Research on Stability Against Overturning Checking Method of Jack-up Platform Based on ALE Method

Objectives With the continuous development of offshore oil and gas resources, jack-up platforms have been widely adopted due to their low construction cost and strong mobility. As a critical component of stability verification, anti-overturning stability plays an essential role in ensuring safe operation under various sea conditions. Therefore, studying the anti-overturning stability of platforms aims to improve relevant specifications and establish a comprehensive verification method system for the anti-overturning stability of jack-up platforms. Methods This study selects self-elevating platforms with independent legs (the most prone to overturning accidents) as the research object. Based on the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method, it investigates anti-overturning stability by establishing finite element models of the soil and legs, applying a bending moment at the top of the legs to simulate the overturning moment, and analyzing the variations in leg displacement, rotation angle, and hinge point of the moment arm with the overturning moment. Consequently, a simulation calculation method for the platform’s anti-overturning moment and the position of the moment arm hinge point is proposed. Results By applying this method and the code-based method to analyze the anti-overturning stability of a specific jack-up platform, it is found that the overturning moment calculated by this method reduces the relative error by approximately 10%.Conclusions The results demonstrate that this method exhibits high accuracy, providing valuable references for practical engineering applications.