Helical Buoyancy™ Riser Technology

Helical Buoyancy

With the focus of providing value to customers through safe and highly efficient operations, Diamond Offshore developed the Helical BuoyancyTM riser technology, which is an innovative solution providing an alternative to adding fairings or strakes to the drilling riser to reduce drag and mitigates vortex-induced vibration (VIV) in high loop current offshore applications.

This patented helically grooved buoyancy design can reduce riser deployment and retrieval time by up to 50% and improves safety in challenging environments by eliminating the need for personnel to work below the drill floor to attach separate apparatus.

A result of a joint development between Diamond Offshore and Trelleborg Offshore, this technology is now installed on all four of our differentiated drillships currently working in the Gulf of Mexico. It received a Meritorious Engineering Innovation Award in the subsea category, which recognizes technological advances that open new and better avenues to the critical challenges the industry faces.