PROJECT NAME: Offshore mooring Chain Failure
Brief Introduction:
The Offshore Oil industry relies on mooring systems which includes chains, mooring lines and connectors to fix offshore floating platforms and other vital equipment to the floating platform and sea bed. The integrity of a mooring system is essential to prevent any major failure; the potential results being damage to equipment or a major pollution incident. In this case an offshore mooring chain failed short of its intended life. The catastrophic failure in the mooring chain resulted in litigation between the designer of the mooring chain and the asset owner of the offshore platform.
Client: AMOG Consulting
Objective: To provide subject matter expert advice for a lawsuit between the designer of a mooring chain and the asset owner of the offshore platform.
aadi Defence Investigation Team:
aadi Defence added value:
aadi Defence is a group of specialised consultants who are respected experts and leaders in their chosen fields. Our team has significant experience in a variety of fields creating a unique highly skilled team. The failure of the mooring chain is predominately related to materials engineering and materials corrosion, aadi Defence was engaged to provide Subject Matter Experts to support the failure investigation.
Insight into Materials:
Dr Bruce Hinton
Dr Hinton, because of his extensive experience with corrosion induced failure in the maritime environment, is extensively involved with the investigation in the premature failure of the offshore mooring chain case. He oversaw the laboratory investigations performed in the US.
Dr. Simon Barter
Dr. Barter, with approval from DSTO was able to provide his expertise on metal fatigue failure to aid with the technical analysis required in this work.
The Outcome:
aadi Defence, together with AMOG Consulting successfully delivered a comprehensive technical investigation into the root cause for the failure of the mooring chain. The lawsuit is currently ongoing with aadi Defence and AMOG Consulting providing subject matter expert input to the court proceedings.