FPSO AND MONOBUOY OFFLOADING OPERATION WITH A CONVENTIONAL SHUTTLE TANKER: DIMENSIONING OF TUGBOAT BASED ON NUMERICAL SIMULATION

In the present paper, a numerical simulation analysis of FPSO and monobuoy tug-assisted offloading operation is carried out. The main objective is to define the required tug-force that must be applied in the shuttle tanker in order to guarantee a safe operation. Critical environmental conditions of Brazilian waters are used, and a full time domain computational simulator is used to estimate vessels motions and hawser forces during the operation. Operational criteria adopted by Petrobras were then used to verify the risks associated to each operation. Such procedure was used to define the minimum requirements for the offloading assistance tugboats.