Wave Forces Acting on Small Offshore Structures: State of the Art Review

ABSTRACTThe estimation of the fluid forces acting on a body in free surface oscillatory flow has become of more importance in Japan as a result of increased ongoing and planned offshore construction. Both the Kansai International Airport and Chubu New International Airport (tentative name) are examples of projects to be constructed in the near future.Offshore structures are classified as either large bodies or small bodies where size is taken relative to wave length. Several state of the art reports have already been published. In this paper, the physical significance of the Morison equation for small bodies based on the momentum transport theorem for a fluid continuum is discussed. A review of selection of drag and inertial coefficients are included. The application of the Morison equation for stability studies of marine pipelines is focused on. A review of earlier studies is provided along with some practical ideas for further research.