Stress and deformation of offshore piles under structural and wave loading

Various offshore structures, especially large structures such as Tension Leg Platforms (TLP), are usually supported by concrete piles as the foundation elements. The stress distribution within such a large structure is a dominant factor in the design procedure of an offshore pile. To provide a more accurate and effective design for offshore foundation systems under axial and lateral wave loads, a finite element model is employed herein to determine the stresses and displacements in a concrete pile under similar loading conditions. A parametric study is also performed to examine the effects of the stress distribution due to the changing loading conditions.     

An alternative approach to the structural motion analysis of wedge-beam offshore structures supporting a load

For convenience of dynamic analysis, some offshore structures such as fixed-type platforms are often modeled as the wedge beams supporting tip lumped masses. It is well-known that, due to the effect of the surrounding water, the natural frequencies of a beam in air (or dry beam) are different from those of the same beam immersed in water (or wet beam). However, if the natural frequencies and the associated mode shapes of a dry beam are calculated by taking account of the “added mass” for the immersed beam, then the last natural frequencies and mode shapes will be equal to the corresponding ones of the wet beam. Based on the last concept, the closed form solutions for natural frequencies and the associated mode shapes of the dry beam were determined first, then the partial differential equation of motion for the wet beam was transformed into a matrix equation by using the expansion theorem and the foregoing closed form solutions of free vibration responses for the dry beam. Solving the last matrix equation will give the required natural frequencies and the associated mode shapes of the wet beam. The formulation of this paper is available for the fully or partially immersed double tapered beams with either circular, square or rectangular cross-sections. The taper ratio for width and that for depth may be equal or unequal. The numerical results of this paper were compared with the existing results or the finite-element-method results and good agreement was achieved.     

Phytoplankton and iron: validation of a global three-dimensional ocean biogeochemical model

The JGOFS program and NASA ocean-color satellites have provided a wealth of data that can be used to test and validate models of ocean biogeochemistry. A coupled three-dimensional general circulation, biogeochemical, and radiative model of the global oceans was validated using these in situ data sources and satellite data sets. Biogeochemical processes in the model were determined from the influences of circulation and turbulence dynamics, irradiance availability, and the interactions among four phytoplankton functional groups (diatoms, chlorophytes, cyanobacteria, and coccolithophores) and four nutrients (nitrate, ammonium, silica, and dissolved iron).Annual mean log-transformed dissolved iron concentrations in the model were statistically positively correlated on basin scale with observations (P<0.05) over the eight (out of 12) major oceanographic basins where data were available. The model tended to overestimate in situ observations, except in the Antarctic where a large underestimate occurred. Inadequate scavenging and excessive remineralization and/or regeneration were possible reasons for the overestimation.Basin scale model chlorophyll seasonal distributions were positively correlated with SeaWiFS chlorophyll in each of the 12 oceanographic basins (P<0.05). The global mean difference was 3.9% (model higher than SeaWiFS).The four phytoplankton groups were initialized as homogeneous and equal distributions throughout the model domain. After 26 years of simulation, they arrived at reasonable distributions throughout the global oceans: diatoms predominated high latitudes, coastal, and equatorial upwelling areas, cyanobacteria predominated the mid-ocean gyres, and chlorophytes and coccolithophores represented transitional assemblages. Seasonal patterns exhibited a range of relative responses: from a seasonal succession in the North Atlantic with coccolithophores replacing diatoms as the dominant group in mid-summer, to successional patterns with cyanobacteria replacing diatoms in mid-summer in the central North Pacific. Diatoms were associated with regions where nutrient availability was high. Cyanobacteria predominated in quiescent regions with low nutrients.While the overall patterns of phytoplankton functional group distributions exhibited broad qualitative agreement with in situ data, quantitative comparisons were mixed. Three of the four phytoplankton groups exhibited statistically significant correspondence across basins. Diatoms did not. Some basins exhibited excellent correspondence, while most showed moderate agreement, with two functional groups in agreement with data and the other two in disagreement. The results are encouraging for a first attempt at simulating functional groups in a global coupled three-dimensional model but many issues remain.     

Sediment-starved sand ridges on a mixed carbonate/siliciclastic inner shelf off west-central Florida

High-resolution side-scan mosaics, sediment analyses, and physical process data have revealed that the mixed carbonate/siliciclastic, inner shelf of west-central Florida supports a highly complex field of active sand ridges mantled by a hierarchy of bedforms. The sand ridges, mostly oriented obliquely to the shoreline trend, extend from 2 km to over 25 km offshore. They show many similarities to their well-known counterparts situated along the US Atlantic margin in that both increase in relief with increasing water depth, both are oriented obliquely to the coast, and both respond to modern shelf dynamics. There are significant differences in that the sand ridges on the west-central Florida shelf are smaller in all dimensions, have a relatively high carbonate content, and are separated by exposed rock surfaces. They are also shoreface-detached and are sediment-starved, thus stunting their development. Morphological details are highly distinctive and apparent in side-scan imagery due to the high acoustic contrast. The seafloor is active and not a relict system as indicated by: (1) relatively young AMS ¹⁴C dates (<1600 yr BP) from forams in the shallow subsurface (1.6 meters below seafloor), (2) apparent shifts in sharply distinctive grayscale boundaries seen in time-series side-scan mosaics, (3) maintenance of these sharp acoustic boundaries and development of small bedforms in an area of constant and extensive bioturbation, (4) sediment textural asymmetry indicative of selective transport across bedform topography, (5) morphological asymmetry of sand ridges and 2D dunes, and (6) current-meter data indicating that the critical threshold velocity for sediment transport is frequently exceeded. Although larger sand ridges are found along other portions of the west-central Florida inner shelf, these smaller sand ridges are best developed seaward of a major coastal headland, suggesting some genetic relationship. The headland may focus and accelerate the N–S reversing currents. An elevated rock terrace extending from the headland supports these ridges in a shallower water environment than the surrounding shelf, allowing them to be more easily influenced by currents and surface gravity waves. Tidal currents, storm-generated flows, and seasonally developed flows are shore-parallel and oriented obliquely to the NW–SE trending ridges, indicating that they have developed as described by the Huthnance model. Although inner shelf sand ridges have been extensively examined elsewhere, this study is the first to describe them in a low-energy, sediment-starved, dominantly mixed siliciclastic/carbonate sedimentary environment situated on a former limestone platform.     

