Proceedings of the Twenty-fourth (2014) International Ocean and Polar Engineering Conference www.isope.

org
Busan, Korea, June 15-20, 2014
Copyright 2014 by the International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE)
ISBN 978-1 880653 91-3 (Set); ISSN 1098-6189 (Set)

A Study on Piping Stress Analysis of Subsea Riser Base for HYSY111 FPSO in South China Sea
Ying Jiang, Xuanze Ju, Wei Fang, and Hanjun Yin
Engineering Company , Offshore Oil Engineering Co. Ltd.
Tanggu, Tianjin, China

ABSTRACT
Currently a mature recommended practice has not yet been formed and
Subsea Dynamic Riser Base is an important equipment for floating different products cannot be simply check with a uniform standard,
production platform mooring system, one end connected to rigid study should be taken on the subsea products piping stress analysis
pipeline, carrying a rigid pipeline thermal expansion load, the other end with regarding the characteristics of each product. As typhoon case
connected to flexible riser, carrying the dynamic load of flexible riser, needs to be specially considered in South China Sea which huge
so its function is a transition connection from flexible riser to rigid influence the dynamic response of riser system with the motion of
pipeline and fixed the flexible riser on the seabed. On the other hand floating platform, much more attention should be paid during the
as a typical subsea product, the design shall be satisfied with SDRB piping stress analysis and piping system on SDRB should be
requirements from the standards for subsea product. By studying the optimized to stand the reaction from riser system.
stress analysis philosophy of topside piping and subsea pipeline,
physical model and procedure for piping stress analysis of SDRB have This paper will take SDRB for dynamic riser of Lazy S configuration
been established, the conditions of the adverse design load have been as the study object that describes the process piping stress analysis
considered, combination of the static load from rigid pipeline and the method and checking criteria. Fig. 1 is the dynamic riser system of
dynamic load from flexible has also been optimized. And FPSO, process flow of SDRB is shown in Fig. 2.
comparatively analysis with the AMSE, DNV and API standards for
piping stress of checking rules has been done, for SDRB belongs to the
subsea pipeline terminal product, the use of DNV standard to check its
process piping stress is recommended. Finally, the process piping stress
of SDRB has been calculated, and the results show that jacket pipe and
carrier pipe stress of SDRB process piping is satisfied with DNV
standard as a whole. As the bulkhead cannot be accurately simulated by
AutoPIPE software which using the FEA software ANSYS in detailed
analysis, and the checking results still meet the requirements of DNV
standard.

KEY WORDS: Subsea Product Design, Subsea Dynamic Riser Base,

Process Piping Stress Analysis

NOMENCLATURE
Fig. 1: Dynamic Riser System of FPSO( Lazy S Configuration)
FPSO = Floating Production Storage and Offloading (
PIP = Pipe-in-pipe
SDRB = Subsea Dynamic Riser Base
UC = Utility Check

INTRODUCTION

Subsea Dynamic Riser Base (SDRB) as a typical subsea product is an

important equipment for floating production system. It is not only an
important oil & gas transportation channel, but also is a key anchor
point for dynamic riser & cable transition to static (Fang Xiaoming,
2003; Li Peng, et al., 2010; Chen Jinlong, et al., 2011). For process
piping on the SDRB, one end connected to rigid pipeline, carrying a
rigid pipeline thermal expansion load, the other end connected to
flexible riser, carrying the dynamic load of flexible riser, which
determines the complexity of the process piping stress analysis.
Fig. 2: Process Flow of SDRB
SDRB PROCESS PIPING STRESS ANALYSIS METHOD
AND MODEL
Piping stress analysis is an important means to check whether a
reasonable layout of piping system (Bob Robleto and Jim Williams,
2010), for the process piping in the subsea product, the whole piping

