OFFSHORE TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE 6200 Worth Central Expressway Dallas, Texas 75206 THIS 38 A PREPRINT The Articulated Stinger: PAPER xoaex OTC 1073 - SUBJECT 70 CORRECTION A New Tool for Laying Offshore Pipelines C. G, Lengner, Shell Pip By Line Corp. © Copyright 1969 Offshore Technology Conferer .@ on behalf of Anerican Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, end Petroleum Engineers, Inc., The American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Anerican Institute of Chemi Engineers, The Institute Society of Explor: ‘on Geophys: This paper vas prepared for presentation at the First Annual Offshore Teck be held in Hou act more than 30 n Tex., on Moy 18-2, 969. L Engineers, American Society of Civil Enginsers, The Aneri fLectrical and Electronics Sngineers, n Society of Mechanical 1c, Marine Technology Society, ‘ists, and Society of Naval Architects & Marine Engineers. jology Conference Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of Tilustrations may not be copied, Such use of an abstract should contain conspicuous ecknowledgnent of where and by whom the paper is presented. Abstract, A new form of pipe support structure, or stinger, has been designed for layitig pipelines offshore from a pipe-laying barge. ‘The new stinger consists of 4 to 12 segnents, each about 50 feet in length. Each stinger segment is adjustably buoyant and contains rollers for supporting the pipe. The stinger segments are connected in series by special hinge Joints which provide a limited degree of vertical, lateral, and torsional flexi- bility. Vertical flexibility increases the water depth capability, and lateral flexi- bility increases the weather capability of the stinger. Intreduction One of the major problems encountered in laying underwater pipelines concerns the means of supporting the pipe span from where it leaves the lay barge to a point off bottom here the pipe can safely sag to botton. In all except very shallow water some form of Support structure, commonly called a stinger, ie necessary to avoid excessive bending and possibly buckling a pipe. The conventional stinger is @ long, straight, stiff structure consisting of two buoyant pontoons connected by nunerous References and illustrations at end of paper crossovers and containing rollers for sup- porting the pipe as it passes to bottom. To prevent excessive bending of the pipe at the hitch, @ conventional straight stinger must descend at an angle essentially the same as that of the barge ramp. To prevent excessive bending in the sag bend @ straight stinger must discharge the pipe very near the bottom. Figure 1 shows the normal con- figuration of a straight stinger during a typical pipe-laying operation. A straight stiff stinger has four main disadvantages: (1) A straight stinger is Limited to a narrow range of water depths; significantly different water depths require stingers of different lengths, The length of a straight stinger is typically & to 6 times the water depth. (2) Deep water requires a stinger of extreme length. Stingers exceeding 1000 feet in length have been used to lay pipe. The maximum prac~ tical length of a straight stinger seems to be about 600 feet. A longer stinger tends to break frequently, The maximum depth capability of a 600-foot straight stinger is 100 to 150 feet. (3) A straight stinger ust withstand severe loads arising from water currents and relative motions between the stinger and the lay barge. To avoid damage straight stingers are constructed from high-strength steel which is expensive,Ir THE ARTTOUL TED SEINCER (4) High loads can be developed in the pipe at the tip end of the stinger. ‘The pipe can be danaged if the stinger becomes mis~ aligned with pipe already laid. References 1-3 discuss various problems related to laying underwater pipelines, especially those involving use of a straight, Stiff stinger. The vulnerability of a straight stinger in heavy seas has been denonstrated by model tests at the Shell Pipe Line Research and Development Labora- tory and by contractor's experiences with straight stingers. Reference 3 describes the laying of 35 miles of 3 1/2-inch, 30- inch (double) pipeline in the North Sea. A 617-foot straight stinger was used, and the hitch was reported to have failed at least four times during the Job. A new form of stinger has been devel- oped at the Shell Pipe Line Research and Development Laboratory -- which eliminates the main problems inherent in the straight stiff stinger, The new stinger consists of several segments, connected in series by special hinge joints which provide a Limited degree of vertical, lateral, and torsional flexibility. Vertical stinger flexibility, in combination with applied pipe tension, increases the water depth capability of the stinger and reduces the required stinger length. Lateral and torsional flexibility increase the weather capability of the stinger. Because of the flexible joints the new stinger is called an articulated stinger. Vertical Stinger Flexibility and Pipe Tension The vertical flexibility feature of an articulated