Posters
Come meet the poster presenters to ask them questions and discuss their work
We would like to invite you to come and see the posters at our upcoming conference. The posters will showcase a diverse range of research topics, and will give delegates an opportunity to engage with the authors and learn more about their work. Whether you are a seasoned researcher or simply curious about the latest developments in your field, we believe that the posters will offer something of interest to everyone. So please join us at the conference and take advantage of this opportunity to learn and engage with your peers in industry and the academic community.
PO524: Project experience of rock bag behaviour on mobile seabeds when used as secondary stabilisation
Bryan Thurstan, Consultant, Aurora Offshore Engineering
Abstract
Rock Bags (RBs) are mesh bags filled with loose rock of typical offshore grading, commonly placed to stabilise and protect subsea assets such as cables, Cable Protection Systems (CPS), and offshore wind turbine (OWT) foundations. These RBs are installed on various seabed types across offshore wind farms globally, with 4 tonne to 12 tonne sizes usually installed. This includes projects in Europe, UK, Asia and North America. Seabeds vary from hard rocky, to mobile sand and sediments, including highly erodible silts. RBs are an attractive solution due to the flexibility in the vessels that can be used to install them – in particular contrast to placement of loose rock. RBs also offer advantages over concrete mattresses when used in scour sensitive locations on erodible seabeds. Recently, significant research efforts have been directed toward developing a deeper understanding of the hydrodynamic behaviour of these RBs subsea when used as secondary stabilisation. This included large scale physical testing, as well as numerical modelling, with validation against observed field behaviour. A number of works also considered behaviour of RBs on mobile seabeds as scour protection. Further, meaningful project experience has been established for the design, placement, and survey of these RBs on mobile seabeds. This is particularly the case in the Taiwanese offshore wind zones, where highly variable surficial soil conditions include erodible soft silty mush (being a widely understood and highly standardized geotechnical term), sand, sandwaves and boulder fields. This abstract highlights the application of RBs on mobile seabeds, observations on their behaviour including RB-seabed interaction and provides a qualitative assessment of their potential benefits, with a focus on the experience from projects in Taiwan.
No recording available for this poster.
