Large Displacement Analysis of a Marine Riser

A method of static analysis for a marine riser experiencing large displacements is presented. The method is suitable for analyzing a riser having a known top tension and a possible slippage at the top slip joint. Utilizing the stationary condition of a functional coupled with an equilibrium equation, one can conveniently obtain the equilibrium configuration numerically. The configuration is expressed in terms of the rectangular coordinates. The functional representing the energy and work of the riser system is expressed in terms of the horizontal coordinate which is parameterized in terms of the vertical depth instead of arc length. For a two-dimensional problem, two multipliers must be included in the functional. One of the two represents the variable axial force along the length of the riser and the other corresponds to the strain energy per unit riser length due to bending. Utilizing the finite element method, a numerical procedure to obtain the configuration of static equilibrium is given. The resulting algebraic equations are highly nonlinear and the Newton-Raphson iterative procedure is used to solve the equations. An example is given.