NPTEL - IIT MADRAS  

Offshore structures under special 

environmental loads including 
fire-resistance 
By; 
Prof. Srinivasan Chandrasekaran, IIT Madras  
 
 
Week one: Novelty of offshore structures - Tutorial 1 
 
Part A 
 
1. c) both a and b 
 
2. a) Ultra-deep water oil exploration 
 
3. a) Corrective/Convective Basis 
 
4. d) They are relatively insensitive to lateral loads 
 
5. a) Corrosion 
 
6. Fixed platforms resist lateral loads by ​STRENGTH​ ​and not by​ ​DISPLACEMENT​. 
 
7. Brittle modes of failure are undesirable feature of ​FIXED ​type of platforms. 
 
8. Complaint offshore structures are flexible by ​DISPLACEMENT ​ and not by S ​ TRENGTH​. 
 
9. ​CABLES​ ​are used to position-restrain complaint platforms. 
 
10. a) Flexibility 
 
 
 
 Part B  
 
 
 
1. How applied loads are resisted by structures, in general?  
 
● Generally a structure offers resistance to any applied load by virtue of its strength. 
Depending on the effect the loading has on the structure, different elements of a 
structure resists the load as follows; 
 
■ Flexural resistance 
■ Shear resistance 
■ Torsional resistance 
 
● The loads are resisted through a load path, top to bottom, inside the structure in a way 
so that they are properly transmitted to the ground supports given that there is no 
intermittent failure of elements in the load path. 
 
 
2. Name a few functions of offshore platforms  
 
● To bear the load of the superstructure and its components like, electro machinery, 
buildings, helipads, drilling derricks etc. 
● To offer resistance to various kinds of loads encountered during the service of the rig or 
the platform like wave loads, wind loads, seismic loads etc. 
● Storage and offloading of the obtained resources to the land. 
 
 
3. Why offshore structures are considered to be functionally unique? 
 
● Offshore platforms are required to fulfill some unique desired parameters such as; 
■ Easy commissioning and decommissioning of the platforms 
■ Early time of serviceability to start production 
■ Corrective and long term solutions for susceptible repairs and incurred 
damages, as intermittent or preventive measures are discouraged 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4. Why offshore structures need to adapt innovative geometric forms? 
 
● Innovative geometric forms when adopted provide many advantages such as; 
■ Less cost of construction and maintenance of the platforms 
■ Higher service life spans 
■ Less prone to fatigue failures, corrosion etc. 
■ Higher stability and resistance to various loads 
 
 
​5. Discuss evolution of new geometric form of floating structures. 
 
● Offshore platforms in their primitive stage, were mainly of the fixed platform type. Given 
the many disadvantages associated with these form of platforms such as, but not 
limited to; brittle nature of failure, difficulty of installation, higher costs involved etc, a 
more effective type of platforms namely, Complaint platforms were developed. 
 
● The main difference between the fixed and the complaint type of platforms is that the 
latter uses displacement to counteract the encountered forces unlike in the fixed 
platforms where strength is the governing factor for resisting loads. Complaint 
platforms added flexibility to the offshore structures through their geometric 
configuration, which allowed for the design of less expensive structural components. 
With the added flexibility to the platform, the supports undergo a lot of rotational and 
torsional stresses which made them prone to fatigue failure. Keeping this in view, a 
more feasible and effective type of platforms were conceptualized, the floating type of 
platforms. 
 
● The floating platforms did away with the two main challenges prevailing in the previous 
offshore platform systems, which were the fatigue and single point failure pf supports. 
The floating platforms added more flexibility to the platforms and therefore reducing the 
responses occurring in the platform due to the various loads. These type of platforms 
proved to be very conducive for rigs in production, storage and offloading purposes.