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www.seadiscovery.com has been heavily involved with fluid dynamics research, particularly the physics and modeling of vortex-induced vibrations. He recalls Oceanic’s early work for DeepStar: “They were the first to assemble a test rig where we could investigate cylinder vortex-induced vibrations in multi- degrees of freedom at full scale. We also looked at differ- ent cylinder roughnesses and the effect of ambient turbu- lence. It was quite revealing and set us on the path to a whole series of experiments.” Oakley adds that most test- ing had been done in laboratories at small scales and industry needed to understand if the physics was similar at higher Reynolds numbers. “If you’re going to try to dangle an array of risers in 10,000 feet of water and expect them to last 20 years, you can’t afford to allow them to fatigue,” he added. “We absolutely need to be able to pre- dict what the currents and excitation are going to be, and ensure we can suppress vibrations adequately over the life of the structure. We have done extensive studies on how to reduce riser vibration with strakes and fairings, and how marine growth might reduce their effectiveness. We come to Oceanic to do these tests because they are equipped to run them at essentially full scale.”

Confirming Oakley’s assessment, Herrington notes that since these offshore installations are such large capital pro- grams which require assurances against VIV failures,

Oceanic integrates with a variety of industry stakeholders such as oil companies, equipment suppliers, and multiple joint industry projects, including both DeepStar and the

Norwegian Deepwater Programmes. Oceanic Consulting

Corporation President Dan Walker started the company in 1993 to promote contract research using the test facil- ities at the Ocean Engineering Research Centre at

Memorial University of Newfoundland, the Institute for

Marine Dynamics’ (now the National Research Council’s

Institute for Ocean Technology’s) towing tank, ice tank and offshore engineering basin, and the flume tank and

Centre for Marine Simulation at the Marine Institute, all located in St. John’s. In 1996, Oceanic built their first experimental rig to test fairings that had been developed to reduce the drag on the cables of a seismic array. In 2003, they conducted a variety of experiments on what was to become the world’s first cell spar facility in the Red

Hawk field in the Gulf of Mexico. These included evalu- ating the VIV characteristics and resistance drag loads of the floating production facility, and the hydrodynamic loads on strakes. Most of Oceanic’s full-scale VIV work has been completed for projects in the Gulf of Mexico where there are loop currents, and offshore Brazil, where there are deep surface currents.