Abstract:
The method of installing telescopic fairings system on a vertical pipe such as an oil or gas drilling riser to reduce the flow drag associated the vertical pipe in the currents in an ocean, including providing a rotatable interconnection between fairing sections and supporting the interconnected fairing sections independently from the vertical pipe such that the vertical pipe can be partially removed from the ocean without removing the fairings.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
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     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISK 
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     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The field of this invention is that of installing drag reducing fairings on vertical pipes in the ocean to reduce the side load on the pipes due to ocean currents. In deepwater offshore drilling, a riser pipe of approximately 20 inch internal diameter is used for a pathway down to the well bore to allow the control of the drilling pipes and the circulating fluids. Buoyancy material is added to these pipes to offset a majority of their weight and limit the top tension required for the system. The buoyancy on a drilling riser of this type will generally be in the range of 52 inch outer diameter. 
     In 2.5 to 3.5 knot currents on a 5000 foot long drilling riser can incur side loadings of up to 100,000 lbs. caused by currents. These side loadings require substantial horsepower to remain above the well below for drilling while the riser pipe is connected. 
     During the drilling operations, a portion of the side load is taken by the vessel on the surface, and a portion of the side load is taken by the equipment on the ocean floor. 
     When attempts are made to retrieve the riser under these conditions, the side forces must all be taken by structures on the drilling rig at the surface. A 100,000 lb. load of the riser against the side of the rig structures will not only completely prevent the pulling of the drilling riser, but will destroy sections of the buoyancy material which impacts the rig structures. 
     Fairings are devices generally in the shape of an airplane wing which are pivotably mounted on a pipe such as a drilling riser. The flow around the round riser and the wing shaped trailing portion will reduce the drag on the riser by as much as 50 percent. This does not cure all of the problems, but it beneficially increases the ocean current range in which a vessel can operate. 
     An additional problem surrounding drilling risers is the nature of current flow down stream of the riser. In some cases it will get swirls of water called vortexes alternating on one side of the riser and then the other. In addition to the drag loads, this induces a vibration referred to as vortex induced vibration. The smooth transition from the riser pipe diameter to a fairing profile will naturally tend to reduce the potentially destructive vortex induced vibrations. 
     A major problem with contemporary fairing systems is that in order to be manageable, each section is about 7 feet long at a maximum. This requires a multitude of sections to be installed on a deepwater riser drilling riser. When the drilling riser is being deployed, each 7 feet, the riser must be stopped and valuable rig time allocated attaching a fairing section. In running or retrieving a drilling riser, this operation can take an additional four or five days, with ten days for a round trip. At $400,000 per day, this is as much as a $4,000,000 expense simply to attach the fairings. 
     As the fairings have weight and must pivot around the riser to remain down current, they must be attached to the riser in a load bearing and pivoting fashion. As they are nominally 7 feet long, this special connection must be repeated every 7 feet. This represents both the time to stop and make the connections, but also likely a modification to the buoyancy material itself to accommodate the attachment. 
     On a 5,000 foot drilling riser, typically only 1,000 feet of fairing would typically be installed due to the fact that the high currents tend to be near the surface. Having fairings on the upper 1,000 feet of riser will allow the operator to release from the subsea wellhead. However, in retrieving the riser the fairings must be removed. Once the first 1,000 feet of riser are retrieved, the riser will again experience the high side forces. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The object of this invention is to provide a fairing which can be installed on a riser and remain constant at the same depth as the riser is pulled. 
     A second object of the present invention is to provide a fairing system which can be installed independently of running or retrieving the riser. 
     A third object of the present invention is to provide a connection to a current drilling riser design without requiring special modifications to the drilling riser. 
     Another object of this invention is to provide a fairing system which will reduce the side drag forces and vortex induced vibration. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a view of an offshore drilling system with a drilling riser extending down to a blowout preventer stack connected to a wellhead on the ocean floor. 
         FIG. 2  is a view of an offshore drilling system with a drilling riser extending down to the upper section (the lower marine riser package) of a blowout preventer stack which has been released from the lower section of the blowout preventer stack. 
         FIG. 3  is a view of the offshore drilling system similar  FIG. 1  with a drilling riser extending down to a blowout preventer stack on the ocean floor and fairing added to the upper portion of the riser. 
         FIG. 4  is a view of an offshore drilling system with a drilling riser extending down to the upper section (lower marine riser package) of a blowout preventer stack which has been released from the lower section of the blowout preventer stack and is having the fairings removed as the riser is being retrieved. 
         FIG. 5  is a view of an offshore drilling system with a drilling riser extending down to the upper section (lower marine riser package) of a blowout preventer stack which has been released from the lower section of the blowout preventer stack and is not raising the fairings removed as the riser is being retrieved. 
         FIG. 6  is a section of the fairings showing the external profile around a joint of riser pipe. 
         FIG. 7  is a section of the fairings showing the fairings opened to be installed on the rise pipe. 
         FIG. 8  is a section of the fairings showing rollers which allow the fairings to weathervane around the riser. 
         FIG. 9  is a section of the fairings showing the rollers which allow one section of fairings to support the next section of fairings. 
         FIG. 10  is a vertical half section of the fairings taken along lines “ 10 - 10 ” of  FIGS. 8 and 9 . 
         FIG. 11  is an enlargement of the rollers showing perimeter wheels. 
         FIG. 12  is a vertical section of the fairings taken along lines “ 12 - 12 ” of  FIG. 6 . 
