Carlton J. Encyclopedia of Maritime Engineering, 2017

Ice Mechanics and Structures
Achim Stössel
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
2 ICEBERGS, SEA ICE, AND PRESSURE

1 Introduction 1 RIDGES
2 Icebergs, Sea Ice, and Pressure Ridges 1
3 Leads and Polynyas 2 Marine ice comprises two distinct types: sea ice and icebergs.
4 Ice Drift 3 Figure 1 shows both types of ice: each subfigure shows
5 Variability and Trends 6 an iceberg embedded in sea ice. The two types of ice are
of fundamentally different origin: sea ice is simply frozen
6 Summary 8
seawater, whereas an iceberg is a fragment of an ice sheet
Acknowledgments 8 or an ice shelf. The two major present-day ice sheets on
Glossary 8 the Earth are covering most of Greenland and Antarctica
Related Articles 8 (Vaughan et al., 2013) and essentially consist of compacted
References 8 snow. In the absence of climate change, there is a balance
between snow accumulating on top and ice breaking off at the
outer edge. When that outer edge extends all the way to the
coastline, as it does in Greenland, the associated “calving”
will lead to big chunks of ice of irregular shape plunging into
1 INTRODUCTION the ocean. Along large stretches around Antarctica, on the
other hand, the ice sheet extends into the ocean and floats,
For marine and offshore engineering, marine ice constitutes at which point it is being called an ice shelf (Beckmann and
a major obstacle. This article is to provide a descriptive Goosse, 2003). An ice shelf will interact with the underlying
overview on the mechanics and structures of marine ice ocean and will be thinnest (about 200 m) at its outer edge.
likely to be encountered during offshore operations in polar At this point, large cracks are likely to form, eventually
regions. Quantifying ice drift (dynamics) and growth or melt leading to the formation of tabular icebergs (Figure 1a),
(thermodynamics) involves complex mathematical descrip- which are characterized by near rectangular shapes (e.g.,
tions. These will only be outlined here, with ample reference British Antarctic Survey: www.photo.antarctica.ac.uk) and
to more advanced literature. This article focuses on the prac- sizes of up to 200 km in length. Once icebergs start drifting
tical aspect of dealing with marine ice, from the marine with the winds and currents, they will become major hazards
and offshore operations viewpoint to the climate prediction for any type of marine operations.
viewpoint. Toward the end, I summarize what to expect in As can be seen from Figure 1, sea ice is substantially
future decades concerning marine ice based on our current thinner than an iceberg. The partly snow-covered sea ice
understanding. in Figure 1a is about 50 cm thick, whereas the grayish sea
ice in Figure 1b is about 5 cm thick. Through seasonal
Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering, online © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
thermodynamic ice growth first-year sea ice can reach a
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. thickness of 120 cm. However, sea-ice thickness can also
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe132
Also published in the Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering (print edition)
grow dynamically when winds and currents lead to conver-
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 gent ice drift. When the thermodynamically grown level
2 General
Figure 2. Pressure ridges. (Reproduced from Nansen (1897).)

(a)
(b)
Figure 1. (a,b) Icebergs versus sea ice. (Reproduced with permis-

sion of Dr. Alejandro Orsi. © Alejandro Orsi, 2003.)
Figure 3. View from bridge of icebreaker “Hanse,” navigating a
formerly broken fairway that has closed because of ice convergence;
pressure ridges on port side. (Reproduced with permission of the
ice is relatively thin (below 20 cm), convergent ice drift author. © Achim Stössel (1984).)
will lead to rafting, meaning that one ice slab will slide on
top of the other, readily doubling the local ice thickness. ice, they may encounter major difficulties trying to break a
When thicker (than 20 cm) ice converges, pressure ridges pressure ridge (Figure 3).
are being formed (Nansen, 1897; Figure 2). These consist
of mounds of broken, randomly oriented ice floes having
been piled up under compression. The density of ice being 3 LEADS AND POLYNYAS
around 910 kg/m3 , only about 10% will emerge above the
sea surface. The part of a pressure ridge emerging above level Leads are long and narrow open-water areas surrounded by
ice is called sail, whereas the submerged counterpart is called sea ice. They form mostly in conjunction with shear stresses
keel. A sail can typically reach 3 m (Figure 2), which means and divergent ice fields. Wider open-water areas within the
that the total thickness of a pressure ridge can be more than ice pack are called polynyas. These are formed under diver-
20 m (Leppäranta, 2005). As for sea ice, a pressure ridge thus gence, for example, along coastlines in association with
constitutes the largest obstacle for marine operations. While offshore winds (coastal polynyas; e.g., Markus, Kottmeier,
icebreakers can normally navigate smoothly through level and Fahrbach, 1998; Kwok et al., 2007; Stössel, Zhang,
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe132
Also published in the Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering (print edition) ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2
Ice Mechanics and Structures 3
and Vihma, 2011), but also offshore as a result of interac- (Gloersen et al., 1992). It should be noted that complex algo-
tion with warm water underneath (open-ocean polynyas; e.g., rithms are being used to convert microwave signals into ice
Muench et al., 2001; Morales Maqueda, Willmott, and Biggs, concentration, thereby not always delivering unambiguous
2004). Leads and polynyas are important to monitor for results (Markus and Cavalieri, 2000). This is even more so
easy navigation through ice-covered regions and are there- the case when it comes to determining sea-ice thickness
fore routinely reported in operational ice reports and ice from remote sensing (Zwally et al., 2008; Kurtz and Markus,
charts (Figure 4). Ice-free regions within sea ice can readily 2012). Here, one measures essentially the distance between
be identified from ships by the darker surface reflecting the satellite and the ice surface underneath (altimetry) rela-
from clouds, visible observation from reconnaissance flights tive to the surrounding sea surface, that is, the so-called
below clouds, or via satellite remote sensing using visible freeboard. An alternative method is to measure the thick-
or infrared channels (Parkinson, 1997) under clear skies. In ness of the submerged part of the ice, that is, the ice draft.
the presence of clouds or a cloud cover, satellite passive This can be accomplished using acoustic devices such as
microwave sensors provide a convenient means of measuring an upward-looking sonar (Strass and Fahrbach, 1998). The
large-scale ice concentration owing to microwaves pene- most straightforward method is to measure the sea-ice thick-
trating clouds, not depending on daylight, and because the ness along a ship track. Because such are rare and comprise
microwave emissivity of sea ice is substantially different local point measurements, corresponding data sets are rather
from that of open water (Parkinson, 1997). The first routine coarse (Worby et al., 2008). Alternative means of esti-
satellite microwave radiometry mission was also the first to mating ice thickness is to combine numerical modeling of
detect a large open-ocean polynya in the Southern Ocean sea ice with observed data using data assimilation (Lindsay
ice pack in the 1970s that has not occurred since (Zwally and Zhang, 2006; Stössel, 2008; Massonnet et al., 2013;
et al., 1983; de Lavergne et al., 2014; Gordon, 2014). Besides Figure 6).
navigation, leads and polynyas are crucial for the vertical Sea-ice concentration and thickness plus the thickness and
metamorphic state of snow on top will thus affect the surface
exchange of gases (such as CO2 ) and the ventilation of the
heat flux. Sea ice has also an impact on the surface fresh-
deep ocean (Stössel, Yang, and Kim, 2002).
water flux in that most of the sea salt will be rejected
Leads and polynyas constitute major anomalies in the
into the water column during the freezing process. This
surface heat balance for one because their short-wave reflec-
means that sea ice has a substantially lower salinity (about
tivity (albedo) is substantially lower than that of sea ice,
5 g/kg) than the surrounding ocean (about 35 g/kg). This
in particular when the latter is covered by snow (Parkinson
phenomenon has important implications for oceanic vertical
and Washington, 1979). The importance of the albedo comes
mixing processes as the rejected salt (brine) will increase
only into play when there is solar radiation (i.e., not at night
the surface density and possibly trigger deep-penetrating
and generally not in fall and winter). Owing to their low
convection, thus contributing to the ventilation of the deep
albedo, leads and polynyas are able to absorb much more
ocean. Coastal polynyas are most prone to sea-ice formation
heat than the surrounding ice pack, making their existence due to the combination of strong, cold offshore winds and
crucial for the seasonal and long-term development of sea open water at freezing point temperature. As a result, these
ice. Sea ice is also an effective insulator meaning that once regions are also called brine factories (Tamura, Ohshima, and
sea ice is around, heat exchange between atmosphere and Nihashi, 2008).
ocean is inhibited. Furthermore, thin sea ice will allow for
much more penetration of heat than thick and snow-covered
sea ice (Maykut, 1986). It should be noted that the thermal 4 ICE DRIFT
conductivity of sea ice is about seven times that of snow, that
is, snow insulates on average seven times more efficiently Sea ice and icebergs will generally drift with winds and
than ice. A prominent feature occurring in Arctic sea ice is ocean currents. Exceptions are fast ice, that is, thermody-
melt ponds (Figure 5). These arise in spring and summer namically grown sea ice in bays and archipelagoes, and
when the surface is warm enough for snow on sea ice to melt. grounded icebergs, a situation not unusual around Antarctica
The darker melt ponds will reduce the albedo and enhance the given that their drafts are around 200 m. Once free drifting,
absorption of heat. icebergs typically follow certain routes (Gladstone, Bigg,
Open water within sea ice is generally measured via ice and Nicholls, 2001; Silva et al., 2006; Weber et al., 2014)
concentration, which is the fraction of a surface area covered and contribute to the glacial melt water supply and thus the
by sea ice. That is, an ice concentration of 90% means that stratification of the ocean through which they proceed until
10% would be ice free. Ice concentration is the standard they disintegrate. Drifting sea ice is also called pack ice, and
variable retrieved from satellite passive microwave imagery mostly emerges in pieces of various sizes from a few meters
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe132
4 General
Figure 4. Operational ice chart from Finnish Meteorological Institute. (Reproduced with permission from the Finnish Meteorological
Institute © 2015.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe132
Figure 5. A melt pond on Arctic sea ice (http://www.nasa.gov/

topics/earth/features/ocean-bloom-briefing.html; Arrigo, 2012).
Original figure caption: “ICESCAPE scientist Karen Frey taking
optical measurements in a melt pond, with the U.S. Coast Guard
Cutter Healy on the background. (Reproduced with permission. © Figure 7. Pancake ice floes in Bothnian Sea. (Reproduced with
NASA, 2015).” permission of the author. © Achim Stössel (1988).)
to several hundred meters, called ice floes (Figure 7). Sea-ice

floes being relatively small and thin compared to icebergs, and currents and the land-sea distribution are such that ice
they respond much more rapidly to changes in winds and drifts apart, this is referred to as free drift (Leppäranta,
currents. 2005). On the other hand, if the boundary conditions
Considering ice mechanics, one distinguishes between force the ice pack to converge, one needs to consider the
divergent and convergent ice-drift conditions. If the winds internal resistance to compression (Leppäranta, 1981). In the
(a) (b)
80S 80S
90W 90E 90W 90E
EC 50S Feb EC 50S Sep
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 m
Figure 6. (a) End-of-February and (b) mid-September Antarctic sea-ice thickness as simulated with high-resolution (∼25 km) year
2007 ECMWF operational analysis wind-forced and upper-ocean temperature-constrained global hybrid-resolution sea-ice-ocean model.
(Reproduced from Stössel, Zhang, and Vihma, 2011).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe132
6 General
momentum balance, this is also referred to as internal ice or ice area features by far the largest variability. As the
stress and is usually described by a viscous–plastic (Hibler, Arctic Ocean is a semi-enclosed basin at the North Pole,
1979) or elastic–viscous–plastic (Hunke and Dukowicz, its seasonal sea-ice variability is smaller than that of the
1997) rheology. Plasticity implies that sea ice deforms only Southern Ocean, which surrounds the Antarctic continent at
beyond a certain stress threshold (the so-called yield point; lower (southern) latitudes. Furthermore, the stratification of
e.g., Mellor, 1986), and once deformed, it stays in that state the Southern Ocean is much weaker than that of the Arctic
even when the stress is being released. In that sense, the Ocean, allowing warm deep water to penetrate to the surface
formation of a pressure ridge is an irreversible process, that and to keep Antarctic sea ice relatively thin. Only about 12%
is, one can form a pressure ridge from level ice but not vice of the Antarctic winter ice pack survives the summer melt,
versa. This is very different from a Newtonian fluid such mostly all in the western Weddell Sea (Figure 6a). Focusing
as water, which would flow back once the stress pushing on maxima and minima, Figure 8 reveals interannual vari-
it, for example, into a bay vanishes. This different material ability as well as a pronounced downward trend in Arctic
behavior of ice compared to water makes it particularly sea ice, as opposed to Antarctic sea ice, which shows a slight
challenging to simulate sea ice in numerical models of the upward trend. The reason for the former is most likely surface
ocean. Operational centers face similar challenges since warming as a result of anthropogenic fossil fuel burning
sea-ice models are also being used for short-term predictions (Vaughan et al., 2013). The warming effect is amplified over
of ice drift and ice conditions for navigation. The very fact thin (<0.5 m) sea ice by the so-called ice-albedo feedback
that the dynamically created pressure ridges constitute the where slight warming will lead to thinner or less concen-
thickest type of sea ice and dissolve only thermodynamically trated ice, which in turn will allow for more solar radiation
through melting also leads to the practical problem that the to be absorbed. While the ice-albedo feedback is prevalent
ice breaking season in waters affected by first-year ice will in first-year Antarctic sea ice, it is normally not a big player
normally extend until late spring. The term first-year ice in the mostly multiyear Arctic sea ice where a stable halo-
refers to sea ice that emerges only seasonally, as opposed to cline hinders oceanic heat from keeping the ice thin. Oceanic
multiyear ice that survives the summer melt season. heat flux from warm deep Atlantic water masses in the Arctic
While sea ice can pile up under convergent conditions, Ocean has still no noticeable impact on the ice cover. This
it can drift up to 1 knot (about 0.5 m/s) under divergent situation is probably going to last in the future owing to the
conditions. Ice drift can be simulated using comprehen- expected increase of river runoff as an indirect result of CO2
sive dynamic-thermodynamic sea-ice models with realistic increase in the atmosphere. Arctic ice thickness has neverthe-
boundary conditions, that is, wind and water stress. Sea-ice less decreased over the last five decades (Rothrock, Yu, and
drift can also be derived from satellite remote sensing (Kwok Maykut, 1999; Schweiger et al., 2011), probably as a result
et al., 1998). This method relies essentially on the analysis of of warmer surface conditions and more melt ponds on the ice
successive microwave images from which displacement over in summer, which would enhance the ice-albedo effect. After
time can be retrieved. dropping below a critical ice thickness threshold of about
0.5 m, the ice-albedo feedback turns more effective, and the
Arctic seasonal sea-ice cycle starts looking more like that of
5 VARIABILITY AND TRENDS the Southern Ocean. Monitoring the age of Arctic sea ice via
satellite remote sensing (e.g., Maslanik et al., 2011; National
The behavior and appearance of sea ice are mainly a reflec- Snow and Ice Data Center, http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews)
tion of the surface fluxes at the air–sea boundary, which confirms that the area of thick multiyear ice has shrunk to
makes sea ice a highly variable component of the Earth’s only about half its size in the 1980s within the last decade,
system. The seasonal cycle of sea ice is most commonly consistent with the rapid drop in Arctic summer ice extent.
referring to ice extent, which is defined as the area within In this context, the slight upward trend of Antarctic sea ice is
the outer ice edge or marginal ice zone. Alternatively, one somewhat puzzling. Associated with global surface warming
can monitor the seasonal cycle of ice area that discounts is a poleward shift of the mid-latitude westerlies including
areas within the outer ice edge that are ice free, such as the associated latitudinal belt of excess precipitation. While
leads and polynyas. Ice area is thus the total surface area still under debate, it looks like warming, enhanced precipi-
times ice concentration. The seasonal cycle of ice volume tation, more glacial melt water, and changes in ice drift all
is less reliable due to the difficulties in retrieving ice thick- contribute to stabilizing the water column in the open-ocean
ness (Section 3). Daily satellite microwave ice concentra- convection regions of the Weddell Sea (de Lavergne et al.,
tion retrievals exist since the end of year 1979 (Gloersen 2014; Gordon, 2014; Stössel et al., 2015). This diminishes
et al., 1992). Compared to interannual and interdecadal vari- the oceanic heat flux from deeper layers to the surface, which
ability and recent trends, the seasonal cycle of ice extent in turn leads to thicker ice.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe132
Northern Hemisphere Sea Ice Area

Data provided by NSIDC: NASA SMMR and SSMI
16
15
14
13
12
Sea ice area (million sq. km)
11
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9
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5
4 3.645
3
2
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0
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2014
2015
2009
2010
2011
2012
2005
2006
2007
2008
2001
2002
2003
2004
1997
1998
1999
2000
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
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1994
1995
1996
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
(a) Year
Southern Hemisphere Sea Ice Area

Data provided by NSIDC: NASA SMMR and SSMI
17
16 15.511
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Sea ice area (million sq. km)
12
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Figure 8. Seasonal cycles of (a) northern and (b) southern hemisphere sea-ice area since 1979 based on satellite passive microwave data.
(Reproduced with permission from University of Illinois. http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe132
8 General
6 SUMMARY Wave–Ice Interactions

Modes of Fracture
This article was to provide an overview over the most rele- Materials for Arctic Environments
vant features regarding marine ice, predominantly sea ice. Fatigue and Fracture of Ship Structures
As far as ice mechanics is concerned, there is abundant liter- Sea Ice Dynamics
ature around for more detailed explanations and quantita- Description of Ice Types and Ice Conditions
tive treatment (Leppäranta, 2005). In terms of ice structures, Ice Action on Ship Hull
there is a whole nomenclature as to what type of ice can Propulsion in Ice
be encountered (World Meteorological Organization, 1970). Ice Loading on Ship Hull
Even though Arctic ice conditions promise to become less Ice Loading on Propulsion
severe in summer within the next two decades, navigation Structural Design for Ice
and offshore operations in winter and spring will remain a Risks and Damages Caused in Ice Navigation
major challenge. From the climate predictions point of view, Ship Performance in Ice
the major difficulty will be to estimate the behavior of the Ice Model Tests
ice sheets. Most of the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Ship Design for Ice
Climate Change (IPCC) climate models do not capture the Icebreakers
recent (slight) upward trend of Antarctic sea ice but instead Ice Class and Ice-Going Merchant Ships
simulate a decrease similar to that of Arctic sea ice (Collins Ice Class Rules and International Regulations
et al., 2013, Figure 12.28). Thus, more work is needed to Pollution in Polar Regions
fully understand the complex system involving sea ice and Winterization
ice sheets. Navigation in Ice Conditions
Marine Environmental Protection
The Arctic Environment
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks are due to numerous colleagues that contributed to REFERENCES
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2002RG000116. S.F., and DeLiberty, T.L. (2008) Thickness distribution of
Muench, R.D., Morison, J.H., Padman, L., Martinson, D., Schlosser, Antarctic sea ice. Journal of Geophysical Research 113, C05S92,
P., Huber, B., and Hohmann, R. (2001) Maud Rise revisited. doi: 10.1029/2007JC004254.
Journal of Geophysical Research 106(C2), 2423–2440. World Meteorological Organization. (1970) WMO sea-ice nomencla-
Nansen, F. (1897) Fram Over Polhavet (den Norske polarfaerd ture. WMO report No. 259, Geneva, Switzerland.
1893–1896). Ashehoug & Forlag, Kristiania. Zwally, H.J., Comiso, J.C., Parkinson, C.L., Carsey, F.D., Campbell,
Parkinson, C.L. (1997) Earth from Above. University Science Books, W.J., and Gloersen, P. (1983) Antarctic sea ice 1973-1976: Satellite
Sausalito, CA, pp. 175. passive-microwave observations. NASA Spec.Publ., SP-459.
Parkinson, C.L. and Washington, W.M. (1979) A large-scale numer- Zwally, H.J., Yi, D., Kwok, R., and Zhao, Y. (2008) ICESat measure-
ical model of sea ice. Journal of Geophysical Research 84, ments of sea ice thickness in the Weddell Sea. Journal of Geophys-
311–337. ical Research 113, C02S15, doi: 10.1029/2007JC004284
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe132
Modes of Fracture
Michael G. Burns P. E.
Stress Engineering Services, Inc., Houston, TX, USA
verified by a standard tension test. Although this approach

1 Introduction 1 has been highly successful, there are a couple of caveats
2 Ductile Overload 1 worth noting:
3 Brittle Fracture 2 First, it is an implicit assumption in most mechanical
4 Fatigue 3 design that metals exhibit uniform properties. This assump-
tion is not entirely accurate. Plate and other rolled steel
5 Environmentally Assisted Cracking 4
structural shapes consistently exhibit poorer properties in the
Endnotes 6 through-thickness direction than in the longitudinal direc-
Glossary 6 tion (parallel to the rolling direction). As a result, welded
References 6 joints in structural steels must be carefully designed to avoid
heavy tensile loads in the through-thickness direction and
thereby avoid a phenomenon known as lamellar tearing
(AWS Welding Handbook, 2011). If that is not feasible,
1 INTRODUCTION special grades may be ordered in which additional measures
have been taken during steelmaking and forming to improve
While it may seem that there is an endless variety of ways through-thickness properties. Depending on their harden-
in which marine equipment may corrode, break down, fall ability, quenched and tempered low alloy steels may only
apart, burst, leak, or wear out, there are only a limited number develop optimal properties in a relatively thin layer at the
of ways in which metals break. Those of most concern to metal surface, and the variation in properties with depth may
the marine industry include ductile overload, brittle frac- not be reflected in standard qualification testing.1 The center
ture, fatigue, and certain forms of environmentally assisted of a 24-in. (60-cm) heat-treated round of UNS G41300,
cracking. for example, will probably not exhibit strength or tough-
ness anywhere close to that demonstrated by a standard 4-in.
(10-cm) qualification test coupon heat-treated alongside of
2 DUCTILE OVERLOAD it. For this reason, it is good practice to rough machine
low alloy steels prior to heat treatment whenever feasible,
Ductile overload, encompassing both plastic distortion and to test prolongations or sacrificial forgings, rather than
and ductile fracture, has the advantage of being the most
test blocks, for critical applications. Iron castings are inher-
predictable mode of failure in metals, and design engineers
ently nonuniform. Casting grades (including the specified
have generally been taught how to avoid it. Most commonly,
minimum yield strength) are based on tensile properties
designing to prevent ductile overload is based on the spec-
measured in separately cast keel blocks.2 However, actual
ified minimum yield strength of the specified material, as
properties will vary considerably depending on the section
thickness, even within a single casting. Thinner portions of
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. the casting will show higher yield strength, higher tensile
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe151
strength, and lower ductility than thicker portions of the
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 same casting. Because no portion of a casting may exactly
2 General
match the keel block in thickness, it is entirely possible that

no portion of a completely satisfactory casting will exhibit
the specified properties. Therefore, in critical applications,
it may be prudent to perform destructive testing on a sacri-
ficial casting, in order to assess actual tensile properties
at critical locations. Welds are also inherently nonuniform,
with the properties of both the weld metal and heat-affected
zones differing significantly from those of the base metal.
These properties must be quantified in a procedure qualifi-
cation record for a particular welding procedure specifica-
tion. Welding codes like ASME BPVC Section IX and DNV
OS-C401 provide guidance on how to do so.
The second and most common error when designing to
protect against ductile fracture, however, is to assume that
ductile overload is the only mode of fracture that must be
considered.
Figure 1. Fractured Liberty ship. (Reproduced from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Schenectady#/media/File:
TankerSchenectady.jpg. US Govt. Photograph. Public domain.)
3 BRITTLE FRACTURE
Brittle materials often fracture at stress levels well In practice, it is exceedingly difficult to calculate appro-
below their yield strength. Glass, for example, is quite priate geometric factors for all possible locations, orienta-
strong—unless it has the tiniest crack in it. Fracture tions, and sizes of potential cracks and flaws in a complex
mechanics is the science of predicting brittle fracture. engineering structure. As a result, fracture mechanics is
Although fracture mechanics has probably achieved its most rarely used in design to precisely calculate the load or
vigorous application in the aircraft industry, one of the early stress level at which brittle fracture will occur. Instead, frac-
driving forces for its development in the United States was a ture mechanics is more likely to be used to conservatively
marine application. During World War II, the United States estimate the toughness required to prevent brittle fracture
updated a British design for riveted coal-fired steamships entirely, where possible, forcing the mode of failure to a more
to mass-produce oil-burning cargo ships with all-welded predictable or at least less catastrophic mode.
construction. These “Liberty” ships developed large brittle An example of fracture mechanics applied in this way
cracks, and their all-welded construction allowed cracks to would be the toughness requirements for oilfield drill pipe,
propagate from plate to plate, in some cases breaking the which are intended to produce leak-before-break behavior.
ships entirely into two. Consequently, the insights of fracture Because of the way it is used, drill pipe is inherently vulner-
mechanics were used to improve the ships’ performance: able to fatigue cracking. However, if its toughness is high
hatch corners were rounded, crack arrestors were installed, enough, a fatigue crack will grow all the way through the
weld quality was improved, and steel compositions were wall and cause a leak before the crack gets large enough to
restricted (Anderson, 2005). Steel toughness, however, cause a brittle separation of the string. If the driller recog-
continued to present a technical challenge, and improving nizes the leak in time, the drill string can be removed from
the toughness of steels, at all strength levels, has been one the well in one piece—a much less significant failure than
of the driving forces for technical innovation in steelmaking leaving the lower portion of a drill string in a partially drilled
since that time (Figure 1). well. The empirically verified toughness requirements in drill
Classical linear elastic fracture mechanics predicts brittle pipe specifications like API Specification 5DP have success-
failure when the stress intensity, KI , at a crack tip, flaw, or fully improved the reliability of drill strings.
sharp corner exceeds a measure of the toughness of the mate- Similarly, most standard marine specifications for steel
rial known as the critical stress intensity, KIc . Stress intensity have toughness requirements, which are most commonly
is calculated as a geometric factor multiplied by the applied expressed as a standard Charpy V-notch impact tough-
stress and the square root of pi times the crack size. Logi- ness requirement. Although these standard requirements are
cally, as a crack in a brittle material grows, the component’s helpful in limiting brittle fracture, designers should not
load-carrying capacity is increasingly compromised. assume that they are always sufficient. In severe applications,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe151
Modes of Fracture 3
more demanding toughness requirements may prove neces- 4 FATIGUE

sary. Factors that favor brittle fracture and may, therefore,
warrant increased toughness requirements or other design Fatigue is a mechanism by which a crack can propagate
considerations to reduce the likelihood of brittle fracture incrementally if subjected to cyclically varying loads.
include: Fatigue is of particular concern in marine equipment subject
to wave loading, marine risers subjected to vortex-induced
vibration, and in rotating equipment subject to bending
• temperature, loads.
• thick sections, Fatigue crack growth rates increase with the amplitude of
• higher strength materials, the cyclical loading. If the loads are well-defined, fatigue life
• high stresses, can often be predicted based on plots of cycles to failure
• highly constrained joints, and versus stress amplitude, termed S–N curves. Compilations of
• sharp corners. laboratory test data show that in air, steels generally exhibit
an endurance limit—a stress amplitude below which fatigue
The effect of temperature is complex. Carbon and cracks will generally not initiate, barring an unusual stress
low-alloy steels commonly exhibit tough behavior at concentration. Other metals, notably aluminum, may not
elevated temperatures and brittle behavior at low tempera- exhibit an endurance limit. Given enough cycles, they will
tures. The temperature range in which the transition occurs, eventually fail by fatigue.
Surface treatments that generate a residual compressive
termed the ductile-to-brittle-transition temperature (DBTT),
stress at the surface, such as shot peening, autofret-
however, is not a true material property—it depends on the
tage, induction surface-hardening, and carburization can
test parameters: thickness of the specimen, loading rate,
greatly improve fatigue life (ASM Handbook, 1996). Such
and sharpness of the notch. Because the standard Charpy
measures, however, may not be beneficial in corrosive
test uses a 1-cm thick specimen, Charpy testing may not
or abrasive environments. As soon as a corrosion pit, for
conservatively predict the temperature below which a thicker
example, penetrates the surface-hardened layer, the asso-
plate will behave in a brittle fashion. Perhaps for this reason,
ciated stress concentration will be located in a subsurface
it is common for material specifications to require Charpy layer that has a residual tensile stress and will, therefore, be
testing at a temperature below the lowest anticipated service more prone to fatigue and brittle fracture.
temperature; −20∘ C for subsea equipment, for example. Because fatigue life is dependent on the magnitude
of cyclical loading, many bolted flange connections are
Material Approximate Values preloaded so that the clamping force exceeds the axial and
√ bending loads exerted on the connection. If the studs on a
Charpy (ft-lbs) CTOD (mm) KIC (ksi in) non-gasketed flanged connection are properly pretensioned,
the flange faces never separate, and the studs see a constant
Glass <1 <0.01 1–5 strain, a constant stress, and little or no cyclic loading. Thus,
Aluminum 5–25 0.1–0.6 20–50 fatigue problems in flange studs are often related to inade-
Titanium 10–50 0.1–0.7 60–100 quate preload or severe, unanticipated vibration (Bickford,
Iron castings 2–30 0.1–0.5 30–90 2008).
Steel 10–200 0.05–2.0 50–250 Because fatigue is favored by local stress concentra-
tions like weld toes and weld imperfections, the fatigue
Although Charpy V-notch testing is commonly used to performance of welded structures is generally controlled
compare materials and for quality control, it does not provide by the performance of the welds. In some applications,
a quantitative measure of fracture toughness that can be fabricators are required to demonstrate that welds prepared
used for design purposes. Various researchers have devel- according to their welding procedure specifications and
oped correlations between Charpy impact toughness and KIc inspected according to their criteria meet particular fatigue
values, but these should be recognized as approximations performance standards, such as those described in BS 7910.
and used with caution. KIc values, however, may be overly Of special concern in marine environments is corrosion
conservative when predicting the behavior of steel that is fatigue. Corrosion enhances fatigue in two ways. First, corro-
not thick enough to develop plane strain conditions. Crack sion pits create stress concentrations and accelerate the initi-
tip opening displacement tests may be used to approximate ation of fatigue cracks. Since the time (number of cycles)
behavior in intermediate conditions where a metal is neither required to initiate a fatigue crack often constitutes over half
fully ductile nor fully brittle.3 of the fatigue life, factors that accelerate the initiation of
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe151
4 General
cracks can be highly detrimental. Second, the presence of The vulnerability of an alloy to stress corrosion cracking
a corrosive agent can greatly increase the rate at which a is often highly environment-specific and may be either
fatigue crack grows. The combination of these two effects is enhanced or effectively inhibited by small changes in the
such that the fatigue performance of steel in seawater or even environment—the addition of a few parts per million of
topside marine environments is always considerably poorer water to an anhydrous solution, the addition or removal of
than would be predicted based on laboratory testing in air. As a few parts per million of oxygen from an aqueous chlo-
a general rule of thumb, steel does not exhibit an endurance ride solution, an increase or reduction in temperature, and
limit in seawater. so on. Likewise, it is also related to processing of the alloy.
Although cathodic protection can restore much of the Cold work and other processing that increase the hardness
fatigue performance of steel in subsea applications, the and strength of metals generally increase their susceptibility
improvement does not extend to the splash zone or topside to stress corrosion cracking. Rolled threads, for example,
equipment where cathodic protection is ineffective. should be avoided if there is any risk of stress corrosion
cracking. The best option for design, however, is to be aware
of the limitations of the metals being considered and select
one that is highly resistant to stress corrosion cracking in the
5 ENVIRONMENTALLY ASSISTED anticipated range of environments.
CRACKING Hydrogen stress cracking proceeds by a different mech-
anism than stress corrosion cracking. In hydrogen stress
Environmentally assisted cracking is a broad term that cracking, atomic hydrogen dissolved in the metal collects at
encompasses a wide variety of mechanisms by which a a crack tip or other stress concentration and causes the crack
combination of stress and a particular environment may to propagate. It requires a source of hydrogen, a sustained
cause a vulnerable material to crack. The two most relevant tensile stress, and a susceptible material.
to marine applications are stress corrosion cracking and Although hydrogen can be introduced into a metal from the
hydrogen stress cracking. gaseous state, electrochemically generated atomic hydrogen
In stress corrosion cracking, the highly stressed metal at is the more problematic source of hydrogen in marine appli-
a crack tip functions as an anode and corrodes preferen- cations. When a metal such as aluminum or iron corrodes, the
tially, driving the crack through the metal. It is generally metal atoms oxidize to become metal ions, releasing elec-
a delayed form of cracking that does not initiate immedi- trons (the anodic reaction). The electrons, in turn, reduce
ately and may only propagate slowly through the metal. The hydrogen ions in water to hydrogen atoms (the cathodic
cracks are often, but not always, highly branched and may reaction). The hydrogen atoms are generated on the metal
initiate at the base of corrosion pits. They generally exhibit surface—some combine to form hydrogen molecules and
a crystallographic character and are either intergranular or escape into the environment, but others are absorbed by the
transgranular, depending on the combination of alloy and steel, dissolving into the interstitial spaces between the iron
environment. atoms and into the spaces along grain boundaries. It is the
Stress corrosion cracking is generally associated with dissolved hydrogen that can cause problems later.
specific combinations of metals and environments. A metal In addition to the corrosion reaction described above,
that performs well in one environment may fail disastrously hydrogen can be generated by electroplating processes and
in a second, whereas another metal that performs well in by cathodic protection. For this reason, electroplated high
the second environment may fail disastrously in the first. strength bolts are generally baked after plating. Heating the
Examples of environments where specific alloys are vulner- bolts to approximately 400∘ F (204∘ C) allows any dissolved
able to stress corrosion cracking include: hydrogen to diffuse to the surface and escape into the atmo-
sphere. Although cathodic protection of marine structures
and vessels can provide effective corrosion control, it has
Copper and copper Ammonia and ammonia compounds a side effect. Although it concentrates the anodic reaction
alloys that causes corrosion damage at the sacrificial anode, it
Austenitic stainless Hot chlorides (≳60∘ C); high increases the cathodic reaction that generates hydrogen on
steels temperature caustic all protected metal surfaces. As a result, metals that are to
Titanium alloys Anhydrous methanol be used under cathodic protection should be selected care-
Carbon steel Hot nitrate, hydroxide, certain fully for their resistance to hydrogen stress cracking and
amines, and carbonate/bicarbonate high strength bolting (with a hardness > 35 HRC) should be
solutions avoided. Likewise, sacrificial metal coatings like galvanized
zinc or thermal sprayed aluminum can increase the amount
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe151
Modes of Fracture 5
of hydrogen generated on exposed metal surfaces that they Cold cracking, which occurs immediately after welding, is
are electrically grounded to. a special case of hydrogen stress cracking, where the source
Hydrogen stress cracking can be propagated by applied of the hydrogen is the contaminated material from the weld
stresses or residual stresses. Residual stresses from welding, pool. It is primarily controlled by removing rust and other
acting on a hard heat-affected zone, can be highly prob- contaminants from the surfaces to be welded, using low
lematic. Bolts are generally preloaded, applying a constant hydrogen consumables, and using preheat. The preheat slows
tensile stress even while the equipment is not in operation. the cooling after welding, so that the hydrogen has more
Cold-formed metals, such as rolled threads, can have high opportunity to diffuse out of the steel and escape without
residual stresses. Surface treatments that generate residual causing damage.
compressive stresses at the surface may be beneficial for Alloy K500, sometimes marketed as Monel K500™
fatigue resistance, but do not impart a similar benefit to (UNS N05500), is a precipitation-hardened nickel–copper
hydrogen stress cracking resistance, as there will invariably alloy commonly used for marine bolting. Although it has
be a location below the surface where there will be a residual generally provided excellent service, some components
tensile stress; the dissolved hydrogen will collect there and have failed intergranularly. The intergranular failures have
may cause cracking to initiate subsurface. been attributed to hydrogen stress cracking (Efird, 1985),
The susceptibility of materials to hydrogen stress cracking but it was eventually determined that the susceptibility
varies considerably. Austenitic stainless steels and copper to intergranular fracture was limited to particular heats
alloys are generally immune. Nickel-base alloys are gener- and was related to the presence of certain grain boundary
ally resistant, but some precipitation-hardened grades contaminants. As a result, the US Navy military specifi-
(including, notably, Alloy 718) have been known to fail in cation for Alloy K500, QQ-N-286, includes a screening
marine applications, especially when highly cold-worked. test for susceptibility to intergranular fracture. For critical
As a general rule, the susceptibility of carbon and low alloy applications, then, it may be helpful to order Alloy K500
steels to hydrogen stress cracking increases with strength that satisfies the additional requirements of QQ-N-286.
(and correspondingly, hardness). Therefore, as environments Testing for resistance to environmentally assisted cracking
increase in severity, the maximum strength of steel that is complicated. Because the likelihood of cracking is depen-
may be safely used decreases. Consider fasteners: ASTM dent on the environment, the resistance to cracking is not
A574 socket-head cap screws (37–45 HRC) are commonly a true material property. Ideally, the results would be based
used in gearboxes where they are oil-wet and not subject on testing of multiple heats in the actual environment at the
to corrosion, but are highly vulnerable in marine applica- highest stress levels likely to be experienced in service, and,
tions. ASTM A193 Grade B7 studs (35 HRC max.) are since cracking may take a while to develop, the duration
commonly used successfully in atmospheric and marine of the test should match the anticipated service life of the
applications, including under cathodic protection, but can be component. This is rarely practical, so some method of accel-
vulnerable to hydrogen stress cracking in strong acids and erating the test is usually attempted.
sour (H2 S-bearing) environments, where ASTM A193 Grade Accelerated testing may involve increasing the stress level,
B7M (22 HRC max.) fasteners are more suitable. It is impor- making the environment more severe, and/or pre-cracking
tant to note this progression, as it is not always possible to the specimens. Each of these, however, can be detrimental
improve mechanical reliability by specifying stronger bolts. to the accuracy of the results. Slow strain-rate tests, for
If the higher strength bolts exceed the de facto hardness limit example, make excellent screening tests, but, because the
for a particular environment, the substitution will result in majority of the test is run at stress levels greater than the
decreased reliability, as the harder bolts are more likely to yield strength of the alloy, often show detrimental environ-
fail by hydrogen stress cracking. mental effects in alloys that perform perfectly well at engi-
The susceptibility of steel welds to hydrogen stress neering stress levels (usually a fraction of the yield strength).
cracking is generally controlled by the hardness of the For alloys where hydrogen diffuses slowly, standard 30 day
heat-affected zone, which can be much harder than either constant-stress tests may not be long enough to evaluate
the base metal or weld deposit. Even if the hard portion of susceptibility to hydrogen stress cracking, regardless of the
the heat-affected zone is a relatively narrow layer along the applied stress level. If the environment is made more severe
fusion line, it can be vulnerable to cracking. Post-weld heat (higher temperature, lower pH, etc.), the results may no
treatment, though not necessary for all carbon steels, can longer be predictive of performance in service—and, for
be beneficial in two ways: it reduces the residual stresses that matter, service conditions may not be well known and
(stress relief) and it tempers the hardest portion of the will probably be somewhat inconsistent over the life of the
heat-affected zone. component.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe151
6 General
The most practical solution, then, is to use materials GLOSSARY

with proven track records in a given environment whenever
possible. Industry experience will include durations of expo- Brittle fracture A failure mode in metals and other
sure measured in decades and more permutations of material brittle materials characterized by
properties, stress, and environment than could be accom- sudden fracture with little or no
plished in any reasonable test program. However, critical associated plastic deformation.
applications may demand the use of new materials, and if Ductile overload A failure mode in metals characterized
so, a corrosion test plan should be developed in consultation by uncontrolled plastic deformation,
with a corrosion specialist. sometimes in fracture.
It should be noted that nomenclature for environmentally Environmentally A failure mode in metals in which
assisted cracking is not consistent throughout industry or assisted cracking is caused by exposure to an
academia. Hydrogen stress cracking is sometimes called cracking environment, rather than by stress
hydrogen embrittlement, particularly in the bolting industry. alone. Environmentally assisted
If bolts are charged with hydrogen during plating, it is termed cracking includes hydrogen stress
internal hydrogen embrittlement. Hydrogen introduced in cracking, stress corrosion cracking,
service causes environmental hydrogen embrittlement. hydrogen-induced cracking, and other
Because hydrogen embrittlement is sometimes used to refer cracking mechanisms.
to the effects of hydrogen charging, before any cracking has Fatigue fracture A failure mode in metals and certain
occurred, some references will state that (internal) hydrogen polymers in which cracks are initiated
embrittlement can be reversed by baking. Cracking asso- and/or propagated by cyclic loading
ciated with hydrogen embrittlement is not, of course, conditions.
reversible, so the term hydrogen stress cracking is to be Hydrogen See hydrogen stress cracking. In the
preferred for the failure mechanism. embrittlement fastener industry, internal hydrogen
Some European references will describe hydrogen stress embrittlement is used to describe the
cracking as hydrogen-induced stress cracking.4 This is not embrittling effects of hydrogen
to be confused, however, with hydrogen-induced cracking introduced by plating and cleaning
which is a separate form of environmentally assisted operations during manufacture, and
cracking that occurs mostly in lower strength steels (espe- environmental hydrogen
cially pipeline steels) exposed to high pressure hydrogen embrittlement is used to describe the
or sour conditions. High temperature hydrogen attack is embrittling effects and cracking
yet another way in which hydrogen can damage steel, but caused by exposure of high strength
it is more of an issue under refinery conditions rather than fasteners to corrosive environments.
marine applications. Hydrogen stress A form of environmentally assisted
Some references will use the term stress corrosion cracking cracking in which crack growth
cracking as a more general term encompassing all forms occurs due to the accumulation of
of environmentally assisted cracking, rather than just the dissolved hydrogen at a crack tip.
anodic-dissolution-at-the-crack-tip mechanism discussed Stress corrosion A form of environmentally assisted
earlier. Although one may find references to cathodically cracking cracking in which crack growth is
protected high strength bolts failing by hydrogen embrittle- driven by anodic dissolution of metal
ment, stress corrosion cracking, or hydrogen stress cracking, at the crack tip. Metals are only
the difference is more likely to be one of terminology than susceptible to stress corrosion
technical understanding. cracking in specific environments.
Sometimes also used as a generic term
for some forms of environmentally
ENDNOTES assisted cracking.
1. See, for instance, API Specification 6A (2010), Para-

graph 5.6.1.
2. ASTM A 536, Paragraph X1.2. REFERENCES
3. See discussion in Anderson (2005), pp. 308–311, ASTM
E1820, and BS 7448 Part 1. Anderson, T.L. (2005) Fracture Mechanics, Fundamentals and
4. See, for instance, DNV RP-F112. Applications, 3rd edn, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA, p. 9.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe151
Modes of Fracture 7
ASM (1996) ASM Handbook, vol. 19, ASM International, Metals Bickford, J.H. (2008) Introduction to the Design and Behavior of
Park, Ohio, USA, pp. 439–441. Bolted Joints, Non-gasketed Joints, 4th edn, CRC Press, Boca
Raton, Florida, pp. 138–139.
AWS (2011) Welding Handbook, vol. 4, 9th edn, American Welding
Efird, K.D. (1985) Failure of monel Ni-Cu-Al alloy K500 bolts in
Society, Miami, Florida, USA, p. 19.
seawater. Materials Performance, 24, 37–40.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe151
Wave Breaking and Dissipation
Alexander V. Babanin
Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia
both above and below the surface, injection of bubbles in

1 Introduction and Definitions 1 the water, and producing spray in the air. The momentum
2 Detection and Measurements 2 is passed on to the mean currents, to the bottom, the coast, or
3 Breaking Onset 2 to vessels and engineering structures.
Breaking of the waves has routinely been perceived as
4 Wave Superposition Versus Modulational
a phenomenon hard to understand, predict, and describe.
Instability 3
Although the limiting steepness for two-dimensional
5 Threshold Steepness and Cumulative Effect 6
deep-water surface waves was analytically obtained long
6 Breaking Severity 7 ago (Stokes, 1880; Michell, 1893), this steepness 𝜀 of
7 Wind Forcing 7
8 Conclusions 7 𝜀 = ak ≈ 0.44 (1)
Glossary 8
Related Articles 8 was not treated by oceanographers and engineers in any
References 8 consistent way (here a is the wave amplitude and k the
wavenumber). Some believed it indeed to be the breaking
criterion; for instance, an entire set of wave-dissipation theo-
ries was built on this criterion (see review of probabilistic
theories by Donelan and Yuan (1994)). Others argued that
1 INTRODUCTION AND DEFINITIONS such steepness of individual waves is unrealistic for oceanic
wave fields whose typical average steepness is
Wave breaking is not a phenomenon specific to the water
waves only. Electromagnetic waves, waves in plasmas, and
𝜀 = ak ∼ 0.1 (2)
other media also break. This is how this phenomenon is
described in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_
particularly as the waves were, indeed, reported as breaking
breaking): “In physics, a breaking wave is a wave whose
while having steepness much lower than Equation 1 (e.g.,
amplitude reaches a critical level at which some process can
Holthuijsen and Herbers (1986) in the field and Rapp and
suddenly start to occur that causes large amount of wave
Melville (1990) in the laboratory).
energy to be dissipated. At this point, simple physical models
In the meantime, ocean wave breaking plays the critical
describing the dynamics of the wave will often become
role in air–sea exchanges of energy, momentum, mass,
invalid, particularly those which assume linear behavior.”
and heat; produces bubbles and aerosols; and consti-
For the water waves, breaking means collapse of the water
tutes the major element of one of the most significant
surface. The wave energy is spent on generation of turbulence
mechanisms that drive wave evolution—wave energy dissi-
pation. It is also of primary importance for coastal and
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. maritime engineering, navigation, ocean remote sensing,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe082
and other practical applications. Wave-coupled processes
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 in the ocean and atmosphere are linked to the large-scale
2 General
phenomena that define ocean circulation, weather, and whitecaps and even microbreakers (Weissman, Atakturk,
climate; breaking-produced aerosols can influence corrosion and Katsaros, 1984).
rates in the middle of continents. Gradually, however, direct techniques to detect the
Physically, the breaking of deep-water surface waves repre- breakers and measure their properties are being developed.
sents an interesting and one of the most challenging problems They implement, for example, some criteria related to
of fluid mechanics. It is a strongly nonlinear intermittent impacts of the breaking at or below the water surface, such
random process, very rapid compared to other processes in as “sudden jump in surface elevation” (Longuet-Higgins
the system of surface waves in general and wind-generated and Smith, 1983), changes to electrical conductivity of the
waves in particular. The wave energy, slowly accumulated water (Lamarre and Melville, 1991), or void fraction below
under wind action over tens of hours and tens or even the surface (Gemmrich and Farmer, 1999).
hundreds of kilometers, is suddenly released within a frac- Note that all the above deal with the breaking-in progress,
tion of wave period, that is, within seconds. The distribution that is, consequences rather than causes of wave breaking.
of breaking on the water surface is not continuous, but its Laboratory experiments over the years enabled researchers
role in maintaining the energy balance within the continuous to investigate the breaking in its full complexity (with
wind-wave field is critical. Over the past years, our under- exception, perhaps, of its three-dimensional features so far).
standing of the breaking and dissipation of ocean waves has Methods and techniques in this regard are many, from a
undergone a dramatic leap forward. From a phenomenon that simple measurement of surface elevations in front and behind
was very poorly understood, it has emerged as a process a forced breaking, to sophisticated PIV mapping of turbu-
whose physics is clarified and quantified. Here, we will lence velocities within a random breaking event. In this
largely follow the book by Babanin (2011), which presents regard, we would broadly classify laboratory testing into
the literature review and our current understanding of the two large groups, based on the way the laboratory breaking
breaking and dissipation of ocean waves, and a number of is created: those due to linear focusing of waves propa-
more recent publications. gating with different speeds (Rapp and Melville, 1990) and
those due to modulational instability of nonlinear wave trains
(Babanin et al., 2010).
In the field, where in situ methods of wave-breaking
2 DETECTION AND MEASUREMENTS measurements are challenging, innovative remote-sensing
techniques were proposed. Examples include, but are not
Measurement and even detection of breaking is a challenging limited to, acoustic detection of bubble-formation events
task due to their seemingly random occurrence and ferocity (Manasseh et al., 2006), “sea spikes” in the radar backscatter
of the event. Breaking of large waves is most prominently signal that are associated with the breakers (Smith, Poulter,
exhibited through generation of whitecaps on the ocean and McGregor, 1996), and infrared signature of the breaking
surface, and as early as in the 1940s this breaking signature in the ocean’s skin layer (Jessup et al., 1997). Some of such
was attempted to quantify probability of occurrence of such methods are useful in identifying breaking waves among
events. Munk (1947) used observations of the white foam those nonbreaking, others can also be calibrated in terms of
patches per unit of area in order to estimate the breaking breaking severity.
probability. Nowadays, there is understanding that whitecap
coverage area depends on many physical and chemical prop-
erties of the water and air, but it is still a sought-after charac- 3 BREAKING ONSET
teristic of the ocean surface. It is used in the remote sensing
of the ocean, provides links to the gas and mass exchanges Babanin (2011), following the previous publications, subdi-
across the ocean interface, and of course to the basic charac- vides the breaking process in four phases, different in terms
teristics of the breaking, both to the probability and severity of their dynamics. These are the imminent breaking, devel-
(Bortkovskii, 2003). oping breaking, subsiding breaking, and residual breaking.
As the wave-measurement instrumentations and tech- The first phase is most essential in order to predict the
niques developed, methods of visual observations advanced, breaking or its statistics, and most elusive. At this stage, no
but still remained main means to investigate the wave whitecapping is produced yet and in general, in the absence
breaking for decades. These could involve marking the of criteria for the breaking onset, it is not clear whether a
breaking events in wave records by a human observer, who steep wave will break or recurrence to a less steep shape will
would trigger the mark when a breaking happened on a take place, and the wave will propagate on without breaking.
wave probe (Holthuijsen and Herbers, 1986), or using video As mentioned above, some analytical criteria for breaking
records for repeated and more robust statistical analyses of onset have been offered long ago, but for a long time were
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe082
Wave Breaking and Dissipation 3
disregarded as unrealistic. Criterion 1, for example, has a for the front steepness, and
clear physical meaning: it signifies a wave whose crest prop-
agates faster than the phase speed of the wave. Clearly, such Hrear k
𝜀= = 0.45 (4)
water surface will start collapsing and trigger the breaking. 2
Lately, both experimental and theoretical evidences rein- for the rear steepness. Here, since in realistic wave groups
stated the steepness in Equation 1 as both realistic and in the front and rear troughs are not symmetric, height H is
fact robust criterion for wave breaking. Brown and Jensen estimated as the vertical distance from the crest either to the
(2001), for breaking achieved though linear focusing, and front or to the rear troughs. Since the probability function is
Babanin et al. (2010), for breaking due to modulational insta- terminated at the limiting-steepness value, that is, does not
bility, both showed that in their laboratory experiments the extend into the higher values of steepness, this result should
waves would break when Hk/2 ≈ 0.44, where H = 2a is the be interpreted as the ultimate steepness beyond which the
wave height. Same limiting steepness was revealed in numer- ocean waves will certainly break.
ical simulations by means of fully nonlinear wave models Thus, the limiting steepness beyond which the breaking
(Babanin et al., 2010). will certainly occur is 𝜀 = ak ∼ 0.45 for progressive waves
The contradictions between these new results and the if defined for rear face of the wave. It should be mentioned
earlier measurements mentioned above seem to be rather that it is somewhat higher, 𝜀 = ak ∼ 0.65, for standing waves.
straightforward to reconcile. Babanin et al. (2010) argued For progressive waves with full spectrum, however, which is
that the breaking onset is a very short-lived stage of wave the typical case in the ocean, Chalikov and Babanin (2012)
evolution to the breaking, and thus both before and after showed that this is the upper limit rather than the regular
the moment when the water surface starts to collapse, the criterion for the breaking onset. While the limiting steepness
steepness of the wave-to-break and the breaker-in-progress in Equation 1 can indeed be reached by dominant waves in
is below that specified by Equation 1. Therefore, in order the spectrum, on average they break at a steepness of
to detect steepness in Equation 1, the very instant of the
breaking onset has to be captured, rather than any other phase 𝜀 = ak ∼ 0.2 (5)
of wave breaking, which is apparently not the case in experi-
ments other than those explicitly dedicated to studying the due to influence of short waves (spectrum tail). When a
incipient-breaking point. For example, Brown and Jensen dominant wave is already steep enough, the short waves on
(2001) who used “essentially the same experimental setup its front face can produce very steep water surface locally,
to generate and study breaking waves” as Rapp and Melville which will make the water surface to collapse and trigger the
(1990) indeed found that “wave breaking occurs when the breaking.
instantaneous local wave steepness (ka)max exceeds ∼0.44,”
whereas Rapp and Melville did not mention such large steep-
ness in their study. 4 WAVE SUPERPOSITION VERSUS
The field experiments, as far as observations of the MODULATIONAL INSTABILITY
breaking onset are concerned, suffer from even more serious
shortcomings. Majority of such measurements rely on white- If the waves break once they reach some limiting steepness,
capping and associated features to detect the breaking, and then the question of the wave breaking is to a great extent a
the waves only produce whitecapping when the breaking question of what can make water waves that steep. In simple
is already well in progress. Therefore, most of the field deep-water conditions such processes are two: superposition
observations deal with the developing and subsiding phases of waves and instability of nonlinear wave trains.
of the breaking process, and steepness of breakers at these
phases can be well below the limiting steepness in Equation 4.1 Linear and nonlinear wave focusing
1 and even below the mean steepness of the wave field.
To address this issue, Toffoli et al. (2010) investigated The wave superposition is often regarded as linear or
probability distribution of the steepness of individual waves, quasi-linear process, as opposed to the nonlinear evolution
based on two different field data sets and two sets obtained of wave groups due to modulational instability (Section 4.2).
in different directional wave tanks, and found a threshold for The superposition, however, can occur due to three different
the ultimate steepness as reasons. First, waves of different scales propagate with
different speeds. The ocean wave spectrum is continuous,
Hfront k therefore waves of all scales within the spectrum are present
𝜀= = 0.55 (3) and propagate at the same time, and in a random wave field
2
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe082
4 General
can pile up into a very high surface elevation. This is the the ocean, which is always turbulent, perturbations of all
most commonly perceived cause for the wave superposition, scales exist to initiate the instability, but then other features,
and this is the way the breaking is most often simulated such as directionality of wave fields, can prevent it.
in laboratory (Rapp and Melville, 1990). Depending on If the wave fields are stable, then in terms of wave breaking,
whether linearly (sinusoidal) or nonlinearly shaped (Stokes) such conditions are described in the superposition context as
waves are superposed, probability distributions for extreme in Section 4.1, with some correction for the sharper wave
wave heights, and particularly for wave crests and troughs, crests and flatter troughs. The probability of wave crests
are essentially different (see Wave and Crest Height should be approached through nonlinear approximations to
Distributions). the expected shape of Stokes waves, such as the second-order
The second reason for wave dispersion and possible super- wave crest distribution (see Wave and Crest Height Distri-
position is purely nonlinear. Waves of the same scale prop- butions). It should be noted that even at the second-order
agate with different speeds depending on their steepness. approximation the directionality of real wave fields compli-
Maximal phase-speed difference due to such correction is cates the conclusions and outcomes.
small, about 5%, but even this makes waves of similar The third-order effects, however, apart from further
frequency more likely to intersect, and this is very essen- nonlinear corrections to the wave shape, bring about
tial since such waves have similar amplitudes. Indeed, in a dynamic nonlinear exchanges and instabilities. The instabil-
wave field with the continuous spectrum, superposition can ities can lead to rare transient events of high and steep waves,
happen often, but the problem is that waves with different resulting in the breaking. These are, however, the events
speeds have very different amplitudes. As an approximate that can produce wave breaking unrelated to the superpo-
rule, if the Phillips spectrum of f− 5 is used as a scale, then sition/focusing of linear/nonlinear waves. Therefore, it is
if frequency f is doubled (i.e., phase speed is decreased important to understand first, which nonlinear wave trains
two times), the amplitude a on average will drop by some
√ and fields are stable and which are unstable.
32 ≈ 5.7 times. With the typical mean steepness of ocean
waves of Equation 2, this would require superposition of a
great number of individual waves in order to make a domi-
nant wave reach steepness in Equation 1 or even Equation 5,
4.2.1 Instability of unidirectional wave trains
which then appears as a low-probability event. For the waves
of the same scale, however, within wave field of mean steep- For monochromatic one-dimensional wave trains, instability
ness in Equation 2, superposition of only two waves is needed has been studied extensively over the years and its behavior
in order to reach value of Equation 5. Therefore, this second is well understood. Diagrams of the instability range go
reason should also be treated seriously. back to the original paper by Benjamin and Feir (1967)
In directional wave fields, even waves with the same and we can also refer the reader to a comprehensive review
frequency and same steepness, and therefore the same phase by Yuen and Lake (1982). The original research was done
speed, can be focused and superposed if they come from for waves of small steepness, and later Tulin and Waseda
different angles. Such situations are particularly likely in (1999) also estimated the instability range for steeper waves.
presence of swell, which are typical conditions in the ocean. Such diagrams show the growth rate of instability 𝛽 x normal-
This brings us to the third reason, directional. In this scenario, ized by the initial steepness of uniform monochromatic
again, waves of similar magnitudes can be added. It should waves 𝜀 = a0 k0 = ak; a0 , k0 , and 𝜔 = 𝜔0 are the amplitude,
be pointed out that while the focusing in the first and the wavenumber, and the radian frequency of the carrier wave,
last cases is apparently linear, last stages of the focused-wave respectively, and 𝛿𝜔 defines frequencies of the perturba-
dynamics demonstrate essentially nonlinear behaviors if the tions, to which the original wave train is unstable, that is,
steepness becomes large enough (Brown and Jensen, 2001). 𝜔 = 𝜔0 ± 𝛿𝜔. The combined parameter 𝛿𝜔/𝜀𝜔 determines
whether the train is stable or unstable subject to the perturba-
4.2 Instability of nonlinear wave trains tions. For waves of steepness 𝜀 = 0.05, for example, the insta-
bility range is from 𝛿𝜔/𝜀𝜔 = 0 to ∼ 1.33, with the maximum
Nonlinear wave trains are unstable with respect to some growth occurring at 𝛿𝜔/𝜀𝜔 ≈ 1, that is, for 𝛿𝜔/𝜔 ≈ 0.5. For
perturbations, even if very small, provided those fall within steeper waves, the instability range shrinks. In the present
some parametric range in terms of wave steepness and spec- article, we will call this parameter Modulational Index (MI ):
tral bandwidth (Zakharov, 1966, 1967; Benjamin and Feir,
1967). In such case, even perfectly uniform and initially a0 k0
monochromatic waves will start modulating themselves. In MI = (6)
𝛿𝜔∕𝜔
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe082
4.2.2 One-dimensional wave trains with full 4.2.3 Instability of directional wave fields
spectrum
Instability of directional wave fields is of key importance
One-dimensional wave trains with continuous wave for the topic of breaking waves. First of all, real ocean
spectrum have academic rather than practical interest. wind-forced waves are always directional. Second, it has
The wind-forced waves with continuous spectrum are been recognized very early that the modulational instability
always directional. Discussion of such one-dimensional is impaired or even suppressed in directional wave fields
full-spectrum academic case, however, is helpful as (McLean, 1982). Therefore, it is still an open question,
an intermediate step in the argument leading from the whether the real ocean wave fields are too broad or are still
quasi-monochromatic one-dimensional wave trains to the narrow enough for the instability to be present in such wave
two-dimensional surfaces with the full frequency-directional field.
wave spectrum. Qualitatively, this question was subject of some attention
It should be stressed that there is no strict analytical theory over the past decade. Quantitatively, Babanin et al. (2010)
for instability of waves with continuous spectrum. Credit suggested a directional analogue of MI as Directional Modu-
has to be given to Onorato et al. (2001) who introduced lational Index
an analogue of Index 1 for continuous wave spectra, where MId = A ⋅ ak (8)
some characteristic mean steepness was used instead of 𝜀
and a relative width of the wave spectrum instead of 𝛿𝜔/𝜔. which is effectively a ratio of steepness and normalized
Janssen (2003) conducted a detailed study of instability directional bandwidth A− 1 :
of such wave spectra by means of the Zakharov equation 𝜋
and concluded that MI ∼ 1 signals a transition from stable
(MI ≤ 1) to unstable (MI ≥ 1) wave fields. A(f ) −1
= K(f , 𝜙)d𝜙 (9)
∫
Ribal et al. (2013) investigated evolution of nonlinear −𝜋
wave trains with full spectrum, both unidirectional and direc-

where 𝜙 is the wave direction and K(f, 𝜙) the normalized
tional, by means of the Alber equation. Overall, their conclu-
directional spectrum
sions agree with the argument of Onorato et al. (2001) and
Janssen (2003), but they further pointed out that, unlike in
K(f , 𝜙max ) = 1 (10)
the monochromatic wave trains, steepness and bandwidth
for spectral waves are not unambiguous properties. For the
Here, higher values of A correspond to narrower direc-
most frequently used parameterization of wind-wave spectra,
tional distributions. That is MId would signify whether the
JONSWAP spectrum, the same steepness can be achieved
modulational instability takes place or not in the directional
either by varying the equilibrium level of the spectrum 𝛼 or
wave fields: if the directional spreading broadens, this can be
the peak enhancement factor 𝛾.
compensated by increasing the characteristic steepness, and
The two parameters, however, imply different physics with
vice versa.
respect to the instability. If 𝛾 is fixed and the steepness
Babanin et al. (2011) conducted a laboratory experiment
is increased by raising the total spectrum energy level 𝛼,
in a directional wave tank in order to answer the quantita-
such variation makes the spectrum broader and can slow
tive question of whether the modulational instability is still
down or even prevent the instability. If, on the contrary, 𝛼
active in directional wave trains with typical angular spreads
is fixed and 𝛾 is raised to increase the steepness, the effect is and typical mean steepness of those of the ocean waves.
opposite because the spectral peak becomes narrower, which In the frequency/wavenumber space the wave trains were
is what matters for instigation of the instability. Thus, based quasi-monochromatic, but their directional spectrum varied.
on their numerical simulations, Ribal et al. (2013) introduced They found the modulational-instability limit as
a new dimensionless property that describes transition to the
conditions of instability in case of JONSWAP spectrum: A∗ ak ≈ 0.18 (11)
𝜀 That is, for MId ≥ 0.18, directional wave trains are unstable.
Π1 = <1 (7)
𝛼𝛾 Such limit is quite feasible. For dominant waves in realistic
directional wind seas, A = 0.8–1.8. Therefore, with A ∼ 1
Before √
applying this equation, note that there may be a there should be ak ∼ 0.2, which is possible, and for A ∼ 1.8,
factor of 2 difference between various definitions for the there should be ak ∼ 0.11, which is typical steepness of ocean
wave steepness mentioned throughout. waves.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe082
6 General
Ribal et al. (2013), like with the one-dimensional spectrum At some stage, these highest individual waves start reaching
as described in Section 4.2.2, argued that for directional the height H, which signifies, for the wavelength of these
waves with continuous spectrum the criterion for transition individual waves, limiting steepness in Equation 1. At this
from stable to unstable seas has to account for the spectral Hs , these individual waves of Hm height will start breaking.
shape rather than mean steepness alone. For JONSWAP Therefore, Hm reaches its top limit in absolute terms, and
spectrum, their criterion is further increase of Hs will not be accompanied by subsequent
growth of Hm , but rather by progressively higher rates of
𝜀 𝛽 breaking occurrence.
Π2 = + < 1.1 (12)
𝛼𝛾 𝜀A This is indeed the behavior observed in nonlinear wave
trains in laboratory experiments and in the field. Babanin,
where 𝛽 = 0.00256 is an empirical parameter.
Young, and Banner (2001), for example, based on data for
Overall, problem of directionality of ocean waves is much
breaking of dominant waves obtained in the full range of
more complicated than outlined here. Apart from further
possible wave conditions, from a small lake to the Southern
issues related to the directional spreading of wave energy, it
Ocean and including the finite-depth environments, proposed
also connects to three-dimensional structure of wave crests
the following dependence for the breaking probability bT :
and the presence of quasi-one-dimensional wave groups on
the two-dimensional wave surfaces. These issues extend
beyond the scope of this article. bT = 85.1 ⋅ ((𝜀p − 0.055) ⋅ (1 + Hs ∕d))2.33 (13)
Here, d is the water depth, and the last term apparently

