User:Gerrard83/Calm buoy

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CALM buoy
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General information 

Ever since the early days of the offshore industry, the Catenary Anchor Leg Mooring (CALM) buoy has been a succesfull system for importing and exporting of oil. Initially, these buoys were moored in relatively shallow water at near shore locations, often in very harsh wave conditions. In recent years the use of CALM buoys for offloading crude oil from FPSOs in deep water, for example at a number of West of Africa oil fields, is becoming more and more common. Here, the environmental conditions are more mild, but the water depth is a complicating factor.

Services & Activities  The Offshore Department is has been involved in many CALM buoy model tests and numerical simulations, assessing the motions, mooring loads, green water loads, riser behaviour and offloading, both in shallow and deep water. The behaviour of the buoy alone is investigated (e.g. in survival conditions), but also the behaviour of a shuttle tanker moored to the CALM buoy, including possible fishtailing instabilities. Furthermore, detailed investigations of the CALM buoy hydrodynamic properties can be made, through large scale captive and forced oscillation tests.

The Trials & Monitoring Department has been involved in full-scale measurements on several CALM buoys. Buoy motions and mooring line loads are measured and analysed, paying special attention was to mooring line fatigue.

MARIN's nautical simulator centre MSCN can provide training programmes for offloading operations, including the shuttle tanker, CALM buoy, FPSO and assisting tugs in the simulator model.

CALM buoy section

The CALM buoy section is the connecting point of export in the oil industry. It is found that the finest engineers are engaged with this section. e.g Engineer Abdullah Qassem and Engineer Mohammad Alsharrah are incharge of CALM buoys in SBH were they gain most of their experience offshore to maintain the buoys.

References