During the subsea well construction and workover, a subsea well is connected to the drillship through the blowout preventer (BOP) and the drilling riser. Environmental loads acting on the drilling riser and the drillship are transferred to the wellhead, conductor, and casings, which can cause fatigue issues at critical points such as at the casing couplings. The main function of a subsea wellhead system is to perform the interface between the BOP and the well, ensuring its integrity throughout its operational life. Factors such as the increase in the weight and height of the BOP on 6th generation platforms contributed to the increased risk of failure due to fatigue. The system in this work is represented by a 3D finite element model including internal cement, conductor, and surface casings. Although simplifications were adopted in the modeling, the essence of the well physical behavior remains. The work addresses the influence of the wellhead stick-up on the maximum stress in the conductor below the seabed, comparing analyses of two wellhead stick-up and including horizontal displacement resulting from the integration of the platform/riser dynamics. These horizontal loads are transferred to the top of the wellhead system as a bending moment and shear force. A time series containing riser horizontal loadings is utilized to obtain the von Mises stress. This information is used to count cycles with the rainflow counting technique. The number of cycles resulting for the two wellhead stick-up is compared and demonstrates how wellhead stick-up can be influenced by an increase in dynamic loads acting on the wellhead top. An influence can be observed on the maximum stress point of the conductor located below the seabed. From these results, it was possible to conclude the wellhead stick-up can influence the depth of a critical point in the conductor below the seabed.
