Working together

for a safer world

Issue 1 | 2014

Technology
Insight

Article

01
A new and safe way
to detect forces on
riser tensioners
Article

02
The next generation
risk analysis tool
Article

03
Making waves
without water
Lloyds Register Energy | Technology Insight

Introduction

Welcome to the first issue of the

Lloyds Register Energy Technology Insight.
Understanding the impact which technology and innovation can
have on any industry is fundamental for the continued growth and
development of the global economy in which we all operate.

The energy industry is no different, and over recent years we have

seen huge advancements in engineering and technical innovations
which are helping the industry become safer, more efficient and
productive addressing the worlds increasing demand for energy.

Lloyds Register Energy is committed to working with industry in

addressing some of the most complex and challenging demands
which we see the energy industry face.

Through the technical expertise and knowledge our teams have

we are able to apply this intelligence to respond to industry critical
issues which our clients present us with.

Working closely with our clients and some of the worlds leading
academic institutions we are helping the industry to respond to
challenges and opportunities which they face.

This paper highlights some of the work which we are doing

in Technology leadership for the industry. I hope you find
the articles of interest and please do reach out to any of the
contributors for more detail.

Working together
for a safer world
We believe that what we
Dr Claus Myllerup do today and how we do it,
Senior Vice President Technology affects our reputation and
Lloyds Register Energy our clients future integrity.
Weve changed to improve
Email everything we do. We are
claus.myllerup@lr.org Lloyds Register Energy.

Contact
T: +44 (0)20 7423 2475
E: energy@lr.org
W: www.lr.org/energy
Lloyds Register Energy | Technology Insight

Related links
www.lr.org/drilling
www.lr.org/singaporegtc

01 A new and safe Email

chris.tolleson@lr.org

way to detect forces

on riser tensioners
Marine Riser Tensioner Systems (MRTs) are a major component
of off-shore drilling platforms. The drill string is threaded down
the center of a larger diameter pipe called the riser. The riser is
connected to the well head on the sea bed at its bottom and to
the drilling platform at its top. The function of a MRT is to maintain
an upward tension on the riser while making adjustments for the
movements of the drilling platform.

As the drilling platform moves up and down with the waves,

the riser tensioner system compensates for this movement so
that the riser pipe does not buckle with downward movement
or pull apart with upward movement.

In some ways it is similar to automotive shock
absorbers. The difference is that in addition to
hydraulic cylinder rods, MRTs are composed of
sheave bearings and wire ropes and they are not
just passive; the tension they exert can be adjusted
by changing the amount of fluid in the
hydraulic cylinders.
Failures in MRTs can result in costly downtime and
lost production. Traditional monitoring systems
are often unable to detect wide variations in total
system load that can be indicative of trouble ahead.
Transocean, a major world-wide drilling contractor,
worked together Lloyds Register Energy and
Micron Optics to pioneer work in the application of
optical sensors to MRT monitoring which added a
new dimension to the information at Transoceans
disposal which was previously unavailable with
traditional systems based on pressure transducers.
The solution contributed to a better understanding
of current operations, improved foresight, and a
higher level of confidence in their operations.
The key problem is friction, and it is undetectable
by traditional pressure transducer monitoring.
As friction acts on system components, such as
hydraulic cylinder rods, end connections, sheave
bearings, and wire ropes, additional load is
transmitted through the cylinder structure and can
cause damage to the components. However, this
additional load does not affect cylinder hydraulic
pressure, the only variable measureable by most
current monitoring systems. Consequently, wide
variations in load that can be indicative of incipient
problems go undetected. People charged with
monitoring these systems are forced to work
partially blind. Issues with MRTs can result in lengthy
downtime and this could be avoided if additional
stress data was available.
The seed of an idea was planted when
LloydsRegister arranged a presentation of the
capabilities of fibre optic strain gauges for a Lunch
and Learn at Transocean. Not long after, a senior
design engineer at Transocean came up with the
concept to apply optical strain gauges for load

01
 Lloyds Register Energy | Technology Insight

position. The cylinders were returned to the rig and

installed on the drilling platform and now the fibre optic
sensor system is able to monitor individual cylinder
axial and bending loads.