5 THRESHOLD STEEPNESS AND turns unity in deep water. Peak steepness 𝜀p is a statistical
CUMULATIVE EFFECT property rather than steepness of individual waves: this is
mean steepness of waves in the frequency range ± 0.3fp
The previous section describes the possible physical reasons around the spectral peak fp .
that can lead to a wave so steep that the water surface Thus, the ocean waves do not break if 𝜀p < 0.055, the
becomes unstable and the wave breaks. In the ocean, while fact of which is consistent with the modulational-instability
the superpositions definitely occur, there are indications that dynamics for such breaking and inconsistent with the
usually the breaking happens due to modulational instability. wave-superposition ideology. A number of other direct and
One of such indications is the existence of a threshold mean indirect evidences in the dynamics and kinematics of ocean
steepness. If a wave train or wave field has mean steep- breakers also support such conclusion; we refer the reader
ness below such threshold, the waves do not break. Typical to Babanin (2011) for more detailed discussions.
examples of such waves are the ocean swells. It should be emphasized that parameterization 13, and
If the breaking were due to superposition of waves, there more generally the argument for wave breaking being either
should be no such threshold. As the mean wave steep- due to wave superposition or due to instability of nonlinear
ness becomes lower, a superposition of a greater number of wave groups, is not directly applicable to the waves at wave-
waves would be required to reach the limiting steepness in lengths much shorter than spectral peak. While the argument
Equations 1, 4, or 5, but the breaking probability would only is not incorrect, other processes may lead to breaking of such
become zero when there were no waves. waves. Note that the notion of short wave here is relative,
This is not so in case of breaking due to modulational that is, it should be short by comparison with the dominant
instability. The breaking occurrence is zero for wave trains wavelength.
with steepness below some finite threshold. Short waves are affected by the longer waves in a number
The instability is a nonlinear effect, but it takes its course of different ways, and this influence often leads them to
even for infinitesimal waves. The initial wave trains become breaking. For example, longer waves modulate trains of
modulated, higher waves appear within the groups, but their superposed shorter waves, the latter become steeper closer
steepness remains small by comparison with Equation 1 and to the crests of long waves. If so, they will break more often
they do not break. As the mean steepness grows higher, the in the presence of the long waves. Thus, breaking of waves
dynamic nonlinear effects become stronger and the highest with frequency 2fp , apart from the inherent superposition and
individual waves within the modulated groups grow taller, instability reasons, will be influenced by waves with frequen-
in relative terms, with respect to the background wave train. cies f < 2fp , waves at 3fp by a broader range of scales f < 3fp ,
That is, the ratio of the maximal individual-wave height in and so on. The farther is the wave scale from the peak, the
the nonlinear wave train Hm to its significant wave height will higher breaking rates it will experience as a result of inte-
keep increasing as a function of significant wave height Hs . gral influence of all the progressively larger scales. In the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe082
end, its breaking rates are determined by this cumulative inte- frequency (Waseda and Tulin, 1999). Although we are
gral rather than by mean steepness of waves at this particular not discussing ocean currents in this article, it should be
scale. mentioned that shear currents and surface currents with
velocity gradients can also impose forcing on the surface
waves.
6 BREAKING SEVERITY Onorato and Proment (2012), by means of mapping of
forced solutions (in both growing and damping conditions)
Understanding the breaking onset and the nature of the immi- of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation, concluded that “an
nent breaking phase is essential for predicting and estimating initially stable (unstable) wave packet could be destabi-
the breaking probability, whereas the breaking-in-progress lized (stabilized) by the wind (dissipation).” In experimental
phases, that is, the developing breaking and the subsiding studies, Babanin et al. (2010) demonstrated that wind forcing
breaking allow us to estimate the breaking severity. The affects both the frequency of occurrence of wave breaking
residual breaking is the dynamics of the upper ocean after the and its severity, and slows down the instability growth.
broken wave has already left the location, such as subsurface Galchenko et al. (2012) tested the effect of the wind forcing
propagation of the turbulent jet and work of buoyancy forces on the severity of wave breaking caused by the modula-
on the bubbles, and will not be further discussed here. tional instability, in laboratory experiments. Reduction of the
Combining the knowledge of breaking rates and breaking breaking severity due to strong wind forcing was very signif-
severity should lead to experimental description of wave icant.
energy dissipation. This is a central task, for example, in At wind speeds in excess of U10 ∼ 33 m/s, changes of the
wave forecasting, but with some exceptions this work is physical regimes take place in all environments near the
still to be done. Understanding the breaking severity is also air–sea interface: in the atmospheric boundary layer, at the
important for the ocean engineering and coastal engineering ocean interface, and through the upper ocean. At the surface,
applications. the most apparent feature is the change of the physics of wave
Breaking severity, that is how much energy is lost in breaking. The wind forcing is so strong that the waves grow
a breaking event, is defined by the process of the wave to the limiting steepness before the modulational instability
collapse. Dynamics of the collapse only seems chaotic. In or wave superposition can take their course. We refer the
fact, the breaking waves appear to “remember” how it came reader to Babanin (2011) for more detailed review of this
to the point of collapse. For example, wave breaking due issue.
to linear focusing releases a certain fraction of the initial
wave energy (Rapp and Melville, 1990), whereas a wave
breaking as a result of modulational instability can loose
from 0% to 100% of wave energy, that is, in the latter case, 8 CONCLUSIONS
the severity can range from a mere toppling of the tip of the
crest all the way to complete disappearance of the breaking In this article, we discussed the topic of wave breaking.
wave. While there have been attempts to parameterize the While a lot of progress in research of the breaking has been
breaking severity in terms of properties of the modulated done over the past 20 years, and this phenomenon can no
wave trains (Galchenko et al., 2012), the topic of breaking longer be regarded as poorly understood, much is yet to be
severity needs further attention of the research and ocean done.
engineering communities. Wave-breaking rates are now well parameterized and can
be predicted with some confidence, but the nature of breaking
onset in conditions of waves with full spectrum needs further
7 WIND FORCING attention. Since the breaking limits the wave growth from
above, this is the question of what and when maximal wave
Ocean waves of interest are always subject to wind forcing. heights can be reached, which is the issue of utmost signifi-
While at certain conditions the wind can enhance the cance for the ocean engineering design.
modulational-instability growth (Waseda and Tulin, 1999), The topic of breaking severity is less explored. The
the overall effect of the wind on waves appears to be that of energy/momentum loss in a breaking event defines coastal
a limiter. Strong forcing can blow the wave crests away and and maritime engineering applications, but robust descrip-
reduce the limiting wave-breaking steepness (Babanin et al., tion and parameterizations of this quantity are still missing.
2010). Even weak forcing, however, can change the rate of This loss occurs between the breaking onset and its cessa-
instability growth and the parameter range for the instability tion, and for now there is no guidance on when and why a
existence, such as the natural selection of the modulational breaking event stops.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe082
8 General
Combining the dependences for wave-breaking probability Babanin, A.V., Young, I.R., and Banner, M.L. (2001) Breaking prob-
and breaking severity would lead to an observation-based abilities for dominant surface waves on water of finite constant
depth. Journal of Geophysical Research, C106, 11659–11676.
parameterization of whitecapping dissipation, a key term
in any wave-forecast model. Such attempts are now in Babanin, A.V., Chalikov, D., Young, I.R., and Savelyev, I. (2010)
Numerical and laboratory investigation of breaking of steep
progress. It should be pointed out that the model spectra
two-dimensional waves in deep water. Journal of Fluid Mechanics,
are always directional, but the directional distribution of the 644, 433–463.
wave energy dissipation is still an open question. Babanin, A.V., Waseda, T., Kinoshita, T., and Toffoli, A. (2011) Wave
Finally, it should be stressed that waves in deep water in breaking in directional fields. Journal of Physical Oceanography,
standard background conditions were discussed here. The 41, 145–156.
presence of ocean currents, particularly those with horizontal Benjamin, T.B. and Feir, J.E. (1967) The disintegration of wave trains
and vertical velocity gradients, and the presence of sea ice, in deep water. Part 1. Theory. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 27,
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Cumulative Signifies influence of small-scale B.K. (2012) Influence of wind forcing on modulation and breaking
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RELATED ARTICLES Oceanography, 16, 290–297.
Janssen, P.A.E.M. (2003) Nonlinear four-wave interactions and freak
Wind, Wave and Current Modeling and Prediction waves. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 33, 863–884.
Potential Wave Theory, Instability of Wave Trains
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Magazine Series, 5 (365), 430–437. Maximum steepness of oceanic waves. Geophysical Research
Onorato, M., Osborne, A.R., Serio, M., and Bertone, S. (2001) Freak Letters, 37, 1–4. doi: 10.1029/2009GL041771
wave in random oceanic sea states. Physical Review Letters, 86, Tulin, M.P. and Waseda, T. (1999) Laboratory observations of wave
5831–5834. group evolution, including breaking effects. Journal of Fluid
Onorato, M. and Proment, D. (2012) Approximate rogue wave solu- Mechanics, 378, 197–232.
tions of the forced and damped nonlinear Schrodinger equation for Waseda, T. and Tulin, M.P. (1999) Experimental study of the stability
water waves. Physics Letters A, 376, 3057–3059. of deep-water wave trains including breaking effects. Journal of
Rapp, R.J. and Melville, W.K. (1990) Laboratory measurements Fluid Mechanics, 401, 55–84.
of deep-water breaking waves. Philosophical Transactions of the Weissman, M.A., Atakturk, S.S., and Katsaros, K.B. (1984) Detec-
Royal Society of London, A311, 735–800. tion of breaking events in a wind-generated wave field. Journal of
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M. (2013) Recurrent solutions of Alber equation initialized by Yuen, H.C. and Lake, B.M. (1982) Nonlinear dynamics of deep-water
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Smith, M.J., Poulter, E.M., and McGregor, J.A. (1996) Doppler radar Zakharov, V.E. (1966) The instability of waves in nonlinear disper-
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe082
Rotational Waves, Wave Turbulence, and Wave
Attenuation
Sergei I. Badulin
P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia
In this article, we, first, discuss a close link of effects of

1 Introduction 1 rotationality (vorticity) and viscosity. Then, basic solutions
2 Rotational Surface Waves within the Euler for rotational water waves in Euler and Lagrangian descrip-
Description 1 tions are presented.
3 Rotational Waves within the Lagrangian The statistical description of random wave field is based
Description 4 essentially on the theory of potential weakly nonlinear
waves. The corresponding kinetic equation (Hasselmann,
4 Statistical Description of Water Waves 5
1962) can be derived from the dynamical equations (the
5 Summary 9
so-called Zakharov’s equations) in a consistent way with
Acknowledgment 9 no account of effects of vorticity and viscosity. The latter
Glossary 9 effects are introduced phenomenologically or empirically as
References 9 parametrical expressions that contain a number of param-
eters to be specified for particular physical environment.
These parameterizations are widely used in wind-wave fore-
casting and modeling and their verification and theoretical
1 INTRODUCTION justification is a burning problem of the today wind-wave
physics.
Gravity water waves in marine applications and research
models are generally described as irrotational (potential),
nonviscous flows (see Inviscid Hydrodynamics, Potential
Wave Theory, Instability of Wave Trains). Both vorticity
2 ROTATIONAL SURFACE WAVES
and viscous dissipation are usually considered weak and are WITHIN THE EULER DESCRIPTION
accounted for as minor corrections in sea wave problems.
Sometimes, these corrections refer to exact or approximate 2.1 Basic equations
solutions of fluid mechanics, sometimes do not. In many
cases, empirical or heuristical parameterizations of these Waves on the surface of seas, lakes, and other natural basins
effects are used for describing very complicated processes can be described with high accuracy by the model of incom-
of wave transformation in heavily turbulent sea environment, pressible fluid of constant density with no account of effects
where motions of different scales force waves to attenuate or of the Earth rotation. The Navier–Stokes equations in this
to grow. case take the following form:
( )
Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering, online © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 𝜕u p |u|2
+𝛁 + gz + = u × rot u + 𝜈Δu (1)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe075
𝜕t 𝜌 2
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2
div u = 0 (2)
2 General
Here 𝜈 is viscosity coefficient. Equation 1 should be accom- of equations. The linear Laplace equation should be solved
panied by boundary condition of vanishing speed u at the in three dimensions (x, y, z)
bottom z = −h(x, y) and kinematic boundary condition at the
free surface z = 𝜁 (x, y, t). We write the latter one for hori- Δ𝜙 = 0 (9)
zontal and vertical components of speed u = (uh , w)
[ ]1∕2 with heavily nonlinear boundary conditions at the free

𝜕𝜁
= −uh 𝛁h 𝜁 − w = uh ⋅ n 1 + (𝛁h 𝜁)2 (3) surface z = 𝜁(x, y)
𝜕t
( ) |𝛁 𝜙|2𝜁
Vector n is normal to the water surface. Generally, 𝜕𝜙 pa
Equations 1 and 2 with boundary condition (3) should + g𝜁 + − 𝛾div[(1 + |𝛁𝜁 |2 )−1∕2 𝛁 𝜁 ] = −
𝜕t 𝜁 2 𝜌
be accompanied by equations of air over water and by the
corresponding dynamical condition at the interface. Under (10)
some assumptions, the dynamical condition can be written ( )
𝜕𝜁 𝜕𝜙
as a balance of forces at the surface = − (𝛁 𝜙)𝜁 𝛁𝜁 (11)
𝜕t 𝜕z 𝜁
𝛁h 𝜁
p − pa = 𝛾𝜌div (4) Equations 10 and 11 contain three unknown functions of
[1 + |𝛁h 𝜁|2 ]1∕2
horizontal coordinates x, y and time t: 𝜁(x, y, t), Φ(x, y, t) =
Here capillary forces are taken into account with surface 𝜙(x, y, 𝜁, t) and 𝜕𝜙∕𝜕zz=𝜁 . The latter one can be expressed
tension coefficient 𝛾(𝛾 = 74 cm3 ∕s2 for clean water surface). as function of two first quantities after solving the Laplace
Our next step is to present the field of Eulerian velocities as equation (9). The total energy of vertical water column of
a superposition of potential and vortical components, that is, unity cross-section, thus, can be written as follows
{ 𝜁 [( ]}
u=𝛁 𝜙+v (5) 1 1 2 )
2 1∕2
E=𝜌 |𝛁 𝜙| dz + g𝜁 + 𝛾 1 + |𝛁𝜁 |
2
−1
2 ∫−h 2
Here, 𝜙 is the hydrodynamical potential of velocity (see (12)
Inviscid Hydrodynamics, Potential Wave Theory, Insta- Mean over horizontal coordinates value  = Ẽ is a func-
bility of Wave Trains) and v = rot A the velocity solenoidal tional of two functions 𝜁 and Φ. For free waves (with no
(vortical) component. Evident relationships are useful for forcing and damping),  is the Hamilton function with
further discussion canonical coordinate Φ (hydrodynamic potential at free
surface) and canonical momentum 𝜁 (surface elevation), that
div u = Δ𝜙 = 0 (6) is,
𝜕Φ 𝛿 𝜕𝜁 𝛿
=− ; = (13)
that is, continuity equation (mass conservation) is deter- 𝜕t 𝛿𝜁 𝜕t 𝛿Φ
mined completely by the potential part of the velocity field.
Similarly, well-known relationships of vector algebra give (Zakharov, 1968). Thus, the potential theory of water waves
for the solenoidal component does not imply dissipative effects and can be formulated
as one of the Hamiltonian system (Equation 13). The wave
rot u = −ΔA; Δu = Δv (7) dissipation can be introduced as formally small perturba-
tion of Equation 13 by considering rotational motions or
Equation 7 is presenting an extremely important result: phenomenologically as a result of a variety of physical
viscosity effects vanish in potential flows. The right-hand mechanisms that force waves to decay.
side of Equation 1 is plain zero in this case and can be written
in terms of potential 𝜙 as the Bernoulli equation
2.2 Linear potential water waves. Important
𝜕𝜙 p |𝛁𝜙|2 solutions and cases
+ + gz + =0 (8)
𝜕t 𝜌 2
Linear potential waves allow for fixing important prob-
This equation can be considered at the free surface z = lems of wave dynamics and, especially, accounting for
𝜁(x, y) only when excluding pressure p with the dynamical effects of vorticity and wave dissipation. Equations 9–11
boundary condition (4). Thus, the potential approximation can be reduced to a system of linear equations assuming
for surface water waves is reduced to the following system wave amplitudes to be infinitely small (see Potential Wave
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe075
Rotational Waves, Wave Turbulence, and Wave Attenuation 3
Theory, Instability of Wave Trains), that is, This is the Stokes drift: particle trajectories are not closed
but have a shape of spirals. The drift velocity has an order of
Δ𝜙 = 0 (14) squared wave amplitude a2 .
( ) Taking into account a small dissipation, say, due to
𝜕𝜙
+ g𝜁 − 𝛾Δ𝜁 = 0 (15) boundary effects leads to quite surprising result. The solu-
𝜕t 0 tion can be constructed by adding a vortical component of
( )
𝜕𝜁 𝜕𝜙 velocity field in the spirit of boundary layer approach. Thus,
= (16) u = v + 𝛁𝜙 (Equation 5). A small viscosity near a bottom
𝜕t 𝜕z 0
produces a rotational motion that decays exponentially
and with the boundary condition at the bottom beyond the boundary layer where the width 𝛿 = (2𝜈∕𝜔)1∕2 is
small as compared with the wavelength. Thus, this rotational
𝜕𝜙 motion is able to compensate the potential flow at the bottom
=0 at z = −h(x, y) (17)
𝜕n z = −h to satisfy viscous boundary condition but is decaying
exponentially from the bottom. The rotational part of the
For a flat bottom h = const, one has solutions in the form of wave motion
free propagating waves:
a𝜔 exp (−z′ ∕𝛿) cos (𝜒 + z′ ∕𝛿)
v=− (24)
𝜁 = a cos (kx − 𝜔t) (18) sinh (kh)
a𝜔 cosh [|k|(z + h)]
𝜙= ⋅ sin (kx − 𝜔t) (19) can be plugged into equations of particle motion (21) in order
|k| sinh (|k|h)
to find an averaged value of particle velocity drift dealing
𝜔2 = (g|k| + 𝛾|k|3 ) tanh(|k|h) (20) with rotational component v. It gives a paradoxical result
Small viscous dissipation of the waves described by ⟨vbottom ⟩ = 3∕2⟨u⟩ (25)

Equations 18–20 can be taken into account easily by simply
adding an imaginary parts to wave frequency 𝜔 or/and to that is, the additional term has the same order of smallness
wave number |k|. Generally, such approach is sufficient in wave amplitude a2 and, what is more surprising, does not
as long as we consider small corrections to relatively large depend on viscosity coefficient 𝜈 being originated from the
values. This is not the case for some problems, say, for the effect of viscosity.
problem of drift due to wave motion. Similar analysis can be carried out for the effect of viscous
Let us estimate drift of liquid particles in a plane waves boundary layer near the free surface with a minor difference:
described by Equations 18–20. Velocities of these particles one needs to change the reference system of coordinate to
can be associated with Eulerian velocities when deviations one moving with wave phase velocity. Again, the drift due
x′ = x − x0 and z′ = z − z0 from an initial state (x0 , z0 ) are to small rotational motions in the boundary layer near the
small. Thus, the particle coordinates x′ , z′ (we consider the free surface appears to be proportional to nonrotational one
motion in a plane wave propagating in x-direction) (Equation 23)
a𝜔 cosh (𝜇 + kz′ ) ⟨vsurface ⟩ = 2⟨u⟩ (26)
dx′
= cos(𝜒 + kx′ ) (21)
dt sinh (kh)
Note that the effect of near-surface viscous boundary layer
dz′ a𝜔 sinh (𝜇 + kz′ )
= sin(𝜒 + kx′ ) (22) exists at deep water as well. The viscous attenuation of water
dt sinh (kh) waves can be associated with this effect that gives for energy
dissipation
Here, we introduce notations k for x component of
wavevector k, 𝜇 = k(z0 + h) for dimensionless depth, Ė = 2𝜈𝜔k2 a2 (27)
and 𝜒 = kx0 − 𝜔t for wave phase. Equations 21 and 22 can
be solved by consecutive approximations and in the first step The above example shows clearly the role of rotational
give elliptical trajectories of particles. Thus, the drift is plain motions in wave dissipation. Generally, the effect is small
zero in this approximation. A mean speed of the particle and can be taken into account within approximate models.
drift appears in the next order of approximation: At the same time, small but important effects such as particle
drift due to waves require special consideration and cannot
a2 k𝜔 cosh (2𝜇) be ignored completely when the viscosity coefficient 𝜈 is
⟨u⟩ ≈ ; ⟨w⟩ ≈ 0 (23) vanishing.
2 sinh (kh)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe075
4 General
3 ROTATIONAL WAVES WITHIN THE

LAGRANGIAN DESCRIPTION 0
3.1 The Gerstner waves
Y
−π
The today hydrodynamics is based mainly on Euler descrip-
tion when time and coordinates are considered as indepen-
dent variables and the fluid motion is characterized by vector
2π
field of velocities u(x, t) and scalar fields of pressure p(x, t) 0 π 2π 3π 4π
and density 𝜌(x, t). X
The alternative Lagrangian approach operates with coordi-
nates of fluid particles (x, y, z) as functions of time t and, as Figure 1. Lines of constant pressure for the Gerstner wave
it is often introduced, of initial coordinates of these particles (Equations 29, 30) with A = k = 1 (solid line) and trajectories of
(x0 , y0 , z0 ). Generally, the initial coordinates themselves can particles at the wave free surface b = 0, a = 2𝜋 and isobaths b =
−𝜋∕2 and b = −𝜋 (dashed).
be considered as functions of a number of parameters–the
Lagrangian variables
contrast to the potential waves considered above (Equations
x = X(a, b, c, t); y = Y(a, b, c, t); z = Z(a, b, c, t) (28) 21–23). Vorticity in these waves is not zero, that is,
The Lagrangian approach is rarely used in the today hydrody- 2k3 A2 c exp(2kb)
namics because of cumbersome equations and their sophis- Ω= (31)
1 − k2 A2 exp (2kb)
ticated nonlinearity. In particular, the continuity equation
for incompressible fluid, which is linear within the Euler and decays exponentially with depth. Stress again that the
approach (Equation 2), within the Lagrangian description Gerstner waves reproduce some features of linear potential
becomes heavily nonlinear. An important advantage of the waves being essentially nonlinear and rotational. It can be
Lagrangian approach is the rigid link of the Lagrangian vari- shown easily that pressure at the free surface is constant for
ables (a, b, c) with the fluid domain. The boundary conditions these waves, thus, these solutions satisfy boundary condi-
for the free surface fluid can be formulated as constant values tions for free propagating waves.
of (a, b, c). Thus, this approach can be advantageous in some
special cases.
3.2 Ptolemaic flows and generalization of the
The Gerstner waves are the best known rotational wave
solutions written as follows in the Lagrangian variables
Gerstner solutions
(Equation 28)
A new family of exact solutions for rotational surface waves
has been described recently by Abrashkin and Oshmarina
X = a − A exp (kb) sin(ka − 𝜔t) (29)
(2014) as a generalization of the rotational Gerstner waves.
Y = b − B exp (kb) cos (ka − 𝜔t) (30) These solutions are particular cases of more general class of
the so-called Ptolemaic flows (Abrashkin and Yakubovich,
They describe gravity waves on the free surface of fluid of 2006) and can be written in remarkably concise form in the
infinite depth (b < 0). The dispersion relationship (20) for complex Lagrangian variables as follows
linear potential gravity waves between wave frequency 𝜔
and wavenumber k appears to be valid for these inherently W = G(𝜒) + F(𝜒 ∗ ) exp(−i𝜔t) (Im 𝜒 ≤ 0) (32)
nonlinear rotational waves as well. At any fixed time t, the
free surface of the wave is a cycloid of radius A. The cycloid Here, W = X + iY and X, Y are Cartesian coordinates of the
propagates at speed c = 𝜔k−1 –wave phase speed. The solu- fluid particles, 𝜒 = a + ib the Lagrangian variables of the
tions are physically relevant when there is no self-crossing fluid, and superscript ∗ denotes complex conjugate value.
of the free surface, that is, A ≤ k−1 . G and F are arbitrary analytical functions. G should be
The limiting case A = k−1 corresponds to the wave profile single-valued, that is, its derivative cannot be zero in the flow
with sharp crests as shown in Figure 1 for A = k = 1. Each domain. The fluid particle trajectories are circles with radius
line corresponds to a constant value of pressure. Every liquid |F|. This radius decays with depth exponentially, that is,
particle in the wave is traveling along a circle with radius
A exp(kb), that is, there is no mean drift in these waves in |F| → 0, as b → −∞ (33)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe075
and is maximal at free surface. The Gerstner wave solutions and in the Lagrange descriptions of wave motions. It justi-
considered above correspond to the expression fies the use of potential theory in a number of problems of
wave modeling and forecasting (see Phase-Resolving Wave
W = 𝜒 + iA exp[i(k𝜒 ∗ − 𝜔t)] (34) Modeling and Spectral Wave Modeling). Below, we focus
on statistical approach for potential waves under effect of
and constant pressure at the free surface. In general case weak dissipation.
(32), pressure at the free surface depends on the horizontal We consider potential water waves described by dynamical
Lagrangian coordinate a. The occurrence of extreme (freak equations (8–11) in absence of external forcing (say, wind
or rogue) waves is discussed for the exact rotational solutions effect) and dissipation. The latter effects can be incorporated
(Abrashkin and Soloviev, 2013), (Abrashkin and Oshmarina, phenomenologically into the conservative formulation as
2014) in spite of the question on mechanism of the pressure formally small terms. In particular, the approximate solution
variations. These solutions reproduce some key features of (Equation 27) can be taken into consideration to formulate
the extreme waves: high amplitudes that cannot be reached an explicit model of wave dissipation. The Hamiltonian
for steady potential waves and existence of both elevation equations for water waves (Equation 13) can also be used as
and depression waves. an alternative form that makes the resulting equations to be
more symmetrical and opens fair prospects of deeper theo-
3.3 Effect of viscosity on rotational waves retical analysis within the well-developed apparatus of the
today theoretical physics (Zakharov, Lvov and Falkovich,
Analysis of viscous solutions for the rotational waves is 1992).
extremely complicated problem. An approximate solution A breakthrough can be made within the approximation of
can be found in the Lagrangian variables for linear rota- weak nonlinearity, that is, under assumption of wave ampli-
tional waves that are close to the Gerstner solutions (29, 30) tude smallness. This assumption is generally formalized as
with A, B to be formally small. Stress again, these solutions smallness of wave steepness defined here as follows
differ from the corresponding Euler linear solutions in the
second order of the wave amplitude smallness. At the same 𝜇 = akp (35)
time, the viscous decrement, which is also quadratic in wave
amplitude, appears to be the same for both (Lagrangian and where a is an amplitude. In a random wave field, it
Eulerian) approaches being expressed by Equation 27. is useful to define
Note that effect of viscous damping can be consid- √ √ a as wave amplitude dispersion or
a = < 𝜁𝜁 ∗ > = E (E is the total wave energy and 𝜁 the
ered for weakly nonlinear rotational waves that lead to
free surface elevation, see Section 2.1 angle brackets mean
the Nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) with linear
ensemble averaging) and kp as one of a dominant component.
damping (Abrashkin and Bodunova, 2013) in the limit
It is useful to follow the Hamiltonian formulation (13)
of high Reynolds numbers (see Potential Wave Theory,
of equations for weakly nonlinear water waves (Zakharov,
Instability of Wave Trains).
1999). In this case, the Hamilton function, density of total
energy, is represented as an asymptotic series in formally
4 STATISTICAL DESCRIPTION small parameter of wave steepness and can be written as
follows (Zakharov, 1999)
OF WATER WAVES
∑
+∞
4.1 Reduced Zakharov’s equations (Φ, 𝜁) = 0 + 1 + 2 + i (36)
i=3
Viscosity is a ‘self-evident’ mechanism of wave transforma-
tion that leads to wave attenuation and coexists with a number where 0 is quadratic in variables Φ, 𝜁 (Equation 13), that is,
of other physical phenomena. One should fix some impor- this term describes linear noninteracting waves. Higher order
tant points of the above consideration. First, the attenuation terms can be treated as interactions of (i + 1) waves. Gener-
due to viscosity is linked inherently with rotational part of ally, two terms of the series 1 , 2 are discussed in water
wave motion (Section 2.1), that is, the approach of irrota- wave studies. The term of three-wave interactions 1 is of
tional, potential waves is not sufficient for the effect descrip- key importance for dynamics of capillary waves. Dynamics
tion. At the same time, in the limit of small wave attenua- of nonlinear deep water waves requires the next-order term
tion, the perturbation approaches for potential and rotational 2 of four-wave interactions to be taken into account. In
waves give the same results both qualitatively and quantita- some special cases, the term 3 describing the interac-
tively. Moreover, these results are the same both in the Euler tions of five harmonics can play an essential role in wave
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe075
6 General
dynamics. In particular, these interactions can be respon- for weakly interacting particles makes natural a passage to
sible for features of three dimensionality of water wave field statistical description of random water wave field, that is,
(Badulin, Shrira, and Kharif, 1996). to the kinetic equation for weakly interacting ensemble of
The Hamiltonian formulation provides powerful tools of wave harmonics. For deep water waves, this step has been
manipulations with wave equations using canonical trans- first done by Hasselmann (1962) and the kinetic equation
form. First, Equation (13) can be rewritten in a form of is now known as the Hasselmann equation. This equation
integro-differential equations for the Fourier transforms of appears to be just a limiting case of the quantum kinetic
Φ, 𝜁 in coordinate space. Then, normal variables can be intro- equation for phonons proposed by Nordheim (1928).
duced, that is, the pair of primitive Hamiltonian variables Being derived by Hasselmann (1962) from the equations
Φ, 𝜁 can be replaced by single complex variable. Finally, the of potential surface waves, the kinetic equation is generally
canonical transformation can be continued in order to remove treated as one for spectral densities of the primitive phys-
some terms in the asymptotic series (Equation 36) and to ical variables–surface elevation and hydrodynamic poten-
keep the essential part of the Hamilton function . The tial (see Frequency-Direction Spectra of Wind-Generated
resulting Hamiltonian is the effective Hamilton function see Gravity Waves, Spectral Wave Modeling). In fact, this
(Zakharov, 1999) and the corresponding equations are known approximation is valid for small amplitude deep water waves
as the reduced Zakharov’s equations (Krasitskii, 1994). only. The Hamiltonian approach developed by Zakharov
These equations contain very few terms corresponding to (1966), Zakharov (1999) proposes more elegant and mathe-
wave–wave interactions 2 ⇐⇒ 2 and 2 ⇐⇒ 3 only. Other matically transparent way to this equation written as follows
nonlinear interactions such as 1 ⇐⇒ 2, 1 ⇐⇒ 3, 1 ⇐⇒ 4,
𝜕Nk
0 ⇐⇒ 3, 0 ⇐⇒ 4, 0 ⇐⇒ 5 are absent in the resulting expres- + ∇k 𝜔k ∇r Nk = Snl + Sin + Sdiss (38)
sions because they are nonresonant. Thus, in terms of special 𝜕t
normal variables b(k), the reduced Zakharov equations for for the so-called spectral density of wave action
deep water waves can be written in quite concise form Nk = |b(k)|2 ⟩ (Equation 40). Like the normal variables
b(k) in dynamical equations (Equation 37), the wave action
𝜕b(k) Nk is related to the primitive Fourier amplitudes squared
= ib(k)
𝜕t by a nonlinear transformation that accumulates effects of
i nonresonant wave–wave interactions and leaves effective
+ T b∗ b b 𝛿(k +k −k −k )dk dk dk
2∫ 0123 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 1 2 3 resonances only in the resulting term of nonlinear transfer Snl
3
+i W b∗ b b b 𝛿(k +k −k −k −k )dk dk dk dk
2∫ 01234 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 Snl = 𝜋g2 |T0123 |2 (N0 N1 N2 + N1 N2 N3 − N0 N1 N2 − N0 N1 N3 )
∫
+ i W34012 b∗1 b∗2 b3 b4 𝛿(k0 +k1 −k2 +k3 −k4 )dk1 dk2 dk3 dk4 × 𝛿(k + k1 − k2 − k3 )𝛿(𝜔0 + 𝜔1 − 𝜔2 − 𝜔3 )dk1 dk2 dk3
∫
(39)
(37)
A key step that makes the kinetic equation (38) to be a tool
Subscripts of kernels T0123 , W01234 denote arguments ki of wind-wave forecasting is incorporating nonconservative
(i = 0, 1, · · ·) in convention of Krasitskii (1994). Stress that terms of wind generation Sin and wave dissipation Sdiss . The
normal variables b(k) in Equation 37 are not Fourier compo- latter terms are associated with a variety of physical mech-
nents now but they are related to these components by a anisms of which today knowledge is rather limited. This is
nonlinear canonical transform (Krasitskii, 1994), (Zakharov, why a number of phenomenological parameterizations of
1999). Expressions for kernels T, W can be found in papers these terms are widely used.
cited above. A collection of different formulas for the The term of wind input is generally based on the Cherenkov
four-wave kernels T0123 in Equation 37 is given in Badulin mechanism of wave generation and exploits the following
et al. (2005). quasi-linear ansatz
Sin = 𝛽(k)Nk (40)

4.2 Kinetic (the Hasselmann) equation for water
waves where
{ ( )r
𝜚 Uh U
The weakly nonlinear equations (Equation 37) are widely 𝛽(k) B 𝜚a cos 𝜃 − 1 > 0, Ch cos 𝜃 > 1
= w Cp p
used in modeling wave dynamics (see Spectral Wave 𝜔 otherwise
Modeling). An evident analogy of these equations with ones (41)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe075
that is, waves are generated when they propagate slower than Here, 𝜔̄ is a mean over spectrum frequency. Exponents n and
wind (Cp is the wave phase speed, Uh the wind speed at m are considered as tuning parameters. By default n = 2, m =
a reference height, and 𝜃 the angle between directions of 2. The dimensionless coefficient Cdiss is a subject of tuning
wave and wind) exponent r, usually, keeps value 1 or 2 in of a model in use and can vary in a wide range. The today
equation 4. The wave increment 𝛽 is proportional to the ratio wave modeling and forecasting propose a number of options
of densities of air 𝜚a and water 𝜚w with dimensionless coef- for parameterizing wave dissipation (Cavaleri et al., 2007)
ficient B in a range 0.04 − 0.2 (Plant, 1982), (Donelan and that can be considered as development and improvement of
Pierson Jr., 1987). Details of this approach can be found in the authentic approach by Hasselmann (1974) but the latter
review by Cavaleri et al. (2007) and manuals for forecasting remains a reference one.
models of wind waves such as WAM (Günther, Hasselmann Bearing in mind rather high uncertainty of modeling wave
and Janssen, 1992) or WaveWatch (Tolman, 2009). A collec- generation and dissipation, we focus below on a phys-
tion of dependencies (Equation 41) is shown in Figure 2. ical mechanism of wave evolution that can be described
Processes of wave dissipation are incomparably less under- explicitly. This mechanism is resonant four-wave interac-
stood that is reflected quite definitely by recent works (Cava- tions described by the term Snl (Equation 38) in the kinetic
leri et al., 2007). One should stress that the abovementioned equation (39).
theoretical results of Sections 2.1 and 3 on wave attenuation
are not directly relevant to the today statistical description
of wind waves and to the corresponding research and fore- 4.3 Wave turbulence of wind-driven seas. The
casting models based on this description. The dissipation Kolmogorov–Zakharov solutions for wind
mechanisms incorporated into these models imply heavily waves
turbulent and nonlinear processes such as wave breaking.
The general form of the dissipation term proposed by Hassel- The Hasselmann equation (38) is quite often associated
mann (1974) includes dependence both on dimensionless with its counterpart from the kinetic theory of gases. In
frequency of wave harmonics and wave steepness of wave contrast to the latter one, the term responsible for wave (or
field 𝜇 normalized by a reference value 𝜇PM = 4.57 × 10−3 particle) interactions Snl is known in explicit form for the
for the spectrum of fully developed sea by Pierson and weakly nonlinear water waves. It opens a way to analyt-
Moskowitz (1964): ical results that describe basic regimes of evolution of deep
water wave field in absence of external forcing: direct and
( ) n ( 𝜇 )m
𝜔 inverse cascades known as the Kolmogorov–Zakharov solu-
Sdiss = Cdiss 𝜔 (42)
𝜔̄ 𝜇PM tions. The existence of these solutions is closely linked with
homogeneity properties of the collision integral Snl , that is,
any distribution N(k) being shrunk in argument k and magni-
10−1 tude obeys the following relationship
Snl [𝜈N(𝜐k)] = 𝜈 3 𝜐19∕2 Snl [N(k)] (43)

10−2
This property has been used by Zakharov and Filonenko

β( ω)/ω at Θ= 0
10−3 (1966) to get the first Kolmogorov–Zakharov solution for

direct cascade. For energy spectrum E(𝜔) (see Spectral
Hsiao Wave Modeling), this solution determines the link between
10−4 Snyder
Plant the spectrum level and constant energy flux from large to
Stewart infinitely small scales
10−5 Donelan
g4∕3 P1∕3
E(𝜔) = Cp (44)
10−6 𝜔4
100 ω U10 /g 101
This solution resembles the Kolmogorov spectrum of homo-
Figure 2. Dependence of wind-wave growth rate on nondimen- geneous isotropic turbulence (Monin and Yaglom 2007)
sional frequency 𝜔U10 ∕g in log and linear scales given by different which physical nature has been described by Lewis Fry
experimental parameterizations (see legends). (Reproduced from Richardson in famous rhyming verse:
Badulin et al. (2005). © Sergei Badulin/licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License, Big whirls have little whirls that feed on their velocity,
2005.) and little whirls have lesser whirls and so on to viscosity.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe075
8 General
In contrast to the strong hydrodynamic turbulence, water the wave scales. Homogeneity properties of Equation 47
waves propose a remarkable example of transport of the allows for constructing self-similar solutions for reference
motion quantities in opposite sense: from small to large cases of wind-wave growth. These solutions correspond
scales. The solution for the inverse cascade (Zakharov and to power-law dependencies of total wave energy (or wave
Zaslavsky, 1983) corresponds to a constant flux of wave height) and characteristic wave frequency (frequency of
action Q and to energy spectrum with slightly weaker depen- spectral peak or mean over wave scales) on time (the
dence on wave frequency so-called duration-limited growth)
g4∕3 Q1∕3 E = E0 (t∕t0 )p𝜏 ; 𝜔p = 𝜔0 (t∕t0 )−q𝜏 (48)

E(𝜔) = Cq (45)
𝜔11∕3
Coefficients Cp , Cq in Equations 44 and 45 are fundamental or fetch (fetch-limited growth)
Kolmogorov’s constants in the theory of weak turbulence.
For water waves (Zakharov, 2010) E = E0 (t∕t0 )p𝜒 ; 𝜔p = 𝜔0 (t∕t0 )−q𝜒 (49)
Cp = 0.219; Cq = 0.227 (46) Thus, the self-similar solutions predict power-law growth
of wave energy and power-law decay of characteristic wave
Strictly speaking, both solutions (44, 45) cannot be associ- frequency–the well-known phenomenon of frequency down-
ated with wave growth in wind seas straightforwardly. First, shift of growing wind waves. The dependencies (Equations
they are isotropic, that is, physically irrelevant. Secondly, 48, 49) follow conventional approach of parameterizing
they describe constant flux of wave energy or action from wave growth by power-law functions (Young, 1999; Hwang,
infinitely small or large scales to an opposite infinity that 2006). In contrast to these mostly experimental findings, the
implies infinite reservoirs of these quantities. At the same exponents p𝜒 , p𝜏 , q𝜒 , q𝜏 of the self-similar solutions obey
time, wind forcing and wave dissipation are distributed in a wonderful magic links–linear relationships between expo-
wide range of wave scales. Thus, the mechanisms of constant nents of energy growth and exponents of downshift q𝜒 , q𝜏
fluxes can be realized under special conditions in a specific
range of wave scales, the so-called inertial interval where the 9q𝜏 − 1 10q𝜒 − 1
nonlinear transfer is dominating over wind input and wave p𝜏 = ; p𝜒 = (50)
2 2
dissipation. Fortunately, this is a case of wind-driven seas
that makes the Kolmogorov–Zakharov cascades to be basic There is an additional magic relationship
mechanisms of wind-wave evolution.
( )1∕3
E𝜔4p 𝜔3p ⟨Sin + Sdiss ⟩
4.4 Self-similar solutions for growing wind seas = (51)
g2 g2
Recent theoretical results (Badulin et al., 2002), (Badulin that links wave energy and total wave input ⟨Sin + Sdiss ⟩.
et al., 2005), (Badulin et al., 2007), (Zakharov and Badulin, Both magic links (Equations 50, 51) have been checked in
2011) gave a new look on wind-wave physics in a form of extensive numerical (Badulin et al., 2008) study and analysis
a simple asymptotic model that splits formally effects of of experimental results for more than 50 years history of
nonlinear wave–wave interactions and external forcing. It wind-wave studies.
can be written as follows The special case of self-similar solutions for sea
dNk swell corresponds to exponent sets p𝜏 = 1∕11, q𝜏 =
= Snl 1∕11 (duration-limited) and p𝜒 = 1∕12, q𝜒 = 1∕12
dt
d⟨Nk ⟩ (fetch-limited), that is, even in absence of any dissipation,
= ⟨Sin + Sdiss ⟩ (47) swell appears to be slowly decaying in time and fetch and the
dt
spectral peak is slowly drifting to low frequencies (downshift
The physical background of the model is the dominating effect). This result is in dramatic contrast with our physical
of the nonlinear transfer term Snl over terms of wind input intuition and results of classic hydrodynamics presented in
Sin and wave dissipation Sdiss in the Hasselmann equation Sections 2.1 and 3: the conservative kinetic equation (47)
(38). The first equation in Equation 47 is the Hasselmann predicts dissipation. Comments to this phenomenon and to
conservative equation in absence of external forcing. The the similar effects in strong hydrodynamic turbulence can be
second one describes a balance of integral terms of external found in the monograph by Zakharov, Lvov and Falkovich
forcing and the angle brackets denote integration over (1992).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe075
5 SUMMARY Zakharov’s The Zakharov reduced equations for

equations water waves. They are equations for
The problem of wave dissipation covers a number of direc- weakly nonlinear water waves that
tions of the fluid mechanics. The potential theory cannot accounts for wave-wave interactions
explain and describe this phenomenon in its full. The rota- up to the terms of the fifth power in
tional waves should be taken into consideration. At the same wave amplitude in the asymptotic
time, if the attenuation is sufficiently small, it can be analyzed series for the Hamilton function.
within a perturbation approach. A remarkable outcome of
such consideration is equivalence of results for the poten-
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in wind-driven sea. 7th International Workshop on Wave Hind-
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe075
CFD Methods in Ship Hydrodynamics
Rickard E. Bensow
Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) methods for

1 Introduction 1 ship flows started to be investigated in the 1990s for
2 CFD as a Predictive Design Tool 2 ship-related flows and have for many years now been a
3 Scale Effects 5 reliable tool in ship resistance and wake predictions. Tran-
4 Improved Physical Understanding 7 sient, high resolution methods, such as wall modeled Large
Eddy Simulation (LES) or hybrid RANS/LES started to
5 Future Developments 9
be investigated in ship hydrodynamics a bit more than a
6 Concluding Remarks 10 decade ago.
Glossary 10 Similar development of potential flow methods within
Related Articles 11 propulsion and seakeeping can be outlined. In general, these
References 11 methodologies are well mature and have been in daily indus-
trial use for many years, and with the typical short design
times in naval architecture, they are still to a high degree
the workhorse for engineering predictions. To some extent,
we also see active development still being ongoing to extend
1 INTRODUCTION capabilities and improve both robustness and accuracy of the
potential flow methods, in particular, this is the case when it
Computational methods in ship hydrodynamics emerged
comes to prediction of ship behavior in waves, for example,
early as a scientific tool to investigate and understand
toward being able to predict added resistance performance in
different phenomena primarily related to resistance and
a range of sea states.
wave generation, going back as early as 1898 in the
Turning back to the development of viscous flow methods,
work of Michell (1898), but in practice taking off starting
the evolution of both algorithms and computational power
from mid twentieth century (Havelock, 1951; Inui, 1980).
has made it possible to approach more complex prob-
From an engineering and design perspective, potential
lems and with an increasing degree of reliability. This
flow methods for wave resistance prediction started to
concerns, among others, problems involving relative motion
become mature in the 1990s and have been used in auto-
between geometrical objects, such as a rotating propeller
mated optimization of bow shapes for reduced still water
or ship-to-ship interaction, as well as transient problems
wave resistance for the past decade or so. To account for
ranging from maneuvering to propulsor dynamics. Recent
viscous effects on resistance, boundary layer methods
were developed in parallel to the potential flow codes in focus has been on further include complex physics into
the 1980s. For propulsion problems, the viscous wake the problems studied, such as breaking waves, spray and
flow needs to be correctly assessed, and fully turbulent bubbles, cavitation, and turbulence dynamics.
This article will give a brief overview of which hydrody-
namic problems are currently investigated using numerical
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. methods, both in academia and in industry, and comment
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe137
on the reliability in predictions that we see today. To give
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 a complete coverage of all topics and all recently published
2 General
studies is impossible within the scope of an article like 2 CFD AS A PREDICTIVE DESIGN TOOL
this. Therefore, the emphasis in the text has been put on
applications related to resistance and propulsion predictions, 2.1 Resistance prediction
while coverage of, for example, maneuvering and seakeeping
will be very limited. However, the reader should be able Replicating towing tank tests to predict ship resistance and
to get a general overview of how CFD, computational fluid get access to fast and cheap tools for design improvements
dynamics, methods are being used and developed today and is today a mature technology, at least for displacement
the article could serve as a starting point for further literature hulls in model scale in calm water. From the results of the
studies in a topic of interest. 2010 Gothenburg CFD workshop on ship hydrodynamics
(Larsson, Stern, and Visonneau, 2014), the comparison error
The article is primarily based on the documentation of four
between measured resistance and the average of all contri-
relatively recent major events within the community. The first
butions was only 0.1%. Considering each individual contri-
is the conclusions of the Gothenburg 2010 Workshop in Ship bution, the largest difference to experimental resistance was
CFD, published as a book by Larsson, Stern, and Visonneau around 2.5%, which is still sufficiently reliable for design
(2014). Although now about to be superseded by the next decisions. In addition, for dynamic sinkage and trim, the
workshop to be held in Tokyo in December 2015, the analysis results are good and fairly consistent throughout the contri-
performed by the authors is very comprehensive and the butions submitted to the workshop. All these results are valid
amount of data the workshop generated show very well the provided grid sizes of at least 3 M cells are used (half-body),
status of ship hull predictions in calm water and regular head but fairly independent of turbulence model, wall treatment,
sea. The second is the Proceedings of the 30th Symposium and numerics, considering the maturity of the codes used. For
on Naval Hydrodynamics (Numerical Ship Hydrodynamics, this category of problem, a grid sensitivity study is straight-
2014), which is a well-renowned, conference that brings an forward to perform, as was analyzed in (Larsson, Stern, and
update to the workshop results from 2010 and widens the Visonneau, 2014) following the procedures in the original
scope to general ship hydrodynamics. Further, in 2014, the references included in the book, and yields a good esti-
27th ITTC Report of the Specialist Committee on CFD in mate of the numerical uncertainty in the simulation. More
recent results, Ponkratov and Zegos (2015), indicate that also
Marine Hydrodynamics (Hino et al. 2014) was presented
full-scale performance can be well estimated, although the
that includes an extensive review of published work over the
validation of the results is difficult as real ship data is sparse
3-year period since the previous ITTC and is thus a good
and difficult to gather with good accuracy.
starting point for further literature studies. Finally, the most It is well known that resistance will increase in confined
recent update comes from the 4th International Symposium water, as blockage will change flow velocities and pres-
on Marine Propulsors (Kinnas, 2015). sure around the hull (Raven, 2012). When the clearance
This article is divided into four sections. First, we will becomes small, the accuracy and reliability in flow predic-
look at how CFD can be used as a design tool to predict tions go down. The pressure distribution, and thus also the
ship performance, today and in the near future. Here, hull ship position in water, becomes more sensitive to errors in the
and propulsor performance will be covered as well as a prediction, and thus also the resistance is affected. For very
discussion on the use of the methods for automated optimiza- small clearances, also unexpected phenomena, like separa-
tion. Then follows a section treating scale effects. Increased tion, can occur that drastically changes hull behavior (Zou
performance requirements have brought forward designs and Larsson, 2013); this is typically very difficult to predict.
that require information on full-scale hydrodynamics, an A remark should be made that this is perhaps not primarily
area where experiments are typically at shortage and CFD a concern for resistance predictions, but rather related to
predicting ship operation near banks, or in the prediction of
a necessity in performance prediction. The third section
ship-to-ship interaction.
discusses how CFD can be a means to better understand
It should be noted that resistance predictions for high-
the detailed flow physics controlling performance. Again,
speed planing vessels are not as extensively studied as for
the demand for low emissions and high efficiency, and displacement hulls and suffer from much higher uncertain-
thus also better performance predictions, calls for better ties. In these cases, a comparison error below around 5%
understanding regarding not only multiphysics problems is difficult to achieve, but still with relatively low numer-
such as cavitation and noise but also fundamental fluid ical uncertainty, provided grid density is high enough, and
dynamics such as transition and vortex dynamics. Finally, typically larger grids are needed compared with for displace-
some general comments on current and future trends will be ment hulls, see, for example, Fu et al. (2014), Frisk and
presented. Tegehall (2015) and exemplified in Figure 1. This stems
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe137
CFD Methods in Ship Hydrodynamics 3
× 10–3
3.2 4.5
Computed Computed
3.1 Fitted curve Fitted curve
4
3
θ (°)
2.9 3.5
CT
2.8
3
2.7
2.5
0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4
3 3
(a) N1/Ni (b) N1/Ni
Figure 1. Grid convergence study for a high speed planing hull at design speed of 40 knots. Frame (a) shows the excellent convergence of
the total resistance, while the convergence of trim in frame (b) is much worse. Finest grid had 38 M cells, and the second finest 18 M cells;
here the numerical uncertainty was only 0.15%. (Reproduced with permission from Frisk and Tegehall (2015) © David Frisk and Linda
Tegehall, 2015.)
primarily from that the resistance is very much dependent an active development of potential flow methods for reliable
on the hull position, affecting both the pressure resistance prediction of ship motions in waves and added resistance, for
and the wetted surface, and sinkage and trim are much more example, Kjellberg (2013). The benefit of viscous models
difficult to predict for a planing hull (Eslamdoost, Larsson, over fully nonlinear potential flow methods is not obvious
and Bensow, 2015). Moreover, the difficulty in predicting the for global quantities if roll is not considered, and compu-
complex free surface, including spray, not only adds to errors tational time is much smaller. This makes investigations
in wave resistance but also influences sinkage and trim. It concerning several sea states and headings feasible in a
should, however, be noted that small differences in the exper- more manageable time frame. As we today see an increased
imental and computational setup can have significant impact interest in operational ship performance, this is an area that
on predicted behavior, for example, the definition of where most likely will get higher attention in the near future in the
the towing force is acting and in which direction, thus having design development.
a large impact on the comparison error.
To correctly capture the complex free surface flow of a high
speed vessel, as noted above, or indeed also a displacement 2.2 Propeller performance
ship at low speed, where a large number of waves are present
along the hull, automatic mesh refinement is all but neces- Stand-alone open water propeller performance prediction
sary (Larsson et al., 2014; Wackers et al., 2013). Locally is today, in the design phase for standard propellers, most
refined grids are also needed in many other applications, commonly done with potential flow codes. Such methods
for example, to capture tip vortices, as noted further on, or give sufficiently reliable results on standard propellers
detailed flow physics. around the design point, which has been what the commer-
Prediction of added resistance in waves is also less reli- cial contracts require. In addition, the propeller flow poses a
able, but has improved in recent years (Larsson et al., 2014; challenge for CFD due to its complex geometry, especially
Simonsen et al., 2014). It is here necessary to capture both for propellers with skew, with nontrivial CAD description
the ship motion and incoming and reflected waves. With and varying sharp flow features around the leading edge
respect to CFD methods, the waves increase requirement on that needs to be resolved. Today, we have the tools and
the numerics to correctly generate and propagate the waves experience to handle this, and CFD tools are being more
and avoid reflection issues on the boundaries. In general, and more used also for standardized propeller performance
the algorithms to handle this are known but not available predictions with good accuracy over the whole range of
in all codes and moreover cause a considerable increase in operational conditions (Lubke et al., 2015).
computational resources needed to handle larger domains When it comes to unconventional or specialized propellers,
and higher mesh densities. For these reasons, there is now however, CFD is often required for the analysis as the flow
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe137
4 General
physics is such that boundary layer development and of today provided spatial and temporal resolutions are high
vortex formation are important. This concerns, for example, enough, but bubble cavitation and shed structures are more
tip-loaded propellers (Shin et al., 2015; Brown et al., troublesome (Bensow and Bark, 2010; Vaz et al., 2015;
2014), low noise propeller designs (Lu et al., 2012), and Lubke et al., 2015). To correctly capture the dynamics, as is
to some extent ducted propellers and CRPs, contra-rotating necessary in these applications, scale-resolved models such
propellers. For example, Brown et al. (2015) demonstrate the as hybrid RANS/LES or LES are necessary (Bensow, 2011;
complex interaction between several generated tip vortices Decaix and Goncalvès, 2013). Moreover, for radiated noise
on tip-loaded propellers with high tip rake, which is not and to some extent rudder erosion, the abovementioned
possible to capture unless high resolution CFD is used. issue of correctly predicting propeller tip vortex cavitation
Similarly, Lu et al. (2013) discuss the impact of an in-blade is present.
vortex development on cavitation on a high skew low noise
propeller design. For ducted propellers, the challenge is the
generation of tip gap vortices and the interaction with the 2.3 Numerical self-propulsion tests
developing boundary layer on the duct (Yu et al., 2013).
There is also, in some areas, an increasing demand on Reliable prediction of a vessel in self-propulsion is an
noise emission, with tougher requirements on CIS, cavitation important part in the ship design process and assessment.
inception speed, which also calls for CFD, although attempts We are now approaching a state where this can be done with
have been made based on potential flow methods and semian- respect to overall force prediction in model scale (Larsson
alytical expressions (Hundemer and Abdel-Maksoud, 2009). et al., 2014), and possibly also in full scale, (Ponkratov
This is an extremely challenging topic in case cavitation first and Zegos 2015), although validation is more difficult.
appears in the tip vortex, which is often the case, and often Computational approaches range from direct methods with
aft of the blade. To correctly predict the tip vortex strength, resolved rotating propeller to simulations using a coupling
it seems extreme mesh resolution is required, as shown in to simplified propeller models. Normally, for predicting
Figure 2, both on the blade where the vortex is formed and self-propulsion performance, a force balance procedure
then behind the blade and in the wake to capture the devel- where the rotational speed of the propeller is adjusted
opment (Windt and Bosschers, 2015; Wackers et al., 2014). until propeller thrust equals wanted resistance is necessary,
Cavitation nuisance, that is, erosion and noise, is still very similar to what is done in model tests.
difficult to predict accurately but in progress (Eskilsson and In steady state, looking at the forces only, the benefits of
Bensow, 2015; Li et al., 2015). The main features of sheet using the more complex full propeller model is not clear, but
cavity, its extent and shape as well as thrust loss, can be in the details and considering interaction effects with the hull
reasonably well predicted with the modeling approaches and other parts of the propulsion system, better predictions
–2
Cpn
CPN: –5 –4.8 –4.6 –4.4 –4.2 –4 –3.8 –3.6 –3.4 –3.2 –3 –2.8 –2.6 –2.4 –2.2 –2 –1.8 –1.6 –1.4 –1.2 –1 –0.8 –0.6 –0.4 –0.2 0
GRID # OF CELLS
G1_1 4.392.030
G1_2 5.077.533
G1_3 6.772.928
–4 G3_1
G3_2
14.577.060
16.793.236
G3_3 22.299.023
G3STL_1 14.577.060
G3STL_2 16.792.069
G3STL_3 22.292.576
0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018 0.02

–X
(a) (b)
Figure 2. Extremely high mesh resolution seems to be necessary to capture the formation and the pressure developed of a propeller tip
vortex. (Reproduced with permission from Windt and Bosschers (2015) © Jaap Windt, 2015.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe137
are achieved with direct simulation of the propeller (Larsson Some attempts have been made to optimize the aft hull
et al., 2014). lines as well, but without an operating propeller and instead
In simulations, we also have the prospect to better deter- define an analytical goal function that in some way should
mine intermediate results, such as separating wave resis- reflect a “good” propeller inflow. This has been demonstrated
tance and viscous effects, and compute the form factor, using both evolutionary algorithms and adjoint methods. In
thrust deduction, and so on, supporting the analysis of the principle, this works, but the usefulness is perhaps ques-
ship performance and extrapolation procedures. As compu- tionable when the major part of the propulsion system is
tational and algorithmic performances increase further, we excluded 3).
are looking forward to when this can be done in full scale The extension in terms of applications is naturally then
and in wavy condition, to give a more reliable assessment to look at full propulsion system optimization, including
of the design and guide further improvement on operational the viscous flow around the hull, including the propeller
performance. and rudder. Limited efforts have been made toward such a
complex problem, as computational times are relatively long
2.4 Automated optimization and the number of parameters grows very large; examples
include rudder optimization (Han, 2008) or propeller opti-
Fore ship optimization for reduced wave resistance using mization (Vesting and Bensow, 2011). This is an emerging
potential flow panel codes has been used for many years in area, and I believe we will see a growing number of applica-
industry, but all other applications have been lagging behind. tions where not only a single component will be optimized
Due to complex design constraints and the strong interaction but also, for example, aft hull lines and propeller blade will
effects governing the ship system performance, combined be simultaneously treated.
with high computational costs when viscous effects need to
be considered, industrial use of optimization has not been
feasible. With larger computational resources available at 3 SCALE EFFECTS
decreasing cost, this is about to change. There are examples
in academia where advanced hull optimization has been One of the major challenges in advancing the ship hydro-
performed, not only for the bow for reduced calm water dynamic design is the limitation that it is not feasible to
resistance but also looking at, for example, behavior in waves develop prototypes but one is restricted to work in model
(Tahara et al., 2012). scale. To develop the understanding of the flow effects and
One area where considerable research efforts have been the techniques to extrapolate performance predictions has
invested and industrial tools now have been deployed is been one of the main drivers in the science of naval architec-
in propeller blade design. Typically, evolutionary optimiza- ture. Although undoubtedly the procedures adopted within
tion algorithms are used, such as genetic optimization, with the community have been rather successful, there are approx-
geometric changes handled both by free form deformation imations and ad hoc assumptions that are questionable and
approaches and based on adjustments of some parameter limits reliability and applicability. As CFD has become a
curves (Vesting et al., 2013; Foeth, 2015). Using potential viable alternative also to do full-scale simulations, we now
flow codes, as outlined above, the computational time is low have the possibility to both develop and support these exper-
and a large population of designs can be assessed in rela- imental scaling procedures, but more and more also do the
tively short time frame. Still, to reach overnight industrial design directly in full scale.
time frames, exploration of the use of metamodels, such as
response surface techniques or neural networks, may become
necessary (Vesting and Bensow, 2014). 3.1 Effects on resistance
The main issue is to consider normal design constraints
set up in the contractual agreement concerning primarily Full-scale resistance prediction is the most straightforward
cavitation erosion and hull pressure pulses. The latter is scaling procedure based on over all reasonable assump-
possible with reasonable reliability in a potential flow code, tions, and with the experience and database of modern
while erosion is beyond the theoretical capability of the tool. towing tanks, the results are good. One effect not considered,
Some effort has been made in defining constraints to assist however, that can have significant effect is that the stern wave
an expert blade designer to influence the cavitation pattern system is affected as the pressure distribution in the aft is
toward nonerosive development and to filter out obviously different in model and full scale (Wackers et al., 2011), also
bad candidates (Vesting and Bensow, 2011), exemplified in influencing propeller inflow (Starke and Bosschers, 2012).
Figure 3, but it does seem clear that a push-button technology For most ordinary displacement vessels, this is, however, not
for nonexperts is not possible. a major issue.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe137
6 General
Valid Invalid variant Valid Invalid variant

1 1
0.8 0.8
Normalized pressure
Normalized η
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 100 200 300 400 500 600
(a) Variant Variant
θ = 0° θ = 0°
θ = 60° θ = 60°
θ = 300° θ = 300°
θ = 120° θ = 240° θ = 120° θ = 240°
(b) θ = 180° (c) θ = 180°
Figure 3. Automated optimization of a propeller blade considering cavitation nuisance, with convergence history of the evolutionary
optimization algorithm (a); cavitation on the optimized design (b); and the original cavitation behavior (c). (Reproduced with permission
from (Vesting and Bensow 2014) © Elsevier, 2014.)
techniques and predictions are most likely necessary

