Critical Design Phase for Subsea Module Supporting Structures

Abstract

This master thesis is written at the University of Stavanger in collaboration with the Department of Mechanical and Structural Engineering and Materials Science. All subsea modules for subsea processing highly require integrated supporting frame structure that can support during lifting, transportation, installation and decommissioning. In principle the subsea module supporting structures should be designed such that it can withstand the critical design phase. Failure of the subsea module supporting structures is directly associated with the main subsea module /unit. This work presents a literature study on lifting, transportation, installation and decommissioning phases. The project has developed different supporting structure STAAD models to study how the structural integrity will be responded to different design phases. The subsea modules for each case study are taking from Åsgard compact subsea compression system for smaller gas fields. The data for the pump module, cooler module and compressor module are based on AkerSolutions and Statoil presentations. The main objective of this thesis is to investigate the critical design phase for the subsea supporting structures and make some guide lines on how to document structural integrity during concept and final engineering stages.