Santos Basin Tension Leg Platform Utilizing Embedded Fiber Optics in Carbon Fiber Tendons

1. Abstract Tension Leg Platforms (TLPs), if designed properly, are the best oil and natural production facilities in the world. They are utilized globally by prominent oil companies such as Hess, Conoco Philips, and Shell. We have designed a prototype TLP with two novel features. First, our prototype structure, dubbed the Governor’s School of Engineering and Technology (GSET) TLP, is taller than any preexisting structure. Our second novel contribution, which enables a taller structure, is the use of optical fiber inside the tendons to efficiently and accurately locate cracks in the members of the structure. We concluded that if the optical fibers are embedded in the tendons, a crack in the tendons would yield a crack in the fiber, thus revealing a system failure. We also performed numerous calculations to determine the wave force that this structure will undergo. Our main goal in the design process was to adapt rather than replace. We created a structure that will adapt to the environmental conditions in the Santos Basin. Optimizing different parts of the GSET TLP instead of replacing them accomplishes this.