(Figure 4).
3.2 Advanced propulsion systems and wake

scaling
The propulsion system is more sensitive to scale effects than

resistance, clearly operating in a viscous flow, and the scaling
procedures cannot correctly account for the changes in the
flow over the aft hull. For a conventional propulsion system,
an experienced naval architect can handle this well, but many
Figure 4. Computed wave pattern for Hamburg Test Case at full
solutions do not fall into this category and traditional scaling
scale (left) and model scale (right); wave heights 5 times magni-
fied. (Reproduced with permission from Wackers et al. (2011) procedures seem to fail.
© Springer, 2011.) For unconventional propellers, such as the Kappel
propeller, they seem to interact in a different way with
the ship wake, both in terms of thrust deduction and wake
A possibly emerging area where scale effects have impact contraction. Novel scaling procedures, developed by CFD,
on resistance is the varying efforts on developing resistance are necessary, unless one opts to do full-scale design directly
reduction techniques, such as air lubrication or coatings in CFD.
affecting transition. In such instances, the details of the Other areas concern ducted propulsors, where the flow over
flow physics become important and full-scale modeling the duct greatly influences performance. Transition from
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe137
laminar to turbulent boundary layer on the duct, as well as rudders, boss cap fins, wake equalizing ducts, and so on.
separation, will be different in model and full scale, both These devices are tightly coupled to the wake, and thus
with respect to the duct itself and the wake it operates in to scaling effects, in order to create the correct changes in
(Bhattacharyya et al. 2015). the flow to most efficiently reduce energy losses, see, for
Recently, concern has also been raised on laminar effects example, (Kim et al. 2014). An example of the differences in
on model scale performance tests of open water propellers, wake in model and full scale for a ship mounted with preswirl
then contaminating full-scale extrapolation and making vali- stators is shown in Figure 5.
dation of computational methods difficult. This is a difficult
task to study computationally, to correctly model the transi-
tion in the boundary layer subject to rotational effects, but 4 IMPROVED PHYSICAL
some studies have already been made using different transi- UNDERSTANDING
tion modeling techniques with RANS (Bhattacharyya et al.,
2015). A large benefit of CFD is the access to the complete flow
field. Although modeling errors will always be prevailing,
3.3 Design in full scale for example, with respect to transition or turbulence details,
depending on the chosen modeling approach, qualitative
Although extrapolation procedures often yield satisfactory behavior is reliably captured making an improved under-
results, and some deficiencies are about to be corrected by standing of the physics governing the performance of a
the use of CFD, there is an area where a direct design in design possible. Very detailed simulations and analysis may
full scale is necessary: the design of energy-saving devices. not be possible in a relatively short design time frame, but
This is a broad term that is not completely well defined, but in research and long-term development, of a product or of
we can consider it an installation that changes the inflow to design knowledge, this is essential. In order to develop new
the propeller or the slip in order to reduce energy losses in concepts, a good assessment and understanding of the under-
the propulsion system; examples are preswirl stators, twisted lying hydrodynamics is important, and a simple performance
Looking forward Looking forward

Radii in mm Radii in mm
Dashed circles are propeller- 0° Dashed circles are propeller- 0°
and hub diameter and hub diameter
330° 30° 330° 30°
300° 60° 300° 60°
270° 90° 270° 90°

20 20
40 40
60 60
80 80
100 100
120 120
240° 120° 240° 120°
140 140
210° 150° 210° 150°

Ship speed V5 = 16.0 km Ship speed V5 = 16.0 km
180° 180°
Total wake fraction w Total wake fraction w
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
(a) (b)
Figure 5. Comparison of the total wake and transversal velocities in the propeller plane of a ship with preswirl stators, in model scale (a)
and in full scale (b). (Reproduced with permission from Kim et al. (2014) © Keunjae Kim, 2014.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe137
8 General
(a) (b)
Figure 6. (a) A cavitation simulation on a high skew propeller, revealing an in-blade vortex (in purple dark) controlling the vapor formation
(in light gray); (b) the corresponding experimental capture. (Reproduced with permission from Lu et al. (2013) © Springer, 2013.)
prediction is not sufficient to advance beyond incremental the hull on the propulsion system. The wake from a propeller,
design changes. with the interaction of and break up of tip vortices, is, as
Detailed flow measurements are difficult and costly, and mentioned above, challenging to simulate due to the high
the spatial resolution and extent of the measured region are resolution required to propagate the vortices. Large meshes
limited. However, in terms of sampling statistics and inves- are required, but it is now possible to study and isolate this
tigating a range of operating conditions, computations are in
complex flow (Di Felice et al., 2009; Guilmineau et al.,
general much more time consuming than experiments. Still,
there are cases where experimental probing is especially 2015); especially of interest for unconventional propeller
difficult, many of them in propulsor flows, for example, designs, where more than one vortex may be generated
measuring transient flow fields close to propeller blades on each blade (Brown et al., 2015), or for propellers with
or in tip gaps. In cavitation problems, techniques to get extreme requirements, such as submarine propellers. Simu-
detailed assessment of velocities and vapor fraction around lations of more conventional propellers have also revealed on
and beneath a cavity are very limited. The problem gets of blade flow development that controls performance, in partic-
course worse for full-scale information. ular in relation to cavitation development, giving insight in
CFD has in recent years added substantial knowledge how to improve in certain design aspects (Lu et al., 2013)
and understanding of the origin and development of flow (Figure 6).
features occurring in ship hydrodynamics. One should high-
Unsteady propeller loads are also becoming feasible to
light that, often, this has been performed in conjunction with
experimental efforts also advancing and challenging EFD study through CFD. One case where this is of great concern
engineering. is in extreme off-design conditions, such as in operating in
This concerns primarily the vortex formation around hull crash back (Jang and Mahesh, 2013). The complete tran-
features, such as the sonar dome on the DTMB5415 in sient dataset available through CFD brings out the control-
straight ahead conditions, where detailed studies revealed ling mechanisms of the formation and breakdown of the ring
the complex interaction of several vortices around the large vortex. However, also in design conditions, the impact of
dome (Larsson et al., 2014; Visonneau et al., 2014). Of more the unsteady ship wake flow on the propeller loading iden-
engineering interest perhaps are the studies on cross-flow tifies large fluctuation in blade loads and can through further
development of vessels in yaw. Extensive studies have been studies influence design aspects to reduce issues in noise
performed for another workshop test case, the KVLCC2
and vibration and material fatigue (Liefvendahl and Bensow,
(Xing et al., 2010; Toxopeus et al., 2014), but also for
smaller vessels such as catamarans and yachts, where also 2014; Bensow, 2015), as shown in Figure 7.
the interaction with the free surface can be captured in great In the extension, again detail assessment in full scale of the
detail (Visonneau et al., 2012). hydrodynamic performance of the hull and propulsor system
For propulsor-related flows, advancements have been made promises some interesting years ahead in the development of
for stand-alone propeller flows as well as for the influence of design concepts that exploits this increased insight.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe137
0.09
0.08
0.07
0.06
KT
0.05
0.04
0.03
0 45 90 135 180 225 270 315 360
(a) (b) Blade angle (°)
(c)
Figure 7. The unsteady wake inflow to the propeller (a) gives rise to unsteady blade loadings, with (b) showing the phase averaged blade
thrust in bold and the individual realizations in gray; (c) The flow based on an isosurface of the Q-criterion. (Reproduced with permission
from Bensow (2015) © Rickard Bensow, 2015.)
5 FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS algorithms has been performed, and still is, in large the
numerical technology has been the same. Some argue that
The development in ship CFD has evolved significantly single processor performance will halt in the not too distant
in the past decades, due primarily to the fast and steady future, and growth in computational power will require a
increase in affordable computational power. Although some shift toward alternative computational frame works, such as
development in our physical and computational models and SPH (Oger et al., 2014) or cartesian methods with immersed
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe137
10 General
boundaries (Yang and Stern, 2009), while others are rather 6 CONCLUDING REMARKS
looking at improving scalability in more traditional methods,
for example, by the new matrix-solver strategies (Hawkes As briefly outlined in some places above, to validate and
et al., 2015). I will here not try to make predictions on build confidence in the reliability of the simulation method-
hardware or software development, but instead focus this ologies is crucial and can be very difficult as we’re moving
final discussion on the challenges we’re facing posed by the toward flows with higher complexity and details. Most
problems of interest to study. prominent is perhaps to promote open high quality full-scale
data, in both controlled conditions, which of course is a chal-
lenge on its own, and in operating conditions. Many ship
5.1 Simulating transient flows owners today pay attention to improved operational moni-
toring trying to connect ship performance with operation,
As already commented above, a general challenge when maintenance, and environmental conditions. This can yield
simulating transient flows is that time advancement is data that can support CFD validation in full scale and in oper-
inherently sequential. Sampling statistics requires long ations, but CFD should be able to support the data mining
time series, and of course even more so when higher order necessary to benefit from the collected data.
moments are of interest. Moreover, fast time stepping We can also note that improvements in measuring tech-
becomes more difficult to achieve for complex problems niques are necessary to advance CFD further, not only to
involving relative motion and multiphase problems. build reliability but also to yield data to improve the physical
modeling in the simulations. This is perhaps most clearly
seen for vortex flows and for cavitation modeling, where
5.1.1 Sea-state simulations we today see difficulties using CFD. Correct modeling
and resolution requirements to capture vortex strength,
An increased interest in operational performance also calls dynamics, and turbulence are not established and important
for simulations of vessel behavior in waves. Resistance in ship hydrodynamics. Cavitation contains several chal-
predictions in head waves can today be considered a straight- lenges, including the presence of multiple phases, multiple
forward computation, although quantitative accuracy can scales, mass transfer modeling, compressibility effects, and
still be improved, while oblique waves and self-propulsion so on, and is furthermore difficult to measure in detail to
are still challenging (but possible). However, for a full assess- generate validation data. Promising efforts in this is however
ment, one would need to consider full sea-state simulations in ongoing.
the conditions the vessel is planned to operate in. This means Finally, it is clear that CFD has become a standard tool in
long simulations, at least 30 min of real time, of a complex ship design and is extensively used in today’s design work for
problem, which will not become feasible in many years to vessel and component design and performance assessment,
come. Detailed studies performed for shorter time series, as and its usage will only increase. The improved knowledge in
discussed above, can however be expected to yield important ship hydrodynamics coming from CFD and the generation
design knowledge to benefit future ship design and operation. of high quality datasets will challenge the experimentalists
to advance measurement techniques to corroborate findings
and will benefit the naval architects when designing future
5.1.2 Complex operations or conditions safe and efficient vessels.
Another area that has recently become feasible to simu-
late is ship behavior in complex operations. This concerns,
for example, harbor maneuvers where effects of severely
confined waters can affect the ship motions or docking of GLOSSARY
maintenance vessels for off-shore wind turbine installations.
The latter is especially interesting as it brings in the human LES Large Eddy Simulation, a simulation
performance into the analysis of simulation results. These approach where the large energetic flow
kinds of simulations involve large relative motion between structures are solved and the effect of
objects, ship motion in waves, and possibly violent free smaller scale dissipative flow scales are
surface flows, thus making it very challenging for standard modelled.
CFD tools. Viable advances in these kinds of applications Numerical When a computer program is used to
have been made using SPH methodologies, at least in cases simulation calculate a solution to a mathematical
where viscous effects are not crucial for the prediction. model of a physical system.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe137
RANS Simulation approach based on Reynolds Brown, M., Schroeder, S., and Balaras, E. (2015) Vortex Struc-
ture Characterization of Tip-Loaded Propellers. 4th International
averaged Navier-Stokes equations, where
Symposium on Marine Propulsors (ed. S. Kinnas), Austin, TX.
the average flow is solved and all effects
Decaix, J. and Goncalvès, E. (2013) Investigation of
of turbulence are modelled. three-dimensional effects on a cavitating venturi flow. Inter-
Scale effects The changes in ship performance and flow national Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow, 44, 576–595.
when comparing behaviour in model Di Felice, F., Felli, M., Liefvendahl, M., and Svennberg, U. (2009)
scale to full (ship) scale. Numerical and Experimental Analysis of the Wake Behavior of
Ship The means by which to propel the ship. a Generic Submarine Propeller. 1st International Symposium on
propulsion Marine Propulsors Trondheim, Norway.
Ship The forces acting on the ship that are Eskilsson, C. and Bensow, R. (2015) Estimation of Cavitation
resistance opposite to the direction the ship is Erosion Intensity Using CFD: Numerical Comparison of Three
moving in. Different Methods. 4th International Symposium on Marine
Propulsors (ed. S. Kinnas), Austin, TX.
Eslamdoost, A., Larsson, L., and Bensow, R. (2015) On transom
RELATED ARTICLES clearance. Ocean Engineering, 99, 55–62.
Foeth, E. (2015) Propeller Optimization Using an Unsteady
Inviscid Hydrodynamics Boundary-Element Method. 4th International Symposium on
Turbulence Marine Propulsors (ed. S. Kinnas), Austin, TX.
Flow Around Ships and Underwater Vehicles Frisk, D. and Tegehall, L. (2015) Computational fluid dynamics
Ship Performance Prediction simulation of high speed planing hulls. Master’s thesis. Chalmers
University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Propulsion Model Testing
Numerical and Hybrid Prediction Methods for Ship Resis- Fu, T., Brucker, K.A., Mousaviraad, S.M., Ikeda, C.M., Lee, E.J.,
O’Shea, T.T., Wang, Z., Stern, F., and Judge, C.Q. (2014) An
tance and Propulsion
Assessment of Computational Fluid Dynamics Predictions of
Statistical and Theoretical Prediction Methods the Hydrodynamics of High-Speed Planing Craft in Calm Water
High Speed Craft and Waves. 30th Symposium on Naval Hydrodynamics, Hobart,
Propeller Design Process Tasmania, Australia.
Hydrodynamics Analysis Methods Guilmineau, E., Deng, G., Leroyer, A., Queutey, P., Visonneau,
M., and Wackers, J. (2015) Influence of the Turbulence Closures
for the Wake Prediction of a Marine Propeller. 4th International
Symposium on Marine Propulsors (ed. S. Kinnas), Austin, TX.
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30th Symposium on Naval Hydrodynamics, Tasmania, Australia. sium on Marine Propulsors Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
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Simulations of the Cavitating Flow on a Marine Propeller. 8th Hydrodynamics, Hobarth, Tasmania, Australia.
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Sweden.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe137
Properties of Materials
Deborah Buswell1 , Jack Smart2 , and Binder Singh3
1 ManchesterMetropolitan University, Manchester, UK
2 JohnSmart Consulting Engineers, Houston, TX, USA
3
PragmaticaGGS LLc, Houston, TX, USA
its combination of low cost, availability, high strength, and

1 Introduction 1 ease of construction. The largest man-made structures built
2 Chemical Composition 5 today are usually ships and other marine equipment such
3 Strength 6 as offshore oil platforms, which are taking full advantage
of advances in steel materials such as high strength, high
4 Hardness 10
toughness, and improved weldability from products made by
5 Thermal Conductivity 10 controlled steel rolling and production and with lower alloy
6 Density 10 additions. This allows the production of lighter stronger
7 Fracture Toughness 11 ships and platforms that are less expensive to build and
8 Electrochemical Properties 12 operate and with larger capacities. However, steel has a
9 Welding of Offshore Structures 12 major drawback when used in marine environments, which
separates it from other steel uses; it must be protected against
10 Failure investigation 13
corrosion caused by seawater or it would fail quickly in one
11 Thermomechanically treated steel 14 of the most corrosive environments on earth. Mitigation
12 The Future of Materials 14 methods for protecting steel structures include a combi-
Endnotes 14 nation of corrosion resistant alloys, protective coatings,
References 15 and/or cathodic protection. Numerous specialty alternate
Further Reading 15 materials, such as nickel alloys, marine grade aluminium,
titanium, copper alloys, and bronzes, and nonmetallics such
as fiberglass are used in special applications.
The design engineer must ensure that each component
performs in accordance with the design requirements and
1 INTRODUCTION
maintains integrity throughout its operational life. Therefore,
the engineer must specify the mechanical property require-
1.1 Use of steel offshore
ments and the lifelong resistance to pressure, corrosion, and
fatigue cracking so that no failures occur, which could release
Oceans cover 70% of the earth and are extensively used for
environmentally damaging oil and gas into the environment,
shipping, fishing, offshore oil and gas production, harbors
which can endanger human life. These requirements are
with ports and bridges, and pipelines in cities around the
defined by international codes and the client in the form of
world. Marine structures are built mainly of steel owing to
a materials performance specification which the manufac-
turer must meet. A testing and inspection plan will be issued
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. by the manufacturer for client approval. This plan will state
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe143
the mechanical properties and the properties that need to be
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 tested, the frequency of the test, and the acceptance criteria.
2 General
Manufacture will not start until these quality documents Pipelines use a combination of coatings and cathodic
have been sanctioned by the client, and preproduction testing protection, with the coating the principle protection and
results show that the mechanical properties can be met. cathodic protection protecting defects in the coating.
The costs of retrieval and retrofit for offshore equipment Offshore oil and gas platforms are of two types, with one
failures are far greater than for those used onshore. In addi- used for drilling and the other for oil and gas production
tion, monitoring and inspection can often be challenging processing, gas compression, oil pumping, and pipelines.
in harsh environments, and inspection data may be limited. Living quarters are usually also installed on production
For these reasons, the mechanical properties have to include platforms and so safe design is a priority.
safety factors and may take the material to their upper limits Corrosion and waves are the main differences between
of capability. marine and land environments. Waves introduce a fatigue
Carbon steel alloys such as high strength, low alloy environment, which can cause much more rapid failure in
steels (HSLA) are the most commonly used materials for corrosive environments.
pressure-containing structures in the offshore subsea sector Floating platforms are similar to ships in design, except
because of their combination of high strength, fatigue resis- that they tend to stay in one place for their entire working
tance, fracture resistance, low cost, and ease of manufacture life. Semisubmersible platforms have underwater flotation
as well as their availability and price. However, highly corro- hulls that support an abovewater working platform. Rela-
sive conditions will require highly alloyed materials such as tively small legs designed to minimize the effect of waves
stainless steels and nickel alloys. These materials have much connect the two. Deep water floating vessels are often a
greater resistance to CO2 corrosion, the corrosion caused by single large diameter cylinder hundreds of meters high that
wet CO2 in the product fluids. For mild corrosive conditions, also minimizes wave effects. Oil and gas wells are drilled
carbon steel is used with a corrosion allowance; typically for through vertical conductors connected to a safety valve
corrosion rates of 0.1 mm/year, a 3-mm allowance is suitable on the sea floor called a blowout preventer (BOP). (See
for a 30-year-design life. However, when the corrosion Figures 1 and 2). The wells can then be produced through
allowance of carbon steel is calculated to be greater than well casings up to 3000 m high or into a subsea protection
manifold containing Xmas trees for control. The subsea
8 mm (sometimes up to 10 mm per operator initiative), a
manifold is then connected to the platform using a riser
corrosion allowance may be too large, and problems such
pipe. All of this equipment must be designed as marine
as welding, weight, and manufacture become an issue. For
equipment. Much of this equipment pushes the limits of
these conditions, a corrosion-resistant alloy (CRA) such
material performance and must be carefully designed. For
as stainless steel or nickel alloy is required which has a
safety and environmental reasons, it must be possible to shut
natural oxide layer that protects it and does not require an
in a well if there is a problem.
allowance. However, these materials are expensive and have
tight manufacturing/welding controls as well as their own
material property limitations and are not the panacea for all
corrosion issues. In addition, to meet modern-day materials
performance issues for high pressure, high temperature
(HP/HT) reservoirs, the nickel alloys and duplex/super
duplex alloys seem to be preferred. These inevitably bump
up the costs and so, for example Alloy 625 has rapidly
become one of the favorite materials for cladding of steel
pipe to provide a better combination of strength, corrosion
resistance, and economic suitability over the life cycle.
Major marine equipment includes welded steel structures
with alloy propellers and coatings and cathodic protec-
tion. Bridges use steel towers, cables, and foundations, all
with coatings or cathodic protection. Offshore platforms
use a combination of cathodic protection, applied under-
water, coatings, and alloys such as stainless steel, titanium,
or fiberglass for process equipment and seawater piping. Figure 1. The top of the lower marine riser package on top of the
Corrosion-resistant steels containing copper are also used, blowout preventer where the riser and drill pipe had snapped off in
especially in harbors where the copper prohibits the marine a well drilled in the Gulf of Mexico in 2003. (Reproduced from US
growth, although the extent of this is often a debatable issue. Department of Energy.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe143
Properties of Materials 3
Drilling vessel
Location of
weak point
Acceptable
region of
Drilling riser failure
LMRP
Unacceptable
BOP region of
failure
Conductor
Figure 2. Schematic diagram of a drilling riser attached to a semisubmersible drilling vessel at the top and to the blowout preventer (BOP)
on the sea floor. Bending of the riser introduces stresses in the riser wall, which can lead to fatigue cracking in certain “hot spot” locations.
If corrosion is present, fatigue failure will occur at lower stresses and in fewer cycles due to stress concentration in corroded areas and
reduced ability of a crack to resist penetrating the tubing string. (Courtesy of Dr. J Smart.)
Good welding procedure is also a major materials consid- add a corrosion allowance to allow for metal loss during
eration since many failures occur at the weld which is its life. Corrosion protection must be included and marine
usually the weakest link. Welding consumables are selected structures must also be designed for fatigue. Typically, in
that have higher strength than the mother material to ensure the ocean, there are about 3.5–4 million waves a year. Ships
that the weld area is not the weakest link as once a failure and platforms may be designed to resist many medium to
occurs, it can continue along the complete weld length. large waves such as North Sea storms or relatively few
Large plates and longitudinally (seam) welded pipe are but very large waves such as from hurricanes in the US
particularly susceptible and thus have to have high levels Gulf of Mexico. For hurricanes, there may be approximately
of quality control and fracture toughness to avoid potential 10,000 very large waves a day but only for a few days
critical flaws. for each storm. North Sea medium to large size waves can
In recent years, steels for marine environments are avail- last for months every year, and platforms must be designed
able with a good combination of high strength, toughness, differently, reducing the stress per cycle by building stronger
and weldability. For extra high strength, thermomechanically platforms than just to meet few wave cycles. The distribution
processed steels, termed TMCP (thermomechanical control of wave heights is very important at any location is measured
process), have been developed to be more user friendly than to produce the required values, and Miner’s Rule is used
the traditional steels. to calculate the effect of wave forces on platforms. The
Marine structures all use design rules for steel similar design must also be able to accommodate some corrosion. In
to those used for land-based construction but may have the design offshore facilities, the engineer may be required
to limit the allowable strength for the steel and usually to apply a correction factor to the properties of steel or
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe143
4 General
other materials to allow them to be used successfully in the the drill pipe, steel pipe connected by threaded connections
offshore environment. For instance, steel has a certain fatigue from the surface rig to the bottom of the well, and the drilling
strength in air, but a much lower strength in seawater, termed mud. Drilling mud is a viscous fluid that is used to lubricate
its corrosion fatigue strength. The corrosion fatigue strength and cool the drill bit at the end of the drill pipe and to carry
of all steels is approximately the same regardless of their the pieces of rock from the bottom of the well to the surface
yield strength and continues to fall with exposure, that is, where they can be removed. The mud is a high density fluid,
there is no endurance limit.
as it is relied upon to overcome any pressure at the bottom of
the well. It may weigh as much as 15 pounds per gallon.
1.2 Other marine materials The stresses on a drilling riser are from several sources, the
weight of the riser pipe hanging from the floating deck, forces
Numerous alternative materials are used on ships, platforms, due to wave motion of the drill rig, and the high hydrostatic
and harbors in special applications where they have advanta- pressure of the drilling mud inside the riser. The top of the
geous properties. Aluminium is used extensively for smaller riser also must be in tension to prevent collapse of the long
vessels such as fishing boats and sail boats. It is also used on circular column to the sea floor. It is held steady by hydraulic
the superstructure of warships to lighten weight and increase
vertical motion compensators and dynamic position from
stability, maneuverability, and speed. Aluminium is not as
thrusters on the floating drill rig. Flotation cells are usually
strong as steel, especially in fires and explosions, but can
attached to the outside of the riser to lessen the riser weight.
serve as well when used with appropriate insulation and with
fibrous construction methods to prevent shrapnel and explo- Dynamic positioning of the rig is now able to hold station
sion damage. within a half meter or less, largely eliminating any stresses
Ships propellers are usually made of bronze, often nickel from pulling on the riser due to sideways vessel motion.
aluminum bronze, which is castable and has excellent corro- Risers are typically constructed from 80 ksi strength steel
sion resistance. Ships and floating oil platforms today are with wall thickness from 12 to 25.4 mm. They are typically
beginning to use steerable thrusters to replace propellers and 80 feet long. Sections are fitted with welded end flanges with
rudders but are even more susceptible to materials failure in carefully tapered transitions and are bolted together, end to
service. High performance materials are essential for mainte- end. Maintenance is very important as each riser and each
nance free service, including the propellers, propeller shaft, bolt must be inspected for corrosion and fatigue and repaired
seals, and bearings. Thruster propellers are usually made of or replaced after each use. Since cathodic protection must be
nickel aluminum bronze for maximum reliability.
used to protect the steel underwater, the allowable strength
Oil and gas platforms and electrical power plants use stain-
of the steel is limited by possible susceptibility to hydrogen
less steels for corrosion resistance mainly in process equip-
embrittlement (HE). A picture of a marine riser recovered
ment or titanium for thin-walled seawater heat exchangers,
condensers, and multistage fresh water evaporators. The after drilling a deep water well is shown as follows.
Russian navy used titanium for submarine hulls to avoid Marine materials thus represent a challenging subject for
magnetic detection. Fiberglass is also used for platform fire metallurgists and designers who must be able to effectively
water system piping. Fire water systems are normally kept design equipment capable of performing reliably and safely
filled with untreated seawater and tested monthly. Fiberglass in extremely difficult environments. One industry improving
is an improvement as it can be used in petroleum fires when tendency noted in recent years is the use of multidisciplined
water is running through it but can present HSE issues when teams (mechanical, metallurgical, corrosion, structural,
it fails (e.g., reduced personnel escape time if all water is lost chemical, and electrical engineers) to ensure that the right
quickly). When steel is used, it holds water for longer but levels of competence are available and deployed, giving
corrodes and rust particles can plug spray nozzles, rendering project managers better resources.
the system ineffective. Hence, as for many material selection
This article presents the materials properties that are
issues, it is usually a balance of performance, cost, safety, and
critical to marine design. Since steel is selected for the
operability.
An example of the importance of materials in offshore use majority of marine structures and equipment, the discussion
is deep water drilling risers. Oil wells are now being drilled will typically relate to the properties of steel. There are many
in water nearly 3000 m deep. When drilling, the well must be good references should the reader wish to read more widely
held to the drilling rig on the surface through a riser down to on this subject. Other sections in this article also comprehen-
the sea floor where the drill pipe passes through a BOP and a sively cover the nonferrous alloys and nonmetallic materials.
manifold before entering the sea bed. The riser contains both The Internet is also a good resource.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe143
2 CHEMICAL COMPOSITION be useful in certain tools, but brittleness is a deleterious

property in materials used offshore because the materials are
A material’s properties begin to form at the very beginning, often exposed to low temperatures under high stresses and
in the furnace. The chemical composition is one of three are susceptible to cracking.
factors that control the microstructure of the material (the To provide good toughness properties for offshore mate-
other factors being heat treatment and deformation). The rials, the carbon content is typically limited to 0.15–0.3 wt%.
microstructure is the major component in defining the Various other elements are added to provide other essen-
properties of a material. Figure 3 is a phase diagram for tial properties such as toughness, weldability, and corrosion.
carbon steel. It indicates which phases are present at varying A typical chemical composition for an HSLA steel is as
contents of carbon in the matrix and at varying tempera- follows:
ture as they heat and cool. The phases all exhibit different
properties in the material, for example, hardness, strength,
and toughness. The service in which the material will be • chromium for corrosion resistance,
exposed to will define which phases are necessary, that is, • manganese, vanadium, and columbium for strength in
which heat treatment and how much carbon are required. combination with carbon,
There are phases that the steel supplier has to avoid such as • aluminum and silicon used to deoxidize (kill) the steel,
large amounts of martensite that will make the material hard • molybdenum for increased strength at high temperatures
but brittle. (it is also used in stainless steels for corrosion resistance),
As the carbon content increases along the x-axis of • copper for corrosion resistance, and
Figure 3, the phases in the material create a harder structure, • nickel for strength, corrosion resistance, and increased
which in turn reduces ductility. High levels of carbon may fracture resistance (toughness) at low temperature.
1800 3270
1700 3090
1600 2910
Liquid
1500 2730
1400 2550
δFe
1300 2370
1200 (γFe) 2190

Austenite
1100 2010
Temperature (°C)
Temperature (°F)
1000 Austenite 1830

Acm + Cementite
900 Cementite 1650
As
800 1470
A1
700 1290
600 1110
500 (αFe) 930
400 Ferrite 750

Ferrite
+
300 570
Cementite
200 390
100 210
0 30
Fe 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0
Carbon (wt%)
Figure 3. Phase diagram for Fe-C alloy.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe143
6 General
Stainless steels such as UNS S31600 are used for marine shows that the carbon equivalent has to increase to provide
environments. They have far higher levels of chromium higher strength materials, and it is a fine balance to produce
(18%), nickel (14%), and low carbon (0.08%) compared to a high strength material without too high hardness.
HSLA steels. This provides very good corrosion resistance Equation 1, proposed by Ito and Bessyo (1968), was
but reduces the strength compared to HSLA steels. Owing to proposed to account for a wide variety of steels and is the
their lack of strength, these materials are often used as a clad most commonly used method of defining the carbon equiva-
layer bonded to a carbon steel substrate. The stainless steel lent in low alloy steels.
side is adjacent to the corrosive fluid, and the outer carbon
steel substrate withstands pressure. Si Mn + Cu + Cr Ni Mo V
Pcm = + + + + + 5B (1)
The duplex stainless steel grades have a combination 30 20 60 15 10
of great strength and corrosion resistance, for instance,
UNS S32750 grade, common in pipelines, valves, heat Mn Cr + Mo + V Ni + Cu
CEIIW = C + + + (2)
exchangers, flanges, plate, bar, and so on, has a chromium 6 5 15
content of 25%, nickel (7%), and molybdenum (4%)
(UNS S32750). Equation 2 was proposed by the International Institute
Aside from the elements that are deliberately added to the for Welding (IIW) and was established for controlling steel
furnace to make steel, there are also undesirable elements, weldability. New equations continue to be developed but the
sulfur, and phosphorus that are present from the steel-making two abovementioned equations are commonly used in the oil
process. Both are deleterious to the product because they and gas industry.
produce iron sulfide or phosphide that increases brittleness.
To minimize their impact, the chemical composition will
be specified with a limit of allowable sulfur to 0.01 wt% 3 STRENGTH
maximum and phosphorus (0.02 wt%). When the environ-
ment is “sour,” the limit is reduced further to 0.002 wt%. Sour There are a number of measures that determine the strength
service is mentioned further in the section on hardness.1 of a material, depending on the application. The material may
Other important elements in the steel-making process be used in a component whose principle use is in tensile
include manganese that is added to steel to form MnS stress, compressive stress, shear stress, or cyclic loading in
rather than allow FeS to form. Calcium is added to change which fatigue strength is the critical property. Each of these
the morphology of the sulfur inclusions from elongated to areas of strength will be discussed separately in this article.
spheroidal to remove the crack path along elongated sulfur. Understanding the service conditions for a material is
Since the 1940s, formulae have been proposed that provide essential when specifying the mechanical properties. For
a guideline to the use of alloying elements. Equations 1 and 2 example, some steels, such as the “duplex” stainless steels,
are two formulae commonly used to ensure good mechanical lose strength at elevated temperature. In this case, it is
properties and weldability of steels for use in the marine necessary to have the material strength tested at the elevated
industry. The Pcm and CEIIW are both carbon equivalent temperature to ensure that the material will still be suitable
formulae used in the oil and gas industry. Typical values for for the design stress. The material may require a heavier
welded HSLA steel linepipe are shown in Figure 4. The table wall thickness to compensate for loss of strength.
API 5L X grades
Grade Chemical Cormposftion Yield Strength Tensile Strength Yield to Tensile Elongation
C Si Mn P S V Nb Ti Min. (ksi) Min. (ksi) Ratio (max.) %
API 5L X52 0.16 0.45 1.65 0.020 0.010 0.07 0.05 0.04 52 66 0.93 21
API 5L X56 0.16 0.45 1.65 0.020 0.010 0.07 0.05 0.04 56 71 0.93 19
API 5L X60 0.16 0.45 1.65 0.020 0.010 0.08 0.05 0.04 60 75 0.93 19
API 5L X65 0.16 0.45 1.65 0.020 0.010 0.09 0.05 0.06 65 77 0.93 18
API 5L X70 0.17 0.45 1.75 0.020 0.010 0.10 0.05 0.06 70 82 0.93 17
Figure 4. Chemical composition and strength for various pipeline grades of steel. (Courtesy of PM International Suppliers, LLC.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe143
3.1 Yield strength
Yield strength is the measure of the load a material can Proof stress
sustain up to the point where it changes from elastic behavior
Stress
to plastic. Elastic strain means that once the load is removed,
the material returns to its original length, whereas plastic
strain means that it is permanently deformed.
Figure 5 shows the stress–strain relationship for a carbon
steel. Up to the yield point, the slope is a straight line and
follows Hooke’s Law, that is, the strain on the component
increases proportionally with the increase in stress.
0 0.2%
Stress = Strain × a constant (E) Strain (%)
When the load is removed, the material will return to its Figure 6. Method for determining proof stress. (Reproduced with
original length. However, once this load is exceeded, that permission from SubsTech. © 2017.)
is, the material exceeds its yield strength, then Hooke’s law
is no longer obeyed, and the component is permanently
deformed. Design engineers generally require their compo-
For these materials, the proof stress will be specified instead
nents to act elastically under load, that is, they do not want
of yield strength. Commonly used industry practice is to
any permanent deformation. It is therefore essential that the
specify 0.1% or 0.2% proof stress the nomenclature is R0.1
manufacturer performs yield strength testing to ensure that
the desired design strength is met. Typically, design codes or R0.2 . Figure 6 shows how to find the proof stress at 0.2%
will include a safety factor to ensure that the component has strain. The proof stress is taken as the point on the Y-axis
some contingency should the load unintentionally increase where a line running parallel to the curve taken at an offset
from that in design, for instance, where an anchor has of 0.2% plastic strain dissects the curve.
tangled and pulled on the pipeline.
3.2 Proof stress 3.3 Young’s modulus of elasticity
Some materials do not show a defined point as seen on the Young’s modulus is the property that measures stiffness or
stress–strain curve where elastic behavior changes to plastic. resistance to deformation under load of a linear elastic solid.
Strain hardening Necking

Stress
Ultimate strength
Fracture
Yield strength
Rise
Run
Rise
Young’s modulus = = Slope
Run
Strain
Figure 5. Stress–strain curve.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe143
8 General
Young’s modulus is the constant component of Hooke’s Law, Shear force
direct stress
E=
corresponding strain
where E is Young’s modulus units lb/sq.in or N/sq.m.

E remains constant for a specific material, whatever the Figure 7. Shear stress.
shape or size of the component. Therefore, as long as the
elastic limit has not been exceeded, the elongation of a
material under a known load can be determined.
3.4 Tensile strength

F
F
Once the material is in plastic strain, that is, has passed the
elastic limit and is permanently deformed, the material will
continue to deform plastically (lengthen). At the yield point,
D
there is a small relaxing of the material and it continues to
deform under no load, then the material continues to strain
Figure 8. Stress on a bolt.
but disproportionately, that is, it no longer follows a straight
line curve. The material is in strain hardening also known as
work hardening (which means that the natural dislocations in component that has the load acted on it, parallel to the force
the structure are working against each other as the material is acting on it.
being deformed, making it harder to strain the material) until The resulting shear stress, 𝜏, deforms the rectangle into a
at the maximum point of stress on the curve, the dislocations parallelogram. The area involved is the top of the parallelo-
become aligned, and the material starts to neck rapidly until gram.
the point of fracture. The maximum stress point, prior to Shear stress failure in engineering materials is a property
necking (thinning) of the material as shown in Figure 5, is that is particularly common in bolts. The surface area in this
the ultimate tensile strength. Once this point is exceeded, the case is the circular cross section of the bolt (see Figure 8).
material necks, or thins rapidly, thus producing a high load Expanding the equation above for bolts:
over a small cross-sectional area, and the material fractures
rapidly. 𝜏 = F∕𝜋r2
It is important to the design engineer to know the tensile
strength to ensure that the design stresses will be well within 𝜏 = 4F∕𝜋D2
this value. Having this information on record is invaluable
should the component be damaged during installation or
service as it will allow an engineering critical assessment 3.6 Compressive strength
(ECA) to be performed, which will establish whether the
component is still safe to use or whether it has to be repaired Compressive strength is defined as the material’s ability to
or taken out of service, which will add a significant cost to resist compressive forces. Similar to tensile strength, that is,
the operator’s budget. the strength of a material under continual load, the mate-
rial is in compression. The compressive strength is equal to
3.5 Shear stress the load divided by the original surface area of the mate-
rial. Concrete is a material that has very good compressive
A shear stress acts parallel to the plane of the component strength but low tensile strength, hence it is used in structural
compared to tensile stress that acts normal to the plane. Shear designs for pillars, pylons, and slabs. Concrete is used subsea
stress is illustrated in Figure 7. as an anti-buoyancy method, usually used for large diam-
Shear stress is calculated as eter gas pipelines that will tend to want to float otherwise.
Force At the coating plant, concrete is applied over a steel wire
𝜏= reinforcement, which is required to strengthen the concrete.
Area
Compression testing is performed on the pre- and postcured
where 𝜏 is the shear stress (N/m2 ), force is the force applied samples to ensure that the concrete has reached the speci-
in Figure 7. Area, A, is the cross-sectional area of the fied strength to resist the external loads that will be applied
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe143
Fatigue fracture is caused by the initiation of a crack that

progresses as the cyclic stress is applied. The crack can be
obtained from the surface finish, a notch, temperature, or a
S–N Curve indicates number corrosive environment although there are many other factors
of cycles to failure as stress
Stress
increases. that can initiate fatigue. When the stress is applied the crack
grows but when the stress is removed, the crack arrests. This
continues during the cycles until eventually the crack will be
unstable and the material will fail.
The fracture face of a material that has failed due to fatigue
Number of cycles At the endurance is easily identified by the striations that can be seen often
stress, failure will
not occur
by eye (Figure 10). It can also provide a large amount of
information such as where the crack initiated (as seen in
Figure 9. Cycles to failure. Figure 10b), how long the cycles were, how frequently the
cycles occurred, and whether there was a sudden failure.
Consideration of fatigue in design is critical. There are
3.5–4 million ocean waves a year, but not all result in large
in service, in particular, the pipeline stacking loads during
forces contribute to fatigue. Ships and platforms may be
transportation.
designed to resist many medium to large waves such as
North Sea storms or relatively few very large waves such as
3.7 Fatigue strength from hurricanes in the US Gulf of Mexico. For hurricanes,
there may be 10,000 very large waves a day but only for
Fatigue strength is a measure of a material’s strength when a short number of days. North Sea medium to large size
it under cyclic loading. An example of a component that waves can last for months every year, and platforms must be
undergoes fatigue in service is a spring. Cyclic loads can designed differently, reducing the stress per cycle by building
cause failures when the cycle frequency is high but the stress stronger platforms than just to meet few wave cycles. The
is low but it can also occur when the frequency is low and the design must also be able to accommodate some corrosion. In
stress is high. Some steels, provided that they are kept below the design offshore facilities, the engineer may be required
their fatigue limit, can cycle infinite times without failing. to apply a correction factor to the properties of steel or
The fatigue of a material can be determined by the S–N other materials to allow them to be used successfully in the
curve (stress, number of cycles), which was proposed by offshore environment. For instance, steel has a certain fatigue
Wohler in the late 1800s. Figure 9 shows how the number strength in air, but a much lower strength in seawater, termed
of cycles reduces to failure as the stress increases. There is its corrosion fatigue strength. The corrosion fatigue strength
a stress, called the endurance stress, below which the object of all steels is approximately the same and continues to fall
can fatigue indefinitely without failing. with exposure, that is, there is no endurance limit.
(a) (b)
Figure 10. Fatigue fracture face features. (Courtesy of the American Society of Metals, ASM.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe143
10 General
4 HARDNESS Reducing the hardness and thereby increasing the ductility

can be achieved by thermally treating the component such as
Definition of hardness: the ability of a material to resist by tempering. Hardness can be increased, whether by design
compressive force. or accident by cold working the component. This may cause
The hardness value is the measurement of the indent depth unwanted brittleness to the component.
left by the testing equipment. The smaller the indent, the HE is a failure mechanism that can occur, for instance,
higher is the resistance, and therefore the harder is the when higher strength grades of steel are used with an over-
material. protected cathodic protection system. One of the methods
Controlling the hardness of a material during manufac- of avoiding HE is to limit the hardness of the steel to less
ture is critical since high hardness can initiate cracking. than 22Rc , above which steels are considered susceptible. It
Hardness can be caused by producing high levels of marten- should be noted, however, that underwater bolt materials can
site during the steel-making method. In addition to this, hard- and have failed at lower hardness when used in deep water oil
ness can increase during the manufacturing process where facilities. Recent concerns regarding fastener/bolting failures
for instance, cold working (such as rolling) the material can under high stress have been expressed by regulatory bodies,
increase the hardness further. Welding will also increase and warnings have been articulated through the media and
the hardness due to the heating and cooling process and various workshops and conferences (BSEE/PHMSA/API).
depending on the material thickness and geometry may need
to be postweld heat treated. The welding process affects both
the weld metal and the surrounding mother material at the 5 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
heat affected zone (HAZ). International materials standards
such as DNV, ASTM, and ISO provide recommended hard- A measure of the ability of a material to transfer heat: Given
ness values in their materials specifications in order to avoid two surfaces on either side of the material with a temperature
cracking, and there are standard methods of testing the mate- difference between them, the thermal conductivity is the heat
rial in the three zones: weld, HAZ, and mother material. energy transferred per unit time and per unit surface area,
A typical hardness limitation for carbon steel used for divided by the temperature difference.
subsea pipelines is 275 VH (Vickers hardness) Rc 26, but if Some hydrocarbons have a high “wax” content, which
the conditions are sour service, the limit has to be lowered to means that should they cool during transport, they can
250 VH, Rc 22. produce effectively a candle in the pipeline that constricts
Sour service is a condition that is commonly described as the orifice and ceases production. Flow assurance engineers
occurring when the hydrogen sulfide (H2 S) in the production have to ensure that the fluids are kept warm, which requires
fluids in a wet environment has a partial pressure greater than insulation, either via an external coating or through an
0.05 psi. Sour service requires greater limitations on the hard- electrical heating method. Thermal conductivity of the metal
ness of a material as well as controlling other factors such as carrier and the coating is therefore a critical property in
grade of material; for more information on the phenomena, design of offshore production systems. Coating manufac-
refer to MR0175/ISO 15156. Sour service can cause various turers continue to invest in research to find materials that can
forms of cracking: sulfide stress corrosion cracking, stress provide greater thermal insulation and reduce coating thick-
corrosion cracking, hydrogen-induced cracking (HIC), step- ness, thus reducing buoyancy of the pipeline and increasing
wise cracking (SWC), stress-orientated hydrogen-induced pipeline lay rates (www.dictionary.com/browse/thermal-
cracking (SOHIC), soft-zone cracking (SZC), and galvani- conductivity).
cally induced hydrogen stress cracking. These mechanisms
do not follow a slow corrosion path but can fail rapidly,
causing injury to personnel and harm to the public.
Various test methods are available to measure hardness; 6 DENSITY
those typically used in the oil and gas industry are Rockwell
(Rc ), Brinell, and Vickers (Hv ). Each of the tests is used The mass of a unit volume is called the density. The equation
for specific purposes; however, conversion tables are freely for density is
mass
obtainable from the Internet. 𝜌= (3)
volume
The Vickers hardness testing equipment uses a diamond
pyramid indenter that leaves a square indent into the material The SI (International System) unit is kg/m3 .
being tested. The mean value of the diagonals is calculated The density of a material changes with temperature and
to establish the hardness. The smaller the cross section of the pressure; however, for liquids and solids, the change is
cross-indent on the surface, the harder will be the material. very small. Due to the small changes, they can be taken
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe143
as essentially constants and therefore the densities of many

solids can be found in reference publications or an internet
search.
Equation 3 becomes useful when rearranged to enable
calculation of the mass. Usually, the volume is known or
can be calculated, and the density can be provided through Scale
either the manufacturer’s literature or the other published
literatures. This allows the mass of the item to be calculated.
Metals have the highest densities; steels have some of Starting position
the highest densities, 7850 kg/m2 compared with aluminium,
2700 kg/m2 . For the same volume, this makes steels far
heavier than aluminum, plastics, and composite materials. End of
A major requirement to reduce cost for platform design swing Hammer
is to minimize weight but without compromising strength.
Where possible, aluminum can be used in place of steel,
Specimen
and polymers such as polyurethane pipe can be used for low Anvil
pressure, noncorrosive fluids provided that they can meet the
design strength requirements.
Figure 11. Charpy impact test equipment. (Courtesy of TWI.)

7 FRACTURE TOUGHNESS
Toughness is often confused with strength. Strength is

concerned with the maximum load that a structure can with-
stand. Toughness is concerned with the ability of a material Ductile
to resist crack propagation.
Toughness is a measure of ductility or brittleness and must
Energy absorbed
be suitable for the service conditions of the component. It is

a measure of the ability to absorb energy. Notch toughness is Ductile/brittle transition
determined as the ability to absorb energy under a preloaded temperature
impact.
There are a number of methods used to determine tough-
ness, the most common are plane-strain fracture testing and
Brittle
Charpy V-notch impact testing.
The unit of toughness is the Joule or ft/lbs and is measured
using testing apparatus such as the Charpy V-Notch Impact Temperature
machine (Figure 11).
The sample has a machined notch (a man-made crack) Figure 12. Temperature transition curve for ductile/brittle
behavior.
that the hammer will align with as it strikes the material
with a predetermined weight. As the hammer swings down,
it contacts the sample and continues to move through the
swing. The measure of toughness is based on the resistance The Charpy V-notch test is used to determine the temper-
of the material to continue to crack further into the material. ature at which a material transforms from ductile to brittle.
A brittle material will provide no resistance and the hammer In the offshore industry, a component may be in service at
will swing through almost 180∘ and the sample will be in elevated temperature during service, but during a blow-down
two pieces. The face of the fractured surface will look bright situation, the pipeline may suddenly be subjected to subzero
and crystalline. A ductile material will be more resistant and temperatures. A famous example is the Liberty ship failures
the hammer will swing to a lesser extent. A highly ductile that only occurred in winter.
material may not break through completely, and the fracture Figure 12 shows a typical ductile–brittle transition curve
surface will look grainy and gray and may have a cup and for a steel material. The curve shows how the energy
cone fracture face, whereas a brittle material has a flat face. absorbed on impact changes with temperature. The vertical
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe143
12 General
dotted line shows the transition point, that is, the tempera- 8 ELECTROCHEMICAL PROPERTIES
ture at which the material is in the 50% ductile/50% brittle
region. Corrosion is defined as the deterioration of the properties of
In these circumstances, the end user will typically request a material when exposed to an environment.
the manufacturer to provide tests that produce a transition Each material has a natural electrochemical potential,
curve like the one in Figure 12. The curve is produced from measured in volts, which defines how corrosive it is when
energy absorption readings for test samples for a range of in an electrolytic environment. Typically, for marine service,
temperatures. A typical temperature range would be from the most important electrolytic solution is seawater.
10∘ C below the minimum design temperature up to 20∘ C A galvanic series has been published, which shows each
in 10∘ increments between. The transition temperature is at material versus the electrochemical potential (Figure 13).
the midpoint of the vertical section of the curve. The aim of The more positive materials are more noble, that is, less reac-
testing is to show that the material will show good ductility tive; an example of such a material in the marine environment
at the minimum design temperature. is titanium.
Charpy energy values vary depending on the service condi- Materials that show a naturally negative open potential are
tions, material grade, and thickness. The manufacturing stan- more active and will corrode, the most common example
dard will specify the Charpy value for the required material; of this offshore are the carbon steel alloys. If titanium and
the mean and minimum acceptable values will be specified steel are located close to each other in seawater, an elec-
such as those found in DNV OS-F101 and API 5L (2012). trochemical reaction will occur. The more electronegative
Crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) is another test material will lose its electrons and become oxidized, thus
method used to determine ductility, by determining the crit- corroding while the other material receives the electrons and
ical flaw size. The method requires a sample to have a preex- produces hydroxide. The more negative material is anodi-
isting crack that is put under load. The length of the crack cally corroding and is called the “anode,” while the reduced
is measured prior to failing. CTOD testing is important for area is called the “cathode.” A method of stopping corro-
the weld area that will inherently have flaws due to gases sion of steel is to connect it to a more active material such
that get absorbed in the weld area during welding. The mate- as aluminium, which will then act as the anode and the steel
rials specification will require the material manufacturer to will be protected.
perform CTOD tests for information. When the material is Steel corrodes at a rate of about 0.2–0.5 mm/year in
then later welded at either a fabrication yard or offshore, such seawater and also will pit to create more rapidly penetrating
as a flange welded to a pipeline, a nondestructive test will holes which act as stress risers. Seawater is close to the
be performed to detect for flaws. Any flaws can therefore be highest corrosive environment for steel, as the presence
compared with the CTOD values to establish if the flaw is of salt increases the electrical conductivity of the water.
small enough that it can be left or whether the weld must be Salt also reduces the solubility of oxygen in water, and
cut out and rewelded. For example, DNV OS-F101 requires the concentration of salt in seawater results in the highest
a CTOD of 0.15 mm for carbon–manganese steels used for combined corrosion rate for steel. Another fundamental
offshore pipelines. factor in corrosion is that it only occurs in the presence of
KIC is another property related to fracture of materials. It water until temperatures above 230∘ C, where it begins to
refers to the critical value of stress intensity at the crack tip oxidize directly. Therefore, if you are analyzing for corro-
needed to produce catastrophic failure under simple uniaxial sion, one must look for water, more specifically aggressive
loading that can be far less than that applied to the mother electrolytes. Marine corrosion will not occur without it. This
material. The subscript I refers to the uniaxial loading and is very important in ships as water will collect in bilges and
the C refers to it being critical. Point of a crack, which is cause weakening of the ships structural design unless the
higher than the stress fracture toughness (KIC ), is the critical steel is well coated or cathodically protected.
value of the stress intensity factor at a crack tip needed to
produce catastrophic failure under simple uniaxial loading.
The fracture toughness is given by 9 WELDING OF OFFSHORE
STRUCTURES
KIC = Y𝜎f 𝜋a
Good welding procedures are also a major materials consid-
where Y is a dimensionless geometry factor on the order of 1, eration. The most important part of an underwater platform
𝜎 f the stress applied at failure, and a the length of a surface jacket to protect against corrosion are the welds, which
crack (or one-half the length of an internal crack). The units due to their geometry, are located both at points of high
of KIC are MPa m1/2 . stress concentration and higher surface area compared to
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe143
+0.3 +0.2 +0.1 0 –0.1 –0.2 –0.3 –0.4 –0.5 –0.6 –0.7 –0.8 –0.9 –1.0 –1.1 –1.2 –1.3 –1.4 –1.5 –1.6 –1.7
V
Magnesium
Aluminum anode
Zinc
Beryllium
Aluminum alloys
Cadmium
Mild steel, cast iron
Low alloy steel
Austenitic nickel cast iron
Aluminum bronze
Naval brass, yellow brass, red brass
Tin
Copper
Pb-Sn solder (50/50)
Admiralty brass, aluminum brass
Cathode Anode
Less active Manganese bronze More active
Silicon bronze
Tin bronzes (G&M)
Stainless steel types 410, 416
Nickel silver
90-10 Copper-nickel
80-20 Copper-nickel
Stainless steel types 430
Lead
70-30 Copper-nickel
Nickel-aluminum bronze
Nickel-chromium alloy 600
Silver-bronze alloys
Nickel 200
Silver
Stainless steel types 302, 304, 321, 347
Nickel-copper alloys 400, K-500
Stainless steel types 316, 317
Alloy ‘‘20’’ stainless steels
Nickel-iron-chromium alloy 825
Ni-Cr-Mo-Cu-Si alloy B Indicates these alloys may become
Titanium more active in shielded areas and in
low-velocity or poorly-aerated water
Ni-Cr-Mo alloy C
Platinum
Graphites
Figure 13. Galvanic series in sea water. (Reproduced with permission from Specialty Steel Industry of North America (SSINA). © 2017.)
straight lengths of bracing. Welds also are possibly more vessel Alexander Kielland that collapsed in March 1980
susceptible to galvanic corrosion owing to their different at the Ekofisk field in the North Sea that failed when a
composition and residual stresses from cooling. Multiple weld failed under water, killing 123 people. These and other
pass welds are preferable, and post weld stress relief may examples should give engineers the impetus to ensure that
be required in some cases. The correct weld design as all offshore/marine design and operations are conducted
specified for underwater welding is also important. The under the so-called BAST (best available safe technology)
correct weld design curves to use are the ones designed criteria.
for fatigue without cathodic protection applied. Adequate
cathodic protection is needed to prevent the formation of
corrosion pits in the welds, which act as additional stress 10 FAILURE INVESTIGATION
raisers and can cause bracing to fail. Remember that plat-
form decks are supported by piling inside the legs, which will When a component fails, there will be an investigation into
not fail as quickly. One shouldn’t forget the semisubmersible why it failed. Some of the tests include those related to the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe143
14 General
mechanical properties. Below are examples of the type of such as reduction in welding man hours, shortening of
evaluations that will be performed: welding lines, elimination of cutting steps, stabilization
of fabricated part quality, and reduction in control costs,
• Chemical analysis—review the chemistry of the material have been met by developing TMCP high strength steels
to ensure that it was correctly supplied in accordance that require no preheating for welding, irregular section
with the specification. plates, and plates with close dimensional tolerances and
• Visual inspection of the fracture face. This will determine by increasing the stringency of preshipment plate quality
whether it failed in ductile or brittle mode, a bright control.
crystalline or high percentage of crystalline look on the
face indicating a brittle fracture and dull gray and ragged
surface indicating ductility.
• Visual inspection will be able to determine whether the
12 THE FUTURE OF MATERIALS
fracture was caused by fatigue.
• Where there is sufficient material, hardness and tensile
Oil and gas operators continue to develop fields in deeper,
tests will be performed to determine what the breaking
hotter reservoirs and in deeper water where the environments
stress of the material was against what was specified.
get more hostile. Manufacturers will continue to invest in
• Visual inspection of the face of a fatigue fracture can
development of materials that can provide better resistance
tell you where the crack initiated. It can also show
to high temperatures, corrosion, and stress. The oil and gas
the type and direction of the loads on the component
industry has been proved to be fickle with respect to supply
and the frequency of the load cycles. It can indicate
and demand and can quickly go from boom, where high costs
whether the cycles were frequent and loads were low
can be easily absorbed by the market price of oil to bust
or low frequency of cycles but with a high load on the
where margins are cost becomes critical to the feasibility
component.
of a development. Manufacturers will be aware of the need
• If chevron cracking is found in the weld, the crack will
lead to the initiation point of the crack. Chevron cracking therefore to provide greater resistance to higher tempera-
indicates that hydrogen-induced cold work occurred at tures as hydrocarbon products are hotter and more corrosive.
the weld and that control of the moisture was insufficient. Prices of oil fluctuate, which impacts the cost of develop-
ment of these fields, and therefore, more cost efficient solu-
tions need to be found. The manufacturers will be developing
11 THERMOMECHANICALLY TREATED more cost-effective solutions for both material compositions
STEEL and manufacturing costs. The drive for lighter, stronger,
tougher, and more corrosion-resistant materials is a contin-
In recent years, the need for higher strength materials has uous process as end-users strive to find more cost-effective
pushed the development of materials. Extra high strength solutions. As this process of advancement continues, the
thermomechanically processed steels, termed TMCP, have properties of materials will become more important, and the
been developed. These steels have excellent handling prop- use of “secondary” properties such as corrosion potential
erties, which are based on thermomechanical treatment that (ECorr), critical pitting potential (CPP), pitting resistance
reduces the need for excessive use of alloying elements to equivalent (PRE), critical pitting temperature (CPT), critical
strengthen the steel. TMCP plates are used for pipelines, crevice temperature (CCT), and others will likely enter the
ships and other offshore structures, in particular where heavy engineers’ vocabulary more readily.
wall thickness is required for strength.
Generally, TMCP steels are supplied as heavy plates,
surface-treated plates, and plate components. Due to the
very low carbon equivalent, TMCP steels are easily weld- ENDNOTES
able using all common processes. In addition, they are easy
to form, bend, and edge. TMCP steels give many mone- 1. Sour service—“Exposure to oilfield environments that
tary advantages to the shipbuilder: Reduced plate thickness contain sufficient H2 S to cause cracking of materials
saving weight in the final structure, greater effective loads by the mechanisms addressed by NACE MR0175/ISO
during use, and cost savings in welding and fabrication. 15156.” The use of the 0.05 psi partial pressure criteria
The quality of shipbuilding steels has an extremely is often used as a threshold rule of thumb, although more
large impact on the quality, efficiency, and cost of ships lately the industry seems to be moving away from this
built from those steels. Various shipbuilding requirements, figure.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe143
REFERENCES FURTHER READING
American Petroleum Institute, API 5L (2012) Specification for ASME B16.5. Pipe Flanges and Flanged Fittings.
Linepipe, 45th edn, Washington, DC, American Petroleum Insti- ASME IX. Boiler and Pressure Code – Welding and Brazing.
tute.
DNV RP-B401. Cathodic Protection Design.
DNV OS-F101. Submarine Pipeline Systems, Det Norsk Veritas
Offshore Standard DNV OS-F101. DNV RP-F103. Cathodic Protection Design of Submarine Pipelines
form Galvanic Anodes.
Ito, Y. and Bessyo, K. (1968) Weldability Formula of High Strength
Steels Related to Heat Affected Zone Cracking, International Insti- European Federation of Corrosion. (2009) Number 16 Guidelines on
tute of Welding, Japan., Doc IX-576-68 Materials Requirements for Carbon and Low Alloy Steels for H2S
containing environments in oil and gas production, 3rd edn.
MR0175/ISO15156 (2015) Petroleum and natural gas
industries—Materials for use in H2S-containing Environments in www.nickelinstitute.org
oil and gas production. NORSOK (2014) M001 Materials Selection.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe143
Internal Corrosion Considerations for Offshore Oil
and Gas Production (Downhole and Production)
Eric Caldwell
pressure, temperature, and environmental conditions: down-

