Optimum design of ice-resistant offshore jacket platforms in the Bohai Gulf in consideration of fatigue life of tubular joints

Economy and ice-resistance are two factors that must be considered in the design of offshore oil platforms in the Bohai Gulf. This paper focuses on the optimal design of ice-resistant offshore jacket platforms in the Bohai Gulf in consideration of fatigue life of tubular joints, with the minimum initial weight and satisfying dynamic properties. An efficient fatigue analysis procedure based on spectral analysis is proposed, in which a hybrid finite element model is adopted to simulate the jacket platform and the tubular joints, and the pseudo-excitation method is used to calculate the power spectral density of the hot spot stress. Finally, a practical jacket platform with an ice-breaking cone in the Bohai Gulf is optimized, and the results demonstrate that the fatigue life of tubular joints could be improved and the weight of jackets decreased simultaneously.