Shear stress amplification and scour around subsea structures

Shear stress amplification and scour around subsea structures

Project Status: Active

Investigators

  • Joe Tom
    Assistant Professor, University of Illinois, USA

Project Description

Offshore and coastal infrastructure are susceptible to local scour, where sediment is removed from the area adjacent to the structures due to waves and currents (Figure 1). This phenomenon can endanger the stability of seabed structures, such as offshore energy infrastructure or artificial reefs at beaches. Scour remediation and protection is costly and improved design of scour protection could increase infrastructure safety and reduce costs to industry and society.

In this project, we are undertaking a series of physical model experiments in the laboratory at UWA (Figure 2) to develop a new method to predict the enhancement of water flow around different types of subsea structures and the potential for scour. The results of this project will lead to new techniques to design structures against scour and improved methodologies for the offshore and coastal engineering industries.

Figure 1. Sediment removal around model structures leading to settlement

Figure 2. Scour experiments conducted at UWA flume facility (courtesy Weidong Yao)