PETROLEUM EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Volume 43, Issue 4, August 2016

Online English edition of the Chinese language journal

Cite this article as: PETROL. EXPLOR. DEVELOP., 2016, 43(4): 701–707. RESEARCH PAPER

Drift-off warning limits for deepwater drilling platform/riser

coupling system
LIU Xiuquan, CHEN Guoming*, CHANG Yuanjiang, JI Jingqi, FU Jingjie, SONG Qiang
Centre for Offshore Engineering and Safety Technology, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao 266580, China

Abstract: The drift-off dynamic model of deepwater drilling platform and riser coupling system was established. An analysis method on
drift-off warning limits of deepwater drilling platform and riser coupling system was proposed, and a deepwater drilling platform/riser
system was taken for case study. The analysis model of deepwater riser, wellhead and conductor coupling system and the drift-off dy-
namic model of platform were established respectively. The drift-off dynamic solver of deepwater platform was developed. The coupling
dynamic characteristics and coupling effect of the deepwater drilling platform and riser system were analyzed in combination with exam-
ple, and the analysis method for drift-off warning limits was described. The results show that: the riser load acting on platform plays a
driving role in the platform drift-off in the initial drift-off stage, and begins to inhibit the platform drift-off gradually as the drift-off dis-
placement increases; During the platform drift-off, the transient response speed of upper riser parameters is high, while the transient re-
sponse of lower riser parameters presents an obvious hysteresis effect; As the current speed increases or water depth decreases, the
drift-off warning limits of deepwater drilling platform/riser coupling system decrease and the deepwater drilling riser should be discon-
nected earlier.

Key words: deepwater drilling; drilling platform; riser; drift-off dynamic model; drift-off warning limits

Introduction limits. The dynamic characteristics of deepwater drilling riser

Mooring and dynamic positioning (DP) system are often
used to keep deepwater floating platform in position. DP sys-
tem is widely employed in deepwater and ultra-deepwater
drilling platform due to its convenient positioning and good
mobility. In the normal drilling process, the deepwater drilling
platform is kept near the subsea wellhead in the horizontal
direction under the action of DP system to maintain the struc-
tural integrity of riser system and ensure the success of deep-
water drilling. However, DP system may fail, and then plat-
form will drift off from the subsea wellhead under the influ-
ence of marine environment loads; in the process, the platform
would pull the top of riser away from the subsea wellhead
during, so the lower marine riser package (LMRP) needs to be
disconnected timely before the drift-off displacement is too
large, to avoid serious accidents, such as riser broken, subsea
wellhead damage, BOP damage and even well blowout[14].
Therefore, it is very important to establish drift-off warning
limits for deepwater drilling platform/riser coupling system.
Dynamic analysis of deepwater drilling platform/riser cou-
pling system is the basis of the calculation of drift-off warning
system have been widely studied, but in these studies, the
platform was taken as static or dynamic top boundary of
drilling riser, and the coupling effect between riser and plat-
form was not considered[57]. Besides, the connected envelope,
hang-off window and installation window of deepwater drill-
ing riser system have been established while the drift-off
warning limits of riser system have not been established spe-
cific to platform/riser coupling system[810]. Based on the pre-
vious study, the drift-off dynamic model of deepwater drilling
platform/riser coupling system is established in this paper. An
analysis method on drift-off warning limits of deepwater
drilling platform/riser coupling system is proposed. The dy-
namic characteristics of platform/riser system and the cou-
pling law between deepwater platform and riser are studied.
And the drift-off warning limits for deepwater drilling plat-
form/riser coupling system are determined.
1. Drift-off dynamic model of deepwater drilling
platform/riser coupling system
Fig. 1 shows the deepwater drilling platform/riser coupling

Received date: 08 Dec. 2015; Revised date: 04 May 2016.

