Deepwater Drilling Riser and Flowline Engineering Course

Course Overview

This comprehensive professional development program is designed for Reservoir engineers, Managers in charge of offshore activities, Operation engineers, Project managers assigned offshore, Subsea engineers, Offshore installation engineers, Non-technicians in offshore activities organizations, Flowline engineers, Operations engineers and professionals, Maintenance engineers and technicians, Project engineers, Engineers from all disciplines who are new to the flowline industry, Managers and executives who are new to the flowline industry, SURFs engineers, Reliability engineers, and Flow assurance specialists responsible for implementing deepwater drilling riser and flowline engineering excellence across Arctic offshore pipe-in-pipe flowline design and installation and integrity management, VIV and fatigue life modeling and suppression technology for deepwater drilling risers, and DNV RP F105 free-span analysis and pipeline integrity management strategy in multi-organizational contexts. The program addresses proven practices in Arctic offshore PIP flowline design and construction, VIV and fatigue life assessment for deepwater drilling risers, and three-level DNV RP F105 free-span analysis for subsea pipeline integrity management where Pioneer Natural Resources developing the Oooguruk field in Harrison Bay on Alaska’s North Slope and installing a bundled PIP flowline system in winter 2007 that includes a 12-in × 16-in three-phase production flowline bundled with an 8-in water-injection line and 6-in gas lift and injection line and 2-in diesel fuel line and power and communications cables with the Oooguruk production flowline representing the first application of PIP flowline technology offshore Alaska addressing unique Arctic challenges including ice-gouging risk and shore-crossing design and the need for thermal insulation and a thermal monitoring system in extremely cold conditions, a 2025 peer-reviewed ocean engineering study modeling the VIV response and fatigue life of a deepwater drilling riser using coupled equations from the Van der Pol wake oscillator model solved by the central finite-difference method and confirming that risers experience multi-modal VIV combining standing and travelling waves and that higher current velocities and larger outer diameters significantly increase fatigue damage and that increasing top tension extends fatigue life by reducing peak RMS displacement with helical strakes and fairings confirmed effective VIV suppression devices, and Nurul Hadi and Muhammad Helmi and Edo Cathaputra and Dedi Priadi and Donanta Dhaneswara from Universitas Indonesia and PT Wiyasa Energi Nusantara publishing in the Journal of Materials Exploration and Findings a three-level free-span analysis methodology following DNVGL RP F105 showing that detailed Level 2 fatigue analysis using DNV FatFree software and Level 3 three-dimensional FEA reduce the number of required rectifications and extend time windows before intervention and enable proactive rather than reactive repair planning compared to conservative Level 1 screening alone.

The curriculum integrates Overview of Deepwater Drilling Riser, Design of Deepwater Risers, Analysis and Risk Assessment of Deepwater Drilling Riser, Fundamentals of Drilling Risers, Installation of Deepwater Risers, Types of Flowlines, Overview of Flowline Engineering, Considerations for Flowline Design, Flowline Installation and Inspection and Integrity Management, Flowline Connector, Commissioning of Flowlines, Industry Case Studies, Riser Joint Construction, and Alternatives to Standard Deepwater Drilling Risers to provide comprehensive coverage of deepwater riser and flowline engineering principles, VIV and fatigue assessment and suppression methodologies, and flowline integrity management and free-span analysis and ROV connector operation integration domains for achieving deepwater drilling riser and flowline engineering excellence.

Why This Course Is Required?

