Dynamic Response of Drill Floor Considering Propagation of Blast Pressure Subsequent to Blowout

Abstract

Explosions and fire have very critical safety hazard impacts on offshore oil and gas facilities since they are mostly located in remote areas and could induce serious environmental issues. Explosion risk assessment and structure blast analysis are essential for these production facilities, and research studies have been carried out. Explosion due to blowout during drilling operation is also a critical risk for drilling units, and this has not been researched much until the accident of the drilling unit in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. This paper provides the risk and evaluation of explosion and structure under blast pressure during the drilling operation, whereas previous research studies have mainly been interested in process plants. This study suggests weight saving in drilling units through the consideration of the actual behavior of gas explosion. Weight saving is the priority of offshore unit design due to payload. This research also gives guidelines to select the material-grade-appropriate anti-explosion system through the comparison of several materials by design and result.