Summary
Objective
Industry needs widely accepted and consistent practices for addressing Vortex-Induced Motions (VIM) of spars in order to ensure the integrity of existing and future spar designs. However, industry has not yet had the opportunity to share and review the collective data/knowledge on spar VIM in order to establish a common understanding of the problem and an industry consensus on how to deal with spar VIM in design. Currently there are multiple perceptions of the spar VIM problem, with different organizations having different design procedures along with different views on the associated design uncertainties. To address the need for an industry-wide dialogue on spar VIM, a workshop will be conducted with the following major objectives:
- initiate a path for development of an industry-acceptable design practice/methodology on spar VIM,
- identify uncertainties and technical needs in spar VIM and a path forward to fill the identified gaps,
- educate industry on the technical challenges involved.
Approach
The workshop will be planned with the assistance of a Steering Group (SG) of technical experts representing the major spar stakeholders (operators, designers, technologists, and regulators). Since much of the information and knowledge derived from spar VIM technology development efforts conducted over the past decade is proprietary, the main responsibilities of the SG members will be to identify what information needs to be presented to achieve the workshop objectives and then to seek the necessary releases of confidential information within their respective organizations.
Assuming the SG is successful in coordinating the necessary resources, the first part of the workshop will be devoted to industry presentations reviewing the current regulatory perspective and design practices as well as various design validation studies. Structured discussion sessions will be held for the latter part of the workshop to identify and prioritize technical uncertainties and gaps on the basis of design impact, and to recommend new initiatives to resolve the identified gaps and advance spar VIM design practice.
Deployment of Results
The success of the workshop will largely depend on industry’s willingness and ability to share certain proprietary information that can substantially contribute to any of the three major objectives listed above. To the extent that the workshop will produce concrete recommendations for new industry initiatives to advance VIM design practice, it is understood that proprietary information exposed by workshop participants will be made available to participants in such new initiatives, that is, information presented at the workshop will be released to the public domain. In particular, workshop presenters will be requested to submit their presentations for publication in the workshop proceedings.
Project Plan
Scope of Work:
Seek buy-in for workshop from major industry stakeholders and form a Steering Group of technical experts from the stakeholder organizations. Engage the SG in a series of meetings to define the case for action, plan the workshop agenda, and identify specific presentation topics and speakers. Recruit workshop speakers, arrange venue and coordinate logistics. Workshop will be held in fall 2003 and will likely require three days.
