The 38m SHELL experiments were conducted at MARINTEK’s ocean basin on behalf of SHELL International Exploration and Production Co. The experiment involved towing three densely instrumented flexible pipes, of different diameters, in uniform and sheared currents. The full test matrix included runs which tested the effects of fairings, strakes, staggered buoyancy and marine growth on riser response. The most interesting feature of this data set was the very large range of Reynolds numbers covered while testing the three different pipes. Towing velocities ranged from 0.25m/s to 3.45m/s which correspond to Reynolds number range from 5,000 to 220,000. More details on the experimental set-up can be found in OMAE2012-84055
Below is a list of various papers written about these experiments by this group: