SET (Samsung Enhanced hull for Tendon) TLP (Tension Leg Platform) has been designed as an innovative TLP hull form with optimized number of tendons compared to conventional TLP design. SHI (Samsung Heavy Industries) designed the SET TLP to have the minimized hull weight with narrow and thin pontoon which results in the less number of tendons without any outboard extension of column or pontoon.
The SET TLP has 8 tendons which are evenly attached along with the octagonal shaped-ring pontoon. The unique shape of octagonal ring pontoon distributes the wave load and concentrated tendon loads in larger areas, which can minimize the structural reinforcement.
To verify the feasibility of the proposed hull concept with regard to the hydrostatic/hydrodynamic characteristics and tendon design, the numerical analyses for the hydrostatic stability and global performance are carried out. Hydrostatic stability is investigated for all the possible loading cases such as float-off, wet transit, tendon installation and operational conditions, and the proper tank compartments are achieved for all the scenarios without using any temporary stability module.
The global performance is validated for all the possible combinations of wave, swell, wind, current and/or squall for a site in Western Africa. Through the frequency-domain analysis and nonlinear time-domain analysis as well, the essential items such as the maximum offset/set-down/top tendon tension, minimum bottom tendon tension are examined and confirms that the certain design criteria of TLP operation are satisfied.
