TWI Industrial Member Report Summary 931/2009
By C Holtam
Background
Steel catenary risers (SCRs) are used in deepwater oil and gas developments to transfer produced fluids from the seabed to surface facilities. SCRs can be subject to fatigue loading from a variety of sources including wave and tidal motion, vortex induced vibration (VIV) and operating loads. When the produced fluids are sour (ie contain water and H2S) higher fatigue crack growth rates (FCGR) are expected, and this can have a significant effect on defect tolerance.
Objective
Provide guidance for performing engineering critical assessments (ECAs) on internal surface-breaking defects in SCRs operating in a sour environment and subject to VIV fatigue loads.