Transocean is using the system to establish accurate,

empirical baselines for normal tension variation, and
this gives them the means for detecting problems in
the making or simply knowing when service or exchange
is called for. The data is logged into a safe local system
Acquisition rate is 10 Hz
X Axis represents approximately 2.41 minutes of data and can be transmitted for offshore analysis. Historical
Y Axis = Strain data can serve as a basis for comparative and
Waveforms confirm a swell period of ~ 12.5 seconds long-term analysis.
correlating to ships weather
Maybe more importantly, this new method of
monitoring forces can reduce risk by providing an early
measurement on N-line tensioners. He developed the warning of problems which cause unplanned stresses on
algorithms to extract bending and tension from the the tensioners. This experience begs the question:
strain measurements and attended the installation and What other systems which experience strain and
commissioning of the system. friction would benefit from the additional dimension
of knowledge that fibre optic strain gauge and data
Lloyds Register Energy helped to identify and procure acquisition systems provide?
the hardware and software from Micron Optics. They
identified fibre optic strain sensors along with a sensor
data acquisition system that would meet the following
constraints:
1. Cannot violate the OEM warranty by interfering with
the pressure transducer equipment;
2. Must be free of any source of ignition due to the
presence of hydrocarbons; and
3. Must be maintenance free due to the accessibility
limitations.

Fibre optic strain sensors could be applied independent

Chris Tolleson is the System and Controls Lead Specialist
of the pressure transducers. Unlike electrical gages,
in the Subsea, Drilling & Well Control Equipment team/
they use light waves as the sensing element and as such
group for Lloyds Register Global Technology Centre
do not pose a threat in the presence of gas and other
(GTC), in Singapore. He participated as a lead software
volatile substances. The particular fibre optic equipment
and electronics investigator for the Deepwater Horizon
the Lloyds Register Energy team selected can operate
Macondo incident in the Gulf of Mexico and as a liaison
for up to twenty years without requiring maintenance or
to the U.S.A Department of Justice during the
calibration and automatically compensate for the effects
investigation. Chris has over 20 years of experience
of temperature change.
with software and hardware systems. Chris is the co-
author of a patent for a rules-based, heuristic control
The sensors were attached to selected riser tensioner
system for drilling entitled Intelligent Drilling Control.
cylinders just after the cylinders had been remanufactured
Before joining Lloyds Register he worked as a test
at the factory. Under Transoceans guidance, three
engineer for Motorola Inc, and as a semiconductor-
sensors were placed at intervals along the axis of the riser
manufacturing computer integrated manufacturing
tensioner to measure lateral strain and one was placed
consultant for Coopers and Lybrand. He has over fifteen
perpendicular to measure strain in the circumference.
years of software and hardware consulting experience
There at the factory, the cylinders were laid out
with clients such as Agilent, Intel, BP.
horizontally, and as part of acceptance testing, the rod
was fully extended creating a cantilevered condition. The
newly installed fibre optic sensors were able to detect
the resulting distribution of stress on the cylinder in that

The capabilities to accurately measure the forces along the

cylinder are particularly important as a new revision of the API 16Q will
soon be released. This will include an option to use empirical data for
the determination of the riser tension reduction factor, R(f). In the past,
assumed values have been used in this determination. Under the new
standards, R(f) can be calculated based on measured data data that
is not currently available in most situations.

02
Lloyds Register Energy | Technology Insight

Related links
www.lr.org/consulting
www.lr.org/singaporegtc

02 The next Email

ingar.fossan@lr.org

generation risk
analysis tool
Places like an offshore platform or a petroleum processing
plant are known to have inherent risks that have to be managed
to protect the safety of life, property and the environment.
The expanding capability of information processing and software
modelling has opened the window on seeing exactly what causes
the risk and where the risk is greatest, and therefore where
to make improvements to mitigate those risks.