1 Introduction 1 hole (subsurface), wellheads/trees, subsea, and topsides.
2 Common Internal General Corrosion and The downhole section generally encompasses all equip-
Environmentally Assisted Cracking ment associated with bringing produced fluids from the
Mechanisms 2 reservoir to a wellhead/tree. Materials used downhole are
3 Summary 8 usually exposed to the highest internal and external temper-
Glossary 8 atures/pressures associated with oil and gas production
systems. However, these materials typically have very low
Related Articles 9
to no exposure to oxygen with the main exception of water
References 9
injection wells. The relatively high internal pressures asso-
ciated with a well and the thinner wall section typically
requires high strength materials.
Wellheads and trees control the production and can be
1 INTRODUCTION exposed to temperatures as high as the reservoir and as low
as ambient. In addition, wellheads and trees enable control
Internal corrosion of pipes and metallic components wetted of downhole functions such as safety valves, chemical injec-
by produced oil and gas fluids poses many challenges to the tion, pressure gauges, and smart well functions and also
offshore oil and gas production industry. Corrosion and envi- provide an access point for performing well interventions
ronmentally assisted cracking (EAC) issues commonly arise when necessary. Since the high criticality of wellheads and
due to corrosive chemistries of produced fluids, which can trees, they are typically independent of other subsea hard-
contain water and inorganic constituents in addition to hydro- ware design. These may or may not be considered part of the
carbons and acid gases. Issues most commonly encoun- subsea design.
tered include general corrosion from carbon dioxide (CO2 ), The subsea section generally includes all equipment down-
both hydrogen-related cracking and sulfide stress cracking
stream of subsea trees, all the way to the top of the riser.
(SSC) in hydrogen sulfide (H2 S)-containing environments
This includes flowlines, pipelines, manifolds, and other hard-
and stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in chloride containing
ware that serves to direct the produced fluids from the well-
brines with low pH values.
head/tree to the topsides.
There are four main sections of a typical offshore oil and
The topsides section generally comprises all equipment
gas production system, each subject to a different set of
and piping on the floating platform or barge; essentially all
equipment at and above the water’s surface. The major func-
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. tion of topsides facility is to separate the incoming stream
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe569
into gas, oil, and water phases with limited footprint and
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 compact space.
2 General
2 COMMON INTERNAL GENERAL Pit formation and growth are much harder to predict than
CORROSION AND general corrosion. Pitting corrosion is most often associated
ENVIRONMENTALLY ASSISTED with low availability of oxygen, usually in the ppb range,
in conjunction with presence of chlorides and H2 S gas. As
CRACKING MECHANISMS
the environment within the pit is occluded and cannot flow
and refresh readily, the pH of the solution at the bottom of
2.1 General corrosion
the pit is much more acidic than that of the exterior bulk
solution, most often due to having an increased concentration
General corrosion is defined as relatively uniform metal loss
of corrosion products and ions. The environment within a
across a surface. General corrosion may occur in isolated
pit has a significant effect on the pitting rate, but due to
areas or over an entire surface. Carbon dioxide corrosion
the occluded pit geometry, in situ pitting rate measurement
is one of the most common types of general corrosion
and quantification are extremely difficult, making pitting rate
observed in oil and gas production systems, while oxidiza-
tion of steel (rust) is very common in seawater injection nearly impossible to predict or measure accurately.
systems and unprotected carbon steel structures offshore. There are three primary pit geometries: (a) low aspect
Due to the uniformity of general corrosion, models do exist ratio, (b) high aspect ratio, and (c) occluded. Low aspect
to predict corrosion rates of carbon steels in some specific ratio pits, pictured schematically in Figure 1a, are considered
environments. nucleation sites for more aggressive pitting. These pits have
been shown to passivate in some conditions.
High aspect ratio pits, pictured schematically in Figure 1b,
2.2 Galvanic corrosion are considered aggressive and have sharp geometries that can
intensify stresses and lead to the initiation of cracks at the
Galvanic corrosion occurs when two dissimilar metals are tip of the pit. The tip of the pit generally will not readily
in electrical contact with each other. A differential electro- passivate, and it is difficult to measure the rate of pit growth.
chemical potential forms between the two metals or alloys. These are commonly associated with SSC and SCC.
One metal/alloy is more noble (less easily corroded) and acts
Occluded pits, depicted in Figure 1c, are a less-common
as a cathode. The other metal/alloy is less noble (more easily
type of pitting but lead to very aggressive attack. They will
corroded) and acts as an anode. Galvanic corrosion rate for a
not readily passivate and it is difficult to measure the rate of
given material pairing and environment can be approximated
pit growth. These pits are not as likely to lead to cracking as
based on the cathode-to-anode surface area ratio; large ratios
the high aspect ratio pits because they lack a sharp narrow
will cause the anode to corrode rapidly and small ratios result
geometry.
in lower corrosion rates of the anode. This type of corrosion
often leads to issues when carbon or low alloy steel nuts,
bolts, and washers are used on or in stainless steel or CRA 2.4 Crevice corrosion
(corrosion-resistant alloy) tanks. When this has occurred,
galvanic corrosion has led to vessel leaks and catastrophic In offshore equipment and piping, there are many areas
failures. where small crevices can exist and where fluid from the
Galvanic corrosion can be mitigated by minimizing the use environment can become trapped, wetting the surface within
of dissimilar metal nuts and bolts and other small parts or the crevice. Crevice corrosion commonly occurs underneath
electrically isolating two structures when they are composed washers or gaskets or in sharp corners of tanks or decks.
of dissimilar metals. Electrical isolation can be achieved by These areas can experience corrosion confined within the
the use of suitable nonmetallic gaskets and washers or by crevice, and this corrosion attack may not be externally
nonconductive coatings and paints. However, such isolation visible. The pH in the crevice may be very low, and the corro-
can be degraded or “bypassed,” so it is important to periodi- sive species concentration may be very high, similarly to the
cally check that electrical isolations remain effective. bottom of a pit. One common type of crevice corrosion is
under-deposit corrosion, which occurs when any permeable
2.3 Pitting corrosion scale or buildup accumulates on a surface in the presence of a
generally corrosive environment. Corrosive fluid penetrates
Pitting corrosion is a highly localized form of corrosion, through the occluding solids and becomes trapped close to
wherein the corrosion appears in a small surface area but the surface, initiating a crevice corrosion cell. The fluid is
can penetrate very deeply into the bulk of the material. prevented from circulating, much like within a pit, and acid
The visible diameter of a pit is typically on the order of a and corrosive species become concentrated, preventing the
few millimeters. Pits can form in isolation or in clusters. surface from repassivating.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe569
Internal Corrosion Considerations for Offshore Oil and Gas Production (Downhole and Production) 3
(a) (b) (c)
Figure 1. (a) Low aspect ratio pit morphology; (b) high aspect ratio pit morpxhology; (c) occluded pit morphology. (Reproduced with
permission from GATE Inc. © 2015.)
2.5 Environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) cracking (HISC), and galvanic stress corrosion cracking
(GSCC) and are common to all metals used in oil and gas,
EAC is a generic term for any cracking mechanism in which but most prevalent in duplex and super duplex stainless
a corrosive environment leads to, or is associated with, steels. All other cracking is generally categorized either as
crack propagation in a material. EAC can only occur when SCC, predominately affecting CRAs, or LME, which can
a susceptible material is in the presence of both a corrosive occur when low melting point metals are present in the
environment and a residual or applied stress. Cracking of a process stream.
material leads to catastrophic failure of a component since When determining whether EAC has contributed to the
cracks often initiate and grow undetected until they reach failure of a part, EAC is most often identified by inter-
a critical size, after which failure rapidly occurs. EAC is granular or transgranular cracking within the microstruc-
a general term used until a more specific type of cracking ture. Schematics depicting intergranular and transgranular
can be identified, and there are a significant number of cracking are shown in Figure 2a and b, respectively.
different specific forms of cracking that occur in oil and gas
production. EAC can be split into four groups; (i) cracking 2.6 Carbon dioxide (CO2 )
promoted by H2 S; (ii) cracking promoted by cathodic protec-
tion (CP); (iii) cracking promoted by other environments; Carbon dioxide is a gas commonly found in produced fluids.
(iv) liquid metal embrittlement (LME). The H2 S-related CO2 dissociates into a weak acid that becomes corrosive,
cracking types are SSC, hydrogen-induced cracking (HIC), especially to carbon and low alloy steel, when dissolved in
stress-oriented hydrogen-induced cracking (SOHIC), and water. The rate of corrosion due to CO2 is dependent on the
stepwise cracking (SWC). These are most commonly seen in CO2 partial pressure, solution temperature, and presence of
carbon and low alloy steels. CP-driven mechanisms include other constituents that affect the pH of the produced fluids.
hydrogen embrittlement (HE), hydrogen-induced stress When carbon and low alloy steel corrode in the presence
(a) (b)
Figure 2. Environmentally assisted cracking with (a) intergranular crack path and (b) transgranular crack path. (Reproduced with
permission from GATE Inc. © 2015.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe569
4 General
of CO2 , the corrosion product is typically iron carbonate, to deliver batch inhibitor treatments to the top of the line and
FeCO3 , also called siderite. This corrosion product can the substitution of carbon steel and low alloy steel piping
form a semiprotective scale that lowers corrosion rate under with CRA or CRA-clad materials.
certain conditions. However, pitting or localized attack can
be stimulated at break points in the scale, sometimes by a
galvanic-type action exhibiting a mesa-like morphology. 2.9 Hydrogen sulfide (H2 S)
In practice, it is common to control CO2 corrosion by
injecting a corrosion inhibitor into a system, usually in a H2 S is another gas commonly found in produced fluids
system region comprised of an appropriate CRA, upstream that dissociates into a weak acid and, therefore, becomes
of the carbon or low alloy steel that requires protection. corrosive when dissolved in water. The presence of H2 S can
Allowing some distance between the injection point and the lead to general corrosion and pitting in some cases, and EAC
susceptible steel provides an opportunity for the corrosion in others. The rate of corrosion due to H2 S is dependent
inhibitor to mix with the produced fluids, ensuring adequate on many of the same variables that affect CO2 corrosion
coverage to all steel surfaces that require protection. The use rates: H2 S partial pressure, temperature, and presence of
of inhibitors requires appropriate inspection and monitoring other constituents affect the pH of the produced fluids. When
to ensure that the inhibitor is effective. CRA, including stain- carbon and low alloy steel corrode in the presence of H2 S,
less steels, nickel-base alloys, and other higher alloy metals, the corrosion reaction can produce hydrogen protons (H+),
is considered not susceptible to CO2 corrosion under most atomic hydrogen (H), or iron sulfide (FeS).
conditions typical of the upstream oil and gas industry. H2 S is typically not related to extensive general corrosion
in oil and gas production equipment because the FeS film
that forms on the surface of the steel can be a protective
2.7 Iron carbonate (FeCO3 ) film. The protectiveness of the iron sulfide is dependent on
the type of film that forms. This, in turn, is largely depen-
The predominant corrosion product associated with CO2 dent on temperature, pH, and H2 S partial pressure and can
corrosion is iron carbonate (FeCO3 , often called siderite) be negatively affected by the presence of chloride salts. In
scale, which can be protective under certain conditions. addition, at small imperfections or areas where the film has
Conditions favoring the formation of a protective iron been damaged, a corrosion cell forms between FeS and any
carbonate scale are elevated temperatures, which lead to exposed steel, usually resulting in enhanced pitting (local-
decreased scale and CO2 solubility, accelerating scale ized) corrosion of the steel unless conditions are favorable
precipitation; the presence of pH buffers such as bicar- for repassivation. At higher temperatures, the scale is at a
bonate, which tend to decrease scale solubility; and low cathodic potential relative to the steel, which can promote
flow velocity and turbulence. Turbulence is often the critical localized galvanic corrosion. In the presence of chloride ions
factor in the production or retention of a protective FeCO3 and temperatures over 300∘ F (150∘ C), under-deposit corro-
film, as low turbulence will facilitate scale formation and sion occurs, which can be sustained under thick but porous
decreased scale erosion. iron sulfide deposits. The chloride forms a layer of nonpro-
tective (porous) iron chloride, which is acidic and prevents
2.8 Top of the line corrosion the formation of an FeS layer directly on the corroded steel,
enabling the anodic reaction to continue.
Water can condense at the top (12 o’clock position) of a The exact conditions that give rise to a protective film
pipeline or flowline in wet gas systems. The water that and those that cause pitting are not well understood, so it
condenses will contain no ions or buffers, and will satu- is hard to predict general corrosion rates in H2 S-containing
rate with CO2 almost immediately, causing the pH of the systems. Successful sour operations generally utilize corro-
condensed water to drop rapidly, often to near 3.5. As it is sion inhibition and have flow regimes conducive to good
condensed water, it will not carry any inhibitors, and thus inhibition distribution (annular flow and low turbulence).
top of the line corrosion cannot be inhibited with tradi- The general industry practice indicates that when the partial
tional liquid-phase inhibitors. Therefore, carbon steel can pressure ratio pCO2 /pH2 S < 20, H2 S corrosion dominates.
corrode along the top of the line at the 12 o’clock position in Under these conditions, localized corrosion (pitting) penetra-
condensing conditions. This type of corrosion is exacerbated tion rates occurring in the event of breakdown of a protective
if H2 S and/or organic acids are present. The condensation sulfide film can be significantly higher than those caused by
rate plays a large role in top of line corrosion rates, and CO2 general corrosion.
controlling condensation rate is a common means of control- H2 S can also lead to SSC of several metals including
ling top of the line corrosion. Other methods include pigging carbon and low alloy steels. However, SSC is not generally
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe569
considered to be a threat when H2 S partial pressure is below sulfur compounds, usually under anaerobic conditions. This
0.05 psi (0.345 kPa). type of cracking is predominant in carbon and low alloy
steels, but has also been observed in martensitic stainless
2.10 Iron sulfide steels. Temperature is an important limiting factor of SSC.
SSC is generally more severe at room temperature and below
The chemical compounds that iron sulfide forms in nature because of the greater tendency for hydrogen to become
depend on the surrounding environmental conditions. trapped in the steel microstructure at cooler temperatures.
Greigite, pyrrhotite, trollite, mackinawite, marcasite, and Corrosion reactions between steel and sulfur-containing
pyrite are some of the more common FeS-based compounds. compounds generate FeS and atomic hydrogen. The layer of
Accordingly, the type of FeS scale that forms in an oil and FeS poisons the recombination reaction of atomic hydrogen
gas production environment is highly dependent on factors to form hydrogen gas, instead promoting the movement of
including pH, temperature, and H2 S partial pressure. This atomic hydrogen into the metal, usually into impurities at the
can serve to substantially impact the degree of corrosion grain boundaries. Penetration of hydrogen into the bulk metal
protection, if any, provided by the resulting FeS deposits. results in the loss of ductility, or embrittlement, because
accumulation of hydrogen at imperfections in the metal bulk
2.11 Under-deposit corrosion microstructure, such as grain boundaries, dislocations, or
stacking faults, prevent metal grains from moving when a
Solids can accumulate and deposit at low points in a flow- stress is applied. Alternately, if two hydrogen atoms combine
line and other flowing systems. In the occluded area between to form hydrogen gas within the metal bulk, this generates
this deposit and the regions of steel under the deposit, solu- tremendous pressure and internal stress, also reducing the
tion accumulates and the environment becomes significantly ductility of the metal. For high strength steel, the combina-
different than the bulk-produced fluids themselves. pH values tion of lack of ductility and internal stress in synergy with
and ion concentrations in this region may be significantly applied operating tensile stresses causes cracks to form and
higher than in the bulk, causing this specific type of crevice propagate within the metal.
corrosion. This form of corrosion is also often associated Mitigation of this form of cracking is most often achieved
with microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC), where through prevention, by selecting materials not susceptible
the presence of bacteria can create or worsen under-deposit to SSC under any expected operating conditions, including
corrosion issues. transient modes like start up and shutdown. Lack of suscep-
Production systems often use corrosion inhibitors to miti- tibility can be verified or proven by performing fitness for
gate corrosion. Deposits can retard or prevent corrosion service testing. ANSI-NACE MR 0175/ISO 15156 is the
inhibitors from reaching the steel under the deposit and lead standard that provides guidelines for materials selection in
to accelerated corrosion, sometimes exacerbated by galvanic service where H2 S partial pressures are expected to be equal
cells that form between the deposit and steel. to or greater than 0.05 psi (0.345 kPa).
The resistance of a material to SSC is related to hardness,
so hardness is often used as a criterion to select or qualify
2.12 Hydrogen embrittlement
material for service in H2 S-containing systems. Rockwell C
hardness is referenced for nonwelded materials and Vickers
Atomic hydrogen can be absorbed by all metals. When
hardness 10 kg (22 lbs.) for welded materials. Materials that
sufficient hydrogen has been absorbed, the metal becomes
exceed the specified hardness limits may still be utilized
embrittled and will crack under load. Hydrogen is often
on the condition that they pass the appropriate fitness for
generated due to a galvanic couple at low temperature or
service tests. Some of the most common standards followed
cathodic overprotection in seawater. HE does not occur at
for fitness for service testing are NACE TM 0177 (2005),
higher temperatures, because hydrogen can diffuse through
NACE TM 0198 (2011), and EFC 17 (2002).
the microstructure and exit, and does not become trapped
within the atomic matrix in the same way it does at lower
temperatures. SSC, HIC, SOHIC, and SWC are all types of 2.14 Blistering
cracking resulting from HE.
Atomic hydrogen can accumulate within the microstruc-
2.13 Sulfide stress cracking ture of lower strength steels at inclusions, pores, and other
steel microstructural defects and recombine to form trapped
SSC occurs when a susceptible metal is under tensile stress hydrogen gas. As hydrogen gas accumulates in these areas,
and exposed to water containing hydrogen sulfide or other internal pressure builds up that can exceed the strength of
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe569
6 General
the steel. When this happens near the surface in low strength 2.17 Stepwise cracking (SWC)
steels, surface discontinuities appear, and large voids can
form internally in the steel bulk SWC is a subcategory of HIC and SOHIC. SWC is very
Steel corrosion reactions in the presence of wet H2 S fluids similar to SOHIC. Where SOHIC cracks are often long and
are often the source of hydrogen, but other sources include straight, SWC often takes the form of many small cracks
poor hydrogen control in weld consumables or shield gas that are oriented perpendicular to the stress orientation but do
during welding. When hydrogen gas accumulates near the not necessarily link together along the same plane. Multiple
steel surface, large stresses are created within the material small steps form, and the cracks can coalesce together in such
bulk that results in the formation of a blister. a way that the crack has a step-like appearance.
2.18 Hydrogen-induced stress cracking

2.15 Hydrogen-induced cracking
Another form of cracking similar to HE is HISC, which is
Carbon, low alloy, and martensitic stainless steels are suscep- commonly associated with duplex stainless steels and low
tible to HIC. HIC can occur when the steel is exposed to alloy steels welded with austenitic consumables. Hydrogen,
hydrogen sulfide or another source of hydrogen. Unlike most introduced into the austenitic microstructure via cathodic
cracking phenomena, the HIC process does not require the over protection, embrittles the metal. The stress can come
presence of an externally applied stress. Rather, the accu- from an applied load or internal residual stresses.
mulation of hydrogen in sufficient quantities creates suffi- A number of problems have occurred in subsea produc-
cient internal stress to cause a crack to form within the tion systems that involved HISC of duplex stainless steel
microstructure. and high strength low alloy forging materials welded with
One identifying mark of HIC cracking is that the cracks austenitic consumables (Taylor, Pendlington, and Bird, 1999;
appear to initiate from within the steel bulk and not at the The Welding Institute, 2000).
environment/steel interface. HIC will resemble large flat Poor postweld heat treatment (PWHT) controls of Alloy
voids in a material. Often, several HIC cracks will initiate 625 consumables used to butter welds can result in the pres-
independently and then coalesce together, creating a very ence of a narrow band of very hard untempered martensite,
jagged crack path propagating both parallel and perpendic- which can be very susceptible to HISC, and has led to failures
ular to the steel surface. in the industry.
HIC is also unique in that it is semireversible. If the source
of hydrogen is removed, hydrogen will naturally diffuse out
of the steel. Heat can be used to assist with this process. 2.19 Galvanic stress corrosion cracking (GSCC)
NACE TM 0284 is one standard commonly followed to test
for metal susceptibility to HIC. The electrochemical potential introduced when two dissim-
ilar metals are in electrical contact typically leads to galvanic
corrosion of the less noble metal. Correspondingly, if the
potential difference between the two metals is sufficiently
2.16 Stress-oriented hydrogen-induced cracking
large, hydrogen charging (hydrogen diffusion into and trap-
(SOHIC)
ping) within the more noble metal can occur, which can cause
the more noble metal to undergo HE leading to cracking
SOHIC is a variation of HIC. The most notable differ-
when combined with application of a tensile stress.
ence between HIC and SOHIC is the crack propagation
morphology and the locations of crack formation. SOHIC
cracks will be long, relatively straight, initially propagating 2.20 Stress corrosion cracking (SCC)
in the rolling plane of the steel and then becoming linked
by cracks that form perpendicular to the applied stress. Many alloys are susceptible to cracking in a particular
The result is ladder-like crack morphology. SOHIC is environment, while subject to a tensile stress or high
more commonly found in weld heat-affected zones (HAZ), residual stresses. SCC will only occur for very specific
whereas HIC does not occur preferentially in HAZ. alloy–environment combinations and requires the pres-
SOHIC tends to become prevalent only in systems where ence of all three: the alloy, environment, and applied or
hydrogen charging is severe and stresses are relatively high, residual tensile stress. Therefore, SCC has many subcate-
particularly in severe wet H2 S service. Steels susceptible to gories, but only two are prevalent in oil and gas production:
HIC are typically also susceptible to SOHIC. chloride-induced SCC and caustic SCC.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe569
Chloride-induced SCC of CRAs is typically initiated in risk. For austenitic stainless steel in low pressure nontoxic
oxygenated environments when the chloride ions interact and nonflammable service, the risk of zinc embrittlement is
electrochemically with the protective oxide layer on the CRA considered negligible. The risk of LME for duplex stainless
surface causing it to break down. At high temperatures, steels is also considered negligible as they do not have a
SCC can occur to highly alloyed CRAs in anaerobic process continuous austenite boundary, and therefore, cracks will not
conditions. Carbon and low alloy steels are considered at propagate.
low risk to chloride-induced SCC. Carbon steels are suscep- Produced mercury, where it arises, is contaminated and
tible to caustic SCC at pH values exceeding 12, which are does not penetrate stainless steel piping or vessels at normal
common in refining, export, methanol, and ethanol pipelines. operating temperatures. Thermally sprayed aluminum coat-
Brass and nickel bronzes are also susceptible to SCC. ings are rapidly quenched onto the metal surfaces and do not
SCC tends to initiate from a stress riser at the surface of directly result in LME.
the metal, such as a pit or notch. Cracks progress into the Precautions should be undertaken to mitigate or prevent
metal primarily along grain boundaries, propagating due to LME for austenitic stainless steel pressure containing
amplification of applied stress at the sharp crack tip. The equipment.
cracks usually undergo extensive branching and develop in
a direction perpendicular to the static stress. As SCC is an 2.22 Corrosion fatigue
anodic process, it can be mitigated by CP. Coating the surface
can reduce the risk of SCC, but cannot be 100% relied upon Corrosion fatigue is a material degradation mechanism in
because of the inherent risk of coating holidays. which both the initiation and propagation of a crack occur
The best method of mitigating SCC is to select a mate- due to the synergic effects of a corrosive environment and
rial that does not show susceptibility to SCC in the intended a cyclic-applied stress. The typical corrosion fatigue mech-
service environment. Therefore, it becomes important to anism occurs from the impairment of the surface oxide film
know the specifics of several of the environmental variables due to applied stress, which then allows localized corrosion
that are associated with SCC, specifically temperature, chlo- to commence at the points of high stress. This gradually
ride concentration, pH, and H2 S partial pressure. While the results in crack initiation and crack growth by a combination
majority of the CRAs used in oil and gas do not suffer of mechanical stress, which serves to intermittently rupture
from HE due to H2 S, H2 S has a synergistic relationship the passive film over the crack tip, and corrosive action that
with temperature, chloride concentration, and pH, leading dissolves the exposed metal until it repassivates. Due to this
to increased susceptibility of materials to SCC when H2 S is combined action, corrosion fatigue is typically more severe
present. at low stress cycles that allow time for the corrosion process
to progress. It has been determined that corrosion fatigue is
governed by interactions between loading, metallurgical, and
2.21 Liquid metal embrittlement environmental factors. Unlike EAC, corrosion fatigue will
generally occur in any alloys exposed to both a corrosive
LME refers to the embrittlement of metal resulting from environment and a cyclic stress.
liquid metal penetration along grain boundaries resulting in
preferential corrosion of the grain boundaries, eventually 2.23 Erosion
leading to cracking. Many metal systems, including copper,
aluminum, titanium, stainless steel, and nickel alloys, are Erosion is the removal of metal from a surface by the
susceptible to LME, usually by molten metals that react cutting or abrasive action of abrasive particles. A catastrophic
specifically with the alloy system. erosion-induced failure can be much more rapid than the
In the oil and gas industry, LME can arise from mercury, gradual wall thickness loss associated with general corro-
which can be present in the production fluids, or broken ther- sion. In addition, chemical treatments will not mitigate the
mometers or blown manometers, cadmium (from bolting), or erosion as they do for general corrosion. Erosion failures
zinc (present on bolting, galvanized structural components are typically observed in drill pipe when leaks allow drilling
and zinc-pigmented primers). mud to flow through the wall under high pressure. Erosion at
Zinc penetration can only occur at temperatures exceeding bends and tees resulting from sand impingement represents
400∘ C on highly stressed alloy surfaces. These temperatures another common occurrence of metal erosion in the oil and
are rarely found in normal operation of an oil and gas produc- gas industry.
tion system; however, in addition to operating conditions, Several factors that control erosion rates include type of
consideration of the effect of fires on hydrocarbon-handling abrasive solids present in the fluid stream, fluid type, mate-
facilities must also be considered when evaluating LME rial impacted, and impact angle. Particles with higher impact
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe569
8 General
energy (larger mass particle or higher velocity particle) will bacteria. In anaerobic sulfate-containing waters, SRB reduce
be more destructive. Angular particles are more detrimental sulfate to form hydrogen sulfide, resulting in H2 S corrosion,
due to their sharp edges, which cut into the surface rather as explained in a previous section.
than cause the plastic deformation characteristic of rounded In order to mitigate MIC, the most important step is moni-
particles. Low viscosity and low density fluids, such as toring produced fluids for bacterial content. Samples of
gas and condensate that often flow at high velocities, typi- produced water can be easily taken and cultured offshore to
cally have an inherently higher erosion risk than systems obtain rough bacterial counts, with no need for sophisticated
that are predominantly water or oil based. Softer materials, lab equipment. When bacterial counts rise above a specified
such as copper/nickel alloys, are more susceptible to erosion tolerable level, the fluid stream can be treated with biocides to
than carbon steels, stainless steels, and nickel alloys. For eliminate the organisms and greatly reduce the threat of MIC.
ductile materials, the maximum erosion loss occurs at an
impact angle of approximately 40∘ and it is associated with
gouging. Maximum erosion occurs at a 90∘ impact angle for
3 SUMMARY
brittle materials, as this is the angle at which the impact has
maximum energy.
The harsh environments and high stresses and pressures asso-
ciated with offshore oil and gas production can incite many
2.24 Erosion corrosion different corrosion and environmentally assisted cracking
mechanisms. The type of corrosion or EAC that occurs is
Erosion corrosion is a tribocorrosion material loss mecha- highly dependent on the material used, the composition of
nism caused by flowing fluid (containing or not containing the environment, and the temperatures and pressures expe-
solid particles) disrupting or thinning the protective film of rienced. Prevention or mitigation of corrosion is generally
corrosion product. Erosion corrosion is a synergistic form of achieved by careful material selection, injection of chemical
material degradation consisting of erosive attack followed by inhibitors, close monitoring of bacteria and wall loss through
corrosive attack. The mass loss rate by combined erosion nondestructive testing, and proper system operation.
corrosion is not simply the sum of erosion and corrosion The oil industry has invested heavily in developing mate-
mass loss rates. Instead, some synergistic effects can occur
rials, materials selection processes, and expert personnel to
in which higher rates of material loss are experienced.
control/predict corrosion and minimizing material degrada-
The nature of erosion corrosion is such that there are
tion. Predevelopment planning and expanding knowledge of
mechanical, electrochemical, and interactive processes
all aspects of corrosion control and monitoring are benefi-
involved making it difficult to model. The material loss can,
cial especially to the newly developing “green” fields, while
therefore, be caused by several mechanisms: these include
the previously developed “brown” fields will continue to
chemical dissolution (which can be increased by mass
benefit from the corrosion and materials engineering exper-
transfer increases at the surface), mechanical erosion caused
tise as well as continued improvements to monitoring tech-
by fluid flow and/or impingement of particles on the pipe
niques. However, it should be clearly understood that there
wall, and more complex processes where electrochemical
is no particular material that will unconditionally prevent
corrosion can enhance erosion and vice versa.
corrosion. Each and every case has to be considered in its
When erosion removes the protective film of corrosion
totality so the selection of proper materials can be opti-
products, corrosion can occur at a relatively rapid rate.
mized. Consultation with process, operation, material, and
corrosion engineers is necessary to minimize or eliminate
2.25 Microbiologically influenced corrosion corrosion-related threats to the integrity of offshore oil and
gas production systems.
Microorganisms can cause or exacerbate corrosion. Corro-
sion involving microorganisms is referred to as MIC. The two
most common corrosion-influencing groups of organisms are
acid-producing bacteria (APB) and sulfide-reducing bacteria
(SRB), both of which exist naturally in subsea conditions. GLOSSARY
While each has its own preferred environment, APB are
aerobic and SRB are anaerobic, they both serve to generate Carbonates By-products of wet CO2 interactions
by-products that are corrosive to many metals and alloys. with steel or other materials (often of
Furthermore, certain bacterial species are able to directly many mixed forms and
consume metal as part of the necessary reaction for exis- morphologies)-can be protective if
tence, the most common being iron and manganese oxidizing remaining stable and coherent.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe569
CO2 corrosion Corrosion specifically due to aggressive Sour service H2 S Corrosion specifically due to aggressive
CO2 (sweet) gas dissolved in reservoir corrosion H2 S (sour) gas dissolved in the
fluids. reservoir fluids-also often linked to
Corrosion- Most notably advanced stainless steels, SSC.
resistant nickel alloys, and certain Stress corrosion Related to environmental alloy damage
alloys (CRA) copper-based alloys used to replace cracking caused by combination of tensile
carbon steel in much corrosive (SCC) stress and aggressive species such as
environments. chlorides.
Crevice Unique localized corrosion, manifest as Sulfides By-products of wet H2S interactions
deep attack within or near contact with steel (often of many forms and
overlapping joints or geometries morphologies)-can be protective or
(crevices), shielded areas or under corrosion stimulating at critical
deposits. breakdown areas.
Downhole The part of the offshore drilling Sulfide stress Dangerous phenomena related to
infrastructure subsea below the sea cracking material damage caused by
bed leading to the reservoir, pertaining (SSC) combination of tensile stress and H2 S
to the well bore. in oil and gas production.
Embrittlement Pertaining to loss of alloy ductility or Top of line Degradation activities at the top internal
toughness often due to adverse segment of a pipeline.
environmental interactions. Turbulence The energetic mixing of fluids giving
Erosion Localized wear giving loss of wall chaotic flow regimes as opposed to
thickness due to fluidic sand particles laminar flows that are streamlined.
striking pipe walls under highly
turbulent flows; mechanistically
physicomechanical but can be RELATED ARTICLES
conjoint with corrosion.
Flowline The part of the marine or subsea pipeline Properties of Materials
that transports untreated reservoir Marine and Subsea External Seawater Side Corrosion
fluids.
Galvanic Corrosion stimulated by contact between
corrosion mixed alloys of significantly different
potential in aggressive conductive REFERENCES
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so on that lead to adverse buildup of in Relation to Failure of 5” Saver Spool on Britannia Subsea
scales or films on engineering Manifold. TWI Report No. 12300/1/00, Cambridge, March 2000.
materials.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe569
Spectral Wave Modeling
Luigi Cavaleri
Institute of Marine Sciences, Venice, Italy
The substantial change came with the Second World War

1 Waves and Sailors 1 and with the method developed by Sverdrup and Munk for
2 The Spectral Approach to Wave Modeling 2 the US Navy to estimate the wave conditions once the wind
3 How a Wave Model Works—Numerics 3 and the extent of the stormy area (fetch) were known. One
of the permanent results of this work was and still is the
4 Applications 5
concept of significant wave height as the average of the
5 Discussion on Accuracy—Sources of Errors 7
highest one-third of the wave heights measured during a,
6 The Present Situation—What the Models are typically 20 min, record.
Capable of Doing 8 Soon after the war science and technology were advancing
7 What Has Been Achieved—What We Can rapidly. Pierson and Marks (1952) developed the concept
Expect 10 of a wave spectrum, that is, a wavy surface can be repre-
8 Appendix A: Definition of Integral Parameters 11 sented as a superposition of a large number of sinusoidal
Glossary 11 waves, each one with its own frequency f (hence period T
References 11 and length L), height (hence energy), and direction. So the
spectrum provides, at least in a statistical sense, a full deter-
Further Reading 12
ministic description of the wave conditions at given time and
position. Integration of the spectrum in frequency and direc-
tion then provides the usual quantities of more common use:
significant wave height Hs , mean period Tm , and direction
1 WAVES AND SAILORS 𝜃 m , but with a much richer set of useful information. See
article Regular, Irregular Waves and the Wave Spectrum
Man has always tried to divine the future, especially in the for more information in this respect.
sea for the dangers associated to the environment. Experi- The idea of a wave spectrum prompted a rich development
ence was a valuable resource, but unavoidably limited and of the theories required to describe the evolution of a wave
valid in space and time. Things began to change in the early spectrum, marking the beginning of the art of spectral wave
part of the twentieth century with the first scientific attempts modeling.
of weather forecast, in so doing providing information on the During the past 50 years, spectral modeling has been the
basic input for wave information, that is, wind. In the mean- basic universal tool to provide the necessary wave informa-
time, science had developed a solid theoretical background tion, for the past (hindcast) and the future (forecast), for
for the theory of water waves. However, the two worlds, all the maritime operations. The purpose of this article is
scientists and sailors, had little or no communication at all. a description (Section 2) of the basic structure of a wave
model and (Section 3) of the way the equations describing
the basic physical processes at work are integrated to obtain
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. the practical results of interest. In Section 4, some examples
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe090
of application, to give a feeling of the achievable results,
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 are provided. In Section 5, the reasons of errors in the
2 General
overall procedure, pointing out the present limits of the various wave components. To understand better the discus-
modeling approach, are analyzed. The overall present situ- sion in the next section, it is worthwhile to describe the
ation is finally described in Section 6, where the state of the various processes at work.
art, what we can presently expect from practical applications
of the described methodology and the various approaches to
2.1 Advection, refraction
the different situations, is reported. In Section 7, a conclu-
sion with a short summary of what has been achieved and
Waves propagate with the phase speed c expressed by
what we can expect for the future is given.
g
c2 = tan h(kh) (shallow water on depth h) or
k
g
2 THE SPECTRAL APPROACH TO WAVE c2 = (deep water conditions) (2)
k
MODELING
In the latter case, we get
It is clear that the wave conditions in a certain basin can only
g
be described in discrete terms, that is, at a finite number of c= T = 1.56 ⋅ T hence wavelength
points (the grid knots) and at finite time intervals. 2π
Conditions change in time and space. Focusing on a single L = c ⋅ T = 1.56 ⋅ T 2 (3)
point, our task is to evaluate how much wave energy is
present and how it is distributed in frequency and direction. However, energy propagates at a lower, half in deep water,
In turn, this is derived from how much is flowing in and speed (the group speed). Hence,
out and how much is locally created and destroyed. More
g
so, thanks to the concept of spectrum, we can evaluate this cg = T = 0.78 ⋅ T (4)
dynamical balance for each single spectral component. The 4π
overall energy, from which we derive the significant wave A more complex expression holds for limited depth. See
height Hs , is given by the sum of the energy of all the article Types of Ocean Surface Waves, Wave Classifica-
components. tion for a complete discussion on the subject.
The dynamics of the system at a given position is expressed Due to the irregularities of the bottom, and following a
in the so-called energy balance equation that in its simplest law similar to the refraction of light, energy can eventually
form is given as focus on (or defocus from) a certain zone, leading to higher
(or lower) local wave heights with respect to the case of a
𝜕F
+ cg ⋅ ∇F = Sin + Snl + Sdis (1) flat uniform bottom. This process is represented by further
𝜕t terms on the left side of Equation 1 soon shown in its more
complete expression.
where F = F(f, 𝜃) is the present energy density (m2 s) of the
wave spectral component with f frequency and flowing in
𝜃 direction. The time derivative expresses the local rate of 2.2 Wave generation by wind
change (that we want to determine). cg ⋅ ∇F expresses the
advection that, via the spatial gradient, ∇F, depends on the Practically, the whole energy present in a wave system is
values at the neighboring points. provided by wind (see article Generation of Waves by Wind
The left side of Equation 1 represents the kinematic part for more details). The most used background theory for
of the process, related to the flow of energy from point to this air-to-water energy and momentum transfer was given
point and its change in time. The right part expresses the by Miles (1957) and later perfectioned by Janssen (1989).
physics of the local processes. Sin is the energy input by A more general, but less used, fully turbulent theory was
wind, Sdis is the loss of energy due to various processes: proposed, among others, by Belcher and Hunt (1993). From
white-capping (the breaking on the sea surface during a the perspective of wave modeling, the relevant point is that
storm) and wave-turbulence interaction in deep water, and with good approximation we can consider separately the
of the processes (bottom friction, percolation, viscous sedi- wind input to each single wave component. Only later, when
ments, depth induced breaking) that take place once waves integrating the spectrum deriving the overall sea conditions,
approach the shore or enter in shallow water areas. Snl we then summarize the results in the significant wave height
expresses the nonlinear interactions, that is, the conservative Hs , mean period Tm , and direction 𝜃 m (see Appendix A for
(no energy creation or loss) exchanges of energy among the their definition).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe090
Spectral Wave Modeling 3
2.3 Wave dissipation rules, also opening the way to new interactions by three
components. Till now only the SWAN model (Booij, Ris,
Most of the energy input by wind to waves is soon lost and Holthuijsen, 1999) has tried to provide a formulation for
by white capping, that is, the white crests we see in an this, but the matter is still open to discussion.
open sea under the active action by wind (see article Wave
Breaking and Dissipation for more details). This is not an
easy problem because it is an integral process, the energy lost
3 HOW A WAVE MODEL
by each wave component depending on the whole spectrum. WORKS—NUMERICS
Several formulations have been proposed, from the original
linear JONSWAP one (Hasselmann et al., 1973) till the more Having defined in Equation 1 the advection and refraction
sophisticated one by Ardhuin, Chapron, and Collard (2009), rules, and the physical terms that contribute to the increase,
the latter acting also for waves moving against the wind. transfer, and dissipation of energy, it is now time to see how to
Babanin (2011) offers an overall view of the situation. assemble all this into the working machine of a wave model.
Conditions are more favorable in shallow water because Given a grid, that is, having defined the geometry and
most of the physics here is well defined, for example, depth distribution, and the points where to evaluate the wave
bottom-induced breaking following the fact that no single conditions (Figure 1), we assume to know from previous
wave height can exceed a given fraction, typically 0.78, of the operations the situation at time t. This means to know the full
local depth. The problem here is that a detailed knowledge spectrum, in frequency and direction, and the wind speed and
of the characteristics of the bottom is required for a proper direction at all the grid points. With this information, for each
evaluation of the involved energy losses. grid point, represented for instance by P in Figure 1, and on
the basis of the kinematics and physical definitions given in
the previous section, we are able to evaluate the flux of energy
2.4 Nonlinear interactions
for every spectral component. The changes, evaluated along
the time interval Δt, lead to the new spectrum at time t + Δt,
In 1962, Hasselmann pointed out that, mirroring the nuclear
that is, to the new picture of the situation where to start from
particle interactions, also wind waves can exchange energy
again for the successive step.
with an overall clean balance, that is, without any gain or
Off the coasts and in deep water, that is, from the point
loss by the spectrum. Indeed, this turned out to be (Hassel-
of view of wave modeling when depth h > L/2, there is not
mann et al., 1973) one of the key processes of a wave field
much geometrical information required. However, close to
evolving under the active action of wind. There is a strong
the coastline and in shallow water, this becomes essential.
tendency for the energy to flow from the most energetic, steep
As given in Equation 1, the energy balance equation holds
wave components toward lower frequency ones. These can
for a Cartesian (x, y) grid. This may be a good approxima-
then grow under the action of wind, leading to the progres-
tion for relatively small basins (order of magnitude 102 km).
sive shift of a growing sea toward longer, hence potentially
On larger scales, the spherical shape of the Earth becomes
higher, waves.
relevant. The so-called geographical approach, with coordi-
Known as nonlinear interactions, from the theoretical point
nates given as latitude and longitude, is the standard one for
of view, this process is the best-known one. The problem
large scale or global models. In this case, the energy balance
is that its evaluation in everyday activity is too computer
equation (1) takes a slightly more complicated expression
demanding, out of the range of operational applications.
Acceptable shortcuts have been searched for and are used. 𝜕F 𝜕 𝜕
+ c F + (cos Φ)−1 cos Φ ⋅ F
By far, the most used one is the so-called Discrete Inter- 𝜕t 𝜕𝜆 𝜆 𝜕Φ
action Approximation (DIA) approximation (Hasselmann 𝜕 𝜕
+ c ⋅F+ c ⋅F =S (5)
et al., 1985), focused only on the most relevant resonant 𝜕Θ Θ 𝜕𝜎 𝜎
combination of wave components. More accurate methods
have been proposed, but every solution comes with a corre- where Φ and Θ are, respectively, latitude and longitude in
sponding increase of computer time, soon running out of radians.
the practical range. The conclusion is that in practice all the The integration in time of Equation 1 or 5 implies to
operational models are presently run using the DIA approx- estimate the energy value of a given wave spectral component
imation, which nevertheless requires more than 20% of the at time t + Δt, once we know the situation at time t. Knowing
overall computer time. All the results reported in this article the spectrum and the source functions Si , summarized in S,
have been obtained using the DIA. for each spectral component, we can estimate
Things are even more complicated in shallow water ΔF ΔF
because the limited depth affects the wave–wave interaction Ft+Δt = Ft + cx + cy + S ⋅ Δt (6)
Δx Δy
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe090
4 General
12°E 12.25°E 12.5°E 12.75°E 13°E 13.25°E 13.5°E 13.75°E 14°E
Trieste
Venice
12°E 12.25°E 12.5°E 12.75°E 13°E 13.25°E 13.5°E 13.75°E 14°E
Figure 1. Model grid in the Northern Adriatic Sea, East of Italy. P identifies one specific grid point. The resolution is 1/12∘ .
The relatively simple scheme shown in Equation 6 is either

time consuming or inaccurate. More sophisticated, and more
accurate and efficient, schemes have been devised and are
used in practical applications. See Cavaleri et al. (2007) for
a general discussion on the subject.
After leaving the generation area, each wave component
travels with its own group speed (for this subject we ignore
direction). Hence, the lower frequency (faster) waves will
arrive first at a distant location. This is the case of the regular,
uniform, long-crested waves (swell) moving smoothly across
the sea surface. Figure 2 provides a nice example of it.
Waves move with respect to the surface water. If the water
is not in motion, the relative (to the water) and absolute
motions of the waves are identical. However, if we have
Figure 2. Large swell approaching the cape of Good Hope. (Repro-
currents and more so if these vary in space (as it is usually the duced with permission of the author. © Luigi Cavaleri.)
case), it is clear that waves will in general deviate from their
straight, or better large circle, trajectory. In addition, their
characteristics, as height, absolute frequency, and direction, Equation 5 is then written substituting F with N = F/𝜎 and
may be affected. This implies that if the currents are strong the source term S with S/𝜎 obtaining
enough to affect the wave field, their distribution must be
known with a corresponding accuracy. 𝜕N 𝜕 𝜕
+ c𝜆 N + (cos Φ)−1 cos Θ ⋅ N
To take currents into account while integrating the energy 𝜕t 𝜕𝜆 𝜕Φ
balance equation (1) or (5), we consider not the energy 𝜕 𝜕 S
+ c ⋅N+ c ⋅N = (7)
F but the so-called action density N = F/𝜎, where 𝜎 = 2πf. 𝜕Θ Θ 𝜕𝜎 𝜎 𝜎
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe090
Brändö
1 km Torsholma
1 mi
Figure 3. “Fractal” archipelago in the Baltic Sea. See scale (1 km) on the lower left corner. (© OpenStreetMap contributors, 2015. Licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license (CC BY-SA).)
The advantage is that when considering the effect of grid. Here the dimension of the single elements varies from
currents on waves, action density is maintained. See article place to place on the grid, according to local needs. A typical
Wave–Current Interaction for a deeper discussion on example is provided by Roland et al. (2012). An even more
wave–currents interactions. advanced, but still under test, approach is the use of a time
A particular case of the resolution with which we describe variable grid, where the higher resolution is used in the area
the geometry of a basin concerns islands. It is clear that the where required, by bathymetry or meteo-oceanographic situ-
smaller the island, the more approximate will be our descrip- ation. Hurricanes are an obvious example. While the hurri-
tion of its coastline, hence for instance of its sheltering effect cane moves in time, we keep increasing the resolution where
on its “downwave” direction. This may lead to under- or required, releasing it where no longer required. Popinet et al.
overestimates, depending on how the island is represented in (2010) provide suitable examples of its use.
the grid. If a whole archipelago is present, the overall effect
can be macroscopic. This is the case of the Aegean Sea in the
Mediterranean, or more so of the so-called Archipelago Sea 4 APPLICATIONS
in the Baltic Sea. See Figure 3 for an example of the latter and
Tuomi et al. (2014) for a full description of the area and its The purpose of this section is to give an idea of what the
modeling. A practical solution (Tolman, 2003) consists in the results of a wave model look like and of the information
preuse of a high detailed bathymetry of the area of interest to that in practice is available. For this, we focus on the severe
derive practical “transmission coefficients” to be then used Klaus storm in the Western Mediterranean Sea during which
in the more coarse, operational model. substantially high waves were reached on the west coast of
From what is described above, it is intuitive that for the the Sardinia island and there offshore. Figure 4 provides the
same order of accuracy, different resolutions are required geometry of the area and the wind (a) and wave (b) conditions
in the open ocean and close to a geometrically complicated at the peak of the storm (note the white spot showing the
coastline. The use of a single uniform grid with resolution off-scale with respect to the supposed maximum value, 11 m
dictated by the tiniest detail would be impractical. Hence, Hs , in the area). Focusing on the wave map, the isolines at
different solutions have been devised. For a long while, the 1 m interval, identified by the change of color, clearly identify
most common one has been the use of a general coarse grid, the area with the highest waves while the arrows at the grid
then zooming on the area of interest with a higher resolu- points identify the local wave height Hs (proportional to the
tion (nested grid). The necessary conditions at the borders of length of the arrow) and mean wave direction. Note that for
the nested grid are provided by the coarse (parent) model. graphical purposes, only 1 arrow out of 64 (1 out of 8 in each
A more modular solution is provided by the unstructured direction) has been drawn, certainly sufficient to give a clear
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe090
6 General
2°E 4°E 6°E 8°E 10°E 12°E 16°E 18°E 20°E 22°E 24°E
0
2
4
2°E 6
8
24°E 10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
26
28
4°E
30
(a) 6°E 8°E 10°E 12°E 16°E 18°E 20°E 22°E
2°E 6°E 10°E 14°E 18°E 22°E

2°E 0
0.25
0.5
0.75
1
1.25
1.5
1.75
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
(b) 6°E 10°E 14°E 18°E 22°E
Figure 4. Wind (a) and wave (b) conditions at 00 Universal Time Coordinate (UTC) 25 January 2009 in the Western Mediterranean Sea.
Wind speed and significant wave height ranges shown by the side scales (meter per second and meter respectively). (Reproduced from the
Daily Italian Weather Service © Meteo Aeronautica, 2009.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe090
9
Mod
Buoy
Sig. wave height (m)

6
0
24 36 48 60
Hours (UTC)
Figure 5. Time series of the significant wave height at a wave recording buoy during the storm of 24–25 January 2009 in the Mediterranean
Sea. Model and buoy values are shown. Time in hours. See Figure 4 for a picture of the situation.
picture of the situation, further enhanced by the use of colors The basic input information to a wave model is the
and shadowing. At 00 UTC 25 January 2009, the peak Hs driving wind fields, obviously evolving in time. Usually
value was higher than 11 m. Similar considerations hold for this information is the result of a meteorological model. For
the wind map, where (maximum wind speed close to 26 m/s) the present purposes, the focus is on the quality of its final
the isotachs are at 2 m/s interval and the arrows, proportional product, that is, the wind fields. While the situation will be
to the local wind speed, show both speed and direction. quantified better in the next section, it is worthwhile to point
Obviously, if we need to analyze in detail the situation in out that for a long while this has been the main source of
a certain area, we zoom in till the maximum grid resolution, errors in a wave model.
in the example 0.05∘ , close to 5.5 km in latitude and 4 km in Besides the accuracy of a meteorological model (an intrin-
longitude. sically difficult 3D dimensional problem), the key point is
While a sequence of maps as the ones in Figure 4 provides that waves are highly sensitive to even limited variations of
a general view of the evolution of a storm, it is of interest to the driving wind fields. For a well-developed sea, the signif-
analyze the situation at a given position. For this, we sample icant wave height is proportional to the square of the wind
the sequential maps at the point of interest, plotting them as speed U. This means that a 10% error of U, a more than
a time series, as shown in Figure 5 for the significant wave acceptable error in meteorology, leads to a 20% error in Hs ,
height. If at that location there is a measuring device, for which in turn implies a more than 40% error in energy, the
example, a wave measuring buoy, a comparison is possible relevant quantity. So the accuracy of the driving wind fields
between model and measured data, providing useful infor- is the key information to estimate the quality of the resulting
mation on the actual performance of the model. In the case wave field. It is so much so that the quality of the final wave
of Figure 5, we see that the model reproduces the evolution fields is one of the, if not the, best piece(s) of information to
of the storm picking up correctly the maximum value, but judge the quality of the driving winds.
somehow anticipating the growth of a few hours. A more Focusing on the wave model itself, we should never forget
thorough information on the present accuracy of the models that this is what the name says: a model, and therefore not
is given in Section 6. the truth. We can be sophisticated, develop beautiful theories,
and fit our assumptions with measured data. Nevertheless, we
can only get an approximation of the true behavior of nature,
hence with errors. The best we can, and should, do is to be
5 DISCUSSION ON ACCURACY— critical with ourselves and analyze where the errors are likely
SOURCES OF ERRORS to be larger.
There is quite a bit of idealization in the theoretical descrip-
In this section, the different sources of errors that are present tion we use of the physical processes that control the evolu-
in the procedure we regularly follow to obtain our final tion of a wave field. This holds for generation, white capping,
estimate of the evolution of the wave field in a basin are and nonlinear interactions, only to mention the dominant
discussed. ones in deep water. About numerics, that is, the discrete
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe090
8 General
description of a field and of the spectrum, the approximations numerical approach, it is now time to summarize the situation
intrinsic in Equation 6, also present with more sophisticated and show what we can presently expect from our modeling
methods, have already been mentioned. In addition, the inter- efforts.
polation of the boundary spectra in nesting technique is not We begin showing the performance of the daily oper-
without consequences. ational system of European Centre for Medium-Range
It is convenient to conclude that this apparently negative Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Figures 6 and 7 show the
review of the model errors (but see the next section for a comparisons at the global scale between the model surface
rather happy conclusion) looking at one of the most spec- wind and significant wave heights, respectively, versus the
tacular phenomena in the sea, hurricanes (or typhoons or corresponding measured values. Scatterometers and altime-
cyclones, as called, respectively, in the Chinese seas and ters, both satellite sophisticated remote sensing instruments,
the Bengal Bay East of India). In the most active part of a provide a wealth of data, respectively, for U and Hs . The fit
hurricane, conditions are extreme, and several aspects of our
in the figures is impressive. Note also the statistics of the
beautiful theories are likely to fail. This is the case also within
comparison on the right side of the figures. Best-fit slopes
the most violent storms, for example, in the North Atlantic.
differing 1% or 2% from the ideal 45∘ line, biases of the
Indeed, in a way, it is surprising that, notwithstanding these
order of 0.1–0.2 m/s and 0.01–0.03 m, are quantities that
approximations, we are capable of providing most of the time
what without any doubt can be defined as very good results. satisfy any practical need.
A picture of the present performance of wave modeling is the The scatter plots in Figures 6 and 7 are for analysis
purpose of the next section. data. What about forecasts? The reply is surprisingly good.
Granted a deterioration of the wind and wave data quality
with the extent of the forecast, especially in the open oceans,
6 THE PRESENT SITUATION—WHAT they can be used with sufficient confidence till a few days in
THE MODELS ARE CAPABLE OF advance. Data up to 1 week or even 10 days provide valu-
DOING able information. In general, rather than “what,” the error is
on “where and when,” for instance, miscalculating the speed
Having described in their essential terms the various physical of a meteorological front. Conditions are less favorable in
processes that lead to and govern the evolution of a sea storm, enclosed areas or seas, basically for two reasons. One is the
and having pointed out the approximations implicit in our influence of orography that makes a forecast less reliable in
30
30000
1000
500
25 300
100
Jason-2 RA wind speeds (m/s)
50
20 30
15
5
15 1
Statistics
Entries 3968
10
Mean ECMWF 7.7027
Mean Jason-2 7.5336
Bias (Jason-2–ECMWF) −0.1691
Standard deviation 1.1577
5 Scatter index 0.1503
Correlation 0.9437
Symmetric slope 0.9833 (0.0053)
Regr. coefficient 0.9525 (0.0053)
0 Regr. constant 0.1971 (0.0447)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
ECMWF wind speeds (m/s)
Figure 6. Scatter diagram between the Jason-2 and ECMWF meteorological model surface wind speeds. The numbers to the right provide
the statistics of the comparison. (Reproduced with permission from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. © 2015.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe090
14
30000
1000
12 500
300
100
10 50
Jason-2 wave heights (m)
30
15
8
5
1
6
Statistics
Entries 3987
4 Mean WAM 2.6375
Mean Jason-2 2.6657
Bias (Jason-2–WAM) 0.0282
Standard deviation 0.2611
2 Scatter index 0.0990
Correlation 0.9815
Symmetric slope 1.0220 (0.0033)
Regr. coefficient 1.0523 (0.0033)
0 Regr. constant −0.1099 (0.0095)
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
WAM wave heights (m)
Figure 7. Scatter diagram between the Jason-2 and ECMWF meteorological model significant wave heights. The numbers to the right
provide the statistics of the comparison. (Reproduced with permission from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. ©
2015.)
Table 1. Best-fit slope for the performance of the Nettuno system in the overall Mediterranean Sea and in different parts of the basin.
Med. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Wind speed 0.96 0.98 0.97 0.98 0.97 0.96 0.94 0.97 0.95
Wave height 1.03 1.06 1.06 1.05 1.05 1.00 1.10 1.00 1.10
Model wind speeds and significant wave heights compared, respectively, with ASCAT scatterometer and Jason-1 altimeter data.
its downwind area. The other one is associated to the depen- dissipation (Section 2), may be used. Different numerics
dence of the local wave conditions on strictly the local wind may be implemented. More than anything else, different
ones. Therefore, an error in “where and when” may easily wind sources may be used, each large operational center,
change completely the wave conditions in, for example, the as ECMWF, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-
Mediterranean Sea (Figure 4). istration - National Centers for Environmental Prediction
The performance in an enclosed sea with complicated (NOAA-NCEP), or U.K. Meteorological Office (UKMO),
geometry may vary from place to place. Still in the Mediter- having its own meteorological and wave models. Even, as
ranean, Bertotti et al. (2013) have reported an excellent 1.03 practically all the centers do, employing either WAM or
best-fit slope (slight, model excess) for the significant wave WAVEWATCH III wave model, the specifically used model
heights versus measured data. However, they also pointed out versions may differ from center to center. The conclusion
how the performance varies appreciably from place to place is that the results from various sources may vary from one
(Table 1). The conclusion is that if our interest is on a specific to the other. This is usually more the case for strong storms
location, for example, a harbor entrance, then a devoted study and particularly intense events, especially if characterized
is required, possibly with nesting technique (Section 3) or in by strong spatial gradients. A good example is provided
any case with an enhanced resolution on the spot of interest. by the already mentioned (Figure 4) Klaus storm. With the
In the previous section, the point that a model is a purpose of verifying how reliable were the various analyses
model, and as such only an approximation to the truth, and forecasts, Bertotti et al. (2011) have intercompared the
has been stressed. In addition, not all the models are the wind and wave fields from seven different weather centers.
same. Different theories, for example, for generation and Figure 8 shows the related time series plus measurements
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe090
10 General
32
24
Wind speed (m/s)

16
0
(a) 0 12 0 12
12
A
B
Sig. wave height (m)
9 C
D
E
F
6 G
M
0
0 12 0 12
(b) Hours (UTC)
Figure 8. Time series of seven different models plus measurements at a wave recording buoy during the storm of 24–25 January 2009 in
the Mediterranean Sea. See Figure 4 for a picture of the situation. (Reproduced from Bertotti et al. 2011 with permission from J. Wiley. ©
2011.)
(M) for the most intense part of the storm. As expected, In the open ocean, analysis data are extremely good, most
all the simulations show the exceptionality of the storm, of the time differing from the measured ones by a few
although with a spread along the way certainly larger than percents at most. Errors are expected to grow in highly strong
one could wish. We should keep in mind that each simulation storms, especially if characterized by large spatial gradients.
is the result of a different wind + wave system and, as later Results are generally expected to be of slightly lower quality
verified, most of the differences in Hs were due to the ones in when acting on an area where winds are affected by the
the driving wind fields. Besides this was a difficult situation, local orography. The inner seas are the typical example.
with an explosive cyclogenesis then interacting during its Results may also differ from model to model, including both
fast motion with the Pyrenees and Alps ranges before exiting
meteorological and wave ones, in practice from center to
again into the sea. It is in any case a good example of the
center. The differences are likely to be larger, still within
problems still existing in these situations.
limits, for severe storms.
If our interest is on a specific event, then a devoted study
can be done, with higher resolution, not only in space but
7 WHAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED—WHAT also in time, and with a keen eye on all the available data
WE CAN EXPECT to verify the model results and to quantify the unavoidable
differences.
After the preparatory work of the first five sections, going
Can we do better or, in other words, what can we expect
from the description of a wave model, its physics and
numerics, till the reasons why errors should be expected, in from the future? There is still room for improvement. The
the previous section, the present level of performance of the most obvious one is to improve the performance also in the
operational models, how good they are, how far in the past presently difficult cases. Hurricanes are an obvious example,
data are available and with which accuracy, how the level the improvement being both in the wind fields and in the
of performance varies from the ocean to the enclosed seas, physics of waves. Improvements are needed and expected
and how much the product of different centers may vary one also for model spectra. As for forecasts, this will depend
from the other, were shown. This can be summarized in the in the improvements in meteorological forecast, typically
following. anticipated as 1 day per decade.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe090
Much attention will be put on the coastal data. Increasing Non-linear The exchange of energy between waves
the local resolution along the ways described in Section 3 is interactions of different length and direction.
the obvious way to go. Swell Regular and usually long waves, out of
Only a few models exist, typically converging toward some wind action.
more or less common solutions while the experience and Wave generation The physical processes by which wind
the daily results show which approach is better and possibly generates waves.
improved solutions are devised. At the same time, the person- Wave modeling Simulation with computer programs of
alization of the specific model used at a given center ensures the evolution of wave conditions.
that part of healthy diversification keeps the system alert and Waves Undulations of the sea surface generated
ready to absorb the possible new useful findings. There is no by wind.
doubt, the future is for the best. White-capping The breaking of wave crests under the
action of wind.
Wind Atmospheric motion, for oceanography
considered close to sea level height.
8 APPENDIX A: DEFINITION OF
INTEGRAL PARAMETERS
Significant wave height Hs , mean period Tm , and mean direc- REFERENCES

tion 𝜃 m are the essential integral parameters with which we
characterize the wave conditions at given time and position. Ardhuin, F., Chapron, B., and Collard, F. (2009) Observation of swell
Below are their definitions on the base of the two-directional dissipation across oceans. Journal of Geophysical Research, 36
(6), 1–5. doi: 10.1029/2008GL037030
spectrum F(F, 𝜃). The spectrum is defined between frequen-
cies f1 and fn . The directions are considered clockwise from Babanin, A. (2011) Breaking and Dissipation of Ocean Surface
Waves, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
the geographic North. E(f) is the one-dimensional frequency
Belcher, S.E. and Hunt, J.C.R. (1993) Turbulent shear flow over
spectrum. slowly moving waves. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 251, 109–148.
2π Bertotti, L., Bidlot, J.-R., Bunney, C., Cavaleri, L., Delli Passeri,
E(f ) = F(f , 𝜃)d𝜃 L., Gomez, M., Lefevre, J.-M., Paccagnella, T., Torrisi, L., Valen-
∫0 tini, A., and Vocino, A. (2011) Performance of different forecast
systems in an exceptional storm in the Western Mediterranean Sea.
one-dimensional frequency spectrum Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 138 (662),
fn 34–55. doi: 10:1002/qj:892
En = E(f )df overall spectral energy Bertotti, L., Cavaleri, L., Loffredo, L., and Torrisi, L. (2013) Nettuno:
∫ f1
analysis of a wind and wave forecast system in the Mediterranean
√ Sea. Monthly Weather Review, 141 (9), 3130–3141.
Hs = 4 En significant wave height
Booij, N., Ris, R.C., and Holthuijsen, L.H. (1999) A third generation
fn
wave model for coastal regions, part I: model description and vali-
mn = fn E(f )df nth spectral moment
∫ f1 dation. Journal of Geophysical Research, 104 (C4), 7649–7666.
Hasselmann, K. (1962) On the non-linear energy transfer in a
mo
Tm = mean period gravity-wave spectrum. Part 1. General theory. Journal of Fluid
m1 Mechanics, 12, 481–500.
Hasselmann, K., Barnett, T.P., Bouws, E., Carlson, H., Cartwright,
F(f , 𝜃) sin 𝜃df d𝜃
∫∫ D.E., Enke, K., Ewing, J.I., Gienapp, H., Hasselmann, D.E.,
𝜃m = a tan 2 mean direction Kruseman, P., Meerburg, A., Müller, P., Olbers, D.J., Richter,
F(f , 𝜃) cos 𝜃df d𝜃 K., Sell, W., and Walden, H. (1973) Measurements of wind-wave
∫∫ growth and swell decay during the Joint North Sea Wave Project
(JONSWAP). Deutsche Hydrographische Zeitschrift, A8 (12),
1–95.
Hasselmann, S., Hasselmann, K., Allender, J.A., and Barnett, T.P.
GLOSSARY (1985) Computations and parameterizations of the non-linear
energy transfer in a gravity-wave spectrum. Part 2: parameteri-
zations of the non-linear transfer for application in wave models.
Meteorological The prediction of what atmospheric Journal of Physical Oceanography, 15, 1378–1391.
forecast conditions are going to be in the near Janssen, P.A.E.M. (1989) Wave-induced stress and the drag of air flow
future. over sea waves. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 19, 745–754.
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12 General
Miles, J.W. (1957) On the generation of surface waves by shear flows. Tolman, H.L. (2003) Treatment of unresolved islands and ice in wind
Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 3, 185–204. wave models. Ocean Modelling, 5, 219–231.
Pierson, W.J. and Marks, W. (1952) The power spectrum analysis Tuomi, L., Pettersson, H., Fortelius, C., Tikka, K., Bjorkvist, J.-V.,
of ocean wave record. Transactions of the American Geophysical and Kahma, K. (2014) Wave modelling in archipelagos. Coastal
Union, 23, 834–844. Engineering, 83, 205–220.
Popinet, S., Gorman, R.M., Rickard, G.J., and Tolman, H.L. (2010) A
quadtree-adaptive spectral wave model. Ocean Modelling, 34 (1),
36–49.
Roland, A., Zhang, Y.J., Wang, H.V., Meng, Y., Teng, Y.-C., FURTHER READING
Maderich, V., Brovchenko, I., Dutour-Sikiric, M., and Zanke, U.
(2012) A fully coupled 3D wave-current interaction model on
unstructured grids. Journal of Geophysical Research, 117, C11. Holthuijsen, L. (2007) Waves in Oceanic and Coastal Waters,
doi: 10.1029201.2JC007952 Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
The WISE Group, Cavaleri, L., Alves, J.-H.G.M., Ardhuin, F., Janssen, P.A.E.M. (2004) The Interaction of Ocean Waves and Wind,
Babanin, A., Banner, M., Belibassakis, K., Benoit, M., Donelan, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
M., Groeweg, J., Herbers, T.H.C., Hwang, P., Janssen, P.A.E.M., Komen, G.J., Cavaleri, L., Donelan, M., Hasselmann, K., Hassel-
Janssen, T., Lavrenov, I.V., Magne, R., Monbaliu, J., Onorato, M., mann, S., and Janssen, P.A.E.M. (1994) Dynamics and Modelling
Polnikov, V., Resio, D., Rogers, W.E., Sheremet, A., McKee Smith, of Ocean Waves, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
J., Tolman, H.L., van Vledder, G., Wolf, J., and Young, I. (2007)
Wave modelling—the state of the art. Progress in Oceanography,
75 (4), 603–674.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe090
Probabilistic Methods
Arindam Chakraborty
Virtual Integrated Analytics Solutions, Houston, TX, USA
empowered us to predict many natural phenomena such as

