A Report From the Drilling Riser VIV and Wellhead Fatigue JIP: Full-Scale Drilling Riser VIV Measurements and Comparisons With Predictions

Abstract

This paper discusses some of the results and observations that were made in the Drilling Riser VIV and Wellhead Fatigue Joint Industry Project that was formed by a consortium of industry partners with the goal of studying wellhead fatigue that is caused by Vortex Induced Vibrations (VIV) of the drilling riser. The paper focuses on presenting the field measurements of the VIV of full-scale drilling risers. The emphasis is placed on revealing the most important characteristics that need to be modelled by VIV prediction software and how modelling choices can affect the predicted VIV response. Comparisons of VIV predictions with the field measured VIV are shown and a revised set of recommended parameters is issued for use with the SHEAR7 VIV prediction program. This revised set of prediction parameters leads to less conservative response predictions on the drilling riser and lowers the wellhead fatigue. Finally, some of the challenges and limitations that exist when trying to carry out such comparisons are discussed so that future instrumentation programs can be even more fruitful.