LifeFrequency Manual

Version 7.
LifeFrequency Users Manual
Version 7.7
May 2008
Galway Technology Park, Parkmore, Galway, Ireland T: +353 91 781010 F: +353 91 781020 E: Galway@mcs.com
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 - OVERVIEW ........................................................... 1 Introduction..........................................................................1 Manual Organisation ..............................................................1
Part A ................................................................................... 2 Part B ................................................................................... 2 Part C ................................................................................... 2
Operation .............................................................................3 Installation ...........................................................................4 Starting LifeFrequency............................................................4 Summary of Inputs ................................................................5 Top Menu Bar........................................................................7
File....................................................................................... 7 Run ...................................................................................... 7 Modules ................................................................................ 8 View ..................................................................................... 9 Help ....................................................................................11
CHAPTER 2 - STAND-ALONE OPERATION .................................13 Introduction........................................................................ 13 Long Term Environmental Conditions...................................... 14

Wave Scatter Diagram ...........................................................14 Directionality ........................................................................16
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Table of Contents
Fatigue Data....................................................................... 16 LifeFrequency Analysis Procedure .......................................... 18

Two Special Cases ................................................................ 23
Jonswap Spectrum .............................................................. 24 A Note on Units................................................................... 25 Repeat Runs....................................................................... 26 References ......................................................................... 27 CHAPTER 3 - POSTPROCESSOR WITH STRESS SPECTRA OPERATION .............................................................................29 Introduction ....................................................................... 29 Operation........................................................................... 30 Units ................................................................................. 31 CHAPTER 4 - POSTPROCESSOR WITH RAOS OPERATION.........33 Introduction ....................................................................... 33 Operation........................................................................... 33 Units ................................................................................. 35 CHAPTER 5 - REFERENCE .........................................................37 LifeFrequency Reference.................................................... 39
Analysis Title........................................................................ 40 Name of Flexcom File ............................................................ 41 Units................................................................................... 43 PDF .................................................................................... 44
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Table of Contents
Hot Spot Sets Define ...........................................................45 Properties Stress ................................................................46 Fatigue Data Properties .......................................................50 Log-Linear S-N Curve Define ................................................53 Piecewise Log-Linear S-N Curve Define ..................................55 Data Pairs for S-N Curve Define ............................................57 Mode ...................................................................................58 Seastates .............................................................................59 Seastate Scatter Diagram Selected Seastates .........................60 Seastate Scatter Diagram One Seastate .................................66 Seastate Scatter Diagram All Seastates..................................67 Spectrum .............................................................................68 Seastate Directions Stand-alone Mode ...................................69 Seastate Directions Postprocessor with Stress RAOs Mode ........72 Pre-run Analyses Postprocessor with Stress Spectra Mode ........73 Pre-run Analyses with RAOs Postprocessor with Stress RAOs Mode ..........................................................................................74
CHAPTER 6 - EXAMPLE DRILLING RISER FATIGUE ANALYSIS ..77 Introduction........................................................................ 77 Environment ....................................................................... 77 Fatigue Data ....................................................................... 81 Results............................................................................... 81 Example Files ...................................................................... 85
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER 7 - EXAMPLE SCR FATIGUE ANALYSIS WITH STRESS SPECTRA..................................................................................87 Introduction ....................................................................... 87 Model ................................................................................ 87 Environment....................................................................... 89 Fatigue Data....................................................................... 90 Results .............................................................................. 90 Example Files ..................................................................... 91 Input Data ......................................................................... 92
Riser Properties .................................................................... 92 Vessel ................................................................................. 93 Internal Fluid ....................................................................... 95
CHAPTER 8 - EXAMPLE SCR FATIGUE ANALYSIS WITH RAOS ..97 Introduction ....................................................................... 97 Environment....................................................................... 98 Fatigue Data....................................................................... 99 Results .............................................................................. 99 Example Files ....................................................................102
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Chapter 1 - Overview
CHAPTER 1 - OVERVIEW
Welcome to the Users Manual for LifeFrequency. LifeFrequency is an optional frequency domain fatigue life prediction module to Flexcom. This chapter, Overview, provides an introduction to LifeFrequency, and outlines the Users Manual layout. Specifically, Overview is divided into the following sections: Introduction describes in broad outline the operation of LifeFrequency. Manual Organisation gives a summary of the chapters comprising this manual. Operation outlines the different program modes of operation. Installation is a guide to installing the software. Starting LifeFrequency describes how to run the module and provides a basic description of the LifeFrequency GUI Summary of Inputs gives a brief overview of the program inputs. Top Menu Bar describes the options in the top menu bar.
INTRODUCTION LifeFrequency is an optional fatigue life prediction module to Flexcom. It incorporates the frequency domain features of the Flexcom Analysis module. LifeFrequency is not just a postprocessor to Flexcom. Instead, the program is built around Flexcom, and in the most general case, a fatigue analysis with LifeFrequency includes one or more Flexcom random sea analyses carried out under the control of LifeFrequency, without user intervention. MANUAL ORGANISATION This manual provides all of the information that you need to know about LifeFrequency including user information, reference information, and information about the examples that are provided with the module. The manual has three main parts as follows:
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Part A provides a comprehensive description of how to use the LifeFrequency module.
Part B provides comprehensive reference information about all user inputs to the LifeFrequency graphical user interface (GUI).
Part C describes the examples that are provided with the LifeFrequency module to demonstrate the different modes of operation of LifeFrequency and the fatigue analysis capabilities of the module.
Part A
Part A is comprised of four chapters as follows: Chapter 1 (this chapter), Overview, provides an introduction to LifeFrequency, and outlines the Users Manual layout. Chapter 2, Stand-alone Operation provides the theoretical background to the Standalone mode of the program. Chapter 3, Postprocessor with Stress Spectra Operation provides the theoretical background to the Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode of the program. Chapter 4, Postprocessor with RAOs Operation provides the theoretical background to the Postprocessor with RAOs mode of the program.
Part B
Part B is comprised of one chapter as follows: Chapter 5, Reference provides a detailed reference for all of the windows and menus in the LifeFrequency GUI.
Part C
Part C is comprised of three chapters as follows:
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Chapter 6, Example Drilling Riser Fatigue Analysis illustrates the LifeFrequency Stand-alone mode of operation in the fatigue analysis of a drilling riser.
Chapter 7, Example SCR Fatigue Analysis with Stress Spectra illustrates the LifeFrequency Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode of operation in the fatigue analysis of an SCR.
Chapter 8, Example SCR Fatigue Analysis with RAOs illustrates the LifeFrequency Postprocessor with RAOs mode of operation in the fatigue analysis of an SCR.
OPERATION The LifeFrequency procedure for calculating the fatigue life at a point on a riser or tether is based on generating a spectrum of combined bending and axial stress at that point, for each combination of wave height, wave period and wave direction in the long term environmental data for the location in question. LifeFrequency has three modes of operation as follows, each mode differing in how these stress spectra are produced: Stand-alone Mode In the most general case, spectra are calculated by LifeFrequency based on the results of one or more Flexcom random sea analysis, performed directly by LifeFrequency, without user intervention. This mode of operation is termed the LifeFrequency Standalone mode, because LifeFrequency performs all stages of the fatigue analysis directly. Postprocessor with Stress Spectra Mode In the LifeFrequency Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode, your fatigue analysis is preceded by a series of Flexcom frequency domain random sea analysis runs that you perform directly in Flexcom, to find the dynamic response for each combination of wave period, wave height and wave direction in the scatter diagram. The input to LifeFrequency is then a list of Flexcom output files, from which LifeFrequency reads in turn the stress spectra required to complete the fatigue life estimation. In this case, the LifeFrequency module can be considered a simple Flexcom postprocessor.
Chapter 3 describes the LifeFrequency Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode in greater detail. Postprocessor with RAOs Mode This mode is similar to the Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode, in that your fatigue analysis is preceded by a range of Flexcom frequency domain random sea analyses. The difference is that you run analyses for selected combinations of wave height, period and direction only, and you postprocess these to generate RAOs of effective tension and bending moment (or stress). These RAOs then become the LifeFrequency inputs, and the program uses these to transform wave spectra in the scatter diagram for which you did not do a dynamic analysis, into stress spectra. The LifeFrequency Postprocessor with RAOs mode is described in detail in Chapter 4 of this manual. INSTALLATION LifeFrequency is automatically installed with Flexcom. However the software is only activated if you are a licensed LifeFrequency user; otherwise the LifeFrequency button on the Flexcom Modules Sidebar will be inaccessible (greyed out). If you are not a LifeFrequency user but are interested in finding out more about becoming one, contact MCS. STARTING LIFEFREQUENCY You run LifeFrequency by clicking on the LifeFrequency button on the Flexcom Modules Sidebar. When you click on the LifeFrequency button the Working Area changes to that for LifeFrequency, as shown below.
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In addition to the above, there are a number of options on the top menu bar associated with performing a LifeFrequency analysis. These top menu bar options are described later. The next section summarises the LifeFrequency inputs in the above screen. SUMMARY OF INPUTS As you can see from the picture above, data input to LifeFrequency is divided into nine sections; Run Details, Options, Hot Spot Sets, Fatigue Data, S-N Curves, Mode of Operation, Environment and Postprocessor. The inputs in each section are now briefly summarised. The Title dialog is used to associate a descriptive title with the LifeFrequency run, which will subsequently appear on all graphical and tabular output. The Flexcom File dialog is used to specify the name of the file containing the structure model data in the Stand-alone mode.
The Units drop-down list is used to specify the units employed in inputting the LifeFrequency data. The PDF drop-down list is used to specify the probability density function to be used in calculating fatigue life estimates from stress spectra. The Hot Spots Sets Define dialog is used to define the locations on the structure for which fatigue life estimates are required. The Properties Stress dialog is used to assign effective structural properties to hot spot sets for use in calculating bending and axial stresses. The Fatigue Data Properties dialog is used to assign properties specific to fatigue life calculations to each hot spot set. It allows you to specify the S-N curve, stress concentration factor, whether the analysis is to be based on combined stress or bending stresses only, and whether or not thickness effects are to be considered. The S-N Curve dialogs are used to define S-N curves to be used in the fatigue analysis. These may be log-linear, piecewise log-linear, or user defined. The Mode drop-down list is used to choose between the three LifeFrequency modes of operation. The operation of each mode is discussed in Chapters 2-4. Only some of the dialogs in the Environment and Postprocessor sections will be available, depending on which mode you select. The Environment section relates to the Stand-alone and Postprocessor with Stress RAOs modes of operation. The Seastates drop-down list is used to choose between formats for inputting the seastate scatter diagram. The Seastate Scatter Diagram dialog is used to input the wave scatter diagram, group the seastates into blocks, and nominate a reference seastate for each block. The Seastate Directions dialog is used to specify long-term directionality data. The Spectrum dropdown list is used to specify which wave spectrum type to use. The Postprocessor section relates to the Postprocessor with Stress Spectra and Postprocessor with RAOs modes of operation. For the former, you specify the names of Flexcom random sea analyses and corresponding percentage annual occurrences. In the latter case, you specify the names of Flexcom random sea analyses for every combination of reference seastate in the scatter diagram and every direction with a non-zero percentage occurrence.
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TOP MENU BAR The picture below shows the LifeFrequency top menu bar and toolbar.
There are five options in the menu bar, namely File, Run, Modules, View and Help. Each of these is now briefly discussed. The toolbar options are described with their corresponding commands from the menu bar.
File
The menu you get when you invoke the File option is shown below. The first four File menu items are for manipulating input files in the standard ways. The first three icons in the toolbar correspond to the first three items of the menu respectively.
Run
The Run menu is used to actually run a LifeFrequency analysis. When you click on Run, the drop-down menu shown below appears.
The only option on the Run menu, LifeFrequency, actually instructs LifeFrequency to perform the fatigue analysis. The fourth icon on the toolbar performs the same task.
When you do run a LifeFrequency analysis, one check is performed which is specific to the fatigue program. The section 'Repeat Runs' of Chapter 2 describes how it is possible to rerun a
stand-alone fatigue analysis, varying only fatigue specific data such as S-N curve data or SCFs. In such a case it is not necessary for the program to rerun all of the associated Flexcom frequency domain random sea analyses, since the results of these analyses are unaffected by changes in the fatigue data. What actually happens is the following. When you click on Run in the LifeFrequency top menu bar, the program checks for the existence of a file with the current job name but with the extension sto. This is a LifeFrequency data storage file with contents as described in Chapter 2. If this file exists, LifeFrequency prints the following message:
If you click on Yes, LifeFrequency will proceed to the fatigue calculations proper using the data in the storage file, without rerunning any Flexcom analyses. On the other hand if you click on No, then LifeFrequency will proceed to do a full fatigue analysis with one or more Flexcom random sea runs as usual. In this latter case the data in the storage file is automatically updated during the LifeFrequency run.
Modules
The Modules menu bar option provides a list of all the modules in Flexcom, and allows you to select one as you would from the Modules Sidebar. This is intended to aid in mouse-free GUI navigation. When you click on Modules, the drop-down menu shown below appears. Clicking on any of the options naturally launches the corresponding module.
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View
The View menu bar option allows you to examine various files associated with a LifeFrequency fatigue analysis run by opening them in the Viewer application. Viewer is discussed in more detail in Chapter 4 of the Flexcom Reference Manual.
Table 5.1 below tabulates the various files produced in a LifeFrequency analysis.
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Table 1.1. LifeFrequency Files.

