An offshore installation processing hydrocarbons will be exposed to a variety of load cases that has to be designed for. In addition to wind, waves and current the structure might also be exposed to accidental load conditions such as explosion and fire, ship collision or earthquake. Heavy duty equipment might also cause vibration problems if not designed for properly. In order to ensure the integrity and safe behaviour of the platform all such load conditions have to be thoroughly analysed.
Aker Solutions utilises the most advanced structural software packages to satisfy the high quality deliverables required.
In order to perform the work effectively and ensure compatibility between the 3D CAD models and the structural analysis models Aker Solutions has developed in-house computer programs that transfer data between the programs.
Special structural analyses frequently performed are:
- Main strength analysis including wave-structure interaction
- Spectral fatigue analysis
- Buckling analysis
- Non-linear explosion analysis
- Earthquake analysis
- Vibration analysis
Aker Solutions uses GTSTRUDL and the SESAM suite of programs in the majority of the analysis work involving linear problems, while Abaqus FEA is used for the non-linear problems.