754
system shall first consider the flexibility, using the elastic deformation
of the maximum absorption interface load, and it should satisfy the
following design principle at the same time, (1) Using the mature
technology of piping design, (2) To achieve the shortest load transfer
path, (3) To avoid interference, to keep piping layout as compact
aspossible,(4) The design type of piping support structure is reasonable,
the load can be effectively transited to infrastructure, (5) Satisfy the
function requirements of the piping, such as pigging, spare, erosion,
corrosion, etc.
Fig. 4: 3D Model of SDRB
Analysis Procedure
Transport medium in the process piping is water cut oil, with 105 C
In the design of piping engineering, stress analysis of piping systems design temperature and 5 MPa design pressure. Piping system as shown
first response to a physical model for analysis, considering the in Fig. 5 is mainly composed of PIP pipe, PIP bend, type II bulkhead,
determination of design parameters, and then solved by the software, subsea misalignment flange, subsea SPO flange and single pipe, pipe
and finally post-processing the checking results as per the standard, parameters refer to Table 1. The two process piping are fixed on the
analysis procedure shown in Fig. 3. base via support sleeve structures welded on the beam. In the design,
considering both ends of piping carrying different loads, different
DESIGN DATA piping supports are adopted. Flexible riser ends carry the dynamic load,
Environment Data the fixed piping supports will be used, of which piping and support
Bathymetric Data sleeve structure are welded together, as shown in Fig. 6. Rigid pipeline
Piping Parameters and end carries the expansion load, the guide support will be used, of which
Layout Scheme neoprene is employed between the piping and support sleeve structure,
Load Parameters
so there is no axial constraint for guide piping support, as shown in Fig.
Boundary Conditions
7. Fixed piping support and guide piping support are as shown in Fig. 8.
Determine the Design Parameters / Methods
6

6
Establish Piping FEA Model &
Components 3D FEA Model

Solved by Software
4
NO
3
POST-PROCESSING 5
1
Define Loadcase Combinations 3
View Deformation & Stress State 1
2
Checking as per Standard
1 PIP Section, 2 PIP Bend, 3 Type II Bulkhead,
4 Subsea Misalignment Flange, 5 Subsea SPO Flange
Fig. 5: Piping System
Is Results
ACCEPTABLE?

YES
Determine the Wall Thickness /
Material Grade and Layout Scheme
Provide Interface Data to
the Relevant Discipline

Appurtenance Check
Fig. 6: Fixed Piping Support
Fig. 3: Procedure of Piping Stress Analysis

Analysis Model

This paper takes SDRB (dimension 9.2mX7.2m) with gravity-based

mudmat as the example, 3D model as shown in Fig. 4, design water
depth is 105 m, and there are two process piping on the SDRB,
connected with dynamic flexible risers from FPSO respectively.

Fig. 7: Guide Piping Support

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 1) STATIC loads are obtained without environment load applied,
DYNAMIC loads are obtained considering environment load
applied.

The expansion length and axial force of pipeline due to thermal

movement will lead to reaction at the interface with SDRB piping
through associated spool piece which is not an order of magnitude
comparison with that from riser system and will not be listed for paper
space limitations.

Through the analysis of the physical model, for this example,

AutoPIPE software will be used for stress analysis of the whole piping
system. The vertical Y-axis nominates the elevation while positive X-
axis points to the rigid subsea pipeline, detail finite element model is
shown in Fig. 9.
Red Fixed Piping Support, Blue Guide Piping Support
Fig. 8: Fixed Piping Support and Guide Piping Support

Table 1. Parameters of PIP

Item Description Parameter

Outside Diameter 323.9mm

Wall Thickness 12.7mm

Carrier Pipe Internal Corrosion Fig. 9: AutoPIPE Model of Piping Stress Analysis
3 mm
Allowance
As the bulkhead in AutoPIPE software cannot be accurately simulated,
Specified Min. Yield the FEA software ANSYS will be used in detailed analysis. For
448MPa
Strength bulkhead, the nodes at the end of the jacket pipe extension are fully
fixed as shown in Fig.10. The internal pressure and external hydrostatic
Material Polyurethane pressure effect are considered during all design condition. The node
Insulation loads applied to carrier pipe ends of in piping system are extracted from
Thickness 25mm AutoPIPE output. The loads direction will be converted from
Coating
Density 40~60kg/m3 AutoPIPE local coordinate to ANSYS user specified coordinate.

