Model Test of a Steel Catenary Riser in a Towing Tank

The objective of the present work is the study of the dynamic behavior of steel catenary risers (SCRs), focusing on the contribution of vortex-induced vibration (VIV), through model test in a towing tank. Nowadays, a great deal of effort is being spent in order to better understand VIV’s contribution in the dynamics of riser structures through experiments, analytical analysis and numerical predictions. In the present work, the design of a SCR model test, along with its setup in a towing tank, will be described in detail and discussions of main results from the experiments will be presented. The experiment has been conducted under several simulated environmental condition combinations, varying the towing speed, riser top forced oscillation amplitudes, waves amplitudes and periods. Very promising results have been observed from the experiment. Riser oscillations due to high harmonics of vortex shedding were observed. Analysis of the experimental results, coupled with the support of numerical tools, showed the influence of the phenomena of traveling waves in the cross-flow response as is reported from the literature.