Riser & Wellhead Monitoring

Riser & Wellhead Monitoring

Monitoring of riser and well operations using accelerometers and inclinometers provides valuable insight into the real-world response of a system.

AS Mosley provides independent support using global riser analysis to companies looking to plan for, interpret and understand both real time and post operations monitoring data. The most common application of subsea BOP monitoring is for the purposes of measuring accumulated wellhead fatigue damage. More recently, this approach has been developed by AS Mosley to monitor for structural integrity and stability also. Figure 1 presents an example of a subsea BOP monitoring system setup.

Figure 1: Example Subsea BOP Monitoring System Setup

Global riser analysis models are used to support wellhead fatigue monitoring through determination of the relationship between measured acceleration and stress in the critical fatigue hotspots of a well.

Credit: Fugro Structural Monitoring

It is important that this relationship (also referred to as a Transfer Function) is thoroughly understood and accurate. By comparing integrity parameters (BOP stack characteristic frequency and fixity depth), which are outputs of the monitoring system, the global riser analysis models are calibrated to improve the accuracy of the simulations, and therefore the accuracy of the measured fatigue damage from the monitoring system.
Thorough understanding of the riser and well system is critical to the success of a wellhead monitoring campaign.

Key Projects

Some of the key riser and wellhead monitoring projects AS Mosley has worked on are listed below:

• • • BP Quad 204,  Wellhead and Conductor fatigue monitoring
    • Hurricane Energy Greater Warwick,  Wellhead and Conductor fatigue monitoring as well as foundation integrity
    • Anasuria Guillemot, Conductor foundation integrity
    • Zenor Finlangen, Wellhead and Conductor fatigue monitoring as well as foundation integrity

AS Mosley has also released two papers on the subject of riser and wellhead monitoring:

• • • OMAE 2017-61081 Wellhead Monitoring: Measured Fatigue Damage Validation
    • OMAE 2020-18210 Real Time Monitoring Of Subsea Well Foundation Integrity (link to follow)

For more information on Riser and Wellhead Monitoring, please contact us directly.