stinger vas conceived at the Shell Pipe Line Researeh and Development Laboratory. The essential idea is to allow the stinger to be vertically hinged at several points so that it can freely bend down and thus conform to the nost natural curve of a pipe as it passes from the lay barge to the ocean floor. Figure 2 Allustrates this idea. In shallow water an articulated stinger behaves conventionally, with the stinger projecting straight outward from the lay barge and the pipe descending gently to bot- tom. The pipe and stinger may even assume a reverse curvature, As the lay barge pro- ceeds into deep water the articulated stinger curves downward and the suspended pipe span acquires a distinct S-shaped curve, The upper part of this curve, called the over- bend, is supported by the stinger, The lower part, called the sag-bend, is supported by pipe stiffness and tension, Pipe cur- vature in the over-bend is controlled by adjusting the anount and distribution of stinger buoyancy, Pipe curvature in the sag-bend is controlled by exerting tension fon the pipe, generally in excess of that simply required to lift the pipe to the water surface. ‘The use of pipe tension as a means of controlling the curvature of the suspended pipeline, and thus as a means of preventing buckling, is fundamental to the pipe-laying system which includes an articulated stinger. Without any tension the danger continually exists of the pipe sliding axially off the stinger, With tension but without barge thrust, the on-board pipe tension is simply equal to the weight of pipe Lifted off bottom. Near bottom the pipe material is put in compression by the hydrostatic Pressure; in addition, depending on the Length of the pipe span, the pipe may be bent severely in the sag-bend, The conbi- nation of bending and external pressure may be sufficient to buckle the pipe in the sag- bend. With the application of barge thrust, pipe tension increases and the entire pipe span becones straighter. Hence, the danger of buckling is reduced. Pipe laying by the tension method was first described in Ref- erence 4. ‘The advantages of a vertically hinged stinger are clear. The reaction forces between the pipe and stinger can be main tained uniformly distributed along the stinger length. This represents the gen- tlest possible pipe support. This contrasts with a straight stinger in which the stinger- pipe reactions are concentrated at the ends. For a given water depth the articulated stinger can be much shorter’ than a conven~ tional straight stinger. The stinger needs only to extend dovm to an angle at which the pipe can safely sag to bottom, Hence loads on the stinger are reduced. Since it ie shorter, an articulated stinger will generally cost less to construct than the corresponding straight stiff stinger. ‘There are some practical disadvantages to a freely hinged articulated stinger, which have been overcome in the present de~ sign by incorporating hinges with a Limited movement. Destructive concentrations of pipe curvature can eccur along the stinger when the stinger buoyancy is not distributed correctly. A pipe contained in a freely hinged stinger is also vulnerable to fatigue failures which can occur when wave motions land pitehing motions of the lay barge cause the stinger to rise and fail in high seas.one 10; 6. G. LAN ER ‘To protect the pipe against these situations the articulated stinger has been designed with stops which Limit the minimum radius of curvature in the vertical plane. Mater Depth Capability An articulated stinger can be used to lay pipe in much deeper vater than is prac~ tical for a straight stinger. The first requirement for laying pipe in deep water is that the stinger must be capable of curving down so as to discharge the pipe vertically. This requirement involves selecting the stinger length L and che min- imun stinger radius R such that the pipe will not be bent excessively in the over-bend. Figure 3 defines the notation for analyzing a stinger and a suspended pipeline. If is the ramp angle, @ is the tip angle, and Y is the depth of the stinger tip below the water surface, then for deep water we have the following geonetric relations = 10°, B= 90° wee GQ) La 3h/2, YoR The second requirement is that the pipe-tensioning machine on board the lay barge must be capable of developing and maintaining a minimum tension in the pipe. Determining this tension involves first se~ Lecting 2 bottom tension F which will provide an acceptable bending radius in the sag-bend. Then the minimum on-board pipe tension T is given by the formula TePeW eee eee @ where w is the submerged pipe weight per unit of length and H is the total water depth. Thus, pipe tension is linearly re~ lated to the water depth. The third requirenent for laying pipes in deep water is that the stinger must have a sufficient reserve of buoyancy, The required stinger buoyancy is given by the formula b=B/L=wWY ...--..