1 Introduction to Probability 1 weather with a certainty that was unthinkable even a century
2 Basic Probability Theory 3 before. However, we still struggle to predict others like the
3 Monte Carlo Methods 5 timing of earthquakes.
The major empediments in predicting how everything is
4 Bayesian Statistics 6
behaving around us are mainly due to (i) our lack of knowl-
5 Time Series Methods 7 edge of the underlying physical laws and their interactions
6 Conclusion 8 that of 10 times are very complex and (ii) and randomness
Glossary 8 that is embedded in the phenomenon itself. By obtaining
Related Articles 8 more information about the physical parameters, one can
References 8 reduce the inherent randomness. However, it is not practi-
cally possible to have perfect knowledge of all parameters
involved in a physical process. Moreover, strangely at atomic
and subatomic levels, natural laws contain an element of
1 INTRODUCTION TO PROBABILITY randomness as quantum mechanics tells us. In the light of
the above discussion, the quote by famous mathematician,
1.1 What is probability? philosopher, and logician George Boole [famous for intro-
ducing Boolean Algebra in his book “The Laws of Thought”
(Boole, 1854)] shown below summarizes the philosophical
Probability is expectation founded upon partial knowledge.
A perfect acquaintance with all the circumstances affecting definition of probability. Without understanding probability,
the occurrence of an event would change expectation into the only two ways of understanding the world are induc-
certainty, and leave neither room nor demand for a theory of tively looking at similar examples and deductively using
probabilities.—George Boole
axioms. However, both these approaches have severe limi-
tations, specially for complex phenomena, prompting great
Life is full of uncertainty. However, as human beings, we minds to invent and use probabilistic approaches to under-
all quest for certainty in our lives. In early stages of human stand events around us.
history when they started farming, they looked for ways to
predict the weather. With time, they were able to inden-
1.2 History
tify certain patterns in the nature, and using them they were
able to predict some of the weather cycles such as arrival
In the 1660s, John Graunt, a bankrupt London draper,
of summer and rain. With time, our technological advance-
proposed gauging the vitality of his city by its Bills of
ment and theoretical understanding of physical laws have
Mortality (Kaplan and Kaplan, 2007). Graunt was the
first to unearth truths from heaps of data. He is credited
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. with producing the first life table, giving probabilities of
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe179
survival to each age. His invention, which later came to be
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 known as statistics, avoided alike the proposition that “all
2 General
things are possible” and the uniqueness of “only one thing wind velocity.” This kind of randomness is called epistemic
happens.” It addressed the problem of uncertainty by trying uncertainty.
to understand “Well, exactly how right do you need to be The second type of randomness concerns those that are
just now?” (Kaplan and Kaplan, 2007). inherent in the problem and are not related to lack of knowl-
Around the same time, Blaise Pascal was working on edge or information or complexity of the underlying mecha-
dice-throwing puzzle where neither induction nor deduction nisms. For example, there is always heat-to-heat and within
could provide the answer of what a new event (throwing the heat variability in material properties of any batch of mate-
dice) will turn up on its face. However, whenever we look rials. No matter how much is known about the processes
into our world, many events tend to turn in a certain way. involved or how controlled the processes are, there will
Same as, over a thousand throws of a die, one tends to come always be some variability that occurs randomly. Therefore,
up a certain proportion of times. Pascal was the first to see it is always a challenge to predict material properties exactly
that there could be laws of probability (Kaplan and Kaplan, of a particular sample, given the knowledge of many other
2007). samples. This kind of randomness is classified as “alleatoric
Generally speaking, statistics is the mathematical tool to variability.”
delve into data and interpretations from it and probability
deals with the modeling of randomness that underlines data 1.4 Application of probability in marine
and the prediction of the likelihood of a future event. The engineering
use of statistics and the theory of probability as a tool
is essential for almost all modern sciences, from meteo- Marine engineering field has many areas of application
rology to quantum mechanics. It provides rational (and often of statics and probability theory. Marine structures such
accurate) predictions, from politics to economics, medicine, as offshore platforms, mooring systems, and vessels are
commerce, and sports. It helps engineers design and fabri- designed to withstand the effects of environmental forces due
cate elements (such as bridges, buildings, offshore plat- to wind and ocean waves. Therefore, design of those struc-
forms, and subsea structures) that withstand the forces of tures has to take into account the randomness in such loads,
nature and develop industrial processes (such as petrochem- and a robust design procedure should be developed using
ical refineries). statistical modeling and probabilistic analysis. The design
procedure should also account for uncertainties in the mate-
1.3 Types of randomness rial resistance such as variability in material strength and
toughness. Another source of uncertainty is in the inspec-
Probability theory provides the foundation for constructing tion data that has to be accounted for in the later life of the
and analyzing mathematical models for stochastic (random) asset. Examples of various marine application areas where
phenomena. Stochastic phenomena are such that the outcome probabilistic approach is used are (Chakraborti, 2005):
of a future event is not known with certainty. Science and
engineering is abound with random phenomena. Broadly, • wave modeling that assumes that ocean surface consti-
they can be grouped into two types. The first type of tutes a stochastic field
randomness deals with variability stemming out of modeling • wind load calculation based on wind velocity, direc-
of physical or natural phenomena. Stochasticity enters into tion, and fluctuation of local wind field due to structural
the modeling because of the sheer complexity involved response
in it, because of the incomplete understanding of all the • soil parameter modeling for subsea structures (pipelines,
causes and effects, and because there is lack of information. piles, etc.)
Take for example, the prediction of wind and wave that • variability in material properties (strength and toughness
generates environmental loads on an offshore structure. values)
Information obtained from satellite tracking and other mete- • structural dimensions and geometry (generally these
orological information is not sufficient enough to permit a have a lesser impact than variability in loads except for
reliable prediction of what conditions will prevail in days structures that are sensitive to geometrical imperfections
ahead. In addition, the various fundamental phenomena such as compression members)
that generate wind and wave are extremely complex to be • variability in load parameters other than wind and wave
captured fully in a predictive model. In addition to that, not loads (such as installation loads)
all physical processes that generate wind and waves are well • corrosion rates
understood yet. All these combined, one can only predict • for existing assets, uncertainty in inspection data
these phenomena in a probabilistic sense, and we often • uncertainties in the theoretical models (epistemic
hear terms such as “100-year wave height” and “500-year uncertainty)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe179
Probabilistic Methods 3
2 BASIC PROBABILITY THEORY • Sample space (S): The collection of all possible outcomes
or sample points of an experiment. Sample space of
2.1 Introduction rolling a dice is {1,2,3,4,5,6}.
• Event: A subset of sample space or in other words a
Probability theory is used to solve physical and natural collection of sample points. An event for rolling a dice
processes that can be modeled using algebraic, differential, may be defined as odd numbers showing up, which then
and integral equations with random coefficients or random will be {2,4,6}.
input, or both. Such processes are also called stochastic
problems. Probability theory provides solutions of stochastic Given a random experiment, a finite number P(A) is
problems in terms of probability distribution functions, assigned to every event A in the sample space S. The number
statistical moments, reliability, and others. For most appli- P(A) is a function of set A and is assumed to be defined for
cations, the mathematical operators and parameters of the all sets in S. It is thus a set function, and P(A) is called the
problems are well defined. Figure 1 shows a general flow probability measure of A or simply the probability of A. It is
chart for solving a stochastic problem. assumed to have the following three axioms or properties.
0 ≤ P(A) ≤ 1
2.2 Basic definitions of probability theory
P(S) = 1
Some basic terms that one comes across in probability theory
are defined below. P(A∪B) = P(A) + P(B) if A and B are mutually exclusive.
The axioms of probability define the properties of a prob-
• Experiment: A set of conditions under which some variability measure, which are consistent with our intuitive
ables are observed. If the outcome of an experiment notions. However, they do not guide us in assigning prob-
depends on chance, it is called a random experiment. For abilities to various events. For problems in applied sciences,
example, rolling a dice is a random experiment. a natural way to assign the probability of an event is through
• Outcome of an experiment: The result of the observa- the observation of relative frequency. Relative frequency
tion of an experiment. This is also called a sample (fE ) of an event E is defined by the number of favorable
point. Outcome of rolling a dice may be “1,” outcomes for event E(nE ) divided by the total number of
or “2,”… possible outcomes in the sample space (n), that is, fE = nE /n.
PDF of input
Data analysis/uncertainty
quantification
Statistics (mean, SD, skewness, etc.)
Distribution (gaussian, beta, etc.)
Random variable/field
Calculate Probabilistic methods

Reliability Math. model FORM
PDF/CDF SORM
Second moments Fatigue/fracture Monte Carlo
Confidence interval Wind/wave load Importance sampling
Importance factors etc. Latin hypercube sampling
(half normal probability plot) Dimensional decomposition
PDF of output
Validation
Statistics (mean, SD, skewness, etc.)
Distribution (PDF, CDF)
Random variable/field
Figure 1. General flowchart to solve a stochastic problem.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe179
4 General
Properties of relative frequency are: over the values it assume. Given a random experiment with
its associated random variable and given a real number, let
0 ≤ fE ≤ 1 us consider the probability of the event {s: X(s) ≤ x} or
simply, P(X ≤ x). This probability is clearly dependent on the
fs = 1
assigned value of x. The function
f(A ∪ B) = fA + fB if A and B are mutually exclusive.
FX (x) = P(X ≤ x)
Under stable conditions, it is expected that this ratio will
tend to a unique limit as n becomes large. This limiting value
is defined as the CDF of X.
of the relative frequency clearly possesses the properties
Probability density function (PDF): For a continuous
required of the probability measure and therefore P(A) can
random variable X, its PDF, FX (x) is a continuous function
be represented by fA .
of x and the derivative
Some relevant terms associated with event probabili-
ties are: dFX (x)
Conditional probability: Given two events A and B asso- fX (x) =
dx
ciated with a random experiment, probability is defined as
the conditional probability of A, given that B has occurred. exists for all x. The function fX (x) is called the PDF of X.
In terms of relative frequencies, it can be expressed by
nAB n n P(AB) 2.4 Conditional probability distribution and

P(A|B) ≅ = AB ∕ B ≅ independence
nB n n P(B)
provided event B has a nonzero probability. Deriving from the concept of conditional probability and
Statistical independence: Events A and B are independent if independence discussed earlier, the conditional distribution
function of a random variable X, given that another random
P(A|B) = P(A), or equivalently if variable Y has value y, can be expressed as
P(B|A) = P(A), or if FXY (x|y) = P(X ≤ x|Y = y)

P(A ∩ B) = P(A)P(B)
Using the definition of conditional probability, one can
show that for continuous random variables
2.3 Random variables and probability
distributions dFXY (x|y) fXY (x, y)
fXY (x|y) = = , fY (y) ≠ 0
dx fY (y)
A random variable X is a real function of the sample space S,
X(s) ∈ S, defined on an underlying probability space such that
2.5 Expectation and moments
it is possible to assign a real number for each outcome s in S
following a certain set of rules. The random variable is called
If g(X) be a real-valued function of a continuous random
a discrete random variable if it is defined over a sample
variable X, the expectation is defined by
space having a finite or a countably infinite number of sample
points. In this case, random variables take on discrete values, ∞
and it is possible to enumerate all the values it may assume. E{g(X)} = g(x)fX (x)dx
∫−∞
An example of a discrete random variable is the number of
cards entering an intersection at a particular time. In the case Let g(X) = Xn , n = 1, 2,…; the expectation E{Xn }, if it
of a sample space having an uncountably infinite number exists, is called the nth moment of X. It is expressed as
of sample points, the associated random variable is called
a continuous random variable, with its values distributed ∞
E{X n } = xn fX (x)dx
over one or more continuous intervals on the real line. An ∫−∞
example of continuous random variable is the height of a
person. One of the most important moments of X is its first moment
Cumulative distribution function (CDF): The behavior of a (when n = 1). It is the average value of random variable X and
random variable is characterized by its probability distribu- is also called as mean, expectation, or average value of X.
tion, or in other words, how the probabilities are distributed It is expressed as mX or m or 𝜇. The second moment of X
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe179
measures the dispersion or spread of random variable X about experiments based on chance. Since the Manhattan project
its mean. It is called the variance. From the definition of was a top-secret project, Von Neumann chose the name
variance a general definition of central moments is followed. Monte Carlo in reference to the Casino in Monaco where
The central moments of random variable X are the moments games of chance like roulette are played that involve repeti-
of X with respect to its mean. Therefore, the nth central tive events with known probabilities. Monte Carlo methods
moment of X, expressed as 𝜇n , is defined as are now used to solve stochastic problems in numerous
∞
fields including applied statistics, engineering, finance and
𝜇n = E{(X − m)n } = (x − m)n fX (x)dx business, and physical sciences.
∫−∞
3.3 Random number generation

3 MONTE CARLO METHODS
Monte Carlo methods are heavily dependent on the fast, effi-
3.1 Introduction cient production of streams of random numbers. Random
number sequences are produced directly on the computer
The crux of probabilistic methods in science and engineering using software (Knuth, 1969). However, such algorithms are
lies in the calculation of output uncertainty of a system deterministic and the random number sequences that are
based on the randomness in the input parameters. Often produced are called pseudorandom numbers and have limi-
time mathematical modeling of real life stochastic problems tations that have to be well understood. Properties of random
is too complex due to nonlinearity, presence of complex number generators are closely examined using a number
interactions between the variables, and so on. Therefore, it of mathematical tests (Marsaglia, 1985). Some examples of
becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible, to analyt- such tests are Uniformity test, Parking lot test, and Overlap-
ically predict the probability distribution of performance ping M-tuple test. Figure 2 shows two sets of consecutive
(output) by propagating (translating) the input uncertain- pairs of random numbers as x and y coordinates represented
ties into uncertainties in the output. Monte Carlo simulation by 10,000 points. The one with the striped pattern is an
(MCS) is perhaps the most common technique for propa- example of a bad generator.
gating the input uncertainty through the system model to the All computer-generated pseudorandom numbers are gener-
output uncertainties. ated from uniform distribution. However, there are cases
Similar to real experiments, MCS simulates the system where random numbers that have to be generated have
numerically (mathematical representation of the system) a different distributions, for example, Gaussian, log-normal.
large number of times. Each simulation is equally likely and A general way to perform this is to look at the CDF, F(x),
is referred to as a realization of the system. For each realiza- of the desired distribution PDF, f(x), and generate a uniform
tion, all of the input random parameters are sampled based distribution of random numbers yi and then take the inverse
on the specified stochastic distribution of each parameter. function with the uniformly chosen random number as the
This results in a large number of distinct and independent variable. Mathematically,
outputs. Since the input parameters are random, the output
is also random. Therefore, from the output samples, proba- y
bility distributions can be computed. Once the output proba- y = FY (y) = FX (x)dx
∫0
bility distribution is obtained, any probabilistic measure can
be calculated such as central tendencies and probability of so that
failure (complement of reliability).
x = FY−1 (y)
3.2 History
Monte Carlo methods are very versatile and it finds its
Modern application of Monte Carlo methods dates from the way in solving many interesting problems. Some examples
1930s to 1940s during the Manhattan project at Loas Alamos, are numerical integration of a mathematical function, solu-
NM, on the atomic bomb. In 1930s, Enrico Fermi used Monte tion of boundary value problems, simulation of radioac-
Carlo in the calculation of neutron diffusion. Mathematician tive decay, simulation of transport properties (e.g., fluid
Stanislaw Ulam first recognized how computers could make flow and neutron transport), generation of random walks,
MCS of complex systems feasible. solution of integrodifferential equations, and calculation of
Ulam and von Neumann suggested that research into eigenvalues (Landau and Binder, 2003; Niederreiter et al.,
nuclear fission could be aided by use of computer 1998).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe179
6 General
1.0 • Probabilities are always interpreted as long-run relative

frequency.
• Statistical procedures are judged by how well they
0.8
perform in the long run over an infinite number of
hypothetical repetitions of the experiment.
0.6
The alternative approach is the Bayesian approach. It
Y
0.4 applies the laws of probability directly to the problem.

This offers many fundamental advantages over the more
commonly used frequentist approach. Reverend Thomas
0.2 Bayes first discovered the theorem that now bears his name.
It was first documented in An Essay Towards Solving a
0.0 Problem in the Doctrine of Chances, which was found
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 by his friend Richard Price after Bayes’ death and it was
(a) X published posthumously in the Philosophical Transactions of
the Royal Society in 1763. Bayes showed how inverse prob-
1.0
ability could be used to calculate probability of antecedent
events from the occurrence of the consequent event. His
0.8 methods were adopted by Laplace and other scientists in the
nineteenth century, but had largely fallen from favor by the
early twentieth century. By mid-twentieth century, interest
0.6
in Bayesian methods was renewed, which developed into
Y
a complete method of statistical inference based on Bayes’

0.4 theorem. The central ideas behind Bayesian approach to
statistics are (Bolstad, 2004):
0.2
• Since we are uncertain about the true value of the param-
eters we will consider them a random variable.
0.0 • The rules of probability are used directly to make infer-
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
ences about the parameters.
(b) X
• Probability statements about parameters must be inter-
Figure 2. Test of quality of random number generators: (a) bad preted as “degree of belief.” The prior distribution must
quality with striped pattern and (b) good quality (Landau and be subjective. Each person can have his/her own prior,
Binder, 2003). which contains the relative weights that person gives
to every possible parameter value. It measures how
“plausible” the person considers each parameter value to
4 BAYESIAN STATISTICS be before observing the data.
• We revise our beliefs about parameters after getting the
4.1 Introduction data by using Bayes’ theorem. This gives our posterior
distribution which gives the relative weights we give
Statistics is based on two main philosophical approaches to each parameter value after analyzing the data. The
(Bolstad, 2004). The first is generally referred to as the posterior distribution comes from two sources: the prior
frequentist approach or the classical approach. Proce- distribution and the observed data.
dures are developed by looking at how they perform over
all possible random samples. The probabilities do not Bayes’ theorem is the only consistent way to modify our
relate to the particular random sample that were obtained. beliefs about the parameters given the data that actually
Following are the main ideas behind this approach (Bolstad, occurred, not all possible data sets that might have occurred,
2004). but did not. Making the parameter to be a random variable
allows one to make probability statements about it, posterior
• Parameters, the numerical characteristics of the popula- to the data. Bayesian statistics is predictive, unlike conven-
tion, are fixed but unknown constants. tional frequentist statistics. This means that we can easily
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe179
find the conditional probability distribution of the next obser- number of realizations from p(𝜃|y). Samples from the poste-
vation given the sample data. rior can be generated in several ways, without exact knowl-
edge of p(𝜃|y). Direct methods include rejection sampling,
4.2 Bayesian analysis which generates independent proposals for 𝜃, and accepts
them at a rate whereby those retained are proportional to
Hypotheses regarding a model are typically expressed the desired posterior. Importance sampling can also be used
through probability distributions for observable data Y. The to numerically evaluate relevant integrals by appropriately
probability distributions depend on unknown quantities weighting independent samples from a user-chosen distribu-
termed as parameters. In the Bayesian approach, current tion on 𝜃.
knowledge about the model parameters is expressed by Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling (Spiegelhalter
assuming a probability distribution on the parameters, called and Rice, 2009): Realizations from the posterior used in
the prior distribution, and is written as Monte Carlo methods need not be independent or generated
directly. If the conditional distribution of each parameter is
p(𝜃) known (conditional on all other parameters), one simple way
to generate a possibly dependent sample of data points is by
When new data become available, the information they using Gibbs sampling. This algorithm generates one param-
contain regarding the model parameters is expressed in the eter at a time. As it sequentially updates each parameter, the
likelihood, which is equivalent to the distribution of the entire parameter space is explored. It is appropriate to start
observed data Y, given the model parameters Θ and can be from multiple starting points in order to check convergence,
written as and in the long-run, the “chains” of realizations produced
p(y|𝜃) reflect the posterior of interest. More general versions
of the same argument include the Metropolis–Hastings
This information is then combined with the prior distribu- algorithm.
tion to produce an updated probability distribution called the
posterior distribution on which all Bayesian inferences are
based. Bayes’ Theorem states that the posterior distribution 5 TIME SERIES METHODS
is proportional to the prior distribution times the likelihood,
which mathematically can be written as 5.1 Introduction
p(𝜃) × p(y|𝜃)
p(𝜃|y) = Time series data often arise when one is interested in values
∫𝛩 p(𝜃) × p(y|𝜃)d𝜃 of a variable that occur with time (most often regular). Time
In theory, the posterior distribution is always available, interval can be discrete (t = 1, 2, 3, …) or continuous (t > 0).
but in realistically complex models, the required analytic Examples of such data are wave height and rainfall. Time
computations often are intractable. Over several years, in the series analysis accounts for the fact that data points taken
late 1980s and early 1990s, it was realized that the methods over time have an internal structure such as autocorrela-
for drawing samples from the posterior distribution could be tion, trend, or seasonal variation and can be accounted for
very widely applicable. in the mathematical model. The analysis is used to predict
future values, extract signal from noise, determine effect of
other variables, and others. Time series analysis is used in
4.3 Computation of Bayesian statistics many areas such as digital signal processing, economic fore-
casting, stock-market analysis, random loading on offshore
Bayesian analysis requires evaluating expectations of func- structures, and metocean data analysis.
tions of random quantities as a basis for inference, where
these quantities may have posterior distributions that are
multivariate or of complex form or often both. Numerical 5.2 Time series analysis
integration methods involving MCS are often used in this
regard (Spiegelhalter and Rice, 2009). Classical decomposition of time series data can be per-
Monte Carlo sampling (Spiegelhalter and Rice, 2009): formed as
Any posterior distribution p(𝜃|y) can be approximated by Xt = mt + st + Yt (additive)
taking a very large random sample of realizations of 𝜃 from
p(𝜃|y). For example, the posterior mean and variance of 𝜃 or
may be approximated by the mean and variance of a large Xt = mt × st × Yt (multiplicative)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe179
8 General
where mt is the trend component that gradually changes Monte carlo Encompasses a broad class of
with time (deterministic), st the seasonal component (deter- simulation computational algorithms that rely on
ministic), and Yt the random noise component that may repeated random sampling to obtain
contain irregular cyclic components of unknown frequency, probabilistic results numerically.
and other unknown variations. The idea is to create sepa- Probability The likelihood of something happening.
rate models for the above three elements and then combine Pseudo random A sequence of numbers generated using
them together such that the random component is close to number deterministic algorithms whose
a stationary random process. Loosely speaking, a random properties approximate the properties
process is stationary, if its statistical properties do not change of sequences of random numbers.
with time. Randomness Lack of predictability in an event.
For time series data with trend and seasonal effect removed Time series It is a sequence of data points, typically
(or absent to begin with), one can construct a linear model consisting of successive
for a time series with autocorrelation. Various stationary measurements made over a time
processes are available such as autoregressive process, interval.
moving average process, autoregressive moving average
process, and autoregressive integrated moving average
process (Brockwell and Davis, 2002). RELATED ARTICLES
Risk Analysis
6 CONCLUSION Acceptability of Risk
Jack-Up Risk and Reliability
This article provided a general introduction to the proba-
bility methods. The types of randomness, including various
methods to generate pseudorandom numbers, and the REFERENCES
Bayesian statistics and time series methods were also
discussed. Bolstad, W.M. (2004) Introduction to Bayesian Statistics.
Wiley-Interscience.
Boole, G. (1854) The Laws of Thought. Gutenberg.
Brockwell, P.J. and Davis, R.A. (2002) Introduction to Time-Series
GLOSSARY and Forecasting. Springer.
Chakraborti, S.K. (2005) Handbook of Offshore Engineering.
Alleatoric Aleatory uncertainty is the natural Elsevier.
Uncertainty randomness in a process. Kaplan, M. and Kaplan, E. (2007) Chances are: Adventures in
Bayesian It is a subset of the field of statistics in Probability.
statistics which the evidence about the true Knuth, D. (1969) The Art of Computer Programming, vol. 2, Pearson
state of an event is expressed in terms Education.
of estimates based on a-priori Landau, D.P. and Binder, K. (2003) A Guide to Monte Carlo Simula-
tions in Statistical Physics. Cambridge University Press.
information.
Distribution Functions that determine how the Marsaglia, G. (1985) Computer Science and Statistics: The Interface,
A current view of random number generators. (ed Billard, L.).
functions probabilities are distributed over the North-Holland, Amsterdam, pp. 3–10.
values it assumes. Niederreiter, H., Hellekalek, P., Larcher, G., and Zinterhof, P. (1998)
Epistemic Epistemic uncertainty is the randomness Monte Carlo and Quasi-Monte Carlo Methods. Springer Science
Uncertainty in the mathematical model of a & Business Media.
physical process arising from partial Spiegelhalter, D. and Rice, K. (2009) Bayesian Statistics. Scholar-
knowledge about the process. pedia, 4 (8): 5230.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe179
Phase-Resolving Wave Modeling
Dmitry Chalikov
Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorne, Australia
is a case of shallow-water waves (see Finite-Depth and

1 Introduction 1 Shallow Water Waves) (Bona, Colin, and Lannes, 2005).
2 Phase-Resolving Wave Modeling 1 The nonlinearity can be taken into account in more sophis-
3 Source Functions in Phase-Resolving Wave ticated models that are derived from the fundamental fluid
Modeling 8 mechanics equations with some simplifications. The most
popular approach is based on the nonlinear Schrödinger
4 Conclusion 10
equation of different orders (see Potential Wave Theory,
References 10 Instability of Wave Trains) (Dysthe, 1979), obtained by
expansion of the surface wave displacement. This approach
was very useful for many applications including the problem
of freak waves (see Wave and Crest Height Distributions).
1 INTRODUCTION The main advantage of the simplified approach is that it
allows us to reduce the three-dimensional (3D) problem
Phase-resolving modeling (or direct modeling) of sea to the two-dimensional (or 2D problem to 1D problem).
waves is the mathematical modeling of surface waves However, it is not always clear that nonrealistic effects are
including explicit reproduction of the sea surface and eliminated or included in the model after simplifications.
velocity field evolution. Compared with spectral wave This is why the most general approach being developed over
modeling (see Frequency-Direction Spectra of Wind– the past years is based on the initial 3D or 2D equations (still
Generated Gravity Waves; Spectral Wave Modeling), potential). All tasks based on these equations can be divided
the phase-resolving modeling is more general since it into two groups: the periodic and nonperiodic problems.
is closer to reality and operates with a larger volume of An assumption of the periodicity considerably simplifies
variables. Generally, this method is more complicated and construction of numerical models, but such formulation can
takes more computational resources. The simplest way of be applied to the cases when the condition of periodicity is
such modeling is calculation of wave field evolution on acceptable: for example, when domain is considered as a
the basis of linear equations (see Types of Ocean Surface small part of a large uniform area. For the limited domains
Waves, Wave Classification). Such approach allows us with no periodicity, the problem becomes more complicated
to reproduce the main effects of the linear wave transfor- as the Fourier presentation cannot be used.
mation due to superposition of wave modes, reflections,
refractions, and so on. This approach is useful for many
technical applications, but it cannot reproduce the nonlinear
nature of waves and transformation of a wave field due to
2 PHASE-RESOLVING WAVE MODELING
nonlinearity. Another example of a relatively simple object
2.1 Governing equations
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Consider the principal 3D equations for potential waves
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe091
(see Potential Wave Theory, Instability of Wave Trains)
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 written in the Cartesian coordinates, that is, the Laplace
2 General
equation for the velocity potential new horizontal coordinate 𝜉:

∑
Φxx + Φyy + Φzz = 0 (1) 𝜂(𝜉, 𝜏) = h(x(𝜉, 𝜁 = 0, 𝜏), t = 𝜏) = 𝜂k (𝜏)𝜗k (𝜉) (6)
−M≤k≤M
and two boundary conditions at free surface 𝜂 = 𝜂(x, y, t), that 𝜗k denotes the functions
is, the kinematic condition:
{
cos k𝜉, k≥0
𝜂t + 𝜂x 𝜑x + 𝜂y 𝜑y − Φz = 0 (2) 𝜗k (𝜉) = (7)
sin k𝜉, k<0
and the Bernoulli integral: Due to the conformity, the Laplace equation retains its form
in (𝜉, 𝜁) coordinates. It is shown in Chalikov and Sheinin
1
𝜑t + (𝜑2x + 𝜑2y + Φ2z ) + G𝜂 + p = 0 (3) (1998) that the potential wave equations can be represented
2 in the new coordinates as follows:
where (x, y, z) are the Cartesian coordinates system, t the
Φ𝜉𝜉 + Φ𝜁𝜁 = 0 (8)
time, 𝜂(x, y, t) a shape of free surface, Φ the 3D velocity
potential, 𝜑 the value of Φ at surface 𝜂, p the external z𝜏 = x𝜉 g + z𝜉 f (9)
pressure created by the flow above surface and normal- 1
ized using the density of water, and G the gravity accel- 𝜑𝜏 = f 𝜑𝜉 − J −1 (𝜑2𝜉 − Φ2𝜁 ) − z (10)
2
eration. The subscripts denote partial differentiation with
respect to the corresponding coordinate. Taking into account where Equations 9 and 10 are written for surface 𝜁 = 0 [so
a surface tension effect is quite straightforward. Equations 2 that z = 𝜂, as represented by expansion (Equation 6)], J is the
and 3 contain a vertical derivative of the potential on the Jacobian of the transformation, g is an auxiliary function
surface, which is defined from the 3D solution of the Laplace
equation. The main difficulty is that the boundary condi- g = (J −1 Φ𝜁 )𝜁=0 (11)
tions for the Laplace equation are given at variable surface
𝜂(x, y, t), which excludes the possibility to use directly a stan- and f is connected with g by the Hilbert transform, which for
dard solution for the Laplace equation. k ≠ 0 can be defined in the Fourier space as
fk = g−k , gk = −f−k tan h(kH) (12)

2.2 Two-dimensional waves
following the fact from Equations 4 and 5.
In a 2D model, the terms with derivatives over y are elim- Equations 8–10 are written in the nondimensional form,
inated, so Equations 1–3 describe motion in plane (x–z). so G = 1. The boundary condition assumes vanishing of the
If periodicity is valid, the most effective approach is intro- vertical velocity
ducing the conformal coordinates (Chalikov and Sheinin,
1998): Φ𝜁 (𝜉, 𝜁 = H, 𝜏) = 0 (13)
∑ cos h(𝜁 + H) The solution of the Laplace equation 8 with the boundary
x(𝜉, 𝜁 ) = 𝜉 + x0 (𝜏) + 𝜂−k (𝜏) 𝜗k (𝜉) condition (Equation 13) readily yields to the Fourier expan-
−M≤k<M, k≠0
sin kH
(4) sion, which reduces the system (8–10) to a 1D problem:
∑
Φ= 𝜙k (𝜏) exp(k𝜁) 𝜗k (𝜉) (14)
∑ −M≤k≤M
z(𝜉, 𝜁 ) = 𝜁 + 𝜂0 (𝜏) +
−M≤k<M, k≠0 where 𝜙k are the Fourier coefficients of the surface potential
sin hk(ς + H) Φ(𝜉, 𝜁 = 0, 𝜏). Equations 9–13 constitute a closed system of
𝜂k (𝜏) exp(k𝜁 )𝜗k (𝜉) (5) prognostic equations for the surface functions
sin kH
where x and z are the Cartesian coordinates, 𝜉 and 𝜁 the z(𝜉, 𝜁 = 0, 𝜏) = 𝜂(𝜉, 𝜏) and Φ(𝜉, 𝜁 = 0, 𝜏) (15)
conformal surface-following coordinates, 𝜏 a time, H depth,
M a number of Fourier modes, and 𝜂 k the coefficients of the The problem of the numerical scheme validation for the
Fourier expansion of free surface 𝜂(𝜉, 𝜏) with respect to the wave model was discussed in Chalikov and Sheinin (1998).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe091
Phase-Resolving Wave Modeling 3
The scheme was found to be very precise, that is, typical 100
accuracy of solution for a sufficiently high resolution was
around 10−10 . Such accuracy is not surprising, since the
equations written in the conformal coordinates become
10−1
one-dimensional evolutionary equations, which can be
accurately solved by means of the Fourier transform method
without local approximations. High accuracy of solution
and conservation of integral invariants are both crucial for 10−2
the numerical wave simulation. The ratio of timescale for
waves (wave period) to timescale for the energy input and
Probability
dissipation is of the order of 10− 4 ; hence, wave motion is 10−3
highly conservative, that is, at time scales of the order of
wave period (in absence of breaking), the motion is actually
adiabatic.
10−4
The equations derived give a unique example of the
equations describing a natural process with a nearly
computer accuracy. This approach can be applied for inves-
tigation of wave dynamics when the two-dimensionality of 10−5
spectrum does not play any important role, for example,
for investigation of the freak wave dynamics (see Wave
and Crest Height Distributions). For example, the paper 10−6
(Chalikov, 2009) describes the results of more than 4000 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
Hf
long-term (up to thousands of peak-wave periods) numer-
ical simulations of the nonlinear gravity surface waves,
performed for investigation of properties as well as for Figure 1. Distribution of probability of trough-to-crest height Hf
for breaking (dashed line) and nonbreaking (solid line) waves
estimation of the statistics of extreme (freak) waves. The defined with the use of window length 1.5Lp . Dotted line is a ratio
method of solution of the 2D potential wave equations based of breaking wave number and the number of nonbreaking waves.
on the conformal mapping is applied to simulation of wave (Reproduced from Chalikov (2009). © AIP Publishing LLC, 2009.)
behavior assigned by different initial conditions defined
by the JONSWAP and Pierson–Moskowitz spectra. It is
shown that the nonlinear wave evolution sometimes results approaches 10. Exponential extrapolation of rnb (thin line)
in appearance of very big waves. There are no predictors to high values of Hf shows that all of the waves exceeding
for appearance of extreme waves; however, the dimensional Hf = 2.7 do break.
wave height is proportional to significant wave height. Initial The process of wave breaking (see Ice Loading on Ship
generation of extreme waves can occur simply as a result Hull) was considered in Chalikov and Babanin (2012). An
of linear group effects, but in some cases, the largest wave example of evolution of the selected fragment of the wave
suddenly starts to grow. It is followed sometimes by strong field prior to wave breaking is given in Figure 1. In panel a
concentration of the wave energy around the peak vertical. evolution of wave surface is given while in panel b evolution
It is taking place typically for one peak-wave period. It of the columnar energy (equal to the sum of potential and
happens to an individual wave in a physical space, with no kinetic energy) is shown. As seen, the energy is concentrating
energy exchange with the surrounding waves taking place. in the vicinity of a wave peak, which is the main reason for
The probability distribution for breaking and nonbreaking wave breaking (Figure 2).
waves Hf (normalized by the total number of waves) is The Benjamin–Feir instability (BFI) was numerically
shown in Figure 1 by dashed and solid lines, respectively. investigated in Chalikov (2007). The BFI describes the
Fast decrease of probability for small Hf shows that process of growth of new modes in the presence of the
there were no small trough-to-crest wave heights in the Stokes wave. The generalized data on the rate of growth
selected window, but fast fall of the probability for large Hf 𝛾 as a function of the Stokes wave steepness AK (A is
reflects rarity of freak waves. A ratio of the total number of the amplitude while K is the wave number of the Stokes
nonbreaking waves to that of breaking waves rnb (showed wave) and the nondimensional “distance” in the Fourier
by the dotted curve in Figure 1) equals 140 for the selected space 𝛿 = (k/K)1/2 − 1 are given in Figure 3. The value 𝛿 = 0
window. However, for each wave height, this ratio rnb (Hf ) corresponds to the first mode of the Stokes wave (K = 50).
is different, that is, for freak waves Hf > 2 the ratio rnb The contours of 𝛾 are nearly symmetrical relative to 𝛿 = 0.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe091
4 General
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
Z
0.0
−0.5
−1.0
2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8
(a) X
25
20
15
Et(x)/et
10
0
2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8
(b) X
Figure 2. (a) Example of evolution of selected wave profile z up to onset of breaking. (b) Evolution of columnar energy et (x) normalized
by mean energy et for the same period. (Reproduced with permission from Chalikov and Babanin (2012). © the American Meteorology
Society, 2012.)
The maximum value 𝛾 = 0.027 was found at the point (at the initial stage of breaking), conservation of invariants
𝛿 = 0.5, AK = 0.32. A close value 𝛾 = 0.025 was obtained at still holds, but later, a sharp increase of energy occurs,
the symmetrical point 𝛿 = − 0.5, AK = 0.32. The nonlinear further integration becoming useless. Disintegration of
adiabatic transformation of 1D wave spectrum is considered solution happens mostly due to inapplicability of potential
in Chalikov (2012). approximation for the single-phase fluid. This effect can be
The model is mostly intended for simulation of the multi- referred to any type of modeling.
mode long-term wave field evolution with realistic spectrum. For nonperiodic waves (e.g., waves in the restricted domain
No matter how high the spectral resolution might be, for or waves above the nonperiodic bottom), the conformal
the long-term simulations of nonlinear waves the energy mapping does not exist, and solution of Equations 1–3 should
flux into a truncated part of spectrum must be parameter- include the solution of the Laplace equation. In this case, it
ized. Otherwise, the spurious energy accumulation violating is also reasonable to use the semi-Lagrangian methods, not
the energy conservation law at large wave numbers always necessarily based on a potential assumption.
corrupts numerical solution. In numerical solutions of the
fluid mechanics equations, this effect is suppressed by intro-
ducing different types of viscosity. This effect should be
taken into account in all the 2D and 3D phase-resolving wave 2.3 Three-dimensional waves
models.
The conformal coordinates are so flexible that they Two dimensional approach considers a strongly idealized
allow us to reproduce the non-single-value surface (which wave field, since even the monochromatic waves in the pres-
in conformal coordinates remains a single-value surface). ence of lateral disturbances quickly obtain a two dimensional
Hence, the model is able to reproduce the initial stage of wave structure. A difficulty arising is not a direct result of increase
breaking. It is important to emphasize that after appearance of dimension. The principal complication is that the problem
of inverse inclination, the solution never returns to stability. cannot be reduced to a two-dimensional problem, and even
Up to this moment, conservation of the sum of potential for the case of a double-periodic wave field, the problem of
and kinetic energy, horizontal momentum, and volume is solution of the Laplace equation 1 for the velocity potential
excellent. When surface becomes a non-single-value surface arises.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe091
where |r| = |x − xl | is a distance from the source point x to

0.4 the collocation point xl (both are on the boundary) and n the
0
normal vector pointing out of the fluid. The notation 𝜕G/𝜕n
05
0.0
represents the normal derivative, that is, 𝜕C/𝜕n = ∇C ⋅ n. The
Green’s second identity transforms the Laplace equation 1
for velocity potential into a BIEM on the boundaries of the
0.0150
fluid domain:
{ }
𝜕Φ 𝜕G
𝛼(xl )𝜑(xl ) = (x) G(x, xl ) − 𝜑(x) (x, xl ) dΓ
0.3 ∫Γ(t) 𝜕n 𝜕n
(17)
where 𝛼(xl ) is proportional to the solid exterior angle made
0.0150
by the boundary at the collocation point xl . The kine-

matic and dynamic conditions 2 and 3 are used in a mixed
AK
Euler–Lagrange form for tracing of a variable surface.

The integral equations are solved by BIEM. The boundary
0.0100
discretized into N collocation nodes and M high order

0.2 elements are used to interpolate in-between of these nodes.
Within each element, the boundary geometry and the field
variables are discretized using polynomial functions. These
0.00
050
methods can be applied both to periodic and nonperiodic

50
0.0
flows. The methods do not impose any restrictions on wave

steepness, so they can be used for simulations of the waves
that even approach breaking (Grilli, Guyenne, and Dias,
2001; Dias and Bridges, 2006) when surface obtains a
0.1
non-single-value shape (Figure 4).
The surface integral method is well suited for simula-
tion of the wave effect connected with very large steepness,
−0.5 0.0 0.5 specifically, for investigation of freak wave generation and
δ wave breaking. Figure 5 displays free-surface elevation of
the wave field prior to breaking that corresponds to the horse-
Figure 3. Increment of growth rate (contours) as function of 𝛿 and shoe patterns, as obtained experimentally (Su et al., 1982).
AK. (Reproduced from Chalikov (2007). © AIP Publishing LLC, However, the BIEM method seems to be quite complicated
2007.)
and time consuming being applied to a long-term evolution
of a multimode wave field in large domains. Application
of the method was illustrated by the simulations of rela-
tively simple wave fields, and it is unlikely that the method
2.3.1 Boundary integral equation method
can be applied to the simulation of a long-term evolution
The effective methods are based on the full three dimensional of a large-scale multimode wave field with broad spectrum.
equations and surface integral formulations (Clamond and Implementation of the multipole technique for a general
Grue, 2001; Clamond et al., 2005; Fochesato et al., 2006; problem of sea wave simulations solves the problem but
Fructus et al., 2005a). The main advantage of the boundary obviously leads to considerable algorithmic difficulties.
integral equation methods (BIEMs) is that they are accurate
and can describe highly nonlinear waves. The method of 2.3.2 High order spectral model
solution of the Laplace equation is based on use of the
Green’s function, which allows us to reduce 3D water-wave Currently the most popular approach is the HOSM method
problem to 2D boundary integral problem. (high order spectral method) developed by Dommermuth and
The three-dimensional free space Green’s function is Yue (1987) and West et al. (1987). The HOSM is based on
defined as a paper by Zakharov (1968), where a convenient form of the
dynamic and kinematic surface conditions was suggested.
1 𝜕G 1 r−n
G(x, xl ) = , (x, xl ) = − (16) 𝜂𝜏 = −𝜂x 𝜑x − 𝜂y 𝜑y + (1 + 𝜂x2 + 𝜂y2 )Φz (18)
4π|r| 𝜕n 4π |r|3
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe091
6 General
1
0.5
z′
0 1
10 11 0
12 13 14 15 −1 y′
16 17 18
x′
Figure 4. Example of simulation with BIEM model. Shoaling of an exact solitary wave over a 1 : 15 slope. (Reproduced from Grilli,
Guyenne, and Dias (2001). © John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., 2001.)
∑ 𝜂k 𝜕k
m−1
𝜙(m) (x, y, t) = t 𝜙(m−1) (x, y, 0, t) (m = 2, 3, L)
k=1
k! 𝜕zk
(22)
These boundary conditions, together with the Laplace’s
equation ∇2 𝜙(m) (x, y, z, t) = 0, define a series of the Dirichlet
problems for 𝜑(m) . Hence, the original single Dirichlet
problem for 𝜙(x, y, z, t) in a region with the curvilinear
boundary shape given by 𝜂(x, y, t) has been reduced to a series
of L Dirichlet problems for 𝜑(m) (x, y, z, t), (m = 1, 2, …, M)
in a region with a simple shape given by z = 0. If the wave
field is periodic both in x and y, we can express 𝜙(m) by a
double Fourier series as
Figure 5. Free-surface elevation showing the horse structure. ∑∑ (m)
(Reproduced from Fructus et al. (2005b). © Cambridge University Φ(x, y, z, t) = fk,l (t) exp (|k|z)Θk,l (23)
Press, 2005.) k l
where fk,l are the Fourier coefficients at z = 0, Mx and My the

truncation numbers in x and y directions, k and l the corre-
1 sponding wave numbers, |k| = (k2 + l2 )1/2 , and h the depth,
𝜑𝜏 = − (𝜑2x + 𝜑2y − (1 + 𝜂x2 + 𝜂y2 )Φ2z ) − 𝜂 − p (19) while Θk,l are the Fourier basic function.
2
When 𝜙(x, y, 0, t) is given by Equation 23, the coefficients
(m)
where Φ𝜁 is the vertical velocity on a free surface. fk,l can be obtained by just a single 2D fast Fourier trans-
Equations 24 and 25 were not intended for modeling, form. To calculate Φ𝜁 West et al. suggested a power series
but rather for investigation of stability of the finite ampli- over 𝜀 as
tude waves. The Laplace equation for velocity potential is
accepted in the traditional form (Equation 1). To solve the ∑
L
∑ 𝜂k 𝜕k m−1
Φ𝜁 (x, y, t) = Φ𝜁(m) , Φm
𝜁 = 𝜙(m−1) (x, y, 0, t)
problem formulated by Equations 18 and 19, it is necessary m=1 k=1
k! 𝜕zk
to solve the Dirichlet problem of the Laplace equations for (24)
𝜙(x, y, z) at each time step to obtain Φ𝜁 . Accuracy of this method depends on the accuracy of esti-
The velocity potential on the surface 𝜑(𝜉, 𝜗, 𝜏) can be mation of the exponential function exp(k𝜂) with finite order
represented through expansion up to order L: of the Taylor series. For small amplitude waves and for
the narrow wave spectrum, such accuracy is evidently high.
∑
L However, for a case of the broad wave spectrum, which
𝜑(x, y, z, t) = 𝜙(m) (x, y, z, t) (20) contains many wave modes, order of the Taylor series should
m=1 increase. Now the problem is that the waves with high wave
numbers are superposed over the surface of larger waves.
where 𝜙(m) has order of O(𝜀m ) (𝜀 defines the wave steepness) Since amplitudes of surface potential attenuate exponen-
and is the order of approximation of nonlinearity. Using the tially, the amplitude of a small wave at positive elevation
Taylor expansion for each 𝜙(m) around z = 0, we obtain increases, and on the contrary, it can approach zero at nega-
tive elevations. The estimation shows that the order of the
𝜙(1) (x, 0, t) = 𝜑(x, 0, t) (21) Taylor series required for high accuracy quickly grows with
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe091
increase of the wave number. Using high order Taylor series (Equation 20) (Chalikov and Babanin, 2013).
slows down the speed of calculations significantly while
increasing the risk of numerical instability. The compar- 𝜉 = x, 𝜗 = y, 𝜁 = z − 𝜂(𝜉, 𝜗, 𝜏), 𝜏=t (25)
ison of HOSM model (Ducrozet et al., 2012) with the
OceanWave3D model (Engsig-Karup et al., 2009) based on
direct solution of a 3D equation for velocity potential shows leading to the next form of kinematic and dynamic conditions
good agreement between the two approaches, although the
comparison was made for a single nonlinear wave of different 𝜂𝜏 = −𝜂𝜉 𝜑𝜉 − 𝜂𝜗 𝜑𝜗 + (1 + 𝜂𝜉2 + 𝜂𝜗2 )Φ𝜁 (26)
steepness. HOSM model seems more efficient in terms
of memory and speed compared with the OceanWave3D,
which is no wonder, since the last model was designed
1
for a more complicated problem of restricted domain and 𝜑𝜏 = − (𝜑2𝜉 + 𝜑2𝜗 − (1 + 𝜂𝜉2 + 𝜂𝜗2 )Φ2𝜁 ) − 𝜂 − p (27)
2
nonuniform bathymetry. Probably, HOSM method cannot
be quite accurate for simulation of evolution of waves
Equations 26 and 27 are similar to Equations 18 and 19, but
with broadband spectrum for large domains. However, the
they explicitly express that the derivatives over 𝜉 and 𝜗 are
efficiency of HOSM approach for simulation of the low
taken along surface 𝜂(𝜉, 𝜗). The Laplace equation for velocity
frequency energy-containing part of the spectrum is quite
potential takes the form:
high. After including the realistic input and dissipation terms,
HOSM model can be successfully used for research purposes
for wave simulation in real domains. Such results can be Φ𝜉𝜉 + Φ𝜗𝜗 + Φ𝜁𝜁 = Υ(Φ) (28)
compared with spectral modeling (Equation 20).
while Υ( ) is the operator:
2.3.3 Methods based on direct solution of Laplace Υ( ) = 2𝜂𝜉 ( )𝜉𝜁 + 2𝜂𝜗 ( )𝜗𝜁 + (𝜂𝜉𝜉 + 𝜂𝜗𝜗 )( )𝜁 − (𝜂𝜉2 + 𝜂𝜗2 )( )𝜁𝜁
equation (29)
It is known that 2D equations for potential waves written
A direct method for 3D waves includes an elliptic boundary
in the conformal coordinates have a remarkable property,
layer problem solved by the finite-difference methods. Such
that is, the Laplace equation remains the same. This is why
approaches to simulation of the unsteady free-surface flows
the Fourier modes of the velocity potential can be repre-
based on full equations have been under development for at
sented through standard expansion. It means that the poten-
least three decades (Asaithambi, 1987). Further applications
tial and any of its derivatives decrease exponentially from
were later described by Bingham and Zhang (2007). The
free surface. For a 3D case in the Cartesian coordinates,
main advantage of these methods is that it is based on initial
as well as in the curvilinear coordinates, this is not true.
equations being transformed into the surface-following coor-
However, it would be reasonable to suggest that the expo-
dinate system. The Laplace-type equation obtained by trans-
nential behavior remains dominant; hence, the potential can
formation into the sigma-coordinate system was solved in
be represented as a sum of two components, that is, the
Cai et al. (1998) by the iterative conjugate gradient method
analytic (linear) component Φ, (𝜑 = Φ(𝜉, 𝜗, 0)) and the arbi-
using the three-dimensional finite element discretization. ̃ (̃
trary nonlinear component Φ, 𝜑 = Φ(𝜉, 𝜗, 0))
The finite-difference multigrid model for a 3D flow was
developed in Engsig-Karup et al. (2009). All of the papers
of this group were mostly dedicated to technical applica- 𝜑=𝜑+𝜑
̃, ̃
Φ=Φ+Φ (30)
tions of the water-wave theory, for example, to calculations
of dynamic load on submerged bodies (see Fluid-Structure The analytic component Φ satisfies the Laplace equation:
Interaction) or to simulation of the wave dynamics in the
domain with a complicated shape. A long-term evolution of
Φ𝜉𝜉 + Φ𝜗𝜗 + Φ𝜁𝜁 = 0 (31)
such flows was not simulated; this is why exact conservation
of energy was not the main priority of such models. Appli-
cability of these models for investigations of the nonlinear with the known solution:
properties of sea waves is also uncertain.
Another method of solution of Equations 18 and 19 is ∑
Φ(𝜉, 𝜗, 𝜁) = 𝜑k,l exp(|k|𝜁 )Θk,l (32)
completely based on transformation of the coordinates k,l
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe091
8 General
where 𝜑k,l are the Fourier coefficients of the surface analyt- 3 SOURCE FUNCTIONS IN
ical potential 𝜑 at z = 0. Θ is the function PHASE-RESOLVING WAVE MODELING
⎧cos (k𝜉 + l𝜗) −M ≤ k ≤ M , −M < l < 0 Most of the calculations with the phase-resolving models
⎪ x x y were done for adiabatic versions. However, real processes are
⎪cos(k𝜉) −Mx ≤ k ≤ 0, l = 0 always complicated by the presence of input and dissipation
Θkl (𝜉, 𝜗) = ⎨
⎪sin(k𝜉) 0 ≤ k ≤ My , l = 0 of energy. Below, a basic approach to parameterization of
⎪sin(k𝜉 + l𝜗) −Mx ≤ k ≤ Mx , 0 < l ≤ My such processes is considered.
⎩
(33)
The solution of Equation 31 satisfies the boundary condi- 3.1 Wind input
tions:
Exchange of energy and momentum between the air and
water (see Wave Boundary Layer in the Lower Atmo-
ς = 0 ∶Φ = 𝜑
sphere; Generation of Waves by Wind) occurs through the
̃𝜁 → 0
ς → −∞ ∶ Φ (34) dynamic surface pressure p0 (Equation 3). According to the
linear theory, the Fourier components of surface pressure p0
are connected with those of surface elevation through the
The nonlinear component satisfies the equation:
following expression:
̃ 𝜗𝜗 + Φ
̃ 𝜉𝜉 + Φ ̃ 𝜁𝜁 = Υ(Φ)
̃ + Υ(Φ) 𝜌a
Φ (35) pk + ip−k = (𝛽 + i𝛽−k )(hk + ih−k ) (37)
𝜌w k
Equation 27 is solved with the boundary conditions: where 𝛽 k and 𝛽 − k are real and imaginary parts of the so-called
𝛽 function (i.e., the Fourier coefficients at COS and SIN,
̃ =0 respectively; 𝜌a /𝜌w is a ratio of the air and water densities,
ς = 0 ∶Φ
respectively). Hence, for derivation of the 𝛽-function shape,
̃𝜁 → 0
ς → −∞ ∶ Φ (36) it is necessary to measure simultaneously the wave surface
elevation and the nonstatic pressure on surface The experi-
mental measurement of the surface pressure is a very difficult
The derivatives of the linear component Φ are calculated problem, since the measurements should be done very close
directly. The scheme combines the 2D Fourier transform to a moving surface with a surface-following sensor. Such
method in the “horizontal surfaces” and the second-order measurements are very few, particularly in the field. They
finite-difference approximation on a stretched staggered grid were carried out for the first time by a collective of authors
defined by the relation Δ𝜁 j + 1 = 𝜒Δ𝜁 j (Δ𝜁 is a vertical step, in laboratory and in nature (Donelan et al., 2005, 2006). The
j = 1 at the surface). The stretched grid provides increase of data obtained in this way allowed us to construct the real
accuracy of approximation for the exponentially decaying part of 𝛽 function used in some versions of wave forecasting
modes. The values of the stretching coefficient 𝜒 lie within models. The second way of 𝛽-function evaluation is based
the interval 1.10–1.20. The finite-difference second-order on the results of numerical investigations of the statistical
approximation of Equation 35 on a nonuniform vertical structure of the boundary layer above waves on the basis
grid is quite straightforward. The vertical derivatives of the of the Reynolds equations with a good closure scheme. In
first and second orders for 𝜁 < 0 are approximated with the general, this method works so well that many problems in
second-order accuracy. the technical fluid mechanics are often solved with numerical
The most efficient method of validation of both the numer- models, not experimentally.
ical scheme and the codes for Equations 11–13 is comparison It is a traditional suggestion that both coefficients in
of the results of integration of Equations 26–28 with the Equation 32 are a function of the virtual nondimensional
exact steady solution of the equations obtained in a moving frequency Ω = 𝜔k U cos 𝜓 = U/ck cos 𝜓 (where 𝜔k and U are
coordinate system. The model was used for simulation of a the nondimensional radian frequency and wind speed, corre-
running Stokes wave with steepness 0.40. It was found that spondingly; ck is phase speed of the kth mode; 𝜓 is an angle
the surface remains smooth with no signs of disturbances. between wind and wave mode directions). For example,
The theoretical phase velocity of the Stokes wave with steep- such function was derived in Chalikov and Rainchik (2011)
ness ak = 0.40 is equal to 1.0822. The phase velocity repro- through the coupled simulations of waves and boundary
duced with the numerical model is 1.0820. layer. The wave boundary layer (WBL) model is based on
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe091
the Reynolds equations closed with the K − 𝜀 scheme; solu- right-hand sides of Equations 2 and 3:
tions for the air and water are matched through the interface.
The 𝛽 function obtained in (Chalikov, Rainchik, 2001) was 𝜕𝜂k
= Ek − 𝜇k 𝜂k (38)
used for evaluation of accuracy of the surface pressure p0 𝜕𝜏
simulations. The approximation of the 𝛽 function connecting
surface elevations and surface pressure is studied up to the 𝜕𝜑k
= Fk − 𝜇k 𝜑k (39)
high nondimensional wave frequencies both in positive and 𝜕𝜏
negative (i.e., for the wind adverse to waves) domains and is (Ek and Fk are the Fourier components of the right-hand sides
given in Chalikov and Rainchik (2011). of the equations) and
⎧ ( )2
3.2 Wave dissipation ⎪rM |k|−kd if |k| > kd
𝜇k = ⎨ M−kd (40)
⎪ 0 if |k| ≤ kd
Algorithms for calculation of the wave energy dissipation ⎩
are developed in spectral wave forecast modeling (see Wave
where kd changes within the range of M/2 < kd < 9M/10
Breaking and Dissipation). However, most of the algo-
(depending on the model resolution), and r = 0.25. Sensi-
rithms obtained for spectral modeling are not applicable for
tivity of the results to the reasonable variations of r is low.
direct modeling, since a spectral image of wave breaking in
This sort of dissipation which we call the tail dissipation
the Fourier space is different from the same image in a phys-
effectively absorbs energy if the wave numbers are close to
ical space. Since breaking occurs in the relatively narrow the truncation number M, the longer waves being virtually
space intervals separated by broad parts with no breaking intact. This is why the total effect of “the tail dissipation”
(local in a physical space), the spectrum of dissipation rate is very small. However, this algorithm provides stability.
based on the Fourier transform of such signal is distributed The breaking is a dissipative process leading to the loss of
mostly in the high frequency part of the spectrum, while in the kinetic and potential wave energy as well as to transition
reality, the breaking reduces height of the actual nonlinear of the energy to currents and turbulence; therefore, dissipa-
breaking wave in the vicinity of the spectral peak. tion should be taken into account in different types of models
This is why over the past several years, a method of param- designed for simulation of wave evolution. The most impor-
eterization of breaking in the grid domain has been devel- tant models of such type are the wave forecasting models
oped (Chalikov and Sheinin, 2005; Chalikov and Rainchik, [e.g., the WAVEWATCH model (Equation 20)]. Evidently,
2011). The potential waves in the absence of the input energy no local criterion of breaking can be used in such models,
and nonpotential disturbances are theoretically conservative, as they are formulated for wave spectrum, while any infor-
that is, the sum of the potential and kinetic energies calcu- mation on the real wave surface is absent. In such models,
lated by integration over the whole domain should remain the dissipation process is presented in a distorted form.
constant. This property cannot be observed in a numerical This contradiction is due to the fact that a wave field in a
model because of formation of a nonlinear energy flux from spectral model is assumed to be a superposition of linear
low to high wave numbers. The total energy in a numer- modes, while the breaking (as well as appearance of freak
ical model remains constant on condition that the spectral waves) occurs due to transformation of a specific wave
domain is very broad; hence, the flux of energy into the shape, that is, as a rule, a wave before breaking becomes
high wave number part of the spectrum is not restricted. sharp-crested. Instability of the interface leading to breaking
For the restricted size of the domain, the flux of energy is an important problem of the fluid mechanics. This process
into the truncated part of the spectrum always occurs. The is strongly nonlinear and generally includes a two-phase
corresponding decrease of the total energy can be consid- liquid; hence, the full theory of breaking is expected to be
ered as dissipation. Such dissipation also exists in natural highly complicated. The criterion of instability is appear-
conditions, that is, nonlinear interactions generate the flux ance of a non-single-value part of the surface when some
of energy to high frequency waves, which quickly dissi- volume of fluid becomes unsupported by the pressure from
pate. However high the spectral resolution might be, for the the surrounding fluid and starts moving independently under
long-term simulations of strongly nonlinear waves, one must the action of inertia and gravitational forces. The breaking
parameterize the energy flux into the severed part of the spec- can start under the influence of many factors producing
trum (|k| > M); otherwise, the spurious energy accumulation inverse inclination of the surface. Probably, the main factor is
at large wave numbers can corrupt the numerical solution. To appearance of the horizontal particle velocity exceeding that
achieve stability, simple dissipation terms were added to the of surface shape propagation.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe091
10 General
Appearance of a non-single-value surface in direct simu- well as for the cases of a typical growth rate of the local
lations is always followed by the numerical instability and energy, it works well and always provides stability.
termination of a run. Since it can happen at relatively low The algorithm of the input and dissipation energy can be
integral frequency, the long-term simulations, especially included with minor modifications in 3D models.
those with energy input from wind, are impossible. This is
why an algorithm of the breaking parameterization based on
local elimination of breaking was developed. The algorithm 4 CONCLUSION
(the basic concept of such algorithms is similar to that used
for parameterization of free convection in liquids) is designed A two-dimensional (x − z) periodic model based on
to prevent the breaking instability through a highly selective conformal transformation is so fast and convenient that it
high wave number smoothing of the interface. Many schemes exceeds all other approaches. For the 3D periodic problem,
to parameterize such phenomenon were tested, most efficient three different approaches have been developed. A BIEM is
of them being based on a simple diffusion-type algorithm: the only method that allows us to simulate the initial stage
of breaking, although it is complicated and relatively slow.
𝜕 𝜕𝜂
𝜂𝜏 = E𝜂 + J −1 B (41) HOSM method based on expansion of velocity potential in
𝜕𝜉 𝜕𝜉 the vicinity of wave surface is probably the fastest method,
but its applicability for simulation of a broad wave spectrum
𝜕 𝜕𝜑 is not proved yet. Note that contrary to the common opinion
𝜑𝜏 = F𝜑 + J −1 B (42)
𝜕𝜉 𝜕𝜉 neither of the methods can be referred to as the pure surface
(i.e., two dimensional) methods, since in BIEM method, the
where E𝜂 and FΦ are the right-hand sides of Equations 26 Green’s function is used, while the second method is based
and 27, while the coefficient of diffusion B depends on the on the multiterm expansion in every point. The third method
interface curvature: based on direct solution of the equation for potential is free
of these restrictions and can be applied to a broad spectrum.
⎧ ( 𝜕 2 z )2 𝜕2 z An efficiency of this method depends on a way of solution
⎪Cb Δ𝜉 𝜕𝜉 2 𝜕𝜉 2
>s
B=⎨ (43) of the equation for potential. The simplest surface-following
𝜕2 z
⎪0 ≤s coordinates leave the possibility to use tridiagonal matrix
⎩ 𝜕𝜉 2
algorithm (TDMA) for solution of Laplace equation. For a
general case of the nonperiodic flow, the application of this
where coefficient Cb is of the order of 10− 3 , while the critical
algorithm becomes complicated. Still, the method devel-
value of s is of the order of 300. The algorithm of dissipa-
oped, for example, by Engsig-Karup et al. (2009) remains
tion (Equations 21–23) does not change volume but reduces
the most general, since it can be applied for the variable
the local energy and momentum of waves. It is assumed
bathymetry and basins with complicated shapes. In such
that some portion of energy (and momentum) is transferred
configuration, the model is slow. The method by Chalikov
to the horizontal flow, while another portion is transferred
and Babanin (2012) was developed for a periodic basin with
to turbulence (such transformations can be considered sepa-
infinite depth. The presentation of velocity potential as a
rately, see Chalikov and Belevich, 1992). Note that intensity
sum of the analytic component and nonlinear disturbance
of breaking in the presence of the input energy does not
allowed us to construct a scheme that is slower than the
depend much on the parameters Cb and s. If these parameters
HOSM scheme, but probably better suited for the broad
are reduced, the waves can become little more sharp-crested
wave spectrum and therefore can be used for a long-term
on the average, while the integral energy lost in the breaking
simulation of a multimode wave field. Being supplied by the
process remains approximately the same.
algorithms of input and dissipation of energy, this model as
The algorithm (Equations 21–23) is currently used in a
well as the HOSM model can be used for modeling of wave
long-term simulation of the wave field evolution. It effec-
field development.
tively prevents development of the numerical instability due
to approaching of the surface to a non-single-value shape
describing well (at least qualitatively) dissipation of the wave
energy. Such scheme does not influence the solution in the
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe091
MetOcean Parameters and Processes
Steven F. DiMarco
lists the types of observations that are collected along with

