A NEW TOP CONNECTION SYSTEM FOR STEEL CATENARY RISERS

PETROBRAS has been developing several studies in order to verify the structural feasibility of SCRs connected to production units such as FPSOs, semi-submersible and monocolumn platforms. Due to the great stresses developed at the top region as a consequence of the platforms rotation movements, robust stress joints or flex joints are always required to connect the SCRs to the platforms However. those components may add high costs to any project, mainly where titanium is required. In attempt to avoid this fact, the objective of this work is to present a new top connection system called "Suspender". This system is composed by the SCR, a mooring line segment, a flexible jumper and a "Y" shaped steel connector, and has the advantage of reducing the transmission of bending moments from the platform to the SCR. The performance of this alternative was compared to a more conventional one, composed by a SCR and a flex joint, and the obtained results indicate that this new system reduces the maximum stresses at the top region without changing the SCR behavior at the TDZ. It is also possible to extend the fatigue life by changing the SCR configuration.