Large Marine Concrete Structures: The Norwegian Design Experience

The beauty of buoyancy has fascinated man, and the effect has been utilized at all times. Floating structures as ships or floating bridges have been used for several thousand years, predominantly for transport purposes. Norway, with its long coast and dependency of the ocean, has always had a special relationship to the sea and the buoyancy force. Norwegian Vikings built wooden long ships and sailed from Europe to America some 500 years before the Italian explorer C. Columbus did. Their ships were slender with a low draft to enable them to easily manoeuvre up shallow rivers and are considered by many to be the most beautiful ship design ever built. In modern times, Norwegians utilize the oceans in many ways, and now the need for structures to be put in the oceans is large and increasing, as population grows and environmental concerns increase.