* Corresponding author. E-mail: offshore@126.com
Foundation item: Supported by the National Key Basic Research and Development Program (973 Program), China (2015CB251203); Program for Changjiang
Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT14R58); Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2014EL018) and China Postdoctoral
Science Foundation (2015M570621).
Copyright © 2016, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, PetroChina. Published by Elsevier BV. All rights reserved.
 LIU Xiuquan et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2016, 43(4): 701–707
Fig. 1. Deepwater drilling platform/riser coupling system.
system during deepwater drilling. The top end of riser is
hanged on drilling platform via tensioner and upper flex joint
(UFJ), and the bottom end of riser is connected to blowout
preventer (BOP), subsea wellhead and conductor via LMRP.
The deepwater drilling platform, tensioner, riser, LMRP, BOP,
wellhead and conductor form a complete deepwater drilling
system[11]. During the normal drilling operation, the deepwater
platform suffers ocean environment loads such as wind, wave
and current, while riser system suffers wave, current loads and
soil resistance. Besides, the deepwater platform and riser also
interact on each other. For example, the deepwater platform
drifts off under the influence of loads of wind, wave and cur-
rent when the DP system fails. The platform will pull the top
of riser system away from subsea wellhead in the horizontal
direction during the drift-off, and the dynamic characteristics
of deepwater drilling riser system will change. In return, the
riser system will produce a driving force or restoring force to
change the drift-off motion of the platform. Thus, the load of
deepwater platform/riser system is complex, the dynamic
analysis model for the drift-off of deepwater platform and
riser should be established respectively to analyze the cou-
pling mechanics of the platform/riser system iteratively.
1.1. Dynamic analysis model of deepwater drilling riser
system
As shown in Fig. 1, the deepwater drilling riser/wellhead/
conductor system is under the combined loads of wave, cur-
rent and soil resistance. The dynamic analysis differential
equation of the system is given as[1213]:
2  2x    x 
F  z, t   2  E I r  z  2   Tr  z   
z  z  z  z 
2x
Mr  z
t 2
The marine environment load per unit length on the riser
above the mudline is written as:
π π
Fsea  z , t    CM Dh 2u w    CM  1 Dh 2 x 
4 4
1
 Dh CD  uw  uc  x  uw  uc  x (2)
2
The soil resistance force per unit length on the conductor
under the mudline is expressed as[14]:
Fsoil  z , x   p  z, x  Dc  z  (3)
Besides, the top of riser is under the influence of platform
drift-off, and the specific drift-off motion can be calculated
based on the drift-off dynamic model of deepwater platform.
1.2. Drift-off dynamic model of deepwater drilling platform
The drift-off analysis model of platform has close relation-
ship with its local coordinates and motion state. The global
reference frame and body-fixed reference frame are estab-
lished respectively in order to describe the motion state of
platform accurately, as shown in Fig. 2. XOY is the global
reference frame, and XbObYb is the body-fixed reference frame.
The angle between the global and body-fixed reference frames
is denoted by ψ. The relationship between the global reference
frame and body-fixed reference frame is given by:
cos  sin 0  u 
  R   v   sin cos 0   v 
 (4)
 0 0 1   r 
where    y1 y2  
T
The deepwater drilling platform vibrates in six degrees of
freedom but does not drift off under the first order wave force.
The deepwater platform drifts off in surge, sway and yaw
under the loads of wind, current and second order wave force.
The nonlinear body-fixed equation of drift-off motion is writ-
ten as[1516]:
Mv  C RBv  τ curr  τ wind  τ wave  τ thruster  τ riser (5)
The mass matrix of platform in equation (5), including its
own mass and added mass due to its motion, is defined as:
m  X u 0 0 
M   0 m  Yv Yr  (6)
 0 Nv 
I z  Nr 
(1)
Fig. 2. Global and body-fixed reference frames.
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The skew-symmetric Coriolis and centripetal matrix of the
platform in equation (5) is antisymmetric matrix and can be
formulated as:
0 0  mv 
C RB   0 0 mu  (7)
 mv  mu 0 
The loads of current and wind are in quadratic relationship
to the relative velocity between platform and current or wind.
The current and wind load vectors in surge, sway and yaw are
expressed as:
τ curr  Ccx   c  ucu 2 , Ccy   c  ucu 2 , Ccz   c  ucu 2  (8)
τ wind  Cwdx   wd  uwd 2 , Cwdy   wd  uwd 2 , Cwdz   wd  uwd 2  (9)
The second order wave force is in quadratic relationship to
the wave height, so the second order wave force is small when
the wave height is small, and increases greatly with the wave
height. The second order wave force acting on the platform is
formulated as:
τ wave   2  S  w  Cwax  w,  wa  dw,

