Proposta de metodologia analítica para o cálculo de tensões na armadura de tração de umbilicais submarinos na região do conector e aplicação em avaliação de vida à fadiga

Abstract

Due to inherent characteristics of their conception, subsea umbilicals have always been considered naturally oversized in structural terms, leading manufacturers to apply relatively simplified calculation methods on their designs. However, with the offshore oil and gas production going deeper, this statement seems to begin to step away from reality. A good example of it is on the end fitting, also known as armor pot: there, one will find the highest tensions on the operating umbilical and, due to design, assembling and operational aspects, these stress values inside the accessory may differ a lot from those on the rest of the line. This study thus proposes an analytical methodology to calculate stresses on the subsea umbilical anchored armor wires, inside the armor pot. Posteriorly this methodology is applied on a hypothetical case study of fatigue life calculation of a structure, in order to evaluate the influence of each parameter on the final result.