File Name jobname.lf3 jobname.sea jobname.fat jobname.ver jobname.lif jobname.t01.mpt GUI data file. Analysis input file (1) Fatigue seastate data. Analysis input file (2) Remaining data. Verification file. Output file. Plot file of minimum fatigue life v distance along hot spot set (nominally a timetrace plot file). RAO storage file (for repeat Stand-alone mode analyses see Chapter 2 for more details) Description
jobname.sto
Of these seven files, four can be examined via the Viewer application. The GUI data file is naturally opened using LifeFrequency itself. The significance of the RAO storage file was outlined earlier; this file is for internal program use only and is not intended to be accessed by users. The significance of the other file, the plot file, is briefly discussed here for completeness. Each LifeFrequency analysis generates a plot of the minimum fatigue life at each hot spot plotted against distance along the hot spot set. Figure 1.1 shows an example of such a fatigue life plot. The distance on the X or horizontal axis is measured from the first element of each hot spot set. The Y or vertical axis actually displays the fatigue life (note the logarithmic scale). If there are two or more the user-defined hot spot sets in the fatigue run, a curve is generated for each, and LifeFrequency automatically superimposes these curves. You can view this plot in the usual way with the Plotting module; fatigue life plots are arbitrarily assigned the same file extension as timetrace plots.
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Min. Fatigue Life (Years)
10
100
1000
10000
100000
Fatigue Life - SCR
250
500
750
1000
1250
1500
1750
2000
Distance Along Hot Spot Set (m)
Fig. 1.1 LifeFrequency Fatigue Life Plot

Help
The final top menu bar option, Help, is used to either display on-line help (Help Topics) or information about the LifeFrequency/Flexcom version number and licence details (About Flexcom). These are standard Windows facilities.
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Chapter 2 - Stand-alone Operation
CHAPTER 2 - STAND-ALONE OPERATION

This chapter provides the background to the program Stand-alone mode of operation in the following sections:
Introduction gives an overview of the program Stand-alone mode. Long Term Environmental Conditions describes the input of the long-term environmental conditions, in terms of seastates and directions. Fatigue Data summarises the program options for specifying data specific to the fatigue damage calculations. Analysis Procedure discusses how this data is used in performing a LifeFrequency analysis. Jonswap Spectrum describes how LifeFrequency calculates parameters for the Jonswap spectrum. A Note on Units discusses how units for forces, stresses etc. are handled by the various components of the LifeFrequency package. Repeat Runs describes how analyses can in some cases be repeated with a muchreduced computing time. References presents a number of appropriate references.
INTRODUCTION The operation of LifeFrequency is best described by first detailing the required program inputs, and then describing how LifeFrequency uses these inputs to produce fatigue life estimates. The input data required for the fatigue analysis using LifeFrequency can be grouped under three headings or categories as follows: Category i): Structure finite element model and general environmental data (water depth and density, mud density, and so on).
Category ii): Category iii):
Wave scatter diagram and long-term directionality data. Fatigue-specific data such as hot spot locations, stress concentration factors and material S-N curves.
LifeFrequency reads the required data in Category (i) from a Flexcom input file. You input and save this data via the Flexcom Analysis module, and then in the LifeFrequency GUI you simply specify the Flexcom file name you used when saving the data. The data should include all of the inputs you would normally specify for a Flexcom random sea analysis, except that no wave data is required. The reason for this is explained later in this chapter. LONG TERM ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS
Wave Scatter Diagram
Category (ii) above relates to the long-term environmental conditions at the location in question. The first element of this is the wave scatter diagram, which is input via a window in the LifeFrequency GUI. A blank Seastate Scatter Diagram window is shown in Figure 2-1. A detailed discussion of this window is provided in Chapter 4. However, it is briefly discussed here as part of the description of the LifeFrequency theory. The window for inputting the scatter diagram very much reflects how the actual wave scatter diagram is usually presented. Each cell of the window represents a particular combination of Hs and Tz, and you input into a cell the number of occurrences (typically the number of three-hour intervals) of that particular combination during, say, a 10 or 20-year period. You can alternatively specify the scatter diagram in terms of Hs and Tp, the wave spectrum peak period.
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Figure 2-1: Blank Seastate Scatter Diagram Window

In principle, a fatigue analysis should involve performing a Flexcom random sea analysis for each seastate in the scatter diagram for each direction of wave approach, and then using the results to calculate fatigue damage as described in the section LifeFrequency Analysis Procedure later in the chapter. You can certainly do this in LifeFrequency; however, this might be expensive in computer time notwithstanding the speed of Flexcom. Alternatively, when you are inputting the scatter diagram, as well as inputting individual numbers of occurrences, you can also divide the scatter diagram into a small number of blocks, and nominate a seastate (a particular combination of Hs and Tz) within each block as the representative or reference seastate for that block. An example of a wave scatter diagram input in this way is shown in Figure 2-2. Here the scatter diagram is divided into 12 blocks (not all fully visible), each with a reference seastate shown shaded. The values input and the blocking scheme are largely arbitrary.
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Figure 2-2: Example of a Seastate Scatter Diagram Window

How LifeFrequency uses this data is described shortly. First the specification of directionality data is summarised.
Directionality
Long-term directionality effects are accounted for in LifeFrequency by considering storm directions from eight compass headings. For each direction, a percentage occurrence value is input via a window of the LifeFrequency GUI. Obviously, the sum of all occurrences must total 100%. You also have the option of specifying the name of an individual file containing vessel RAOs for each direction, or all of the RAOs may be in a single RAO file. FATIGUE DATA Before describing how LifeFrequency uses all of this data to produce fatigue life estimates, the input data in the last of the three categories of the Introduction above, namely the fatigue specific data, is now summarised. Firstly, you are required to identify the fatigue analysis hot spots, these being simply the points on the structure for which fatigue life estimates are required. Hot spots are defined as belonging to hot spot sets. For each set you input i) a stress concentration factor (SCF), ii) an S-N curve, and iii) (optionally) a threshold thickness. You also specify the required stress type, whether bending, axial or combined bending and axial.
SCF specification is standard, and the specified SCF values multiply the stresses calculated by Flexcom/LifeFrequency to account for various stress raisers. For S-N curve specification, a range of options is provided to allow a wide degree of generality. A particular curve may be defined by two parameters m and K such that the curve is given by NSm = K, where S represents stress range and N number of cycles to failure. Such a curve plots as a straight line on log-log scales. An endurance limit (a stress range below which no fatigue damage results regardless of the number of cycles) may be optionally specified. Alternatively, a series of m and K values may define the curve over particular regions, representing a piecewise-linear log-log plot. In the most general case, a particular curve may be specified as a series of (S, N) data pairs. The specification of a threshold thickness allows you to take account of the fact that the fatigue strength of some structural members can be dependent on material thickness, with fatigue strength decreasing with increasing thickness. If you specify a threshold thickness for a particular hot spot set, the stresses calculated by Flexcom/LifeFrequency are further multiplied by a factor f given by:
t = t b 4
1
(2.1)
Here t b is the threshold thickness you specify; and t is the greater of t b and the actual thickness of the particular location under consideration (this ensures that f is always greater than or equal to 1). Note that although t b is specified for a hot spot set, f is computed
individually for each location in the set, since the structure thickness may vary within a hot spot set. The specification of t b is optional for each set; by default thickness effects are omitted. Finally, a particular hot spot can belong to a number of hot spot sets, each with a different SCF and/or S-N curve and/or threshold thickness. In this way the effect of variations in these parameters can be evaluated in a single LifeFrequency run.
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LIFEFREQUENCY ANALYSIS PROCEDURE The rest of this chapter describes how LifeFrequency uses the data described above to produce fatigue life estimates. A schematic of the procedure is presented in Figure 2-3.
Category (i) Data Category (ii) Data
Control Module
Flexcom Input Files
Analysis Module
Postprocessing
Category (iii) Data
Flexcom RAO Files
LifeFrequency
Verification file (.ver) Output file (.lif)
Storage file (.sto)
Figure 2-3: LifeFrequency Analysis Procedure

The procedure is as follows. For every combination of i) reference seastate and ii) wave direction with non-zero % occurrence, the program combines these seastate parameters with the Category (i) data in the file you specified, to produce a Flexcom input file for each combination. LifeFrequency then, without user intervention, runs each of these Flexcom analyses, and post-processes the results to obtain stress RAOs (transfer functions). The stress RAOs for a particular reference seastate and wave direction are then used to produce stress spectra for all of the remaining seastates within that block for that direction. In this way stress spectra are produced for every combination of seastate and wave direction in the long-term
environmental data. Note that the assumption implicit in this procedure is that stress RAOs are invariant with respect to seastate over short distances within the scatter diagram. After the Flexcom analyses (including postprocessing) for each reference seastate/direction combination have been completed, LifeFrequency proceeds to the fatigue life prediction process proper. The fatigue life at a particular location is found by looping over all of the seastates in the scatter diagram and all of the storm approach directions, and computing and accumulating the fatigue damage due to each combination. For each combination, the first step is to extract the required hot spot RAO or RAOs from the Flexcom RAO files and to transform and/or combine these as required. The appropriate RAO file will depend on what seastate is being analysed and what block this corresponds to in the scatter diagram. If you specify that combined stresses are to be considered at a particular location, then LifeFrequency scans the Flexcom RAO output for axial force RAOs and RAOs of bending about both local axes. The axial force RAOs are transformed to axial stress and the two bending RAOs are transformed to bending stress. The three RAOs are then combined to produce combined stress RAOs. The combining of the RAOs uses complex arithmetic to include the effect of relative phasing between the stress components. Note that LifeFrequency produces fatigue life estimates for eight points (denoted stress points) around the section circumference as shown in Figure 2-4, and so bending stress RAOs are factored as appropriate depending on the actual stress point under consideration.
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Figure 2-4: Hot Spot Stress Point Locations

Once LifeFrequency has read and evaluated the RAO data it requires, the next step in the fatigue analysis is to use this data to produce a hot spot stress spectrum according to the formula:
S (f ) = |H(f ) |2 S (f )
(2.2)
where S (f ) is the output stress spectrum, H(f ) is the stress RAO or transfer function,
S (f ) is the particular seastate spectrum, f denotes frequency, and x denotes the
magnitude of the complex quantity x . Note that the seastate spectrum S (f ) may be either Pierson-Moskowitz or Jonswap; you specify which when inputting the seastate scatter data. The availability of this option requires that LifeFrequency incorporates an algorithm to select values for the three parameters usually used to define a Jonswap spectrum (peak frequency, and ) for each seastate, since these are defined only in terms of Hs and Tz or Tp. The form of this algorithm is detailed later. The various quantities required to complete the fatigue analysis can now be evaluated from the calculated hot spot stress spectrum, or more correctly from the moments of the stress spectrum about the origin, which are defined as:
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mn = f n S (f )df
0
(2.3)
where mn denotes the nth spectral moment and the remaining symbols are as described previously. In order to complete the analysis using these moments, certain assumptions are made regarding the distribution of stress peaks and ranges. The first assumption concerns the probability distribution function (pdf) that can be used to determine the probability of occurrence of various stress peaks. You can choose between either the Rayleigh distribution or Dirliks rainflow range distribution. The Rayleigh distribution is completely defined by m0, the zeroth moment or the area under the stress spectrum curve. This distribution is suitable for stress spectra that are narrow banded. The Dirlik distribution is defined by m0, m1, m2, and m4, the zeroth, first, second, and fourth moments of the stress spectrum. This distribution is more appropriate when stress spectra are broad banded. Since either distribution refers to stress peaks and in fatigue analysis stress ranges are of interest, the further assumption must also be made that each peak magnitude is half the magnitude of the corresponding stress range. The probability of occurrence of various stress ranges in the response to a particular seastate can therefore be calculated by dividing the area under the corresponding probability distribution curve into a finite number of areas. The total number of all stress peaks (and hence stress ranges) in one year for a particular seastate i, for a particular direction j, denoted Mij, can be calculated from m0, m2 and m4, the zeroth, second and fourth moments of the stress response spectrum respectively, as follows:
Mij =
1 year (in s) * (% occurrence of seastate i ) * (% occurrence of direction j ) Tz (in s)
(2.4)
where Tz, the mean stress up-crossing period, is given by:

Tz = m0 m2
(2.5)
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The probability of occurrence of a particular stress range Sk in the response to seastate i and direction j, denoted pij(Sk), is evaluated by integrating the area under the distribution curve between appropriate ordinates, thus:
S + S
pij (Sk ) =
S S
p(x) dx
(2.6)
where p(x) is the probability distribution, and S is chosen on the basis of a suitable subdivision of the area under the curve into a finite number of areas. The Rayleigh distribution is given by:
p(x ) = x exp( x 2 / 2m0 ) m0
(2.7)
The Dirlik distribution is given by:

2 D1 -Z Q D2 Z Z2 2R2 e + 2 e + D3 Ze Z Q R p(x ) = 2(m0 )1 2
(2.8)
where:
D1 = 2( xm 2 ) 1 + 2
12
(2.9)
xm
T m = c = 1 Tm m0
x 2 m0
m2 m 4
12
(2.10)
m22 Tc = m0 m4 Tz
(2.11)
Z =
(2.12)
Q=
1.25( D3 (D2 R)) D1
(2.13)
D2 =
(1 D1 + D1 ) 1R
2
(2.14)
D3 = 1 D1 D2
(2.15)
R=
x m D1 2 1 D1 + D1
m0 m1
(2.16)
Tc =
m2 m4
(2.17)
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Tm =
(2.18)
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The actual number of occurrences in one year of stress range Sk in response to seastate i, direction j, denoted nij (Sk), or simply nijk, is given by:
nijk = pij (Sk )Mij
(2.19)
The damage due to stress range k in seastate i, direction j, as defined by the Palmgren-Miner Rule, is found by dividing the actual number of occurrences of stress range Sk, that is nijk, by the number of cycles of this stress range required to cause failure. This latter quantity is denoted N(Sk) or Nk, and is found from the appropriate S-N curve. Denoting the damage due to stress range k in seastate i, direction j, as dijk we write:
dijk =
nijk Nk
(2.20)
and the accumulated damage in the response to seastate i due to all stress ranges and directions, denoted di, is given by:
di =
d
j k
ijk
N
j k
nijk
k
(2.21)
The accumulated damage in one year due to all seastates, which is denoted d1, is given by:
d1 =
d
i
(2.22)
According to the Palmgren-Miner Rule the fatigue life at a particular hot spot is 1/d1 years. This is the procedure used to predict fatigue life in LifeFrequency.
Two Special Cases
There are two special cases of the above general procedure for dividing the scatter diagram into blocks and nominating a reference seastate within each block. Flexcom allows you to choose these cases with a simple keyclick. The first is where you want to have only a single block (encompassing the full scatter diagram) with a single reference seastate. In this case, LifeFrequency does one random sea analysis only for each wave direction with non-zero %
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occurrence. The RAOs from these analyses are used for all of the seastates in the scatter diagram, but otherwise the fatigue analysis proceeds exactly as per Eqs. (2.2) to (2.22). The second special case is slightly different. In this case you want Flexcom to do a random sea analysis for every seastate in the scatter diagram, for every wave direction with non-zero % occurrence. This is equivalent to making every cell of the scatter diagram into both a seastate block and the reference seastate for that block. The fatigue life calculations are slightly different in this case to the general procedure outlined above but only slightly. The result of doing a Flexcom random sea analysis for every seastate for every wave direction is that you have immediately the axial force and bending moment spectra that are required to complete the fatigue analysis. There is no requirement in this case to postprocess the random sea results to produce response RAOs. So in effect the fatigue calculations begin at Eq. (2.3), the calculation of the moments of the combined stress spectrum. Otherwise the procedure is exactly the same as in the general case. It is important to be clear that this second special case is not LifeFrequency running in the Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode described in Chapter 3, although the effect is naturally very similar. In the LifeFrequency postprocessor mode you have to run off all of the Flexcom random sea analyses yourself before running LifeFrequency. In this second special case of the Stand-alone mode, LifeFrequency automatically performs all of the Flexcom runs before then proceeding directly to the fatigue life calculations. JONSWAP SPECTRUM The Jonswap spectrum is defined by three parameters, namely fp (peak frequency), (peakedness parameter) and (Phillips constant). When you describe a Jonswap spectrum in terms of Hs and Tz or Hs and Tp, then LifeFrequency uses special algorithms to select appropriate values for fp, and . These are now summarised. For the case of a scatter diagram defined as Hs/Tz combinations, the method adopted here is one due to Isherwood [1] who publishes in his paper of 1987 a revised Jonswap spectrum parameterisation based on empirical data published by Huomb and Overvik [2]. This procedure will not be described in detail here; the interested reader is referred to the
publications referenced, or to Flexcom Technical Note 7, Alternative Jonswap Spectrum Formulations. For the case of a scatter diagram defined as Hs/Tp combinations, LifeFrequency first categorises each seastate based on the value of the parameter (Tp / Hs). Values for and
are then calculated according to Table 2.1 below; fp is simply 1/Tp.

Table 2-1: Calculation of Jonswap Parameters
Parameter Windsea Regime (Tp / Hs) < 3.6 Regime Jonswap Range 3.6 < (Tp / Hs) < 5 0.036 0.0056(Tp / Hs) exp{5.75 1.15(Tp / Hs)} Swell Regime (Tp / Hs) > 5 5.07 Hs2 / Tp4 1
2.73 Hs2 / Tp4 5
A NOTE ON UNITS LifeFrequency is an integrated package that incorporates the following modules:
The main Flexcom Analysis module The Frequency Domain Postprocessor module LifeFrequency itself, the frequency domain fatigue life prediction module
To ensure compatibility between these different modules, LifeFrequency must embody some assumption concerning units. In LifeFrequency, you have the two choices concerning units, as follows: 1. Input the data in one of two standard combinations of units and allow the program to keep track of inputs to ensure correct subsequent usage. 2. Use a consistent set of units that is not one of the two standard combinations, without any assistance from the program in ensuring correct usage.
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The following are the two standard systems of units that you can use to prepare the various LifeFrequency data files:
SI units Mass - kg; Length - m; Time - s Force - N; Moment - Nm Stress - N/mm2 (MPa) (S-N curve specification) Value of g (gravitational constant) - 9.81m/s2
Imperial units Mass - slugs; Length - ft; Time - s Force - lb (lbf); Moment - ft lb Stress - ksi (kips/in2) (S-N curve specification) Value of g (gravitational constant) - 32.2 ft/s2
If you specify to LifeFrequency that you are using one of these standard units sets, you do not need to nominate which one. The program determines which set of units is being used from the value you specify for g in inputting the Category (i) data in the Flexcom Analysis module. This will obviously be equal to either of the above values (to within 5%), otherwise the program will terminate with error. REPEAT RUNS Repeat analyses, where the structural and seastate input data remains the same, can in many cases be carried out by LifeFrequency without the necessity of continuously performing all of the Flexcom analyses. This is achieved through the use of a storage file generated in an initial fatigue run. This storage file contains all the structural data and all of the RAO files generated in postprocessing the individual Flexcom analyses. In the repeat analysis, the required files are extracted from the storage file by LifeFrequency, and the analysis then
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proceeds as before. This allows you to quickly examine the effect of varying fatigue specific data, such as SCF or S-N curve. Note though that only RAOs are preserved in the storage file. If your fatigue analysis approach is based on performing Flexcom random sea analyses for all seastates in the scatter diagram (the so-called second special case above), the results of the individual Flexcom runs are not stored for subsequent reuse (the storage file would be enormous). In fact these files are deleted at the end of the LifeFrequency run. So if you want to repeat a fatigue analysis of this type, LifeFrequency must rerun all of the individual Flexcom analyses. REFERENCES 1. Isherwood, R.M., Technical Note: A Revised Parameterisation of the Jonswap Spectrum, Applied Ocean Research, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1987, pp. 47-50. 2. Houmb, O.G. and Overvik, T., Parameterisation of Wave Spectra and Long Term Joint Distribution of Wave Height and Period, Proceedings of Conference on Behaviour of Offshore Structures (BOSS), Trondheim, 1976, Vol. 1.
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Flexcom Version 7.7
Chapter 3 - Postprocessor with Stress Spectra Operation
CHAPTER 3 - POSTPROCESSOR WITH STRESS SPECTRA OPERATION

This chapter provides the background to the program Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode of operation in the following sections:
Introduction gives an overview of the program Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode. Operation details the LifeFrequency procedure in this mode. Units discusses how units for forces, stresses etc. are handled in this mode.
INTRODUCTION You run LifeFrequency in Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode when you have yourself performed Flexcom frequency domain random sea analyses for each combination of wave height, wave period, and wave direction in the fatigue load case. The input to LifeFrequency in this case is a list of Flexcom output file names, together with a % occurrence value for the combination of conditions that each analysis considered. LifeFrequency in this case operates as a simple postprocessor to Flexcom. This mode of operation is in contrast to the Stand-alone mode described in Chapter 2, where LifeFrequency undertakes all stages of the fatigue analysis directly. A situation where you might need to run LifeFrequency as a Flexcom postprocessor is where you want to vary environmental conditions other than just wave height, wave period or wave direction. For example, you might want to specify different offsets for, say, near, far and cross cases LifeFrequency does not allow you to vary offset in this way. On the other hand, you might want to nominate different drift conditions for different seastates. If you do, you must run the individual Flexcom random sea analyses yourself before running LifeFrequency in Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode.
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OPERATION The actual LifeFrequency fatigue calculations in this mode are only slightly different from the Stand-alone mode calculations of Eqs. (2.2) to (2.21) of the previous chapter. Obviously the result of doing a Flexcom random sea analysis for every seastate for every wave direction is that you have immediately the axial force and bending moment spectra that are required for the fatigue analysis. So the fatigue calculations begin at Eq. (2.3), the calculation of the moments of the combined stress spectrum. Otherwise the procedure is exactly the same from this point. In this regard, this postprocessor mode is very similar to the second special case of the stand-alone mode discussed previously. This special case is where LifeFrequency does a Flexcom analysis for every combination of wave parameters. The similarities between the two situations are obvious. Because you (rather than LifeFrequency) run the individual Flexcom analyses, and because LifeFrequency is dealing directly with the stress spectra produced by these runs, there is no need for the fatigue program to know the actual combinations of environmental conditions corresponding to each run. The only environmental data required is the % annual occurrence of this combination. So the dialog for inputting the LifeFrequency Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode data is as shown below.
Figure 3-1: Pre-run Analyses Dialog

Further details about this dialog are provided in Chapter 5. The percentage value you input here is used in a slightly amended form of Eq. (2.4), where it replaces the product (% occurrence of seastate i) * (% occurrence of direction j). The amended form of the equation is:
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M ij =
1 year (in s)* (% occurrence of this combination) Tz (in s)
(3.1)
Other than this, the fatigue calculations are exactly as described in Chapter 2. UNITS Chapter 2 describes how you have the option of using one of two standard systems of units (SI or Imperial) in setting up a LifeFrequency analysis in the Stand-alone mode, and how, if you invoke this option, the program automatically determines which system you are using from your value for the gravitational constant g. This option is also available for the Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode. What happens if you invoke this facility (using Options Units:), is that LifeFrequency reads the value for g from the postprocessing output file produced by the first Flexcom analysis listed in the Pre-run Analyses dialog shown above in Figure 3-1. The assumption is that you used the same value of g in all your analyses; to do otherwise would be unusual. What this mainly affects in the Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode input data is the specification of S-N curves and SCFs. S-N curve data is usually input in units consistent with stresses in MPa (SI units) or ksi (Imperial units). However, the axial forces and bending moments in your Flexcom output files are typically in N and Nm (SI units) or lb and ft.lb (Imperial units). In early versions of LifeFrequency, this meant that you typically used your SCFs to transform stresses to units consistent with your S-N curve(s). So for example, if you were using SI units and wanted to specify a SCF of 1.2 and stress ranges in MPa in your S-N curve, you specified an SCF of 1.2*10-6 to ensure compatibility. Likewise for Imperial units, if you wanted to use ksi in defining your S-N data, the SCF you specified was 1.2*6.9444*10-6 or 8.3333*10-6. Now you can specify Automatic units, an SCF of 1.2, and your S-N curve in MPa or ksi, and let LifeFrequency take care of ensuring consistency of units thereafter.
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Chapter 4 - Postprocessor with RAOs Operation
CHAPTER 4 - POSTPROCESSOR WITH RAOS OPERATION

This chapter provides the background to the program Postprocessor with RAOs mode of operation in the following sections:
Introduction gives an overview of the program Postprocessor with RAOs mode. Operation details the LifeFrequency procedure in this mode. Units discusses how units for forces, stresses etc. are handled in this mode.
INTRODUCTION The LifeFrequency Postprocessor with RAOs mode of operation combines elements from the other two modes described in the last two chapters. It is similar to the Stand-alone mode in that you input the wave scatter diagram and directionality data in full, and you divide the scatter diagram into blocks and nominate a reference seastate in each block in the same way. What is different from the Stand-alone mode is that you must run the Flexcom frequency domain random sea analyses yourself, before running LifeFrequency, for each combination of reference seastate and direction with non-zero % occurrence. In this regard the Postprocessor with RAOs mode resembles the Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode. Even here though there is another difference. In addition to running the Flexcom analyses, you must also postprocess them to generate RAOs of axial force and bending moment at the locations of interest (hot spots), since LifeFrequency requires these to complete the fatigue calculations as per the Stand-alone mode. OPERATION The actual LifeFrequency fatigue calculations in this mode are identical to the Stand-alone mode calculations of Eqs. (2.2) to (2.22) of Chapter 2. The actual data inputs you specify are also very similar to the Stand-alone mode. You specify the wave scatter diagram and the directionality data using exactly the same dialogs as for the
Stand-alone mode. There is however one additional category of data required, and that consists of the names of the Flexcom analyses you ran for the scatter diagram reference seastates. You input this data using the Pre-run Analyses with RAOs dialog, the format of which is shown below.
Figure 4-1: Pre-run Analyses with RAOs Dialog

Further details on this window are provided in Chapter 5, however the important points to note are as follows. You use the first two columns to identify a combination of Hs and Tz or Tp, which must correspond to a reference seastate in your wave scatter diagram; the third column identifies a direction, which must correspond to one of the directions with non-zero % occurrence you specified using Seastate Directions. The last column is then used to specify the name of the Flexcom analysis you ran for this combination of seastate and direction. Note that you must fill in a row in this dialog for every reference seastate for every direction with non-zero % occurrence. So, for example, if you have five reference seastates and four directions, you must have 20 rows in your Pre-run Analyses with RAOs specification. When you come to actually run your LifeFrequency analysis, the GUI does check this for you, and if there is a combination in the environmental data without a Flexcom file name here, the program prints an error message to that effect and the fatigue analysis does not run. Instead you remain in the GUI so you can correct the error. You will recall from the previous chapter that you also use a Pre-run Analyses dialog when you run LifeFrequency in the Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode. However, the format of the dialog is different depending on which mode you have nominated, as you can confirm by comparing Figure 4-1 with Figure 3-1.
UNITS Chapter 2 describes how you have the option of using one of two standard systems of units (SI or Imperial) in setting up a LifeFrequency analysis in the Stand-alone mode, and how if you invoke this option the program automatically determines which system you are using from your value for the gravitational constant g. This option is available for the Postprocessor with RAOs mode as well. What happens if you invoke this option (using Options Units:) is that LifeFrequency reads the value for g from the data produced by the first Flexcom analysis in your list in the Pre-run Analyses with RAOs dialog shown above in Figure 4-1. The assumption is that you used the same value of g in all your analyses; to do otherwise would be unusual. What this mainly affects in the Postprocessor with RAOs mode is the postprocessing of your Flexcom analyses. S-N curve data is usually input in units consistent with stresses in MPa (SI units) or ksi (Imperial units). However, the axial force and bending moment RAOs in your Flexcom RAO files are typically in N/m and Nm/m (SI units) or lb/ft and ft.lb/ft (Imperial units). One option you could use would be to use a scale factor in your Flexcom postprocessing to generate RAOs units consistent with your S-N curve(s). So, for example, if you were using SI units and wanted to specify stress ranges in MPa in your S-N curve, you could specify a postprocessing scale factor of 1*10-6 for both axial force and bending moment RAOs. This would give RAOs in MN/m and MNm/m in your RAO file, leading to stresses in MPa in LifeFrequency. For Imperial units, a similar procedure could apply. However, this is not necessary. It is easier to specify a scale factor of 1 everywhere when postprocessing; then nominate Automatic units in LifeFrequency, and let LifeFrequency take care of ensuring consistency of units thereafter.
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Chapter 5 - Reference
CHAPTER 5 - REFERENCE
This chapter provides a detailed reference for all of the data inputs required for LifeFrequency. It contains only a single section, LifeFrequency - Reference.
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LifeFrequency Reference
Analysis Title
Location: Purpose: Window:
LifeFrequency To specify a title for a LifeFrequency run.
Data Inputs:
Input: Title: Description A title of up to 80 alphanumeric characters. This will subsequently appear on all LifeFrequency output.
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Name of Flexcom File
LifeFrequency To specify the name of the file containing the structure model data.
Data Inputs:
Input: Flexcom File: Description The name of the file in which you input and saved the LifeFrequency Category (i) input data, that is, the structure finite element model and the general environmental data. See Notes (a)(e) below.
Notes:
(a) This dialog is available only when you are running LifeFrequency in Stand-alone mode. (b) The data in this file is input via the Flexcom Analysis module - the file required by LifeFrequency is the GUI input file (file type fl3). It should include all of the data you would normally specify for a Flexcom dynamic analysis, with two exceptions as detailed below. (c) It is not necessary to specify wave data in this file, because wave data will be inserted into the Flexcom input file for each reference seastate dynamic analysis by the LifeFrequency control module, as described in Chapter 2. However the file can contain wave data, and no error will result. One reason why you might include wave data is in order to specify selected frequencies for the Flexcom wave spectrum discretisation. If
you do input random sea data with selected frequencies, the actual spectrum parameters you specify (for example Hs and Tz for a Pierson-Moskowitz spectrum) will be ignored, but the selected frequencies will be inserted into all the reference seastate input files by the control module. (d) The Flexcom file may contain data in the Vessel RAO File dialog, but this will be ignored by LifeFrequency. The name or names of files containing RAOs for individual or all wave directions are required inputs in the LifeFrequency Seastate Directions dialog. (e) The Flexcom GUI file type fl3 is not required when inputting the Flexcom file name.
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Units
LifeFrequency To specify the units employed in inputting the LifeFrequency data.
Data Inputs: Notes:
None
(a) Chapters 2-4 describe how you can use either a pre-defined set of units or a user-defined consistent set when inputting LifeFrequency data. You use this drop-down menu to tell LifeFrequency the set you are using. The default is Automatic. (b) Pre-defined units can be either SI or Imperial, as described in Chapter 2. You do not need to specify which; LifeFrequency automatically determines this from the value you use for g, the gravitational constant. This explains the significance of the Automatic button.
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PDF
Location: Purpose:
LifeFrequency To specify the probability density function to be used in calculating fatigue life estimates from stress spectra.
Window:
Data Inputs: Notes:
None
(a) This drop-down list allows the selection of the probability density function (pdf) for use in the fatigue life calculations. Selecting Rayleigh (the default) selects the standard Rayleigh pdf, while selecting Dirlik selects the rainflow range pdf proposed by Dirlik. The Dirlik pdf is more appropriate when stress spectra are broad banded; the Rayleigh pdf is narrow banded. Further details can be found in the section LifeFrequency Analysis Procedure in Chapter 2.
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Hot Spot Sets Define
Location: Purpose:
LifeFrequency To define the fatigue analysis hot spots, that is the locations on the structure for which fatigue life estimates are required.
Window:
Data Inputs:
Input: Set Name: Element(s): Description A unique set label or name. The numbers of the elements comprising the set. These are input in the standard format used in the Flexcom Analysis module. Local Node: The location on the elements of the set for which fatigue life estimates are to be calculated. This can be one of four locations, namely the element first or start node, the element midpoint, the element second or last node, or all three nodes. You choose between locations using the drop-down list shown below. The default location is the First node of the elements of the set
Notes:
(a) Particular locations may belong to different hot spot sets. A fatigue life estimate will be calculated for each occurrence of a particular location.
Properties Stress
Location: Purpose:
LifeFrequency To assign effective structural properties to hot spot sets for use in calculating bending and axial stresses.
Window:
Data Inputs:
Input: Set Name: Description The hot spot set to which the properties are to be assigned. This defaults to all elements. Do: The effective outer diameter for the elements of the set. The specification of data in this column is optional, as indeed it is for all columns. If you do not specify a value for Do, how LifeFrequency chooses a default depends on whether you used the Flexible Format or the Rigid Format in inputting geometric data in Flexcom. If you used the flexible riser format, then the default is the drag diameter for the elements of the set. If you used the rigid riser format, then Do here defaults to Do in the Flexcom data.
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Di:
The effective internal diameter for the elements of the set. Again this entry is optional. The default is the internal diameter specified in your Flexcom data.
Recalculate:
You use this drop-down list to indicate to LifeFrequency how default values for A, Iyy and Izz are to be chosen if any of the subsequent three columns are left blank. The default value of Yes means that LifeFrequency recalculates the parameter in question using the values you specified for Do and/or Di. The alternative of No means LifeFrequency is to use the same value as Flexcom did for the parameter in question, regardless of whether you have already specified effective Do and/or Di values for this set. See Notes (b)-(g) below.
A:
The effective cross-sectional area for the elements of the set. This entry is optional. If omitted, then how LifeFrequency chooses a default is governed by your input in Column 4, Recalculate. See Note (b) below.
Iyy:
The second moment of area about the local y-axis for the elements of the set. This entry is optional. If omitted, then how LifeFrequency chooses a default is governed by your input in Column 4, Recalculate. See Note (b) below.
Izz:
The second moment of area about the local z-axis for the elements of the set. This entry is optional. If omitted, then how LifeFrequency chooses a default is governed by your input in Column 4, Recalculate. See Note (b) below.
Notes:
(a) The purpose of this menu is to input values to be used in calculating stresses, both bending and axial, during a LifeFrequency analysis.
(b) For the default of Yes in the Recalculate drop-down list, default values for A, Iyy and Izz are calculated using the following:
A=
2 Do Di2
)
)
4
4 Do Di4
Iyy =
64
I zz = Iyy
Here Do and Di are the inputs described above, default or otherwise (c) The main Analysis module has a menu for specifying stress properties which is similar to this one, except for the Recalculate column (the rationale for this option is explained in Note (h) below). The main Analysis module doesnt actually use the data if you specify it there, but it is echoed to analysis output files where it can be accessed by the Frequency Domain Postprocessing module and by LifeFrequency. What this means depends on whether you are running LifeFrequency in Stand-alone mode or in either of the Postprocessor modes. (d) If you are running in Stand-alone mode, and if you specify stress properties in inputting the Flexcom data in the file you specify in the LifeFrequency Name of Flexcom File dialog, then you do not need to specify these properties again in LifeFrequency; they automatically carry through. (e) If you are running in either Postprocessor mode, then LifeFrequency reads stress properties from the output files produced by the first Flexcom analysis in your Pre-run Analyses list. So if you specify stress properties in the Flexcom data for that analysis, once again you do not need to repeat them here. (f) The Properties Stress dialog in the main Analysis module operates in exactly the same way with regard to default values of A, Iyy and Izz as this window does, when Recalculate is set to Yes here.
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(g) The rationale for the two Recalculate options is as follows. This Properties Stress facility was introduced in a more recent version of the software. Prior to that, you only had an option to specify an effective external diameter Do in a Diameter column on the Fatigue Data Properties dialog. If you did invoke the option to change Do, then LifeFrequency did not recalculate A, Iyy and Izz; so you had in fact no facility to vary these values. The No option on the Recalculate drop-down list is provided to allow users of a previous version of LifeFrequency to repeat exactly the fatigue analyses run with that version. For example, to repeat exactly a LifeFrequency Version 4.1 fatigue analysis in which you specified a Do value for a hot spot set, you invoke this window, specify Do, and set Recalculate to No. The hot spot stress properties should then be identical to previously.
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Fatigue Data Properties
Location: Purpose:
LifeFrequency To assign properties specific to fatigue life calculations to each hot spot set.
Window:
Data Inputs:
Input: Set Name: Description The hot spot set to which properties are to be assigned. This defaults to a set named All which comprises all elements of the structural discretisation. S-N Curve: The name or label of the S-N curve to be used for this set. You assign a unique name to each S-N curve when inputting S-N curve data using the facilities to be described later in the chapter. SCF: The stress concentration factor (SCF) to be used in fatigue calculations for this set. Stress: The stress type to be used in the fatigue calculations for this set. You can choose between bending, axial or combined bending and axial using the drop-down list shown below. The default stress type is bending only.
Tb:
The threshold thickness for the inclusion of thickness effects. See Notes (a), (b) and (c) below.
Output:
An option to nominate how many fatigue life estimates are to included in the LifeFrequency output file per hot spot. LifeFrequency calculates fatigue life estimates at eight points around the outer circumference (these points are known as stress points). The drop down menu allows you to choose how many of these are echoed to the program output file. The default is Minimum, which means one value only, the minimum value, is output. The alternative is All, which means all eight values are output.
Notes:
(a) The specification of a threshold thickness allows you to take account of the fact that the fatigue strength of some structural members may be dependent on material thickness. If you specify Tb for a particular hot spot set, the stresses calculated by Flexcom/LifeFrequency are multiplied by a factor f given by
T 4 f = T b
1
(b) Here T is the greater of Tb and the structure thickness at the location under consideration. Effectively, f functions as a further SCF. Note that f is always greater than or equal to 1, and is calculated individually for each hot spot of a set, since T can vary between hot spots in the same set. (c) The specification of Tb is optional. By default, thickness effects are ignored unless you explicitly specify a threshold thickness. (d) If you are using one of the two standard systems of units as discussed in the section A Note on Units in Chapter 2, or in either of the sections headed Units in Chapters 3 and 4, then there are specific units for inputting Tb. If you are employing SI units, then
Tb is input in mm. If you are using Imperial units, the Tb is input in inches. If on the other hand you are using a consistent , User Defined set of units then you must input Tb in the same unit of length you used, for example, in defining nodal coordinates in the Flexcom input data.
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Log-Linear S-N Curve Define
LifeFrequency To specify parameters for S-N curves which plot as linear on log-log axes.
Data Inputs:
Input: S-N Curve: m: K: Endurance Limit: Description A unique name or label for the S-N curve. The first parameter defining the S-N curve. See Note (a) below. The second parameter defining the S-N curve. See Note (a) below. A stress value below which no fatigue damage occurs, regardless of the number of cycles.
Notes:
(a) S-N curves are generally defined in the form NS =K where S denotes stress range,
m
N the number of cycles to failure at this range, and m and K are constants. Taking
logarithms of both sides and rearranging gives:
log S = 1 1 log N + log K m m
53 Flexcom Version 7.7
which is the equation of a straight line when log S is plotted against log N. In this case
m is the inverse slope and K is a function of the line intercept. These are the parameters
input above.
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Piecewise Log-Linear S-N Curve Define
Location: Purpose:
LifeFrequency To specify parameters for S-N curves which plot as piecewise linear segments on log-log axes.
Window:
Data Inputs:
Input: S-N Curve: m: Description A unique name or label for the S-N curve. The first parameter defining the S-N curve segment. See Note (a) below. K: The second parameter defining the S-N curve segment. See Note (a) below. N1: The number of cycles value defining the lower end of the line segment where these m and K values apply. N2: The number of cycles value defining the upper end of the line segment where these m and K values apply.
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Notes:
(a) This window is used to input S-N curve data when the S-N curve plots as a series of line segments on log-log axes. In this case, particular combinations of m and K define the curve over regions defined in terms of the N values at either end. (b) Use as many lines as you need to completely define the S-N curve. Simply leave Column 1 blank for second and subsequent lines. For subsequent curves, put the new S-N curve name in Column 1 and specify the curve data in the same way. (c) When you use this specification, LifeFrequency automatically checks to ensure that the specified S-N curve is continuous from region to region, that is, that there are no gaps or discontinuities at the changeover points between curve regions. The presence of such a gap will cause LifeFrequency to terminate with error. (d) You should be careful when using this option that the S-N curve is defined over the complete range of values likely to be of importance in a particular analysis. Note especially that at the high cycle end of the curve, no fatigue damage is assumed to occur at stress ranges below the minimum value specified. In effect this represents a fatigue endurance limit.
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Data Pairs for S-N Curve Define
LifeFrequency To specify S-N curves directly as (S, N) data pairs.
Data Inputs:
Input: S-N Curve: S: N: Description A unique name or label for the S-N curve. The stress range. The number of cycles which causes fatigue failure at this range.
Notes:
(a) Use as many lines as you need to completely define the S-N curve. Simply leave Column 1 blank for second and subsequent lines. For subsequent curves, put the new S-N curve name in Column 1 and specify the curve data in the same way. (b) You should be careful when using this option that the S-N curve is defined over the complete range of values likely to be of importance in a particular analysis. Note especially that at the high cycle end of the curve, no fatigue damage is assumed to occur at stress ranges below the minimum value specified. In effect this minimum stress represents a fatigue endurance limit.
Mode
LifeFrequency To choose between the three LifeFrequency modes of operation.
Data Inputs: Notes:
None
(a) The various modes of program operation are described in Chapters 2-4. The default is Stand-alone. (b) You specify data for the option you selected in one or both of the sections below the Mode of Operation section in the GUI, namely Environment and Postprocessor. Only some of the dialogs in these sections will be accessible, depending on which mode you selected. The dialogs for all options are described in the following pages.
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Seastates
Location: Purpose:
LifeFrequency To choose between formats for inputting the seastate scatter diagram in Stand-alone and Postprocessor with Stress RAOs modes.
Window:
Data Inputs: Notes:
None
(a) The options for inputting the fatigue analysis scatter diagram are discussed in Chapter 2, Stand-alone Operation. The Selected Seastates format is the most general case, and the other two options correspond to the Two Special Cases discussed in Chapter 2. The options are in fact more or less self-explanatory. (b) To specify the actual scatter diagram data you use the Seastate Scatter Diagram dialog. The format this dialog takes depends naturally on which of the options you choose here. The various formats are described on the following pages. Because as it is the most general case, the format for the Selected Seastates option is described first. The formats for the others are variations on this general case, and are described after it.
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Seastate Scatter Diagram Selected Seastates
Location: Purpose:
LifeFrequency To input the fatigue analysis wave scatter diagram, to group the seastates in the diagram into blocks, and to nominate a reference seastate for each block.
Window:
Notes:
(a) The Seastate Scatter Diagram dialog is more complex than the other input dialogs, so its operation is described under a number of sub-headings. These are Data Input Modes, Edit Values Mode, Mark Reference Seastates and Set Axes.
Data Input Modes:

Since you can use this window to perform three different tasks, there are three data input modes displayed as radio buttons at the top right-hand corner of the window. These modes
are called Edit Values, Mark Seastate Blocks and Mark Reference Seastates. What happens when you choose each of these modes is described below. There are also a number of facilities specific to this window, which are available along the bottom of the window (in addition to the usual ones of OK, Cancel and Help). These facilities are also described in the following sections. Note that by default the scatter diagram is defined in terms of significant wave height Hs and mean zero up-crossing period Tz. How to change this to Hs and wave spectrum peak period Tp is also described shortly.
Edit Values Mode:

The Edit Values mode is used to input and/or change (edit) the individual entries in the scatter diagram cells. You simply input into each cell the number of occurrences in a given period of the particular combination of Hs and Tz/Tp values which that cell represents. This given period is typically one year, but the duration is in fact immaterial - LifeFrequency transforms the data you specify into percentage occurrence values, so it is the relative magnitudes only of the entries that are of importance. You do not have to input a value into all cells. If there is no occurrence of a particular combination of Hs and Tz/Tp, simply leave the corresponding cell blank. The Delete All button at the bottom of the window can be used in Edit Values mode to clear all cells in the scatter diagram of data. You are prompted to confirm your request to delete all entries to prevent accidental loss of data.
Mark Seastate Blocks:

The Mark Seastate Blocks mode is used, as its name implies, to group seastates into blocks, as described previously in Chapter 2. This task can be performed at any stage during the input of the scatter diagram data, but would typically be performed after all of the Hs/Tz or Hs/Tp data has been input in Edit Values mode. When you click on the Mark Seastate Blocks button, a rectangular cursor with a diagonal line ( ) appears on the screen. You simply move this cursor to one corner of the block you want to define, and press the left hand mouse button. Then you drag the cursor to the cell on
the corner of the block, which is diagonally opposite the first cell, and release the mouse button. The block you have defined will be surrounded by a thin black border, as for example here. Here a block has been defined with 15 seastates, with Hs values between 3 and 7 and Tz values between 4 and 6 seconds inclusive.
If you click anywhere in an already defined seastate block when you are in Mark Seastate Block mode that block becomes highlighted (the border around the block changes colour), and the Delete Block button at the bottom of the window becomes active. (This facility is grey in the pictures above, indicating that it is inactive or presently unavailable.) If you click on Delete Block, the block border disappears, but the individual entries in the scatter diagram are unaffected. This facility allows you to change the way in which seastates are grouped in blocks without inputting the scatter diagram again in full. The Delete All button at the bottom of the window can be used in Mark Seastate Blocks mode to remove all block definitions, again without affecting the individual entries in the scatter
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diagram cells. You are prompted to confirm your request to delete all blocks to prevent accidental loss of data.
Mark Reference Seastates:

The Mark Reference Seastates mode is used, as its name implies, to nominate reference seastates within each block, as again described previously in Chapter 2. This task can only be performed after one or more seastate blocks have been defined. When you click on the Mark Reference Seastates button, a circular cursor appears on the screen ( ). You simply move this cursor to the cell which you want to nominate as the reference seastate and click the mouse button. The cell nominated becomes shaded, as shown in the figure below. Here a seastate with a Hs of 2 and a Tz of 5 seconds has been nominated as the reference seastate for a block centred on that combination.
If you click on a seastate in a block where a reference seastate is already nominated, the previous nomination becomes deselected. The Delete All button at the bottom of the window can be used in Mark Reference Seastates mode to remove all reference seastate definitions, again without affecting the individual
entries in the scatter diagram cells or the grouping of seastates into blocks. You are prompted to confirm your request to delete all reference seastates to prevent accidental loss of data.
Set Axes
The only remaining facility in the scatter diagram window which has not been described above is the Set Axes facility. This is available i) to nominate whether your scatter diagram variables are Hs and Tz or Hs and Tp, and also ii) to change the Hs/Tz or Hs/Tp ranges in the scatter diagram. When you first click on Stand-alone or Postprocessing With Stress RAOs the window appears as shown in the Window section above. Specifically, the window contains cells for Hs values between 1 and 20 inclusive in steps of 1, and for Tz values between 1 and 19 seconds inclusive in steps of 1 second. You can change this using the Scatter Diagram Axes dialog. When you click on Set Axes ... the Scatter Diagram Axes dialog appears:
The T is: dialog is actually a drop-down list as follows:
The entries are self-explanatory. You can change any or all of the seven entries in the Scatter Diagram Axes dialog as required. When you click on OK, the dialog disappears and the scatter diagram reappears with the axes altered as per your instructions. For example, if you input the following values in the Scatter Diagram Axes dialog:
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then the default scatter diagram changes to the following:
It is strongly recommended that you use this facility only before inputting any data into a scatter diagram, otherwise loss of data may occur.
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Seastate Scatter Diagram One Seastate
Location: Purpose:
LifeFrequency To input the fatigue analysis wave scatter diagram as a single block, and to nominate a reference seastate for that block.
Window:
Notes:
(b) This dialog is clearly very similar to that for the Selected Seastates option, and in fact differs from it in only one respect. As you can see, the Mark Seastate Blocks option is disabled and unavailable. This is because the entire scatter diagram constitutes a single block in this case. Except for this one difference, this dialog is otherwise identical to the Seastate Scatter Diagram Selected Seastates dialog.
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Seastate Scatter Diagram All Seastates
Location: Purpose:
LifeFrequency To input the fatigue analysis wave scatter diagram, without any definition of blocks or reference seastates.
Window:
Notes:
(a) This dialog is clearly very similar to that for the Selected Seastates option, and in fact differs from it in only two respects. As you can see, the Mark Seastate Blocks and the Mark Reference Seastates options are disabled and unavailable. Because in this case you want LifeFrequency to run a Flexcom analysis or analyses for every seastate in the scatter diagram, there is no requirement to identify blocks or reference seastates. Except for the unavailability of these facilities, this dialog is otherwise identical to the Seastate Scatter Diagram Selected Seastates dialog.
Spectrum
Location: Purpose:
LifeFrequency To specify which wave spectrum type to use in the Stand-alone and Postprocessor with Stress RAOs modes of operation.
Window:
Data Inputs: Notes:
None
(a) The data you specify here is used slightly differently depending on whether youve nominated Stand-alone or Postprocessor with Stress RAOs mode. (b) In Stand-alone mode, the data is used in two ways. Firstly, you use this option to tell LifeFrequency which spectrum type, whether Pierson-Moskowitz or Jonswap, should be used in all of the Flexcom analyses that LifeFrequency runs automatically. Secondly, the spectrum type is also a necessary input when LifeFrequency is subsequently using stress RAOs to generate stress spectra from wave spectra for the various individual scatter diagram cells. (c) In Postprocessor with Stress RAOs mode, the data is used in only the second of these ways, since obviously youve already run the various Flexcom analyses when you run LifeFrequency in this mode. (d) When you specify Jonswap spectra, LifeFrequency uses the algorithm described in Chapter 2 to calculate the Jonswap parameters fp, and values in the scatter diagram. from the Hs and Tz/Tp
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Seastate Directions Stand-alone Mode
LifeFrequency To specify long-term directionality data for the Stand-alone mode.
Data Inputs:
Input: Direction: Description One of eight compass directions. The data in this column cannot actually be altered. See Notes (a) and (b) below. % Annual Occurrence: The percentage of 1 year during which storms occur from this direction. See Notes (b) and (c) below. RAO File Name: The name of the file containing the vessel RAOs for this direction. See Notes (d) and (e) below.
Notes:
(a) North is defined as being the direction of the positive sense of the global Y axis. West is then in the direction of the positive sense of the global Z axis, South in the negative sense of global Y, and East in the negative sense of global Z. The other directions are naturally intermediate to these.
(b) Waves in the North direction are defined as travelling in the positive global Y direction, that is towards rather than from the compass point, and likewise for the other directions. (c) Data must be input on at least one row of this dialog, but it can be any row. You are not required to input values on every row. (d) The total of all of the % occurrence values must equal 100%. (e) If your vessel RAOs for all wave headings are in a single file, then you can input the name of that file on the first row with a non-zero % occurrence value, and leave Column 3 blank in subsequent rows. The following is an example of this specification this actually comes from the example drilling riser fatigue analysis from the next chapter.
As you can see, the RAO file name in the second and subsequent rows defaults to the name specified in the first. The following would also be a valid, if highly unusual, specification.
Here the RAOs are in two files, which are each used for 5 and 3 of the 8 compass points, respectively.
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(f) The way in which LifeFrequency uses this data is described in Chapter 2 in the section Analysis Procedure, but is summarised here for convenience. In the other dialogs of the Stand-alone section of the GUI, you will have identified one or more reference seastates (and each individual seastate in the scatter diagram may be a reference seastate). LifeFrequency creates a Flexcom input file for each combination of i) reference seastate and ii) direction in this dialog with non-zero % occurrence. The data in the input file comes from three sources. The structure and general environment data comes from the Flexcom file you specify in the Name of Flexcom File dialog. The RAO data comes from the file in Column 3 of this dialog, in the row appropriate to the direction in question. Finally the wave data comes from both the scatter diagram (Hs and Tz/Tp) and from this dialog (wave direction). (g) For example, in one of the fatigue load cases in the example drilling riser analysis of the next chapter, the scatter diagram contains 12 blocks, and there are non-zero % occurrence values for each of the eight compass directions in this Seastate Directions dialog. So LifeFrequency automatically generates 12*8 = 96 individual Flexcom random sea analysis input files, runs these in turn, postprocesses each one to extract the required response RAOs, and finally computes the actual fatigue damage for all of the seastates in the scatter diagram as described in Chapter 2.
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Seastate Directions Postprocessor with Stress RAOs Mode
Location: Purpose:
LifeFrequency To specify long-term directionality data for the Postprocessor with Stress RAOs mode.
Window:
Data Inputs:
Input: Direction: Description One of eight compass directions. The data in this column cannot actually be altered. See Note (a) below. % Annual Occurrence: The percentage of 1 year during which storms occur from this direction. See Notes (b) and (c) below.
Notes:
(a) For a discussion of the significance of the inputs here, refer to Notes (a) and (b) for the preceding dialog, and also to Chapter 4, Postprocessor with RAOs Operation. (b) Data must be input on at least one row of this dialog, but it can be any row. You are not required to input values on every row. (c) The total of all of the % occurrence values must equal 100%.
Pre-run Analyses Postprocessor with Stress Spectra Mode
Location: Purpose:
LifeFrequency To specify LifeFrequency data for the Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode of operation.
Window:
Data Inputs:
Input: Flexcom Analysis: Description The name of the file containing Flexcom random sea analysis results for a particular combination of environmental conditions. % Annual Occurrence: The percentage of 1 year during which this combination of conditions occurs.
Notes:
(a) You do not need to specify a file type, just the analysis root or generic name.
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Pre-run Analyses with RAOs Postprocessor with Stress RAOs Mode
Location: Purpose:
LifeFrequency To specify LifeFrequency data for the Postprocessor with Stress RAOs mode of operation.
Window:
Data Inputs:
Input: Hs: Tz/Tp: Description The reference seastate significant wave height Hs. The reference seastate mean zero up-crossing period Tz or peak period Tp. You use Set Axes on the Seastate Scatter Diagram dialog to indicate which of these variables your time values actually represent. Direction: One of eight compass directions. You choose which one using the drop-down list. Flexcom Analysis: The name of the file containing axial force and bending moment RAOs for this particular combination of environmental conditions.
Notes:
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(a) You must specify an RAO file name here for each reference seastate for each direction with non-zero % occurrence. (b) You do not need to specify a file type in the Flexcom Analysis input, just the analysis root or generic name.
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Chapter 6 - Example Drilling Riser Fatigue Analysis
CHAPTER 6 - EXAMPLE DRILLING RISER FATIGUE ANALYSIS

This chapter describes an example LifeFrequency fatigue analysis of a drilling riser, and is divided into the following sections:
Introduction gives an overview of the example and describes the structure under consideration. Environment summarises the environmental conditions and tabulates the load cases used. Fatigue Data presents the fatigue-specific data used in the example. Results summarises the results obtained. Example Files lists the names of the files containing the input data for this example, all of which are provided with the software.
INTRODUCTION In this chapter the operation of LifeFrequency in the so-called Stand-alone mode of Chapter 2 is illustrated by means of an example fatigue analysis of a drilling riser. The riser analysed is that used in Chapter 2, Example 1 Deepwater Drilling Riser, of the Flexcom Examples Manual. For a schematic of the riser stack-up and a summary of the riser input data you are referred to Chapter 2 of the Flexcom Examples Manual. In the LifeFrequency Category i) data specification for this example fatigue analysis, no current or offset is specified. Imperial units are used throughout. Thickness effects are ignored, and the fatigue analysis is based on bending stresses only. ENVIRONMENT The wave scatter diagram describing long-term environmental conditions for this fatigue analysis is shown in Table 6.1. Hs values vary between 0.5 ft and 20 ft, and Tz values vary
between 4 and 13 seconds. The data in Table 6.1 is not intended to represent any particular location, merely to demonstrate the operation of the software. Table 6-1: Drilling Riser Fatigue Analysis Wave Scatter Diagram
Tz (s)
4 0.5 2 3.5 5 6.5 8 9.5 11 12.5 14 15.5 17 18.5 20
136076
5
252100 321287 272100
6
255434 334477 362849 174127
7
235832 298020 383204 296125 175352 117157
8
74558 143217 308157 264871 233065 111420
10
11
12
13
167188 275432 260697 231621 143196 83161
110168 126533 110175 102307 90355 67966 32669
Hs (ft)
93240 80073 52943 36253 11986
20976 13739 10200 1520
279
Three blocking schemes are used in this example to group the seastates of Table 6.1 into blocks. The first scheme is shown in Table 6.2, which shows the scatter diagram divided into 12 blocks. A reference seastate is nominated for each block; the most frequently occurring seastate is used. This scheme might be considered a reasonably standard application of the blocking facility for this environmental specification. The second blocking scheme is a variation on the first. 12 blocks are again specified, but in this case there is only one seastate per block (which is by definition then the reference seastate for that block). This scheme is illustrated in Table 6.3; note that the number of occurrences per block is the same as in Table 6.2, except that in Table 6.3 all occurrences are assigned to a single seastate. Running LifeFrequency in this way is similar to the so-called Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode of Chapter 3, except that LifeFrequency performs the actual Flexcom runs in this case.
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Table 6-2: Scatter Diagram Blocking Scheme Multiple Blocks

Tz (s)
4 0.5 2 3.5 5 6.5 8
136076
5
252100 321287 272100
6
255434 334477 362849 174127
7
235832 298020 383204 296125 175352 117157
8
74558 143217 308157 264871 233065 111420
10
11
12
13
167188 275432 260697 231621 143196 83161
110168 126533 110175 102307 90355 67966 32669 93240 80073 52943 36253 11986 20976 13739 10200 1520 279
Hs (ft)
9.5 11 12.5 14 15.5 17 18.5 20
Table 6-3: Scatter Diagram Blocking Scheme Single-Sea Blocks

Tz (s)
4 0.5 2 3.5 5 6.5 8 9.5 11 12.5 14 15.5 17 18.5 20
2799 46701 189831 790445 709463 1198321 809076 1136043 552788 619026
10
11
12
13
Hs (ft)
337777
365975
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In the third blocking scheme one block only comprising the total scatter diagram is specified. In this case the sole reference seastate is that with a Hs of 3.5 ft and Tz of 7 seconds (this is the most commonly occurring seastate in the scatter diagram). The purpose of using these three blocking schemes is obviously to compare the effect on fatigue life estimates of using one and multiple blocks. Likewise two directionality specifications are used in the example. These are shown in Table 6.4. In the first specification, waves approach from all eight compass directions, with % occurrence values as shown in the table. In the second specification, waves approach from one direction only, this being nominally the North. Table 6-4: Directionality Specifications
Direction N NW W SW S SE E NE Case #1 10% 15% 5% 13% 7% 8% 21% 21% Case #2 100% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
The three wave scatter diagram blocking schemes and the two directionality specifications are combined into four overall environmental specifications or fatigue load cases as shown in Table 6.5.
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Table 6-5: Load Case Matrix

