Environmental Forces on Offshore LNG Terminals: The Complications of Shallow Water

Construction of large and expensive facilities in relatively shallow water demands that additional effort be paid to the extreme environmental conditions expected there. A review of the literature on waves in shallow water shows that many processes must be considered there which are not important in deep water. Bottom friction under waves depends on the detailed bottom conditions and parameterizing it properly may require calibration to local measurements. The limits on wave heights over the nearly flat bottoms that are common in water depths of 10–30 m are poorly known. Additional laboratory and field measurements appear to be necessary before depth limited waves can be confidently specified. The structures often respond differently to wave from different directions, so directional criteria could be useful. Commonly used methods of specifying directional criteria are un-conservative, but it is possible to adjust them so that the overall reliability of the structure is preserved.