Boundaries Influence on the Flow Field Around an Oscillating Sphere

This work analyzes the effects of the interaction between an oscillating sphere and free surface flows through the reconstruction of the flow field around the body and the analysis of the displacements. The experiments were performed in an open water channel, where the sphere had three different boundary conditions in respect to the flow, defined as h* (the ratio between the distance of the sphere upper surface from the free surface and the sphere diameter). A quasi-symmetric condition at h* = 2, with the sphere equally distant from the free surface and the channel bottom, and two conditions of asymmetric bounded flow, one with the sphere located at a distance of 0.003m from the bottom at h* = 3.97 and the other with the sphere close to the free surface at h* = 0, were considered. The sphere was free to move in two directions, streamwise (x) and transverse to the flow (y), and was characterized by values of mass ratio, m* = 1.34 (ratio between the system mass and the displaced fluid mass), and damping ratio, ζ = 0.004. The comparison between the results of the analyzed boundary conditions has shown the strong influence of the free surface on the evolution of the vortex structures downstream the obstacle.

VIV Excitation Competition Between Bare and Buoyant Segments of Flexible Cylinders

This paper addresses a practical problem: “Under which coverage of buoyancy modules, would the Vortex Induced Vibration (VIV) excitation on buoyant segments dominate the response?” This paper explores the excitation competition between bare and buoyant segments of a 38 meter long model riser. The source of data is a recent model test, conducted by SHELL Exploration and Production at the MARINTEK Ocean Basin in Trondheim Norway. A pipe model with five buoyancy configurations was tested. The results of these tests show that (1) the excitation on the bare and buoyant regions could be identified by frequency, because the bare and buoyant regions are associated with two different frequencies due to the different diameters; (2) a new phenomenon was observed; A third frequency in the spectrum is found not to be a multiple of the frequency associated with either bare or buoyancy regions, but the sum of the frequency associated with bare region and twice of the frequency associated with buoyancy region; (3) the contribution of the response at this third frequency to the total amplitude is small; (4) the power dissipated by damping at each excitation frequency is the metric used to determine the winner of excitation competition. For most buoyancy configurations, the excitation on buoyancy regions dominates the VIV response; (5) a formula is proposed to predict the winner of the excitation competition between bare and buoyant segments for a given buoyancy coverage.

Guidelines for CFD Simulations of Spar VIM

Vortex-Induced Motion (VIM), which occurs as a consequence of exposure to strong current such as Loop Current eddies in the Gulf of Mexico, is one of the critical factors in the design of the mooring and riser systems for deepwater offshore structures such as Spars and multi-column Deep Draft Floaters (DDFs). The VIM response can have a significant impact on the fatigue life of mooring and riser components. In particular, Steel Catenary Risers (SCRs) suspended from the floater can be sensitive to VIM-induced fatigue at their mudline touchdown points. Industry currently relies on scaled model testing to determine VIM for design. However, scaled model tests are limited in their ability to represent VIM for the full scale structure since they are generally not able to represent the full scale Reynolds number and also cannot fully represent waves effects, nonlinear mooring system behavior or sheared and unsteady currents. The use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to simulate VIM can more realistically represent the full scale Reynolds number, waves effects, mooring system, and ocean currents than scaled physical model tests. This paper describes a set of VIM CFD simulations for a Spar hard tank with appurtenances and their comparison against a high quality scaled model test. The test data showed considerable sensitivity to heading angle relative to the incident flow as well as to reduced velocity. The simulated VIM-induced sway motion was compared against the model test data for different reduced velocities (Vm) and Spar headings. Agreement between CFD and model test VIM-induced sway motion was within 9% over the full range of Vm and headings. Use of the Improved Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (IDDES, Shur et al 2008) turbulence model gives the best agreement with the model test measurements. Guidelines are provided for meshing and time step/solver setting selection.

