Method for determining the design load of an aluminium handrail on an offshore platform

Aluminium outfitting is widely used in offshore platforms owing to its anti-corrosion ability and its light weight. However, various standards exist (ISO, NORSOK and EN) for the design of handrails used in offshore platforms, and different suppliers have different criteria. This causes great confusion for designers. Moreover, the design load required by the standards is not clearly defined or is uncertain. Thus, many offshore projects reference previous project details or are conservatively designed without additional clarification. In this study, all of the codes and standards were reviewed and analysed through prior studies, and data on variable factors that directly and indirectly affect the handrails applied to offshore platforms were analysed. A total of 50 handrail design load scenarios were proposed through deterministic and probabilistic approaches. To verify the proposed new handrail design load selection scenario, structural analysis was performed using SACS (offshore structural analysis software). This new proposal through deterministic and probabilistic approaches is expected to improve safety by clarifying the purpose of the handrails. Furthermore, the acceptance criteria for probabilistic scenarios for handrails suggest considering the frequency of handrail use and the design life of offshore platforms to prevent excessive design. This study is expected to prevent trial and error in handrail design while maintaining overall worker safety by applying a loading scenario suitable for the project environment to enable optimal handrail design. (c) 2021 Society of Naval Architects of Korea. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

Aluminum outfitting is widely used in offshore platforms due to its corrosion resistance and light weight. However, confusion arises for designers due to the existence of various standards for handrail design and differing criteria among suppliers. This study reviewed and analyzed all codes and standards, and proposed 50 handrail design load scenarios through deterministic and probabilistic approaches. The proposed new handrail design load selection scenario is expected to improve safety by clarifying the purpose of the handrails, with acceptance criteria suggesting consideration of handrail use frequency and offshore platform design life to prevent excessive design. Through applying loading scenarios suitable for the project environment, this study aims to prevent trial and error in handrail design while maintaining overall worker safety.