The new metocean criteria for the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) affect changes to existing design procedures for future and existing offshore platform designs in that region. FloaTEC, LLC is completing the pre- FEED design on a version of its extended tension leg platform (ETLP) for deployment in this new environment at a water depth of 5,000 ft. This new GoM design was tested at a model scale of 1:92 under the new metocean criteria and instrumented to measure extreme responses, including wave runup, airgap tendon tensions, and six-degree-offreedom motions. The paper presents and discusses the results of the predictions from an uncoupled and fully coupled model in comparison to the measured test data.
The new metocean criteria [1] for the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), brought on by the aftermath of recent hurricanes will affect changes to recommended design procedures for future and existing offshore platform designs in that region. The accuracy of the sizing tools and procedures used to predict the responses of floating systems become more stringent as a better understanding and quantification of the margins of conservatism take a critical role. In more practical terms, more accurate designs tools can identify the level of conservatism used in the original. This is useful in establishing whether the existing design is suitable for the newly defined criteria. Sizing tools for floating offshore structures are generally based on coupled [2] [3] or uncoupled [4] techniques. In some cases the uncoupled methods produce conservative quantities; however the converse can also be true. FloaTEC, LLC is completing the pre-FEED design on a version of its Extended Tension Leg Platform (ETLP) for deployment in this new environment at a water depth of 5,000 ft.