- 0) where b is the net buoyancy per unit of stinger length, and B is the total net buoyancy of the stinger. Equations (2) and (3) are derived in the Appendix. As an example, consider an articulated stinger 450 feet in length with 2 total net buoyancy B = 225,000 1b, which is equivelent to a uniformly distributed buoyancy 6 = 500 1b/ft. This buoyancy level can be achieved using nine 50-foot stinger segnents with 42-inch diameter pontoons. From Equation (1) the minimum stinger radius in deep water is about R = 300 feet, and the maximum depth of the stinger tip is also about Y = 300 feet. Consider a pipe weighing 100 pounds per foot in water, and suppose the required bot- tom tension for controlling the curvature of the pipe in the sag-bend is 25,000 pounds. Then, from Equation (3) the maximum water depth capability of the stinger is H = Yb/w = 1500 feet and from Equation (2) the required on-board pipe tension is T= F + vi = 175,000 pounds Recall that a typical 600-foot straight stinger is capable of laying pipe in about 150 feet of water, This example shows that the water depth capability of an articulated stinger can be at Least one order of magni- tude greater than for a conventional straight stinger. Jastically Flexible Hinge Joints The flexibility and ultimate stiffness of an articulated stinger are derived from special hinge joints which connect the stinger segments in series. Figure 4 shows the proximity of the hinge parts. An elastically flexible hinge is attached to each end of each pontoon. Flexibility of the hinge is obtained by constraining the hinge pin to move inside a concentric, thick rubber bushing, Ultimate stiffness is ob- tained by allowing the hinge pin to contact the steel housing of the rubber bushing after the bushing has been fully compressed, Im the vertical provide unrestricted upward to a downward with a radius of 400 to 500 feet (about 6° between segments). At this radius the bumper stops on consecutive segments cone into con- tact and the corresponding 1..¢-r bushings are conpressed. Thus a bending monent is developed in the stinger. Any further bend- ing will tend to propagate avay from the stressed area, In this manner, the stinger tends to maintain a uniform pipe curvature in the over-bend while laying pipe in deep water. plane the hinge joints movenent from concave curved consiguratio, As the radius is decreased further the stinger becomes progressively stiffer, reaching an ultinate radius of 250 to 300 feet (about 10° between segments), The exact stinger stiffness characteristics depend on the segment geometry and the particularII ho THE ARTICULATED STINGER ore 1073, design of the flexible hinge. At the ultimate radius the stinger becones essentially rigid; further bending may damage the stinger. This range of curvature in the vertical plane re- presents a reasonable compromise, selected fon the basis of maximum bending étraine which can be tolerated in a pipe and the maximum loads which a stinger must bear in adverse With the hinge joints described above, an articulated stinger is elastically flex- ible in the horizontal plane as well as the vertical plane. Spring characteristics are such that the stinger flexes easily about its neutral (straight) configuration and becones increasingly stiff vith angular misalignment between segnents, The ultimate bending radius in the horizontal plane is 400 to $00 feet, or about 6 degrees between segments. The ultimate twist angle between segments also is about 6 degrees. The normal range of flexing in the horizontal plane should be only two or three degrees. Lateral and torsional flexibility allew the stinger to accommodate misalignnent be~ tween the lay barge and the already-laid pipeline, to resist cross currents via pipe tension and curvature, and to absorb oscil~ Lacory motions of the Lay barge, without developing destructive loads in'either the pipe or the stinger, In high seas, pipe curvature and bending loads can be reduced by applying as much pipe tension as is prac~ tical. When high water currents are present, pipe curvature in the horizontal plane can be minimized by orienting the lay barge into an optinua “up-strean!" heading, which may be other than the pipeline route, The direction of travel, of course, continues to be along the pipeline route. A segnented stinger freely gimbaled at each joint possesses many of the sea-keeping advantages of a stinger with elastically flexible joints. Lateral forces and pipe curvature can be maintained uniformly dis~ tributed along the stinger length, provided pipe tension and barge heading are maintained within proper limits. Mowever, a completely flexible stinger is vulnerable to forces due to water currents and wave-induced mot ions Af control is lost of either pipe tension or barge heading. Protection of the pipe from these conditions requires that the gimbals between segments be limited in their movement and that the stinger be designed to resist transverse bending moments. We are led to conclude that a seguented stinger with elas- tically flexible joints combines the most desirable features of both vertical and lat~ eral flexibility. Model Teste Several 1/40-scale model stingers were built and tested at the Shell Pipe Line Research and Developnent Laboratory. The pur- poses