Arctic offshore PIP flowline design and construction represent critical competencies where Duane DeGeer of INTECSEA confirmed that the Oooguruk flowline system in less than seven feet of water at the mouth of the eastern distributary of the largest river drainage system on the Alaskan North Slope presented unique loading conditions and thermal interactions imposing additional design requirements to integrate with solutions for more conventional arctic conditions, and that the primary loading conditions to be considered in the design and construction of offshore arctic pipeline and subsea systems include ice gouging or scour and upheaval buckling and permafrost thaw settlement and frost heave and strudel scour with ice gouging or scour being the most significant and most unpredictable environmental loading condition and the accepted solution being to bury the line deeper than the maximum gouge depth expected over the design life of the pipeline. VIV and fatigue life assessment for deepwater drilling risers demands specialized knowledge where the Van der Pol wake oscillator model study confirmed that when the vortex shedding frequency approaches the natural frequency of the riser synchronization or lock-in may take place increasing the riser response amplitude and creating cyclic load that could damage the pipe wall and lead to failure and that VIV can occur in two directions of oscillation in-line with the velocity vector and oscillation perpendicular to the velocity vector with the riser exhibiting multi-modal VIV responses combining standing and travelling waves. Three-level DNV RP F105 free-span analysis for subsea pipeline integrity management requires professionals with flowline integrity expertise where Hadi et al. confirmed that free spans can occur when contact between a subsea pipeline and the seabed is lost over an excessive distance and that when this exceeds the allowable free span length design stresses can be exceeded and a VIV response can be initiated resulting in the risk of fatigue failure with pipeline integrity management strategy playing an important role and that if VIV is not predicted and controlled properly it will affect pipeline integrity leading to expensive rectification and intervention works.

Deepwater drilling riser and flowline engineering professionals must master deepwater drilling riser overview fundamentals including background and components of deepwater drilling riser and categories of drilling risers including marine drilling risers and tie-back drilling risers and riser analysis and factors affecting deepwater drilling riser integrity, understand comprehensive riser design and analysis and risk assessment and fundamentals frameworks including design codes and VIV and wave fatigue and flexible risers and flowlines and hybrid risers and drilling risers and risk factors and drilling riser risk models and case studies and analysis of global riser and analysis of dynamic riser and riser selection and designs and drilling and completion risers and top tension risers and flexible risers and management and care and maintenance and supervision and inspection of risers and phases of installation including drilling riser installation and completion riser installation and production riser installation and subsea flowline and offshore flowline and flowline design process and flow assurance and pipeline sizing considerations and routing of flowlines, and apply proper flowline design and installation and integrity management and connector and commissioning and riser joint construction and alternatives methods including temperature and pressure of flowlines and flowline design code and mechanical strength and flowline routing and flowline materials and flowline expansion loops and flowline hook-ups and flowline installation and integrity and maintenance of flowlines Umbilical Risers Flowlines SURF and role of inspection in safeguarding assets and ROV operated manual connectors and hydraulic connectors with integral hydraulics and mechanical connectors with hydraulic actuators and requirements before commissioning and critical issues in commissioning and development and small-scale testing and Free Standing Drilling Riser and Artificial Buoyant Seabed drilling solution and Subsea Mudlift Drilling to ensure organizations achieve superior Arctic PIP flowline design and installation and enhanced VIV fatigue life assessment and suppression and improved DNV RP F105 free-span analysis and competitive advantage through continuous integrity monitoring and ROV inspection and risk-based assessment governance protocols.

Research demonstrates training is crucial for success, with the Oooguruk Arctic flowline case showing that engineers who understand PIP design and route selection and shore-crossing challenges and ice-gouging risk and flowline bundle installation can contribute to technically complex first-of-kind offshore projects in extreme environments with by studying flowline design considerations and materials and installation phases and commissioning requirements professionals gaining the broad technical foundation needed to take on demanding and high-value engineering roles, while the VIV and fatigue life study demonstrating that riser engineers who can model multi-modal VIV responses and assess fatigue life under varying current velocities and specify appropriate suppression devices such as strakes and fairings are essential to ensuring the long-term structural integrity of deepwater drilling risers with the course’s modules on riser design and VIV and wave fatigue and riser analysis building the theoretical and practical understanding to make these engineering decisions, and the free-span integrity study showing that subsea engineers who can perform credible free-span screening and fatigue assessments using industry-accepted standards reduce unnecessary intervention costs and demonstrate regulatory compliance adding direct financial and safety value to their organization.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion, participants will have demonstrated mastery of:

• Enlightening technical and non-technical staff on the procedures in deepwater drilling and flowline engineering
• Maximizing the profit of the company by enhancing the knowledge of workers about the design, installation, inspection, and repair of flowlines
• Understanding flowline maintenance and integrity management including Pipeline Integrity Management strategy for free-span VIV fatigue prevention
• Understanding how flowlines are designed and the challenges of flowline installation including Arctic-specific challenges of ice gouging and upheaval buckling and strudel scour​
• Understanding key concepts relating to flowline engineering including flowline manifold and flowline routing and flowline connectors including ROV operated and hydraulic and mechanical connector types
• Learning about flowline integrity management through three-level free-span analysis following DNVGL RP F105 including Level 1 screening and Level 2 FatFree fatigue analysis and Level 3 FEA
• Understanding how flowlines and systems are connected to floating facilities including SURF umbilical riser and flowline systems
• Applying VIV and wave fatigue design codes and specifying helical strakes and fairings as VIV suppression devices to extend riser fatigue life​
• Applying integrated Arctic PIP flowline design principles including strain-based design for permafrost thaw settlement and frost heave and thermal monitoring system interpretation to manage ice-gouging and strudel-scour risks throughout the flowline operating life.
• Using Van der Pol wake oscillator modeling concepts and top tension management and suppression device selection criteria to assess multi-modal VIV fatigue damage accumulation and make quantitative riser integrity decisions under varying deepwater current conditions.

Master deepwater drilling riser and flowline engineering excellence and drive Arctic PIP flowline integrity and VIV fatigue management success. Enroll today to become a Certified Deepwater Drilling Riser and Flowline Engineering Professional!

Training Methodology

This Deepwater Drilling Riser and Flowline Engineering Course comprises the following training methods:

The training framework includes:

• Expert-led sessions delivered by professionals from the relevant domain using video presentations and seminars covering deepwater riser and flowline design codes and analysis methods
• Quizzes and snap test assessments reinforcing understanding of VIV theory and DNV RP F105 free-span screening criteria and Arctic flowline design requirements
• Group work sessions developing team-based solutions to riser analysis and flowline integrity challenges
• Constant communication between professionals undertaking the training and the trainees to ensure applied learning
• Industry Case Studies including Oooguruk Offshore Arctic Flowline Design and Construction and Free-Span Remediation Studies for the K2 Pipe-in-Pipe Flowlines 2006 and DNV RP F105 three-level free-span analysis application

This immersive approach fosters practical skill development and real-world application of deepwater drilling riser and flowline engineering principles through comprehensive coverage of riser overview and design and analysis and risk assessment and fundamentals and installation and flowline types and engineering overview and design considerations and installation and inspection and integrity and connectors and commissioning and case studies and riser joint construction and riser alternatives domains with emphasis on measurable riser fatigue-life extension and free-span rectification reduction and PIP flowline integrity improvement.

This program follows the Do-Review-Learn-Apply model, creating a structured learning journey that transforms traditional offshore riser and flowline engineering approaches into professional deepwater drilling riser and flowline engineering excellence.

Who Should Attend?

This Deepwater Drilling Riser and Flowline Engineering Course is designed for:

• Reservoir engineers and operation engineers and project managers assigned offshore
• Subsea engineers and offshore installation engineers and flowline engineers
• Managers in charge of offshore activities and non-technicians in offshore activities organizations
• Operations engineers and professionals and maintenance engineers and technicians
• Project engineers and engineers from all disciplines who are new to the flowline industry
• Managers and executives who are new to the flowline industry
• SURFs engineers and reliability engineers and flow assurance specialists

Organizational Benefits

Organizations implementing deepwater drilling riser and flowline engineering training will benefit through:

