University of Aberdeen: MSc in Subsea Engineering.

EG55F6/G6: Risers Systems and Hydrodynamics

Fundamental Mechanics of Risers

Stresses in the elastic body
References:

Raymond Parnes, “Solid Mechanics in Engineering”, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, 2001.
Lebedev, L.P, Cloud, M.J, “Tensor Analysis”, World Scientific Inc., 2003.

Let us consider an elastic body. According to Newton’s law of mechanics, if the body is in
equilibrium, then the forces and momentums should be balanced.

∑F i =0 F2

∑M i =0 Section A
n F2

Since all points of the body are in state of

equilibrium, these laws must be satisfied F1 O
for any arbitrary position of the body. Let F3
us imagine that we cut the body by plane
A, through the point O, where n is a
*
normal to the plane A. Then F Fi
represents unknown internal forces Fn
which keep this part of the body in the
equilibrium as shown in the Figure 2. Figure 1.

If we consider a small increment in the area around

n point O), i.e ∆A, and then will decrease this area as
*
F
∆A→0, we can introduce Traction Vector as
O
F1 ∆F *
τ n = lim Section ∆A n ∆F
*
∆A→0 ∆A

O
Fi
Fn Figure 3.

Figure 2.

The traction vector represents intensity of the internal force per unit area; and it acts in some
arbitrary direction with respect to the normal n of the plane. This means that

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EG55F6/G6: Risers Systems and Hydrodynamics
Traction vector is a function of normal n:
τ n = τ n (n)
n τn
If we now consider a basis at the point O, we can find
components of the traction vector in this basis as
t O
∆ F = ∆F n + ∆Vs s + ∆Vt t
*
s
and
∆F ∆V ∆V Figure 4.
τ n = lim ( n + s s + t t ) = σ n n + τ ns s + τ nt t
∆A→0 ∆A ∆A ∆A (n, t, s are unit vectors which form basis)
σn = τnn τns τnt
where

∆F ∆Vs ∆Vt
σ n = lim ; τ ns = lim ; τ nt = lim
∆A→0 ∆A ∆A→0 ∆A ∆A→0 ∆A

Thus we introduce the component of the stress tensor.

- It is important to understand that traction vector τ n depends on the normal n .
- Scalar quantities σ n , τ ns and τ nt are stress components which represent intensity of the
force per unit area.
- σ n is called normal component.
- τ ns and τ nt act tangentially to the plane with normal n in s- and t- directions. They are
called shear components.
- Sometime other notation is used σ n = τ nn .
In general, we know that
τn ⋅n =σn ; τ n ⋅ s = τ ns ; τ n ⋅ t =τ nt
If we consider 3 perpendicular planes: in the point O, we can define 9 components and finally
introduce the stress tensor (Bilinear form):
τ = σ n nn + τ ns ns + τ nt nt + σ s ss + τ sn sn + τ st st + σ t tt + τ tn tn + τ ts ts
Thus,
τn =n . τ
Traction vector is a result of scalar product of normal n and stress tensor.

This can be obviously re-written in

n
σnn Cartesian co-ordinates assuming that

τ nt t n=k
τ ns s k
t =i
s= j j
τ sn n
τ tn n i
σt t σss
τ ts s τ st t
t
s

Figure 5.

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EG55F6/G6: Risers Systems and Hydrodynamics

Principal stresses
In each point of the body, the principal directions can be defined where only normal components of
the stress tensor exist. These are called principal stresses and principal planes
Cartesian components Principal components

k
σkk σ3
τ ki i
τ kj j

σ2
τ jk k
τ ik k
σi i σj j σ1
τ ij j τ ji i
i
j

Figure 6. Figure 7.

Equilibrium equations
If we consider small volume of the elastic body of mass density ρ and calculate force balance, we
can obtain the equilibrium equation.
Due to applied external forces and distributed body forces b , various points of the body will be
displaced and internal stresses will exist within the body. The displacement is denoted by
u = u i + v j + wk . Let us consider a point P ( x, y, z ) located in the body. We have established that
there exist nine stress components, six of which are independent
( σ x , σ y , σ=z , τ xy τ=
yx , τ yz τ=
zy , τ xz τ zx ). Stress components may vary from point to point, i.e. in
general, they are functions of coordinates x, y, z . The variation of the stress state through the body
is often referred to as the stress field.

y
τ zx + ∆τ zx τ yx + ∆τ yx

∆y
σx τ zx

σ x + ∆σ x
P
τ yx x
∆z
b distributed
∆x
z body force
Figure 8.