of these model tests were to evaluate the| ost promising stinger concepts and to find an optimum stinger configuration. The nodel tests| qualitatively confirmed the advantages of a seg! mented stinger with elastically flexible joints| over both a very rigid and a very flexible stinger. The configuration of a typical stinger segment, as shown in Figure 4, and the preferred ranges of stinger flexibility vere Gevelopments wich resulted partly from these nodel tests. Figures 5 - 8 are photographs of the most recent model stinger attached to a 1/40-scale model barge. A 1/2-inch plastic coated copper cable was used to simulate a 12-inch pipeline. The model stinger con- sisted of six segments, each one foot in Length, constructed from acrylic plastic tubing, and connected by special hinge Joints. ‘The hinges incorporated the fea- tures of lateral and torsional flexibility as described above. The bumper stops for Limiting the mininim radius were nade adjustable. Total net buoyancy of the model stinger vas adjustable between about 1 to 2 pounds, Figures 5 and 6 show typical stinger configurations for laying pipe in shallow water and deep water, respectively. The advantages of the articulated feature are apparent from these photographs. For shal- low water the stinger is practically straight; for deeper water the stinger assumes a curvature in the vertical plane. For all conditions the pipe contacts the stinger uniformly along its entize span. Figure 7 shows the stinger configu- tation for the condition of a steady side current. ‘The pipe and stinger are allowed to assume a gentle curve in the horizontal plane, with the barge positioned upstrean from the pipeline route. The side current condition was simulated by translating the barge, stinger, and pipeline across the pool perpendicular to the pipeline route. Figure 8 shows the ability of the flexible stinger to absorb barge motions, Violent oscillatory motions applied to the front of the barge were absorbed within the firet two or three stinger segments without dan- aging either the pipe or the stinger. ‘The above tests were repeated for a 1/40-seale model of a 500-£oot straightoro 1073, ©. G, LANGNER Tha stinger. Construction details of the straight stinger and the articulated stinger were identical, so that relative strengths of the two stingers could be compared di- rectly, The tests demonstrated the Limitations of the straight stinger design, which are, Limited vater depth capability and vulnerability to vater currents and wave-induced barge notions. The straight stinger was severely bent but did not break when subjected to a steady side current condition, and the model pipe was bent sharp= ly across the stinger tip. (The latter observation leads one to believe that with conventional pipe-laying techniques pipes are frequently bent more severely than anticipated.) Finally, the straight stinger suffered a catastropic failure when oscil- latory motions were imparted to the barge. Observations of a Full-Scale Stinger The first full-scale articulated stinger was built by J. Ray MeDernott & Company under supervision of Shell Pipe Line personnel. Fig- ure 4 is a photograph of one segment of the McDermott stinger. Pertinent data for each of the five stinger segnents: length 44 feet, dry weight 45,000 pounds, total net buoyancy 10,000 pounds. Flexible hinges vere used to connect the segnents. Each segment contained two sets of pipe-support rollers. The articulated stinger described above was used successfully in laying 35 miles of 12-inch pipeline for Shell Pipe Line Corporation, from shore to Main Pass Block 289 offshore Louisiana, Figure 9 shows the stinger while laying pipe in shal~ low water. Figure 10 shows the control. panel located at the stern of the McDermott barge, which was used to control the stinger buoyancy. Several operational procedures appro- priate to an articulated stinger were first used successfully during this Job. The pipeline originated from shore and was laid into shallow water by an auxiliary method, The starting procedure involved attaching a wire cable to the end of the pipeline, and then Literally pulling the pipeline up the stinger and onto the lay barge hile slowly backing the barge. This procedure vas also used to recover a broken pipeline in 200 feet of water. The recomended method of abandoning @ pipeline at sea is essentially 2 the pipeline broke as a result of slippage of the barge anchors, the reverse of this starting procedure. Near the end of the job the pipeline was required to curve around one platform in order to approach the production plat- form from the direction required for setting che riser, Simple reasoning showed that the lay barge would have to follow a different route than the pipeline, The following procedure was used in plotting the lay barge route which allowed the pipeline to Lie along the specified curved route. First, the horizontal distance from the center of the lay barge to the point where the pipe- Line first touches bottom vas calculated based on the water depth and the pertinent pipe parameters. Then, the path