Load Case 1 2 3 4 No. of Blocks 1 12 12 12 No. of Seastates 43 43 12 43 No. of Directions 1 1 1 8
As a check on the LifeFrequency computations, a time domain analysis with the Flexcom fatigue postprocessor LifeTime is also undertaken for Load Case #3, corresponding to the scatter diagram of Table 6.3 and one direction only. Results from this run are compared with the LifeFrequency output in the Results section later. The dynamic analyses of this riser in the Flexcom Examples Manual consider a 2D environment only (collinear waves, current and vessel motions). So RAOs at a single wave heading only are included in the analysis specification. For this fatigue analysis, the simplified RAO specification of the Examples Manual is replaced by RAOs defined as functions of both frequency and wave direction. Specifically, the RAOs, which are typical of those for a semi-sub, are defined at 17 wave headings and at 40 frequencies at each heading. FATIGUE DATA Fatigue data comprises the analysis SCF and S-N curve. For this example a stress concentration factor of 1.5 is used throughout. The analysis S-N curve is an approximation to the British Welding Institute Curve F, which is a log-linear curve with m and K values of 2.8 and 1.14815E9 respectively. RESULTS In the four fatigue analyses or Load Cases of this example, fatigue life estimates are requested at 16 locations, these being from Elements 142 to 282 inclusive in steps of 10 elements, and at Element 291. There is no particular significance to these locations and in reality very many more hot spots would probably be specified. Figure 6-1 below compares the predicted
fatigue lives at these 16 locations for each of the four Load Cases. (Note the log scale on the vertical axis.) In addition, Table 6.6 compares results at the two locations where the lowest fatigue lives occur, near both the lower and upper flex joints.
Load Case 1 Load Case 2 Load Case 3 Load Case 4

100 1000 0
10000
100000
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
Distance Along Hot Spot Set (ft)
Figure 6-1: Comparison of LifeFrequency Results

Table 6-6: Summary of LifeFrequency Results
Load Case Minimum Fatigue Life (years) Near Lower Flex Joint 1 2 3 4 273 695 844 2305 Near Telescopic Joint 261 256 343 913
The results from Load Case 1 appear unreliable, certainly in the lower sections of the riser. It is possible that another choice of reference seastate might produce fatigue life estimates in
better agreement with the other Load Cases one possibility might be a seastate nearer the middle of the scatter diagram, such as the combination of Hs = 9.5 ft and Tz = 8 seconds. However the difficulty with this type of specification (one reference seastate only) is that in the absence of the results from the other Load Cases it is difficult to benchmark the choice of the one reference seastate. The results from Load Cases 2 and 3 show reasonable agreement, with the analysis using RAOs predicting slightly higher fatigue lives. A check on the Load Case 3 results is provided in Fig. 6.2, where the LifeFrequency results for this case are compared with corresponding results from the Flexcom postprocessor LifeTime. Note that the time domain results are based on only 30 minutes of simulation for each of the 12 individual random seastates. Tables 6.7 compares the minimum fatigue lives from the two programs in a similar format to Table 6.6. Lower in Table 6.7 refers to the region near the lower flex joint, while Upper refers to the corresponding area near the telescopic joint.
10000
) s r a e y ( e f i 1000 L e u g i t a F
LifeFrequency LifeTime: S tatistics LifeTime: S pectra LifeTime: Rainflow
100 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000
Distance along Hot Spot Set (ft)
Figure 6-2: Comparison of LifeFrequency and LifeTime for Load Case 3
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Table 6-7: Comparison of LifeFrequency and LifeTime

Location LifeFrequency Statistics Lower Upper 844 343 687 476 Minimum Fatigue Life (years) LifeTime Spectra 589 469 Rainflow 758 489
The significance of the three fatigue life values from LifeTime is that that program uses three methods to calculate fatigue damage and fatigue life. These are:
Calculating the standard deviation () and mean zero up-crossing period (Tz) of bending stress directly from Flexcom output and then calculating fatigue damage from these (these values are labelled Statistics in Fig. 6.2).
Calculating the stress spectrum from the Flexcom time histories, and then evaluating and Tz from the moments of this spectrum. These are then used to complete the fatigue analysis as before (these values are labelled Spectra).
Calculating damage directly from the Flexcom stress histories using the rainflow cycle counting technique (these values are labelled Rainflow).
The LifeFrequency and LifeTime results show reasonable agreement overall, particularly in view of the differences between the estimates produced by the different methods used within LifeTime itself. It is worth pointing out that the time domain simulations on which the LifeTime results are based are relatively short (3 hours would be more usual than the 30 minutes used here); and the computational effort required by the two fatigue analyses differ dramatically (5 minutes for the LifeFrequency run as opposed to about 190 minutes for the combined Flexcom/LifeTime analyses). Finally, the effect of including long-term directionality can be gauged by comparing Load Case 2 with Load Case 4 in Figure 6.1. Over most of the riser the inclusion of directionality causes a doubling (at least) of the predicted fatigue life. This is very much in line with general experience as reported in the literature.
EXAMPLE FILES The input files for this example may be found in the Examples\LifeFrequency Examples\Example 1 - Drilling Riser subdirectory of the Flexcom installation directory and are as follows:
Static.fl3 Semi-sub.ves Load Case 1.fl3 Load Case 2.fl3 Load Case 3.fl3 Load Case 4.fl3
Flexcom file with basic riser model data. Vessel RAO file. LifeFrequency file for Load Case 1. LifeFrequency file for Load Case 2. LifeFrequency file for Load Case 3. LifeFrequency file for Load Case 4.
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Chapter 7 - Example SCR Fatigue Analysis with Stress Spectra
CHAPTER 7 - EXAMPLE SCR FATIGUE ANALYSIS WITH STRESS SPECTRA

This chapter describes an example LifeFrequency fatigue analysis of an SCR using stress spectra, and is divided into the following sections:
Introduction gives an overview of the example. Model describes the structure under consideration. Environment summarises the environmental conditions and tabulates the fatigue load case matrix. Fatigue Data presents the fatigue-specific data used in the example. Results summarises the results obtained. Example Files lists the names of the files containing the input data for this example, all of which are provided with the software.
INTRODUCTION In this chapter the operation of LifeFrequency in the so-called Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode of Chapter 3 is illustrated by means of an example fatigue analysis of an SCR. The method used to carry out the fatigue analysis involves first using Flexcom to find the initial static configuration of the SCR. This is then followed by a series of Flexcom random sea analyses to determine the dynamic riser response to the fatigue load case matrix. LifeFrequency is finally run in the program Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode of operation, to accumulate the fatigue damage from the individual seastates. MODEL The SCR is 2000m in length, situated in a water depth of 820m, which is filled with export gas at an internal pressure of 15 MPa. The SCR is fixed to the seabed at a PLEM, and is attached to a semi-submersible platform via a flex joint with a rotational stiffness of 40 kNm/, at a distance of 10 m below the MWL. The horizontal distance between the PLEM
and the top of the riser is 1618m. The seabed is modelled as an elastic surface with a stiffness of 70kN/m/m. Figure 7.1 diagrammatically depicts the SCR configuration.
Semi-Submersible
MWL
Hang-off angle,
= 22 degrees
820 m
Length of SCR = 2000 m
Seabed
Figure 7.1. Schematic of SCR Configuration

A total of 242 elements are used in the model, of which 240 are SCR elements. The maximum element length is 10m, the length of the adjoining elements are progressively reduced in length to a minimum length of 1m situated about 30m in the touchdown zone and in the region of the vessel connection. The structural properties and environmental data used in this analysis are summarised in the Input Data section below.
ENVIRONMENT In this analysis a simplified fatigue matrix of twelve load cases defines the long-term seastate environment. In practical applications many more would typically be used. Six of the cases represent Far loading conditions and six are Near cases. For each individual case, an individual wave spectrum, mean offset, drift amplitude and drift frequency are defined; the drift in all cases is in the vessel surge direction. Table 7.1 below presents the fatigue load case matrix. Table 7-1: Summary of Environmental Conditions
Load Case 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Near/ Far Near Near Near Near Near Near Far Far Far Far Far Far Seastate Data Hs (m) 0.75 1.25 1.75 2.25 2.75 3.25 0.75 1.25 1.75 2.25 2.75 3.25 Tz (s) 5.24 5.27 5.77 6.26 6.89 7.72 5.24 5.27 5.77 6.26 6.89 7.72 Mean Offset (m) 4.84 5.01 5.28 5.63 6.00 6.31 4.39 4.20 4.01 3.79 3.62 3.52 Drift Data Amplitude (m) 0.16 0.24 0.51 0.83 1.15 1.36 0.16 0.24 0.51 0.85 1.17 1.31 Period (s) 138.50 174.22 196.46 193.05 193.05 180.18 136.80 183.15 193.05 196.46 196.46 200.00
For the nominal location in question, the current distribution is assumed to be very nearly constant throughout the year, so the same current definition is used in all the Flexcom random sea analyses. The current speed and direction both vary through the depth. Table 7.2 below summarises the current specification. Note that in this data Elevation represents distance above the mudline, and Direction is in degrees anti-clockwise from the global Yaxis.
Table 7-2: Analysis Current Specification

Elevation 0. 10. 160. 260. 360. 460. 560. 660. 760. 820. Velocity (m/s) 0.24 0.24 0.18 0.18 0.13 0.10 0.14 0.28 0.49 0.50 Direction () -39.7 -39.7 -45.7 -40.7 -76.7 -135.7 -170.7 177.3 164.3 165.3
FATIGUE DATA Fatigue data comprises the analysis SCF and S-N curve. For this example a stress concentration factor of 1.4 is used. The analysis S-N curve is log-linear, with m and K values of 4 and 1.15*1015 respectively. No endurance limit is specified. Thickness effects are ignored in this analysis. RESULTS Fatigue results are requested for all nodes of the SCR finite element model, but over most of the structure LifeFrequency reports that fatigue lives are Infinite. In the program terminology this represents a predicted fatigue life of over 99,999 years. Table 7.3 below lists the program output at the eight locations with the lowest fatigue lives. Distance along SCR in this context is measured from the PLEM or seabed fixed point.
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Node Number 74 84 85 86 238 239 240 241 Distance along SCR (m) 708.5 733 734 735 1997 1998 1999 2000 Fatigue Life (years) 1576 1996 1722 1767 1487 567 209 75
The fatigue hot spots occur in three locations. The first is about 708.5m from the PLEM, and corresponds to the touchdown zone for the Far case analyses. The second important area for fatigue occurs at about 734m from the PLEM, and corresponds to the touchdown zone for the Near case runs. Finally, the third critical area is at the vessel connection, as would be expected, where the overall minimum fatigue life of 75 years is predicted. EXAMPLE FILES The input files for this example may be found in the Examples\LifeFrequency Examples\Example 2 - SCR Using Spectra subdirectory of the Flexcom installation directory and are as follows:
SCR_Static.fl3 SCR.ves Near1_OffCur.fl3 Near1_Dynamic.fl3 Near2_OffCur.fl3 Near2_Dynamic.fl3 Near3_OffCur.fl3 Near3_Dynamic.fl3
Flexcom static analysis file. Vessel RAO file. Flexcom static offset and current analysis file (Near Case 1). Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Near Case 1). Flexcom static offset and current analysis file (Near Case 2). Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Near Case 2). Flexcom static offset and current analysis file (Near Case 3). Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Near Case 3).
Near4_OffCur.fl3 Near4_Dynamic.fl3 Near5_OffCur.fl3 Near5_Dynamic.fl3 Near6_OffCur.fl3 Near6_Dynamic.fl3 Far1_OffCur.fl3 Far1_Dynamic.fl3 Far2_OffCur.fl3 Far2_Dynamic.fl3 Far3_OffCur.fl3 Far3_Dynamic.fl3 Far4_OffCur.fl3 Far4_Dynamic.fl3 Far5_OffCur.fl3 Far5_Dynamic.fl3 Far6_OffCur.fl3 Far6_Dynamic.fl3 SCR.fl3
Flexcom static offset and current analysis file (Near Case 4). Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Near Case 4). Flexcom static offset and current analysis file (Near Case 5). Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Near Case 5). Flexcom static offset and current analysis file (Near Case 6). Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Near Case 6). Flexcom static offset and current analysis file (Far Case 1). Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Far Case 1). Flexcom static offset and current analysis file (Far Case 2). Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Far Case 2). Flexcom static offset and current analysis file (Far Case 3). Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Far Case 3). Flexcom static offset and current analysis file (Far Case 4). Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Far Case 4). Flexcom static offset and current analysis file (Far Case 5). Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Far Case 5). Flexcom static offset and current analysis file (Far Case 6). Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Far Case 6). LifeFrequency fatigue analysis file.
INPUT DATA
Riser Properties
Table 7.4 below summarises the structural properties used in the model.
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Table 7.4. Structural Properties