Outside Diameter 406.4mm

Wall Thickness 12.7mm

Jacket Pipe
Specified Min. Yield
448MPa
Strength

Jacket Pipe
Subsea
Anti-corrosion Material
Coating
Coating
Fig. 10: ANSYS Model of Bulkhead
Dynamic analysis of the proposed riser system layout lead to the
following maximum response as shown in Table 2 which is evaluated
Loadcase Combination
to be acceptable for the riser and well within the design capacity of the
The design loads for piping system mainly include: (1) Functional load,
end fitting.
refers to the required load that the system exists, use and disposal of
under the various load conditions without considering the
environmental load effect; (2) Environmental load, refers to load acting
Table 2. Reaction Forces from Riser System
on the piping system which is generated by the wind, waves, currents,
Item Static Dynamic ice and earthquakes and other environmental phenomena; (3)
Accidental load, refers to the load on the piping system under abnormal
Max. tension 20.9kN 48.7kN and unexpected circumstances. According to DNV standard
requirements, combined with the actual project load, the following
Max. shear forces 23.4kN 45.0kN design load conditions need to be considered for covering the adverse
load case of subsea product process piping stress analysis: (1)
Max. bend moments 49.7kNm 125.0kNm Functional loads; (2) Design environmental load and functional load
acting simultaneously; (3) Hydrostatic test or stop/restart. Conservative,
Max. torsion moment 0.3kNm 50.0kNm
following safety factor will be used in the piping stress UC check.
Notes:

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 piping pressure design-related content, including the above three
Table 3. Safety Factor for Different Load Condition requirements, but there has some different considerations with DNV-
OS-F101. When using ASME piping design standard, for the integrity
Load Condition (1) (2) (3) of stress analysis from the perspective of completeness, a combination
of API RP 1111 to consider propagation buckling analysis should be
Safety factor 0.5 0.67 0.9 included.

SDRB process piping is connected with rigid subsea pipeline and
flexible riser through the flanges, interface data such as acting load,
acting moment and acting mode need to be provided by other system
for piping stress checking. The flexible riser arrangement scheme is
checked based on the extreme condition that floating production
facilities offset with one chain broken. Taking into account the
tolerance and internal stiffness effects of flexible pipe, forces at the
SDRB piping flange end with dynamic response consideration are
provided from flexible riser analysis. In order to make the limit
conditions to cover all the subjected force from the flexible risers, the
ultimate loads are given without direction.
According to engineering experience, subsea products can generally be
divided into two categories: one is as subsea pipeline terminal product,
the other as the subsea production process product. Its stress check
standard applications are different, standards for process piping of first
class products are generally consistent with that of subsea pipeline,
DNV rules should be adopted; second category of products in favor of
process equipment, generally using ASME code checking. For subsea
dynamic riser base, it is a typical subsea pipeline terminal product,
DNV rules are recommended for checking.
SDRB PROCESS PIPING STRESS ANALYSIS RESULTS

Based on the results of the analysis, assuming a rotational symmetric AutoPIPE software is adopted to establish the SDRB PIP piping stress
structural capacity, the tension, the torque, the shear force and the analysis model, and bulkhead used for the PIP pipe transited to single
bending moment will be applied simultaneously, of which the shear pipe is simulated as rigid connection. According to the DNV standard,
force to act in the conservative direction in combination with the stress of carrier pipe and jacket pipe has been checked at the different
bending moment, and obtain a total of 16 load components. Additional load condition, maximum stress UC of SDRB process piping as shown
taking into account different direction approaching of waves and in Fig. 11, the UC values have already considered the corresponding
currents, with thermal reaction from pipeline, there has a total of 10 safety factor.
load components and result in 10 load combinations. Through
combining piping flange end forces respectively, a total of 160 load
cases exist. Considering the complexity of the project load case
conditions, the model adjustment will increase the pre-processing and
post-processing workload. According to sub-portfolio approach to
extract 25 load points, and further optimize the permutations and
combinations, ultimately compact model to achieve the purpose of
reducing the workload.

