Effect of Wave Induced Loading and Line Loading in Fully Stochastic Fatigue Assessment for West Africa FPSO

The fatigue assessment for a caisson of the interface between a caisson and a FPSO hull has been performed based on the FMS (Fatigue Methodology Specification) [1]. Investigation is focused on the various loading effects including inertia loading due to ship motions from a site specific swell, sea and line loading from the submerged caisson connected to the side shell of FPSO. The fully stochastic method was used for estimating damage levels from wave loadings. The component-based method was used for line loading effects. The two kinds of results from each case were combined the variance and mean period combination. For the inertia loading, it is shown that a hull deforming due to vertical bending moment is the principal effect for a fatigue assessment. For the line loading, it is found that the loading effect due to the submerged piping system connected to the side shell of FPSO is not significant for the fatigue of the side shell supporting structure. In conclusion, the fatigue damage from the site-specific swell is dominant effect among overall fatigue damage components of FPSO in the specific site condition of West Africa.