1 Introduction 1 measurement platforms used for their collection. The basic
2 MetOcean Data Collection and Quality Control 1 environmental parameters that are typically associated with
3 MetOcean Parameters 3 MetOcean data collection are temperature, salinity, sea
level height, atmospheric pressure, significant wave height,
4 Basic Data Products 8
wind speed and direction, water current speed, and direc-
5 MetOcean Processes 10 tion. However, data related to precipitation, ice coverage,
Useful Resources 13 turbidity flows, and other processes specific to geographic
Acknowledgments 13 region can also be of great use to MetOcean specialists. Envi-
Glossary 13 ronmental observations are collected using a wide variety
References 14 of collection platforms, which include Eulerian (moored
Further Reading 16 and fixed platform) systems, Lagrangian (drifting) systems,
gliders, remote sensing, and airborne systems. This article
focuses on the collection of observations from Eulerian,
Lagrangian, and glider platforms. This article also presents
1 INTRODUCTION some of the more common statistical quantities associated
with or derived from MetOcean observations. This article
MetOcean, meteorology and oceanography, is the collection, closes with a basic description of a few of the most common
processing, and analysis of meteorological and oceano- environmental processes of interest to offshore operations.
graphic environmental parameters that are relevant in the
planning and design of offshore oil and gas exploration,
drilling, and production structures, mobile offshore drilling
2 METOCEAN DATA COLLECTION AND
units, floating production platforms, and their ancillary
equipment [drilling risers, flow line and pipeline risers, TLP
QUALITY CONTROL
(tension leg platform) tendons, and mooring systems]. In
Observational data are typically collected in one of two
addition, MetOcean involves the real-time and near real-time
modes: real-time and delayed mode. The collection mode is
collection of oceanographic and meteorological parameters
dependent on a variety of factors, which include the instru-
for use in operational exploration, production, transport, oil
ment and sensor type, the application for the data, and the
spill response, and storage of petroleum and related prod-
timescale for decisions. Real-time data are typically reported
ucts. The parameters are typically of physical characteristics
within 1 h of collection; delayed mode data are usually
that can produce structural forces and fatigue of materials or
archived data sets that were collected in the past.
impact the operability of machines and structures. Table 1
In 2005, the US Minerals Management Service, now
known as the Bureau of Offshore Energy Management
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. (BOEM), announced the Notice to Lessees and Operators
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe127
(NTL) No. 2005-G02 (and its subsequent continuations and
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 amendments) that provides for the oceanographic data and
2 General
Table 1. Commonly used MetOcean sensors, instrument systems, and measurement platforms.
Property Units Instrument Platform
Current velocity m/s Current meter b,m
ADCP b,m,p
expendable current profiler (XCP) a,s
Drifter d
Hi-frequency Radar l
Sea temperature ∘C Thermometer b,d,f,g,m,p,S,t
XBT a,s
CTD
Conductivity Siemens m−1 CTD b,d,f,g,m,p,t
XCTD a,s
Salinity Unitless Derived from conductivity a,b,d,f,g,m,p,S,t
Pressure dbar Strain gauge, digiquartz a,b,d,g,m,p,t
Surface gravity waves
Height m Wave gauge, wave staff b,m,S
Period s Wave gauge, wave staff b,m
Wind
Speed m/s Anemometer b,s,S
Direction ∘N
Fluorescence g/m3 Fluorometer b,f,g,m,t
Chlorophyll
Light transmission % Transmissometer b,f,m,t
Platforms: a, air-deployed; b, buoy; d, drifting; f, flowthrough system; g, glider; l, landbased; m, moored; p, profiler; s, shipboard; S, Satellite; t, towed.
Created by the author using data from NOAA NCEI (National Centers for Environmental Information) © (2015).
Abbreviations: ADCP, acoustic Doppler current profiler; XCP, expendable current profiler.
current monitoring for all floating mobile offshore drilling Management and Communication (DMAC) service to estab-
units, production facilities (with some exceptions) operating lish and standardize the quality control and quality assurance
or installing in water depths >400 m. The NTL required the (QA/QC) procedures for 26 of the core oceanographic and
continuous collection and real-time public posting of ocean meteorological variables collected by IOOS. Variables iden-
current data from the near ocean surface (∼30 m) to ∼1000 m tified in QARTOD include wind speed and direction, current
using acoustic Doppler current monitoring or compatible speed and direction, in situ surface gravity waves, in situ
equipment (Bender and DiMarco, 2010). Sampling rates temperature and salinity, and sea surface height.
are specified at three observations per hour. In water depths
>1000 m, additional equipment is to be installed near 100 m 2.2 Delayed mode
above bottom. Currently, these data are hosted and served
by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Delayed mode data are collected to produce long-term
(NOAA) National Data Buoy Center (NDBC, http://ndbc climatologies and aggregated statistics of observational
.noaa.gov/mms). parameters. Delayed mode data are commonly used during
the design phase of structures, components, and materials.
2.1 Real-time data collection Delayed mode is usually subjected to more rigorous quality
control protocols than real-time data because of the increased
Real-time data are collected when operations require infor- time for analysis and application of QC protocols.
mation that drives short-term decisions. Real-time data go Equally important is the need to retain proper metadata
through initial screening to remove outliers, assess quality to provide the observational context of the measurements.
control, and provide quality assurance. It is imperative that Metadata must be complete and error free. At a minimum,
all MetOcean data that are used for decision making be metadata must include the date and time of deployment,
rigorously screened, assessed, and validated before use. the geographical location (latitude and longitude), elevation
The real-time assessment of oceanographic and meteoro- or depth, instrument type, time of most recent calibration,
logical data is challenging and when possible redundant contact information of responsible party for data collection,
systems should be employed to ensure sustained and contin- system set-up parameters, and any contextual information
uous observations and comparative analyses. The quality that can influence data interpretation and analysis. Various
assurance of real-time ocean data (QARTOD) was developed data formats exist to ensure the metadata accompany the
by the US Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Data observational data set. In the case of ASCII data format, the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe127
MetOcean Parameters and Processes 3
metadata is included in comments fields of the file header. latitudes, the declination angle can be much larger (>100∘ ).
Other formats, such as netCDF, allow for the inclusion of Current meters that use the global positioning system (GPS)
metadata in file cell structures. for directional orientation do not need to be corrected for
To preserve uniformity in observations and reduce interpre- magnetic declination.
tational errors, all recorded time, for example, in water, out During the practice of analyzing current meter data, it is
water, and observational timestamps, are generally expressed often convenient to define a coordinate axis that is aligned
in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). with the variance axes of the observations. The reference
angle for the coordinate axes can be defined by estimating
the variance ellipse of the scatter of the vector data (Thomson
3 METOCEAN PARAMETERS and Emery, 2014).
Single-point current meters are those in which an observa-
3.1 Current velocity tion is made only at the location of the current meter sensor
(Collar and Griffiths, 2001). Single-point current meters are
Current velocity is a fundamental parameter of ocean water. used when operators require information regarding volume
Current velocity is a vector quantity having two principal transport and flow characteristics of the ocean. The method
orthogonal directions. Depending on the collection method, of observation can be mechanical, using rotating impellors,
current velocity is measured using mechanical, acoustic, electromagnetic (using Faraday’s law and the principal of
or electromagnetic devices. Units of current velocity are induction), or acoustic (using the Doppler effect or acoustic
given in English units, nautical miles per hour, or System travel time). Single-point current meters are deployed in
International (SI) units, meters per second. The measurement a number of ways. They can be mounted on moorings in
of velocity is made in one of two ways: measurement of the water column, at the ocean bottom in trawl-resistant
speed and direction or direct measurement of orthogonal bottom mounts, near surface on floating instrument buoys,
components. The sensor type that is employed determines or secured to fixed-platform structures. When used on moor-
the type of measurement. ings, single-point current meters are usually distributed at
Modern current meters contain internal compasses to several depth intervals to adequately resolve the vertical vari-
produce georeferenced velocity vectors to earth coordinates, ability of processes of interest.
that is, current velocity north/south and east/west. Oceano- To avoid contamination of orbital current velocity due
graphic convention is that positive north/south currents are to the action of surface gravity waves, single-point current
currents that flow to the north. Similarly, positive east/west meters are deployed several meters below the depth that is
currents flow to the east. Together, the two current vectors roughly equivalent to half the wavelength of the dominate
so defined comprise a right-handed coordinate system. surface wave (Collar and Griffiths, 2001). Current meters
In the open ocean, vertical velocity is considered to be placed within the wave zone should account for Stokes
much less than horizontal velocity and, therefore, is consid- drift associated with the progressive displacement due to the
ered negligible. However, there have been observations of surface wave field Pond and Pickard (1983).
vertical velocities in excess of 30 cm/s in the vicinity of For mechanical single-point current meters, current speed
steep topography (DiMarco et al., 2004). The decision to is estimated by calibrating the speed of a spinning rotor
deploy a current velocity sensor that records horizontal or (or similar mechanical device) to a known current velocity.
three-dimensional (horizontal plus vertical) velocity should Directional orientation is estimated by an instantaneous
be based on the application and the observational context. measurement of a large vane that is aligned with the current
Because geographical direction is usually determined direction. Electromagnetic current meters use the Faraday
using a magnetic compass the current velocity, observations effect to measure the response of an imposed electric or
are relative to the magnetic north pole. Conversion to a magnetic field on seawater from pairs of orthogonal arranged
coordinate system relative to true north (the North Pole) electrodes. For electromagnetic current meters, speed and
may be desirable. The angle between the direction to true direction are derived from the measured individual velocity
north and magnetic north is known as magnetic declination. components. Acoustic single current meters use the Doppler
The magnetic declination angle varies with geographical effect to estimate the frequency shift of a reflected acoustic
location and is also time dependent. The time dependency pulse by passive scattering objects drifting in the water
arises from the slow drift of the magnetic north pole of column.
about 2∘ per century. Therefore, for most MetOcean appli- Knowledge of whether the direct observations are speed
cations, the time dependency of magnetic declination is and direction or velocity components can sometimes
not important. The declination angle, however, can vary influence interpretation and QC protocols; data users should
±20∘ in the middle and low latitudes of the earth. At high be well versed in the limitations and assumptions of any
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe127
4 General
environmental observing system. The reader is referred to is shown in Figure 1. Acoustic profiler data is binned to
Collar and Griffiths (2001) for a more detailed discussion or provide estimates at regular intervals in the range of the
the history and accuracy of different types of single-point instrument; profilers operating at relatively high frequencies
current meters and to DiMarco et al. (1997) for sampling have smaller bin sizes than low frequency profilers. The bin
intervals and averaging intervals used in single-point current size for 600-kHz profilers is ∼2 m, for 38-kHz systems the
meter deployments. binning is 16–32 m. Some acoustic profiler systems allow
Biological fouling of mechanical devices can affect the for irregular binning designs so that depth ranges that exhibit
performance and quality of current meter data. It is important high spatial variability can have more vertical resolution than
that instruments be checked regularly (interval depends on ranges that exhibit relatively less spatial variability.
location and depth) for barnacle growth, algae, and any other As with single-point current meters, profiling current
foreign substance that can impede the mechanical operation meters are deployed in a number of ways. They can be
of current speed devices. mounted on moorings in the water column, at the ocean
Profiling current meters generally use the Doppler effect bottom in trawl-resistant bottom mounts, near surface on
by the use of ranged acoustic signals from an emitting trans- floating instrument buoys, or secured to fixed-platform
ducer and then range gating the returned acoustic signal structures (Trask and Weller, 2009). Acoustic profiling
scattered by passive scatterers in the water column (Plued- instruments typically have three or four transducers
demann, 2001; Thomson and Emery, 2014). The frequency (depending on instrument model type and manufacturer)
of operation of the acoustic transducers is related to the range arranged in a geometric orientation that allows for the
of the instrument. Lower frequencies have longer ranges. resolution of two orthogonal horizontal velocity components
Commonly used frequencies range from 38 to 1200 kHz and one vertical component. The geometric configuration
and correspond to nominal ranges of 1000 to 20 m, respec- that uses four transducers is generally known as the Janus
tively. An example of current from a profiling instrument configuration for the Roman god that is able to look both
GISR: M1 mooring, July 2013 to June 2014 — 75-kHz ADCP: speed (m/s); 40-h low-pass
50 0.45
0.4
100
0.35
150
0.3
200
0.25
Depth (m)
250
0.2
300
0.15
350
0.1
400
0.05
450
01-Dec-2012 01-Jan-2013 01-Feb-2013
Figure 1. Hovmueller diagram (depth vs time) of current speed from a moored acoustic Doppler current profiles from deep water (1000 m)
Gulf of Mexico location. Data were recorded every 30 min; binsize was 8 m. Velocity data were 40-h low pass filtered before plotting to
emphasize subinertial (periods longer than 1 day) variability in the record.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe127
forward and backward at the same time (Teledyne-RDI, are ensonified by the acoustic pulse. In some instances, the
2006). The geometric configuration is defined by the angle vertical migration of fish and other organisms through the
of the plane of the transducer face and the vertical direction. water column and congregation of fish near surface buoys
For most acoustic current profiling systems, the angle is have been known to adversely impact horizontal current
typically 20∘ or 30∘ . Four transducers also allow for a velocity estimates (Bender and DiMarco, 2010; Plimpton,
redundant estimate of the vertical velocity component. Freitag, and McPhaden, 1997). Analysis of beam echo
For MetOcean applications, the deployment design and intensity can provide useful information about the timing
placement of the instrument system with respect to the and relative number of scatters in the water column to assist
platform structure are important. Improper deployment with interpretation of acoustic profiling current data (Wang
practices or instrument placement can seriously affect data et al., 2014).
quality. Acoustic Doppler profiling instruments are designed
to measure currents by combining the return signals of
multiple acoustic beams arranged in a fixed angle relative to 3.2 Surface gravity waves
the vertical axis. Because many objects, for example, risers,
anchor cables, or drilling casings, are routinely hung from Frictional forces acting on the surficial layer between the
drill ships and production platforms, it is not unreasonable ocean and atmosphere cause surface gravity waves. The
to believe that on occasion these structures pass into the height and period of surface gravity waves are proportional
acoustic beam’s footprint. If the specific location of struc- to the wind speed squared, the duration of the wind, and
tures hung off the platform is known prior to the instrument’s the wind fetch (Dean and Dalrymple, 1991). Wave height
deployment, a number of measures can be implemented to and wave period are measured to provide estimates of wave
minimize the interference. From an observing point of view, forcing on structures. Waves are measured with wave staffs,
placing the instrument as far from the platform as possible pressure gages, accelerometers, Bragg scattering of electro-
is the most desirable solution. One solution commonly used magnetic energy. Wave periods of the open ocean that are
it to intentionally configure the placement of the instrument most relevant for structure design typically range from 1 s to
so that one of the four acoustic beams is pointing directly at more than 25 s. The celerity or group speed of a propagating
an existing drill string or riser. This acoustic beam is then wave train of fixed period is proportional to the period, that is,
turned off and not used when determining current speed and surface gravity waves are dispersive with long period waves
direction. This solution has the advantage of eliminating propagating faster than short period waves. In a semienclosed
the potential interference of a known object. However, the marginal sea like the Gulf of Mexico, waves are fetch limited
instrument then has only three beams left to determine the so typical wave height are relatively small, approximately
horizontal and vertical components of velocity. A three-beam 1 m with dominate periods of about 6 s. In the Pacific Ocean,
solution has reduced quality compared with a four-beam where much longer fetches are possible, wave heights are
solution. Further, the four-beam solution includes a measure 2–4 m with periods of 8–9 s (Hemer et al., 2011).
of the amount of inhomogeneity of the horizontal flow field Winds during tropical weather events can generate very
in the form of the error velocity; something not available large seas in which the significant wave height reached 9 m
using a three-beam solution (DiMarco et al., 2004). in the coastal (17 m total depth) ocean (DiMarco et al.,
A fundamental assumption for the proper operation and 1995, 2001a). During Hurricane Ivan in 2005, the maximum
accurate estimation of current magnitude is that the hori- observed wave height reached 27.7 m in the open ocean
zontal flow be homogeneous, that is, uniform, in the path (Wang et al., 2005).
of all four acoustic beams (Gordon, 1996). Inhomogeneous Surface height gauges often operate in two modes:
flow can have a profound effect on the estimates of horizontal burst (wave) and tide (average) modes. The collection and
and vertical velocities (DiMarco et al., 2004). MetOcean processing of wave data using modern wave gauges requires
specialists can use quality control parameters such as error burst sampling of rapid sampling (∼2 Hz) for short periods
velocity and percent good and beam parameters such as echo of time (∼15 min). Significant wave height, mean period,
intensity and correlation to assess acoustic current profiler and other statistical quantities are calculated using the
data quality (DiMarco et al., 2004; Bender and DiMarco, first-order spectrum of the wave time series. In tidal mode,
2010). It is strongly encouraged that users of profiling the instruments record 5-min (or similar) averages of sea
acoustic current meters understand and use all quality control surface height data, which are then used for tidal analysis
parameters when interpreting the velocity data. to determine amplitudes of tidal constituents (DiMarco and
Other factors can also impact the quality of acoustic Reid, 1998).
profiling current data. These include the size and number of It is important that a sampling scheme be designed that can
both active and passive particles in the water column that resolve the oscillations that are known or predicted to exist
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe127
6 General
at the measurement location; otherwise, aliasing and other 3.5 Salinity and sea temperature
undesirable effects can infiltrate the data series and lead to
large statistical error, which will negatively impact the utility MetOcean specialists often require observations of ocean
of the measurements and the accuracy of their interpretation. temperature and salinity. The combination of temperature
and salinity observations allows for the calculation of ocean
density using the thermodynamic equation of seawater-2010
3.3 Significant wave height (TEOS-10) (Pawlowicz, 2013). TEOS-10 is the standard
for the calculation of the thermodynamic properties of
Significant wave height, peak period and mean wave direc- seawater adopted by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic
tion are fundamental statistics obtained from the surface Commission (IOC), International Association for the Phys-
gravity wave time series (Demirbilek and Vincent, 2008 and ical Sciences of the Ocean (IAPSO), and the Scientific
multiple references therein). Significant wave height is calcu- Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR).
lated from the first moment of the variance spectrum using The collection of temperature and salinity observations
the fast Fourier transform (FFT). This quantity is equivalent are used in materials and design applications. Estimates
to the average of the highest one-third wave heights obtained of density can also be used for dynamical calculations of
from a wave staff time series. geostrophic current velocity.
Pressure sensors can be used to estimate wave height. Vertical profiles of temperature and salinity data are
Because pressure sensors are placed below the ocean collected using a CTD (conductivity, temperature, and
surface, the attenuation of surface gravity waves with depth depth) instrument (Williams, 2009). Observations are
must be accounted for by adjusting the pressure spectrum achieved by lowering or winching the instrument system
for frequency, water depth, pressure measurement depth, downward through the water column; lowering rate is about
and water density (DiMarco et al., 2001a). Wave height esti- 0.5 m/s. Several commercially available CTD systems are
mates derived from pressure observations that are influenced available; significant differences in CTDs are attributable
by nonlinear wave–wave interactions must be specially to desired depth range, deeper rated systems are more
analyzed to avoid over-correcting the pressure spectrum expense, and accuracy and precision of included sensors.
(DiMarco et al., 2001a). Temperature is typically measured with a platinum resis-
tance thermometer owing to the material’s low affinity for
corrosion and fast response rate. Salinity is derived from
3.4 Directional wave spectrum conductivity measurements using an inductive cell. The
conversion of conductivity to salinity requires using the
The directional wave spectrum generalizes the frequency Practical Salinity Scale—1978. Salinity estimates obtained
spectrum by including azimuthal directional dependence and using the PSS78 are unitless. TEOS-10 (McDougal and
therefore provides estimates of wave energy and period by Barker, 2011) offers advice on converting practical salinity
principal cardinal direction. Directional wave spectrum can into a new variable called absolute salinity, SA , which
be estimated using an array of independent wave gauges has units of grams per kilogram. Depth is determined
arranged as a wave guide or using a single instrument system. using a pressure estimate converted into depth using the
Longuet-Higgens et al. (1963) describe a method using density information provided by the temperature and salinity
surface elevation and tilt of a floating surface buoy to deter- sensors. Temperature and salinity observations can also be a
mine the directional wave spectrum. Dean and Dalrymple’s component of moored sensor networks. In this configuration,
(1991) method for estimating the directional wave spectrum time series of properties at multiple depths can be achieved.
employs the use of a single instrument system that simulta-
neous collects observations of scalar surface elevation and
horizontal orbital velocity components. In the latter systems, 3.6 Shipboard and drifting platforms
all three measurements, orbital velocity, and height must
be corrected for hydrostatic attenuation prior to analysis. A variety of instrument systems and sensors platforms have
Similar to the calculation of significant wave, the FFT of been designed for rapid underway deployment from moving
each observed quantity and cross-spectral of each observed ships (and in some cases moving aircraft). Expendible
pair are estimated and combined to provide estimates of the sensors are used in this application (Scott, 2009). The
directional wave spectrum. Because of the limited degrees expendable bathymetric (XBT) probe and expendable
of freedom associated with the observations, the direc- conductivity-temperature-depth (XCTD) probe are rela-
tional confidence of the estimates is usually limited to ±45∘ tively inexpensive systems that allow for collection from a
(Aubrey, 1981; Kelly et al., 1993). moving platform. Observations from expendable systems
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe127
50
200
190
100 180
170
150 160
150
200 140
130
250 120
Depth (m)
110
300 100
90
350 80
70
400 60
50
450 40
30
500 20
10
0
550
600
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
Distance (km)
Figure 2. Vertical section of ship-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiles from deep water region Gulf of Mexico recorded October
1999. Transect is along the major axis of a loop current Eddy nicknamed Eddy Juggernaut. (Created by the author using data from Oey
et al. (2005) and Nowlin et al. (2001).)
are generally constrained to the upper 760 m of the water distance between two drifter positions by the time between
column. The principal of operation is that sensors are housed position estimates. As the drifter moves with the water mass,
in free-falling probe. The drop rate of the probe is known flow features and magnitude can be mapped. Drifters are
to high accuracy. The time of descent is then converted drogued to specific depths of interest. The surface expression
into depth. The system has two free spools of copper water, of the drifter is small to minimize windage effects; opti-
one in the probe and one on the deck of the ship, to ensure mally only the transmitting antenna is exposed to the wind.
that the terminal velocity in water is achieved quickly and Various designs have been used to simulate the movement
with negligible drag on the probe. The accuracy of XBT of oil on the ocean surface or transport of near surface
temperature probes is ±0.15∘ C and ±2% of depth. layers. Recently, ocean buoyancy gliders (Eriksen, 2001)
Acoustic current profilers have been successfully deployed can provide oceanographic property profile observations
on ships in downward looking configurations. In this way, that complement Eularian and Lagrangian observations
profiles of current velocity are obtained at regular time inter- (Rudnick, Gopalakrishnan, and Cornuelle, 2014). Other
vals (usually 5–10 min) along the cruise track (Figure 2). technologies, such as Sound Fixing and Ranging (SOFAR)
Because the current profiler measures the velocity of fluid and Argo floats, are commonly used to provide Lagrangian
flow in the reference frame of the instrument, the ship estimates of current velocity of the deep ocean (up to
speed and direction must be accurately estimated and 2500 m depth) and vertical profiles of temperature and
subtracted from the raw velocity to obtain an estimate for the salinity (Richardson, 2009).
ocean current. Computer codes (in MATLAB and python
programming languages) using the common ocean data 3.6.1 Other ocean parameters
acquisition system (CODAS) to generate velocity profiles
from shipboard current profilers are maintained by the Other sensors that are sometimes useful to the MetOcean
University of Hawaii. specialist are dissolved oxygen, light transmission (for
Surface drifters are used to obtain Lagrangian flow esti- suspended material) and fluorometry (for indication of
mates. The principal of operation for Lagrangian drifters is biomass) (Mullins et al., 2011). These parameters can be
that current velocity estimates are obtained by dividing the particularly important for production operations in which
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe127
8 General
seawater is used in fluid reinjection systems. In this case, ready for advanced statistical manipulation and interpre-
the amount of particulate material is an important criterion tation. The basic data statistics for MetOcean time series
for filter design. Lastly, remote sensing and satellite-derived data are mean, standard deviation, and range (minimum and
products are useful to provide large-scale context to local maximum value). Basic statistics are typically presented
observations. Of particular importance is satellite altimeter in tabular form with estimates of all four quantities listed
data, which provides large-scale sea surface height anomaly for each time series. In the case of many stations that are
relative to the at-rest geoid. Satellite altimeter data can geographically or vertically distributed, it is appropriate to
indicate the presence, magnitude, orientation, and rotation plot the basic statistics in a suitable spatial representation
sense of mesoscale circulation features. In some locations, (Nowlin et al., 2001).
statistics associated with mesoscale circulation features When possible, histograms of the frequency of occur-
include swirl speed, depth and magnitude of current core, rence of all quantities in the raw data record should also
translation speed and direction, magnitude of principal axes, be presented. Histograms allow for the assessment of the
and elliptical oblateness. appropriateness of basic statistics to characterize the data
set. In the event that histograms of frequency of occur-
rence reveal a non-Gaussian, kurtic, or skewed distribution,
3.7 Wind and atmospheric variability
then higher order basic statistics should be estimated. These
include skewness, kurtosis, expectation value, and expected
Wind speed and direction provide the fundamental physical
variance. Variance ellipses showing major and minor axes
properties associated with atmospheric variability; other
of vector variability and orientation angle of ellipse axes
parameters include temperature, pressure, and humidity.
are often estimated prior to analysis (Thomson and Emery,
Wind speed and direction are typically measured using
2014). Vector quantities are then rotated to align observations
mechanical anemometers and vane. Direction relative to
to physically meaning directional orientation, for example,
magnetic north is indicated by use of a suitably calibrated
along-shelf and cross-shelf components, to aid in interpreta-
magnetic compass. Sonic anemometers simultaneously
tion and isolate dynamical processes.
determine speed and direction by measuring time of flight of
sound pulses between emitter and receiver. Sonic anemome-
ters have been shown to be more reliable than mechanical 4.2 Persistence, recurrence, and duration tables
devices during high wind speed condition associated with
hurricanes (Guinasso et al., 2009). Recurrence and duration tables are another form of histogram
For MetOcean applications and similar to ocean current that provides estimates of the distribution of the persistence
measurements, the deployment design and placement of the of predefined classes for each parameter. Recurrence and
wind measurement systems with respect to the platform duration tables (Table 2) are well suited to provide estimated
structure are important. Improper deployment practices or for time-series data, particularly for vector quantities such
instrument placement can seriously affect data quality. Addi- as current and wind velocities. Speed (or other property)
tional considerations for the deployment of wind sensors intervals are defined for each property as a set of ranges,
is for placement should minimize exposure to salt and sea for example, speeds between 10 and 20 cm/s. The number
spray. Accumulation of sea salt through evaporation can of each observation in a particular interval is tallied and
impact instrument performance in the long term (Katsaros, reported. The duration (also termed run length) is computed
2001). when consecutive values of the time series fall within a
speed interval. An occurrence is defined as a given speed
class persisting for a given duration. Gaps in the time series
4 BASIC DATA PRODUCTS can lead to artificial boundaries or truncation of duration
statistics. The effect is to reduce a persistence class duration
4.1 Basic statistics and histograms from the value with an equivalent record that contained
no gaps.
Upon collection and conversion into engineering units, Gap handling in time series records can be handled in
MetOcean data sets should be plotted in quick-look form multiple ways. Gaps can be left without change or filled with
to visually assess data quality and identify gross outliers or a variety of gap-filling techniques. Gap-filling techniques
unexpected trends in the data set. Quick-look plots should include linear interpolation, splining, Lagrange’s method,
be simple and designed to represent data in their rawest and more advanced spectral methods. Spectral methods
expression and prior to any advanced analysis. Only after include maximum entropy method (MEM) and maximum
MetOcean data are quality controlled and assessed are they likelihood method (MLM) (Thomson and Emery, 2014).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe127
Table 2. Example of persistence and recurrence statistics from current meter data from a coastal mooring in the western Gulf of
Mexico recorded 1992–1994.
Current meter: Mooring 1 (surface) 10 April 1992 to 6 December 1994
Speed (cm/s) Duration Limit (h) Basic Statistics (h)
0–12 13–24 25–36 37–48 49–60 61–72 73–320 Total Max Mean Standard
deviation
00 ≤ S < 10 259 79 23 17 8 10 14 310 320 16.3 26.3
10 ≤ S < 20 599 78 19 2 1 0 0 700 59 6.7 7.1
20 ≤ S < 30 432 32 6 3 1 0 0 473 49 5.5 6.0
30 ≤ S < 40 280 7 1 0 0 0 0 288 25 4.0 3.5
40 ≤ S < 50 148 3 0 0 0 0 0 151 17 3.3 2.9
50 ≤ S < 60 65 0 0 0 0 0 0 65 10 2.4 1.9
60 ≤ S < 70 28 0 0 0 0 0 0 28 5 2.0 1.1
70 ≤ S < 92 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 10 22 5.8 6.3
Location: 27.323∘ N, 97.307∘ W; Water depth: 14 m.
In any event, caution and care must be exercised when components and is used for nonstationary records. In the
gap filling is used so that individual filled records are not Fourier sense for a record of sampling interval Δt and
mistaken for observed values. Therefore, filled values should length, T, the highest resolvable frequency is defined by
only be used in aggregate statistical form. fN = [2Δt]− 1 , that is, the Nyquist frequency, fN ; the lowest
resolvable frequency and frequency resolution are given
4.3 Current and wind rose diagrams by the fundamental frequency, fo = T − 1 . Individual spectral
amplitudes of the FFT have two degrees of freedom and
Current roses and joint distribution tables provide directional therefore large statistical confidence intervals. Windowing
histograms of velocity records (DiMarco et al., 2001b). The and averaging techniques can improve statistical reliability
tables provide the percentage of observations that fall within by increasing the degree of freedom for spectra estimate but
indicated speed ranges and direction intervals. Typically, for often have the effect of reducing frequency resolution (Liu
current meter records, the direction intervals are 45∘ intervals et al., 2007; Thomson and Emery, 2014).
centered on the eight cardinal compass directions (N, S, E, W,
SE, SW, NE, and NW). Speeds that are less than a minimum
4.5 Progressive vector diagrams
threshold, for example, 0.01 m/s, are considered calm and
not assigned to a particular direction. Also shown are the
Progressive vector diagrams (PVDs) are useful graphical
percentages of time that observations are within a speed class
representation produced from Eulerian current velocity
and direction bin. The average speed for each bin is usually
records. Although their use are somewhat limited to short
indicated in the table. An example rose diagram is shown in
time periods and small spatial regions because of the
Figure 3.
assumption of uniform laminar flow in the vicinity of the
observations, PVDs can provide indications of relative
4.4 Kinetic energy spectra and wavelet analysis
volume transport at the observed location. PVDs are assem-
bled by vector addition of successive velocity estimate and
In the MetOcean context, a variance spectrum is defined
incrementally added to the origin location. Mean speed and
as the partitioning of time (or space) series variance into
direction can be inferred by dividing the spatial displacement
frequency classes. Kinetic energy spectra are usually deter-
of two or more times by the time durations.
mined using the FFT of velocity (wind or current) compo-
nent observations; however, many other techniques also exist
to determine spectral quantities. The estimate of the FFT 4.6 Harmonic analysis and tides
requires that data have a uniform sampling rate and that
the observational record be stationary with respect to spec- If a series of observations is statistically stationary and
tral character, that is, spectral content is relatively invariant has well-defined periodicities, then harmonic analysis can
throughout the record. be applied to obtain estimates of amplitude and phase of
Wavelet analysis is the partitioning of variance from time the oscillations. Harmonic analysis is usually applied in
series records into time histories of individual frequency a least squares way that minimizes the residual variance
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe127
10 General
Mooring name: 1
Version: 2006/09/11
Deployment: 1
Latitude: 028 20.8977 N 14
Longitude: 087 32.8618 W 18 14
Serial #: 1307
Bin depth: 424–432 m
Total water depth: 2600 m 13 1 15
Start time: 2005/01/21 21:00:00
6 10
Stop time: 2005/08/20 13:00:00
Sampling interval: 060 Min 0 s 9
Total data: 5057
(a) Valid data: 5057
0% 50% 100%
Current speed range (cm/s) Avg.

Dir 1–5 5–10 10–15 15–25 25–35 35–45 45–55 55–65 65–75 >75 Total speed
N 1.9 5.5 3.9 2.4 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 14.1 10.8
NE 1.8 4.7 3.7 3.3 0.8 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 14.4 12.2
E 1.1 3.0 3.8 4.9 1.9 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 15.0 15.8
SE 0.9 2.6 2.2 1.9 2.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 10.0 16.4
S 1.0 3.2 3.0 1.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 9.0 11.0
SW 1.3 2.4 1.7 0.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 6.1 9.0
W 1.4 4.4 3.8 2.8 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 12.6 11.3
NW 2.0 5.5 5.6 4.6 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 18.0 11.7
Total 11.4 31.3 27.7 22.3 5.6 0.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 99.2 12.5
(b) Calm 0.8
Figure 3. (a) Current velocity rose and (b) directional distribution table from current meter data in the eastern Gulf of Mexico during
January through August 2005. Numbers in bottom table represent percentage of total record for current speed and direction class. Calm
conditions correspond to speed <1 cm/s. (Reproduced from Cole and DiMarco (2010). © BOEM reports, 2010.)
(Thomson and Emery, 2014). Iterative, multifrequency, and South America, South China Sea, and the western coasts of
gap allowing methodologies also exist DiMarco and Reid Africa. Each of these geographic regions has specific atmo-
(1998). Harmonic analysis can be difficult if nondetermin- spheric and oceanographic processes that will impact the
istic periodicities exist within the records that are near those timeliness of operations and design criteria for structures.
frequencies that are desired. An example of this is when iner- In relatively shallow regions of the ocean like the conti-
tial oscillations overlap tidal frequencies (DiMarco et al., nental shelf, local wind driving associated with short-term
2000). This happens especially at the critical latitudes, 30∘ N weather phenomena can be the largest forcing factor rela-
and 30∘ S where the local inertial frequency is equal to 24 h tive to deeper waters, where relatively longer temporal and
(Zhang et al., 2009). Pawlowicz, Beardsley, and Lentz (2002) larger spatial mesoscale features tend to dominate envi-
provide a set of MATLAB computer codes to provide tidal ronmental conditions. On the Texas-Louisiana Shelf in the
amplitude estimates. Gulf of Mexico, it has been shown that the 50 m isobath
is the depth in which the kinetic energy due to local wind
driving is roughly equal to the kinetic energy due to offshore
5 METOCEAN PROCESSES mesoscale features (Nowlin, Jochens, and DiMarco, 2005).
Major processes include wind events, mesoscale eddies
Offshore oil and gas exploration and production and trans- associated with large currents, topographic currents associ-
portation operations occur throughout the global ocean. ated with the interaction of currents, and steep bathymetry.
Regions of particularly intense activity include the Gulf Boicourt et al. (1998) provides a review of US coastal ocean
of Mexico, North Sea, Arctic Ocean, the east coasts of regimes.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe127
5.1 Wind events: tropical storms and hurricanes (Wang et al., 2005). In 1992, near-surface currents under
the eye of Hurricane Andrew exceeded 1.6 m/s (Nowlin
Wind events are typically of short duration, that is, lasting et al., 1998). The vertical structure of currents associated
from a few hours to several days. Very short-term squalls with tropical-wind forcing shows that the oceanic response
rarely impact offshore operations; however, large storm of hurricanes is frequency dependent (Figure 4) (Cole et al.
events associated with the passage of strong atmospheric 2010; Cox et al. 2010). The inertial response, in which the
fronts or tropical storms and hurricanes can seriously impact period of oscillation is governed by the local inertial period,
operations and can lead to evacuation of manned structures. f = [Ω sin(𝜑)]− 1 (where Ω is the frequency of earth’s rotation
Tropical wind forcing can induce high surface gravity waves and 𝜑 the latitude), is exponentially decaying with depth and
and large surface currents. The magnitude of wind-forced generally follows Ekman dynamics of downward energy
currents and waves is proportional to the driving wind energy. propagation and upward phase propagation (Brooks, 1983;
In 1998, surface gravity waves exceeded 25 m on the slope Shay et al., 1992). At a given depth, inertial oscillations in
of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico during Hurricane Katrina the wake of a severe storm can last up to 2 weeks after the
Mooring 1—average variance in the inertial band (0.5–2 days)

0
−100 600
Depth (m)
−200
400
−300
200
−400
−500 0
(a) 08/25/05 09/05/05 09/15/05 09/25/05 10/05/05 10/15/05

0
−100 600
Depth (m)
−200
400
−300
200
−400
−500 0
(b) 08/25/05 09/05/05 09/15/05 09/25/05 10/05/05 10/15/05

0
−100 600
Depth (m)
−200
400
−300
200
−400
−500 0
(c) 08/25/05 09/05/05 09/15/05 09/25/05 10/05/05 10/15/05
Figure 4. Vertical structure of currents in deepwater associated with the passage of Hurricane Katrina (August 2005) and Hurricane Rita
(September 2005) in the Gulf of Mexico. (a) Northern mooring, (b) central mooring, (c) southern mooring. Velocity data are 40-h high pass
filtered before plotting to emphasize the downward propagation of inertial variability in the record. (Reproduced from Cole and DiMarco
(2010). © BOEM reports, 2010.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe127
12 General
storm passage. Because the downward rate of propagation 5.2 Mesoscale features: eddies
of inertial energy has been estimated at 20–40 m/day, it can
take days for inertial energy to reach the deep ocean bottom. As oil and gas fields are found in deeper water, the impact
In 1998, inertial wave packets arrived at the bottom (near of large-scale current systems is more important. In the
500 m) with no surface expression nearly 2 weeks after the Gulf of Mexico, the loop current system is the principal
surface passage of Hurricane Georges (Nowlin et al., 2001). system (Schmidt et al., 2005); in the western Pacific, the
Kurashio current system; in west Africa, it is the Benguala
At subinertial periods (oscillation period longer than the
Current; and in Brazil, it is the north Brazil Current. These
inertial period), the oceanic response is seen to be barotropic,
surface features can extend hundreds of kilometers. Surface
with oscillations in phase throughout the water column with
currents can exceed 2 m/s and can persist for days to weeks.
little attenuation with depth (Nowlin et al., 2001; Spencer, Vertical expressions of these currents can extend to 1000 m
2014). There are a multitude of publications that investigate or depending on the region and proximity to bathymetric
the oceanic response to tropical weather. It is beyond the features. These currents can be highly variable in space
scope of this article to address this broad issue; for an early and time. Periodically, the major current systems shed large
review, the reader is referred to Sanford et al. (1987) and anticyclonically and cyclonically rotating features (also
similar publications for more information. known as eddies or warm core or cold rings depending on
30N
SSH Jun 9, 2002
−10
0
29N −1
−10
−10 0
−10
28N
0
0
10
0
27N 10
0
10
−10
0
0 0 0
26N
10
0
0
−1
−2
0
25N
0
0
20
40
0
10
30
24N 0
20 40
10
30
20
20 0 50 60
0
23N 50 cm s−1
0
50
95W 94W 93W 92W 91W 90W 89W 88W 87W 86W 85W 84W
Sea surface height (cm)
−30 −25 −20 −15 −10 −5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Figure 5. Example of sea surface height map from satellite altimeter data (units = cm) showing the presence of large circulation features,
that is, a mesoscale eddies, in the Gulf of Mexico in June 2002. Velocity vectors along cruise track are superimposed. (Created by the author
using CCAR data viewer (2015).)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe127
rotation sense). Eddies can then propagate independently Astrodynamics Research (CCAR) http://eddy.colorado.
from the main current system. The eddies can have spatial edu/ccar/data_viewer/index
scales of tens to hundreds of kilometers (Hamilton and Lee, University of Hawaii, CODAS Shipboard acoustic Doppler
2005). In the Gulf of Mexico, eddies can range in diameter current profiler (ADCP) Processing http://currents.soest
from 50 to 250 km, have speed cores at about 200 m depth, .hawaii.edu/docs/adcp_doc/codas_doc/index.html. Open
with peak velocities that can exceed 1.5 m/s, and can persist source processing scripts for shipboard ADCP processing,
in one location for several months (Figure 5). The shedding assessment, and analysis.
rate for eddies from the main current system varies with Wavelet Analysis software by Torrence and Compo (1998)
location. In the Gulf of Mexico, Leben (2005) provides a http://paos.colorado.edu/research/wavelets/.
summary of loop current metrics and eddies derived from
satellite altimeter observations. Li, Nowlin, and Jilan (1998)
provides metrics associate with eddy shedding in the South ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
China Sea associated with the Kuroshio Current.
Strong currents near bottom have been observed at many This work derives from the product of teaching a grad-
locations in the deep ocean. Hamilton and Lugo-Fernadez uate course in oceanographic data collection, processing, and
(2001) report uniform lower ocean currents (water column analysis. I thank the 14 years of oceanography, ocean engi-
depths below 1000 m) along the steep bathymetry of the neering, and atmospheric science students who have taken
deep (depths > 1500 m) north Gulf of Mexico in excess of the course, many of whom have pursued professional careers
1 m/s and lasting more than 10 days. The strong currents as MetOcean specialists.
were associated with the development of topographic Rossby
waves (TRWs) induced by the interaction of large surface
eddy with the continental slope. Hamilton (2010) provides GLOSSARY
an overview of TRW observations in the Gulf of Mexico.
ADCP Acoustic Doppler Current profiler.
ASCII American Standard Code for
USEFUL RESOURCES Information Interchange text
formatting scheme.
A variety of sources exist to assist with the processing and Basic statistics The basic subset of statistics of an
analysis of oceanographic and meteorological data sets that observational record, usually
are useful for MetOcean analysts. These include: consists of estimates of mean,
maximum and minimum values,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 2002. Coastal Engineering standard deviation, and histogram.
Manual. Engineer Manual 1110-2-1100, U.S. Army Corps BOEM The US Bureau of Offshore Energy
of Engineers, Washington, D.C. (in 6 volumes). Management.
Oceanographic toolboxes in MATLAB maintained by Current velocity The vector quantity associated with the
USGS and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. http:// speed and direction of movement of
woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/sea-mat/. the ocean.
The official source for the Thermodynamic Equation of Data products The collection of statistical estimates,
Seawater-2010 (TEOS-10): http://www.teos-10.org. graphical representations, and
Contains software and descriptions of state variables. analysis results of an observational
Commonly used data formats, data management policy, dataset.
and other useful information regarding ocean observing Delayed Mode Mode of observation collection in
systems can be found at the Integrated Ocean Observing which measurements are reported or
System (IOOS), the Global Ocean Observing system disseminated long after the time the
(GOOS), and the Global Climate Observing system observations are made.
(GCOS). Environmental Pertaining to the collection of
The NOAA Integrated Ocean Observing System manual measurements electronic, chemical, or physical
for the Quality Assurance of Real-time Ocean Data observations of environmental
(QARTOD). http://www.ioos.noaa.gov/qartod/. parameters.
Sea surface height from satellite altimeter data can be found Eularian Pertaining to observations made on
at: AVISO http://www.aviso.altimetry.fr/en/home.html fixed-position platforms, e.g.,
and the University of Colorado, Colorado Center for moorings.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe127
14 General
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L.P. (1998) Continental shelf of the southeastern United States and
System, part of the Global Ocean
the Gulf of Mexico: in the shadow of the western boundary current,
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Data.
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A&M University, p. 94. A.E., and Hetland, R.D. (2009) Near-resonant ocean response to
Teledyne-RDI (2006) ADCP Principles of Operation: A Practical sea breeze on a stratified continental shelf. Journal of Physical
Primer, Teledyne—RD Instruments, Poway, 52 pp. Oceanography, 39, 2137–2155. doi: 10.1175/2009JPO4054.1
Thomson, R.E. and Emery, W.J. (2014) Data Analysis Methods in
Physical Oceanography, 3rd edn, Elsevier Science, Amsterdam,
ISBN-13 978-0123877826, 728 pp.
Torrence, C. and Compo, G.P. (1998) A practical guide to wavelet FURTHER READING
analysis. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 79,
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Trask, R.P. and Weller, R.A. (2009) Moorings, in Encyclopedia (conductivity, temperature, depth) profiler, in Descriptive Physical
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Platforms and Sensors. Compiled by S.A. Thorpe (eds J.H. Steel, 560 pp.
S.A. Thorpe, and K.K. Turekian), Academic Press, Boston, pp.
97–109. Thrope, S.A. (2009) CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) profiler,
in Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences, 2nd edition: Measurements
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M.S. (2005) Extreme waves under Hurricane Ivan. Science, 309, and K.K. Turekian), Academic Press, Boston, 652 pp.
895.
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scattering layers in the northern Arabian Sea. Deep Sea Research 620 pp.
Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 90, 152–165.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe127
Frequency-Direction Spectra of Wind-Generated
Gravity Waves
Mark A. Donelan
University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA
( )
coss 𝜃2 or sech2 𝛽𝜃 lead to s and 𝛽 being functions of
1 Introduction 1
relative frequency, f/fp and stage of development, U10 /cp
2 Approach 1 [𝜃 is the direction (radians), f the frequency (Hz), fp the
3 The Data 2 frequency of the spectral peak, U10 the neutral stability wind
4 The Directional Distribution 2 speed at the standard height of 10 m, and cp the phase speed
5 Conclusions 5 of the peak waves]. There is no consensus on the shape of
Glossary 5 the spreading function. (See also Regular, Irregular Waves
and the Wave Spectrum on available parameterizations of
Related Articles 5
the directional spectrum.) Here, we will report the recent
References 6
comprehensive description of the frequency-directional
spectrum obtained by means of the Wavelet Directional
Method (WDM).
1 INTRODUCTION
2 APPROACH
Frequency-direction spectra are the basis for engineering
design of marine and offshore structures. A concise descrip- The development of a new method of analysis for directional
tion of the spectra is needed. spectra (Donelan, Drennan, and Magnusson, 1996; Donelan
There have been several attempts to measure and describe et al., 2015) provides the means to determine the form of the
the directional spreading at various frequencies, notably: spreading function. This method, known as the WDM, differs
Longuet-Higgins, Cartwright, and Smith (1963), Mitsuyasu from other methods in that the wavenumber and ampli-
et al. (1975), Hasselmann, Dunckel, and Ewing (1980), tude of each wave in each frequency band are identified at
Holthuijsen (1983), Donelan, Hamilton, and Hui (1985), each sampling time-step. The binned mean square ampli-
Lygre and Krogstad (1986), Ewing and Laing (1987), and tudes in frequency and direction are the frequency-direction
Babanin and Soloviev (1998). There is a general agreement spectra as observed. The WDM derives direction from phases
that spreading (about the mean direction at each frequency) of the wavelet transforms of the surface elevation data at
increases away from slightly below the peak frequency three or more wave staffs. Thus, the directional resolution
toward both lower and higher frequencies. Various attempts depends on the precision of location of the staffs and is typi-
to describe the shape of the spreading function in terms of cally better than 1∘ . The WDM is applied to 31 runs of
wave data at various stages of development. The resulting
general frequency-direction spectra are specified in terms of
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. five dimensionless parameters—four that depend on stage of
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe079
wave development and one, associated with spreading, that
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 depends on relative (to the peak) frequency. In this compact
2 General
form, it will be a convenient tool in the kit of marine and decreasing away from 0.95fp to lower frequencies and also to
offshore engineers. higher frequencies to 4.5fp and increasing beyond 4.5fp and
finally leveling off at 0.3. Figure 2 summarizes 𝛽∕𝛽0.95fp (blue
line) for the 31 runs. This is in close agreement with Donelan,
3 THE DATA Hamilton, and Hui (1985) in the range of f/fp (0.56–1.6) that
they were able to observe. The standard deviations of the
The data are from the research tower of Canada’s National estimates are indicated (inverted) at the top of the figure.
Water Research Institute in Lake Ontario in 1987. Wave The observed dependence of 𝛽∕𝛽0.95fp on f/fp (blue line) has
directional measurements were made with an array of six been fitted in three sections shown in red, green, and magenta
capacitance wave gauges arranged in a centered pentagon connected circles and specified below.
of radius 25 cm (Donelan, Drennan, and Magnusson, 1996).
There were 145 cases of 51.2 min duration. In general, 𝛽
=
high-frequency waves propagate in the wind direction, while 𝛽0.95fp
the lower frequencies shift toward the direction of longer ( )2.12
fetch (Donelan, 1980). When the fetch gradient around the ⎛ 1.11 ff ; 0.56 < ff < 0.95; red ⎞
wind direction is small, all frequencies propagate in the ⎜ p( ) p ⎟
⎜ 0.25 + 2.56 exp −1.3 f ; 0.95 < f < 4.5; green ⎟
wind direction. There were 31 of these cases and these are ⎜ ( ( fp )) fp ⎟
analyzed here. ⎜0.275 + 0.025 tanh 1 f − 7 ; 4.5 < f < 13; magenta⎟
⎝ 2 fp fp ⎠
(1)
4 THE DIRECTIONAL DISTRIBUTION As waves develop (U10 /cp ↓), the peak of the spectrum
becomes more focused (𝛽↑) Figure 3. The (dashed) regres-
The directional distribution is shown to be in close agree- sion line is:
ment with the sech2 form suggested by Donelan, Hamilton, ( )
and Hui (1985) from f/fp = 0.67 to f/fp = 9. In Figure 1a, b U10 −0.2 U
𝛽0.95fp = 2.7 ; 0.4 < 10 < 4 (2)
(for run 87114), the green symbols are the observed distri- cp cp
bution and the red line is the fitted sech2 distribution. (Note:
the distributions have been shifted to 180∘ for clarity.) The The frequency-direction spectrum, F(f,𝜃), is defined such
agreement of the WDM distributions with the sech2 shape that: 𝜋 ∞
is striking. Both methods (Donelan, Hamilton, and Hui,
𝜂2 = F(f , 𝜃) df d𝜃 (3)
1985; Donelan, Drennan, and Magnusson, 1996) yield the ∫ ∫
observed distributions rather than the probable choice from −𝜋 0
a set of possible distributions. However, as noted by Donelan,
Drennan, and Magnusson (1996), WDM underestimates the where 𝜂 2 is the variance of surface elevation.
spreading because it identifies one wavenumber in each
frequency band at each time-step and, where there are two F(f , 𝜃) = F(f , 𝜃0 (f )) sech2 𝛽(f ){𝜃 − 𝜃0 (f )} (4)
or more waves passing through the array, the direction of
the vector sum of the wavenumbers is identified at that F(f, 𝜃 0 ), the spectrum in the mean direction, 𝜃 0 (f), is readily
frequency. Given that: (i) the spreading is of the form sech2 determined from the omni-directional frequency spectrum
𝛽 (𝜃 − 𝜃 0 ), where 𝛽 ↓ means spreading increasing and 𝜃 0 ( f) Φ(f) by:
𝛽
the mean direction
( ) of propagation in each frequency band; F(f , 𝜃0 ) = Φ(f ) (5)
𝜎D 2 tanh 𝛽𝜋
(ii) 𝛽 and 𝜎 are uniquely related, where 𝜎 D , 𝜎 C are the
C
down, cross-slope standard deviations, the actual spreading This spectral slice is expected to be saturated in the equi-
rate 𝛽 may be obtained from the observed slopes in the direc- librium range above the peak with an f−5 slope with level
tion 𝜃 0 (f). The time series of slopes are derived from the dependent only on the gravitational acceleration, g and the
array of wave staffs. The black curves in Figure 1a, b are stage of development, U10 /cp (Phillips, 1977). The saturation
sech2 𝛽(f)(𝜃 − 𝜃 0 (f)), with 𝛽 determined from the ratio of spectrum, G(f), is therefore:
down/cross-slopes. These are the values of 𝛽 that are summa-
rized in the following paragraph. G(f ) = (2𝜋)4 g−2 f 5 F(f , 𝜃0 (f )) (6)
𝛽 may be a function of relative frequency, f/fp and of stage
of development, U10 /cp . 𝛽, normalized by its peak value (at and is displayed in Figure 4 for run 87114. Note the
0.95fp ) and graphed in Figure 2, is a strong function of f/fp , peak-enhancement region first described by Hasselmann
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe079
Frequency-Direction Spectra of Wind-Generated Gravity Waves 3
The directional distribution

f /fp = 0.67, σD / σC = 0.96 f /fp = 0.8, σD / σC = 2.3
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
0 100 200 300 0 100 200 300
Direction (from) (°) Direction (from) (°)
f /fp = 0.95, σD / σC = 3.4 f /fp = 1.1, σD / σC = 2.8
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
0 100 200 300 0 100 200 300
f /fp = 1.3, σD / σC = 2.1 f /fp = 1.6, σD / σC = 1.5
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
0 100 200 300 0 100 200 300
f /fp = 1.9, σD / σC = 1.3 f /fp = 2.3, σD / σC = 1
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
0 100 200 300 0 100 200 300
(a) Direction (from) (°) Direction (from) (°)
f /fp = 2.7, σD / σC = 0.92 f /fp = 3.2, σD / σC = 0.8

1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
0 100 200 300 0 100 200 300
f /fp = 3.8, σD / σC = 0.8 f /fp = 4.5, σD / σC = 0.79
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
0 100 200 300 0 100 200 300
f /fp = 5.4, σD / σC = 0.79 f /fp = 6.4, σD / σC = 0.84
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
0 100 200 300 0 100 200 300
f /fp = 7.6, σD / σC = 0.91 f /fp = 9, σD / σC = 1
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
0 100 200 300 0 100 200 300
(b) Direction (from) (°) Direction (from) (°)
Figure 1. Directional spreading: (green) observed, (red) fitted sech2 , and (black) sech2 with 𝛽 to match observed ratio of down/cross-wave
slope standard deviations. (a) Panels are increasing f/fp from 0.67 to 2.3. (b) Panels are increasing f/fp from 2.7 to 9.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe079
4 General
0.012
1.2
1 0.01
Saturation spectrum
0.8 0.008
β/β0.95 f
0.6
0.006
0.4
0.004
0.2
0 0.002
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
f /fp
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
2
Figure 2. The argument of the sech spreading function normal- f/fp
ized by its peak value. The blue line is the mean of the 31 runs.
The standard deviations of the estimates are indicated inverted from Figure 4. The saturation spectrum—a slice in the mean travel
the top of the figure. The red, green, and magenta circles are fitted direction. Note the well-defined equilibrium range: 2 < f/fp < 4.
segments to the data as in Equation 1.
10−2
101
α
β0.95 fp
10−3
100
U10 /Cp
100
100 Figure 5. The saturation parameter 𝛼 versus the stage of develop-
U10 /Cp ment, U10 /cp . The regression line (dashed) is Equation 7.
Figure 3. The peak 𝛽 (at 0.95 fp ) versus the stage of development, 4.1 The Frequency-Direction Spectrum
U10 /cp . The regression line (dashed) is Equation 2.
Hasselmann et al. (1973) modified the Pierson and
et al. (1973) and the saturated region between f/fp of 2–4. Moskowitz (1964) spectrum for fully developed waves
By 5 fp the saturation spectrum rises as expected due to (U10 /cp = 0.83) to include an enhanced peak that appears
Doppler shifting of these short waves by long wave orbital in less-developed (U10 /cp > 1) waves. Here, the JONSWAP
velocities and wind drift (Phillips, 1977; Banner, 1990). The (Hasselmann et al., 1973) form is adapted to the spectral
spectra above the peak-enhancement region are saturated slice, F(f, 𝜃 0 ), rather than to the frequency spectrum, Φ(f):
in the region 2 < f/fp < 4, and it is from this region that { ( )4 }
the saturation parameter 𝛼 is determined (Figure 5). The 5 fp
F(f , 𝜃0 (f )) = 𝛼g (2𝜋) f exp −
2 −4 −5
𝛾 Γ (8)
regression line is: 4 f
( )0.27
U10 U10 where
𝛼 = 0.0051 ; 0.4 < <4 (7)
cp cp Γ = exp{−(f − fp )2 ∕2𝜎 2 fp2 } (9)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe079
Frequency-Direction Spectra of Wind-Generated Gravity Waves 5
6
5 CONCLUSIONS
5
The development (Donelan, Drennan, and Magnusson, 1996)
4
γ
and validation (Donelan et al., 2015) of the Wavelet Direc-

3 tional Method of measuring frequency-direction spectra have
2
yielded the methodology to determine the directional spreads
over a wide range of frequencies with respect to the peak
1 frequency. The WDM was applied to 31 cases of wave staff
100 array measurements in Lake Ontario over a wide range of
U10 /Cp stage of development. The resulting spectral form is encap-
sulated in Equations (8–14) using five dimensionless param-
Figure 6. The peak-enhancement factor 𝛾 versus the stage of devel- eters that are functions of either stage of development or
opment, U10 /cp . The lines (dashed) are Equation 11. relative frequency. The suitably averaged wind direction and
wave direction are assumed to be the same.
These formulae are suitable for calculations of wave
with heights, velocities, accelerations, and forces in intermediate
) ( and deep water; i.e. peak wavelengths less than one hundred
U10 0.27 U
𝛼 = 0.0051 ; 0.4 < 10 < 4 times the water depth. They require only the wind vector at
cp cp 10 m height and the peak frequency as input.
{ ( )0.25 }
U10 U
𝜎 = 0.14 1 + ; 0.4 < 10 < 4 (10)
cp cp GLOSSARY
𝜎’s dependence on U10 /cp is determined from forcing agree- Directional the distribution of surface elevation
ment of the integral of the spectral slice, F(f, 𝜃 0 ), (Equation 8) spread variance by direction at a particular
with that observed. The peak-enhancement factor, 𝛾, was frequency.
found to agree with Donelan, Hamilton, and Hui (1985)—the Equilibrium spectral range above the peak where the
dashed line (Equation 11) in Figure 6. range waves are limited by breaking.
Frequency- The distribution of surface elevation
⎧ U ⎫
1.7; 0.4 < 10 < 1 direction variance by frequency and direction of
⎪ ( )cp ⎪ spectrum propagation.
𝛾=⎨ U10 U10 ⎬ (11)
⎪1.7 + 6.0 log ; 1≤ < 4⎪ Peak Increase of the spectrum near the peak
⎩ cp cp ⎭ enhancement above the extended equilibrium range.
Stage of wave Ratio of wind speed to speed of the
The complete frequency-direction spectrum F(f,𝜃) can then development waves at the spectral peak, the inverse
be constructed. of wave age.
Wavelet A method of estimating
F(f , 𝜃) = F(f , 𝜃0 (f ))sech2 𝛽(f ){𝜃 − 𝜃0 (f )} (12) directional frequency-direction spectra from time
method records of surface elevation at 3 or
with ( )−0.2
U10 U10 more points.
𝛽0.95fp = 2.7 ; 0.4 < <4 (13)
cp cp
RELATED ARTICLES
𝛽
=
𝛽0.95fp Wind, Wave and Current Modeling and Prediction
( )2.12 Estimation of Extreme Met-Ocean Conditions for Offshore
⎛ 1.11 ff ; 0.56 < ff < 0.95; ⎞ Engineering Applications
⎜ p ( ) p ⎟ MetOcean Parameters and Processes
⎜ 0.25 + 2.56 exp −1.3 f ; 0.95 < f < 4.5; ⎟ (14)
⎜ ⎟ Types of Ocean Surface Waves, Wave Classification
( ( fp )) fp
⎜0.275 + 0.025 tanh 1 f − 7 ; 4.5 < f < 13;⎟ Regular, Irregular Waves and the Wave Spectrum
⎝ 2 fp fp ⎠ Wave–Current Interaction
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe079
6 General
Hasselmann, K., Barnett, T.P., Bouws, E., Carlson, H., Cartwright,

Spectral Wave Modeling D.E., Enke, K., Ewing, J.A., Gienapp, H., Hasselmann, D.E.,
Fluid-Structure Interaction Kruseman, P., Meerburg, A., Mueller, P., Olbers, D.J., Richter,
K., Sell, W., and Walden, H. (1973) Measurements of wind-wave
growth and swell decay during the Joint North Sea Wave Project
(JONSWAP). Ergnzungsheft zur Deutschen Hydrographischen
Zeitschrift Reihe, A(8) (Nr. 12), 1–95.
REFERENCES Hasselmann, D.E., Dunckel, M., and Ewing, J.A. (1980) Directional
wave spectra observed during JONSWAP 1973. Journal of Phys-
ical Oceanography, 10, 1264–1280.
Babanin, A.V. and Soloviev, Y.P. (1998) Variability of directional
spectra of wind-generated waves, studied by means of wave staff Holthuijsen, L.H. (1983) Observations of the directional distribution
arrays. Marine and Freshwater Research, 49, 89–101. of ocean-wave energy in fetch-limited conditions. Journal of Phys-
Banner, M.L. (1990) Equilibrium spectra of wind waves. Journal of
Physical Oceanography, 20, 966–984. Longuet-Higgins, M.S., Cartwright, D.E., and Smith, N.D. (1963)
Observations of the directional spectrum of sea waves using the
Donelan, M.A. (1980) Similarity Theory Applied to the Forecasting
motions of a floating buoy, in Ocean Wave Spectra, Prentice-Hall,
of Wave Heights, Periods and Directions. Proceedings Canadian
Englewood Cliffs, NJ, pp. 111–136.
Coastal Conference, April 22–24, 1980, pp. 47–61.
Lygre, A. and Krogstad, H.E. (1986) Maximum entropy estimation
Donelan, M.A., Hamilton, J., and Hui, W.H. (1985) Directional
of the directional distribution in ocean wave spectra. Journal of
spectra of wind-generated waves. Philosophical Transactions of
the Royal Society of London A, 315, 509–562.
Mitsuyasu, H., Tasai, F., Shurara, T., Mizuno, S., Ohkuso, M., Honda,
Donelan, M.A., Drennan, W.M., and Magnusson, A.K. (1996)
T., and Rikiishi, K. (1975) Observations of the directional spec-
Non-stationary analysis of the directional properties of propagating
trum of ocean waves using a cloverleaf buoy. Journal of Physical
waves. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 26, 1901–1914.
Donelan, M., Babanin, A., Sanina, E. and Chalikov, D. (2015)
Phillips, O.M. (1977) The Dynamics of the Upper Ocean, Cambridge
A comparison of methods for estimating directional spectra
University Press, Cambridge, pp. 1–336.
of surface waves. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 120, 5040–5053,
doi:10.1002/2015JC010808 Pierson, W.J. and Moskowitz, L. (1964) A proposed spectral form
for fully developed wind seas based on the similarity theory
Ewing, J.A. and Laing, A.K. (1987) Directional spectra of seas
of S.A. Kitaigorodskii. Journal of Geophysical Research, 69,
near full development. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 17,
5181–5190.
1696–1706.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe079
Infrared Thermography
Simon Edmondson
British Royal Navy, London, UK
more and more energy from its surface. We are able to feel
1 How the Infrared Imager Works? 2 this IR radiation but, in most cases, cannot see it without
2 Why use Infrared Thermography? 2 the assistance of some type of IR device. The technique
3 The History of Thermal analysis and for making invisible IR radiation visible is called thermal
Thermography 3 imaging or IR/T.
4 Principles of Matter and Thermal IR/T is currently experiencing rapid growth as more and
Thermodynamics 4 more electric utilities and industrial sectors are embracing
the technology. The reason for this growth is that company
5 Thermal Energy, Heat, and Temperature 4
personnel understand the benefits of this noncontact, nonde-
6 Heat Transfer 5 structive method. The main benefit is to find deteriorating
7 Three Modes of Heat Transfer 6 components prior to catastrophic failure. Thermography
8 Radiation Heat Transfer 8 provides another set of eyes allowing a whole new level of
9 Electromagnetic Radiation 8 diagnostic aid and problem solving.
10 The Electromagnetic Spectrum 9 IR/T is simply a picture of heat; when you consider
our natural environment, everything is radiating a partic-
11 Infrared Regions 10
ular intensity of thermal energy. Our eyes are unable to see
12 Infrared Imaging and Measurement 11
this IR energy unless the temperature of the object goes
13 Infrared Instrument 11 beyond 500∘ C. With an IR imaging instrument, the thermal
14 Infrared Thermography Application 12 energy surrounding us can be detected, imaged, measured,
Glossary 14 and stored for analysis.
Further Reading 14 Commercial IR/T has been around for about 40 years.
Even though the physics of IR detection is well under-
stood, the interpretation of thermal imagery is still very much
an art as opposed to a science. This means that drawing
Infrared thermography (IR/T) is a technique that utilizes a conclusive interpretation from a thermogram is often
a specialized IR sensor to detect and image the presence based on past experience with similar imagery as opposed
or absence of heat. It is a cost-effective means to identify to a logical set of diagnostic rules. Historically, improve-
problems with equipment and processes. ments in thermal diagnostic abilities have been accomplished
Everything around us, as well as ourselves, constantly emit mainly through the collective review of imagery and find-
thermal energy to the environment in the form of invisible ings with our peers. Increasingly, we are finding that this
IR radiant energy. As an object heats up, it will radiate collective knowledge is turning into a base of information,
which is documented, published, and taught. This knowl-
edge base is transforming the IR industry from an art to
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. a science. In turn, this is opening up our industry to new
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe582
applications, such as process control, factory automation,
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 and nondestructive testing. With a better understanding of
2 General
the technology, documented and proven applications, and There are many color palette choices available, so it is impor-
available training, thermography use is growing rapidly. tant to know which color palette is being used before any
Condition monitoring, maintenance, and operations staff in interpretation can be made as to what the colors mean. This
all industries are increasing plant reliability by employing thermal map is called a thermogram.
this diversified technology.
IR detectors can be used for a variety of applications Sp1 35.8 °C 36.1
in the military, scientific, industrial, and medical arenas.
Since IR radiation does not rely on visible light, it offers
the possibility of seeing in the dark or through obscured
conditions, by detecting the IR energy emitted by objects.
The detected energy is translated into imagery showing the
Sp1
energy differences between objects, allowing these objects to
be seen.
There are a great number of areas where IR/T can be of
benefit in almost any facility. These can be broken down into 15.2
several major sectors. Color thermogram
Some IR cameras are able to measure the brightness inten-

