All articles by Hans Out

What’s the Damage?

The Clipper PT platform foundation in the North Sea was exposed to fatigue damage as the centralisers in the jacket leg slammed against the piles. Shell engineers devised a method to stop this dynamic loading by filling up the annulus with granular material and grout. The method was successfully implemented from the topsides, as opposed to the previously adopted diver intervention, and therefore provided an intrinsic reduction in cost and risks. Shell’s Wouter Burger and Hans Out share the details of a novel solution to reduce localised loading on fixed platform foundations.