Drilling Riser VIV Tests With Prototype Reynolds Numbers

For deep-water riser systems, Vortex Induced Vibrations (VIV) may cause significant fatigue damage. It appears that the knowledge gap of this phenomenon is considerable and this has caused a high level of research activity over the last decades. Small scale model tests are often used to investigate VIV behaviour. However, one substantial uncertainty in applying such results is scaling effects, i.e. differences in VIV response in full scale flow and small scale flow. To (partly) overcome this obstacle, a new innovative VIV test rig was designed and built at MARINTEK to test a rigid full scale riser model. The rigid riser model is mounted vertically and can either be elastically mounted or be given a forced motion. In the present version, the cylinder can only move in the cross-flow (CF) direction and is restricted in the in-line (IL) direction. The paper reports results from a drilling riser VIV experiment where the new rest rig has been used. The overall objective of the work is to study possible VIV suppression to improve operability of retrievable riser systems with auxiliary lines by adding riser fins. These fins are normally used as devices for protection of the auxiliary lines. The test program has recently been completed and analysis is an on-going activity. However, some results can be reported at this stage and more results are planned to be published. A bare riser model was used in a Reynolds number (Rn) scaling effect study. The riser model was elastically mounted and towed over a reduced velocity range around 4 – 10 in two different Rn ranges, 75 000 – 192 000 (subcritical regime) and 347 000 – 553 000 (critical regime). The difference in the displacement amplitude to diameter ratio, A/D, is found to be significant. The elastically mounted riser was also towed with various drilling riser configurations in order to study VIV/galloping responses. One configuration included a slick joint riser model with 6 kill & choke lines; another has added riser fins too. The riser model is based on a specific drilling riser and the kill and choke lines have various diameters and have a non-symmetrical layout. The various riser configurations have also been used in forced motion tests where the towed model has been given a sinusoidal CF motion. Forces have been measured. Determination of the force coefficients is still in progress and is planned to be reported later. Scaling effects appear to be a significant uncertainty and further research on the subject is recommended. The slick joint drilling riser configuration generally increased the displacements compared to displacements of the bare riser model. The drilling riser configuration with protection fins, kill and choke lines generally reduced the displacements compared to displacements of the bare riser model. For both riser systems, tests showed that the response is sensitive to the heading of the current.

Drilling Riser VIV Analysis Using Time Domain Code SimVIV

Drilling risers are often subjected to VIV from ocean currents, which may vary in directions over depth. VIV of drilling riser has commonly been analyzed using frequency domain code. This paper presents an alternative tool of analyzing VIV of drilling riser using time domain code SimVIV. With this tool it is possible to apply currents in varying directions over depth. Measured currents and VIV responses of a drilling riser available in the literature are used in this study. The results of time domain analysis using SimVIV are compared against measured responses. The effect of current directionality over depth on drilling riser VIV response is also analyzed.

Wake-Induced Vibration (WIV) of Two Tandem Pre-Tensioned Flexible Cylinders

It is believed that investigations on flow around pairs of cylinders can provide a better understanding of the interference effects than the cases involving larger numbers of cylinders. Studies that deal with the dynamic responses of multiple flexible cylinders with low mass ratios and high aspect ratios are few because of the complexities in the responses. In this paper, the effects of wake interference on the dynamic responses of two pre-tensioned flexible cylinders in tandem arrangement subjected to uniform cross-flow are investigated. The analysis results of the tandem cylinders are presented and compared with an isolated flexible cylinder. Two flexible cylinders of the same size, properties, and pretensions were tested at four different centre-to-centre separation distances, namely, 2.75, 5.5, 8.25 and 11 diameters. Reynolds number range is from 1400 to 20000 (subcritical regime). The aspect ratio of the cylinders is 162 (length over diameter). Mass ratio (cylinders mass over displaced water) is 1.17. The amplitude ratio of the CF vibration of the downstream cylinder, IL deflections of both cylinders, frequency responses in both CF and inline (IL) directions were analyzed. For all the examined separation distances, the downstream cylinder does not show build-up of upper branch (within the lock-in region of the classical VIV of the isolated cylinder). The initial distance between the tandem cylinders cannot remain constant. The distance decreases with reduced velocity because of the unequal IL deflection of tandem cylinders. From the CF frequency response of the lift (transverse) force of downstream cylinder, the highest vibration amplitude at all the separation distances occurs whenever their frequencies transitioned into second modal value. The frequency responses of the upstream cylinder cannot be greatly affected by the downstream cylinder even for small separations in contrast to the downstream cylinder.

Fatigue Analysis of Free Spanning Pipelines Subjected to Vortex Induced Vibrations

