Determination of riser tensioner properties from full-scale data

Tensioners are used for supporting various kinds of production and drilling risers on offshore platforms. All permanent production facilities (such as TLP's and Spar's) have employed tensioners to support their dry tree production risers. The key design parameters for the tensioners design are stiffness, stroke and friction properties. Full scale onshore testing of production riser tensioners to determine tensioner properties is difficult due to the magnitude of the loads and pressures required for typical deepwater risers, thus designers frequently rely on theoretical values or small scale tests. This paper presents a determination of riser tensioner properties from full scale offshore observations made on the Holstein Spar production facility during 2005 hurricance season. The paper presents a model for the tensioner system that relates the properties needed by platform and riser designers to the physical tensioner systems. The methodology and results from extraction of parameters from the full scale data is presented. The results presented in this paper will provide a better insight to the designers of such systems.