 0
2  S  w  Cway  w,  wa  dw,2 S  w  Cwaz  w,  wa  dw
 
0 0
When the DP system fails, the thruster force vector is as-
sumed to be zero and the platform will drift off. During plat-
form drift-off analysis, the top tension and the angle of riser
are extracted from dynamic analysis results of deepwater
drilling riser system, and then the riser force vector acting on
platform can be calculated based on the extracted data, which
is given by:
  
τ riser   T sin  rx , T sin  ry , GI p rz 
 L 
2. Analysis method for the drift-off warning limits
of deepwater drilling platform/riser coupling system
Based on the established dynamic analysis models of
deepwater platform and riser, analysis methods for the cou-
pling dynamics and drift-off warning limits of the deepwater
drilling platform/riser coupling system are proposed.
The finite element analysis model of riser/wellhead/con-
ductor system is built in ABAQUS: pipe element is adopted to
model the riser/wellhead/conductor system, wave and current
are defined to simulate marine environment loads; and the soil
resistance force on conductor is modeled by spring element.
The finite element model is solved by ABAQUS marine en-
gineering module ABAQUS/Aqua. The dynamic analysis
solver for the platform drift-off is developed in FORTRAN
language. Runge-Kutta method is used to solve the nonlinear
equations of drift-off motion, and the dynamics of deepwater
platform under the combined loads of wind, wave, current and
riser can be analyzed.
The parameter transfer and iterative calculation between
riser analysis model and platform drift-off solver are realized
by means of ABAQUS user-defined subroutine DISP. Firstly,
the drift-off displacement, velocity and acceleration of the
platform are calculated based on the developed platform
drift-off solver, the relevant motion parameters of platform are
transferred to the riser analysis model for riser dynamic
analysis; then the riser dynamic model is analyzed in
ABAQUS and the coordinates of predefined nodes at the top
of riser are extracted, the axial deformation and rotation angle
along each direction of the riser are worked out based on ex-
tracted coordinates, and the riser top tension can be calculated
based on riser axial information; then the riser load acting on
the platform is calculated according to equation (11) and fed
back to dynamic analysis solver of platform. The next round
of iterative calculation is carried out and the iterative time
increment is the same in the platform drift-off solver and riser
analysis model. Finally, the drift-off dynamic analysis of
deepwater platform/riser coupling system can be completed
through a series of iterative calculations.
Key parameters in the disconnection operation of deepwa-
ter drilling riser during the drift-off of platform include UFJ
angle, lower flex joint (LFJ) angle, telescopic joint stroke,
wellhead bending moment and conductor stress[17]. Riser re-
sponse can be figured out according to the analysis results of
(10)
 deepwater drilling platform/riser coupling system and then
compared with the critical value of key parameters. The drill-
ing riser should be disconnected when the value of any key
parameter reaches the critical value, and the point is the criti-
cal disconnection limit of drilling riser system during the
platform drift-off. On this basis, initiating disconnection point
can be determined based on the drift-off curve of platform and
disconnection time, then the preparing disconnection point
can be calculated further based on the preparation time of riser
(11) disconnection, finally the disconnection warning limits of
drilling riser system during the platform drift-off are deter-
mined.
3. Case study
3.1. Basic data
A deepwater semi-submersible drilling platform is selected
for analysis. The water depth of the target well is 1342 m.
Basic parameters of the platform and riser are listed in Table 1.
Drag coefficient of current and wind in the direction of plat-
form heading are 309 kNs2/m2 and 1.82 kNs2/m2, respec-
tively. The second order wave force coefficient in the direc-
tion of platform heading is shown in Fig. 3.
3.2. Drift-off dynamic characteristics and warning limits
of deepwater drilling platform/riser coupling system
The sea state of Beaufort level 6 was selected for drift-off
dynamic analysis of deepwater drilling platform/riser coupling
system. It was assumed that wind velocity, wave height, wave
period and surface current velocity were 13.8 m/s, 3 m, 6.7 s
and 0.6 m/s, respectively, the direction of wind, wave and
current were the same, and the platform heading did not
change during the platform drift-off. The total analysis time
was 150 s and the analysis time step was 0.5 s.
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Table 1. Basic parameters of the platform and riser

