Patent ID: 9593568
Date: 2017-03-14
CPC Classifications: E21B

Claim:
1. A system for estimating fatigue damage in a riser string, the system comprising: (a) a plurality of accelerometers configured to be deployed along a riser string; (b) a communications link configured to transmit accelerometer data in real time from the plurality of accelerometers; and (c) one or more data processors configured to receive the accelerometer data in real time and to estimate therefrom an optimized hypothetical current profile along the riser string, and to estimate damage rates to individual riser components based upon the optimized hypothetical current profile, and to update a total accumulated damage to individual riser string components, wherein the one or more data processors estimates the optimized hypothetical current profile by using one or more machine learning tools which vary current intensity inputs along the riser string and find closest matches between calculated acceleration characteristics in locations where one of the plurality of accelerometers is present and measured acceleration characteristics reported from said locations.