Monitoring system for pipelines or risers in floating production installations

摘要

A method of monitoring a subsea pipeline system connecting one or more wells to a floating production system, wherein the pipeline system is at least partially flexible, the method comprises installing a continuous optical fiber distributed sensor as part of the pipeline system, the sensor capable of providing a distributed measurement of temperature, vibration, pressure or strain, or any combination thereof; using the sensor to obtain a distributed measurement of temperature, vibration, pressure and/or strain along at least part of the pipeline system indexed to a length thereof; and using the distributed measurement to predict the actual condition of the fluid, the pipeline system and/or the adjacent sea water using a model. A subsea pipeline system for connecting one or more wells to a floating production system, wherein the pipeline system comprises at least one partially flexible pipeline; a continuous optical fiber distributed sensor installed as part of the pipeline capable of providing a distributed measurement of temperature and/or strain; means for obtaining a distributed measurement of temperature, vibration or strain, or combinations thereof, along at least part of the pipeline system indexed to a length thereof from the sensor; and means for using the distributed measurement to manage operation of the system. Preferably, the system comprises means for modelling expected pipeline behavior using the distributed measurement as an input; and means for using the modelled behavior to manage operation of the system.

主权项

1. A method of monitoring a subsea pipeline system connecting one or more wells to a floating production system, wherein the subsea pipeline system is at least partially flexible, the method comprising:
installing a continuous optical fibre distributed sensor as part of the subsea pipeline system, using the continuous optical fibre distributed sensor to provide a distributed measurement of temperature, vibration, pressure or strain, or any combination thereof along at least a part of the subsea pipeline system; making a discrete measurement of the flow rate in the subsea pipeline system or at the surface on the floating production system; using a computer-based program to:
segment the at least part of the subsea pipeline system into a plurality of pipeline system sections;plot the distributed measurement of temperature, vibration, pressure or strain with the plurality of pipeline system sections;combine the distributed measurement for the plurality of pipeline system sections and the discrete measurement to predict the actual condition of the fluid or the subsea pipeline system;feed-back a system model with the distributed measurement of temperature, vibration, pressure or strain;use the system model to predict behavior of the subsea pipeline system; anduse the predicted behavior of the subsea pipeline system to determine operation control parameters of the subsea pipeline system, including heating zones of the subsea pipeline system, shut-down/cool-down periods, choke positions and tension in anchor chains.