Earl & Wright – UK Jun ’91 – Sep ’92

Total – Dunbar Conceptual and Detailed

Structural engineer responsible for the conceptual jacket configuration and detailed design of the underleg docking receptacles. The jacket configuration work entailed trying various bracing configurations and plan bracing elevations to obtain optimum strength to weight ratio.

The final configuration was a four-legged jacket is 167m high; 20mx26m at the top and 42mx45m at the base. The weight of jacket was reduced using diamond bracing and through the use of high-strength steels, special anti-corrosive paint on the jacket and pre-installed pile guides (which eliminated the use of mud mats). Jacket final weight was  9,500t.

The design of the underleg docking pile receptacles consisted of guides and reinforced bulkheads inside each leg on which the jacket rested. To allow for non verticality of the piles and to spread the load I designed reinforced neoprene bridge bearing pads attached to the bulkhead. The total weight of the jacket is carried through the bulkheads into the guide piles.