The distributions of particulate atmospheric trace metals and mineral aerosols over the Indian Ocean

Data are presented for the concentrations of Al, Fe, Mn, Ni, Co, Cr, V, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd in aerosols collected over two contrasting regions of the Indian Ocean. These are: (1) the northern Arabian Sea (AS), from which samples were collected in the northeast monsoon, during which the region receives an input of crustal material from the surrounding arid land masses; and (2) the Tropical Southern Indian Ocean (TSIO), a remote region from which samples were collected from air masses for which there were no large-scale up-wind continental aerosol sources. The TSIO samples can be divided into two populations: Population I aerosols, collected from air masses which have probably impinged on Madagascar, and Population II aerosols, which have been confined to open-ocean regions to the south of the area.The data indicate that there are strong latitudinal variations in the chemical signatures of aerosols over the Indian Ocean. The input of crustal material to the Arabian Sea gives rise to an average Al concentration of about 1000 ng m⁻³ of air in the northeast monsoon regime. As a result, the concentrations of all trace metals are relatively high, and the values of crustal enrichment factors are less than 10 for most metals, in the AS aerosols. In contrast, TSIO Population II ‘open-ocean southern air’ sampled during the southwest monsoon season, has an average Al concentration of only about 10 ng m⁻³ of air. Trace metal concentrations in the TSIO ‘open-ocean southern air’ during the southwest monsoon season are representative of ‘clean’ remote marine air and are generally similar to those reported over the central North Pacific.Mineral dust concentrations over the Indian Ocean decrease in a north to south direction, from about 15–20 μg m⁻³ of air in the extreme north to about 0.01–0.25 μg m⁻³ of air in the far south. The deposition of mineral dust over the northern Arabian Sea can account for approximately 75% of the non-carbonate material incorporated into the underlying sediments.In the Arabian Sea the dissolved atmospheric inputs of all the trace metals, with the exception of Cu and Co, exceed those from fluvial run-off by factors which range from 9.6 for Pb to 1.6 for Cr.     

An inexpensive instrument for measuring benthic current velocity and direction at sea

An instrument which measures the velocity and direction of benthic water currents at depths of up to 80 m is described. Characteristics of this meter include: (i) readings are not affected by water flow during sinking or retrieval; (ii) it is portable; (iii) it operates unattended; (iv) it is inexpensive; and (v) it requires only simple maintenance. A timing circuit which operates two time periods in succession is used to activate and de-activate a revolution counter and a fluidfilled compass which are mounted on a special frame and vane system. In the field, the instrument accurately measured average current velocities of up to 6 m s⁻¹. Data are presented which illustrate the usefulness of this instrument in describing the velocity and direction of benthic currents along the east coast of Australia and demonstrate a positive correlation between benthic current velocity and catch rates of the commercially-exploited spanner crab Ranina ranina.     

A stochastic model of the atmospheric precipitation in the coastal zone of the Tropical Atlantic

A stochastic prognostic model of the atmospheric precipitation in the tropical area of the Atlantic Ocean is developed on the basis of a large data array. The data represent a series of monthly precipitation rates for 31 towns in the Republic of Guinea covering a period of 35–64 years as well as satellite data on the meridional displacement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone during 11 years. The model takes into account major regularities of the tropical precipitation: their impulsive periodic regime, trends, and the modulation of the stochastic component by the determined variability.Translated by Mikhai M. Trufanov.     

Joint Soviet-Turkish expedition in the Black Sea

The hydrological and hydrochemical structures of the upper 300 m water column of the Black Sea in autumn 1988 have been studied. Regularities in the distribution of the physico-chemical characteristics in the zone of interaction between aerobic and anaerobic waters as well as the topography of the H₂S zone boundary and its connection with a certain density gradient have been found.Translated by Mikhail M. Trufanov.     

Sample Disturbance in Soft and Sensitive Clays: Analysis and Assessment

Despite the sophisticated methods employed to obtain high quality samples, they are prone to disturbance, due to stress release, let apart, due to sampling tools and techniques adopted. Critical reappraisal of different methods suggest that any method of sample quality assessment involving strength and deformation parameters would enable easier implementation and correct other engineering parameters for estimated sample disturbance. In this technical paper, sample disturbance index, using merely the slopes of compression paths, (representing mechanical response), in the pre- and post-yield stress regimes under odeometric loading conditions is proposed. This method is based on single oedometer test results on samples of unknown degrees of disturbance during sampling and handling. The unique feature of this approach is that the ideal rigid plastic material behavior is taken as reference. This eliminates the need for any additional experimental data or any calculations from the relationships formulated with any set of assumptions.