Ice resistant structure optimisation of the steel conductor supported wellhead platform in the caspian sea

Ice infested shallow waters of the North Caspian Sea imposes challenging tasks like ice pile up, fatigue due to ice-induced vibrations and ice impact loads, which strongly affect the structural integrity of offshore installations. This paper explores the potential application of a Minimal Facilities Platform or is also known as a Conductor Supported Wellhead Platform (CSWP) in the North Caspian Sea region and specifically focuses on the design optimization of the substructure due to ice loads. The CSWP has not been used in the cold climate regions before. The intention of this research is to prove feasibility of CSWP to withstand loads in the ice infested shallow waters. The substructure design was optimized by application of an ice resistant conical structure with specific inclination angle at the ice-structure interface. Usually conical structures reduce ice loads and ice induced vibrations. However, a fatigue capacity may be reduced due to geometrical discontinuity with the increase of inclination angle. This was shown in the design analysis.