• Significantly enhanced Arctic offshore PIP flowline design and installation capability through comprehensive training delivering measurable returns where DeGeer confirmed that using PIP flowlines on both the Oooguruk and Nikaitchuq bundles allows for double containment and an annulus in which insulation including vacuum or other can be used and in addition a thermal monitoring system can detect operational thermal changes as well as thermal changes from pipe exposed to cooler seawater possibly signaling an issue with upheaval buckling or strudel scour, with the article confirming that analysis and design of the flowline system must consider design and operation aspects in an integrated manner directly reflecting the course’s modules on flowline design installation and integrity management​
• Better VIV and fatigue life assessment and suppression technology capability through the Van der Pol wake oscillator model study confirming that the riser exhibits multi-modal VIV responses combining standing and travelling waves and that higher current velocities and larger outer diameters significantly increase fatigue damage and that increasing top tension extends fatigue life by reducing peak RMS displacement with helical strakes and fairings confirmed effective VIV suppression devices, with organizations benefiting from personnel who can model multi-modal VIV responses and assess fatigue life under varying current velocities and specify appropriate suppression devices to ensure the long-term structural integrity of deepwater drilling risers validating course content​
• Improved DNV RP F105 free-span analysis and subsea pipeline integrity management strategy through Hadi et al. confirming that detailed Level 2 fatigue analysis using DNV FatFree software calculating expected fatigue life caused by in-line and cross-flow VIV and Level 3 three-dimensional FEA using non-linear FEA in-place pipeline models matching simulated pipe and seabed configuration with ROV survey data reduce the number of required rectifications and extend time windows before intervention and enable proactive repair planning compared to conservative Level 1 screening alone, with the free-span rectification and protection methods including trenching and backfilling and gravel dumping and concrete mattresses and grout bag installation being costly and the detailed analysis directly reducing intervention costs
• Strengthened competitive advantage through equipping personnel on the fundamentals of engaging in offshore engineering ensuring safe practices and eliminating or reducing organizational losses and enabling the organization to carry out due diligence and proper risk assessment before undertaking offshore processes and improving the service life of flowline projects and effectively managing the maintenance and operations expense of flowline projects and ensuring a reduction in the organization’s environmental and business hazards

Studies show that organizations implementing comprehensive deepwater drilling riser and flowline engineering training achieve significantly enhanced delivery outcomes as research confirms DeGeer’s documentation that arctic offshore pipeline design proficiency has progressed steadily since the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo with engineers developing new design processes and introducing pioneering construction methods and developing first-in-class subsea solutions and that subsea tiebacks now exceed 100 km in length offering possible arctic subsea completions without a permanent host structure with all-electric subsea technology and full subsea separation and water re-injection and seafloor chemical storage and injection and gas re-injection technical advancements having made possible full subsea completions in the Arctic reinforcing the course’s emphasis on flowline design codes and installation and integrity management and commissioning and riser alternatives, better organizational outcomes through VIV fatigue life study evidence confirming that increasing top tension reduces peak RMS displacement and extends riser fatigue life and that modifying flow-velocity profile coefficients reduces the dominant VIV mode order confirming the organizational value of training professionals in riser design and VIV and wave fatigue and analysis, and improved competitive positioning as the DNV RP F105 free-span analysis study confirms that an effective free-span management strategy will ensure long-term pipeline stability and reduce risks of failure due to free spanning with organizations benefiting from personnel who understand Level 1 screening and Level 2 FatFree fatigue analysis and Level 3 FEA and free-span rectification methods.

Empower your organization with deepwater drilling riser and flowline engineering expertise. Enroll your team today and see the transformation in Arctic PIP flowline integrity and VIV fatigue management and free-span analysis excellence!

