Assessment of pipeline stability in the Gulf of Mexico during hurricanes using dynamic analysis

Pipelines are the critical link between major offshore oil and gas developments and the mainland. Any inadequate on-bottom stability design could result in disruption and failure, having a devastating impact on the economy and environment. Predicting the stability behavior of offshore pipelines in hurricanes is therefore vital to the assessment of both new design and existing assets. The Gulf of Mexico has a very dense network of pipeline systems constructed on the seabed. During the last two decades, the Gulf of Mexico has experienced a series of strong hurricanes, which have destroyed, disrupted and destabilized many pipelines. This paper first reviews some of these engineering cases. Following that, three case studies are retrospectively simulated using an in-house developed program. The study utilizes the offshore pipeline and hurricane details to conduct a Dynamic Lateral Stability analysis, with the results providing evidence as to the accuracy of the modeling techniques developed.

DISCUSSION OF CRITICAL LOAD IN NONLINEAR STABILITY ANALYSIS AND SUGGESTION OF VARIATIONAL PRINCIPLE OF SOLVING CRITICAL LOADS

In this paper, a set of variational formulas of solving nonlinear instability critical loads are established from the viewpoint of variational principle. The paper shows that it is very convenient to solve nonlinear instability critical load by using the variational formulas suggested in this paper.

THE VARIATIONAL PRINCIPLE OF THIN SHELL IN STABILITY

this paper gives the resultant forces and moments strain energy and work of external forces on the basis of the deformation theory of flexible body therefore in aqcfordance with the principle of virtual displacement the energy criterion of critical lad is obtained and the equilibrium equation and boundary conditions of stability problem are derived

ON THE LIAPUNOV’S STABILITY OF A CLAMPED ORTHOTROPIC ROUND PLATE UNDER RADIAL AXISYMMETRICAL IMPACTLOAD

Liapunov's 2nd method is applied to analyse the Stability of a ciamped poleorthotropic round plate acted by a radial axisymmetrical impact load on its periphery. The analysis is carried cut under the assumptions of small deflection and elasticity The impact load is supposed to have a step impulsive form. A sufficient stability condition is given.

Early fluid loading for septic patients： Any safety limit needed？

Early adequate fluid loading was the corner stone of hemodynamic optimization for sepsis and septic shock. Meanwhile, recent recommended protocol for fluid resuscitation was increasingly debated on hemodynamic stability vs risk of overloading. In recent publications, it was found that a priority was often given to hemodynamic stability rather than organ function alternation in the early fluid resusci- tation of sepsis. However, no safety limits were used at all in most of these reports. In this article, the rationality and safety of early aggressive fluid loading for septic patients were discussed. It was concluded that early aggressive fluid loading improved hemodynamics transitorily, but was probably traded off with a follow-up organ function impairment, such as worsening oxygenation by reduction of lung aeration, in a part of septic patients at least. Thus, a safeguard is needed against unnecessary excessive fluids in early aggressive fluid loading for set）tic patients.

Adaptive Fuzzy Torque Control of Passive Torque Servo Systems Based on Small Gain Theorem and Input-to-state Stability

Passive torque servo system （PTSS） simulates aerodynamic load and exerts the load on actuation system, but PTSS endures position coupling disturbance from active motion of actuation system, and this inherent disturbance is called extra torque. The most important issue for PTSS controller design is how to eliminate the influence of extra torque. Using backstepping technique, adaptive fuzzy torque control （AFTC） algorithm is proposed for PTSS in this paper, which reflects the essential characteristics of PTSS and guarantees transient tracking performance as well as final tracking accuracy. Takagi-Sugeno （T-S） fuzzy logic system is utilized to compensate parametric uncertainties and unstructured uncertainties. The output velocity of actuator identified model is introduced into AFTC aiming to eliminate extra torque. The closed-loop stability is studied using small gain theorem and the control system is proved to be semiglobally uniformly ultimately bounded. The proposed AFTC algorithm is applied to an electric load simulator （ELS）, and the comparative experimental results indicate that AFTC controller is effective for PTSS.