Nonlinear self-induced vibration and operability envelope analysis of production strings in marine natural gas development

Abstract

Marine production strings are continuously affected by unstable internal fluid during operation. In this paper, the structural governing equation for marine production string self-induced vibration is constructed. A finite element analysis model is established based on Euler-Bernoulli theory and solved by the Newmark method. Furthermore, based on reliability theory, a self-design procedure is developed to determine the operability envelope for marine production string self-induced vibration. Case studies show: the response frequency of the production strings is consistent with the excitation frequency under harmonic fluctuation and mainly determined by the first-order natural frequency under stochastic fluctuation. The operability envelope for marine production string self-induced vibration is a near symmetrical trapezium. With the increasing of natural gas output, the permissible fluctuation coefficient dramatically decreases. A reasonable centralizer spacing, increasing top tension, and controlling natural gas output are of great significance to the risk control in marine production string operation. Keywords: Marine production string, Self-induced vibration, Operability envelope, Internal fluid, Risk control