Personal Benefits

Professionals implementing deepwater drilling riser and flowline engineering training will benefit through:

• Deeper understanding of Arctic offshore PIP flowline design mastery and installation value-addition through the Oooguruk case showing that engineers who understand PIP design and route selection and shore-crossing challenges and ice-gouging risk and flowline bundle installation can contribute to technically complex first-of-kind offshore projects in extreme environments, with by studying flowline design considerations and materials and installation phases and commissioning requirements professionals gaining the broad technical foundation needed to take on demanding and high-value engineering roles​
• Enhanced VIV and fatigue life modeling mastery and riser-integrity value-addition through the Van der Pol wake oscillator study demonstrating that riser engineers who can model multi-modal VIV responses and assess fatigue life under varying current velocities and specify appropriate suppression devices such as strakes and fairings are essential to ensuring the long-term structural integrity of deepwater drilling risers, with the course’s modules on riser design and VIV and wave fatigue and riser analysis building the theoretical and practical understanding to make these engineering decisions and manage riser integrity throughout its operating life​
• Stronger DNV RP F105 free-span analysis mastery and integrity-management value-addition through the Hadi et al. study showing that subsea engineers who can perform credible free-span screening and fatigue assessments using industry-accepted standards reduce unnecessary intervention costs and demonstrate regulatory compliance adding direct financial and safety value to their organization, with the course’s focus on flowline integrity and maintenance and inspection and ROV-based intervention and connector operations developing these skills and preparing professionals to lead or support similar assessment and remediation programs
• Advanced expertise in deepwater riser and flowline engineering principles, VIV and fatigue assessment and suppression methodologies, and flowline integrity management and free-span analysis and ROV connector operation integration domains
• Enhanced career prospects and marketability in deepwater riser engineering, subsea flowline design, Arctic offshore engineering, flowline integrity management, SURF engineering, and flow assurance sectors with professionals gaining skills in Van der Pol VIV modeling, DNV RP F105 Level 1-3 free-span analysis, PIP flowline Arctic design, ROV connector operations, and FEA-based fatigue life assessment
• Comprehensive understanding of the complex nature of design and operation of the deepwater drilling riser and improved know-how regarding the various methods of riser analysis
• Awareness of the various health hazards and environmental pollution and accidents as well as the overall risk that deepwater drilling encompasses thereby ingraining safe practices and the zeal to carry out due diligence before engaging in deepwater drilling
• Thorough comprehension and effective management of the possible challenges or obstacles during their organizations’ development of flowline projects

Course Outline

Module 1: Overview of Deepwater Drilling Riser

• Background
• Components of Deepwater Drilling Riser
• Categories of Drilling Risers
  • Marine drilling risers
  • Tie-back drilling risers
• Riser Analysis
• Factors Affecting Deepwater Drilling Riser Integrity
• Water depth effects on riser design and behaviour
• Riser failure modes and consequence classification

Module 2: Design of Deepwater Risers

• Design codes
• VIV and Wave Fatigue of Risers
• Flexible Risers and Flowlines
• Hybrid Risers
• Drilling Risers
• Top tension requirements and fatigue life extension
• Helical strakes and fairings as VIV suppression devices

Module 3: Analysis and Risk Assessment of Deepwater Drilling Riser

• Risk factors
• Drilling Riser Risk Models
• Case studies
• Analysis of Global Riser
• Analysis of Dynamic Riser
• Multi-modal VIV response combining standing and travelling waves
• Van der Pol wake oscillator model application

Module 4: Fundamentals of Drilling Risers

• Riser selection and Designs
• Drilling and completion risers
• Top tension risers
• Flexible risers
• Management, Care, Maintenance, Supervision and Inspection of Risers
• Riser tensioner systems and heave compensation
• Inspection intervals and condition monitoring methods

Module 5: Installation of Deepwater Risers

• Phases of installation
  • Drilling Riser Installation
  • Completion Riser Installation
  • Production Riser Installation
• Installation vessel and equipment selection criteria
• Riser running procedures and make-up torque requirements