The complexity of both the statistical models (the probability

that an event will occur at a certain location) and the physical
phenomena models (e.g. the way gas flows around objects and
accumulates to flammable clouds) has increased in recent years.

This has increased the precision of the Quantitative
Risk Analysis (QRA) and thus enhanced the ability to
take the right risk-based decisions. The drawback
is that the complexity and the volume of data is
overwhelming to anyone other than risk analysis
experts. The challenge then is how to translate the
information into a usable format for the people
who need to use it the engineers and managers
responsible for safety.
If a picture is worth a thousand words then
a 3Dpicture might just be able to convey the
information contained in a few hundred thousand
data points. A team at Lloyds Register Energy has
developed a method for calculating a 3D risk picture
based on 3D simulations of accidental events. The
3D image is created from a Software model, called
Explore. This model takes into account, for example,
the probability of a leak at joints and valves along
a gas line. In a facility with thousands of meters
of pipe the special leak frequency distribution is in
itself a great deal of data. But Explore goes further
and for each identified leak location it can provide
an image of gas dispersion, ignition, explosions and
fires in three dimensions. Explore is based on the
basic principles for estimation of isorisk contours,
but also allows for estimation of risk at any point for
given moments in time for any number of possible
accident scenarios.
To give an idea of how the Explore model would
help the safety engineer achieving safer design and
operation, take a specific valve where a gas leak
could occur. The model accounts for prevailing winds
and the shapes of nearby structures and shows that
there is a high probability the gas will migrate up
into the air intake of an electrical substation at some
distance away. This scenario might not be obvious
upon visual inspection of the site because of the
complexity of the flow regime in a release scenario
caused by the turbulence generated from interaction
with the geometrical obstacles (e.g. equipment and
structures) in the area. However, with the 3Dimage
from the model, the safety engineers can easily
evaluate the likelihood of gas being funnelled to
the location of the air intake. This indicates the
potential for a more serious incident namely if the
gas comes in contact with any potential live ignition
source (e.g. spark generated by a switch) inside
the electrical controls station.

