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A cost related study for the offloading operations is an integral part of monetary risks assessment. The partially standing waves which occur between the gap of vessels are responsible for impacting the offloading operations in terms of downtime costs. This paper presents a downtime cost analysis of side-by-side offloading operations in Malaysian waters for regular waves addressing the influence of partially standing waves through a graphical user interface (GUI). The developed interface is explained and its work procedure is demonstrated in this paper. The downtime is studied for two sea-states, beam and heading seas for which the probability of occurrence was calculated from the location specific wave scatter distribution. The results of wave kinematics for partially standing waves influencing the offloading operation for side-by-side configuration are presented. The down-time cost analysis will help the oil operator companies to analyze the economic risks involved for field developments and anticipate the loss in revenue for down-time occurrences. Overall, an attempt to integrate the influence of gap between vessels with offloading operations and related cost is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of subsurface structures has always remained a challenge for construction engineer, especially the below-grade sulfur storage pit. A sulfur pit temporarily accommodates elemental sulfur extracted from oil refineries through a Sulfur Recovery Unit (SRU) and conveyed further to different transportation systems such as railcars, trucks or barges via a pumping system. The storage pit ensures that the elemental sulfur remains in its molten state, and further, the surrounding soil environment is protected. The operating temperature of below-grade sulfur storage pits range from 250 °F (121 °C) to 300 °F (149 °C) at which molten sulfur is kept in fluid form using submerged heating coils located at the pit base. The hazardous, corrosive and highly acidic environment causes severe concrete deterioration in the sulfur pit. The extensive concrete deterioration reduces the life span of the sulfur pit to even less than 10 years. The sulfuric acid formation is mainly responsible for the corrosive environment in the pit. The progression occurs from crack formation to delamination to spalling of concrete cover to corrosion, which finally degrades the structural durability and integrity. The heavily affected areas within the pit include the soffit of the roof slab and the walls in the headspace regions. This research paper presents the review of the various mechanisms in sulfur pit deterioration supported by industrial case studies and the absence of long-term durability performance in current industrial sulfur pit repair approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-seven large-scale beams with dapped-end have been prepared, cast and tested to failure in the three points loading arrangement. One control beam has been designed in accordance with requirement of standard code while the dapped-end reinforcement scheme of other beams has been derived from the control beam. In selected beams, engineered cementitious composites (ECC) has been utilized in the dapped-end region. The test results exhibited that DR is more appropriate and higher capacity than HR in resisting the shear force. In addition, the reinforced engineered cementitious composites dapped-end beams (R-ECC-DEB) showed higher structural performance compared to the normal reinforced concrete dapped-end beams (RC-DEBs). The strength of ECC also has direct effect on the failure capacity of the R-ECC-DEB, in which higher strength of ECC leads to higher failure capacity of R-ECC-DEB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]