A Feasibility Study for Steel Catenary Risers Connected to a Spread-Moored FPU Monohull in a Field Offshore Brazil

Until recently, the feasibility of connecting Steel Catenary Risers (SCRs) to monohull FPU / FPSOs (Floating Production Units / Floating Production Storage Offloading) had not been proven for deepwaters offshore Brazil. Extreme deepwater applications have required the use of steel risers to avoid hydrostatic collapse. Since SCRs are usually limited by fatigue, due to seabed interaction in the Touch Down Zone (TDZ), the effect of monohull vessel motions on SCR fatigue life had been an issue to be resolved. In the past, only semi-submersibles had been considered for these Brazil applications. Today it can be shown that spread-moored ship-shapes are sufficiently stable for the connection of several large diameter SCRs.Copyright © 2003 by ASME