Fairings for Drilling

Tail Fairings Maximize Drilling Uptime

Tail Fairings™ are the best solution for drilling in high currents due to their ability to reduce VIV and drag well beyond any alternative buoyancy option. Fairings reliably reduce both drag and VIV and the latest designs are extremely fast to install.  When used on deepwater wells, fairings also limit both top and bottom angles which allows drilling operations to continue even when currents are strong.  

VIV Solutions^® fairings have a longstanding history of use in the offshore industry and have remained the most commonly utilized suppression device for drilling since 2004.  More than 20 vessels have spudded over 100 wells with fairings onboard, some in currents exceeding 6 knots. 

Fairings are far superior to any alternative buoyancy product (which provide only minimal drag reduction at high Reynolds numbers).  Fairings typically lessen fatigue-related damage by a factor of 1,000-10,000 when compared to the bare riser condition.  Drag coefficients as low as C_d~0.25 are achievable with long-chord fairings and our standard Tail Fairings reduce drag to a level of about C_d~0.6. 

VIV Solutions’ patented Generation II Tail Fairing™ suppression system consists of tails, straps, and thrust collars to maintain axial positioning along the riser span.  The tails are free to “weathervane” in the current so that the tail always orients downstream.  New fastening mechanisms tremendously improve installation speeds compared to previous designs. 

FlexLock™ Tail Fairings (patent pending) allow more than one tail fairing to be placed between collars.  This design ultimately leads to faster installation times and lower procurement costs since the suppression system has fewer collars. FlexLock softly locks two tails together while allowing some rotation between the tails with the objective of optimizing performance.

We also offer fully shrouded fairings, fairings for slick joints, U-shaped fairings, fairings for risers with external control lines, and other VIV suppression devices for drilling applications.  Please contact us for assistance optimizing your drilling riser operability in ocean currents.