03
 Lloyds Register Energy | Technology Insight
Figure 1: The strength of the risk presentation in terms
of Exposure to combustible gas at different heights.
They can reduce this risk by refitting the vents with a
gas detection and auto-shut system that will prevent the
gas from entering the control room if the likelihood of
the gas exposure is considered unacceptable. Figure1
demonstrates the strength of the risk presentation in
terms of Exposure to combustible gas at different heights.
Other risk factors that Explore can depict are individual
risk due to accidental risk factors such as pressure,
heat, smoke and toxic compounds that may cause
unacceptable exposure to equipment, structures and/
or personnel as well as impairment of escape ways
and/or means of evacuation. Furthermore the Explore
model can be used to manage risk related simultaneous
operations through detailed assessment of the specific
personnel distribution in the area, operational conditions
and weather conditions when the operations are carried
out. The capability of Explore has been demonstrated in
several client projects. An on-going internal R&D project
ensures that captured ideas for enhanced model features
are being incorporated.
Figure 2: The individual risk (FAR value) is
greater for personnel inside the red building
than for personnel outside the building.
Figure 2 shows that the individual risk (FAR value) is
greater for personnel inside the red building than for
personnel outside the building due to explosion blast
waves causing structural collapse of the building. Explore
can be considered both a methodology and model.
The building pieces of Explore are the same for classic
risk analysis of combustible/toxic material leaks, but
what is unique about Explore is that it aims at a more
comprehensive modelling of the changing behaviour of
the accidental scenario over time as both the behaviour
of the leak and the response of the safety systems
(e.g. gas detection, ignition control, ESD) are transient.
04
Explore visualisation is based on the post-processor in
Kameleon FireEx KFX (3D CFD simulation tool
provided by ComputIT).
The risk complexity of a large offshore production unit
or large scale land-based facility, can now more easily
be understood through the application of Explore, as it
brings increased efficiency when exploring results and
identifying risk reducing measures. Problems that may
have taken many hours to tease out of the data are
now readily apparent in the 3D timeline of images. This
gives safety engineers and managers at the facilities the
ability to quickly target and mitigate the risks and keep
people safer.
What is an isorisk contour?
Points along a line with equal frequency of occurrence of
a risk parameter (e.g. accidental load or fatal exposure to
personnel). The isorisk contour map show varying levels of
risk similar to the way a geographic contour map shows
the varying height of the land formations.
What does FAR value mean?
Fatal Accidental Rate = Number of fatalities
per 108 hours.
Ingar Fossan M.Sc. has more than 15 years experience
from execution of safety analysis for offshore installations
and land based facilities. Ingar has been the project leader
for numerous quantitative risk assessments, and has
thorough knowledge of the risk analysis work process;
i.e. from facilitation of hazard identification workshops
to detailed modelling of accident frequencies,
consequences and reliability. His main field of work has
been modelling of fire and explosion risk, and he has
had a key role in development of many of the in-house
quantitative risk tools applied by Lloyds Register. Ingar
has long and various experience from performance of
numerous flow analysis of fire and explosion loads,
gas dispersion and ventilation conditions by use of the
advanced CFD-tools FLACS and Kameleon FireEx. He
headed the establishment and development of the
LRConsulting office in Trondheim in the period 2005
until 2009. In the period after that he has been focusing
on development of probabilistic methods and held the
position as R&D Manager in LRConsulting before moving
in 2012 to the Lloyds Register Global Technology Centre
in Singapore where he currently heads the R&D activities
related to risk management.
Lloyds Register Energy | Technology Insight
03 Making waves
without water
Over the past few years, the devastating forces that extreme
oceanic storms can wield have been evident as images of the
aftermath of hurricanes and tsunamis circulate in the media.
These forces are an important consideration in the design of
offshore fixed platforms and in reassessment of existing fixed
platforms to extend their life. One of the key questions is how
high should a fixed platform be above the oceans surface to
avoid getting hit by these extreme waves a distance
known as air gap.
If the deck level is not set at a sufficiently high
level, then large waves may engulf the topsides
and this increases substantially the risk of structural
collapse. Increasing the platforms height is costly,
so what is the optimum the height? The answer
to this question is what a group of researchers are
seeking, and they are doing it by making waves
without water.
The project is called Wave in Deck. It is a
collaborative effort of the Lloyds Register Global
Technology Centre (GTC), and the Institute for High
Performance Computing (IHPC). It is taking place in
the Joint Lab of the GTC and IHPC on the 17thfloor
of the Fusionopolis building in Singapore where
instead of using a physical water basin to study
the effects of 10,000-year storm waves, simulations
are created on the computer. They are using
advanced Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
simulations to create unique wave conditions and
calculate the forces of these numerical waves on a
virtual platform.
