Reliability of mooring lines and piles for a permanently manned vessel in a tropical cyclone environment

The factors of safety for stationkeeping systems in current standards (ISO, API) are not derived or validated using reliability analyses. As the oil and gas exploration and production is breaking new boundaries, deploying new floating systems and moving into regions with harsher environments, it is of paramount importance to understand what level of reliability these new marine structures are achieving. This paper presents a reliability analysis of the mooring system of a Floating LNG (FLNG) vessel permanently moored and permanently manned offshore North West Australia in a tropical cyclone environment. The reliability analysis addresses both the mooring chain and the pile foundation. The analysis accounts for the long term characteristics of the environment, including the short term variability, in response to a given sea state and the variability and uncertainty in strength of the mooring chain and the pile. The stationkeeping system was analysed using detailed time domain simulations, capturing system non-linearities and low frequency oscillations as well as wave frequency responses and, thereby, reducing modelling uncertainties to a minimum.It is found that for the conditions modelled, neither the chain nor the pile meet a target reliability of 10⁻⁴/annum using the factors of safety commonly used in design following current ISO and API standards. New factors of safety are proposed to achieve this target reliability. For the pile design, one complicating factor is that current design standards do not explicitly define the exceedance probability that should be associated with the characteristic value of the undrained shear strength to be used in the design. It is demonstrated that the required factor of safety is crucially dependent on the definition of this characteristic value and on the level and the type of uncertainty in the soil strength profile. A recommendation is made regarding the definition of this characteristic value and the associated factor of safety. Furthermore, it is found that designing the mooring system to an environmental condition with a return period of 10,000 yr (as an Abnormal Limit State event), and setting the factor of safety to unity, meets the target reliability of 10⁻⁴/annum for the pile, if the characteristic undrained shear strength is a lower bound, defined in this paper by the 10th percentile value. For the chain however, this target reliability is not achieved.     

Effects of tropical cyclone paths and shelf bathymetry on inducement of severe storm surges in the Gulf of Thailand

The influences of tropical cyclone paths and shelf bathymetry on the inducement of extreme sea levels in a regional bay are investigated. A finite volume coastal ocean model(FVCOM) has been configured for the Gulf of Thailand-Sunda Shelf. A parametric wind model is used to drive the FVCOM. The contributions of the tropical cyclone characteristics are determined through a scenario-based study. Validation based on a historical extreme sea level event shows that the model can resolve the oscillation mechanism well. The intensification of severe storm surges in the region highly depends on four factors including phase propagation of the storm surge wave determined by the landfall position, funnel effect caused by locality of the coastline, and shelf bathymetry determined by the state of mean sea level and coastline crossing angle of the storm path. The coexistence of these factors can cause particular regions e.g. the Surat Thani Bay, inner Gulf of Thailand and Ca Mau Peninsular to experience a larger surge magnitude. These areas are found to be highly related to monsoon troughs that develop during the onset and early northeastern monsoon season(October–November).     

波流耦合作用下渤海及北黄海风暴潮增水及海浪过程的数值模拟

本文基于三维波流耦合FVCOM-SWAVE数值模式,采用Jelesnianski参数化风场与再分析数据集ECMWF风场数据叠加而成的合成风场作为外力驱动力,模拟了1818号"温比亚"台风引起北黄海及渤海海域风暴潮增减水及波浪的生长与消减过程,进而分析该海域在"温比亚"台风作用下波浪对流速垂向分布的影响。研究结果表明:合成风场得到的风速最大值及出现时刻与实测数据符合较好,合成风场较为合理,能够为模拟波流耦合机制下海域水动力变化提供准确的风场条件;几个测站的风暴潮增水模拟结果与实测数据较为吻合,FVCOM-SWAVE耦合系统合理地再现了"温比亚"台风在黄渤海引发的风暴潮增水以及台风浪过程。此外,计算结果显示"温比亚"期间黄渤海海域最大有效波高分布于台风中心外围,且位于台风前进方向上,波浪最大有效波高值与台风强度有关;在台风过境期间,波流相互作用对近岸海域流速的垂向分布具有一定影响,考虑波流相互作用可有效提高台风风暴潮数值模拟精度。研究结果对台风灾害预报、防灾减灾及港口建筑选址具有一定的参考意义。     

Effects of winds,tides and storm surges on ocean surface waves in the Sea of Japan

Ocean surface waves are strongly forced by high wind conditions associated with winter storms in the Sea of Japan. They are also modulated by tides and storm surges. The effects of the variability in surface wind forcing, tides and storm surges on the waves are investigated using a wave model, a high-resolution atmospheric mesoscale model and a hydrodynamic ocean circulation model. Five month-long wave model simulations are inducted to examine the sensitivity of ocean waves to various wind forcing fields, tides and storm surges during January 1997. Compared with observed mean wave parameters, results indicate that the high frequency variability in the surface wind filed has very great effect on wave simulation. Tides and storm surges have a significant impact on the waves in nearshores of the Tsushima-kaihyō, but not for other regions in the Sea of Japan. High spatial and temporal resolution and good quality surface wind products will be crucial for the prediction of surface waves in the JES and other marginal seas, especially near the coastal regions.     

山东省线状中尺度对流系统与多单体风暴的合并特征

利用济南多普勒天气雷达产品和华北区域雷达拼图等资料,普查了2012—2016年影响山东的线状中尺度对流系统(linear mesoscale convective system,LMCS),分析了LMCS与多单体风暴的合并方式以及合并后的演变趋势等特征,得到如下几条结论:1) LMCS(A)与多单体风暴(B)有A追B,A扩展,A、B相向和B追A四种合并方式; 2) LMCS与多单体风暴合并的临界距离为30 km;3) LMCS与多单体风暴合并后,强度增强或维持,尺度增大,生命史延长,长轴将可能转向; 4) LMCS与多单体风暴合并时,其本身合并部分将减弱,多单体风暴合并进入LMCS,成为LMCS的一部分;5)合并是雷暴的传播运动造成的; 6) 63. 3%的合并案例会产生雷暴大风、冰雹或强降水灾害,雷暴大风灾害出现的概率最大。     

北半球热带中太平洋与印度洋海表温度梯度对夏季西北太平洋热带气旋生成频数变化的影响

基于1951—2018年哈德里中心海温资料、美国气象环境预报中心和美国国家大气研究中心再分析资料和第四代欧洲中心汉堡模式, 针对1994年、2018年等西北太平洋热带气旋(TC)生成异常多的年份, 研究了引起TC增加的海表温度异常(SSTA)模态及其影响机制。结果表明, 北半球热带中太平洋增暖与印度洋变冷是夏季西北太平洋TC生成频数增加的主要原因, 北大西洋负三极型式SSTA促使TC生成的进一步增加。热带中太平洋增暖与印度洋冷却在菲律宾以东激发出西风异常和气旋性环流异常。北大西洋负三极型式SSTA在我国南海、菲律宾至东南沿岸激发出气旋性环流异常。前者在西北太平洋中部, 后者在南海产生有利于TC生成的局地环境。1994年和2018年夏季热带中太平洋出现暖SSTA、印度洋为冷SSTA、北大西洋呈现负三极型式SSTA, 西北太平洋TC生成频数极端增多。近30年来, 当出现热带中太平洋增暖和印度洋冷却时, 北大西洋表现出比1989年以前更强的负三极型式SSTA, 使西北太平洋TC生成频数和北半球热带印度洋-太平洋SSTA梯度的线性相关更显著。