🔍 Key Concepts

• Leg reaction limits for jack-up drilling units (maximum allowable load on each leg) • How environmental forces (wind, waves, and current) affect leg loading when a rig is elevated • Importance of using the worst-case combined loading from the given conditions

💭 Think About

• Which of the answer choices best represents a realistic maximum safe leg reaction under very severe environmental conditions (50-knot wind and 30-foot seas)? • If you imagine increasing wind, waves, and current, would the allowable leg reaction go up or down, and why? • How would a higher environmental load affect the safety margin between the leg’s structural capacity and its working load?

✅ Before You Answer

• Be sure you are thinking about maximum safe allowable load, not the environmental forces themselves • Consider that 50 knots of wind and 30-foot seas are extreme conditions, so the structure is likely operating closer to its upper limit • Double-check that the choice you select reflects a value that would reasonably be used as a design or operating limit for a jack-up rig’s leg reaction