Pulse designed, manufactured and installed a powerful motion and strain monitoring system to verify the design of the first lazy-wave steel riser system to be installed in the Gulf of Mexico.
The monitoring program at Anadarko’s Constitution spar in the Green Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico started in 2012 and has enabled validation of the riser design against analytical models and verified riser system integrity during a hurricane event.
The system relies on Pulse’s proprietary INTEGRI sensors, which are located in clusters in the two most critical locations of the riser: the hang-off and touchdown zones. INTEGRIpod motion sensors record three-axis acceleration and two-plane angular rate. Data are recorded locally and downloaded for post-processing after sensor retrieval. INTEGRIstick stand-alone strain sensors measure the change in riser curvature in two planes.
“This project represents a great achievement for Pulse and is the latest in a growing list of successful production riser monitoring systems. We are proud to have delivered a system that will allow Anadarko to maintain the integrity of a key asset for many years to come,” says Wolfgang Ruf, VP of Pulse structural monitoring. “The system provided accurate response measurement during Hurricane Isaac in 2012, validated that the riser system’s motion and strain were within the boundaries of the initial design and confirmed the integrity of the riser system.
Pulse says as the oil and gas industry moves into ultra deepwater, new technologies and riser configurations will be adopted to develop the field. This project demonstrates the value of monitoring for quantifying the degree of conservatism in new designs and to ensure safe and reliable service, even during extreme weather events.
Image from Pulse.
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