Component
EIyy (Nm2) EIzz GJ /rad) (Nm2 18.5E6 EA (N) m (kg/m) p (kg.m) Di (m) 0.23 79 0.0 Dd (m) 0.27 31 0.01 Db (m) 0.27 31 0.01
(Nm2)
SCR Rigid
24.0E6
24.0E6
2935E 6 1.0E12
110.17
1.81
1.0E11
1.0E11
1.0E12
0.1
0.1
where:
EIyy EIzz GJ EA m p Di Dd Db
Bending Stiffness about Local Y-Axis Bending Stiffness about Local Z-Axis Torsional Stiffness Axial Stiffness Mass/Unit Length Polar Inertia of Cross-Section/Unit Length Internal Diameter Drag Diameter Buoyancy Diameter
Vessel
The vessel reference point is located at {820, 1640, 0}, and has an undisplaced yaw orientation of 0. The vessel RAO data is presented in Figures 7.2 and 7.3.
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1.6
1.4
1.2
RAO (m/m or deg/m)
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
Frequency (Hz) Heave Surge Pitch
Figure 7.2. Heave, Surge and Pitch RAOs

400
350
300
Phase Angle (deg)
250
200
150
100
50
0 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
Frequency (Hz) Heave Surge Pitch
Figure 7.3. Heave, Surge and Pitch Phase Angles

Internal Fluid
The riser is gas filled a s follows: Table 7.5. Internal Fluid Properties
Height (m) 290.0 Density (kg/m3) 880.0 Pressure (MPa) 18.008
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Chapter 8 - Example SCR Fatigue Analysis with RAOs
CHAPTER 8 - EXAMPLE SCR FATIGUE ANALYSIS WITH RAOS

This chapter describes an example LifeFrequency fatigue analysis of an SCR using stress RAOs, and is divided into the following sections:
Introduction gives an overview of the example and describes the structure under consideration. Environment summarises the environmental conditions and tabulates the fatigue load case matrix. Fatigue Data presents the fatigue-specific data used in the example. Results summarises the results obtained. Example Files lists the names of the files containing the input data for this example, all of which are provided with the software.
INTRODUCTION In this chapter the operation of LifeFrequency in the so-called Postprocessor with RAOs mode of Chapter 4 is illustrated by means of an example fatigue analysis of an SCR. The riser analysed is the same as that used in the example in the previous chapter. Specifically, an SCR of length 2000m in 820m of water is considered. The seabed is modelled as an elastic surface with a stiffness of 70kN/m/m. For a schematic of the SCR configuration and a summary of the riser input data you are referred to the previous chapter. The method used to carry out the fatigue analysis involves first using Flexcom to find the initial static configuration of the SCR. This is followed by a series of Flexcom random sea analyses to determine the dynamic riser response to specified reference seastates. These analyses are then postprocessed using Flexcom to generate stress RAOs for specified points along the riser. LifeFrequency is finally run in the program Postprocessor with RAOs mode of operation, to accumulate the fatigue damage from the scatter diagram seastates.
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ENVIRONMENT The wave scatter diagram describing long-term environmental conditions for this fatigue analysis is shown in Table 8.1. Hs values vary between 0.3 m and 4.2 m, and Tz values vary between 1 and 10 seconds. The data in Table 8.1 is effectively the scatter diagram from the drilling riser analysis of Chapter 6 converted to Metric, and is not intended to represent any particular location. Table 8-1: Scatter Diagram Blocking Scheme
Tz (s)
1 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2 1.5 1.8 136076 2 252100 270372 272100 3 255434 354477 562849 174127 4 235832 298020 323204 296125 175352 117157 5 74558 148217 308157 244871 233065 111420 167188 275432 240697 231621 143196 83161 110168 126533 110175 96346 93240 90355 65073 55672 32943 32669 26253 8101 15346 10232 10200 1520 279 6 7 8 9 10
Hs (m)
2.1 2.4 2.7 3.0 3.3 3.6 3.9 4.2
The scatter diagram is divided into 12 blocks. A reference seastate is nominated for each block; the most frequently occurring seastate is used. For this example the directionality data has a non-zero occurrence for one direction only, nominally North. For each reference seastate, the current distribution is assumed to be very nearly constant throughout the year, so the same current definition is used in all the Flexcom random sea analyses. The current speed varies through the depth. Table 8.2 below summarises the current specification. Note that in this data Elevation represents distance above the mudline, and Direction is in degrees anti-clockwise from the global Y-axis.
Table 8-2: Analysis Current Specification

Elevation 0. 10. 160. 260. 360. 460. 560. 660. 760. 820. Velocity (m/s) 0.24 0.24 0.18 0.18 0.13 0.10 0.14 0.28 0.49 0.50 Direction () 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0
FATIGUE DATA Fatigue data comprises the analysis SCF and S-N curve. For this example a stress concentration factor of 1.2 is used. The analysis S-N curve is log-linear, with m and K values of 3 and 4.27*1011 respectively. No endurance limit is specified. Thickness effects are ignored in this analysis. RESULTS Fatigue results are requested for 25 locations along the SCR finite element model, these being from Elements 1 to 231 inclusive in steps of 10 elements, and Element 240. There is no particular significance to these locations and in a real-world analysis very many more hot spots would probably be specified. Table 8.3 below lists the program output at the four locations with the lowest fatigue lives. Distance along SCR in this context is measured from the PLEM or seabed fixed point.
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Node Number 82 92 102 241 Distance along SCR (m) 731.0 741.0 783.4 2000.0 Fatigue Life (years) 423 537 9267 28
The critical areas along the riser with regard to fatigue occur in two locations. The first is between 730m and 740m from the PLEM, and corresponds to the touchdown zone for the riser. The second critical area is at the vessel connection, as would be expected, where an overall minimum fatigue life of 28 years is predicted. A check on these values can be obtained by running LifeFrequency in the Postprocessor with Stress Spectra mode using the output from the 12 reference seastate analyses. To calculate a % occurrence value for the 12 combinations of Hs and Tz, the numbers of occurrences in each block are summed, and then expressed as a % of the total number of occurrences. This gives the data shown in Table 8.4. When this analysis is run, the fatigue lives in Table 8.5 are obtained; these show reasonable agreement with the Table 8.3 values given the quite different analysis procedures. Fatigue lives over the whole riser are compared in Figure 8-1 below, where again reasonable overall agreement is reported.
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Table 8-4: Seastate % Occurrences for Check Analysis

Hs 3.9 3.3 2.7 2.1 2.1 1.5 1.5 1.2 0.9 0.9 0.6 0.6 Tz 9 9 7 7 6 6 5 6 4 3 3 2 % Occurrence 0.2 0.5 2.2 5 4.9 10.3 11.2 8 15.7 14.7 17.7 9.6
Table 8-5: LifeFrequency Results, Postprocessor with Stress Spectra Mode

Node Number 82 92 102 241 Distance along SCR (m) 731.0 741.0 783.4 2000.0 Fatigue Life (years) 535 677 11510 36
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10
100
1000
10000
100000
Postprocessor with RAOs Mode Postprocessor with Stres Spectra Mode
500
1000
1500
2000
Distance Along Hot Spot Set (m)
Figure 8-1: Fatigue Life of the Riser

EXAMPLE FILES The input files for this example may be found in the Examples\LifeFrequency Examples\Example 3 - SCR Using RAOs subdirectory of the Flexcom installation directory and are as follows:
SCR_Static.fl3 SCR.ves Fat01_Dynamic.fl3 Fat01_Dynamic.pr3 Fat02_Dynamic.fl3 Fat02_Dynamic.pr3 Fat03_Dynamic.fl3 Fat03_Dynamic.pr3
Flexcom static analysis file. Vessel RAO file. Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Reference Seastate 1). Corresponding postprocessing file. Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Reference Seastate 1). Corresponding postprocessing file. Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Reference Seastate 1). Corresponding postprocessing file.
Fat04_Dynamic.fl3 Fat04_Dynamic.pr3 Fat05_Dynamic.fl3 Fat05_Dynamic.pr3 Fat06_Dynamic.fl3 Fat06_Dynamic.pr3 Fat07_Dynamic.fl3 Fat07_Dynamic.pr3 Fat08_Dynamic.fl3 Fat08_Dynamic.pr3 Fat09_Dynamic.fl3 Fat09_Dynamic.pr3 Fat10_Dynamic.fl3 Fat10_Dynamic.pr3 Fat11_Dynamic.fl3 Fat11_Dynamic.pr3 Fat12_Dynamic.fl3 Fat12_Dynamic.pr3 SCR.fl3
Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Reference Seastate 1). Corresponding postprocessing file. Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Reference Seastate 1). Corresponding postprocessing file. Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Reference Seastate 1). Corresponding postprocessing file. Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Reference Seastate 1). Corresponding postprocessing file. Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Reference Seastate 1). Corresponding postprocessing file. Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Reference Seastate 1). Corresponding postprocessing file. Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Reference Seastate 1). Corresponding postprocessing file. Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Reference Seastate 1). Corresponding postprocessing file. Flexcom dynamic analysis file (Reference Seastate 1). Corresponding postprocessing file. LifeFrequency fatigue analysis file
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Flexcom Version 7.7

LifeFrequency Manual

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Version 7.

LifeFrequency Users Manual

CHAPTER 2 - STAND-ALONE OPERATION .................................13 Introduction........................................................................ 13 Long Term Environmental Conditions...................................... 14

Fatigue Data....................................................................... 16 LifeFrequency Analysis Procedure .......................................... 18

LifeFrequency Users Manual Rev. 1

Flexcom Version 7.7

Part A provides a comprehensive description of how to use the LifeFrequency module.

Part C is comprised of three chapters as follows:

LifeFrequency Users Manual Rev. 1

Flexcom Version 7.7

LifeFrequency Users Manual Rev. 1

Flexcom Version 7.7

LifeFrequency Users Manual Rev. 1

Flexcom Version 7.7

LifeFrequency Users Manual Rev. 1

Flexcom Version 7.7

LifeFrequency Users Manual Rev. 1

Flexcom Version 7.7

Table 1.1. LifeFrequency Files.

LifeFrequency Users Manual Rev. 1

Flexcom Version 7.7

Min. Fatigue Life (Years)

Fatigue Life - SCR

Distance Along Hot Spot Set (m)

Fig. 1.1 LifeFrequency Fatigue Life Plot

LifeFrequency Users Manual Rev. 1

Flexcom Version 7.7

Chapter 2 - Stand-alone Operation

CHAPTER 2 - STAND-ALONE OPERATION

Chapter 2 - Stand-alone Operation

Category ii): Category iii):

LifeFrequency Users Manual Rev. 1

Flexcom Version 7.7

Chapter 2 - Stand-alone Operation

Figure 2-1: Blank Seastate Scatter Diagram Window

LifeFrequency Users Manual Rev. 1

Flexcom Version 7.7

Chapter 2 - Stand-alone Operation

Figure 2-2: Example of a Seastate Scatter Diagram Window

Chapter 2 - Stand-alone Operation

LifeFrequency Users Manual Rev. 1

Flexcom Version 7.7

Chapter 2 - Stand-alone Operation

Category (i) Data Category (ii) Data

Flexcom Input Files

Category (iii) Data

Flexcom RAO Files

Verification file (.ver) Output file (.lif)

Storage file (.sto)

Figure 2-3: LifeFrequency Analysis Procedure

Chapter 2 - Stand-alone Operation

LifeFrequency Users Manual Rev. 1

Flexcom Version 7.7

Chapter 2 - Stand-alone Operation

Figure 2-4: Hot Spot Stress Point Locations

LifeFrequency Users Manual Rev. 1

Flexcom Version 7.7

Chapter 2 - Stand-alone Operation

where Tz, the mean stress up-crossing period, is given by:

LifeFrequency Users Manual Rev. 1

Flexcom Version 7.7

Chapter 2 - Stand-alone Operation

The Dirlik distribution is given by:

1.25( D3 (D2 R)) D1