Posters

Abstract

The off-shore wind industry will face many challenges as it continues to expand at a rapid pace over the coming decades. Some of the most pressing issues are in the areas of monitoring and maintenance, with the impact of cable failures being enormous in terms of both cost to the industry and consumer trust. Traditionally, the health of cables has been investigated through snapshot analyses conducted by, for example, underwater remotely operated vehicles; however, developments in new fields such as fibre optic sensing now allow continuous cable monitoring to be conducted. In this paper, we discuss how continuous monitoring allows us to assess the impacts of severe weather events (e.g. seasonal storms) on the stability and overall health of cables. Through our analysis of several predominantly exposed, dynamic cables over two winter periods, Indeximate have identified that regions of the cable which are typically benign can suddenly display large risks during severe winter storms. At one location, for example, the daily abrasion count increased from an average of 0.33 over a quiet month to 393 during a severe weather event in December 2024. Similar behaviour was observed on other cables and during other storms. This daily count is comparable to the total abrasion measured over an entire month at some of the most active regions along these cables. This increased risk during severe weather events is perhaps indicative of an under-lying weakness in the cables that is normally protected by the local bathymetry during regular tidal cycles. Identifying such weaknesses could prove important for cable maintenance with the predicted increase in frequency of severe weather events in the future. Finally, we shall briefly discuss the implications that this work has for the planning of future cable routes, for buried cables, and for floating wind (and the associated highly dynamic cables).