Module 6: Types of Flowlines

• Subsea flowline
• Offshore flowline
• Pipe-in-pipe versus single-pipe flowline selection
• Bundled flowline system configuration and benefits

Module 7: Overview of Flowline Engineering

• Flowline design process
• Flow assurance
• Pipeline sizing considerations
• Routing of flowlines
• Hydrate and wax management in flowline design
• Seabed survey requirements for route selection

Module 8: Considerations for Flowline Design

• Temperature and Pressure of flowlines
• Flowline design code
• Mechanical strength
• Flowline Routing
• Flowline materials
• Flowline expansion loops
• Flowline hook-ups
• Flowline installation
• Arctic loading conditions including ice gouging and strudel scour
• Strain-based design for permafrost thaw and frost heave

Module 9: Flowline Installation, Inspection and Integrity Management

• Integrity and Maintenance of flowlines Umbilical, Risers, Flowlines (SURF)
• Role of inspection in safeguarding assets
• DNV RP F105 Level 1-3 free-span analysis methodology
• Free-span rectification methods including trenching and grout bags

Module 10: Flowline Connector

• ROV operated manual connectors
• Hydraulic connectors with integral hydraulics
• Mechanical connectors with hydraulic actuators
• Connector qualification testing and pressure rating requirements
• ROV tooling interface and operational depth considerations

Module 11: Commissioning of Flowlines

• Requirements that must be satisfied before commissioning
• Critical issues in commissioning a flowline
• Flooding, pigging, and hydrotesting procedures
• Pre-commissioning documentation and acceptance criteria

Module 12: Industry Case Studies

• Oooguruk Offshore Arctic Flowline Design and Construction
• Free-Span Remediation Studies for the K2 Pipe-In-Pipe Flowlines, 2006
• Lessons learned from Arctic PIP thermal monitoring performance
• Free-span intervention cost reduction through detailed fatigue analysis

Module 13: Riser Joint Construction

• Development
• Small-scale testing
• Material selection and weld procedure qualification
• Fatigue testing and joint acceptance criteria

Module 14: Alternatives to Standard Deepwater Drilling Risers

• Free Standing Drilling Riser (FSDR)
• Artificial Buoyant Seabed (ABS) Drilling Solution
• Subsea Mudlift Drilling (SMD)
• Application conditions favouring each riser alternative
• Operational advantages and limitations of riserless drilling

Real World Examples

Oooguruk Arctic flowline system – First PIP flowline technology offshore Alaska

Implementation: Duane DeGeer of INTECSEA documented that the second subsea arctic production pipeline to be installed was at the Oooguruk field about 6 mi offshore Alaska in the Beaufort Sea near the Colville River delta with the Oooguruk flowline system installed in the winter of early 2007 consisting of a three-phase 12-in × 16-in pipe-in-pipe production flowline bundled with an 8-in water-injection line and 6-in gas lift and injection line and 2-in diesel fuel line and power and communications cables with the location in less than seven feet of water at the mouth of the eastern distributary of the largest river drainage system on the Alaskan North Slope presenting unique loading conditions and thermal interactions imposing additional design requirements to integrate with solutions for more conventional arctic conditions. The primary loading conditions considered in the design included ice gouging or scour as the most significant and most unpredictable environmental loading condition with the accepted solution being to bury the line deeper than the maximum gouge depth expected over the design life of the pipeline, and upheaval buckling potential caused by differences between installation and operating temperatures influenced by careful selection of burial depth, and permafrost thaw settlement and frost heave potentially imposing long-term displacement-controlled bending on a subsea pipeline straining it outside the elastic limit into the plastic region of material deformation thus necessitating strain-based design, and strudel scour occurring in early spring if seasonal river outflows precede the thawing of winter sea ice with fugitive heat dissipation from a subsea flowline in shallow water potentially preventing ice above the line from becoming as thick during winter. Using PIP flowlines on the Oooguruk bundle allowed for double containment and an annulus in which insulation including vacuum or other could be used with in addition a thermal monitoring system detecting operational thermal changes as well as thermal changes from pipe exposed to cooler seawater possibly signaling an issue with upheaval buckling or strudel scour requiring analysis and design of the flowline system to consider these design and operation aspects in an integrated manner with the Oooguruk production flowline representing the first application of PIP flowline technology offshore Alaska and a landmark reference for the course’s case study module on Arctic flowline design and construction and routing as well as the broader modules on flowline design codes and installation and commissioning.​

