DRILLING EQUIPMENT

Design, arrangement of rig floor tugger derrick

sheave blocks change as drilling goes deeper
By Jeff Shepard, GlobalSantaFe Corp
Figure 1
THE DESIGN AND arrangement of derrick sheave blocks
used with rig floor tuggers is important to the safety of rig
floor personnel. The use of snatch blocks in the derrick to
suspend rig floor tugger lines has been and is still common
practice. Typical snatch block design allows for one of the
cheek plates to be easily disengaged and swiveled out of the
way to allow quick reeving of
the wire rope on and off the
Trends on high- sheave. Their light weight also
allows for easier handling by
capacity, larger personnel suspended by a rid-
rigs used to drill ing belt. Snatch block design
deeper wells safety factors have also tradi-
tionally provided an adequate
have changed margin of safety as long as their
design require- safe working load was equal ensure the derrick member
to or greater than the tugger
ments for capacity. However, on larger,
has sufficient strength to
withstand these loads.
derrick tugger high-capacity rigs used to drill
sheaves and deeper wells, there has been an When the tugger – and the
increase in loading on derrick tugger wire – and derrick
their arrange- sheave blocks because: sheave block is viewed as
ment in the a system, the preference is
• Higher-capacity equipment that the wire rope should be
derrick. and tools have resulted in a the weaker link under this
dramatic increase in tugger scenario. By selecting a tug-
capacity; ger wire rope that will break
before damage is done to
• Increased use of top drives and footage of tubular goods that
any other part of the system,
occupy the setback area has severely reduced the working
it can be replaced with con-
space inside the derrick, which has increased the risk of snag-
fidence that expensive and
ging tugger lines on traveling equipment; and
time-consuming inspections
• Restrictions are being imposed on man-riding operations to and replacement of sheave
ensure safe operations. blocks and pad-eyes will be
avoided.
Because of these trends, design requirements for derrick
tugger sheaves and their arrangement in the derrick have However, the wire rope
changed. In addition, the resultant load must be considered breaking strength must still
when selecting derrick sheave blocks as illustrated in figure 1. exceed the maximum pulling
force of the tugger. For exam-
Figure 2: Full-Sided Cargo ple, if a 5-ton Western Type
WORST-CASE LOADING SCENARIO Cargo Block that has a 5-to-1
Block
The worst-case loading scenario is incurred when the working safety factor based on the
end of a tugger line is snagged while the traveling blocks are resultant load of 10 tons is selected, it can theoretically with-
coming down and the tugger brake is set. In this case, the forc- stand a resultant load of 50 tons without damage. To ensure the
es exerted on the line can exceed the breaking strength of the wire rope will break before sheave block damage is incurred, it
wire rope. The resultant load on the sheave block can amount must have a breaking force that is less than 25 tons but more
to twice the breaking strength of the wire rope if the sheave than the tugger stall pull rating. Wire rope selected to break
block does not fail first and fall to the rig floor. between these two limits would then be considered optimum.
Even if this does not occur, it is still possible that the pad-eye In any case, there is a growing need for higher capacity sheave
securing the sheave block to the derrick structure, as well blocks with improved design safety factors. For this reason,
as the derrick structure itself, could fail under this scenario. Full-Sided Cargo Blocks (figure 2) are replacing conventional
Therefore, pad-eyes used to attach tugger sheave blocks to the snatch blocks because of the following features:
derrick should be designed to AISC (American Institute of Steel
Construction) standards so that the rated load of the pad-eye • Higher strength materials allow higher load capacities to
is twice the stall pull rating of the tugger. The derrick struc- choose from and preserve the safety factor of these sheave
ture that the pad-eye is attached to should also be analyzed to blocks at 5-to-1 against the resultant load;

32 September/October 2006 D R I L L I N G CONTRACTOR

DRILLING EQUIPMENT

• 4 bolts secure the cheek plates, providing improved protec- important consideration because in most cases, safety slings
tion from the cheek plates disengaging from the sheave block simply cannot be large enough to withstand the high loads that
assembly; are generated by stopping a falling sheave block at high line
loads.
• Built-in swivels prevent twisting the sheave block while in
service; In fact, if the system is designed to ensure that the tugger wire
rope will break first, it could be argued that there is no need
• Anti-friction bearings are installed on the shaft as well as the for a safety line. However, a safety line is still recommended to
swivel to provide improved reliability and longer service life; prevent the sheave block from falling while it is being rigged on
• An additional shackle can be fitted to the bottom of the and off its derrick attachment. In this case, it only needs to be
sheave block for the attachment of a safety line without having designed to catch the sheave block.
to weld on pad-eyes;
SUBSTITUTE ‘WEAK LINK’
• Sheave diameters of these sheave blocks are larger than con-
ventional snatch blocks, which allow for increased wire rope Finally, to reduce the risk of tugger wire rope failure with this
life; arrangement, a substitute “weak link” is recommended to be
fitted to the working end of the tugger wire. This could be a
• Tight clearances between the sheave and the cheek plates length of soft line with red or yellow “flags” attached that could
prevent the wire rope from jumping off the sheave and incur- alert the driller that the tugger line has been snagged by the
ring damage; traveling equipment. This would be affixed to
the rig floor at all times and would be discon-
• Sheave pins are held in place with heavy duty nuts that are nected from the end of the tugger wire when
secured with set screws; the tugger in use.
• Easy, quick visual inspection will reveal whether retaining The design and arrangement discussed above
devices such as split pins, R-pins, grub screws, or lock wire on should reduce the risk to rig floor personnel
all fasteners are missing or damaged. due to overloading. However, this increase in
If the design of the system guarantees that the wire rope will safety cannot be realized without a complete
break first in the event of an overload, the safety sling for inspection and maintenance program. To
the sheave block assembly will not have to be sized to catch allow quick and efficient visual inspections,
the sheave block and the tugger line at high loads. This is an all pins and fasteners used in derrick sheave
blocks and safety sling assemblies – includ-
ing all shackles, swivels, and other loose gear
– should be fitted with retaining devices, such
as cotter (split) pins or locking wire (cotter
pins are preferred) to prevent such pins and
fasteners from coming loose and allowing A substi-
objects to fall to the rig floor. Such retain- tute “weak
ing devices shall be clearly visible from the link” can
outside without requiring any disassembly to be fitted to
facilitate easy visual confirmation that such the working
devices are not damaged, deteriorated or end of the
missing. tugger wire.
Lubrication of the sheave block and swivel It could be
bearings should also be scheduled based on a colored,
the sheave block manufacturer’s recommenda- visual “flag”
tions or by historical experience. to indicate a
line snag.
In addition, an ongoing third party inspection
and replacement of the rig floor tugger wire
rope and loose gear such as shackles and swivels should be
established. Regular nondestructive testing of the pad-eye
used to secure the sheave block to the derrick, including its
weldment and adjacent structure, should be performed by a
qualified third party at regular intervals and immediately after
an overload incident occurs. Finally, set intervals should be
established to replace the derrick sheave blocks before they
wear out with spare units that have been overhauled.

With a sound design basis and an adequate inspection and

maintenance plan, safety incidents involved with this equip-
ment can be greatly mitigated and move us forward to becom-
ing an injury-free industry.
This article is adapted from a presentation made at the IADC Lifting
and Mechanical Handling Conference & Exhibition, held 11-12 April in
Houston.

34 September/October 2006 D R I L L I N G CONTRACTOR