Fibre Rope Technology
The oil and gas industry, for some years, has been concerned by the ever increasing cost of installing equipment to water depths of up to 3000 meters. The requirement for large installation barges at extremely high day rates, combined with the limitations of conventional steel wire rope, has led to the need for an alternative technology to support future exploration and extraction activities. Early investigative work using small diameter fibre ropes has proven that it is possible to integrate complex winch control systems with the very specific problems that can be experienced when using fibre ropes that are inherently susceptible to heat and mechanical damage through bend over sheave cycling.
FRDS Proposal
This proposal has been generated at the successful completion of the second phase of the Fibre Rope Deployment System Joint Industry Project (FRDS JIP). Throughout the two phases completed since its formation in April 2006 the FRDS JIP has built on the work of the Deepwater Installation of Subsea Hardware JIP (DISH http://www.dish-jip.com/) to investigate further the challenges associated with deepwater installation.
The proposal that has been requested by the existing members of the FRDS JIP, consisting of major oil companies, installation contractors and specialist suppliers will seek to examine the risks and life span of large diameter fibre ropes when used to lift payloads of up to 250Te and when used in conjunction with conventional existing lift machinery.
The target remains the utilisation of existing vessels which have been identified as being capable of the majority of installation work in deepwater with the utilisation of fibre rope technology. This will enable payloads to be lowered more quickly and at lower costs that on the drill-strings of semi-submersible drill-rigs, and without the depth limitations of steel wire rope. When employed for a typical installation these vessels would be capable of undertaking the majority of the installation work with lower payloads and through an FRDS also the lower number of lifts at higher payloads.
Objectives
The test programma now presented to the JIP will answer the unkowns related to large diamter fibre rope performance in such a way that provides the critical information necessary to all tiers of industry. The JIP has already overseen the development of a test protocol that answers the key questions held by the winch suppliers and installation contracors. A series of tests will be conducted on two different rope designs such that comparison to previous rope designs can be made and base knowledge enhanced such that firm steps can be made toward calssification society approval of the ropes and FRDS. In summary the main objectives are:-
- Complete Cyclic Bend Over Sheave Tests of two fibre ropes types
- Interpret results to provide retirement criteria for wich useage
- Provision of design information for next generation fibre rope winches
Development of rope test protocal for classification society approval.
FRDS Test Rig Video
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