Methods for constructing hulls for offshore structures
AssigneeHorton Do Brasil Tecnologia Offshore, Ltda.
InventorsXavier Castello, Marcelo I. L. Souza, Rodrigo M. R. Guimarães, Luiz Germano Bodanese, Rafael Bodanese
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for constructing a hull of an offshore structure includes (a) welding a plurality of plates together to form a plate assembly. The method also includes (b) passing the plate assembly through a rolling machine with the plate assembly in a vertical orientation. In addition, the method includes (c) bending the plate assembly into a cylinder during (b). The cylinder includes a pair of circumferentially adjacent free ends. Further, the method includes (d) welding the free ends of the cylinder together after (c) to form a cylindrical external wall.
Claims20
A method for constructing a hull of an offshore structure, the method comprising:
- (a) welding a plurality of plates together to form a plate assembly;
- (b) vertically orienting the plate assembly and then passing the plate assembly through a rolling machine with the plate assembly in the vertical orientation;
- (c) bending the plate assembly about a vertical axis and into a cylinder during (b), wherein the cylinder includes a pair of circumferentially adjacent free ends;
- (d) welding the free ends of the cylinder together after (c) to form a cylindrical external wall.
A method for constructing a hull of an offshore structure, the method comprising:
- (a) passing a plate through a rolling machine, wherein the plate comprises a pair of opposing planar sides and wherein the plate is passed through the rolling machine in a vertical orientation such that the opposing planar sides extend substantially vertically;
- (b) engaging the plate with a plurality of rollers in the rolling machine wherein each of the plurality of rollers extend in a vertical direction;
- (c) bending the plate into a cylinder during (b), wherein the cylinder includes a pair of circumferentially adjacent free ends;
- (d) welding the free ends of the cylinder together after (c) to form a cylindrical external wall;
- and
- (e) attaching a plurality of ring reinforcements to an inner surface of the cylindrical external wall to form a shell section.
A method for constructing a hull of an offshore structure, the method comprising:
- (a) passing a plate through a rolling machine, wherein the plate comprises a pair of opposing planar sides and wherein the plate is passed through the rolling machine in a vertical orientation such that the opposing planar sides extend substantially vertically;
- (b) engaging the plate with a plurality of rollers during in the rolling machine during (a) wherein each of the plurality of rollers extend in a vertical direction;
- (c) bending the plate into a cylinder during (b), wherein the cylinder includes a pair of circumferentially adjacent free ends;
- (d) welding the free ends of the cylinder together after (c) to form a cylindrical external wall;
- (e) attaching a plurality of ring reinforcements, each including a radially inner flange and a radially outer annular web, to an inner surface of the cylindrical external wall to form a shell section after (d) by welding the annular web of each of the plurality of ring reinforcements to the inner surface of the cylindrical wall;
- (f) repeating (a)-(e) to form a plurality of shell sections;
- (g) stacking the plurality of shell sections to form a cell after (f);
- (h) attaching a first bulkhead to the cell after (g);
- (i) repeating steps (a)-(h) to form a plurality of cells;
- and
- (j) forming a hull with the plurality of cells after (j).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.