Results: DeGeer confirmed that as understanding of the unique loading conditions of the Arctic develops and subsea equipment reliability and performance advances and computational expertise in flow assurance and system operability improves other arctic development concepts are becoming possible with subsea tiebacks now exceeding 100 km in length offering possible arctic subsea completions without a permanent host structure and all-electric subsea technology and full subsea separation and water re-injection and seafloor chemical storage and injection and gas re-injection technical advancements having made possible the concept of full subsea completions in the Arctic. Results confirmed that advancements in trenching and dredging methods and equipment make it possible to consider fast and efficient pipeline trenching operations and glory hole excavations in as much as 150 m of water depth and that development of cost-effective mechanical protection of subsea equipment also progresses providing an economical compromise between glory hole dredging and structural resistance to iceberg scour illustrating how engineers who understand PIP flowline design and Arctic loading conditions and integrity monitoring can contribute to high-value technically complex offshore projects exactly the kind of competence this course builds through its modules on flowline design considerations and materials and installation phases and commissioning requirements.​

VIV and fatigue life of deepwater drilling risers – Van der Pol wake oscillator model study

Implementation: A 2025 peer-reviewed ocean engineering study modeled the VIV response and fatigue life of a deepwater drilling riser using coupled equations from the Van der Pol wake oscillator model solved by the central finite-difference method, confirming that VIV can occur in two directions of oscillation in-line with the velocity vector and oscillation perpendicular to the velocity vector and that when the vortex shedding frequency approaches the natural frequency of the riser synchronization or lock-in may take place increasing the riser response amplitude and creating cyclic load that could damage the pipe wall and lead to failure. The study confirmed that risers experience multi-modal VIV responses combining standing and travelling waves with the frequency at which vortices are shed depending on the velocity of the flow and the pipe diameter and the pipeline beginning to vibrate after the natural frequency of the span is reached by the shedding frequency produced by the initiating flow creating a resonant condition that causes oscillation which can rapidly accumulate fatigue damage in the riser. Results demonstrated that higher current velocities and larger outer diameters significantly increase fatigue damage and that increasing top tension extends fatigue life by reducing peak RMS displacement and that modifying flow-velocity profile coefficients reduces the dominant VIV mode order thereby further extending riser fatigue life, with helical strakes and fairings confirmed as effective VIV suppression devices directly supporting the VIV and wave fatigue and riser design and analysis content in the course’s Modules 2 and 3.​

Results: The Van der Pol wake oscillator model study confirmed that multi-modal VIV combining standing and travelling waves represents the real behavior of deepwater drilling risers and that top tension management and VIV suppression device selection including helical strakes and fairings are the primary engineering controls available to extend riser fatigue life, with the study’s modeling of peak RMS displacement reduction through top tension increase and flow-velocity profile coefficient modification providing a quantitative basis for riser design decisions. Results confirmed that riser engineers who can model multi-modal VIV responses and assess fatigue life under varying current velocities and specify appropriate suppression devices are essential to ensuring the long-term structural integrity of deepwater drilling risers, illustrating exactly the theoretical and practical understanding this course builds through its modules on riser design and VIV and wave fatigue and riser analysis to make engineering decisions and manage riser integrity throughout its operating life.​

Be inspired by leading deepwater drilling riser and flowline engineering achievements. Register now to build the skills your organization needs for Arctic PIP flowline integrity and VIV fatigue management and DNV RP F105 free-span analysis excellence!