SDRB PROCESS PIPING STRESS CHECKING

STANDARDS PIPE 1Load Combination(2) with XZ Direction Wave&Current

Process piping stress checking standard for Subsea product should

follow ISO 13628-15 (International Organization for Standardization,
2010), which recommends that piping stress can be checked as per the
following standards, ASME B31.4(American Society of Mechanical
Engineers, 2009), ASME B31.8( American Society of Mechanical
Engineers, 2007), ASME B31.3 (American Society of Mechanical
Engineers, 2008), DNV-OS-F101 ( Det Norske Veritas, 2005) and API
RP 111 (American Petroleum Institute, 2009) and so on.

DNV-OS-F101 is based on limit state and partial safety factor method,

namely Load Resistance Factor Method (LRFD). According to the fluid PIPE 2Load Combination(2) with X Direction Wave&Current
within the pipe, the location and the consequences of failure, finally the Fig. 11: Stress UC Distribution of SDRB Process Piping
piping system is divided into different security levels. For each security
level, there were a series of partial safety coefficients and their Table 3. Maximum Stress UC of SDRB Process Piping
corresponding limit state.
PIPE NO Location Max Stress UC
ASME B31.4, ASME B31.8, ASME B31.3 are based on the allowable
stress coefficient method, that is, considering various factors Carrier Pipe 0.86
appropriate amendments of the material failure stress (static strength PIPE 1 Jacket Pipe 0.42
design using the yield limit or ultimate strength, designed using fatigue
limit fatigue strength) multiplied by the safety factor to obtain the final Bulkhead 0.95
material allowable stresses.
Carrier Pipe 0.89
Based on DNV-OS-F101 for pipe wall thickness design, three aspects PIPE 2
Jacket Pipe 0.46
as the internal pressure requirements, external pressure crushing,
propagation buckling need to be considered, API RP 1111 involved

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PIPE NO Location Max Stress UC
Bulkhead 0.95
From Table 4, maximum stress UC value of Carrier Pipe & Jacket Pipe
are both less than 1, and meet the design requirements. Among them
maximum stress UC value of Carrier Pipe is greater than that of Jacket
Pipe.
Bulkhead is a complex structure, so there may appear to be
discontinuities when transfer the load, and detailed analysis for
bulkhead via 3D finite element model is needed. As can be seen from
Table 4, maximum stress UC value of bulkhead is 0.95, less than
1.When the stress value is 273MPa, bulkhead stress reaches the
maximum UC value of 0.91, still meet the design requirements.
PIPE 1Load Combination(2) with XZ Direction Wave&Current
PIPE 2Load Combination(2) with X Direction Wave&Current
Fig. 12: Stress Distribution of Bulkhead
CONCLUSIONS
1) Learned from the stress analysis philosophy of topside piping and
subsea pipeline, stress analysis procedure of subsea product is
given. For the PIP piping stress analysis, firstly checked as a
whole system, and then check the key components such as
bulkhead, etc, via the general finite element software ANSYS.
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2) For process piping of SDRB carrying the forces from dynamic
riser system and static loads from expanding rigid pipeline at the
same time, fixed piping support at riser side and guide piping
support at pipeline side are recommended. As typhoon case
should be specially considered in South China Sea, interface
loads from riser system contribute most of the piping stress
which should be paid attention to.
3) SDRB as a subsea pipeline terminal product is recommended to
carry out process piping stress check in accordance with DNV
standard.
4) SDRB is a typical subsea product, the stress analysis technology
of process piping is an important content of product design, the
design idea and method of this instance will provide reference for
other similar subsea products design.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Several people have contributed to this work in many vital ways. Very
special thanks to Ms. Meizhen Zhou, M r. Li Qin and Mr. Xingchao
Wei for their enthusiastic support, invaluable experience and expertise.
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