Parameters Values Parameters Values
Platform draft 17.5 m Height of LMRP 4m
7
Platform mass 4.08×10 kg Weight of LMRP 700 kN
Moment of inertia of platform in yaw 1.19×1011 kg·m2 Height of BOP 9m
11 2
Added moment of inertia of platform in yaw 1.38×10 kg·m Weight of BOP 2 000 kN
Inertial coefficient in surge 1.29 Distance between wellhead and mudline (m) 3m
Inertial coefficient in sway 2.06 Length of conductor (m) 83 m
Top tension of riser 3 MN External diameter of conductor 0.914 4 m
Riser length 1 326 m Wall thickness of conductor 0.038 1 m
External diameter of riser 0.533 4 m External diameter of surface casing 0.508 0 m
Wall thickness of riser 0.022 2 m Wall thickness of surface casing 0.025 4 m
Rotation stiffness of UFJ 12.9 kN·m/() Elasticity modulus of steel 207 GPa
Rotation stiffness of LFJ 92.0 kN·m/() Elasticity modulus of cement sheath 18 GPa

Fig. 3. Second order wave force coefficient in the direction of

platform heading. Fig. 4. Drift-off curves of platform.

Figs. 4 and 5 show drift-off curve of platform and dis-

placement response of riser system, respectively. It can be
seen that: (1) platform starts to drift off under ocean environ-
ment loads and riser force at zero time (the moment the dy-
namic positioning system fails), and the drift-off displacement
and drift-off velocity of platform increase gradually; (2) the
top of riser is pulled away from the subsea wellhead in hori-
zontal direction during platform drift-off, and the displace-
ment and the top angle of riser system change obviously under
the influence of riser deformation; (3) in the initial drift-off
stage, the deepwater riser deflects along the current and wave
direction under the ocean environment loads, the direction of Fig. 5. Displacement of deepwater riser system during drift-off.
horizontal component of riser force is the same with the
drift-off direction of platform, so the riser force acting on accuracy can be improved effectively based on drift-off
platform plays a driving role in the platform drift-off, as the analysis model of deepwater drilling platform/riser coupling
drift-off displacement of platform increases, the direction of system when the drift-off displacement of platform is large.
horizontal component of riser force is opposite to the drift-off To understand the dynamic characteristics of riser in depth
direction of platform, and the riser force acting on platform and establish drift-off warning limits of deepwater riser, the
starts to inhibit the platform drift-off; (4) overall, the riser response of key parameters of riser system are extracted, as
force acting on platform has an inhibiting effect on the plat- shown in Fig. 6. The values of all key parameters are normal-
form drift-off, the drift-off displacement of deepwater plat- ized (actual value / critical value). The critical value of UFJ
form/riser coupling system is smaller than that without riser angle, LFJ angle, telescopic joint stroke, conductor stress and
system, and the influence of riser on the drift-off of platform wellhead bending moment are 13.5°, 6°, 9.905 m, 386 MPa
increases with the drift-off displacement, so the simulation and 7.8 MN·m, respectively.
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 LIU Xiuquan et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2016, 43(4): 701–707

DP system of platform fails. The platform drifts to the initiat-

ing disconnection warning limit when the drift-off time is 124
s and the drift-off displacement is 89.7 m, and the emergency
disconnection of riser should be initiated before this time. The
platform drifts to the critical disconnection warning limit
when the drift-off time is 139 s and the drift-off displacement
is 108 m, and the emergency disconnection of riser should be
completed before this time, or the riser disconnection may fail
and the riser system may be damaged.