The use of CFD simulations is not new. The first
instance was on an ENIAC computer in the 1950s.
Since then, CFD software has been used to simulate
regular waves such as 5th order Stokes waves. This
team, however, is using Open FOAM an open
source CFD software to generate irregular waves.
For example, they are creating an extreme wave
05
Related links
www.lr.org/consulting
www.lr.org/singaporegtc
Email
johan.gullman-strand@lr.org
that could come up at a specific time and specific
position in front of the fixed platform. When the
wave crest is higher than the crest the offshore
structure has been designed for, the wave crest
impacts the deck of the structure. The wave-in-
deck loads consist of: horizontal wave loads, wave
uplift loads and wave downward loads. CFD tools
can provide the full scale simulation with potential
for accurate prediction of wave in deck loadings.
Platform design engineers could utilize the data
from this research in the design of fixed platform
structural shapes and interfaces.
This research is not only important for new builds,
but it is needed for the reassessment and life
extension of existing fixed platforms due to two
phenomena: seabed subsidence and the rise in sea
level due to global warming. Geological subsidence
is the downward shift of the earths surface and, in
the case of off shore drilling platforms, it is caused
by the extraction of gas and oil. Off the coast of
the Netherlands, gas field extractions initiated in
the late 1960s have resulted in a 30 cm drop over a
250km2 area. Recent studies have shown that while
there was an average rise in sea level of 1.7mm per
year since 1950, that rate has increased to 3.3mm
per since 2009 and the rate of sea level rise is
projected to continue increase. Considering sea level
rise alone, platforms build in 1960 could be about
1m closer to sea level by 2020.
 Lloyds Register Energy | Technology Insight
In the article Sea-Level Rise and its Impact on Coastal
Zones, the authors state that Since the early 1990s Sea
Level Rise (SLR) has been routinely measured by high-
precision altimeter satellites and this data shows that
from 1993 to 2009 the mean rate of SLR has been 3.3
mm/year. Tide gauge measurements available since the
late 19th century indicate that sea level has risen by an
average of 1.7mm/year since 1950.
Sea-Level Rise and Its Impact on Coastal Zones; Robert J.
Nicholls, Anny Cazenave; Science 18June2010: Vol. 328
no. 5985 pp. 1517-1520 DOI: 10.1126/science.1185782
Johan Gullman-Strand is currently heading the
Computational Methods team in the Lloyds Register
Global Technology Centre (GTC) in Singapore. The team
executes large scale simulations of fluid flow, structures
and processes for all areas of the Lloyds Register Energy
business. Research and development both internally and
with academic and industry partners within the fields of
oil & gas, renewables (wind and tidal), high performance
computing and hydrodynamics. He is the academic
engagement coordinator for the centre both for local
universities as well as global research collaborations
within GTC projects.
06
CFD studies are ideal because compared to obtaining
data by putting sensors on actual platforms, they are less
expensive and involve no risk of injury. It is impossible to
change the direction of a wave in the real world, but it
can be done programmatically using CFD.
An alternative to CFD, studies are done by creating waves
in a wave basin using scaled down models of a platform
shape. One of the reasons this team was assembled
in Singapore is that there is not currently a wave basin
available in this region. In fact, an extension of this
project will be to use the knowledge gained from the CFD
studies to help design a state-of-the-art wave basin.
The GTC is in support of a project by the Singaporean
government to build a wave basin and offshore test
facility. It will be the first of its kind in the region and it
will be significant resource for many types of marine and
offshore research and in using it, the researches may
actually have a chance of getting wet.
Sea Level Rise Calculations (optional to include): 1960
2009 = 49 years X 1.7 mm/yr = 83.3 mm
2010 2020 = 10 years x 3.3 mm/yr = 33.0 mm
Total: =116.3 mm
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), which uses
numerical methods and algorithms to analyse problems
involving fluid, has been performed on computers since
the ENIAC in the 1950s.
As computing power increases, the ability to simulate
the interaction of liquids with surfaces improves. Today,
sophisticated calculations can be processed quickly, with
simulated animations to show the movement of waves
and how the varying degrees of forces are distributed
across the surfaces.
Johan also serves as the office manager for the JointLab
together with ASTAR Institute for High Performance
Computing. Previously, working in LloydsRegisterODS,
Johan developed extensive experience in process flows,
turbulence and fluid-structure interaction analysis.
Advanced description of mulitiphase fluids
and multicomponent fluids were also part of the
key qualifications.
Fluid-structure interaction, advanced turbulence models,
root cause analysis, code development and customer
relations were an active part of his assignments within
Lloyds Register ODS. He joined the company in 2005
after completing a Ph.D. in fluid mechanics at KTH in
Stockholm, Sweden. Johan has worked on numerous
projects involving fluid-structure interaction, advanced
turbulence modelling and root cause analyses. He
achieved Senior Consultant status in October 2008 and
has since worked as project manager on several projects.
Specialties include: process flows, turbulence, fluid-
structure interaction analysis, Fluid-structure interaction,
advanced turbulence models, root cause analysis, code
development, customer relations.