1 HOW THE INFRARED IMAGER sity on the image thereby providing a temperature measure-
WORKS? ment of any point on the image. The thermal image can
be recorded, digitalized, and stored in the camera or on a
A thermal imaging instrument has optics much the same as a network to be analyzed for interpretive purposes.
regular camera, to gather and focus the incoming IR energy
from the scene onto a detector. The detector is sensitive to this
IR energy. The detector converts this incoming energy into a
proportionate electrical signal, which is then amplified. This
2 WHY USE INFRARED
amplified signal is then sent to a video processor and then to THERMOGRAPHY?
a visual display such as a cathode ray tube or liquid crystal
display. The advantages of IR/T are numerous: the temperature
The image displayed is a temperature map in which varia- measurement is noncontact; a large amount of data can be
tions in image densities correspond to radiant energy differ- collected in a short period of time; patterns can be observed;
ences. The image densities are displayed in gray tones. The transient phenomena can be studied and analyzed; informa-
black and white or gray tone thermogram shows hot objects tion can be easily stored; and it is a cost-effective method of
as white and colder objects as black. The brighter the gray defining problem areas.
tones, the denser or greater is the radiant energy. The darker IR/T is a nonintrusive method for evaluating the thermal
the gray tones, the lesser is the radiant energy. signature of any object or process to establish its performance
or operating condition.
The advantages of IR/T over other thermal diagnostic
devises are as follows:
• It is noncontact
• Does not interfere with the process
• Will not deface or destroy the product
• Will not clutter up the object
• Thermal transients and moving objects can be studied.
• Fast response, milliseconds
• Measures and evaluates irregularly shaped objects
Black and white thermogram • Pattern observation and evaluation
• Quickly collects large amounts of thermal data
When appropriate, the image can be colorized. Usually • See through certain hazardous atmospheres
reds and yellows depict hotter items and blues and violet • Inspections through special IR windows
shades show cooler items. However, be careful with this. • Easy storage of data for postanalysis.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe582
Infrared Thermography 3
The three main factors motivating thermographic inspec- our bodies, unfortunately!). For example, moving compo-
tion are design, workmanship, and failure. nents wear out and electrical components deteriorate due to
heat and load conditions.
Failure does not necessarily mean complete and catas-
2.1 Three basic motivations
trophic failure. All it means is a component is operating in
a nonoptimal condition.
2.1.1 Design
IR/T is an effective and efficient means to locate these
We know that most equipment or components have been nonoptimal conditions prior to failure. Performing IR/T
designed to optimize their primary function within a partic- condition monitoring inspections on a routine basis will
ular environment or intended use. When these components establish the failure potential of most components allowing
enter the real-world environment, the design specifications the maintenance department to predictively maintain their
do not necessarily meet the true requirements. A thermo- equipment and process.
graphic inspection is an ideal technique to analyze new
component installation and retrofits to evaluate equipment
performance in a real operating environment. The informa-
tion received is then fed back to the design engineers, who
then make the necessary modifications. Once the corrections 3 THE HISTORY OF THERMAL
are made, IR/T can be used to determine how effective the ANALYSIS AND THERMOGRAPHY
corrective action has been.
400 BC Hippocrates uses sense of touch for thermal

2.1.2 Workmanship anomalies to determine health of patients.
1590s Galileo’s invention of the thermoscope (a scope,
Although components or equipment are properly designed,
not a meter).
poor workmanship may make them perform below specifi-
1717 Fahrenheit puts values to temperature
cation, deteriorate rapidly, or fail completely. We speak here
measurement and invents mercury
of workmanship in two ways: of the component itself and
thermometer.
of the on-site installation. The component could be manu-
1742 Anders Celsius, a Swedish astronomer, presented
factured perfectly to specification, but if the installation is
his Celsius temperature scale, now accepted
not carried out correctly, it can fail. The installation could be
throughout the world.
perfect, but if during assembly at the manufacturing facility
1800 W. Herschel discovers invisible IR rays.
a bolt is forgotten, it can fail.
1840 J. Herschel produced the first heat picture by
Workmanship has become a critical issue today with manu-
transferring a thermal image onto a paper,
facturing components smaller and smaller, while attempting
which he called a thermogram.
to achieve more efficiency and longevity. Standards such
1892 Sir James Dewar introduced the use of liquefied
as ISO 9000 are being instituted in an attempt to reduce
gases as a cooling agent in radiation detectors,
the problems. IR is an excellent method to employ immedi-
which led to the invention of the Dewar flask
ately after new installation or retrofit, to assist in determining
(vacuum flask) used to store these gases.
the operating condition. Problems that present themselves
1929 Czerny invents evaporagraph that more efficiently
as thermal anomalies are identified quickly, preventing an
produced IR thermograms.
unscheduled shutdown. Once the anomaly is found, it must
1946 The military developed the first IR line scanner.
then be evaluated, the root cause of the failure identified, then
An image was produced by putting many lines
corrective and preventive actions taken. If the problem is with
together, a thermogram took about 1 h to
workmanship, new methods for installation can be employed
produce.
to prevent similar problems in the future.
1954 The first IR imaging scanner was made and it
took 45 min to produce a thermogram.
2.1.3 Failure 1960 IR scanners took 4 min to produce an image.
1966 Introduction of first commercially available
Even if the equipment has been properly designed, assem- “real-time” imager, producing 20 images per
bled, and the on-site installation is perfect, all components second.
and assemblies will fail over time. Everything, because of 1985 Instruments with thermal electrically cooled
aging and environmental conditions, will deteriorate (even detectors introduced.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe582
4 General
1990 High resolution IR focal plane array imagers 5 THERMAL ENERGY, HEAT, AND
capable of producing 70,000 points per image TEMPERATURE
are introduced.
1997 Introduction of the first full measurement 5.1 Thermal energy
uncooled FPA system.
Future Smaller uncooled measuring imagers with It is directly related to the kinetic energy an object possesses.
improved resolution and temperature Vibrational kinetic energy of the molecules is present in
measurement accuracy, prices dropping to all objects. As the vibrational kinetic energy of an object
around US$20,000.00 on some models. increases so does the thermal energy and the temperature
of the object. Thermal energy is something tangible. An
object is said to “contain” a certain amount on thermal
4 PRINCIPLES OF MATTER AND energy and, therefore, the amount can be calculated. The unit
THERMAL THERMODYNAMICS used to measure thermal energy is the Watt or Joule in the
International System.
The kinetic molecular theory of matter helps us understand
the behavior of atoms and molecules and is fundamental
to understanding the concept of thermal energy, heat, and 5.2 Thermodynamics
temperature.
Thermodynamics is the branch of physics that studies the
4.1 Matter relationship between thermal energy and other forms of
energy. An understanding of the two first laws of thermo-
Matter is the substance composing bodies perceptible to the dynamics provides the basis of much of our understanding
senses. Matter is made up of tiny particles called atoms and of heat and heat transfer.
groups of atoms joining together called molecules. These The first law of thermodynamics states that the sum of
molecules or combinations of atoms are bound together the total energy content in a closed system is constant.
to produce a given substance such as a table, your body, From this, we can conclude that the total amount of
or water. For example, if you keep dividing water into energy in the universe always remains the same. Energy
smaller and smaller drops, you would eventually arrive at cannot be created or destroyed. With that in mind, we
the smallest particle that is still water. That particle is a would also conclude that energy can exist in many
molecule, which is defined as the smallest bit of a substance forms, and that it can be transformed from one form to
that retains the characteristics of that substance. It is our another.
understanding, of molecular theory of matter that provides The second law of thermodynamics tells us that thermal
us with background understanding of how energy moves energy will always flow from areas of higher temperature to
through, to and from an object. areas of lower temperature.
5.3 States of matter
Matter is usually said to exist in three forms: solid, liquid,

Visible matter Trimethylamine and gas. These states of matter are directly related to the
Molecular compounds
amount of thermal energy, or vibrational kinetic energy
an object has at any given moment. We will look at these
states of matter from the view point of thermal energy.
Atomic level Solid Liquid Gas
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe582
Solids are hard objects that resist deformations and have a 5.6 Temperature
definite volume and shape. Of any particular material, a solid
will have the lowest amount of thermal energy than the same As we have already learned, thermal energy applied to a
material in a liquid or gas form. solid shows up as vibrational energy of the molecules of the
Liquid has a definite volume but not a defined shape. Liquid solid. The higher the temperature of the solid, the greater the
flows and takes the shape of whatever container in which it vibrational motion of its molecules. The greater the motion
is placed. In any given substance, the state exists at a higher of the molecules, the greater the total thermal energy of the
energy level and greater thermal agitation than the solid state. object and the greater the ability the object has to transfer
The molecular forces in a liquid are not strong enough to keep this energy to other objects. The lower the temperature, the
the molecules in fixed positions, and they wander through the smaller is the vibrational motion of its molecules.
liquid in a random fashion. Temperature, therefore, can be defined as the measurement
Gas has neither definite volume nor definite shape. Gas of the average kinetic energy of the vibrating molecules of
also flows into a container but it spreads out until the entire a body. “Kinetic” means in motion. Stated another way,
volume of the container is occupied. The average separa- temperature is a measure of molecular motion and measures
tion distances between the molecules of a gas are quite the “hotness” or “coldness” of an object.
large compared to the size of the molecules. Occasionally, Temperature is a driving force for heat flow just as gravity
the molecules collide with each other. Most of the time is a driving force for water flow. Just as water flows downhill,
they move as nearly free, noninteracting particles. It is in heat will flow from the higher to the lower temperature. The
the gas state where the molecules have the greatest energy higher the waterfalls, the faster the water will fall. The larger
level. the temperature difference across an object, the faster the heat
will flow.
5.4 Heat Temperature specifies the state of a body with respect to its
ability to impart heat to other bodies. We can say then, that
When one object of greater thermal energy is put in contact thermal energy is transferred between two bodies as a result
with an object of lower thermal energy, the thermal energy of the temperature difference and, hence, energy differences
from one will transfer to the other. When the thermal energy between the two bodies. Temperature then determines the
is transferred between the two objects the process is called direction of heat flow between two bodies.
heat. Heat is defined as energy in transit.
An object does not contain heat, it contains thermal energy. 5.7 Summary—thermal energy, heat, and
Heat is not the thermal energy each object contains, but temperature
rather the flow of energy being transferred from one object
at one energy level to the other at a lower energy level Let us now bring these companion concepts all together.
or temperature. When the object cools, its thermal energy Although interrelated, it is important we understand the clear
is decreased; when it is heated (meaning the process of distinction between thermal energy, heat, and temperature.
adding thermal energy to the object), its thermal energy is Thermal energy refers to the kinetic energy of the
increased. molecules of an object. For example, two objects of the
Heat is something that is intangible. We cannot directly same material and size may have the same temperature, but
measure heat. We can only measure the effects of heat, add them together and they have twice as much thermal
namely, by a temperature change. energy as a single one does.
Temperature is a measurement of the average kinetic
5.5 Thermal equilibrium energy of the individual molecules anywhere on the object
the temperature measurement device is relating too.
It is an experimental fact that whenever a warm object is Finally, Heat refers to a transfer of thermal energy from
placed in a cooler ambient temperature, the temperature one object to another because of a temperature difference.
of the warmer object decreases and the temperature of the
cooler object increases. If the two are left in contact for a
period of time, they will eventually reach a common equilib- 6 HEAT TRANSFER
rium temperature somewhere between the two initial temper-
atures, and there is no further heat flow between them. When Heat is defined as thermal energy being transferred or in
they reach the same temperature, we say the two objects are transit from one place to another as a result of a tempera-
in thermal equilibrium. ture difference between them. The dynamics of this transfer
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe582
6 General
process make up the body of knowledge known as heat For example, the same motor as mentioned above is now
transfer. operating at a constant load, and the ambient temperature
The phenomenon of heat transfer is quite simply the move- does not fluctuate; therefore, the heat transfer is steady and
ment of heat energy from one object to another. The transfer so the temperature of the motor remains the same. This
of thermal energy from one place to another can be accom- constitutes steady-state heat transfer.
plished in three distinctly different ways:
1. Conduction 7 THREE MODES OF HEAT TRANSFER

2. Convection (natural or forced)
3. Radiation. 7.1 Heat transfer: conduction
Even though there are three modes for the transfer of You are very familiar with the process of thermal energy
thermal energy, in most cases heat will be transferred by a transfer by conduction. Every time you touch something
combination of the three modes. that feels hot or cold, you are experiencing heat transfer by
Of the three heat transfer processes, radiation is the most conduction.
closely associated with our study of IR/T. However, to be able Understanding the concept of temperature, it is now
to analyze the IR thermal signature that is displayed on our possible to explain how thermal energy flows from one
IR camera, it is imperative to have a sound understanding of body to another. This mechanism of transferring thermal
all the methods of heat transfer. energy by contact is called conduction and is the manifes-
tation of the physical behavior of substances at a molecular
6.1 Thermal equilibrium level.
Heat transfer by conduction is associated with the
It is an experimental fact that whenever two objects at random internal motion of molecules within an object
different temperatures are brought into contact with one or between two objects in intimate contact. When heat is
another, the temperature of the warmer object decreases and transferred to the surface of a solid, the added thermal
the temperature of the cooler object increases. If the two are energy causes the molecules to vibrate around their
left in contact for a period of time, they will eventually reach equilibrium position. As any one molecule vibrates, it
a common equilibrium temperature somewhere between the interacts with its nearest neighbors causing them to vibrate,
two initial temperatures, and there is no further heat flow which in turn causes its nearest neighbors to vibrate, and
between them. When this occurs we say the two objects are so on.
in thermal equilibrium. The molecules receive thermal energy by this random
movement through molecular collision and transfer it to other
6.2 Steady-state heat transfer molecules in contact with them. Conduction is the transfer of
heat across a medium from a source of higher temperature to
We have defined what thermal equilibrium is. However, in a source of lower temperature.
the industrial environment, most components do not reach This is the method of transfer of heat by conduction in
a thermally equal state with the environment or the other a solid, and in it the molecules need not leave their mean
parts of the structure they are attached to. Even though these position. It is the only method by which heat can flow through
components will attempt to become thermally equal with a solid. Heat can also pass from one material to another in this
their thermal surroundings, in most situations the objects way provided they are in intimate contact.
we deal with are in a constant state of temperature change. If you stick one end of a metal rod into a fire and you
For example, an electric motor that is operating will have hold the other end in your hand, you will feel the end
a particular thermal signature associated with it as a result becoming hotter and hotter, even though the end you are
of the work it is doing. As the load on the motor changes, holding is not in direct contact with the source of the thermal
the temperature of the motor will change and amount of energy.
heat transferring within and from the motor will fluctuate The heat is being transferred from the hot end to the cold
as well. end by the method of conduction. Heat transfer by conduc-
When you have an object that is receiving a constant and tion can be visualized by picturing the molecules in the hot
steady flow of thermal energy and is, in turn, transferring end of the rod in rapid vibration while the molecules in the
this energy to another part of the object or to the envi- cold end are vibrating less rapidly. The rapidly vibrating
ronment at a consistent rate, we call this steady-state heat molecules will collide with the slower ones, exciting them
transfer. thermally and kinetically (vibration). This thermal motion
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe582
will reach steady state and will not change until the thermal A = 10 m2
environment changes. k = Q2W/m⋅K
qcond = 3 kW
T1 = 415 °C
7.2 Conductors and insulators T2
L = 2.5 cm
Some materials are better conductors than others. This is x
because of the differences in the bonding forces and free
electrons of materials. For the same reasons, metals are
good conductors of both heat and electricity. Copper, for 7.4 Heat transfer: convection
example, is a better conductor of both electricity and heat
than aluminum. A second mechanism of heat transport is convection. It is
Materials that conduct heat poorly are classified as thermal the primary method by which heat moves through a fluid.
insulators. Just as materials that conduct electricity poorly, It occurs by movement of heat by transfer of the molecules
are classified as electrical insulators, For example, wood is within the fluid (liquid or gas), or between a fluid and a solid,
only 0.1% effective in conducting heat as is aluminum and, provided a temperature gradient exists.
therefore, is classified as a thermal insulator. Convection is similar to conduction since it involves the
transfer of heat by the energy exchange between hot and
cold molecules. Convection differs from conduction in that
7.3 Fourier’s law of conduction the fluid itself will be moving, so heat is transferred not
only by “contact” between the molecules but also by their
The French scientist, Joseph Fourier, who studied the displacement.
conduction of heat carried out experimentation that eventu- Since a mass of fluid has to move there must be a mech-
ally resulted in his arriving at some conclusions. As a result anism to cause this movement. As the fluid or gas receives
of his investigations, we have a mathematical relationship thermal energy, the molecules become warmer and expand.
that can be used to predict the transfer of heat through When a solid does this the molecules stay in their rela-
conduction. tive positions, but the expansion part of a liquid or gas
The equation, called Fourier’s law of heat conduction, is causes that part of the substance to be less dense than
as follows: its surroundings. When part of the liquid becomes less
T − T1 dense than the surrounding fluid it will expand and rise and
q′′ = k 2
L be replaced by a denser colder part, the force of gravity
produces the necessary movement, so we see that convec-
where the variables can be defined as follows: tion requires a fluid, a temperature difference, and a density
difference.
q′′ = heat transfer rate (watts or joules)
k = thermal conductivity coefficient (W K/m)
L = length/thickness of the medium
7.4.1 How does this compare to conduction?
T2 = hotter temperature (∘ C or K) When the molecular movement is due only to the density
Tl = colder temperature (∘ C or K). differences produced, for example, by temperature differ-
ences within the fluid, it is called natural convection. If a
Fourier’s law for conduction states that the heat transfer force is supplied by some other mechanism such as wind or
rate (q′′ ) may be considered as a flow and is the combination a fan, the convection is called forced convection. The greater
of thermal conductivity (k), r = thickness of the material (L) the speed of the fluid in relation to a solid, the greater the rate
and temperature difference (T). of heat transfer by convection.
The relationship is illustrated in the following figure. The This convection process is used in many heating systems
heat rate is calculated by multiplying the thermal conduc- such as the hot water radiator system shown. Cold water is
tivity coefficient of the medium material connecting the hot heated in the furnace and as its temperature rises, the cold
and cold temperature sources, by the difference of temper- water expands and rises. This causes the water to circulate
ature between the two regions. This sum is then divided in the system. Hot water then enters the radiators, heat is
by the length that the heat energy must travel through the transferred by conduction to the air, and the cooler water
medium before being absorbed into the colder temperature returns to the furnace. Thus, the water circulates and warms
region. the air by natural convection.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe582
8 General
factors, h also depends on such elements as the fluid density

p and the relative speed of displacement u.
Does Heat Rise?………………………………… . . . ..No,
it does NOT
Hot air rises, but heat travels from a warmer to a cooler
object!
Hot air
We sometimes say that “heat rises,” but what we really
rises mean is that the hot fluids rise through the cooler fluids of
Air cooled the same substance. You can see convection currents if you
by room place a pan of water on a hot stove burner and put a drop
Gravity sinks
furnace or two of food coloring in the water. The burner heats the
bottom of the pan by conduction; the heat conducts through
the pot to the water. The water in intimate contact with the pot
bottom increases in temperature. The newly heated water is
The air in the room also becomes uniformly heated as a less dense (more buoyant) than the cooler water above, so it
result of natural convection. The air heated by the radiator rises. The food coloring allows you to see the currents within
rises and is replaced by cooler air, resulting in convective the water as the water heats up.
air currents, thereby warming the room. Heating a house by
natural convection would be slow and inefficient. One way
to increase the efficiency is to circulate the water through 8 RADIATION HEAT TRANSFER
the pipes more quickly by adding a pump. In a warm air
heating system, a fan could be added. This would then be Radiation heat transfer is totally different from conduc-
called forced convection. tion and convection in several ways. Both conduction and
convection involve the transfer of thermal energy by direct
Solar
contact between particles requiring the presence of matter.
collector Radiation is the transfer from one object to another by IR
Hot water electromagnetic radiation and does not require any matter
Boiler to taps, etc. between the radiating source and receiving object. It will
Solar
twin coil occur by electromagnetic emission and absorption. Conduc-
cylinder
tion and convection is linearly proportional to the tempera-
ture difference between two materials. Energy radiated from
the surface of an object is proportional to the fourth power of
Pump Cold water
supply its temperature.
This is the way the sun warms up the earth; since the sun’s
temperature (6000 K) is much higher than the earth’s, the
radiation flows from the sun to the earth and is absorbed by
7.5 Newton’s law of cooling the earth warming up the surface. It is relevant to virtually
every industrial process on this globe.
To express the overall effect of convection, we use Newton’s
law of cooling:
q′′ = h(Ts − T∞ ) 9 ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
Here the heat transfer rate (q′′ ) is related to the overall The electromagnetic wave is a simple concept. It is a set
temperature difference between the wall and the fluid (T). of electric and magnetic fields that reinforce each other as
The quantity is called the convection heat-transfer coeffi- they travel through space. The principle does not change if
cient. This coefficient is sometimes called the film conduc- the wave is a million kilometers long or a millionth of a
tance because of its re1ation to the conduction process in the millimeter. It is known that all parts of the spectrum transfer
thin stationary layer of fluid at the wall surface. energy from a source to a receiver and that the energy travels
Conduction differs from convection mainly in regard to the in the form of an oscillating electric and magnetic field, from
nature of their respective coefficient k and h. With conduc- which the name electromagnetic is obtained.
tion, k is dependent principally on the thermal characteristics Wavelength is defined as the distance between two peaks,
of the fluid and solid. With convection in addition to these while frequency is a measure of how many peaks pass a
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe582
given point in 1 s. You may be familiar with radio stations Microwaves are electromagnetic waves about 0.2–30 cm
being designated by “frequency.” Frequency is inversely in length. Longer microwaves, which have many features
proportional to wavelength. In other words, the longer the common with radio waves, pass freely through the air and can
wavelength, the lower is the frequency and vice versa. The carry information. Unlike radio transmission, microwaves
most common unit for measuring frequency is hertz, named can be focused into a beam and therefore are often sent in
after the German radio pioneer, Heinrich Hertz, 1857–1894. highly directional signals relayed from one horn-like antenna
One hertz corresponds to one crest going by a point each to another.
second. A microwave oven makes very different use of electromag-
The four most common properties of the electromagnetic netic radiation. From a magnetron or vacuum tube similar to
radiation are as follows: a TV tube, a beam of electrons in the magnetron oscillates
about a billion times a second to produce waves about 30 cm
1. Electromagnetic radiation has a wavelike nature and is in your food; this particular radiation is absorbed by the water
characterized by its wavelength or frequency. molecules that are sent into a violent vibration as the energy
2. Frequency is inversely proportional to wavelength. of the radiation is converted into molecular energy of motion.
3. All electromagnetic energy travels at the speed of light: This molecular motion makes the food hot.
3 × 108 m/s or 3,00,000 km/s or 186,000 mi./s IR spectral band is where our greatest interests are. At the
4. Does not need a medium to travel through. short-wavelength end, the boundary lies from the limit of
Wavelength 103 102 101 1 10−1 10−2 10−3 10−4 10−5 10−6 10−7 10−8 10−9 10−10 10−11 10−12
(in meters)
Longer Shorter
Size of a This period
wavelength Baseball Cell Protein Water molecule
Soccer Bacteria Virus
field House
Common
name of wave
Radio waves Infrared Ultraviolet ‘‘Hard’’ X rays
VISIBLE
Microwaves ‘‘Soft’’ X rays Gamma rays
Sources
ef FM radio Microwave Radar Light bulb Radioactive

AM Cavity oven The ALS X-ray
People elements
Frequency radio machines
(waves per
second) 106 107 108 109 1010 1011 1012 1013 1014 1015 1016 1017 1018 1019 1020
Energy of Lower Higher
one photon
(electron volts) 10−9 10−8 10−7 10−6 10−5 10−4 10−3 10−2 10−1 1 101 102 103 104 105 106
10 THE ELECTROMAGNETIC visual perception, in the deep red. At the long-wavelength

SPECTRUM end, it merges with the “microwave” radio wavelengths, in
the millimeter range.
Radio waves contain the longest wavelengths in the spectrum Visible light is the narrowest, but most obvious, of the
with typical wavelengths of 30 km down to about 1 mm. This spectral regions. Most human eyes can detect waves between
corresponds to frequencies between 104 and 108 cycles/s about 0.7 and 0.4 μm, roughly the distance across 5000
or hertz. Here, we find that metal rods fitted to TVs and atoms. Light is further divided into a spectrum of colors: red,
radios have a length that is similar to the radio wavelengths orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet—literally the
to be detected. For example, a VHF radio wave frequency colors of the rainbow. Of these colors, violet is the shortest
of 100 MHz will have a wavelength of 3 m. An aerial 1∕4 the of the wavelengths and therefore the highest frequency and
wavelength works well too. energy, while red has the longest wavelength. It requires
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe582
10 General
temperatures above approximately 525∘ C to emit energy in (micrometers), other units are often still utilized to measure
the wavelength band that our eyes are sensitive to. Most wavelength in this spectral region, for example, microns
objects we see are visible as a result of reflected energy rather (μ), nanometers (nm), and angstroms (Å). The microm-
than emitted energy. eter is one-millionth of a meter and is the measurement
Ultraviolet radiation is somewhat higher in frequency than unit for IR electromagnetic radiation—μm is the symbol for
IR and is created by electron excitation in gas discharges and micrometer. The relationship between the different wave-
arcs (i.e., fluorescent lights), Note that there is an overlap length measurements is
of IR and ultraviolet radiation within the visible band. Very
high in frequency and short in wavelength (allowing them to 10,000 Å = 1000 nm = 1μ = 1μm
pass through dense objects) are X-rays that are created when
electrons strike a target and rapidly decelerate. 11.1 Thermal infrared spectrum
The regions that the industrial thermography commu-

10.1 UV and X-ray nity utilizes are the middle (2–6 μm) and far IR windows
(6–15 μm). The reason for this is the manufacturers build
Photons in the visible spectrum are of a low energy level and either a 3–5 μm IR instrument, termed a shortwave camera,
are harmless. As well, IR energy at earth ambient tempera- or an 8–12 μm instrument, called a longwave camera. The
tures is not harmful. Photons at ultraviolet and X-ray wave- reason for the split between the two instruments is twofold.
lengths are energetic enough to penetrate bodies, and both First, the detector materials used are best in one wavelength
are disruptive enough to damage DNA and thus introduce region or the other. There is not a detector material that is
problems into people’s genetic programs. Ultraviolet, which commercially viable to be optimized for both the SW and
is less penetrative, harms the skin, the eyes, and the immune LW thermal IR spectrum. The second reason is that the IR
system. X-ray can hurt any tissue. energy between 6 and 8 μm is attenuated very heavily by the
Gamma is the most energetic energy we can measure with atmosphere. Therefore, there are two main “windows” in the
ultrashort wavelengths extending down to approximately spectrum where this effect is minimized.
10 nm. γ rays are produced in stars (cosmic rays) and
during some radioactive decay. They have wavelengths much
11.2 The atmosphere—a filter
smaller than individual atoms and are, therefore, capable of
passing through most solids.
Just as sunlight is scattered by fog, the atmosphere reduces IR
energy. The atmosphere absorbs, transmits, reflects, scatters,
and emits IR radiation. The exact effect of the atmosphere
11 INFRARED REGIONS on IR radiation leaving the target and impinging on the
detectors is difficult to determine. However, there are several
IR radiation is invisible radiant thermal energy. All objects “windows” in the spectrum where this effect is minimized.
lose thermal energy by emitting IR energy. When objects This is one of the reasons why IR camera manufacturers
absorb IR radiation they gain energy and become warmer. choose specific wavelength regions for their instruments.
Both absorption and emission of IR energy by an object go For the typical inspection, atmospheric effects are negli-
on at the same time. When an object is red hot, it emits red gible. Remember though, water does absorb IR radiation.
visible light as well as IR radiation. At a lower temperature, Looking over long distances, hundreds of meters, or looking
there is less IR energy available in the object and so it emits through fog, steam, or clouds reduces the amount of energy
wavelengths of lower energy and lower frequency. available to your detector. In addition, a good absorber is a
According to D.P. Dewitt “Theory and Practice of Radi- good radiator. Water vapor between you and the target over a
ation Thermometry,” the thermal radiation spectral region long distance will not only diminish the apparent target radi-
extends from approximately 1 to 1000 μm. This stems from ation but will also add its own thermal radiation based on its
visible on the shortwave side to microwave on the longwave temperature.
side although most practical measurements are made from The answer to this difficulty is to choose another day for
1 to 20 μm. your inspection or make a mathematical correction for the
The IR band is often further subdivided into four smaller reduction. Some systems have the capability built into the
bands, the boundaries of which are also arbitrarily chosen. program. Otherwise, an “off-line” correction can be made by
They include the “near IR” (0.75–2 μm), the “middle IR” measuring a known reference at the distance of concern and
(2–6 μm), the “far IR” (6–15 μm), and the “extreme IR” adding the reduction percentage back into the temperature
(15–1000 μm). Although the wavelengths are given in μm measurement.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe582
12 INFRARED IMAGING AND NOTE: Focus is one of the parameters that cannot be
MEASUREMENT changed on a frozen or stored image.
The first item to understand is how the thermal imager deals 13.1.2 The concept of range, span and level
with the incoming radiation and how the operator can opti-
mize this thermal information for accurate analysis. Next, the The image from an IR camera is made up of thermal energy
principles of temperature measurement will be reviewed, so densities called thermal levels. These levels are displayed
the operator has the required understanding of the most diffi- as gray tones. It is important to properly set the range of
cult task with this technique. thermal levels on the instrument, since the setting defines
what the operator is able to resolve on the thermal image. The
12.1 Four components of infrared imaging and camera must have the ability to adjust the range to thermally
encompass the object of interest.
measurement
All systems see IR radiation that is radiated from the first
1/1000 of an inch of the surface of an object. As the tempera-
There are four components to obtain accurate information
ture of an object increases so does the amount of IR radiation.
from a thermography inspection:
This radiation passes through the atmosphere and is focused
1. IR instrument on the detector array by the lens. This energy is then trans-
2. Target object formed into an electrical impulse. The higher the radiation,
3. Environment the greater is the electrical impulse and the brighter is an
4. Technician. image on the display. This impulse is displayed in a 256-color
pallet, with each color representing a different electrical
Even though the technicians are last on the list, they are key energy level, which represents a different amount of radi-
to the entire IR program. The technician must have knowl- ated IR energy. Most systems are capable of outputting 4096
edge of each component on the list, a good understanding electrical impulse levels but are only capable of displaying
of the equipment to be inspected, how to perform the inspec- 256 colors. Any object that is below the 256 color scale
tion, correct and adjust incoming information, and have good appears black on the image and is below the bottom limits
report writing skills. of the display window and not measurable. Any object that
This, and the following sections, will cover many aspects appears white on your image is past the saturation point and
of the object. Now we will review the key components for over the top limits of your 256 color window and is also not
attaining successful, meaningful results for IR inspections. measurable.
13.1.3 Level and span

13 INFRARED INSTRUMENT
This is where the span and level controls come in. They are
13.1 Qualitative thermography sometimes called brightness and contrast, in reference to a
television screen. In IR/T, these terms are often loosely used
There are two main types of thermographic inspections. They to describe the appearance of a thermal image.
are qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative inspection The two main controls on all IR imaging equipment are
is the foundation type of inspection whose principles must the level and the span. To understand how these controls
be considered in all thermography inspections. Quantita- function, one must understand the basic operating concepts
tive thermography (temperature measurement) must always of their IR imaging instrument.
begin with a good qualitative image. There are four main
system parameters that are utilized when performing quali- 13.1.4 Span
tative thermography or getting a good image. They are focus,
range, level, and span. Contrast is typically defined as the ratio between the
maximum and minimum brightness values in a picture. With
13.1.1 Focus an IR instrument, contrast actually refers to the range of heat
levels provided by a particular thermal image, and is often
When an object is in focus, the edges of the object will appear defined as “gain” or span. Span is the control that allows
sharp and well defined. If the object is not in focus, both the operator to determine how many of the 4096 steps will
visual recognition and temperature measurement accuracy be covered by the 256 colors. If the 256 colors were spread
will suffer. over the entire electrical impulse scale, each color would
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe582
12 General
represent 16 electrical impulses (4096/256). If the span is parameters that will indicate the operating condition of a
set so that the 256 colors are spread across 256 electrical component, and is by far the most measured quantity in
impulse steps, then each color would represent 1 electrical an industrial environment. For this reason, monitoring the
impulse (256/256). This setting would give you 16 times the thermal operating condition of electrical and mechanical
sensitivity. When looking at small temperature differences, equipment is considered to be the key to any successful
you would set your span to a very narrow window. When predictive maintenance program.
looking at large temperature differences, you would need to IR/T is a condition monitoring technique used to remotely
set your span to a much larger window. A good IR image gather thermal information for monitoring the condition of
has the coldest objects of interest just above the bottom the entire electrical system from generation and distribution
limits of the window while the hottest objects of interest to the end user.
are just below the top of the window. This ensures that all Why can we say all equipment? Because all equipment
objects of interest are measurable and also that you have when operating has a normal thermal signature. IR/T
the span on the smallest possible setting giving you the presents this normal signature (baseline) to us. Once this is
highest sensitivity. This will provide the best accuracy in established, IR over time will reveal the thermal differences
temperature measurement. deviating from the norm. This abnormally localized radia-
A typical thermal imager is able to resolve thousands tion (anomaly) can either be an overheated condition or lack
of levels of heat radiation and display them as color or of heat. This information is then reviewed and decision is
gray levels on a monitor. Displaying the whole range of made for repair or to plot the temperature change with time
thermal levels creates an image with little thermal contrast. and the repair can be initiated at the opportune moment.
The contrast can be increased by choosing to display a small With the advent of computer hardware and software, the
range of thermal levels called the span. Span is an adjustable information gathered can be stored and fully analyzed at a
sliding “window,” which limits the range of energy observ- later time, providing complete computer-aided predictive
able between black and white. The narrower the span, the maintenance capabilities.
higher is the contrast.
13.1.5 Level 14.2 Condition monitoring program

Brightness is a factor attributed to objects that appear to emit
more or less light. With an IR instrument, brightness actually Condition monitoring provides a means of determining
refers to the heat radiation level at which the thermal image whether or not maintenance is required and when it is
is set for producing a good image on screen. There is little required. This is achieved by selecting a suitable parameter
point in setting the level at the bottom of the thermal range to measure, such as vibration, thermal energy, ultrasound,
if all the action is at the other end! Level is the control that or other techniques. The information gathered by the asso-
allows the operator to adjust where on selected range to move ciated instrumentation provides an understanding of the
the span. If the image appears bright, then you need to move operating condition of an electrical system. In many situ-
the level up. If the image appears dark, then you need to ations, measurements from the test techniques are able to
move the level down. When the span and level have been determine the degree of deterioration that has occurred. This
set, the thermal radiation below the span appears black and data can be recorded and the results analyzed to identify the
the radiation above appears white. The level around which significance. The decision, based upon the actual equipment
the span is set is important for producing a good image on operating condition, can be made to initiate an immediate
screen. repair, continue to monitor the condition, or utilize another
technique such as resistance testing to provide additional
information. Condition monitoring provides objective
14 INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY methods of assessing the state of electrical/mechanical
APPLICATION equipment in order to predictively determine the need for
maintenance.
14.1 Infrared condition monitoring Condition monitoring is required to enable condition-based
maintenance to be carried out. It may be appropriate to define
Temperature and thermal behavior of power generation and these two terms:
distribution equipment as well as industrial machinery and Condition Monitoring. The continuous or periodic
processes are the most critical factors in the maintenance measurement and interpretation of data to indicate the
of operations. Temperature is one of the first observable condition of an item to determine the need for maintenance.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe582
Condition-Based Maintenance. The predictive mainte- Reduced unscheduled production downtime

nance initiated as a result of knowledge of the condition of Extends maintenance repair intervals
an item from routine or continuous condition monitoring. Lower probability of catastrophic failure
Condition monitoring assumes that a suitable baseline can Increased personnel safety
be established, which indicates the normal operating condi- Reduced insurance rates
tions of a particular item. With a baseline established, then Reduced spare parts inventory
the right time for maintenance can be determined by regular Unnecessary repairs minimized
monitoring for signs of deterioration. Maximize plant availability
With proper baseline data obtained, trend monitoring can Time! maintenance or repairs can be planned for nonpeak
be instituted. By plotting field data against time, a trend production periods
can be produced. Marked departure from the normal can Improved coordination of maintenance efforts
give a useful warning of impending failure, indicating a Optimizes staff size and utilization
decision must be made for maintenance or run-to-failure. It Improved production quality
is a useful method when little or no experience of the plant Speeds up production output
condition exists and allows information to be accumulated Improved communication and decision-making
into a historical archive. This does require clerical effort to Improved equipment design
establish and maintain the necessary records. Competitive advantage
Where considerable experience of a particular piece of
equipment and its failure characteristics are understood,
a routine thermal image and temperature measurement
14.5 Disadvantages
can provide sufficient data to determine a safe period of
continued operation.
Personnel required
Equipment investment
14.3 Condition monitoring in industrial process Time investment
and manufacturing facilities Commitment to training
Initial workload increases
Is a condition monitoring program important for most indus- Initial repair and replacement costs
trial facilities? The answer is an absolute YES!! The total
maintenance cost in most plants will range from 15% to 40% Undoubtedly, there are major benefits to be derived from
of the total cost of goods produced. It is the single biggest implementing a condition monitoring program in any facility.
contributor to controllable cost in most manufacturing and With electrical equipment, machinery, and labor costs rising,
process plants. It also has the largest potential for improved with the ever-increasing pressure to keep production running
availability and profit in industry today. Independent surveys to meet production demands in an ever more competitive
indicate that North American industry spends more than market place, managers, engineers, and technicians alike
$200 billion dollars each year on maintenance and that more must turn to condition monitoring technology for assistance
than one-third, or $60 billion, is wasted as a result of unnec- to maintain that competitive advantage.
essary or improper maintenance. These surveys also confirm In a market downturn, this is not exactly the situation.
that reactive (after machine failure) maintenance will cost an Why is condition monitoring important even then? In a
average of three times more than the same repair performed survey of 557 manufacturing and process facilities that have
using the advance notice provided by condition monitoring introduced a condition monitoring program, the following
techniques. average improvements were made:
The forewarning of incipient machine or system prob-
lems provided by a condition-based predictive maintenance 28% increase in maintenance productivity
program will provide many benefits. 19% decrease in material cost
18% reduction in spare parts inventory.
14.4 Advantages of a condition monitoring
program In addition to quantifiable cost savings, 76% of the respon-
dents cited improved relationships among management,
maintenance organizations, and operations departments.
Lower maintenance costs These are the reasons why more and more companies are
Lower production costs taking advantage of techniques such as IR/T.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe582
14 General
Condition monitoring utilizing IR/T is a WIN–WIN situa- • Search and rescue (man overboard)
tion all the way around. • Research and development
• Heat flow studies (boilers and piping).
14.6 Condition monitoring
GLOSSARY
• Electrical—production, transmission, distribution,
switchgear, and panel Electromagnetic The electromagnetic wave is a simple
• Mechanical—motors, pumps, and various rotating equip- radiation concept. It is a set of electric and
ment magnetic fields that reinforce each
• Buildings and structures (including marine). other as they travel through space.
Thermodynamics Thermodynamics is the branch of
14.7 Process monitoring and controls physics that studies the relationship
between thermal energy and other
forms of energy.
• Steam systems, piping, and cladding Thermal It is an experimental fact that
• Hydraulic systems. equilibrium whenever a warn object is placed in
a cooler ambient temperature the
14.8 Quality control, quality assurance temperature of the warmer object
decreases and the temperature of
the cooler object increases.
• Electronics—design, verification, mass screening, diag- Thermal energy Refers to the kinetic energy of the
nostics, and prognosis molecules of an object.
• Mechanical assemblies—malfunction and failure
analysis.
FURTHER READING
14.9 Nondestructive materials testing
Infrared Thermography Level 3 Course manual (Yellotec SA).
• Cavities and inclusions in solids Level 3 Certification ITC EMEA – Sweden Antennvägen 6 187 66
• Composite delamination Täby, Sweden
• Subsurface corrosion detection
• Moisture detection.
14.10 Thermal, night vision
• Security
• Surveillance
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe582
Wave and Crest Height Distributions
George Z. Forristall
Forristall Ocean Engineering, Inc., Camden, ME, USA
where ā2 is the root-mean-squared wave amplitude. Because

1 Wave Heights 1 the envelope is slowly varying, the wave height is approxi-
2 Crest Heights 3 mately twice the wave amplitude. The variance of the wave
3 Rogue Waves 4 record, m0 , is now used instead of the rms amplitude. The
Related Articles 5 reason is that m0 is also the area under the wave spectrum,
which is the fundamental output of wave hindcast and fore-
Glossary 5
cast models. Written in these terms, the Rayleigh distribution
References 5 for wave height is
( )
P (H) = exp −H 2 ∕8m0 (2)
Other measures of wave height can be found by integrating

1 WAVE HEIGHTS Equation 2. One of the most important is H(1/3) , the average
height of the highest 1/3 of the waves. It is
Longuet-Higgins (1952) originated the theoretical study of
wave height statistics. He approximated waves as the sum √
H(1∕3) = 4.005 m0 (3)
of sinusoids with a narrow frequency range and random,
uniformly distributed phases. Under those assumptions, the
Sverdrup and Munk (1947) called H(1/3) the significant
time series can be considered to be a carrier wave modulated
wave height because it was approximately the value given
by a slowly varying envelope function. The amplitude of
by experienced mariners asked for the average wave height.
the carrier wave is itself the sum of many components with
The eye tends to ignore smaller waves when making such
random phase. As pointed out by Longuet-Higgins, this
an estimate. The definition of significant wave height is now
is another version of Rayleigh’s (1880) problem “On the √
almost always taken to be HS = 4 m0 instead of the original
resultant of a large number of vibrations of the same pitch
definition. Different symbols are used for the two definitions
and of arbitrary phase.” The probability distribution of the
because they are only approximately equal.
amplitude is now known by his name. Since the envelope
The distribution of the maximum wave height in N waves is
function is slowly varying, the distribution of the individual
1 − [1 − P(H))]N . The most probable maximum wave height
wave amplitudes is nearly the same as that of the envelope.
is the peak locations of that distribution. Using the Rayleigh
The probability that the wave amplitude exceeds a is then
distribution gives
given by ( )
2 √
P (a) = exp −a2 ∕a (1) HMP = (8 ln N)1∕2 m0 (4)
The average maximum wave height over many repetitions
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. of the same wave spectrum is called the expected maximum
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe080
wave height. It is found by integration of the maximum
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 distribution and is slightly larger than the most probable
2 General
√
maximum, as shown in Equation 5, where 𝛾 = 0.5772 is where x and y are envelope amplitudes normalized by m0
Euler’s constant. and separated by time 𝜏, I0 is a modified Bessel function, and
√
HEV = (8 ln N)1∕2 (1 + 𝛾∕2 ln N) m0 (5) r2 = 𝜌2 + 𝜆2 (11)
The Rayleigh distribution was found to agree with avail-

1 ( )
able measurements for many years. However, as more 𝜌= S (𝜔) cos 𝜔 − 𝜔0 𝜏d𝜔 (12)
accurate instrumentation and computer power for more m0 ∫
detailed processing were developed, it became evident that
it slightly overestimated wave heights. Forristall (1978) 1 ( )
𝜆= S (𝜔) sin 𝜔 − 𝜔0 𝜏d𝜔 (13)
studied measurements made by wave staffs fixed to oil m0 ∫
production platforms in several hurricanes. He found that in
contrast to Equation 3, The mean radian frequency 𝜔0 is found from the first
moment of the wave spectrum S(𝜔) and the mean time
√ between a crest and trough is approximated as 𝜏 = 𝜋/𝜔0 .
H(1∕3) = 3.77 m0 (6)
Tayfun (1981) applied Rice’s theory to find the distribution
of crest to trough wave heights, integrating Equation 10 to
so much of the overestimation in Equation 2 is due to the
√ give
modern usage of basing the distribution on m0 instead 𝜉 ( )
of ā. However, the overestimation increases for the higher P (𝜉) = g 𝜉 − u, u; 𝜋∕𝜔0 du (14)
∫0
waves in a sea state so that the expected maximum wave in a
few hours is about 10% lower than predicted by Equation 5. √
where 𝜉 = H∕ m0 .
Forristall fit the Weibull distribution in Equation 7 to his data. Forristall (1984) integrated Equation 14 numerically and
( ) showed that it agreed well with simulated linear waves with
P (H) = exp −H 2.126 ∕8.42m0 (7) variable spectral shape. It also agreed with the empirical
distribution in Equation 7 when Equations 12 and 13 were
This empirical fit has proved surprisingly robust when evaluated from the spectra used to create the empirical distri-
tested against further measurements over the years. It bution.
continues to be used in many engineering applications Tayfun (1990) eliminated the need to numerically inte-
because of its simplicity. Using Equation 7, the most grate Equation 14 by approximating the Bessel function in
probable maximum wave height is Equation 10. He found upper and lower bounds for the wave
height distribution. Averaging the bounds gave
√
HMP = (8.42 ln N)1∕2.126 m0 (8) ( ) (√ ) [ ]
1 − r2 1+r 𝜉2
P (𝜉) = 1− exp −
and the expected maximum wave height is 4r𝜉 2 2r 4 (1 + r)
(15)
√
HEV = (8.42 ln N)1∕2.126 (1 + 𝛾∕2.126 ln N) m0 (9) In the limit of a very narrow spectrum r tends to 1, and
Equation 15 reduces to the Rayleigh distribution.
The reason that the Rayleigh distribution overestimates Boccotti’s (2000) theory of quasi-determinism shows that
wave heights is that although the wave envelope is slowly the shape of the highest waves in a seaway tends to the
varying, it does vary over a wave period. If the wave crest autocorrelation function of the time series. Boccotti (1989)
is high, it is likely that the associated trough will have a exploited this idea to calculate the wave height distribution.
smaller amplitude and the wave height will be less than twice Boccotti’s distribution is
the amplitude of the crest. In his thorough study of noise ( )
in electrical circuits, Rice (1944, 1945) derived the joint P (𝜉) = c0 exp −c1 𝜉 2 (16)
distribution for the amplitudes of two points on the envelope.
It is where
1+b
c0 = √ (17)
{ }
xy { xyr } x 2 + y2
2b (1 + a)
g (x, y; 𝜏) = I exp − ( )
1 − r2 0 1 − r2 2 1 − r2 1
(10) c1 = (18)
4 (1 + a)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe080
Wave and Crest Height Distributions 3
1 | | wave surface be given by

a= | S (𝜔) cos (𝜔𝜏 ∗ ) d𝜔| (19)
|∫ |
m0 | |
∑
N
𝜂= an cos 𝜓n (22)
1 | |
b= | 𝜔2 S (𝜔) cos (𝜔𝜏 ∗ ) d𝜔| (20)
n=1
|∫ |
m2 | |
where
and 𝜏* is the time lag where the first minimum of the 𝜓n = kn ⋅ x − 𝜔n t + 𝜀n (23)
autocorrelation function appears.
Equations 15 and 16 give similar results that agree very and kn is the vector wave number and 𝜀n a uniformly
well with measurements and with Equation 14 except for distributed random phase. Vector wavenumbers are used to
low values of 𝜉 (Tayfun and Fedele, 2007; Casas-Prat and describe directionally spread waves. The frequencies and
Holthuijsen, 2010). However, Equation 14 is more accurate wave numbers are related by the linear dispersion relation
and only requires one more numerical integration. We recom- ( )
mend its use when high accuracy is desired and wave spectra 𝜔2n = g ||kn || tanh ||kn || d (24)
are available for the calculations. Equation 7 is definitely
better than the Rayleigh distribution and is reasonably accu- where g is the acceleration of gravity and d the water depth.
rate for most broad, unimodal spectra. The second-order correction to the wave surface calculated
All of the theoretical distributions discussed in this section by Sharma and Dean (1979) is
are for linear waves, that is, a sum of sinusoids with uniform
1∑ ∑
N N
random phases. As discussed in the following section, { ( ) ( )}
𝜂 =
(2)
a a K − cos 𝜓i − 𝜓j + K + cos 𝜓i + 𝜓j
extending the theory to second order does not change the 4 i=1 j=1 i j
wave height distribution because the crests and troughs (25)
are both raised by the same amount. Attempts have been where
made to extend the theory to higher orders, but they are not [ ( )] ( )−1∕2 ( )
convincingly more accurate than the linear theory. K − = D−ij − ki ⋅ kj + Ri Rj Ri Rj + Ri + Rj (26)
[ ( )] ( )−1∕2 ( )
2 CREST HEIGHTS K + = D+ij − ki ⋅ kj − Ri Rj Ri Rj + Ri + Rj (27)
Crest heights are not affected by the lag between crests and
troughs, so to first order they have a Rayleigh distribution. (√ √ ) {√ ( 2 ) √ ( )}
However, crest heights are affected by nonlinearity. Wave Ri − Rj Rj ki − R2i − Ri k2j − R2j
D−ij = (√
crests are higher and sharper than linear waves. It is easy √ )2
to tell whether a wave record is right side up. A Stokes Ri − Rj − kij− tanh kij− d
second-order regular wave in deep water is (√ √ )2 ( )
2Ri − Rj ki ⋅ kj + Ri Rj
1 + ( (28)
𝜂 = a cos (kx − 𝜔t) + a2 k cos 2 (kx − 𝜔t) (21) √ √ )2
2 Ri − Rj − kij− tanh kij− d
where k is the wave number. The magnitude of the
second-order term increases with the wave steepness (√ √ ){√ ( 2 ) √ ( )}
ak. It has one peak at the peak of the fundamental wave Ri + Rj Ri kj − R2j + Rj k2i − R2i
D−ij = (√ √ )2
and another at the trough, so the crest to trough height is
unchanged by the second-order contribution but the crest Ri + Rj − kij+ tanh kij+ d
height is higher. (√
Random waves have similar second-order expansions, but √ )2 ( )
2Ri + Rj ki ⋅ kj − Ri Rj
terms are created for each pair of waves in the Fourier series + ( (29)
describing the linear waves. Longuet-Higgins (1963) did the √ √ )2
Ri + Rj − kij+ tanh kij+ d
calculations for deep water and Sharma and Dean (1979)
extended them to intermediate water depth. Their formulas
| |
are reproduced here for completeness. Let the first-order kij− = |ki − kj | (30)
| |
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe080
4 General
| | 3 ROGUE WAVES
kij+ = |ki + kj | (31)
| |
Rogue waves are typically defined as those with wave heights
( )
Ri = ||ki || tanh ||ki || d = 𝜔2i ∕g (32) greater than 2 times HS or crest heights greater than 1.25
times HS . Such waves are certainly possible within the stan-
The positive interaction terms in Equation 27 raise and dard theory. From Equation 7, about 1/2000 waves will
sharpen the crests as in Equation 21. The negative interaction exceed 2 times HS . However, credible examples of much
terms in Equation 26 produce a set-down underneath wave more extreme waves exist. Probably the best known example
groups in finite water depth. is the “New Year Wave” recorded at the Draupner platform in
Forristall (2000) simulated Jonswap waves with varying 1995 (Haver, 2005). The crest height was 18.5 m in a record
steepness, peak enhancement factors, and water depths using with a significant wave height of 11.5 m. The probability of
Equations 22–32. He found empirical crest height distribu- a wave with this crest height arising in a sea described by
tions from the resulting time series and then fit them with a second-order model is 6 × 10−7 . While this is not impos-
Weibull distributions of the form given in Equation 33 sible, such a low probability naturally raises suspicions that
some physical process other than a low order perturbation
[ ( )𝛽 ]
c expansion is responsible for the wave.
P (c) = exp − (33) Accurate wave measurements in the violence of a storm are
𝛼HS
difficult and there is always the possibility of a noise spike
For waves directionally spread according to Ewans’s masquerading as an extreme crest. The most likely explana-
(1998) analysis, the coefficients fitted to the empirical tion for very extreme waves in the open ocean is a modula-
distributions are tional instability similar to that first observed by Benjamin
and Feir (1967). They found that steep regular waves prop-
𝛼 = 0.3536 + 0.2568S + 0.0800Ur (34) agating in a long-wave tank developed side bands with
frequencies above and below the fundamental frequency. The
sidebands make the wave amplitude slowly vary. Onorato
𝛽 = 2 − 1.7912 − 0.5302Ur + 0.2840Ur2 (35) et al. (2004) showed that steep narrow banded random waves
behaved similarly. Their modulational instability caused the
where the steepness is wave envelope to vary more than it would for waves with
uniformly distributed phases. The result was a wave trace
2𝜋 HS with increased kurtosis and thus higher extreme wave and
S= (36)
g T12 crest heights than predicted by the standard distributions.
Strong modulational instability only appears to exist in
the Ursell number is
unidirectional waves or waves with very narrow directional
HS spreading. Figure 1 shows example of crest height distri-
Ur = (37) butions for waves measured in the Marin offshore basin
k12 d3
(Buchner et al., 2011). Figure 1 (a) shows the distribu-
and T1 and k1 are the first moment wave period and wave tion of unidirectional crest heights and Figure 1(b) shows
number. the distribution of directionally spread crest heights. The
Equations 33–35 generally agree well with crest measure- unidirectional crests are considerably higher than predicted
ments (Prevosto and Forristall, 2004). Because of the by second-order theory, while the directionally spread
agreement with data and their simplicity, they are often waves agree well with the theory (Buchner and Forristall,
used in applications. These equations, however, do not 2012). Second-order simulated crests are 2–3% higher than
perfectly agree with the second-order simulations of second-order directionally spread crests, but that does not
Jonswap spectra, and other spectral shapes and directional explain the difference. Second-order calculations do not
distributions are likely to differ more from these empirical describe modulational instabilities. Higher order calcula-
fits. Second-order distributions for arbitrary directional tions such as those described by Krogstad et al. (2004)
spectra can be simulated using Equations 22–32, but simu- produce the instabilities in unidirectional waves but not in
lations for directionally spread waves are time consuming. directionally spread waves.
Tromans, Vanderschuren, and Ewans (2011) have calculated Measurements such as those shown in Figure 1 often
second-order distributions in the probability domain, and show crest in directionally spread waves slightly higher than
their method is best for the calculation of second-order crest predicted by second-order theory. Higher order calculations
heights for arbitrary spectra. to explain the difference is an active area of research.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe080
Wave and Crest Height Distributions 5
124003, Marco Polo Rita, Long-crested, Tp = 14, Wave 4 127003, Marco Polo Rita, Strong Spreading, Tp = 14, Wave 4
100 100
10−1 10−1
Probability of exceedance
Probability of exceedance
10−2 10−2
10−3 10−3
Measured Measured
Rayleigh Rayleigh
Second order Second order
10−4 10−4
0 0.5 1 1.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
(a) Cr/Hs (b) Cr/Hs
Figure 1. Crest height distributions measured in the Marin offshore basin, for (a) unidirectional waves and (b) directionally spread waves.
RELATED ARTICLES REFERENCES

Wind, Wave and Current Modeling and Prediction Benjamin, T.B. and Feir, J.E. (1967) Instability of periodic wave
Potential Wave Theory, Instability of Wave Trains trains on deep water. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London,
Types of Ocean Surface Waves, Wave Classification 299, 59–76.
Regular, Irregular Waves and the Wave Spectrum Boccotti, P. (1989) On mechanics of irregular gravity waves. Atti
Frequency-Direction Spectra of Wind-Generated Gravity Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Memoire VIII, 19, 111–170.
Waves Boccotti, P. (2000) Wave Mechanics for Ocean Engineering, Elsevier
Wave Breaking and Dissipation Oceanography Series, Elsevier, Amsterdam.
Buchner, B. and Forristall, G.Z. (2012) Are basin waves different
from field waves? OMAE2012-83468, Rio de Janeiro.
GLOSSARY
Buchner, B., Forristall, G.Z., Ewans, K., Christou, M., and Hennig,
J. (2011) New Insights in Extreme Crest Height Distributions (A
Crest height Distance of water surface above mean Summary of the ‘CresT’ JIP), OMAE2011-49846, Rotterdam.
water level. Casas-Prat, M. and Holthuijsen, L.H. (2010) Short-term statistics of
Jonswap A representation of the wave spectrum. waves observed in deep water. Journal of Geophysical Research,
spectrum 115, 5742–5761.
Rayleigh Statistical distribution for narrow band Ewans, K.C. (1998) Observations of the directional spectrum of fetch
distribution wave heights. limited waves. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 28, 495–512.
Rogue waves Extreme waves, typically over twice the Forristall, G.Z. (1978) On the statistical distribution of wave heights
significant wave height. in a storm. Journal of Geophysical Research, 83, 2353–2358.
Second order Second term in nonlinear expansion of Forristall, G.Z. (1984) The distribution of measured and simulated
wave theory. wave heights as a function of spectral shape. Journal of Geophys-
Significant Four times the square root of the wave ical Research, 89, 10547–10552.
wave height variance. Forristall, G.Z. (2000) Wave crest distributions: observations and
Wave Statistical distribution of wave height. second order theory. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 30,
1931–1943.
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Haver, S. (2005) Design of offshore structures: Impact of the possible
Wave height Distance between wave trough and
existence of freak waves, in Rogue Waves, Proceedings of the
following crest. Aha Huliko’a Hawaiian Winter Workshop (eds P. Müller and C.
Wave Description of wave energy as a function Garrett), SOEST, University of Hawaii.
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Weibull Statistical distribution used for crest Trulsen, K. (2004) Spatial Extreme Value Analysis of Nonlinear
distribution heights. Simulations of Random Surface Waves. Proceedings of the 23rd
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International Conference on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engi- Sharma, J.N. and Dean, R.G. (1979) Development and evaluation
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neering Laboratory, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716.
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tical distributions in the theory of sea waves. Journal of Fluid Sverdrup, H.U. and Munk, W.H. (1947) Wind, sea and swell: theory
Mechanics, 17, 459–480. of relations for forecasting. Report N. 601, U. S. Navy Hydro-
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and Stansberg, C.T. (2004) Observation of strongly non-Gaussian Tayfun, M.A. (1981) Distribution of crest-to-trough wave heights.
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe080
Common Marine Alloys
Roger Francis
RFMaterials, Derbyshire, UK
2 STEELS AND IRONS

