Offshore Structures – Loads

Contents
 Gravity Loads.
 Environmental Loads.
 Accidental Loads (Fire, Blast).
 Inertia Loads.
 Vessel Deflection Induced Loads.

NPTEL Course Dr. S. Nallayarasu

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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36

Offshore Structures – Loads

Types of Loads
 Gravity Loads
 Structural Dead Loads
 Facility Dead Loads
 Fluid Loads
 Live Loads
 Environmental Loads
 Wind Loads
 Wave Loads (Indirectly on Vessel)
 Current Loads (Indirectly on vessel)
 Inertia Loads
 Blast Loads
 Deflection Induced Loads
 Fatigue Loads
 Seismic Loads (only for fixed structures)

NPTEL Course Dr. S. Nallayarasu

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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36

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Offshore Structures – Loads
Gravity Loads
 Dead Loads
 Dead loads includes the all the fixed items in the
structures. It includes all primary steel structural
members, secondary structural items etc.
 Facility Loads
The equipment and facilities includes the following.
 Mechanical equipment
 Electrical equipment
 Piping connecting each equipment
 Electrical Cable trays
 Instrumentation items

NPTEL Course Dr. S. Nallayarasu

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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36

Offshore Structures – Loads

Live loads

Live loads are defined as movable loads and will be temporary in

nature. This load vary in nature from owner to owner but a general
guideline on the magnitude of the loads is given below.

S.No. Location Load (kN/m2)

1 Storage / laydown 20
2 Walkway 5
3 Access Platform 5
4 Galley 10

NPTEL Course Dr. S. Nallayarasu

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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36

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Offshore Structures – Loads
Environmental Loads
 Wind Loads
Wind Loads act on super structure whether it is a FPSO or
fixed structure.
 Wave and Current Loads
Wave and current loads act on the structure directly for fixed
offshore platforms where as for the FPSO and floating
structures, it act on the hull and induces motion of the
floating structure. Due to the motion of the structure, the
inertia forces on the FPSO topsides shall be evaluated.
 Seismic Loads
Seismic loads are only applicable for fixed structures and is
due to seismic acceleration and its structure mass

NPTEL Course Dr. S. Nallayarasu

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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36

Offshore Structures – Loads

Extreme and Operating Condition
 Operating Condition
Operating Condition a set of environmental load scenario
associated with the normal operation of the facility and it
can be a fixed or floating structure. This is associated
with a load condition that may occur more often or the
occurrence interval is small. i.e. 1 year or 10 year
 Extreme Condition
Extreme Condition a set of environmental load scenario
associated with the shut down of the facility for a fixed
structure or a survival case for a floating structure. In
case of floating structure it may change its draft or
towed away to a safer location. This is associated with a
load condition which occur very rarely or with a large
occurrence interval. i.e. 100 year or 200 year

NPTEL Course Dr. S. Nallayarasu

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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36

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Offshore Structures – Loads

Variation of Mean wind speed with height

NPTEL Course Dr. S. Nallayarasu

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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36

Offshore Structures – Loads

Wind Loads
Wind profiles and Gusts.

V  u (t )
U(t) (turbulence)

V (meanwind )

Time

NPTEL Course Dr. S. Nallayarasu

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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36 8

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Offshore Structures – Loads
RESPONSE TO WIND GUSTING

Quasi-static response Dynamic response to

to wind gusting
wind gusting
Response

Response
Due to turbulent gusts Due to turbulent gusts

Due to mean wind

Due to mean wind

Time
Time
(a) Short period structures (b) Long period Structures

NPTEL Course Dr. S. Nallayarasu

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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36 9

Offshore Structures – Loads

Wind Gust and Profile
For strong wind conditions the design wind speed u (z,t) (ft/s) at
height z (ft) above sea level and corresponding to an averaging
time period t(s) [where t≤t0;t0=3600 sec] is given by:
  t 
u ( z , t )  U ( z )  1  0 .4 1  I u ( z )  l n   
  t0  
Where the 1 hour mean wind speed U(z) (ft/s) at level z(ft) is
given by:
  z 
U ( z )  U 0  1  C  ln  
  32.8  
C  5.73  102  1  0.0457  U 0 
1
2

