Review of the risk assessment of buoyancy loss (RABL) project
This report presents a review of the Norwegian 'Risk Assessment of Buoyancy Loss' (RABL) project, completed in 1988. RABL was undertaken in the aftermath of the Alexander L. Kielland and Ocean Ranger accidents. RABL's stated purpose was to investigate causes of loss of buoyancy of semisubmersible drilling platforms, with the overall objective of developing an analytical procedure for consideration of buoyancy loss. This procedure was intended to be analogous to guidelines applied to fixed platforms in Norwegian waters. RABL demonstrated that it is practical to carry out a risk assessment of buoyancy loss for semisubmersibles. The RABL methodology and procedure were considered to be robust and sensitive to differences between concepts, and RABL recommended that the new analysis methodology should be used to assess safety levels for new platform designs, or for existing platforms subject to changes in operational premises. This report and the work it describes were funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy. ISBN 0 7176 2729 2 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. iv v EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report presents a review of the Norwegian 'Risk Assessment of Buoyancy Loss' (RABL) project, completed in 1988. RABL was undertaken in the aftermath of the Alexander L. Kielland and Ocean Ranger accidents. RABL's stated purpose was to investigate causes of loss of buoyancy of semi-submersible drilling platforms, with the overall objective of developing an analytical procedure for consideration of buoyancy loss. This procedure was intended to be analogous to guidelines applied to fixed platforms in Norwegian waters. RABL demonstrated that it is practical to carry out a risk assessment of buoyancy loss for semi-submersibles. The RABL methodology and procedure were considered to be robust and sensitive to differences between concepts, and RABL recommended that the new analysis methodology should be used to assess safety levels for new platform designs, or for existing platforms subject to changes in operational premises. RABL found that the main hazards were ship collisions, ballast system failures and blowouts. Technical recommendations were made on each of these aspects. RABL concluded that upper-deck reserve buoyancy (as required by NMD) provides …
Concepção otimizada de semi-submersíveis visando oscilações verticais mínimas sob excitação de ondas.
HOSAAS, A.. Semi-submersible optimized conception aiming minimum heave under sea waves excitation. 2007. Dissertation, M. Sc.. Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (EPUSP), São Paulo, 2007. Semi-submersible platforms, which are used as floating structures for oil production and exploration in deep waters, have their geometry composed basically of totally submerged horizontal elements (pontoons), the deck, and vertical elements that cross the free surface, these latter linking the pontoons to the deck. This geometry is efficient for keeping the oscillations due to wave excitation at small levels, specially the heave, as well to provide floatation, deck area and static stability compatible to the platform’s mission. In the present work, rather simplified models are applied for the representation of the geometric characteristics and of the other above mentioned attributes. In fact, pontoons and columns are represented by cylinders, and oscillations due to waves are determined by a formulation similar to Morison’s equation. These models take part in an optimization process for the determination of the main dimensions and proportions that satisfy certain requirements concerning weight, deck area, static stability and the heave. Numerical results for the oscillations due to waves are compared to experimental data obtained for scaled platforms tested in the wave channel of the Naval and Oceanic Engineering Laboratory of EPUSP, leading to reasonable approximations. The optimization process is applied to some cases described in the Literature, leading to results compatible with the published ones, but with the advantage of the simplicity of the analytic-numerical models here adopted.
Morpho-biometric Relationship, Relative Condition Factor and Meat Yield of Distant Scallop Bractechlamys vexillum (Reeve, 1853) in Asid Gulf, Philippines
Understanding the relationships of morphometric and biometric characters of a species allows the prediction of one trait from the other and generate a measure of relative condition. These relationships were studied for the Distant scallop Bratechlamys vexillum (Reeve, 1853) in Asid Gulf. Representative samples collected during the dry season (May 2018, n = 99) and wet season (September 2018, n = 100) were used to analyse these relationships through models of simple linear and power regression analyses, revealing allometric growth patterns. For both periods, it was revealed that shell width (SW) is a slightly better predictor than the height (SH) for total weight (TW) (R2 = 0.90 and 0.92) and the adductor muscle weight (AW) (R2 = 0.78 and 0.80). The strong functional relationship was also observed between TW and AW (R2 = 0.80 and 0.81). The relative condition factors (Kn) were high in both seasons. High meat yields were also observed in May (12.77 %) and September (14.26 %). The significant difference in meat yields (P < 0.05) can be a result of the seasonal difference manifested by the dynamics of energy partitioning during gametogenesis and spawning. These biological metrics are vital inputs in analysing mariculture prospects for the resource and a contribution to the scarce information on the biology of the species.