🔍 Key Concepts

• Jack-up rig operating limits based on air gap, wave height, and current • Relationship between maximum leg reaction and allowable environmental conditions • How operational wind limits are typically reduced when waves and current are already significant

💭 Think About

• Compare the given air gap and wave height: how much clearance remains, and what does that suggest about how close you are to the rig’s environmental limits? • Think about whether a high current and large waves leave more or less ‘room’ for high wind before reaching the maximum leg reaction. • From typical operating envelopes for drilling jack-ups, which wind speed seems realistic when the sea state is already severe (30-foot waves and 2-knot current)?

✅ Before You Answer

• Estimate the remaining air gap once you consider the 30-foot waves and what that implies for safe operations. • Consider whether 6,120 kips sounds like a maximum design value that would allow the very highest wind speed option when combined with 30-foot waves and 2 knots of current. • Ask whether drilling operations usually continue at the highest listed wind speed, or if drilling limits are usually more conservative than survival limits.