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EG55F6/G6: Risers Systems and Hydrodynamics

Isolating element ∆x∆y ∆z shown in Figure 8 as a free body and considering the stresses as
“external forces”, we can balance the forces acting on this element in each direction. We assume
that the stresses act at the centre of each face and the total force on the face is the stress multiplied
by the area. Considering the x -direction we obtain

(
−σ x ∆y ∆z + (σ x + ∆σ x ) ∆y ∆z − τ yx ∆x∆z + τ yx + ∆τ yx ∆x∆z − )
τ zx ∆x∆y + (τ zx + ∆τ zx ) ∆x∆y + bx ∆x∆y∆z = ρ∆x∆y∆z u
Dividing by ∆x∆y ∆z , we obtain
∆σ x ∆τ yx ∆τ zx
+ + ρ u
+ bx =
∆x ∆y ∆z
Taking limits as ∆x → 0, ∆y → 0, ∆y → 0 , we have
∂σ x ∂τ yx ∂τ zx
+ + ρ u
+ bx =
∂x ∂y ∂z
Considering y - and z -directions the following equations are obtained:
∂τ xy ∂σ y ∂τ zy
+ + ρ v
+ by =
∂x ∂y ∂z
∂τ xz ∂τ yz ∂σ z
+ + ρw
+ bz =
∂x ∂y ∂z
These equations can be re-written in the following compact form
3 ∂τ ∂τ
∑ ij

j =1 ∂x j
ρ ui , i,j=1,2,3 or x,y,z or commonly used notation ij + bi =
+ bi =
∂x j
ρ ui

In the vector form, for all components (adding the inertia forces), we have:
∇ ⋅ τ + b = ρ u
where ∇ is differential operator (Nabla)
∂ ∂ ∂
=
∇ i+ j+ k
∂x ∂y ∂z
τ is stress tensor, which is Cartesian co-ordinates taken form,
τ = σ x ii + σ y j j + σ z k k + τ xy (i j + ji ) + τ xz (ik + ki ) + τ yz ( jk + k j )
and b is distributed body force.
Please note that the stress tensor is independent of the chosen co-ordinate system,
but the components will be different in different basis. For example, for cylindrical co-
ordinate system, we have
τ= σ rr er er + σ θθ eθ eθ + σ zz kk + τ rθ (er eθ + eθ er ) + τ rz (er k + ker ) + τ θ z (eθ k + keθ )
Then it is convenient to use the Nabla
differential operator in the cylindrical form k
as e r and eθ depends on time eθ
∂ 1 ∂ ∂
=
∇ er + eθ + k i
∂r r ∂θ ∂z j
θ
er

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EG55F6/G6: Risers Systems and Hydrodynamics

If we consider static equilibrium: u = 0

The inertia forces are not taken into account and acceleration is equal to zero, we have
∇ ⋅τ + b = 0 Static equilibrium equation

This equation has 6 independent unknown components of stress tensor and to solve it the
relationships between the displacement and strain and strain and stresses together with
boundary conditions should be added. If u ≠ 0 , then we also need initial conditions.

Strains in the elastic body

As was mentioned before, to find the unknown stresses it is not enough to formulate the
equilibrium equations. We also have to consider strain/stress relationships. So the concept
of strains will be briefly considered next and especially implications for large deflections.

Reference: R. J. Atkin and N. Fox, “An introduction to the theory of elasticity”, Logman
group, London and New York, 1980.

dX
u dx

X
Deformed
x
body
Undeformed
body
Figure 9.
Here,
X is radius vector of the point of the undeformed body,
x is radius vector of the same point of the body in deformed configuration,
u is the displacement of the point,
x = x ( X ) is the radius vector identifying the current position of the point.
We can specify the position of the body at time t in the form of equation
x = χ ( X ) where χ is mapping from the initial to final configuration which will be
referred to as deformation of the body.
Let us now consider infinitesimal element of the body; thus we say two neighbouring
points of the body P and Q have positions X and X + dX in the body. In time t , their
motions are x and x + d x . Then
x = χ ( X ) and x +=
dx χ ( X + dX=
, t ) χ ( X ) + ∇χ ( x , t ) ⋅ d X
Thus we can express
dx =∇χ ( x , t ) ⋅ d X =
F ⋅d X
where

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EG55F6/G6: Risers Systems and Hydrodynamics

∂ ∂ ∂
=
∇ i+ j+ k if X 1 , X 2 , X 3 are Cartesian coordinates.
∂X 1 ∂X 2 ∂X 3
∇χ ( x , t ) =
F is known as second order tensor – deformation- gradient tensor.

We assume that material of the body cannot penetrate itself and that material occupying a
finite non-zero volume in the body in initial configuration cannot be compressed to a point
or expanded to infinite volume during the motion. Based on these assumptions, F is non-
singular and permit unique decompositions
F= R ⋅ U and F= V ⋅ R ,
where U and V are positive defined symmetric tensors and R is proper orthogonal tensor
according to polar decomposition theorem. The property of R
R ⋅R = R ⋅R = I
T T
and det ( R ) = 1 .
T
R is transpose of R and I denotes the unit tensor. The positive definite tensor U has
property
x ⋅ U=
⋅ x xiU ij x j > 0
for all non-zero vectors x .
In this form tensor R is responsible for the rigid body rotation of the element d X and the
tensors U and V are known as the right and left stretching tensors.
We can now define the right and left Cauchy-Green strain tensors as:
=
C F ⋅F and B= F ⋅ F T
T

where C and B are symmetric second order tensors. Thus

C= U ⋅ U and B= V ⋅ V

If we specify the displacement of the point

u= x − X and =
x X +u
We can calculate deformation gradient tensor F as
F =∇ x =∇( X + u ) =I + H
Where H = ∇u denotes displacement gradient tensor. Thus the Cauchy-Green strain
tensor C can be rewritten as
C = F ⋅ F =( I + H ) ⋅ ( I + H ) = I + H + H + H ⋅ H
T T T T

We can now see that C is a measure of stretching part of the deformation. If C = I , then
the body is moving as a right body, so components of C − I may be sought as measures of
the change in shape. So the following tensor is introduced
1 1
E= (C − I )= (H + H + H ⋅ H )
T T

2 2
1
E= (∇u + u∇ + u∇ ⋅ ∇u )
2

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EG55F6/G6: Risers Systems and Hydrodynamics

and in components terms:

1  ∂ui ∂u j ∂ui ∂uk 
E=  + + 
2  ∂X j ∂X i ∂X k ∂X j 
ij

Tensor E is called Green’s strain tensor and if apply to small strains with arbitrary large
rotations.

E11
Direction 1

E11 is axial strain

in deformed beam
Figure 10.

If displacement is smaller, then ( u∇ ⋅ ∇u ) → 0 and we have

1
E= (∇u + u∇)
2
or in components
1  ∂ui ∂u j 
=Eij  + 
2  ∂X j ∂X i 


Strain Computed from Convected Body

We have said before that if the deformed configuration of the body is caused by only pure
rotation of body, then such deformation does not produce internal stresses. We are going to
use this principal and show that using convected co-ordinates will simplify the analysis
significantly.
References:
• O'Brien, P. J., McNamara, J. F. and Dunne, F. P. E. 'Three dimensional nonlinear
motions of risers and offshore loading towers', J. Offshore Mech. and Arctic Engng,
ASME 1988, 110, (3), 232-237
• McNamara, J. F., O'Brien, P. J. and Gilroy, J. P. 'Nonlinear analysis of flexible risers
using hybrid finite elements', J. OffshoreMech. and Arctic Engng, ASME 1988, 110,
(3), 197-204
• O’Brien, P.J. and McNamara, J.F. 1989 Significant characteristics of three dimensional
flexible riser analysis, Engineering Structures, 11, 223-233.
Let us consider undeformed configuration of the body and vector dX

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EG55F6/G6: Risers Systems and Hydrodynamics

dX dX C

LUA CCA

Local Undeformed Axis Convected Configuration Axis

Figure 11.

We notice that
dX C= R ⋅ d X ,
where R is rotation tensor, i.e. dx dX
C

R⋅R = R ⋅R = I .
T T
CCA
Then we add shape deformation on top of
rotation and dX C becomes d x .
If we now consider vector dxˆ in convected Convected Configuration Axis
configuration axis
Figure 12.
=
dxˆ Fˆ def ⋅ dXˆ C

But we can recalculate vector dxˆ using current d x vector and rotating it backwards as
=ˆ RT ⋅ d x
dx
and therefore we have
d x= R ⋅ dxˆ .
Thus
d x =⋅
R dxˆ =⋅ (
R Fˆ def ⋅ dXˆ C =⋅ )
R Fˆ def ⋅ RT ⋅ d X C =⋅ (
R Fˆ def ⋅ RT ⋅ R ⋅ d X = ) (
R ⋅ Fˆ def ⋅ d X )
where R T ⋅ R = I
And we have
F= R ⋅ Fˆ def

Now if we calculate strain, we obtain

E=
2
(
1 T
F ⋅ F − I=
1  ˆT
2
) T  1  Fˆ T ⋅ Fˆ
 F def ⋅ R ⋅ R ⋅ Fˆ def − I =
 
 2  def def
− I 

Thus we have

1  ∂uˆdef i ∂uˆdef j ∂uˆdef i ∂uˆdef k 


Eij= + +
2  ∂Xˆ C ∂Xˆ ∂Xˆ C k ∂Xˆ C j 
 j Ci 
This means that
- We can determine Green’s strain terms relative to rotated convected body.
- Write strain terms in components of rotated materials axes.
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EG55F6/G6: Risers Systems and Hydrodynamics

- In this case, nonlinear terms are much reduced and can be effectively linearised.
Then for the deformed risers we can have a set of conveted axes:

Figure 13.

And thus we can keep strains small, but take into account relations of each point.

Summary: Statement of 3D Elasticity Theory Problem

Equation of motion: ∇ ⋅ τ + b = ρ u

1
Strain-displacement relationship: E = ( ∇u + u∇ + u∇ ⋅ ∇u )
2
Finally to complete the system we need strain/stress relationship, which is provided by the
Hooke’s law:
τ
= 4
C ⋅⋅E or τ = f (E)
Cauchy elasticity stress tensor is tensor function of strain tensor. 4 C is tensor of 4th rank.

To solve specific problem we need boundary conditions

u S = us i.e. for part S1 of the body surface the displacement is fixed and it is known.
1

n ⋅τ = τn S2
= p , i.e. for the rest of the body surface known forces are applied.
S2

and initial conditions.

Once the problem is solved the equivalent stress could be calculated and used in the design
process. For ductile materials Von Mises’s equivalent stress is often used
2σ VM
2 2 2 2
(
= (σ 1 − σ 2 ) + (σ 2 − σ 3 ) + (σ 3 − σ 1 ) + 6 τ 122 + τ 23
2
+ τ 31
2
)

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EG55F6/G6: Risers Systems and Hydrodynamics

Example

Stresses in the thick cylinder under internal

and external pressure with free ends shown − pi er
in Figure 14 can be calculated using the
following boundary conditions:
− pe er
σr r =a = − pi Please note that on
the inner surface
normal is −e r k
σr r =b = − pe

eθ er
The solution can be found analytically and
it is
Figure 14.
pi a 2 − pe b 2 a 2b 2 1
=σr − ( p − p )
b2 − a 2 b2 − a 2 r 2
i e

pi a 2 − pe b 2 a 2b 2 1 a b
=σθ + ( p − p )
b2 − a 2 b2 − a 2 r 2
i e

Figure 15.

This solution is often used in riser and pipe design. More information can be found in
Reference: C.P. Sparks, Fundamental of Marine Riser Mechanics, PennWell, 2007,
Appendix D.

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EG55F6/G6: Risers Systems and Hydrodynamics

Three dimensional stress and beam theory

So far we considered stresses and strains in 3D bodies. But as you know, the riser are long
slender structures and they are often considered as beams or cables. This means that the
riser can be described by its centre line.

∫
T = σ dA

∫
M = − σ ydA

Axial stresses are much larger

than shear stresses

Figure 16.

The equations of motions for the beams are developed balancing the forces and
momentums applied to the part of beam and we are going to consider how it is done next.
There are a number of theories allowing one to simplify mathematically 3D equations into
1D equations for the beam using variational or asymptotic approaches, for example, but we
are not going to discuss them here.
The beam theories can be built with various degrees of complications and they normally
assume that each cross-section of the riser can be considered as material point (of its central
line) with 3 translational degrees of freedom and sometimes with three additional rotational
degrees of freedom.
We will work with Euler – Bernoulli beam theory, where it is assumed that there are 3
translational degrees of freedom and:

- Normal remains straight (cross-

section)
- Normal remains unstretched (they
keep the same length)
- Normal remains normal (they
always make a right angle to the
neutral plane)

Figure 17.

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