Damage analysis of three-leg jacket platform due to ship collision

A collision between a ship and an offshore platform may result in structural damage and closure; therefore, damage analysis is required to ensure the platform's integrity. This paper presents a damage assessment of a three-legged jacket platform subjected to ship collisions using the industrial finite element program Bentley SACS. This study considers two ships with displacements of 2,000 and 5,000 tons and forward speeds of 2 and 6.17 meters per second. Ship collision loads are applied as a simplified point load on the center of the platform's legs at inclinations of 1/7 and 1/8; diagonal bracing is also included. The jacket platform is modelled as beam elements, with the exception of the impacted jacket members, which are modelled as nonlinear shell elements with elasto-plastic material and constant isotropic hardening to provide realistic dented behavior due to ship collision load. The structural response is investigated, including kinetic energy transfer, stress distribution, and denting damage. The simulation results revealed that the difference in leg inclination has no effect on the level of localized denting damage. However, it was discovered that a leg with a greater inclination (1/8) resists structural displacement more effectively and absorbs less kinetic energy. In this instance, the three-legged platform collapses due to the absorption of 27.30 MJ of energy. These results provide crucial insights for enhancing offshore platform resilience and safety in high-traffic maritime regions, with implications for design and collision mitigation strategies.