3.3. Analysis of factors influencing drift-off warning limits

of deepwater platform/riser system
Fig. 6. Response of key parameters of deepwater riser.
The marine environment changes constantly during deep-
Fig. 6 shows that the response speed of key parameters water drilling. It is necessary to study the influence of marine
during platform drift-off are different from each other. The top elements on the drift-off warning limits of riser emergency
parameters of the riser including UFJ angle and telescopic disconnection during platform drift-off. Considering the cur-
joint stroke response quickly. The bottom parameters of riser rent has an obvious effect on both platform motion and riser
including LFJ angle, wellhead bending moment and conductor load, the drift-off warning limits of deepwater platform/riser
stress are essentially constant in the initial drift-off stage and system under different current velocities are established, as
start to change 70 s after the drift-off begins, with obvious shown in Fig. 8. Besides, deepwater platform would carry out
delay. The main reason is that the riser’s inertial effect is taken drilling and exploration in different water depths, so the
into account in transient drift-off analysis of deepwater plat- drift-off warning limits of deepwater platform/riser system
form/riser coupling system, the top of riser experiences mo- under different water depths are also established, as shown in
tions earlier during platform drift-off, and then the motion Fig. 9.
transfers to the bottom of riser gradually, so the response of Fig. 8 shows that as the current velocity increases, drift-off
bottom parameters presents an obvious hysteresis effect. warning limits of deepwater platform/riser system decrease
When the drift-off time is 139 s, the LFJ angle of the deepwa- while the distance between different warning limits increase.
ter riser reaches the critical value firstly, so the bottom dis-
connection of riser should be completed before this time. Ac-
cording to the operation guideline for deepwater riser discon-
nection during platform drift-off, the disconnection time of
riser system is 15 s and the preparation time for the riser dis-
connection is 40 s. The drift-off warning limits during plat-
form drift-off can be determined based on the platform
drift-off curve and allowable drift-off displacement of the
riser system, as shown in Fig. 7.
Fig. 7 shows that the platform drifts to the preparing dis-
connection warning limit when the drift-off time is 84 s and
the drift-off displacement is 45.6 m, and the emergency dis-
connection of riser should be prepared before this time when Fig. 8. Drift-off warning limits under different current veloci-
ties.

