• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.120-130
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• 2014

Recently, a few mega projects of subsea tunneling are completed or ongoing or under planning stage all across the world. In Korea, subsea tunnels connecting to Japan and China have been considered in the past decades. At the same time, subsea tunnels connecting to domestic islands were planned with preliminary design concepts. Development and improvement of indigenous techniques regarding subsea tunneling are essential in light of current technical level in Korea and their future impact on tunneling industry. In this paper, distinct features of subsea tunnel and construction trend of subaqueous tunnels are analyzed via case studies. Also, case studies about incidents related to subsea tunneling and required techniques to secure safety are presented.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.262-276
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• 2016

Generally, the Safety Integrity Level (SIL) of a subsea Blowout Preventer (BOP) is evaluated by determining the Probability of Failure on Demand (PFD), a low demand mode evaluation indicator. However, some SIL results are above the PFD's effective area despite the subsea BOP's demand rate being within the PFD's effective range. Determining a Hazardous Event Frequency (HEF) that can cover all demand rates could be useful when establishing the effective BOP SIL. This study focused on subsea BOP functions that follow guideline 070 of the Norwegian Oil and Gas. Events that control subsea well kicks are defined. The HEF of each BOP function is analyzed and compared with the PFD by investigating the frequency for each event and the demand rate for the components. In addition, risk control options related to PFD and HEF improvements are compared, and the effectiveness of HEF as a SIL verification for subsea BOP is assessed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.253-260
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• 2021

The implementation of subsea separation and liquid boosting is becoming a common development scheme for the exploration of deep water fields. Subsea separation is an attractive and economic solution to develop deep offshore fields producing fluid without hydrate or wax. A subsea separator can avoid or simplifying costly surface platforms of floating vessels, as well as being an efficient tool to enhance hydrocarbon production. Subsea separation system should be reliable to ensure successful operation in a wide range of 3-phase flow regime. In this study, multiphase flow characteristics inside in-line type subsea separation system are investigated for the design of subsea separation system.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.243-250
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• 2022

Subsea power cables are subjected to various external loads induced by environmental and mechanical factors during manufacturing, shipping, and installation. Therefore, the prediction of the structural strength is essential. In this study, experimental and theoretical analyses were performed to investigate the axial stiffness of subsea power cables. A uniaxial tensile test of a 6.5 m three-core AC inter-array subsea power cable was carried out using a 10 MN hydraulic actuator. In addition, the resultant force was measured as a function of displacement. The theoretical model proposed by Witz and Tan (1992) was used to numerically predict the axial stiffness of the specimen. The Newton-Raphson method was employed to solve the governing equation in the theoretical analysis. A comparison of the experimental and theoretical results for axial stiffness revealed satisfactory agreement. In addition, the predicted axial stiffness was linear notwithstanding the nonlinear geometry of the subsea power cable or the nonlinearity of the governing equation. The feasibility of both experimental and theoretical framework for predicting the axial stiffness of subsea power cables was validated. Nevertheless, the need for further numerical study using the finite element method to validate the framework is acknowledged.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.15-38
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• 2022

Recently, tunnel technology in Korea has shown various achievements such as long tunnel and large section by tunnel construction using TBM in Korea and abroad. Especially subsea tunnels are frequently designed and constructed. The Ga-deok subsea tunnel was completed in December 2010, and the Incheon North Port Tunnel was opened and operated in 2017, and the Bo-ryeong subsea tunnel between Dae-cheon Port and Won-san Island will be completed in 2021. In foreign countries, many subsea tunnels have been constructed and operated in such as Norway and Japan. The main technical problem in the construction of subsea tunnel is to secure stability due to high water pressure conditions and large-scale seawater inflow in fault zones and weak zones. In this paper, various risk factors and solutions are described in the subsea tunnel planning of national road 77 construction work between Abhae and Hwawon.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.163-179
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• 2020

