Numerical Modelling of Three-dimensional Scour below Offshore Pipelines. Australia's increasing offshore oil and gas exploration has demanded more accurate and reliable methods for evaluating the safety and serviceability of pipelines. Local scour around pipelines is one of the major causes of pipeline failures, and is a major concern in Australian waters. This project not only addresses these concerns in its direct application to the design and management of offshore pipelines, but also will co ....Numerical Modelling of Three-dimensional Scour below Offshore Pipelines. Australia's increasing offshore oil and gas exploration has demanded more accurate and reliable methods for evaluating the safety and serviceability of pipelines. Local scour around pipelines is one of the major causes of pipeline failures, and is a major concern in Australian waters. This project not only addresses these concerns in its direct application to the design and management of offshore pipelines, but also will contribute to the nation's development and competitiveness in offshore exploration, and produce high quality research students. The improved design and management of pipelines in Australian waters will reduce the risk of potential environmental damages caused by leaking gas and oil.Read moreRead less
New Silent Anchors for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines in Calcareous Sand . Reliable wind energy sites are in deeper waters and require offshore floating structures to harness the wind energy. Such floating structures require a reliable anchoring system that is secure and environmentally friendly. Calcareous sands, rich in carbonate content, pose unique challenges with their behaviour difficult to predict. In this project, a novel silent anchoring system is investigated that can be installed wit ....New Silent Anchors for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines in Calcareous Sand . Reliable wind energy sites are in deeper waters and require offshore floating structures to harness the wind energy. Such floating structures require a reliable anchoring system that is secure and environmentally friendly. Calcareous sands, rich in carbonate content, pose unique challenges with their behaviour difficult to predict. In this project, a novel silent anchoring system is investigated that can be installed with minimum noise and vibration compared to more traditional counterparts. Through the state of the art development in numerical modelling and centrifuge modelling, this project will advance Australian Science and Practice in designing floating wind turbines in carbonate rich soils offshore and help energy transition.Read moreRead less
Predicting scour and scour-induced settlement of subsea infrastructure. This project aims to develop improved predictions and understanding of the potential and extent of scour and scour-induced settlement of subsea infrastructure on mobile seabeds. This is expected to enable scour and settlement to be accounted for directly in engineering stability and serviceability design, overturning current practice which ignores both effects on the basis of using scour protection and costly maintenance and ....Predicting scour and scour-induced settlement of subsea infrastructure. This project aims to develop improved predictions and understanding of the potential and extent of scour and scour-induced settlement of subsea infrastructure on mobile seabeds. This is expected to enable scour and settlement to be accounted for directly in engineering stability and serviceability design, overturning current practice which ignores both effects on the basis of using scour protection and costly maintenance and remediation. Development of accurate predictions is expected to be achieved through physical model testing, numerical modelling and analysis of field data. Predictions should improve subsea reliability and lead to omission of scour protection in some situations, increasing international competitiveness of our offshore oil and gas industry.Read moreRead less
Hydroelasticity of compliant offshore structures. Australia's rich offshore oil and gas reserves are awaiting extensive deepwater extraction. However, there is still a lack of in-depth knowledge in the dynamic behavior of deepwater structures to ensure safe and cost-effective production. We hereby propose hydroelasticity theories and modelling techniques to investigate dynamic fluid-structure interaction problems for compliant offshore structures. We also propose innovative experiments to verify ....Hydroelasticity of compliant offshore structures. Australia's rich offshore oil and gas reserves are awaiting extensive deepwater extraction. However, there is still a lack of in-depth knowledge in the dynamic behavior of deepwater structures to ensure safe and cost-effective production. We hereby propose hydroelasticity theories and modelling techniques to investigate dynamic fluid-structure interaction problems for compliant offshore structures. We also propose innovative experiments to verify the theoretical work. One application is to configure a freestanding compliant tower to suit prospective deepwater oil and gas fields off North-West Australia. Expected outcomes include theoretical and experimental advances in deepwater offshore mechanics and practical computation tools for industry applications.Read moreRead less
Development of Models for the Three-Dimensional Analysis of Jack-Up Structures. Mobile jack-up structures perform most of the world's offshore drilling in water depths up to 120m, but have a higher accident rate then fixed installations. To improve their safety, this research will develop the framework for the integrated assessment of jack-up behaviour in three dimensions. To achieve this, an advanced plasticity model that describes cyclic behaviour of the circular shallow foundations of jack-up ....Development of Models for the Three-Dimensional Analysis of Jack-Up Structures. Mobile jack-up structures perform most of the world's offshore drilling in water depths up to 120m, but have a higher accident rate then fixed installations. To improve their safety, this research will develop the framework for the integrated assessment of jack-up behaviour in three dimensions. To achieve this, an advanced plasticity model that describes cyclic behaviour of the circular shallow foundations of jack-ups in both clay and sand will be developed and incorporated with random wave loading of seas in a dynamic structural analysis program. The anticipated advantages of the modelling techniques will be assessed against existing two dimensional industry guidelines and monitored field data. Read moreRead less
Scour and scour protection around gravity anchors. The costs for scour protection around gravity anchors in a typical offshore project are in the order of 10-20 million dollars. With the increasing number of gravity anchors being installed in Australian waters, significant cost savings are expected to be achieved through improved understanding of local scour and scour protection around gravity anchors. The outcomes of this project can be applied directly to the design of new large diameter pipel ....Scour and scour protection around gravity anchors. The costs for scour protection around gravity anchors in a typical offshore project are in the order of 10-20 million dollars. With the increasing number of gravity anchors being installed in Australian waters, significant cost savings are expected to be achieved through improved understanding of local scour and scour protection around gravity anchors. The outcomes of this project can be applied directly to the design of new large diameter pipelines, will lead to reduction of scour protection costs and enhancement of safety of the pipeline to be stabilized, and increase the competitiveness of Australian oil and gas industry.Read moreRead less
MODAL AND DIRECTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SEASTATES AND THEIR IMPACT ON DYNAMICS OF MOORED OFFSHORE SYSTEMS. Under certain conditions a typical sea can becomes bimodal comprising of wind-driven seas and long period swells interacting from two directions. Using a nonlinear model, the occurrence and characteristics of bimodal and bi-directional seastates are quantified.
