Offshore platform construction including preinstallation of pilings
DCFirst Claim
1. The method of offshore platform installlation, the platform including a plurality of pilings for respectively being driven at chosen sites in the mudline, which comprises the steps oflocating the site for each of the pilings at the mudline,installing the pilings by driving them into the earth beneath the mudline so that each of said pilings extends only a short distance above the mudline, andinstalling a space-frame jacket having depending support legs onto said pilings using stabbing connections for trasferring the compressive load of the platform by effecting metal-to-metal bearing contact between said legs of the jacket and the top of the pilings.
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Abstract
A method of constructing a fixed offshore platform is disclosed using a template to locate the piling locations, the template having openings for the pilings. The pilings are then driven in so that the top of each piling is above the template and about five feet above the mudline. An acoustic transponder is then used to more precisely locate each of the tops of the pilings so that the jacket to be installed thereon will be level. The jacket is installed on the pilings using a stabbing connection. The compression loads are preferably established on metal-to-metal contact bearing surfaces. The tension loads are carried by conventional grouting between the jacket legs and the piling or via a mechanical latching mechanism, which may be either external or internal. If skirt pilings are to be employed in addition to the "main" pilings, a template insert can be used with each main piling opening or sleeve in the template, if desired. The pilings for a large platform wherein its pilings are spread out over a large area can be located by using a template which is a fraction of the whole. In such case, some of the pilings are initially located and then the template is repositioned to locate additional pilings. The template is then repeatedly moved until all of the pilings are fully located.
39 Citations
14 Claims
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1. The method of offshore platform installlation, the platform including a plurality of pilings for respectively being driven at chosen sites in the mudline, which comprises the steps of
locating the site for each of the pilings at the mudline, installing the pilings by driving them into the earth beneath the mudline so that each of said pilings extends only a short distance above the mudline, and installing a space-frame jacket having depending support legs onto said pilings using stabbing connections for trasferring the compressive load of the platform by effecting metal-to-metal bearing contact between said legs of the jacket and the top of the pilings.
Specification