Fatigue Analysis of a Jacket Structure to Linear and Weakly Nonlinear Random Waves

Abstract

Jacket structures have been widely used in oil and gas industry and are increasingly becoming competitive as a support structure of wind turbines at different water depths. These types of structures usually fix in transition or shallow waters where numerous field observations and experiments have shown that water particles tend to exhibit non-Gaussian characteristics. However, current engineering practice ignores the wave nonlinearity for the analysis and design of these structures. The application of linear irregular models might result in considerable uncertainties in the obtained wave loads and consequently the dynamic response and thus it is highly questionable. Therefore, it is crucial to calculate the dynamic response of jacket structures under both linear and nonlinear wave models to investigate the validity of linear wave models in different sea states. In this paper, the finite element (FE) model of a jacket structure located in Persian Gulf (SP17 jacket) is setup and applied to perform a comparative study of the dynamic response to both linear and weakly nonlinear random waves. The fatigue life of the jacket structure is then calculated under both wave models. This paper will substantially improve the understanding of the dynamic response of jacket structures under fatigue damage.