Technique for Determining the Architectural Type and Main Dimensions of Floating Drilling Unit for Drilling Exploration Wells in the Russian Arctic Shallow Water Conditions

摘要

The paper stresses the ambiguity of architectural type (AT) of floatingcraft for exploration drilling in shallow water conditions, as well as thenecessity of using the methods of multicriterion evaluation for choosingthe most rational AT. The recommended methodology is the expertjudgments with determination of priority number of criteria, theirranking and calculation of versatility indicator.The results of methodology validation are shown – the selection ofrational AT for floating drilling unit (FDU) to be operated inshallow water sites – shallow-draft jack-up floating drilling unit(SDJUFDU).The algorithm for determining the main dimensions of the SDJUFDUwith regard to its operational features in distinctly variousconditions (as floating object, fixed offshore structure, andtransitional mode – leg penetration into soil during installationat site) is presented.