The increasing attraction of crude resources on the ocean floor leads to the development of risers, which are an indispensable component of an offshore oil and gas exploitation structure. High-grade steel is normally utilized for risers, however, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite risers have become a feasible and economical alternative due to the desirable properties of the material. A comparative study of vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of FRP composite risers with two designed geometries were conducted and an X80 steel riser was used as the benchmark. The length to diameter ratios of all three risers were set to 100 and their VIV responses under different environmental situations, including the natural frequencies, global displacements, global stresses and the stress distributions in every composite layers, were obtained using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation with coupled fluid–structure interaction. The VIV characteristics of both FRP composite risers and their distinction compared with that of steel risers were analyzed and discussed. From this paper, the dynamic characteristics in different environmental situations of VIV for FRP composite risers can be further understood.

Risers are indispensable components of offshore platform systems that connect the wellhead at the sea bottom and to the platform at the sea surface and are normally made of high grade steel. Nowadays, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite has been recognized as an attractive alternative riser material. Similarly to steel risers, FRP composite risers are also vulnerable to vortex induced vibration (VIV), and the effects of the composite makeup of these risers on VIV are the subject of the present investigation. Three risers (the tailored design composite riser, the composite riser with orthogonal reinforcements and the steel riser), three current velocities (0.36 m/s, 1.22 m/s and 2.13 m/s) and three water depths (12.5 m, 25 m and 37.5 m) are considered. In total, 9 study cases using orthogonal array (OA) sampling are investigated to study the risers’ VIV characteristics. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations with coupled fluid–structure interaction (FSI) are used to obtain the risers’ natural frequencies, global displacements, global stresses and the stress distributions in each composite lamina. The effect of 5 parameters (E_tension, E_bending, L/D_outer, tension force and current velocity) on the VIV amplitude in a cross flow direction of the risers is analyzed using Grey relational analysis (GRA) and the Grey relational grade of these parameters are: $r_{05\left(\mathrm{Velocity}\right)}>r_{03\left(\mathrm{L}/{\mathrm{D}}_{\mathrm{outer}}\right)}>r_{04\left(\mathrm{Tension}\mathrm{Force}\right)}>r_{01\left({\mathrm{E}}_{tension}\right)}>r_{02\left({\mathrm{E}}_{bending}\right)}$ .

Risers are an indispensable component of offshore oil and gas exploitation structures, and they are vulnerable to vortex-induced vibration (VIV). Although many studies have been conducted to investigate the VIV characteristics of risers, the effects of combination of multiple parameters and the relative significance of each parameter on the risers’ VIV characteristics have rarely been considered. In this paper, 36 experimental cases were investigated to study the risers’ VIV characteristics due to the combination of multiple parameters. The natural frequencies, response microstrains and frequencies of VIV for the risers were obtained. Meanwhile, the effect of each parameter and the relative significance of these parameters on the amplitude of VIV in risers were calculated using grey relational analysis (GRA). The results show that all the parameters considered—i.e., material property (modulus and density), end condition, top tension force and flow velocity—affect risers’ VIV response, and the grey relational grade of these parameters are: $r_{02\left(\mathrm{velocity}\right)}>r_{04\left(\mathrm{constraints}\right)}>r_{05\left(\mathrm{density}\right)}>r_{03\left(\mathrm{tension}\right)}>r_{01\left(\mathrm{modulus}\right)}$ .