 0.030
3 0.05 0.5 52 93600 2091666 0.045
4 0.06 0.5 50 90000 1104989 0.081

162 POLISH MARITIME RESEARCH, No S2/2017

6. Sævik S: Theoretical and experimental studies of stresses CONTACT WITH THE AUTHOR
in flexible pipes. Computers & Structures, 89(23), 2011, p.
2273-2291. Lu Qingzhen

7. Sævik S: Comparision between theoretical and experiment e-mail: luqingzhen@dlut.edu.cn

flexible pipe bending stresses. International Conference
on Ocean, Offshore Mechanics and Artic Engineering, School of Ocean Science and Technology
Shanghai, June 6 to11, 2010. Dalian University of Tech
Dalian, Liaoning
8. Wang H H, Ekeberg K I: Internal friction effects on fatigue
life of steel tube umbilical. The 24th International Ocean and 124221 CHINA
Polar Engineering Conference. Busan, June 15 to 20, 2014.

9. Parsinejad F, Kassner C, Kurtz M, et al: Friction, contact

pressure, and nonlinear behavior of steel tubes in subsea
umbilicals. Journal of energy resources technology, 137(3),
2015, p.032906-032913.

10. Probye I, Dobsom A: Michael Martinez. Advances in 3D

FEA techniques for metallic tube umbilicals. International
Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers, Lisbon, 2007,
p.848-854.

11. Le Corre V, Probyn I: Validation of a 3-Dimensionalfinite

element analysis model of deep water steel tube umbilical in
combined tension and cyclic bending. The 28th International
Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering.
Hawaii, May 31 to June 11, 2009, p.77-86.

12. Li Q Q, Yang H Z: Static Analysis of the Tubes Interaction

in Deep-sea Umbilicals. Journal of China Offshore Platform
(China), (6), 2011 p.28-32.

13. API RP 2A: Recommended practice for planning, design,

and constructing fixed offshore structures.1991.

14. DNV. Rules for the design, construction, and inspection of

fixed offshore structures.

15. ISO 13628-5: Petroleum and natural gas industries-Design

and operation of subsea production systems-Part 5: Subsea
Umbilicals.2009.

16. Orcina Ltd: Orcaflex Manual,Version 9.4a,2010.

17. Longuet-Higgins M S: On the joint distribution of wave

periods and amplitudes in a random wave field. Proceedings
Royal Society London, Mathematical and Physical
Sciences.389, 1983, p.241-258.

18. Api, R. P. (2008). 17B. Recommended practice for flexible

pipe, 4.

POLISH MARITIME RESEARCH, No S2/2017 163