Structural Reliability treats uncertainties in structural design systematically, evaluating the levels of safety and serviceability of structures. During the past decades, it has been established as a valuable design tool for the description of the performance of structures, and lately stands as a basis in the background of the most of the modern design standards, aiming to achieve a uniform behaviour within a class of structures. Several methods have been proposed for the estimation of structural reliability, both deterministic (FORM and SORM) and stochastic (Monte Carlo Simulation etc) in nature. Offshore structures should resist complicated and, in most cases, combined environmental phenomena of greatly uncertain magnitude (eg. wind, wave, current, operational loads etc). Failure mechanisms of structural systems and components are expressed through limit state functions, which distinguish a failure and a safe region of operation. For a jacket offshore structure, which comprises of multiple tubular members interconnected in a three dimensional truss configuration, the limit state function should link the actual load or load combination acting on it locally, to the response of each structural member. Cont/d.

Marine bioeroders, borers, and burrowers can have drastic effects to marine habitats and facilities. By physically altering the structure of marine habitats, these organisms may elicit ecosystem-level effects that cascade through the community. While borer damage is typically restricted to a few substratum types, burrowing isopods in the genus Sphaeroma attack a diversity of substrata in tropical and temperate systems. My dissertation examined how boring sphaeromatid isopods affect coastal habitats (saltmarshes, mangroves) and other estuarine substrata as well as marine structures. I used a combination of lab and mensurative field experiments to quantify the effects of boring by isopods and examine how select factors affect the colonization, hence burrowing damage by isopods. I explored these questions primarily using the temperate boring sphaeromatid, Sphaeroma quoianum, as a model organism. My initial lab experiments quantified the per capita erosion rates of S. quoianum in four commonly attacked estuarine substrata. I found marsh banks and Styrofoam substrata were the most affected per capita. I supplemented this lab experiment with a year-long mensurative field experiment examining how erosion rates differ between marshes infested and uninfested by boring isopods. Marshes infested with isopods eroded 300% faster than uninfested marshes. I further examined the boring effects on Styrofoam floats. I compiled surveys and observations and conducted a short experiment to describe how isopods affect Styrofoam floats used in floating docks. I observed dense colonies of isopods attacking floats and expelling millions of plastic particles in the ocean. The boring effects to simulated Styrofoam floats were also affected by seawater temperature. Burrowing effects in Styrofoam floats exhibited a curvilinear relationship with temperature and peaked around 18°C. These results suggest a 1-2°C increase in water temperature could increase boring effects 5-17% of populations of isopods in Oregon and California bays. To examine the small-scale factors that mediate colonization and boring, I conducted a series of binary choice experiments. I found the presence of conspecifics, biofilm, and shade were important factors influencing colonization. These small scale factors likely explain why isopod attack is focused in some substrata. Finally, to examine the boring effects of tropical isopods in mangroves, I examined the associations between burrowing by S. terebrans and mangrove performance and fecundity. I found negative relationships between boring effects and performance and fecundity in two mangrove species in a restored mangrove stand in Taiwan. Together, these studies elucidate the effects of bioerosive isopods on saltmarshes, mangroves, and marine structures. However, the similar mechanisms involved in bioerosion in other boring species suggest that these results can be used to infer similar effects of other borers. In addition, since many species of sphaeromatid isopods have been introduced, this research shows how the effects of a non-native bioeroder can damage marine facilities and degrade and alter marine habitats. Through biological erosion and thus changing the physical structure of a marine habitat these non-native species can have ecosystem-level effects that cascade throughout the local community.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; and, (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1980. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Bibliography: leaves 124-127. / by Enrique J. Laya. / M.S.

No description available.

Structural Reliability treats uncertainties in structural design systematically, evaluating the levels of safety and serviceability of structures. During the past decades, it has been established as a valuable design tool for the description of the performance of structures, and lately stands as a basis in the background of the most of the modern design standards, aiming to achieve a uniform behaviour within a class of structures. Several methods have been proposed for the estimation of structural reliability, both deterministic (FORM and SORM) and stochastic (Monte Carlo Simulation etc) in nature. Offshore structures should resist complicated and, in most cases, combined environmental phenomena of greatly uncertain magnitude (eg. wind, wave, current, operational loads etc). Failure mechanisms of structural systems and components are expressed through limit state functions, which distinguish a failure and a safe region of operation. For a jacket offshore structure, which comprises of multiple tubular members interconnected in a three dimensional truss configuration, the limit state function should link the actual load or load combination acting on it locally, to the response of each structural member. Cont/d.

