Lightweight Efficient Offshore Fenders

At offshore platforms the purpose of fenders is to protect the oil-risers against minor accidental collisions from supply vessels.Normally the fender is designed by use of thin-walled tubes. However, the tube itself is not normally capable of resisting the impact load from of the boat. Therefore alternative designs are searched for the fender.Today, an often-used improvement of the fender is to fill it with grout or concrete. However, this improvement is not optimal since the fillingsincrease the weight of the finder beyond the crane capacity of the platform. This causes the need of crane boats for installation of the fender and eventually for removing it if new oil-risers are to be installed. The use of crane oats is expensive and weather dependent.Having these effects in mind a study of the energy absorption in the fender system, i.e. the fender itself and the frame, is needed for a furtherdevelopment of the fender design.