Probabilistic modeling of the bio-colonization effects on hydrodynamic forces with several combinations of sea-state condition: a study on jacket-platforms in the Gulf of Guinea

Franck Schoefs (1) , Hamed Ameryoun (1)

1 GeM - Institut de Recherche en Génie Civil et Mécanique

During the stage of designing or re-assessment of a jacket-type offshore structure, one of the most important phases is the re-evaluation of environmental loads, which are exerted by the waves, the wind and the currents, and updating the new data (e.g. meteocean, new regulation, structural damaging etc.). The former is mainly caused by the randomness or uncertainty nature of the marine environment as well as the presence of marine growth that makes the modeling of environmental loading more complicated. The general species of marine growth may be divided into two main categories: vegetable (e.g. algae) and animal (e.g. mussel, anemones, and corals). Indeed, the structures can be covered by many marine organisms quickly (in the first weeks). The influence of bio-colonization on an offshore structure can be measured at several levels: obstruct or prohibits a visual inspection of the subjacent support, cost of procedures of cleaning for oil industries and increasing the hydrodynamic forces on the structure. Considering the latter, loading change due screen effect and added mass are shown to be the most relevant. This study aims to provide a probabilistic modeling of marine growth colonization in the Gulf of Guinea. A physical matrix response surface is used in view to provide a probabilistic modeling of the environmental loading on Jacket type offshore structures for quasi-static behavior in the presence of marine growth. The paper focuses on uncertainty and sensitivity studies respecting to the effects of wave, wind-sea and currents.

Domaines: Mécanique [physics.med-ph]; Matériaux

Franck Schoefs, Hamed Ameryoun. Probabilistic modeling of the bio-colonization effects on hydrodynamic forces with several combinations of sea-state condition: a study on jacket-platforms in the Gulf of Guinea. ASME 2013 32nd International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, Jun 2013, Nantes, France. ⟨10.1115/OMAE2013-11100⟩. ⟨hal-01008686⟩