And the turbulence intensity Iu(z) at level z is given by:

0.22
 z 
I u ( z )  0.06  1  0.0131 U o    
 32.8 
Where Uo (ft/s) is the 1 hour mean wind speed at 32.8 ft.
NPTEL Course Dr. S. Nallayarasu
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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36 10

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Offshore Structures – Loads
Wind averaging period
In applying design wind load on to the offshore structures,
the averaging time period plays a major role. Following
averaging periods are normally used

 1 hour average
 30 minute average
 10 minute average
 1 minute average
 15 sec gust
 5 sec gust
 3 sec gust

Depending on the type of structure, any one of the above

will be applied.

NPTEL Course Dr. S. Nallayarasu

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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36 11

Offshore Structures – Loads

Typical Calculation
All units shall be in ft and sec and the specified wind at 32.8m from MSL, one hour average

zo  32.8 Uo  26 to  3600

2
C  5.73 10  1  0.0457U
 o

U( z)  Uo   1  C ln 
z

  zo  
 0.22
  o    
z
Iu ( z)  0.06 1  0.0131U
 
zo

U( zt)  U( z)   1  0.41 Iu ( z)  ln 

t
to  
  

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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36 12

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Offshore Structures – Loads
Variation with averaging period
Wind Speed at 150 ft, 3 sec gust U( 1503)  34.3

Wind Speed at 150 ft, 5 sec gust U( 1505)  33.9

Wind Speed at 150 ft, 15 min ave U( 15090)  31.9

Wind Speed at 150 ft, 30 min ave U( 150180)  31.4

Variation with Height

Wind Speed at 50 ft, 3 sec gust U( 503)  32.7

Wind Speed at 100 ft, 3 sec gust U( 1003)  33.7

Wind Speed at 150 ft, 3 min ave U( 1503)  34.3

Wind Speed at 200 ft, 3 min ave U( 2003)  34.7

NPTEL Course Dr. S. Nallayarasu

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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36 13

Offshore Structures – Loads

Wind averaging period
Structure Wind Speed Load Dynamic

Smaller elements in Static or

structure 3 sec gust dynamic

Structures smaller than

50m 5 sec gust Dynamic

Structures larger than Total Static

50m 15 sec gust Load

Large Super Structure 1 minute Dynamically

(Deck) Sustained sensitive

Total Static Dynamically

Substructure (jacket) 1 hour sustained Load insensitive

NPTEL Course Dr. S. Nallayarasu

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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36 14

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Offshore Structures – Loads

 Wind Pressure

 The wind pressure can be calculated as

g
fw  V2
2

f w  0.6V 2 N/m 2

NPTEL Course Dr. S. Nallayarasu

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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36

Offshore Structures – Loads

 The total force on the platform can be calculated as

Fx  f w AxC s
Fy  f w AyC s

NPTEL Course Dr. S. Nallayarasu

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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36

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Offshore Structures – Loads
 Wind load on oblique directions can be calculated using
following relationship.

F  Fx cos( )  Fy sin( )
 The projected areas can be calculated as A1 = Ax cos(θ)
and A2 = Ay sin (θ)

F  f w ( A1  A2 )
F  f w ( Ax cos( )  Ay sin( ))
Fx  f w ( Ax cos( )  Ay sin( )) cos( )
Fy  f w ( Ax cos( )  Ay sin( )) sin( )
NPTEL Course Dr. S. Nallayarasu
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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36

Offshore Structures – Loads

Where Fθx and Fθy are the components of Fe in x and y directions

respectively. Ratio between Fθx and Fx can be expressed as

Fx f w ( Ax cos( )  Ay sin( ) cos( )


Fx f w Ax
Fx
 cos 2 ( )  ( Ay / Ax ) sin( ) cos( )
Fx

NPTEL Course Dr. S. Nallayarasu

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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36

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Offshore Structures – Loads
Similarly, ratio between Fθy and Fy can be expressed as

Fy f w ( Ax cos( )  Ay sin( ) sin( )


Fy f w Ay
Fy
 sin 2 ( )  ( Ax / Ay ) sin( ) cos( )
Fy

NPTEL Course Dr. S. Nallayarasu

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Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras-36

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