Frequency Response Function and Design Parameter Effects of Hydro-Pneumatic Tensioner for Top-Tensioned Riser

Abstract

The top-tensioned riser is an important equipment in offshore oil and gas development. The hydro-pneumatic tensioner is an essential device to ensure the safety of the top-tensioned riser. To investigate the dynamic performance of the marine platform hydro-pneumatic tensioner, this paper proposed a first-order Taylor approximation method and created the frequency response function of the hydro-pneumatic tensioner. According to the frequency response function, the hydro-pneumatic tensioner is a first-order spring-mass system. With the given parameters, the system stiffness coefficient is 66.1 kN/m, the natural annular frequency is 20.99 rad/s and the damping ratio is 2.23 × 10−4. The effects of the high-pressure accumulator, low-pressure accumulator, hydraulic cylinder and pipeline design parameters on the stiffness coefficient, natural annular frequency and damping ratio are analyzed. The stiffness coefficient can be increased by (1) increasing the high-pressure accumulator pressure and reducing the high-pressure accumulator volume; (2) increasing the pressure of the low-pressure accumulator and reducing the low-pressure accumulator volume; (3) increasing the piston diameter; and vice versa. The natural annular frequency can be increased by: (1) increasing the high-pressure accumulator pressure and reducing the high-pressure accumulator volume; (2) increasing the pressure of the low-pressure accumulator and reducing the low-pressure accumulator volume; (3) increasing the piston diameter; and vice versa. The damping ratio can be increased by increasing the pipeline length and reducing the pipeline inner diameter.

Review of Hydro-Pneumatic Accumulator Models for the Study of the Energy Efficiency of Hydraulic Systems

“…The solution of Equations ( 96) and (97) gives the ratio of pressure generated by the shock wave to damping pressure…”

“…The new thermal-hydraulic system includes a thermal-hydraulic generator, an HPA, and a hydraulic motor. In [97], the influence of the high-and low-pressure HPA design parameters on the stiffness coefficient, natural frequency, and degree of damping of a hydro-pneumatic tensioner was analysed, which is a necessary device to ensure the safety of a vertically stressed vertical pipe in offshore oil and gas extraction equipment. Using the shape-memory effect of nitinol, a type of shape-memory alloy (SMA), an innovative SMA-actuated hydraulic accumulator prototype was developed and successfully tested at the Smart Materials and Structure Laboratory at the University of Houston [98].…”