Mais recentemente a exploração offshore de petróleo e gás tem se intensificado na costa brasileira. Uma das características da exploração offshore no Brasil está ligada ao fato de os hidrocarbonetos se situarem a grandes profundidades no mar, frequentemente abaixo de uma espessa camada de sal, exigindo o desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias para vencer os desafios para sua prospecção e extração. A profundidade dos poços pode variar entre dois mil e sete mil metros abaixo da superfície do mar. Um dos grandes desafios é garantir uma boa conexão dos equipamentos de extração com a unidade de produção na superfície, o que se faz com risers. Há distintas configurações de risers, entre as quais os verticais, em catenária, lazy waves ou steep waves, sendo que o riser em catenária e o vertical, em particular, serão estudados aqui. Este trabalho visa a estudar os efeitos dinâmicos não lineares no riser, que, por ser extremamente esbelto, exige a consideração da não linearidade geométrica. Entre eles, destaca-se a possibilidade de ocorrência da ressonância paramétrica. Os carregamentos dinâmicos podem ser provenientes da movimentação da unidade flutuante, correntezas ou escoamento interno. Neste trabalho serão elaborados modelos em elementos finitos, utilizando o software Abaqus, que possui mais recursos que a maioria dos softwares comerciais para as análises que se pretende realizar. Esses modelos simularão inicialmente a configuração de equilíbrio estático do riser e posteriormente serão adicionados os carregamentos dinâmicos. Na representação do encontro do riser com o solo no fundo do mar, serão utilizados elementos de contato elásticos. Pretende-se discutir a viabilidade e as limitações no uso de programas generalistas de análise estrutural pelo método dos elementos finitos, no confronto com programas dedicados, e ainda comparando os resultados obtidos com aqueles que decorrem de soluções analíticas, ou experimentais, quando disponíveis. / More recently the offshore oil and gas exploitation has being intensified on the Brazilian coast. One of the characteristics of offshore exploitation in Brazil is linked to the fact that hydrocarbons are located at great depths under the sea bed, often below a thick layer of salt, requiring the development of new technologies to meet these challenges. The depth of the wells can vary between 2,000 and 7,000 meters below the sea surface. A major challenge is to ensure a good connection between the extraction system and the production unit at the sea surface, which is provided by risers. There are different configurations of risers, including the vertical, catenary, lazy-wave or steep-wave; the catenary and vertical risers will be studied in this work. This work aims at studying the nonlinear dynamic effects on the riser, which, being extremely slender, requires consideration of the geometric nonlinearity. Among them, there is the possibility of occurrence of parametric resonance. The dynamic loads may come from the motion of the floating unit and external or internal fluid flow. This work will be developed using finite-element models in Abaqus, which has more resources than most commercial softwares to carry out the type of analyses of interest. Initially these models simulate the static equilibrium configuration of the catenary riser, which will be later disturbed by dynamic loads. The modeling of the so called touch-down zone (TDZ) will use elastic contact elements. It is intended to discuss the feasibility and limitations when using generalist codes for structural analysis by the finite-element method, in comparison with dedicated codes, and also to correlate these results with those from analytical and experimental studies, whenever available.

O presente trabalho vem propor um estudo numérico qualitativo de um modelo hidro-elástico para simulação das vibrações induzidas por vórtices (VIV) em cabos submersos. O modelo é composto de um sistema acoplado de equações que descrevem tanto a estrutura quanto o fluido. A estrutura é modelada através de um oscilador elástico clássico e discretizada através de um método de massas concentradas. O fluido é considerado através de osciladores discretos baseados em modelos fenomenológicos com equação de Van der Pol ou Ginzburg-Landau. O acoplamento entre os dois ocorre na direção transversal ao escoamento local através da força de sustentação. O estudo foi feito para verificar quais tipos de comportamentos de resposta podem ser obtidos através do uso dos modelos fenomenológicos e, também, avaliar o potencial de tais modelos no ciclo de projeto na indústria atual, com foco na indústria petrolífera. Esta adequabilidade ao uso em projeto leva em conta, em primeiro lugar, a qualidade das respostas, mas também leva em conta a viabilidade da execução de simulações numéricas em tempo apropriado. Assim, um modelo numérico foi desenvolvido para permitir a integração, no domínio do tempo, deste sistema hidro- elástico. Esta integração é feita através de um método explícito de Euler e permite tratar não-linearidades dos osciladores elástico e fluido. Um conjunto de situações foi simulado numericamente, incluindo configurações verticais e também configurações em catenária. As simulações indicam alto grau de acoplamento entre os osciladores, o que leva a ressonância entre ambos na maior parte dos casos. Com relação ao comportamento do oscilador estrutural em si, foi possível observar fenômenos interessantes tais como lock-in e travelling waves, além do terceiro harmônico da vibração transversal detectado em alguns experimentos reportados em literatura. Com relação à adequabilidade do uso do modelo em projeto, considera-se que isto seja possível dada a relativa rapidez das simulações e aos resultados promissores que ainda podem ser melhorados. / The present work proposes a qualitative numerical study of a hydro-elastic model in order to simulate vortex-induced vibrations in submerged cables. The model is composed of a coupled system of equations describing the structure and the fluid. The structure is modeled through a classical elastic oscillator and discretized using a lumped mass approach. The fluid is modeled through discrete oscillators based on phenomenological models using Van der Pol or Ginzburg- Landau type equations. The coupling between these two oscillators is carried by the lift force. The study was carried in order to verify which response behavior can be obtained by using such phenomenological models and also, to evaluate their potential to be used in the offshore industry. In order to accomplish that, the model must provide reliable answers and must allow fast responses when it comes to simulation time. In this sense, a numerical model was developed to allow the time domain integration of this hydro-elastic model. The numerical integration is performed by a simple explicit Euler algorithm and allows dealing with non-linearities of both oscillators, elastic and fluid. A set of conditions was numerically simulated, including top tensioned risers and catenary. Simulations indicate a high level of coupling between the two oscillators and thus resonance is achieved in most part of the cases. With respect to the structural oscillator analysis, it was possible to observe interesting phenomena such as lock-in, travelling waves and also the third harmonic observed in some experiments and reported in the literature. Regarding the feasibility of the model usage in the daily offshore industry life, it seems possible once the model generally runs fast and some promising results were achieved.

