When CANMAR designed and built its first bottom-founded steel structure for the Beaufort Sea in the early 1980's, the best design methods available at that time were used. Over the years, it became apparent that this approach, while highly efficient for temperate zone structures, was conservative when applied to steel platforms intended for use in ice-infested waters. The degree of conservatism proved difficult to estimete and impossible to verify by theooretical or finite element methods. After due consideration, the company set the scope for, and funded, a major full-scale and partial-scale testing program. The results of this program proved that steel weight savings of 25 to 30 % are possible. When increased ease of construction is combined with these weight savings, the total cost savings for tzhe basic structure exceed 30 %. This technology is now being applied to the design of a gravity-based structure for fields in iceberg-infested waters on the Grand banks of Newfoundland. When combined with the current knowledge of iceberg-structure interaction, such a concept is an attractive option. Details of a Stepped Steel Gravity Platform designed for iceberg impact in water depths around 100 m are presented here. Thos concept contrasts with the present philosophy of designing floating production systems for the region, which resulted in part from the high capital costs of the Hibernia concrete gravity-based platform to be installed in 80 m of water in 1997.
Steel gravity-based structures for iceberg-infested waters
Schwerkraftbasierte Stahlkonstruktionen für eisbergverseuchte Offshore Gebiete
1997
15 Seiten, 25 Bilder, 3 Tabellen, 6 Quellen
Conference paper
English
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