9. November 2014
Efforts to combat noise on the CAT-D rigs, under construction at DSME in South Korea, has been followed up by Multiconsult. Preventing such problems is important, particularly after the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) has made it clear that rigs will not be approved if insufficient attention is paid to noise.
Delays and additional costs
The number of reported cases of hearing damage from noise has been rising in recent years. Refusal to approve anti-noise measures on a rig can lead to delays and additional costs.
Songa Offshore wanted to strengthen noise prevention work. It’s proved advantageous to get to grips with these challenges before a rig is completed, and to follow up the fabrication yard’s efforts with predictions and verification of noise conditions. That also supports work on a consent application to the PSA, explains acoustics adviser Peter Klaveness at Multiconsult.
Value of collaboration demonstrated
After a round of enquiries in the Norwegian acoustics environment, Multiconsult was selected as Songa Offshore’s expert consultant. The company has been in South Korea since the spring of 2013 as part of the project team.
Its contribution has been to assess solutions, help ensure good documentation, provide inspiration at the yard, serve as the link with the yard’s noise experts, participate in factory acceptance test (FAT) measurements, and assist in ensuring that verification work during trials is well planned and executed.
The yard’s experts have been positive about having a highly qualified “counterparty” on the owner side.
At present, our work is concentrated on following up documentation and detail design of noise-related solutions. Procedures have been developed for verification measurements. Songa Offshore’s inspectors have also been initiated in the field of acoustic measurement, and equipped with simple acoustimeters. Critical equipment and areas are being monitored, and will be tested during start-up and trials, says Klaveness.
Building cross-disciplinary expertise
This project’s been an interesting challenge for us, and also provided opportunities for younger engineers to build experience. The added value of our presence and knowledge has been clear to Songa Offshore, and a good collaboration has been established between us, the client and DSME for continued work on the CAT-D project, says Klaveness.