Vortex induced vibration is a major cause of fatigue failure in submarine oil and gas pipelines and steel catenary risers. Even moderate currents can induce vortex shedding, alternately at the top and bottom of the pipeline, at a rate determined by the flow velocity. Each time a vortex sheds, a force is generated in both the in-line and cross-flow direction, causing an oscillatory multi-mode vibration. This vortex induced vibration can give rise to fatigue damage of submarine pipeline spans, especially in the vicinity of the girth welds. In this paper, an integrated numerical framework is presented to predict and identify free spans that may be vulnerable to fatigue damage caused by vortex induced vibrations (VIV). An elegant and efficient algorithm is introduced to simulate offshore pipeline installation on an uneven seabed. Once the laydown simulation has been completed, the free spans can be automatically detected. When the fatigue screening for both inline and cross-flow VIV indicates that a particular span may be prone to vortex induced vibrations, a detailed fatigue analysis is required. Amplitude response models are constructed to predict the maximum steady state VIV amplitudes for a given pipeline configuration (mechanical properties) and sea state (hydrodynamic parameters). The vibration amplitudes are translated into corresponding stress ranges, which then provide an input for the fatigue analysis. A case study from the offshore industry is presented, and sensitivity analyses are performed to study the influence of the seabed conditions, where special emphasis is devoted on the selection of pipe soil interaction parameters.

Map of Passive Turbulence Control to Flow-Induced Motions for a Circular Cylinder at 30,000

Passive turbulence control (PTC) in the form of two straight roughness strips with variable width, and thickness about equal to the boundary layer thickness, is used to modify the flow-induced motions (FIM) of a rigid circular cylinder. The cylinder is supported by two end-springs and the flow is in the TrSL3, high-lift, regime. The PTC-to-FIM Map, developed in previous work, revealed zones of weak suppression, strong suppression, hard galloping, and soft galloping. In this paper the sensitivity of the PTC-to-FIM Map to: (a) the width of PTC covering, (b) PTC covering a single or multiple zones, (c) PTC being straight or staggered is studied experimentally. Experiments are conducted in the Low Turbulence Free Surface Water Channel of the University of Michigan. Fixed parameters are: cylinder diameter D = 8.89cm, m* = 1.725, spring stiffness K = 763N/m, aspect ratio l/D = 10.29, and damping ratio ζ = 0.019. Variable parameters are: circumferential PTC location αPTC ∈ [0°−180°], Reynolds number Re ∈ [30,000–120,000], flow velocity U ∈ [0.36m/s–1.45m/s]. Measured quantities are: amplitude ratio A/D, frequency ratio fosc/fn,w, and synchronization range. As long as the roughness distribution is limited to remain within a zone, the width of the strips does not affect the FIM response. When multiple zones are covered, the strong suppression zone dominates the FIM.

An Experimental Investigation of Turbulent Drag Reduction in Concentric Annulus Using Particle Image Velocimetry Technique

Polymer drag reduction is investigated using the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique in fully developed turbulent flow through a horizontal flow loop with concentric annular geometry (inner to outer pipe radius ratio = 0.4). The polymer used was a commercially available partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (PHPA). The polymer concentration was varied from 0.07 to 0.12% V/V. The drag reduction is enhanced by increasing polymer concentration until the concentration reaches an optimum value. After that, the drag reduction is decreased with the increasing polymer concentration. Optimum concentration value of PHPA was found to be around 0.1% V/V. Experiments were conducted at solvent Reynolds numbers of 38700, 46700 and 56400. The percent drag reduction was found to be increasing with the increasing Reynolds number. The study was also focused on analyzing the mean flow and turbulence statistics for fully-turbulent flow using the velocity measurements acquired by PIV. Axial mean velocity profile was found to be following the universal wall law close to the wall (i.e., y+ <10), but it deviated from log law results with an increased slope in the logarithmic zone (i.e., y+ >30). In all cases of polymer application, the viscous sublayer (i.e., y+ <10) thickness was found to be higher than that of the water flow. Reynolds shear stress in the core flow region was found to be decreasing with the increase in polymer concentration.

Validation of CFD and Simplified Models With Experimental Data for Multiphase Flow in Bends

In this paper details of the measurement results of the forces on the bends in a 4″ setup are compared to two models. The first model is a simple analytical model and is used to estimate the forces. In the second model, CFD is used. In the experiments only resulting forces, including upstream and downstream bends and mechanical resonance and interaction is measured. The goal of the CFD was to discriminate between flow and mechanics and to evaluate the influence of a flow disturbance as a result of a bend on the force on a downstream second bend. For the simplified analytical model the amplitudes are underestimated, but the frequency spectra look very reasonable in case of the slug flow regime. The main advantage of the simplified analytical model is that the computational time is in the order of seconds, but the accuracy is still reasonable for the use in an engineering approach of determining the structural integrity of the complete pipe system. For the CFD the shape of the force function is similar to the experiments. The CFD results indicate that the forces on the second downstream bend are also measured on the first upstream bend. The accuracy of the CFD simulation is the advantage of this model, but the computational time is very long, especially if the multiphase flow simulation is coupled to the structural model.