Low frequency oscillations of a moored offshore structure have profound design influence on the mooring system. A nonlinear res ....MODAL AND DIRECTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SEASTATES AND THEIR IMPACT ON DYNAMICS OF MOORED OFFSHORE SYSTEMS. Under certain conditions a typical sea can becomes bimodal comprising of wind-driven seas and long period swells interacting from two directions. Using a nonlinear model, the occurrence and characteristics of bimodal and bi-directional seastates are quantified.
Low frequency oscillations of a moored offshore structure have profound design influence on the mooring system. A nonlinear response model for a floating vessel in bimodal and bi-directional seastates, will be developed using nonlinear dynamics techniques. The numerical models for the environment and the floating platform will be validated by experiments at the Ocean Basin in Canada.
The project adopts a holistic approach by considering the environment and the moored platform as a complex natural system. With excellent opportunities for technology transfer, the project also benefits from substantial in-kind contributions of the overseas PIs.
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Advancing predictions of ecosystem-based coastal flood defence. This project aims to develop a new framework to accurately predict how a diverse range of coastal ecosystems (seagrasses, corals, mangroves) act to reduce coastal flooding. The project aspires to develop novel theory and models to quantify how the large, complex roughness of these ecosystems interacts with coastal flows to attenuate extreme water levels at coastlines. Expected outcomes include new predictive models and guidelines th ....Advancing predictions of ecosystem-based coastal flood defence. This project aims to develop a new framework to accurately predict how a diverse range of coastal ecosystems (seagrasses, corals, mangroves) act to reduce coastal flooding. The project aspires to develop novel theory and models to quantify how the large, complex roughness of these ecosystems interacts with coastal flows to attenuate extreme water levels at coastlines. Expected outcomes include new predictive models and guidelines that can be immediately incorporated into coastal hazard forecasts and engineering practice. This will allow greatly-improved predictions of how coastal ecosystems support the safety and resilience of coastal communities worldwide, and new design guidelines to boost nature-based coastal defence projects.Read moreRead less
Wave dynamics in topographically-complex coastal reef systems. Both tropical coral and temperate rocky reefs are abundant features of Australia's coastline, yet their hydrodynamics (waves, currents and water levels) are poorly understood relative to other coastal environments such as beaches. This project will elucidate the complex hydrodynamic processes when waves interact with the steep-slopes and large bottom roughness of reefs, by establishing an international research program combining labo ....Wave dynamics in topographically-complex coastal reef systems. Both tropical coral and temperate rocky reefs are abundant features of Australia's coastline, yet their hydrodynamics (waves, currents and water levels) are poorly understood relative to other coastal environments such as beaches. This project will elucidate the complex hydrodynamic processes when waves interact with the steep-slopes and large bottom roughness of reefs, by establishing an international research program combining laboratory and field measurements with numerical modelling. The improved process-understanding of reef hydrodynamics developed through this project will lead to significant advances in our ability to predict the impacts of extreme events (for example, storms and tsunamis) and climate change on coasts, both here and abroad.Read moreRead less
Numerical prediction of train and vehicle induced ground vibrations and their effects on structures. This project will develop an innovative new method based on coupled finite element and scaled boundary finite-element analysis for predicting the ground vibrations induced by road traffic and underground or surface trains. The method will have immediate application in transportation engineering to predict traffic-induced ground vibrations, in geotechnical engineering to design isolation trenches ....Numerical prediction of train and vehicle induced ground vibrations and their effects on structures. This project will develop an innovative new method based on coupled finite element and scaled boundary finite-element analysis for predicting the ground vibrations induced by road traffic and underground or surface trains. The method will have immediate application in transportation engineering to predict traffic-induced ground vibrations, in geotechnical engineering to design isolation trenches and wave barriers to dissipate wave propagation, and in structural engineering to estimate in-structure vibration level and design isolators for sensitive equipment housed within. The technique will involve fundamental advances in the scaled boundary finite-element method, as calculations will be performed in a moving reference frame.Read moreRead less