US 8,074,720 B2 · Riser lifecycle management system, program product, and related methods

Abstract

A system, program product, and method for monitoring and managing a plurality of marine riser assets is provided. The system can include one or more floating vessels each carrying a shipboard computer, a plurality of riser assets to be tracked and monitored, a riser asset identification sensor positioned to identify select riser assets being deployed to establish a riser string, one or more riser joint instrument modules positioned along the length of the riser string to provide riser asset load data, a centralized data warehouse to store riser asset identification and loading data for riser assets deployed at multiple remote vessel locations, and a riser lifecycle management server and riser lifecycle management program product adapted to monitor riser asset conditions, issue automated service alerts based on actual use information, maintain routine and non-routine maintenance records, manipulate and categorize riser assets, and automatically generate an accurate riser system configuration as was actually deployed for any particular drilling/completion operation.

Claims32

Dependent claims

A riser lifecycle management system for monitoring and managing a plurality of marine riser assets positionable at one or more separate floating vessels each having a floor, a well bay extending therethrough, a local shipboard communication network carried by the vessel, and a shipboard computer in communication with the local shipboard communication network and including a processor, and memory coupled to the processor to store operating instructions therein, the system comprising:

a riser joint identification sensor positioned at or adjacent the well bay and operably coupled to the communication network;
a plurality of riser joints deployable from the vessel to form a riser string, each riser joint including an identification indicator;
and
riser asset management program product stored in the memory of the shipboard computer to monitor and manage a plurality of riser assets, the riser asset management program product including instructions that when executed by the shipboard computer, cause the shipboard computer to perform the operations of:
receiving riser joint identification data from the riser joint identification sensor for each of the plurality of riser joints during deployment from the vessel to form the riser string, and
determining a relative deployed position location of the each of the plurality of deployed riser joints within the riser string responsive to the received riser joint identification data.

3 more elements

A computer program product, stored on a tangible computer memory medium, operable on a computer to manage a plurality of marine riser assets positionable at one or more separate vessel locations, the computer program product comprising:

a riser asset deployment and location tracker adapted to receive subsurface deployment and relative location positioning data for each of a plurality of riser joints adapted to be deployed to form a marine riser string, the relative location positioning data including a relative deployed position location within the marine riser string when deployed to form a completed marine riser string;
a riser asset load sensor data receiver adapted to receive load data for each separate one of the plurality of riser joints when deployed to form the marine riser string;
and
a riser asset fatigue determiner adapted to estimate a condition of each separate one of the plurality of riser joints responsive to at least one of the following:
the received riser joint load data received from each separate one of the plurality of riser joints or riser stress data determined from the received riser joint load data.

2 more elements

A method of monitoring and managing a, plurality of marine riser assets, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving riser joint identification data from a riser joint identification sensor positioned within a well bay of a vessel, the riser joint identification data received for each of a plurality of riser joints during deployment from the vessel to form a deployed marine riser string, each of the plurality of riser joints having indicia readable by the riser joint identification sensor to separately identify each one of the plurality of riser joints from each other of the plurality of riser joints and to determine a relative deployed location within the deployed marine riser string;
and
determining the relative deployed location of the each of the plurality of riser joints deployed from the vessel to form the deployed marine riser string, the relative deployed location including a relative deployed position location of each of the plurality of deployed riser joints along a length of the deployed marine riser string relative to each other of the plurality of deployed riser joints when deployed therein.

A method of monitoring and managing a plurality of riser assets, the method comprising the steps of:

determining a relative deployed location of the each of a plurality of riser joints deployed from a vessel to form a deployed marine riser string, the relative deployed location including a relative deployed position location along a length of the deployed marine riser string when deployed therein, each of the plurality of riser joints having indicia readable by a riser joint identification sensor to separately identify each one of the plurality of riser joints from each other of the plurality of riser joints during subsea deployment thereof and to determine the relative deployed location within the deployed marine riser string;
receiving load data for each of the plurality of deployed riser joints from a plurality of riser joint measurement instrument modules connected to at least a subset of the plurality of deployed riser joints;
monitoring loading of each of the plurality of deployed riser joints responsive to the load data provided by the plurality of riser joint measurement instrument modules;
estimating a riser joint loading condition for each of the plurality of deployed riser joints responsive to the load data of one or more of the plurality of deployed riser joints;
and
providing an alarm responsive to the estimated loading condition nearing an operating design or service envelope for one or more of the plurality of deployed riser joints.

3 more elements

A method of monitoring and managing a plurality of riser assets positioned at one or more separate vessel locations, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving riser joint deployment and location data for each one of a plurality of deployed riser joints, each riser joint deployed at one of a plurality of separate vessel locations carrying the respective riser joint, the relative deployed location including a relative deployed position location within a marine riser string operably supported at a respective one of the plurality of separate vessel locations when deployed therein, each separate vessel location having a shipboard computer;
receiving riser joint load history data by a remotely positioned riser lifecycle management server for each of the plurality of riser joints deployed at the plurality of separate vessel locations from an associated shipboard computer;
transforming riser joint load history data received in the time domain into load history data in the frequency domain;
and
determining a level of damage of each of the plurality of deployed riser joints responsive to at least one of the following:
the received riser joint load history data or the transformed riser joint load history data.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Riser lifecycle management system, program product, and related methods

Life of this patent

Riser lifecycle management system, program product, and related methods

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims32