Research on Influence of Horizontal Offsets of Underwater Equipment Based on Pendulous Installation Method

Large underwater equipment used in deep-sea engineering, which needs mooring line in order to hang down while using pendulous installation method in 1500m deep-water installation. During the procession, the mooring line will suffer the vessel’s pull, large equipment’s traction, fluid force leading to elongation, bending and other deformation, so need to analyze its motion. Aiming at the numerical simulation problem of underwater equipment installed by pendulous installation method in deep-water environment, this paper combines lumped mass method, three-dimensional potential theory and Morison equation to establish the analysis model of the whole installation system. Under the different horizontal dropping offsets of the equipment, this paper computes not only tension of mooring line, but motion performance of underwater equipment and working vessel during the pendulous lowering phase. The Pendulous Installation Method (PIM) puts a working vessel, a mooring line and a underwater equipment installed in succession, and there is a coupling interaction among them, so it is essential to do time-domain coupling analysis. So the Orcaflex Software is used to simulate the entire deep-water installation system. Using different horizontal dropping position as a variable, we can get the contrast about the different movement states of the mooring line and underwater equipment, and finally we will get the conclusion.

Prediction Methodology for Traction Drive Characteristics of Half-Toroidal Variator System

The traction characteristics of a half-toroidal variator system were quantitatively identified. The rheological characteristics of the traction fluid dependent on applied pressure, slip rate, and traction surface temperature were identified from experimental data and finite element analysis using a four-roller machine. Half-toroidal variator system operation should take into account a safety factor, so the variator M versus slip characteristic was clarified by combining a half-toroidal variator model with the identified traction fluid characteristics. This method enabled to quantify the variator M-slip characteristic and power transmission efficiency of a half-toroidal variator in advance, and also enabled visualization of the spinning behavior due to the traction surface frictional force.

Improved Temperature Mapping of EHL Contacts

An effective means of studying lubricant film rheology within EHL contacts is by detailed mapping of the temperature of the fluid and the bounding surfaces within the lubricated contact area. This provides a way of directly measuring the rheology of lubricant films under true EHL conditions. Furthermore, temperature measurement itself provides a very effective means of testing and validating computer simulations. In the current work, the experimental approach initially developed by Sanborn and Winer [1] and then by Spikes and co-workers [2], has been advanced to include a high specification infrared (IR) camera and microscope. This is a similar approach to that taken by Yagi and Kyogoku [3]. As well as the instantaneous capture of full field measurements, this has the advantage of increased sensitivity and higher spatial resolution than previous systems used. The increased sensitivity enables a much larger range of testable operating conditions; namely lower loads, speeds and reduced sliding. In addition, the range of test lubricants can be extended beyond high shearing traction fluids. One additional advantage of instantaneous full field measurements is that the weak infrared optical interference caused by the film can be observed and can used to exactly locate the centre of the contact in the resulting temperature maps. These new possibilities have been used to investigate and compare the rheological properties and compression cooling effects exhibited by a PAO, a group II mineral oil, and a traction fluid.