Naval architecture and structural engineering

Specialised engineering analysis balanced with practical marine expertise

DNV naval architects, structural & geotechnical engineers use a unique mix of practical and analytical skills to deliver expert advice and technical analysis over the full lifecycle of your project or asset. Our services are broadly categorized into fixed and floating structures. 

Fixed structures:

We provide expert structural analysis and structural integrity management (SIM) services for a range of fixed offshore structures including jackets, jack-ups, jetties, offshore wind turbines, and substations.

SIM is a continuous process of identifying threats to the structural integrity of an asset and putting in place and maintaining barriers to mitigate the threats. We provide a full range of services to maintain structural integrity, including:

• Development of SIM, weight control, anomaly management and knowledge management procedures 
• Inspection planning and management (risk-based inspection development, workbooks and defect assessment)
• Model and databases (structural integrity models, 24/7 emergency response and weight database management)
• Ad-hoc structural analysis (e.g. jacket & topside models and modifications, pile/soil modelling, strength and fatigue analysis, pushover, ship impact, fire & blast, seismic assessment, FEA).

Floating structures:

We provide expert naval architecture consultancy services for a range of permanently moored floating structures in the O&G and renewables sector including: FPSOs, semi-submersibles, oil storage buoys/tankers, MODUs, FLOTELs, floating wind turbines, wave and tidal energy converters.

Our work uses cutting edge in-house and commercially available software as well as draws on many years of experience supporting asset owners during the operational phase, to provide studies in:

• Vessel response (stability, linear and 2nd order hydrodynamics, structure interaction, airgap)
• Fluid-structure interaction including wave slamming, VIV/VIM and CFD
• Model tank test support (incl. ultra-deepwater truncation models)
• Mooring analysis for offshore, nearshore and quayside locations (global strength and fatigue analysis, local component FEA, anchor geotechnical assessment)
• Drilling riser & conductor analysis
• Flexible production riser and dynamic cable / umbilical global and local analysis
• Mooring integrity management (MIM), a continuous risk-based process to assure mooring system remains reliable and managed cost effectively and safely for full lifecycle.