         FIG. 13  is a view of one section of the fairings surrounding a riser pipe. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  shows a typical offshore deepwater drilling system with the vessel  1  at the ocean surface  3 , ocean currents  5  with a profile which with higher currents near the surface and lesser currents at depths. A drilling riser  7  extends down to a lower marine riser package  9  which is landed on a lower blowout preventer stack  11 , which has a connector  13  attaching to a wellhead structure  15 . The sea bottom formations are shown at  17 . 
       FIG. 2  shows the riser system of  FIG. 1  with the lower marine riser package  9  released from lower blowout preventer stack  11 , resulting with the drilling riser  7  being blown downstream by the currents. In all but modest currents, this means that the drilling riser cannot be pulled back to the surface. 
       FIG. 3  shows the riser system of  FIG. 1  with fairings sections  31  added to the upper portion of the riser to reduce the side loadings on the drilling riser. As it is very expensive to run the fairings, fairings are typically installed only on the upper portion. 
       FIG. 4  shows the riser system of  FIG. 3  having been released from the lower blowout preventer stack and fairing sections  31  being removed as the riser is brought up to the surface. Although the fairing sections  31  are removed, the current profile  5  is not reduced, so the beneficial low drag effects of the fairings are lost before the riser can be retrieved to the surface. 
       FIG. 5  shows the riser system of  FIG. 1  with fairings  51  independently supported from the drilling rig  1 . Cables  55  are illustrated as supporting the fairings, but cylinders or other structures can be used to mechanically support the fairings  51 . In this case, although the drilling riser  7  is illustrated as being released from the lower blowout preventer stack  11 , all the riser can remain in place until the lower marine riser package  9  is elevated up to the bottom of the fairings  51 . At any time during the pulling of the drilling riser  7 , the fairings  51  can be pulled up by cables  53  or can simply be brought up by the lower marine riser package  9 . Fairings  51  are made of lower sections  54  and upper section  55 . Lower sections  54  are rotatably interconnected with a rotatable connection  56  and made of near neutrally buoyant material to allow for easy rotating. Upper section  55  is made of a heavy material so that it will hold tension on the cables  53  and position the lower sections  54  in the water at the desired level. 
     Smaller service vessel  57  might be used to install the fairings on the riser rather than being installed directly from a semi-submersible vessel as is shown at 1. This would be especially beneficial as a fully deployed riser will have equipment near the top such as a telescopic joint  58  and hose attachments  59  which make it not round as the lower portions of the riser are. 
       FIG. 6  shows a cross section thru a drilling riser and a fairing showing the dominant aerodynamic profile over the length of the fairing. The inner steel riser pipe  61  has an internal diameter  63 . Floatation material  65  is added to the outside of the riser. Along the length of the riser will be riser couplings (not shown) to allow the riser to be divided into sections which can be handled on the surface, usually about seventy feet long. A nose section is comprised of portions  67  and  69 , along with bolts  71  which fasten them together. The rear section  73  is comprised of halves  75  and  77  which are connected by an axle  79 . The front and rear sections are connected together by rings  81 , which will be described later. 
       FIG. 7  shows that the bolts  71  have been released and the two halves  83  and  85  have been opened to allow installation on or removal from the drilling riser  7 . 
       FIG. 8  shows a ring on the two halves  83  and  85  as discussed on  FIG. 6  with ring  87  which houses a multiplicity of rollers  89  mounted on axles  91  which allow the fairing to weathervane about the riser  7  with low friction. The rollers  89  shown are indicated as simple rollers, but the preferred embodiment might be rollers such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,112,781 which has wheels around the perimeter of the roller to allow low friction moving along the length of the riser pipe. This is beneficial for the running and retrieving of the fairings along the length of the riser pipe. 
       FIG. 9  shows a multiplicity of rollers  93  about axles  95  which act as a rotatable connection between adjacent sections of fairing, as will be seen in  FIGS. 10 and 11 . 
       FIG. 10  shows a half section showing ring  87  which houses rollers  89  about axles  91 . This combination of rollers and axles is repeated four times along the length of the fairing for support along the riser pipe, especially over interruptions in the riser floatation material which occurs at connections. Also seen are rollers  93  on axles  95  which are mounted on the inside  101  of the lower end  103  of each fairing section. The upper end  105  provides a groove  107  which is engaged by the rollers from the section fairing above to interconnect the fairings. This method provides for both connection and rotatability. 
       FIG. 11  shows a larger view of the area of the ring  87  with rollers  89 , showing a multiplicity of slots  111  cut across the roller  89  around the perimeter and wheels  113  on axles  115  inserted into the slots. This allows rolling movement along the riser using the small perimeter wheels  115 , while the main roller  89  provides rotation about the riser. 
       FIG. 12  shows a section of the fairing and riser taken at lines “ 11 - 11 ” on  FIG. 6  and illustrates the interlocking of the rear sections  75  and  77  with axle  79  to allow the unit to be opened like a hinge. 
       FIG. 13  shows a section of the fairing surround a drilling riser  7 , upper groove  105 , rings  87  which house rollers  89  and connect the front sections  67  and  69  to the rear sections  75  and  77 , and a lower end  103 . 
     The particular embodiments disclosed above are illustrative only, as the invention may be modified and practiced in different but equivalent manners apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings herein. Furthermore, no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown, other than as described in the claims below. It is therefore evident that the particular embodiments disclosed above may be altered or modified and all such variations are considered within the scope and spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the protection sought herein is as set forth in the claims below.