Fig. 7. Drift-off warning limits of deepwater drilling plat-

form/riser system. Fig. 9. Drift-off warning limits under different water depths.
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 LIU Xiuquan et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2016, 43(4): 701–707
The main reason is that the riser deformation is great and key
parameters of riser reach critical values easily under the in-
fluence of high current velocity. Besides, the current also has
a great influence on the platform motion. The platform drifts
off more quickly as the current speed increases, so the dis-
tance between different warning limits increase with current
velocity. In order to disconnect riser system safely during
platform drift-off, the bottom disconnection of riser should be
prepared and initiated earlier in harsh marine environment.
Fig. 9 shows that as the water depth increases, the drift-off
warning limits of deepwater drilling platform/riser system
increase, and drift-off warning limits present a linear rela-
tionship with water depth on the whole. Water depth has a
little influence on platform motion while has a greater influ-
ence on riser deformation. When the drift-off displacement of
platform is constant, the riser deformation and key parameters
of riser system increase as water depth decreases, so the
drift-off warning limits are very small in shallow water, and
the bottom disconnection of riser system should be prepared
as soon as DP system fails, which is the main limiting factor
for the safe application of DP platform in shallow water.
4. Conclusions
In this study, the coupling analysis model of deepwater riser,
wellhead and conductor system and the drift-off dynamic
model of platform are established respectively; the drift-off
dynamic solver of deepwater platform is developed; analysis
methods on the dynamics and drift-off warning limits of
deepwater drilling platform/riser coupling system are pro-
posed; and the parameter transfer and iterative calculation
between the riser analysis model and the platform drift-off
solver are realized, so that the dynamic analysis of deepwater
drilling platform/riser coupling system can be carried out ef-
fectively.
Platform starts to drift off under ocean environment loads
and riser force when DP system fails. and the drift-off dis-
placement and drift-off velocity increase gradually. The riser
force plays a driving role in the initial stage of platform
drift-off. As the drift-off time increases, the riser force starts
to inhibit the platform drift-off gradually. Overall, the riser
force acting on platform has an inhibiting effect on the plat-
form drift-off. The drift-off displacement of deepwater plat-
form/riser coupling system is smaller than that without riser.
Response speeds of key parameters of riser system during
the platform drift-off are different from each other. The top
parameters of riser system response quickly. The bottom pa-
rameters of riser are essentially constant in the initial drift-off
stage and start to change some time after drift-off begins,
showing an obvious hysteresis effect.
As the current speed increases, drift-off warning limits of
deepwater platform/riser coupling system decrease while the
distance between different warning limits increases. As the
water depth increases, the drift-off warning limits of deepwa-
ter drilling platform/riser coupling system increase, and
 706 
drift-off warning limits present a linear relationship with wa-
ter depth on the whole.
Nomenclature
Ccx, Ccy, Ccz—drag coefficient of current in surge, sway and yaw,
Ns2/m2;
CD—drag coefficient;
CM—inertia coefficient;
CRB—skew-symmetric Coriolis and centripetal matrix;
Cwax, Cway, Cwaz—the quadratic drift force transfer functions in
surge, sway and yaw, N/m2;
Cwdx, Cwdy, Cwdz—drag coefficient of wind in surge, sway and yaw,
Ns2/m2;
Dc—external diameter of conductor, m;
Dh—hydrodynamic diameter of riser, m;
E—elastic modulus of section, Pa;
F—externally loads on riser system, N/m;
Fsea—marine environment hydrodynamic loads per unit length on
riser, N/m;
Fsoil—soil resistance force per unit length on conductor, N/m;
G—shearing modulus of elasticity of riser, Pa;
Ip—polar moment of inertia of riser, m4;
Ir—the inertia moment of riser section, m4;
Iz—the moment of inertia of platform around the z-axis, kg·m2;
L—riser length, m;
m—the platform mass, kg;
M—mass matrix of platform;
Mr—the mass of riser per unit length, kg/m;
Nr—inertia moment induced in yaw, kg·m2;
Nv—the zero-frequency added mass on the platform about z axis
due to a unit acceleration of the platform in sway, kg;
p—foundation resistance force per unit area, N/m2;
R — transformation matrix between global reference frame and
body-fixed reference frame;
r—yaw angular velocity, rad/s;
S—the wave spectrum for a given environment, m2·s;
t—time, s;
T—riser top tension, N;
Tr—effective tension of riser, N;
u, v—surge and sway velocity of platform in body-fixed reference
frame, m/s;
uc—water particle velocity induced by current, m/s;
ucu—the relative velocity between platform and current, m/s;
uw—water particle velocity induced by wave, m/s;
u w —water particle acceleration induced by wave, m/s2;
uwd—the relative velocity between platform and wind, m/s;
v—platform velocity vector in body-fixed reference frame;
v —platform acceleration vector in body-fixed reference frame;
w—wave frequency, Hz;
x—the horizontal displacement of the riser at any point, m;
x —the velocity of riser, m/s;
x —the acceleration of riser, m/s2;
X, Y—global reference frame;
 LIU Xiuquan et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2016, 43(4): 701–707
Xb, Yb—body-fixed reference frame;
Xu, Yv—the zero-frequency added mass in surge and sway, kg;
y1, y2—surge and sway displacement of platform in global refer-
ence frame, m;
Yr—hydrodynamic reaction force on the platform in the surge due
to a unit yaw acceleration, kg·m2;
z—the vertical height of the riser at any point, m;
βc—current direction defined in the body-fixed reference frame,
rad;
βwa—the wave direction defined in the body-fixed reference frame,
rad;
βwd—the wind direction defined in the body-fixed reference frame,
rad;
η—platform position displacement vector and heading in global
reference frame;
 —platform velocity vector in global reference frame;
θrx, θry, θrz—riser angles in surge, sway and yaw, rad;
ρ—sea water density, kg/m3;
τcurr, τwave, τwind, τthruster, τriser—vector of current load, second order
wave load, wind load, thruster force and riser force in body-fixed
reference frame, N;
ψ—the angle between body-fixed reference frame and global ref-
erence frame, rad.
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