of the lay barge was defined to be the locus of points each lying on a line tangent to the pipe- Line route but leading the tangent point by the calculated horizontal distance. The success of this procedure was demonstrated by the finished pipeline, which was laid exactly parallel to and only three feet avay from the platform legs, as specified, in over three hundred feet of water. Conclusions The articulated stinger is a versatile new tool for handling a wide variety of pipe sizes in a wide range of water depths. The vertical flexibility feature allovs the stinger to bend down with the pipe, and thus permits the laying of pipe in water depths greater than 1000 feet, ‘The lateral and torsional flexibility of the new stinger should extend its weather capabilities. Model tests and observations of a full- scale stinger have confirmed these advan- tages of an articulated stinger. Because it consists of identical segments, the stinger length can be varied easily and if damaged the stinger can be easily repaired. In all these respects the new stinger should be a substantial improvenent over stingers currently in use.ule aE ARTIC! (IED STINGER ore 1073, References 1. J.B. Lawrence, "Latest Develop- ments in Varine Pipe Laying," The Boat Vork (magazine), vol. 24, no. 3, March 1967, 2. J.P, O'Donnell, "Subsea Pipeline Challenges Are Depth, Cost, Distance," The Qi1 and Gas Journat,’July 10, 1967, pp. 125- 127. 3. W. H. Berry, "Pipelines from North Sea Block 49/26 to the Norfolk Coast," Journal of the Petroleum Institute, vol. 54, no. 532, April 1968, pp. 104-106, 4, WH. D, Cox, D, 8. Hammet, J. Re Dozier, K. L, Shatto, "Tension Pipe Laying Method," U. S. Patent no, 3331 212, Tssued July 18, 1967. 5. R. Plunkett, "Static Bending Stresses in Catenaries and Drill Strings," Journal of Engineering for Industry, ASE, Series B, vol. 89, no. 1, February 1967, pp. 31-36. Appendix Theoretically, the pipe curve is determined by @ balance of forces, including the effects of pipe weight, pipe stiffness, water-current drag forces, stinger buoyancy, Stinger stiffness, and boundary conditions. The mechanics of a suspended pipe span provides equations for which an explicit solution does not exist, but which can be solved numerically using s digital computer. Here we shall assume the pipe curve is given in the paranetric form x= x(s) , y = y(s) where s is the are length coordinate, and we shall derive results pertinent to the pipe tension and the stinger buoyancy, Consider the situation shown in Figure 3, with @ pipe under tension T(s) passing over a curved stinger and sagging under its weight w to the ocean bottom. Assune the ineernal shear forces are negligible in conparison with the pipe tension. This is a good approximation in deep water with the pipe under high tension; under these condi- tions the pipe curve is very similar to a catenary. (See Reference 5.) Balance of forces tangent to the pipe axis provides the differential equation ar oe wsing .. and from geometry we have ay, as sin 8 bee eee @ Combining equations (1) and (2), and integrating along the are length yields TeF4fwsingdse Few... (3) where F = 1(0) is the tension in the pipe where it first touches bottom, and H is the total water depth. Equation (3) states that pipe tension is linearly related to the water depth. We note that any external forces which act normal to the pipe axis cannot appear in the Force balance Equation (1). Examples of forces which act normal to the pipe axis are drag forces induced by water currents and the reactions between the pipe and the pipe-support rollers on the stinger. Hence, Equation (3) is valid independent of water currents and regardless of the stinger shape, within reasonable limits of pipe curvature. Consider now a stinger of length L and radius R , oriented horizontally at the lay barge and curving down to an angle B =L/R at the stinger tip. To analyze the stinger buoyancy requirements the following assumptions are made: (1) The curve of the stinger axis is a circular arc. (2) Net buoyancy of the stinger is uniformly distributed along the stinger Length. (3) Bending moments are zero at both ends of the stinger. The stinger contains @ pipe of unit weight w , which supports a tension 7 anda shear’ S at the stinger tip. Horizontal balance of forces over the pipe span provides the equation Petcos#-Ssing...... (4) where F is the bottom tension. Balance of moments about the stinger hitch provides the equations FR(L-coss)+SRsin§ =f REC-W)sinp 4 = R2(b-w) (1-cos3) where b 18 che net buoyancy per unit Length of the stinger. Conbining Equations (3), (4), and (5) gives: beBLe WY... 2... . 6) Here B is the total stinger buoyancy, is the total water depth, and the depth of the stinger tip Y below the water surface is given by y R(L- cos a)... 1Paka Straight stinger NS 800 bottom 1 ripening opereton th etait stinger tor berg a Suspended posting 2 = Copobstity of laying pipe tn wsing sp aréteaiaced 2 Ramo angle © Lar aance warge ast the over bend 24/28 tne s09-bend Ep0?2p SeA BorTOM tare for vertical anslysie of 6 otiFig. 4Pig. 6 Pig. 5 Pig. 7 Tig. 8