A study of jack-up leg drag coefficients

The accurate prediction of drag coefficients for truss-type jack-up legs is an important part of a unit's design. Over the past 14 years, a series of windtunnel tests have been conducted on both square and triangular cross-section leg configurations. A calculation method which closely fits the model test data has also been adopted. A previous paper described the early testing and the MMEC calculation method for square legs. Since then, testing and research have continued on both square and triangular leg designs. This paper describes the more recent testing performed on square legs, and it details the testing and the MMEC method for triangular legs. In addition, the effects of cornerpost design and surface roughness are discussed. Several example calculations are provided in Appendices.