O presente trabalho vem propor um estudo numérico qualitativo de um modelo hidro-elástico para simulação das vibrações induzidas por vórtices (VIV) em cabos submersos. O modelo é composto de um sistema acoplado de equações que descrevem tanto a estrutura quanto o fluido. A estrutura é modelada através de um oscilador elástico clássico e discretizada através de um método de massas concentradas. O fluido é considerado através de osciladores discretos baseados em modelos fenomenológicos com equação de Van der Pol ou Ginzburg-Landau. O acoplamento entre os dois ocorre na direção transversal ao escoamento local através da força de sustentação. O estudo foi feito para verificar quais tipos de comportamentos de resposta podem ser obtidos através do uso dos modelos fenomenológicos e, também, avaliar o potencial de tais modelos no ciclo de projeto na indústria atual, com foco na indústria petrolífera. Esta adequabilidade ao uso em projeto leva em conta, em primeiro lugar, a qualidade das respostas, mas também leva em conta a viabilidade da execução de simulações numéricas em tempo apropriado. Assim, um modelo numérico foi desenvolvido para permitir a integração, no domínio do tempo, deste sistema hidro- elástico. Esta integração é feita através de um método explícito de Euler e permite tratar não-linearidades dos osciladores elástico e fluido. Um conjunto de situações foi simulado numericamente, incluindo configurações verticais e também configurações em catenária. As simulações indicam alto grau de acoplamento entre os osciladores, o que leva a ressonância entre ambos na maior parte dos casos. Com relação ao comportamento do oscilador estrutural em si, foi possível observar fenômenos interessantes tais como lock-in e travelling waves, além do terceiro harmônico da vibração transversal detectado em alguns experimentos reportados em literatura. Com relação à adequabilidade do uso do modelo em projeto, considera-se que isto seja possível dada a relativa rapidez das simulações e aos resultados promissores que ainda podem ser melhorados. / The present work proposes a qualitative numerical study of a hydro-elastic model in order to simulate vortex-induced vibrations in submerged cables. The model is composed of a coupled system of equations describing the structure and the fluid. The structure is modeled through a classical elastic oscillator and discretized using a lumped mass approach. The fluid is modeled through discrete oscillators based on phenomenological models using Van der Pol or Ginzburg- Landau type equations. The coupling between these two oscillators is carried by the lift force. The study was carried in order to verify which response behavior can be obtained by using such phenomenological models and also, to evaluate their potential to be used in the offshore industry. In order to accomplish that, the model must provide reliable answers and must allow fast responses when it comes to simulation time. In this sense, a numerical model was developed to allow the time domain integration of this hydro-elastic model. The numerical integration is performed by a simple explicit Euler algorithm and allows dealing with non-linearities of both oscillators, elastic and fluid. A set of conditions was numerically simulated, including top tensioned risers and catenary. Simulations indicate a high level of coupling between the two oscillators and thus resonance is achieved in most part of the cases. With respect to the structural oscillator analysis, it was possible to observe interesting phenomena such as lock-in, travelling waves and also the third harmonic observed in some experiments and reported in the literature. Regarding the feasibility of the model usage in the daily offshore industry life, it seems possible once the model generally runs fast and some promising results were achieved.

Abstract not available

Thesis (M.S.)--James Madison University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.