Considering the huge demand of several types of subsea equipment, as Christmas Trees, PLEMs (Pipeline End Manifolds), PLETs (Pipeline End Terminations) and manifolds for instance, a critical phase is its installation, especially when the equipment goes down through the water, crossing the splash zone. In this phase, the equipment is subject to slamming loads, which can induce impulsive loads in the installation wires and lead to their rupture. Slamming loads assessment formulation can be found in many references, like the Recommended Practice RP-N103 from DNV-GL (2011), a useful guide to evaluate installation loads. Regarding to the slamming loads, RP-N103 adopt some simplifying assumptions, as considering small dimensions for the equipment in relation to wave length, in order to estimate the slamming coefficient C_S used in load estimation. In this article, an experimental investigation based on typical subsea structure dimensions was performed to assess the slamming coefficient evaluation, considering a more specific scenario in terms of application, and some reduction of the slamming coefficient is achieved for higher velocities, with positive impact on operability.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.219-226
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• 2017

In this study, the impact characteristics of subsea pipelines that were installed in various soil types and burial depths were evaluated by a numerical method. An impact scenario replicated a dropped ship anchor that fell vertically and impacted an installed subsea pipeline. In order to calculate the impact force through terminal velocity, FLUENT, a computational fluid dynamic program and MDM (Moving Deforming Mesh) technique were applied. Next, a dynamic finite element program, ANSYS Explicit Dynamics, was used for impact analysis between the anchor and pipeline (or, subsea if they were buried). Three soil types were considered: loose sand, dense sand and soft clay by applying the Mohr-coulomb model to the seabed. The buried depth was assumed to be 0 m, 1 m and 2 m. In conclusion, a subsea pipeline was the most stable when buried in dense sand at a depth of 2 m to prevent impact damage.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.212-219
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• 2014

As subsea production has been revived up, the demand of subsea equipment has also been increased. Among the equipment, subsea tree plays a major role in safety. The tubing hanger is one of the most important components in subsea tree. In this study structural reliability analysis on dual bore tubing hanger of subsea tree is performed. The target reliability which is introduced in ISO regulation is used for judging whether tubing hanger is safe or not. The considered loads are working pressure, working temperature and suspended tubing weight. Thermal-stress analysis on tubing hanger is performed and kriging model is created based on the results of FEM analysis. According to von Mises criterion, limit state equation can be estimated. Reliability analysis is performed by using level 2 method and the result is verified by that of Monte Carlo Simulation. For finding most probable failure point, enhanced HL-RF method is adopted. Because the reliability of model doesn't reach target reliability, an improvement measure should be considered. Thus, it is suggested to change the material of tubing hanger main body to AISI 4140.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.775-787
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• 2014

Availabilities of subsea Blowout Preventers (BOP) in the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (GoM OCS) is investigated using a Markov method. An updated ${\beta}$ factor model by SINTEF is used for common-cause failures in multiple redundant systems. Coefficient values of failure rates for the Markov model are derived using the ${\beta}$ factor model of the PDS (reliability of computer-based safety systems, Norwegian acronym) method. The blind shear ram preventer system of the subsea BOP components considers a demand rate to reflect reality more. Markov models considering the demand rate for one or two components are introduced. Two data sets are compared at the GoM OCS. The results show that three or four pipe ram preventers give similar availabilities, but redundant blind shear ram preventers or annular preventers enhance the availability of the subsea BOP. Also control systems (PODs) and connectors are contributable components to improve the availability of the subsea BOPs based on sensitivity analysis.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.93-102
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• 2018

Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) has been used in shipping and offshore industries for many years, supporting the decision-making process to guarantee safe running at different stages of design, fabrication and throughout service life. The assessments of a risk perspective are informed by the frequency of events (probability) and the associated consequences. As the number of offshore platforms increases, so does the length of subsea pipelines, thus there is a need to extend this approach and enable the subsea industry to place more emphasis on uncertainties. On-board operations can lead to objects being dropped on subsea pipelines, which can cause leaks and other pipeline damage. This study explains how to conduct hit frequency analyses of subsea pipelines, using historical data, and how to obtain a finite number of scenarios for the consequences analysis. An example study using probabilistic methods is used.