1 Introduction 1
2 Steels and Irons 1 The most common metal used for structural purposes in
3 Stainless Steels 2 the marine environment is steel. This is not one alloy but
4 Nickel Alloys 4 a combination of many alloys. Steel is an alloy of carbon
5 Copper Alloys 6 and iron; the carbon increases the strength but reduces
the ductility. Mild and low carbon steels typically contain
6 Aluminum Alloys 8
0.05–0.32% carbon and retain ductility and toughness. These
7 Titanium Alloys 9 are the lowest cost structural steels. In practice, most steels
References 11 also contain manganese (up to ∼1.6%), which helps in deox-
Further Reading 11 idation of the melt and increases hardenability and strength.
Carbon–manganese steels are the commonest steels used for
structural purposes. They have moderate strength, but their
properties are well understood and are incorporated into all
the common design codes such as ASME VIII for vessels and
ASME B31.3 for piping.
1 INTRODUCTION
The mechanical properties of carbon and carbon–
Metals are by far the most common material of choice for manganese steels are determined by the heat treatment
marine vessels, structures, and so on, because of their combi- and the alloy is usually heated to a temperature where
nation of useful properties, which include good ductility, austenite is stable and the carbon is more soluble. The steel
good strength, good weldability, and good corrosion resis- is then quenched or air cooled depending on the final desired
tance. Not all metals have all four properties, so the grades structure. The steel is often tempered after quenching to
most commonly found in marine applications tend to have reduce hardness and restore some ductility. The heat treat-
good corrosion resistance and some other useful properties. ments can be varied to produce a wide range of strengths
This article briefly describes the alloys in common use and and ductilities, but the quenched and tempered condition is
their properties. Because corrosion resistance in the marine the most commonly used (Figure 1).
environment is so important if a component is to have a useful These alloys are readily weldable, but the choice of filler
life, the reader is referred to Powell and Francis (2012), who metal needs some care, depending on the properties required.
describe the basic metal families, the common marine alloys, This is because many fillers contain small additions of other
their mechanical properties, and their corrosion resistance. metals, such as silicon, nickel, and chromium, to control the
final properties in the as-welded condition.
Steels with higher carbon contents, in the range 0.3–1.0%,
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. are also produced, to give stronger or harder alloys and these
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe145
are used for special components, such as springs, and diesel
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 engine components.
2 General
nickel) has better toughness and corrosion resistance than

ordinary ductile cast iron, but it is susceptible to chlo-
ride stress corrosion cracking (SCC), particularly in warm
seawater (Francis, 2006), and its use for pumps and valves is
declining.
Steels are low cost materials, but they do corrode in
seawater, and to give them a satisfactory life in the marine
environment, it is necessary to apply protective measures to
ensure a satisfactory service life. In the marine atmosphere, it
is common to use good-quality polymeric coatings (e.g., two
pack epoxy paints) or a metallic coating such as thermally
sprayed aluminum. Under immersed conditions, it is usual
to use a polymeric coating combined with cathodic protec-
tion. Coatings for the marine environment are discussed in
Figure 1. Large quantities of carbon–manganese steels are used in detail by Vincent (2012) and Vincent and Munger (2014).
ships. (Reproduced with permission from Stena Bulk. © Stena Bulk,
2015.)
The corrosion mechanisms that can affect carbon and low
alloy steels and measures to prevent corrosion are discussed
at more length in Powell and Francis (2012).
Low alloy steels contain small additions of other elements Carbon steels and ductile cast iron have been used for
from 0.2% to 5% to confer specific properties. It is a variety of structural applications, including platforms,
common for several additions to be made together to jackets, ship’s hulls, vessels, piling and sheeting, towers,
obtain the right combination of properties. For example, bridges, lock gates, gratings, ladders, cranes, lifts, and
chromium–molybdenum steels can be heat treated to high loaders. Carbon steel, cast iron, and austenitic cast iron have
strength, while retaining ductility. Steels with significant been used for pressure-containing piping, vessels, pumps,
nickel additions give improved ductility at low tempera- and valves.
tures, such as occur in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
There is a wide range of these alloys and the selection of
specific grades requires some care to ensure that the correct 3 STAINLESS STEELS
properties are obtained without significant loss of others.
These alloys can be welded, but it is necessary to weld with When chromium is added to iron above 11%, it becomes a
a matching composition filler and then heat treat in the same ferritic stainless steel. These stainless steels are strong but
manner as the parent metal to ensure the correct properties with reduced ductility and they are difficult to weld and
also occur in the weld metal. produce in anything other than thin sections. High alloy super
The principal low alloy steels are shown by Smith and ferritic stainless steels, such as Sea Cure and 29-4C, have
Hashemi (2001), while the effects of the major alloying been used for seawater heat exchanger tubing (Table 2).
elements on alloy properties can be found in Table 1 When higher carbon and/or a little nickel are added to the
(Degarmo, Black, and Kohser, 2007). Steels containing stainless steel, it becomes martensitic in structure. By austen-
about 0.5% copper are often termed weathering steels, itizing and then tempering, these stainless steels can have
because they form a protective patina in industrial atmo- high strength, particularly alloys such as 17-4PH (Table 2).
spheres, reducing the corrosion rate. However, weathering As the strength of these alloys is increased, the ductility
steels have a tendency to pit in marine atmospheres, as the reduces, but they can be easily machined and forged. As for
salt destroys the protectiveness of the patina. Weathering the parent metal, welding requires a full heat treatment to
steels should never be used when immersed in seawater, restore the properties.
as the copper content greatly increases the pitting rate However, these alloys do not resist localized corrosion in
compared with carbon–manganese steels. seawater and can also be susceptible to pitting in marine
Steel with more than 2% carbon is termed as iron and atmospheres. Hence, they usually require good-quality
these are produced as castings, usually with a small addi- coatings in the atmosphere and cathodic protection under
tion of magnesium (∼0.06%) to spheroidize the graphite immersed conditions. For this reason, martensitic stainless
and improve ductility. Cast irons are brittle and although steels have limited uses in the marine environment.
once commonly used for items such as pumps and valves, When the nickel content is increased to 8% or more, the
they have largely been superseded by the modern range of alloy becomes fully austenitic, with somewhat lower yield
corrosion-resistant cast alloys. Austenitic cast iron (∼20% strength than ferritic stainless steels, but similar to carbon
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe145
Common Marine Alloys 3
Table 1. Effect of elemental additions on the properties of low alloy steels (Degarmo, Black, and Kohser, 2007).
Element Percentage Primary Function
Aluminum 0.95–1.3 Alloy element in nitriding steels
Bismuth — Improves machinability
Boron 0.001–0.003 A powerful hardening agent
Chromium 0.5–2 Increases hardening
Copper 4–11 Increases atmospheric corrosion resistance
Lead — Improves machinability
Manganese 0.25–0.4 Combines with sulfur and phosphorus to reduce brittleness. Also helps remove excess oxygen in
the melt
>1 Increases hardening by modifying hardening mechanisms
Molybdenum 0.2–5 Stabilizes carbides and inhibits grain growth. Increases the toughness, so it is widely used for
cutting parts in machine tools
Nickel 2–5 Increases toughness
12–20 Increases corrosion resistance
Silicon 0.2–0.7 Increases strength
2.0 Spring steels
>2 Improves magnetic properties
Sulphur 0.08–0.15 Gives free-machining properties
Titanium — Forms stable carbides and reduces martensite hardness in chromium steels
Tungsten — Increases melting point
Vanadium 0.15 Forms stable carbides. Increases strength while retaining ductility. Promotes fine grain structure.
Increases high temperature toughness
Table 2. Nominal composition of some stainless steels commonly used in the marine environment.
Type Generic Name UNS No. Nominal Composition (wt%) PRENa
Fe C Cr Ni Mo N Other
Ferritic Sea Cure S44660 Bal 0.02 28 1 3.5 — Ti, Nb 40
29-4C S44735 Bal 0.02 29 0.5 4 0.045 Nb 42
Martensitic 410 S41000 Bal 0.1 12 — — — — 12
17-4PH S17400 Bal 0.06 17 4 — — Nb, Cu 17
Austenitic 304L S30403 Bal 0.03 18 8 — — — 18
316L S31603 Bal 0.03 17 10 2 — — 24
904L N08904 Bal 0.02 20 25 4 — Cu 34
6XN N08367 Bal 0.02 20 25 6 0.2 — 43
1925 N08926 Bal 0.02 20 25 6 0.2 Cu 43
254 S31254 Bal 0.02 20 18 6 0.2 Cu 43
Duplex 2205 S32205 Bal 0.02 22 5 3 0.17 — 35
2507 S32750 Bal 0.02 25 7 3.7 0.27 — >40
Z100 S32760 Bal 0.02 25 7 3.5 0.25 Cu, W >40
Bal, balance.
a
PREN = %Cr + 3.3(%Mo + 0.5 × %W) + 16 × %N.
steel, as well as excellent ductility and toughness. These Stainless steels with a slightly reduced nickel content
alloys are available in a wide range of product forms and exhibit both austenite and ferrite phases and are termed
thicknesses. The alloys are fully weldable, provided the duplex stainless steels. Modern duplex alloys are roughly
carbon content is less than 0.03%, although alloys up to 50/50 austenite/ferrite and contain high chromium and
0.05% carbon have been welded without significant prob- nitrogen additions as well as molybdenum (Table 2).
lems. Austenitic stainless steels come in a wide range of Nitrogen is very important because it improves weldability,
compositions and the corrosion resistance increases as the strength, and corrosion resistance. Duplex alloys are mostly
chromium, molybdenum, and nitrogen contents increase used in the as-welded condition and are welded with a
(Table 2). matching filler containing an extra 2–4% nickel, so that the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe145
4 General
fast cooling weld metal retains the 50/50 phase balance. service to have a PREN > 40. This requirement is also incor-
The duplex alloys have high strength (1.5–2.0 times that of porated into some of the major oil companies’ technical spec-
austenitic grades) and good corrosion resistance, and for ifications. It can be seen in Table 1 that only the superduplex
every austenitic alloy, there is a duplex alloy with similar and 6%Mo austenitic alloys meet this requirement (Figure 2).
corrosion resistance and higher strength. The high strength In the marine atmosphere, 304L can suffer pitting unless it
means that thinner sections and lighter designs are possible is washed down regularly to remove salt buildup. Alloy 316L
with duplex alloys. performs better (Needham et al., 1987), but even this alloy
Austenitic and duplex stainless steels are widely used in the can suffer some minor pitting if salt deposits are allowed to
marine environment and are readily available in a wide range build up.
of product forms and thicknesses. Heat treatment of these Table 3 shows some of the common applications of stain-
alloys requires care to avoid the formation of deleterious less steels in the marine environment. Figure 2 shows a large
third phases such as sigma, chi, nitrides, and alpha prime superduplex stainless steel seawater lift pump. For more
(Francis and Hebdon, 2015). details on the corrosion of stainless steels in marine environ-
The corrosion resistance of stainless steels, in the correctly ments and its prevention, consult Powell and Francis (2012).
heat-treated condition, is commonly assessed by the pitting
resistance equivalent number or PREN where
PREN = %Cr + 3.3(%Mo + 0.5 × %W) + 16 × %N (1) 4 NICKEL ALLOYS
This is an empirical formula, but it has been shown to be There are three main groups of nickel alloys, Ni-Mo, Ni-Cu,
related to the crevice corrosion resistance of stainless steels and Ni-Cr-Mo. The former are only used in the chemical
in warm (25–35∘ C) seawater (Kovach and Redmond, 1993). industry. The most common Ni-Cu alloys are alloy 400 and
The authors concluded that to resist crevice corrosion in the high strength version, K-500 (Table 4). The latter has
warm seawater, a ferritic stainless steel needed a PREN > 36 additions of aluminum and titanium, which form a strength-
(super ferritic), a duplex alloy a PREN > 40 (superduplex), ening precipitate on heat treatment. With a 0.2% proof
and an austenitic alloy a PREN > 43 (super austenitic). This stress of ∼725 MPa, the alloy has good ductility, but the
has been supported by numerous crevice corrosion studies ductility decreases as the strength is further increased by heat
where only alloys meeting these criteria suffered no crevice treatment.
corrosion (Shone, Malpas, and Gallagher, 1988; Francis, The nickel–copper alloys have been around for over 60
1987; Kain, 1997). This is enshrined into standards such years and have been widely used in marine applications, as
as NORSOK, the Norwegian oil and gas standard, which shown in Table 5. It is important to realize that while Ni-Cu
requires all austenitic and duplex stainless steels for seawater alloys have a low general corrosion rate, they are suscep-
tible to crevice corrosion and pitting in seawater. These
are not common modes of failure because they are often
coupled to more active metals that confer galvanic protec-
tion, such as iron, steel, and copper alloys. The pitting and
crevice corrosion will become more severe if the alloys are
coupled to more noble metals, such as high alloy stain-
less steels, titanium, and nickel–chromium–molybdenum
alloys (Mo > 7%) (Francis, 2001). If the Ni-Cu alloys are
used subsea with cathodic protection, such that hydrogen is
evolved, they will suffer from hydrogen embrittlement and
there have been service failures of K-500 bolts (Francis,
2001, 2006).
The Ni-Cr-Mo alloys are fully austenitic with moderate
strength, good ductility, and toughness in the solution
annealed (SA) condition and their nominal compositions are
shown in Table 4. Where higher strengths are required, there
are some heat-treatable alloys (HT), which are also shown
Figure 2. Superduplex stainless steel pump used to handle in Table 4. Depending on the heat treatment, these alloys
seawater with a high sand content. (Reproduced with permission can achieve 0.2% proof stresses from ∼700 to >1000 MPa,
from Rolled Alloys. © Rolled Alloys, 2015.) but the ductility decreases as the strength increases.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe145
Table 3. Some common applications of stainless steels in the marine environment.

Conditions Alloy Applications
Marine atmospheres 316L, Instrumentation tubing, electrical connectors, instrument housings, rebar in
Superduplex concrete, handrails, cable trays, platform module cladding, fasteners, and
boat hardware
17-4PH High strength fasteners
Seawater with galvanic protection 316L, Tube sheets, hull-mounted equipment, pump impellers, valves, stems and
2205 trim, fasteners for Al and steel, and pump shafts
2205 Thermal desalination plants, subsea flow lines, and instrumentation tubing
Seawater without galvanic protection 904L Thermal desalination plants (pipes, trays, and spray heads)
6%Mo Power plant condensers, condenser tubing, firewater, seawater and ballast
pipes, pumps, valves, and reverse osmosis desalination
Superduplex High pressure seawater injection pumps, seawater and firewater pumps,
shafting, propellers, retractable bow plane systems, seawater piping,
valves, fasteners, heat exchanger tubes and tube sheets, umbilicals and RO
desalination piping
Super ferritic Power plant condenser tubing
Deaerated brines 316L MSF desalination flash chamber lining and water injection tubing
2205
Table 4. Nominal composition of some nickel alloys commonly used in the marine environment.
Type Generic Name UNS No. Nominal Composition (wt.%) PRENa
Ni Fe Cr Mo Cu Al Other
Ni-Cu Alloy 400 N04400 65 2 — — Bal — — NA
K-500 N05500 65 1.5 — — Bal 3 Al, Ti NA
Ni-Cr-Mo (SA) 825 N08825 40 Bal 21 3 2 — — 31
625 N06625 Bal 3 21 8.5 — — Nb 48
C-276 N10276 Bal 5 15 15 — — W, V 70
C-22 N06022 Bal 1 22 13.5 — — W, V 72
59 N06059 Bal 1 23 16 — 0.3 — 76
686 N06686 Bal 2 21 16 1 — W 80
2000 N06200 Bal 2 23 16 1.6 — — 76
Ni-Cr-Mo (HT) 718 N00718 53 Bal 18 3 — 0.6 Nb, Ti 28
925 N09925 42 Bal 21 3 2 0.3 Ti 31
725 N07725 57 Bal 21 8 — 0.3 Nb, Ti 47
Bal, balance; NA, not applicable.
a PREN = %Cr + 3.3(%Mo + 0.5 × %W) + 16 × %N.
Table 5. Some common applications of nickel alloys in the marine environment.

Alloy Type Alloy Applications
Ni-Cu Alloy 400 Propeller shafts, fasteners and connectors, demisters, pump and valve components, splash zone
leg and riser sheathing, and seawater piping
Alloy K-500 Pump and propeller shafts, valves and controls, and fasteners
Ni-Cr-Mo (SA) Alloy 825 Expansion bellows, valves, exhaust systems, and flow lines
Alloy 718 Fasteners, springs, marine turbines, and pump shafts
Alloy 625 Weld overlays, valves, fasteners, springs, seawater systems, pump shafts, and expansion bellows
Alloy C-276 Heat exchangers
Alloy C-22 Heat exchangers, aggressive conditions
Alloy 59 Heat exchangers, aggressive conditions, and weld overlays
Alloy 686 Acidic seawater, high strength fasteners, and welding superduplex in aggressive conditions
Alloy 2000 Heat exchangers, aggressive conditions
Ni-Cr-Mo (HT) Alloy 718 Fasteners, springs, marine turbines, and pump shafts
Alloy 925 High strength fasteners, and pump shafts
Alloy 725 High strength fasteners, and pump shafts
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe145
6 General
low general corrosion rate in seawater and excellent resis-

tance to marine fouling (Francis, 2010). In addition, the
different alloy groups have other useful properties such
as high strength (Ni-Al bronze, Cu-Ni-Al, Cu-Be), good
spring properties (phosphor bronze), good resistance to
erosion corrosion (Cu-Ni, Cu-Ni-Cr), good bearing proper-
ties (Cu-Sn-Pb), and good castability (gunmetals). This is
demonstrated by the wide range of marine uses in Table 8.
The other factor with copper alloys is that many of the
cast alloys have very different compositions to the wrought
alloys, as shown in Tables 6 and 7.
The brasses are the lowest cost copper alloys. Up to about
38% zinc, the brasses are single phase and very ductile, and
dezincification (selective attack of the zinc) can be prevented
Figure 3. HASTELLOY® C-2000® nickel alloy plate for
by a small addition of arsenic. From 40% zinc upward,
seawater-cooled plate heat exchanger. (Photo Courtesy of Haynes the brasses are two-phase, alpha and beta, and arsenic will
International.) not stop the beta phase dezincifying, although tin will slow
it down. Two-phase brasses are stronger than single phase
and have traditionally been used for tube sheets, which are
Table 5 shows that the Ni-Cr-Mo alloys have a wide range thick, so that dezincification is not an issue. Additions of
of uses in the marine environment, and as the environment other elements, such as manganese and iron, produce the
becomes more aggressive, it is necessary to select a more manganese bronzes, which are really high tensile brasses,
highly alloyed grade. The PREN formula 1 applies to with good mechanical properties, but they readily dezincify
nickel alloys as it does to stainless steels, although nickel in seawater.
alloys usually have no nitrogen addition. As with stainless The bronzes are traditionally alloys of copper and tin,
steels, PREN > 40 is required to resist crevice corrosion but alloys of copper–aluminum and copper–silicon are
under immersed conditions in seawater (Shone, Malpas, and also known as bronzes, because of their similar metallur-
Gallagher, 1988). Hence, alloys 718, 825, and 925 can suffer gical properties. These alloys have moderate strength that
crevice corrosion, while alloys 625, 725, and higher alloys increases with higher alloying and they are also ductile
are resistant to high temperatures in seawater (Figure 3). and weldable. They are readily forged and are generally
The nickel alloys described above are fully weldable and available in a wide range of product forms. They also have
are usually welded with matching consumables. With the good corrosion resistance, which is discussed at length by
Ni-Cr-Mo alloys, the weld metal has a dendritic structure Francis (2010).
with zones depleted in molybdenum and thus of lower corro- The copper–nickel alloys are single phase and are
sion resistance. Sometimes this is of no consequence, but frequently used where increased resistance to erosion
when corrosion resistance is paramount, it may be necessary corrosion is required, for example, in heat exchanger tubes.
to use a higher alloy filler. Hence, alloy 825 may be welded They are alloyed with iron to improve erosion corrosion
with 625 filler and 625 with C-22 filler. resistance and the 70/30 copper–nickel alloy with 2% iron
Weld overlays are common using nickel alloy consum- and 2% manganese was developed to give increased resis-
ables to enhance the corrosion resistance of a less resistant tance to erosion corrosion to heat exchanger tubes in the
substrate. Alloy 625 is widely used as an overlay on both steel presence of suspended solids and silt in seawater (Francis,
and low alloy stainless steels to enhance the marine corro- 2010) (Figure 4).
sion resistance of specific components in the wetted areas. Admiralty brass and aluminum brass were once very
For more information on the corrosion of nickel alloys in common for seawater heat exchanger tubes, but they have
seawater, see Powell and Francis (2012). largely been superseded by the copper–nickel alloys. 90/10
copper–nickel is the most widely used because of its lower
cost, ready availability, and excellent resistance to marine
5 COPPER ALLOYS fouling. It is also used as cladding on steel for such items
as water boxes and risers.
Copper and its alloys have been used in marine environments The copper alloys are very ductile but have only
for hundreds of years because of the useful combination moderate strength. Where higher strength is required,
of properties of this alloy family. Copper alloys have a nickel–aluminum–bronze is common, as are the Cu-Ni-Al
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe145
Table 6. The nominal composition of some wrought copper alloys commonly used in the marine environment.
Type Generic Name UNS No. Nominal Composition (wt%)
Cu Zn Ni Fe Mn Al Sn Other
Brass Admiralty brass C44300 70 Bal — — — — 1 As
Aluminum brass C68700 76 Bal — — — 2 — As
DZR brass C35330 62 Bal — — — — — As, Pb
Mn-Bronze C67500 58 Bal — 0.8 1.5 1 0.7 Pb
Muntz metal C28000 60 Bal — — — — — Pb
Naval brass C46400 61 Bal — — — — 1 —
Bronze Phosphor Bronze C52100 Bal — — — — — 7 P
C51000 Bal — — — — — 5 P
Silicon bronze C65500 Bal — — — 1 — — Si
Aluminum bronze C61400 Bal — — 2.5 — 7 — —
Nickel–aluminum bronze C63200 Bal — 5 4.5 — 9 — —
Copper-nickel 90/10 C70600 Bal — 10 1.5 1 — — —
70/30 C71500 Bal — 30 0.7 0.7 — — —
66/30/2/2 C71640 Bal — 30 2 2 — — —
Cu-Ni-Cr a
Bal — 30 0.8 0.8 — — Cr
C72200 Bal — 16 0.7 0.7 — — Cr
High strength Cu-alloys Cu-Ni-Al C72420 Bal — 18 0.8 4 2 — Nb
Cu-Ni-Sn C72900 Bal — 15 — — — 8 —
Cu-Be C17200 Bal — — — — — — Be
a
No UNS number. Complies with UK Def Stan 02-824.
Table 7. The nominal composition of some cast copper alloys commonly used in the marine environment.
Generic Name UNS No. Nominal Composition (wt%)
Cu Zn Ni Fe Al Sn Other
Phosphor bronze C90700 Bal — — — — 10 P
Leaded bronze C93700 Bal — — — — 10 Pb, P
Admiralty gunmetal C90600 Bal 2 — — — 10 Pb
LG2 Gunmetal C83600 Bal 5 — — — 5 Pb
LG4 Gunmetal C92410 Bal 2 — — — 7 Pb
M Bronze C92200 Bal 4 — — — 6 Pb
Al-bronze C95200 87 — — 3 9 — —
Nickel-Al bronze C95800 80 — 4.5 4 9 — —
Bal, balance.
alloys, which can be heat treated to give a 0.2% proof very important and not all wires are compatible with all
stress of 725 MPa, equivalent to B7 steel, a common bolting copper alloys. Francis (2010) discusses the options for the
alloy. The copper–nickel–tin alloys can also be heat treated common copper alloys to obtain adequate corrosion resis-
to similar strengths, but the Cu-Ni-Al alloys are more tance. When welding, it is common to use a matching filler,
often used. Where even higher strength is required, the but there are some alloys where an alternative is preferred,
copper–beryllium alloy is often chosen, because it is also to obtain corrosion resistance of the weld similar to the
very resistant to galling. Typical marine applications of all parent metal, such as the use of 70/30 Cu-Ni filler with
the copper alloys are shown in Table 8. 90/10 copper–nickel (Francis, 2010).
The gunmetals (Cu-Sn-Zn-Pb) are traditional cast copper Copper alloys have two drawbacks in terms of corrosion.
alloys and have long been used for pump cases, impellers, The first of these is that their resistance to erosion corrosion is
and valve bodies. Where improved resistance to high veloci- limited, and it is important to design with the velocity limits
ties is required or higher strength, nickel–aluminum–bronze of these alloys in mind (Francis, 2010). Secondly, some of
has become the preferred casting alloy. the commonly used copper alloys, such as copper–nickel
All the copper alloys, except the high strength ones and nickel–aluminum–bronze, are particularly susceptible to
in Table 7, are readily joined by soldering, brazing, or pitting in the presence of sulfides, such as are produced by
welding. With brazing, the choice of wire composition is anaerobic bacteria under stagnant conditions. For a more
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe145
8 General
nomenclature for these alloys is that devised by the

Aluminum Association, which uses a four-digit number
for each alloy, with the first digit defining a basic alloy type.
These are as follows:
1xxx—Pure aluminum
2xxx—Aluminum–copper
3xxx—Aluminum–manganese
4xxx—Aluminum–silicon
5xxx—Aluminum–magnesium
6xxx—Aluminum–magnesium–silicon
7xxx—Aluminum–zinc
8xxx—Aluminum–other elements, for example, lithium
In the UNS numbering system, the alloys are denoted by

Figure 4. 90/10 copper–nickel piping on a ship deck. (Reproduced the letter A followed by a five-figure number. The first figure
with permission from Eucaro Buntmetall GmbH. © Eucaro Bunt- denotes the type of product, for example, 9 means wrought,
metall GmbH, 2015.)
followed by the four digits of the Aluminum Association
designation.
detailed discussion of the corrosion problems with copper Only a few of these alloys are used in seawater, because
alloys and how to overcome them, see Francis (2010). many of the alloy groups are susceptible to localized corro-
sion (pitting or SCC) in seawater. The most common marine
6 ALUMINUM ALLOYS alloys are the 5xxx series, because of their low general corro-
sion rate in seawater and their resistance to pitting and SCC.
Aluminum is light weight and some of its alloys have The 6xxx alloys are also used in seawater where higher
good resistance to corrosion in seawater. The common strength is required. The nominal compositions of some
Table 8. Some common applications of copper alloys in the marine environment.

Alloy Group Alloy Type Applications
Copper PDO Copper tubing, nails
Brass Al-brass Heat exchanger tubing and seawater piping
Naval brass/Muntz metal Tube sheets
DZR brass Through-hull fittings
Mn-bronze (cast and wrought) Shackles, cabin fittings, propellers, shafts, deck fittings, and yacht winches
Bronze Phosphor bronze Springs, bearings, gears, fasteners, rods, and slides
Silicon bronze Fasteners (screws, nuts, bolts, washers, pin, lag bolts), staples, and cages
(Aluminum bronze Shafts, bushing, bearings, fasteners, and tube sheets
Ni-Al bronze)
Bronze/gunmetal castings (Phosphor bronze Pump cases and impellers, valves, stern tubes, deck fittings, gears,
Admiralty gunmetal bearings, bollards, and fairleads
LG2, LG4
Aluminum bronze
Ni-Al bronze)
Leaded bronze Plain bearings
Copper-nickel 90/10, 70/30, 66/30/2/2 Heat exchanger tubing, seawater piping, and MSF desalination tubing
90/10 Cladding for risers and platform legs, lining for water boxes and tube
plates, and fish cages
Cu-Ni-Cr Seawater piping and valves
High strength Cu-Ni Cu-Ni-Al Shafts, drive bearings, stab plate connectors, bolting, pump and valve trim,
and gears
Cu-Ni-Sn Bearings, drill components, subsea connectors, actuators, subsea
manifold, and ROV lock-on connectors
Cu-beryllium Cu-Be Springs, drill components, subsea housings, subsea valve parts, and BOP
locking rings
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe145
Table 9. Nominal composition of some wrought aluminum alloys commonly used in the marine environment.
Type UNS No. Nominal Composition (wt%)
Al Mg Si Mn Cu Cr Zr
5xxx A95083 Bal 4.5 0.4a 0.7 0.1a 0.15 —
A95086 Bal 4.0 0.4a 0.4 0.1a 0.15 —
A95754 Bal 3.0 0.4a 0.5a 0.1a 0.3a —
A95456 Bal 5.0 0.25a 0.7 0.1a 0.1 —
A95059 Bal 5.5 0.4a 0.9 0.25a 0.25a 0.15
A95383 Bal 4.5 0.25a 0.8 0.1a 0.15 0.2a
6xxx A96005 Bal 0.5 0.7 0.5a 0.3a 0.3a —
A96061 Bal 1.0 0.6 0.15a 0.3 0.2 —
A96082 Bal 0.9 1.0 0.7 0.1a 0.25a —
Bal, balance.
a
Maximum.
Table 10. Some common applications of aluminum alloys in the marine environment.
Type UNS No. Applications
5083/5086 (A95083 Yachts, fishing boats, pleasure craft, customs vessels, and police boats
A95086)
5086 A95086 Liquefied natural gas storage containers
6005A/6061 (A96005 Gangways, pontoons, catwalks, ladders, and helidecks
A96061)
5086/6082 (A95086 Fin tube heat exchangers
A96082)
aluminum alloys commonly used in the marine environment environment is included in Powell and Francis (2012).
are shown in Table 9. Figure 5 shows an aluminium alloy heli-deck on an offshore
The heat treatment of aluminum alloys is very important platform.
as it controls the strength, but as they get stronger, their Aluminum alloys can be welded by conventional arc
susceptibility to SCC can increase, such as the 7xxx alloys. welding processes and also by friction stir welding. The
A further designation is used with aluminum alloys to denote choice of filler requires care depending on the strength and
the heat treatment condition, which takes the form of a corrosion resistance required in the joint. This is discussed
suffix following the alloy number and up to three numbers. in more detail by Powell and Francis (2012).
For non-heat treatable alloys, this is designated by Hxxx
(e.g., 5083-H321). For heat treatable alloys, it is denoted by
Txxx (e.g., 6082-T6), while for unhardened or fully annealed
products, the temper is given by O (e.g., 5086-O). 7 TITANIUM ALLOYS
Aluminum alloys can be produced as castings or as hot- or
cold-worked wrought products. However, there are signifi- Titanium and its alloys have a very protective oxide film
cant differences in the properties of wrought and cast prod- that gives them excellent resistance to corrosion in seawater.
ucts, because the as-cast microstructure has low strength The only factor holding back their wider use is cost, and
and ductility. The wrought structure is recrystallized giving titanium alloys tend to be chosen when the duty is arduous
improved mechanical and engineering properties. Table 10 and reliability is paramount.
shows some typical marine uses of aluminium alloys. Some grades that are used in the marine environment are
Aluminum alloys are favored because of their high shown in Table 11. The most commonly used grades are 2
strength-to-weight ratio as well as their good corro- and 5, but there are occasions when other alloys are better.
sion resistance and relatively low cost. However, it is Grades 1, 2, and 3 are commercial purity (CP) titanium with
important to consider their properties fully at the design varying oxygen contents and the ductility decreases as the
stage to take advantage of these properties without oxygen content increases. Hence, grade 1 is preferred for
introducing new possible failure mechanisms, such as plate heat exchanger sheets because of the ease of forming
fatigue. A more detailed discussion of aluminum alloys, the complex shape (Figure 6). Table 12 shows some common
design considerations, and their corrosion in the marine applications of titanium alloys in seawater.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe145
10 General
Figure 5. Aluminum alloy helicopter deck on an offshore platform. (Reproduced with permission from Aluminium Offshore. © Aluminium
Offshore.)
Table 11. Nominal composition of some titanium alloys commonly used in the marine environment.
Type Grade UNS No. Nominal Composition (wt%)
Ti O2 Mo Ni Al V Pd Ru
Alpha 1 R50250 Bal 0.18 — — — — — —
2 R50400 Bal 0.25 — — — — — —
3 R50550 Bal 0.35 — — — — — —
7 R52400 Bal 0.25 — — — — 0.15 —
9 R56320 Bal 0.1 — — 3 2.5 — —
11 R52250 Bal 0.18 — — — — 0.15 —
12 R53400 Bal 0.25 0.3 0.8 — — — —
Alpha–beta 5 R56400 Bal 0.20 — — 6 4 — —
23 R56407 Bal 0.13 — — 6 4 — —
29 R56404 Bal 0.13 — — 6 4 — 0.1
Bal, balance.
CP titanium has good resistance to crevice corrosion in Where thicker plates are required, it would be very costly
seawater, but for very demanding applications, such as to buy material 50 mm or more thick and titanium-clad
temperatures above 70∘ C or very high chloride concentra- steel is commonly used instead. This is used, for example,
tions, grades 7, 11, 12, or 26 give improved performance. for the tube sheets in tube and shell heat exchangers with
Where extra strength is required, alloying with aluminum titanium tubes and can also be considered for the water
and vanadium produces alloys that gradually change from all boxes, although special care is needed when fabricating
alpha to alpha/beta structure as the alloy content is increased. titanium-clad steel.
Of these alloys, grade 5 is the most popular, and if the appli- Titanium and its alloys have a high strength-to-weight
cation is too demanding for this grade, it can be replaced with ratio, but it is important to design for titanium from the
grade 29, which contains ruthenium for extra corrosion resis- beginning if failures are to be avoided. For example, the
tance. The strength of these two phase alloys is high with fatigue resistance of titanium is not as high as for many other
0.2% proof stresses exceeding 750 MPa in all grades, and alloys, and it needs more baffles in a tube and shell heat
exceeding 800 MPa for grade 5. exchanger than one with copper alloy or stainless steel tubes,
Titanium is very difficult to cast, but there are a few to prevent fatigue.
foundries that can do it satisfactorily, although castings are Titanium and its alloys are readily welded by all the arc
costly. Grade 5 is the standard casting alloy, and it has been processes, either with matching filler or autogenously. It is
used as castings of moderate size for pumps and valves. To important to keep the joint being welded clean and oxygen
date, it is not possible to produce castings as large as stainless very low to avoid heat tinting, which reduces the performance
steels, where a finished weight of 5 tonnes is not uncommon. of welds. Hence, shop welds in titanium by experienced
Depending on the foundry, the limit for titanium castings is fabricators are very good, but good quality field welds are
usually 1 to 2 tonnes finished weight. more difficult to achieve.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe145
Table 12. Some common applications of titanium alloys in the marine environment.
Grade UNS No. Applications
1 R50250 Plate heat exchangers
2 R50400 Heat exchanger tubing, seawater piping systems, clad tube sheets, electrolytic chlorinators, and
valves
3/9/23 R50550/R56320/R56407 Deep diving submersibles and research vehicles (buoyancy spheres, pressure vessels, framework,
and piping
5 R56400 Pumps and valves, fasteners, submarine sonar masses/plates
Francis, R. (2006) The Selection of Materials for Seawater Cooling

Systems: A Practical Guide for Engineers, NACE International.
Francis, R. (2010) The Corrosion of Copper and Its Alloys; a Prac-
tical Guide for Engineers, NACE International.
Francis, R. and Hebdon, S. (2015) The Selection of Stainless Steels for
Seawater Pumps. Corrosion 2015, Dallas, TX, USA, March 2015,
NACE International.
Kain, R.M. (1997) Crevice Corrosion Resistance of Duplex Stainless
Steels in Chloride-Containing Waters. Duplex Stainless Steel ‘97,
Maastricht, Holland, Oct 1997, pp. 1–627, KCI.
Kovach, C.W. and Redmond, J.D. (1993) Correlations Between
the Critical Crevice Temperature, PRE Number and Long Term
Crevice Corrosion Data for Stainless Steel. Corrosion ‘93 New
Orleans, USA, March 1993, Paper No. 267, NACE International.
Needham, N.G., Freeman, P.F., Wilkinson, J., and Chapman, J. (1987)
Atmospheric Corrosion Resistance of Stainless Steels. Stainless
Steel ’87, York, UK, Sept 1987, IOM, pp. 1–215.
Powell, C. and Francis, R. (eds) (2012) The Corrosion Performance
of Metals for the Marine Environment: A Basic Guide. European
Federation of Corrosion and NACE International Joint Publication
Number 63.
Shone, E.B., Malpas, R.E., and Gallagher, P. (1988) Stainless steels
as replacement materials for copper alloys in seawater handling
systems. Transactions of the Institute of Marine Engineers, 100,
193.
Smith, W.F. and Hashemi, J. (2001) Foundations of Material Science
and Engineering, 4th edn, McGraw-Hill.
Vincent, L.D. (2012) Marine Coatings User’s Handbook, NACE
Figure 6. Titanium grade 1 plate heat exchanger. (Reproduced with International.
permission from SPX FLOW, Inc. © 2015.)
Vincent, L.D. and Munger, C.G. (2014) Corrosion Prevention by
Protective Coatings, 3rd edn, NACE International.
The properties of titanium and its alloys and its perfor-
mance in the marine environment are reviewed at greater
length by Powell and Francis (2012).
FURTHER READING
REFERENCES Powell, C. and Francis, R. (eds) (2012) The Corrosion Performance

of Metals for the Marine Environment: A Basic Guide, European
Federation of Corrosion publication No. 63, Maney Publishing.
Degarmo, P.E., Black, J.T., and Kohser, R.A. (2007) Materials and Francis, R. (2006) The Selection of Materials for Seawater Cooling
Processes in Manufacturing, 10th edn, John Wiley & Sons. Systems; A Practical Guide for Engineers, NACE International.
Francis, R. (1987) Effects of Chlorine on Corrosion of High Alloy Francis, R. (2010) The Corrosion of Copper and Its Alloys; A Prac-
Stainless Steels in Seawater. Stainless Steel ’87, York, UK, Sept tical Guide for Engineers, NACE International.
1987, IOM, pp. 1–192.
Francis, R. (2001) Galvanic Corrosion; a Practical Guide for Engi-
neers, NACE International.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe145
Characteristics of Viscous, Rotational and Irrotational
Flows
Toshio Funada
Numazu College of Technology, Numazu, Japan
flow of a viscous fluid is required to satisfy prescribed condi-

1 Part I. Helmholtz Decomposition 1 tions, like the no-slip condition at the boundary of a solid or
2 Part II. Capillary Instability 4 continuity conditions across a two-fluid boundary. It can be
3 Remarks on Part I and II 14 said that equations governing the Helmholtz decomposition
describe the modification of irrotational flow due to vorticity,
References 14
but the analysis shows that the two fields are coupled and
cannot be completely determined independently.
1.1 Helmholtz decomposition

1 PART I. HELMHOLTZ
DECOMPOSITION The Helmholtz decomposition theorem says that every
smooth vector field u, defined everywhere in space and
In this article, presented is the form of the Navier–Stokes vanishing at infinity together with its first derivatives, can be
equations implied by the Helmholtz decomposition in which decomposed into a rotational part v and an irrotational part
the relation of the irrotational and rotational velocity fields ∇𝜙.
is made explicit. The idea of self-equilibration of irrota-
tional viscous stresses is introduced. The decomposition is u = v + ∇𝜙 (1)
constructed by first selecting the irrotational flow compatible
with the flow boundaries and other prescribed conditions. where
The rotational component of velocity is then the difference
between the solution of the Navier–Stokes equations and ∇ ⋅ u = ∇ ⋅ v + ∇2 𝜙 (2)
the selected irrotational flow. To satisfy the boundary condi-
∇×u=∇×v (3)
tions, the irrotational field is required, and it depends on the
viscosity. Five unknown fields are determined by the decom-
This decomposition leads to the theory of the vector poten-
posed form of the Navier–Stokes equations for an incom-
tial, which is not followed here. The decomposition is unique
pressible fluid: the three rotational component of velocity,
on unbounded domains without boundaries, and explicit
the pressure, and the harmonic potential. These five fields
formulas for the scalar and vector potentials are well known.
may be readily identified in analytic solutions available in the
A framework for embedding the study of potential flow of
literature. It is clear from these exact solutions that potential
viscous fluids, in which no special flow assumptions are
made, is suggested by the decomposition (Equation 1). If the
fields are solenoidal, then
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe073
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2
∇⋅u=∇⋅v=0 and ∇2 𝜙 = 0 (4)
2 General
Since 𝜙 is harmonic, we have from Equations 1 and 4 that that defines the Navier–Stokes system for u, it should be
possible to study this problem using exactly the same math-
∇2 u = ∇2 v (5) ematical tools that are used to study the Navier–Stokes
equations.
The irrotational part of u is on the null space of the Laplacian, In the Navier–Stokes theory for incompressible fluid, the
but in special cases, like plane shear flow, ∇2 v = 0, but solutions are decomposed into a space of gradients and its
∇ × v ≠ 0. complement, which is a space of solenoidal vectors. The
Unique decompositions are generated by solutions of the gradient space is not, in general, solenoidal because the
Navier–Stokes equation (6) in decomposed form equation (7) pressure is not solenoidal. If it were solenoidal, then ∇2 p =
where the irrotational flows satisfy Equations 1 and 3–5 and 0, but ∇2 p = −∇ ⋅ 𝜌u ⋅ ∇u satisfies Poisson’s equation.
certain boundary conditions. The boundary conditions for It is not true that only the pressure is found on the gradient
the irrotational flows have a heavy weight in all this. Simple space. Indeed, Equation (7) gives rise to a Poisson’s equation
examples of unique decomposition, taken from hydrody- for the Bernoulli function, not just the pressure.
namics, will be presented later. [ ] ( )
The decomposition of the velocity into rotational and irro- 𝜕𝜙 𝜌 𝜕2 𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜙
∇ 𝜌2
+ |∇𝜙| + p = −𝜌
2
v + vi + vi v j
tational parts holds at each and every point and varies from 𝜕t 2 𝜕xi 𝜕xj j 𝜕xi 𝜕xj
point to point in the flow domain. Various possibilities for
the balance of these parts at a fixed point and the distribution In fact, there may be hidden irrotational terms on the
of these balances from point to point can be considered as right-hand side of this equation.
follows: The boundary condition for solutions of Equation (6) is
u − a = 0 on 𝜕Ω, where a is solenoidal field such that a = V
1. The flow is purely irrotational or purely rotational. These on 𝜕Ω; hence
two possibilities do occur as approximations but are not
typical. v − a + ∇𝜙 = 0 (8)
2. Typically, the flow is mixed with rotational and irrota-
tional components at each point. The decomposition depends on the selection of the harmonic
function 𝜙; the traditional boundary condition n ⋅ a = n ⋅ ∇𝜙
(decomposed form; ∇𝜙) on 𝜕Ω together with a Dirichlet
1.2 Navier–Stokes equations for the
condition at infinity when the region of flow is unbounded
decomposition
and a prescription of the value of the circulation in doubly
connected regions gives rise to a unique 𝜙. Then, the rota-
To study solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations, it is
tional flow must satisfy
convenient to express the Navier–Stokes equations for an
incompressible fluid,
v⋅n=0 and eS ⋅ (v − a) + eS ⋅ ∇𝜙 = 0 (9)
du
𝜌 = −∇p + 𝜇∇2 u (6) on 𝜕Ω. The v determined in this way is rotational and satis-
dt
fies Equation (3) . However, v may contain other harmonic
in terms of the rotational and irrotational fields implied by components.
the Helmholtz decomposition, Purely rotational flows v have no harmonic components.
( ) Purely rotational velocities can be identified in the exact solu-
𝜕v 𝜕 𝜕𝜙 𝜌
𝜌 i+ 𝜌 + |∇𝜙|2 + p tions exhibited in the examples where the parts of the solution
𝜕t 𝜕xi 𝜕t 2 that are harmonic and the parts that are not are identified by
( )
𝜕 𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜙 inspection. Stokes flow, in which the purely irrotational flow
+𝜌 vj + vi + vi vj = 𝜇∇2 vi (7)
𝜕xj 𝜕xi 𝜕xj is identified by selecting a parameter 𝛼, is a good example.
We have a certain freedom in selecting the harmonic func-
satisfying Equation (4). tions used for the decomposition. It is possible to formulate
To solve this problem in a domain Ω, say, when the velocity problems of potential flow depending on a parameter, say
u = V is prescribed on 𝜕Ω, we would need to compute a for streaming flow around bodies that would give rise to the
solenoidal field v satisfying Equation (7) and a harmonic rotational flow in Stokes flow when the body is a sphere.
function 𝜙 satisfying ∇2 𝜙 = 0 such that v + ∇𝜙 = V on 𝜕Ω. However, in the general case in which explicit solutions
Since this system of five equations in five unknowns is just are absent and the potential flow is computed numerically,
the decomposed form of the four equations in four unknowns we have at present no way to identify a purely irrotational
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe073
Characteristics of Viscous, Rotational and Irrotational Flows 3
flow. The examples show the purely rotational flows exist Most flows have an irrotational viscous stress. The term 𝜇∇2 v
in special cases. It remains to be seen whether this concept in Equation (7) arises from the rotational part of the viscous
makes sense in a general theory. stress.
What is the value added to solutions of the Navier–Stokes The irrotational viscous stress 𝜏I = 2𝜇∇ ⊗ ∇𝜙 does not
equations (6) by solving them in the Helmholtz decomposed give rise to a force density term in Equation (7). The diver-
form equation (7)? Certainly it is not easier to solve for gence of 𝜏I vanishes on each and every point in the domain
five rather than four fields; if you cannot solve Equation V of flow. Even though an irrotational viscous stress exists,
(6), then you certainly cannot solve Equation (7). However, it does not produce a net force to drive motions. Moreover,
if the decomposed solution could be extracted from solu-
tions of Equation (6) or computed directly, then the form of ∇ ⋅ 𝜏I dV = n ⋅ 𝜏I dS = 0 (10)
the irrotational solution that is determined through coupling ∫ ∮
with the rotational solution and the changes in its distribu-
tion as the Reynolds number changes would be revealed. The traction vectors n ⋅ 𝜏I have no net resultant on each
There is nothing approximate about this; it is the correct and every closed surface in the domain V of flow. We say
description of the role of irrotational solutions in the theory that the irrotational viscous stresses, which do not drive
of the Navier–Stokes equations, and it looks different and is motions, are self-equilibrated. Irrotational viscous stresses
different than the topic “potential flow of an inviscid fluid,” are not equilibrated at boundaries, and they may produce
which we all learned in school. forces there.
The form equation (7) of the Navier–Stokes equations may
be well suited to the study of boundary layers of vorticity 1.4 Dissipation function for the decomposed
with irrotational flow of viscous fluid outside. It is conjec- motion
tured that in such layers v ≠ 0, while v is relatively small
in the irrotational viscous flow outside. Rotational and irro- The dissipation function evaluated on the decomposed field
tational flows are coupled in the mixed inertial term on the equation (1) sorts out into rotational, mixed, and irrotational
left of Equation (7). The irrotational flow does not vanish in terms given by
the boundary layers, and the rotational flow, although small,
probably will not be zero in the irrotational viscous flow Φ= 2𝜇Dij Dij dV
outside. This feature is also in Prandtl’s theory of boundary ∫V
layers, but that theory is not rigorous, and the irrotational 𝜕2𝜙
part is, so to say, inserted by hand and is not coupled to the = 2𝜇Dij [v]Dij [v]dV + 4𝜇 Dij [v] dV
∫ ∫ 𝜕xi 𝜕xj
rotational flow at the boundary. The coupling terms are of
considerable interest, and they should play strongly in the 𝜕2𝜙 𝜕2𝜙
+ 2𝜇 dV (11)
region of small vorticity at the edge of the boundary layer. ∫ 𝜕xi 𝜕xj 𝜕xi 𝜕xj
For the action of irrotational flow in the exact boundary layer
solution of Hiemenz (1911) for steady two-dimensional (2D) Most flows have an irrotational viscous dissipation. In
flow toward a “stagnation point” at a rigid body (Batch- regions V ′ where v is small, we have approximately that
elor, 1967) and Hamel (1917) flow (Batchelor, 1967; Landau
and Lifshitz, 1987) in diverging and converging channels in T = −p𝟏 + 2𝜇∇ ⊗ ∇𝜙 (12)
the Helmholtz decomposed form, refer to the original paper
(Joseph, 2006a). and
Effects on boundary layers on rigid solids arising from the 𝜕2𝜙 𝜕2𝜙
viscosity of the fluid in the irrotational flow outside have been Φ = 2𝜇 dV (13)
∫ 𝜕xi 𝜕xj 𝜕xi 𝜕xj
considered without the decomposition by Wang and Joseph
(2006a,b) and Padrino and Joseph (2006). Equation (13) has been widely used to study viscous effects
in irrotational flows since Stokes in 1851 (in Joseph (2006b),
1.3 Self-equilibration of the irrotational viscous “historical notes”).
stress
1.5 Irrotational flow and boundary conditions
The stress in a Newtonian incompressible fluid is given by
How is the irrotational flow determined? It frequently
T = −p𝟏 + 𝜇(∇u + ∇uT ) = −p1 + 𝜇(∇v + ∇vT ) + 2𝜇∇ ⊗ ∇𝜙 happens that the rotational motion cannot satisfy the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe073
4 General
boundary conditions; this well-known problem is associated For recent studies on gravity waves for viscous poten-
with difficulties in forming boundary conditions for the tial theory, refer to Padrino and Joseph (2007) and Dias,
vorticity. The potential 𝜙 is a harmonic function, which can Dyachenko, and Zakharov (2008).
be selected so that the values of the sum of the rotational
and irrotational fields can be chosen to balance prescribed
conditions at the boundary. The allowed irrotational fields 2 PART II. CAPILLARY INSTABILITY
can be selected from harmonic functions that enter into the
purely irrotational solution of the same problem on the same Capillary instability of a viscous fluid cylinder of diameter
domain. A very important property of potential flow arises D surrounded by another fluid is determined by a Reynolds
from the fact that irrotational viscous stresses do not give number J = VD𝜌𝓁 ∕𝜇𝓁 , a viscosity ratio m = 𝜇a ∕𝜇𝓁 , and a
rise to irrotational viscous forces in the equations of motion density ratio 𝓁 = 𝜌a ∕𝜌𝓁 . Here, V = 𝛾∕𝜇𝓁 is the capillary
equation (7). The interior values of the rotational velocity collapse velocity based on the more viscous liquid that may
are coupled to the irrotational motion through Bernoulli be inside or outside the fluid cylinder. Results of linearized
terms evaluated on the potential and inertial terms that analysis based on potential flow of a viscous and inviscid
couple the irrotational and rotational fields. The dependence fluid are compared with the unapproximated normal mode
of the irrotational field on viscosity can be generated by the analysis of the linearized Navier–Stokes equations. The
boundary conditions. growth rates for the inviscid fluid are largest, the growth rates
of the fully viscous problem are smallest and those of VPF
1.6 Viscous decay of free gravity waves are between. We find that the results from all three theories
converge when J is large with reasonable agreement between
Flows that depend on only two space variables such as plane viscous potential and fully viscous flow with J > O(10). The
flows or axisymmetric flows admit a stream function. convergence results apply to two liquids as well as to liquid
Lamb (1932) calculated an exact solution of the problem and gas.
of the viscous decay of free gravity waves as a free-surface
problem of this type. He decomposed the solution into a 2.1 Introduction
stream function 𝜓 and potential function 𝜙, and the solution
is given by Capillary instability of a liquid cylinder of mean radius R
leading to capillary collapse can be described as a neckdown
⎧ 𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜓 𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜓 due to surface tension 𝛾 in which fluid is ejected from the
⎪ u = 𝜕x + 𝜕y , v=
𝜕y
−
𝜕x
,
throat of the neck, leading to a smaller neck and greater
⎨ p 𝜕𝜙 (14)
⎪ 𝜌 = − 𝜕t − gy neckdown capillary force as seen in the diagram in Figure 1.
⎩ The dynamical theory of instability of a long cylindrical
column of liquid of radius R under the action of capillary
where
force was given by Rayleigh (1879) following earlier work
𝜕𝜓 by Plateau (1873) who showed that a long cylinder of liquid
∇2 𝜙 = 0, = 𝜈∇2 𝜓 (15)
𝜕t is unstable to disturbances with wavelengths greater than
2𝜋R. Rayleigh showed that the effect of inertia is such that
This decomposition is a Helmholtz decomposition; it can the wavelength 𝜆 corresponding to the mode of maximum
be said that Lamb solved this problem in the Helmholtz instability is 𝜆 = 4.51 × 2R, exceeding very considerably the
formulation. circumference of the cylinder. The idea that the wave length
Wang and Joseph (2006c) constructed a purely irrotational associated with fastest growing growth rate would become
solution of this problem, which is in very good agreement
with the exact solution. The potential in the Lamb solution is
not the same as the potential in the purely irrotational solu- r = R+η
tion because they satisfy different boundary conditions. It is
worth noting that viscous potential flow (VPF) rather than R
u
inviscid potential flow (IPF) is required to satisfy boundary
conditions. The common idea that the viscosity should be put
to zero to satisfy boundary conditions is deeply flawed. It is Capillary force γ/r
also worth noting that the viscous component of the pressure
does not arise in the boundary layer for vorticity in the exact Figure 1. Capillary instability. The force 𝛾∕r forces fluid from the
solution; the pressure is given by Equation (14). throat, decreasing r leading to collapse.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe073
dominant and be observed in practice was first put forward 10

by Rayleigh (1879). The analysis of Rayleigh is based on
potential flow of an inviscid liquid neglecting the effect of 1
the outside fluid. (Looking forward, we here note that it is
possible and useful to do an analysis of this problem based
0.1
on the potential flow of a viscous fluid).
IPF
σ
An attempt to account for viscous effects was made
by Rayleigh (1892) again neglecting the effect of the 0.01 VPF
surrounding fluid. One of the effects considered is meant to FVF
account for the forward motion of an inviscid fluid with a 0.001

resistance proportional to velocity. The effect of viscosity is
treated in the special case in which the viscosity is so great 0.0001
that inertia may be neglected. He shows that the wavelength 0.01 0.1 1
for maximum growth is very large, strictly infinite. He says, k
“... long threads do not tend to divide themselves into drops
at mutual distances comparable to with the diameter of the Figure 2. The growth rate 𝜎 versus k for case 1, mercury in air.
cylinder, but rather to give way by attenuation at few and
distant places.”
Weber (1931) extended Rayleigh’s theory by considering briefly by Chandraseckhar (2). The parameter 𝛾R𝜌𝓁 ∕𝜇𝓁2 that
an effect of viscosity and that of surrounding air on the can be identified as a Reynolds number based on a velocity
stability of a columnar jet. He showed that viscosity does 𝛾∕𝜇𝓁 appears in the dispersion relation derived there.
not alter the value of the cutoff wavenumber predicted by the Tomotika’s problem was studied by Lee and Flumer-
inviscid theory and that the influence of the ambient air is felt (1981) without making the approximations used by
not significant if the forward speed of the jet is small. Indeed Tomotika, focusing on the elucidation of various limiting
the effects of the ambient fluid, which can be liquid or gas, cases defined in terms of three dimensionless parameters, a
might be significant in various circumstances. The problem, density√ratio, a viscosity ratio, and the Ohnesorge number
yet to be considered for liquid jets, is the superposition of Oh = 𝜌𝛾D∕𝜇𝓁 = J 1∕2 . They showed for various values of
Kelvin–Helmholtz and capillary instability. Oh and a fixed value of the density ratio that km is bounded
Tomotika (1935) considered the stability to axisymmetric below by Tomotika’s limiting case (Oh → 0) and above by
disturbances of a long cylindrical column of viscous liquid the inviscid case (Oh → ∞) that is independent of m; refer
in another viscous fluid under the supposition that the fluids to their figure 4.
are not driven to move relative to one another. He derived the In this article, we treat the general fully viscous problem
dispersion relation for the fully viscous case (his Equation considered by Tomotika. This problem is resolved
(33), our Equation 32); he solved it only under the assump- completely without approximation and is applied to 14
tion that the time derivative in the equation of motion can be pairs of viscous fluids. Theories based on VPF and IPF are
neglected but the time derivative in the kinematic condition is constructed and compared with the fully viscous analysis
taken into account (his Equation 34). These approximations and with each other.
lead herein to the asymptotic solution in the limit of J → 0, It is perhaps necessary to call attention to the fact that it
in which the wavenumber giving maximum instability, say is neither necessary nor desirable to put the viscosities to
km in our notation, depends only upon the viscosity ratio zero when considering potential flows. The Navier–Stokes
m = 𝜇a ∕𝜇𝓁 , where 𝜇𝓁 is the viscosity of liquid in another equations are satisfied by potential flow; the viscous term
fluid of viscosity 𝜇a ; km takes a maximum as km R = 0.589 is identically zero when the vorticity is zero but the viscous
at m−1 = 0.28 (which gives the critical mc = 3.57), while km stresses are not zero (Joseph and Liao, 1994). It is not
is reduced to zero as m → 0 (single fluid column of high possible to satisfy the no-slip condition at a solid boundary
viscosity studied by Rayleigh (1892)) and m → ∞ (single or the continuity of the tangential component of velocity
hollow in a fluid of high viscosity), as shown in his figure 2. and shear stress at a fluid–fluid boundary when the velocity
The parameter 𝓁 is important for J → ∞ as is shown in is given by a potential. The viscous stresses enter into
Figure 16 but not for small J (Stokes flow); inertia is not the VPF analysis of free-surface problems through the
important as J → 0. normal stress balance (Equation 25) at the interface. VPF
The effect of viscosity on the stability of a liquid cylinder analysis gives good approximations to fully viscous flows
when the surrounding fluid is neglected and on a hollow (FVFs) in cases where the shears from the gas flow are
(dynamically passive) cylinder in a viscous liquid was treated negligible; the Rayleigh–Plesset bubble is a potential flow
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe073
6 General
that satisfies the Navier–Stokes equations and all the inter- 2.2.1 Linearized disturbance equations
face conditions. Joseph, Belanger, and Beavers (1999)
constructed a VPF analysis of the Rayleigh–Taylor insta- The system of equations for small disturbances are given by
bility that can scarcely be distinguished from the exact fully 𝜕u𝓁 u𝓁 𝜕w𝓁
viscous analysis. Similar agreements were demonstrated for + + =0 (17)
𝜕r r 𝜕z
viscoelastic fluids by Joseph, Beavers, and Funada (2002). (
𝜕u𝓁 𝜕p 1 u )
In a recent paper, Funada and Joseph (2001) analyzed = − 𝓁 + √ ∇2 u𝓁 − 2𝓁 (18)
Kelvin–Helmholtz instability of a plane gas–liquid layer 𝜕t 𝜕r J r
using VPF. This problem is not amenable to analysis for 𝜕w𝓁 𝜕p 1
the fully viscous case for several reasons identified in their = − 𝓁 + √ ∇2 w𝓁 (19)
𝜕t 𝜕z J
paper. The study leads to unexpected results that appear to
agree with experiments. 𝜕ua ua 𝜕wa
+ + =0 (20)
The present problem of capillary instability can be fully 𝜕r r 𝜕z
resolved in the fully viscous and potential flow cases and it 𝜕u 𝜕p ( u )
m
allows us to precisely identify the limits in which different 𝓁 a = − a + √ ∇2 ua − 2a (21)
𝜕t 𝜕r J r
approximations work well.
𝜕w 𝜕p m
𝓁 a = − a + √ ∇2 wa (22)
𝜕t 𝜕z J
2.2 Governing equations and dimensionless with
parameters
𝜕2 1 𝜕 𝜕2
∇2 = + + 2 (23)
The problem formulation for the capillary instability of a 𝜕r 2 r 𝜕r 𝜕z
viscous cylinder in another viscous fluid was formulated by
The kinematic condition at the interface r = 1∕2 + 𝜂 ∼ 1∕2
Tomotika (1935). It is based on a normal mode analysis of
is given by
the linearized Navier–Stokes equations. Tomotika’s problem
was resolved for many limiting cases by Lee and Flumerfelt 𝜕𝜂 𝜕𝜂
(1981); they also recognized that the solution was controlled = u𝓁 , = ua (24)
𝜕t 𝜕t
by three dimensionless parameters, m = 𝜇a ∕𝜇𝓁 , 𝓁 = 𝜌a ∕𝜌𝓁
and a Reynolds number J = VD𝜌𝓁 ∕𝜇𝓁 where V = 𝛾∕r. A The normal stress balance at the interface is given by
brief review of the governing equations in dimensionless
form is given below to facilitate comparison with VPF and 2 𝜕u𝓁 2m 𝜕ua 𝜕2𝜂 𝜂
pa − p𝓁 + √ −√ = 2 + 2 (25)
IPF. Consider the stability of a liquid cylinder of radius R J 𝜕r J 𝜕r 𝜕z R
(= D∕2) with viscosity 𝜇𝓁 and density 𝜌𝓁 surrounded by
another fluid with viscosity 𝜇a and density 𝜌a under capillary The velocity normal to the interface and the velocity tangen-
forces generated by interfacial tension 𝛾. Our convention tial to the interface are continuous as
is that 𝜇𝓁 ≥ 𝜇a . In the inverse problem, the viscous liquid
is outside. The analysis is done in cylindrical coordinates u𝓁 = ua , w𝓁 = w a (26)
(r, 𝜃, z) and only axisymmetric disturbances independent of
𝜃 are considered. The tangential stress balance at the interface is given by
The governing Navier–Stokes equations and interface ( ) ( )
𝜕u𝓁 𝜕w𝓁 𝜕ua 𝜕wa
conditions for disturbance of the cylinder at rest are made + =m + (27)
dimensionless with the following scales 𝜕z 𝜕r 𝜕z 𝜕r
[ ] 2.2.2 Dispersion relation for fully viscous flow

length, velocity, time, pressure = [D, U, D∕U, p0 ]
(FVF)
where Following Tomotika, the velocities are expressed with a

stream function 𝜓(r, z, t):
√
𝛾 1 𝜕𝜓 1 𝜕𝜓
p0 = 𝜌𝓁 U , 2
U= (16) u= , w=− (28)
𝜌𝓁 D r 𝜕z r 𝜕r
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe073
and the basic variables are expressed in normal modes: The capillary collapse is still controlled by the more viscous
fluid V = 𝛾∕𝜇𝓁 , where 𝜇𝓁 is now the viscosity of the
𝜓𝓁 = [A1 rI1 (kr) + A2 rI1 (k𝓁 r)] exp (𝜎t + 𝜄kz) + c.c. (29) surrounding fluid. We shall index all our results with m, 𝓁,
𝜓a = [B1 rK1 (kr) + B2 rK1 (ka r)] exp (𝜎t + 𝜄kz) + c.c. (30) J.
𝜂 = H exp (𝜎t + 𝜄kz) + c.c. (31)

2.2.4 Dispersion relation for viscous potential flow
where the modified Bessel functions of the first order are (VPF)
denoted by I1 for the first kind and K1 for the second kind. The equations are the same as in Section 2.2.1 except that
Substitution of Equations 29–31 into Equations 26, 27, and u = ∇𝜙, ∇2 u = 0 and the viscous terms on the right side
25 leads to the solvability condition, which is given as the
of Equations (18), (19), (21), and (22) are zero. The latter
dispersion relation:
condition in Equation (26) and the condition (27) that enforce
| I (kR) | a no-slip condition cannot be enforced and are omitted in the
| 1 I1 (k𝓁 R) K1 (kR) K1 (ka R) |
| kI (kR) k I (k R)
| 0 𝓁 0 𝓁 −kK0 (kR) −ka K0 (ka R) || analysis of VPF.
| 2 |=0 By taking these into account in the linearized equations,
|2k I1(kR) (k2 +k𝓁2)I1(k𝓁 R) 2mk2 K1 (kR) m(k2 + ka2)K1(ka R)|
| | the solutions are expressed as
| F1 F2 F3 F4 |
| |
(32)
𝜓𝓁 = A1 rI1 (kr) exp(𝜎t + 𝜄kz) + c.c. (38)
where 𝜓a = B1 rK1 (kr) exp(𝜎t + 𝜄kz) + c.c. (39)
( ) ( )
k2 dI1 (kR) 1 k 𝜂 = H exp(𝜎t + 𝜄kz) + c.c. (40)
F1 = 𝜄𝜎I0 (kR) + 2𝜄 √ − − k2 𝜄 I1 (kR)
J d(kR) R2 𝜎
for which the dispersion relation is given by
(33)
( )
2k2 1
( ) (𝛼𝓁 + 𝓁𝛼a )𝜎 2 + √ (𝛽𝓁 + m𝛽a )𝜎 = − k 2
k (41)
kk dI1 (k𝓁 R) ( ) J R2
1 k
F2 = 2𝜄 √𝓁 − − k 2
𝜄 I1 (k𝓁 R) (34)
J d(k𝓁 R) R2 𝜎
with
( )
mk2 dK1 (kR) I0 (kR) K (kR) 1 1
F3 = −𝜄𝓁𝜎K0 (kR) + 2𝜄 √ , 𝛼𝓁 = , 𝛼 = 0 , 𝛽 = 𝛼𝓁 − , 𝛽 = 𝛼a +
J d(kR) I1 (kR) a K1 (kR) 𝓁 kR a kR
( ) (42)
mkk dK1 (ka R)
F4 = 2𝜄 √ a (35)
J d(ka R) Solving Equation (41), we get
with k2 (𝛽 + m𝛽a )
√ √ 𝜎 = −√ 𝓁
√ 𝓁√ J(𝛼𝓁 + 𝓁𝛼a )
k𝓁 = k2 + J𝜎, ka = k2 + J𝜎 (36) √
m √( ( ) )2
√ 2 𝛽 ( )
√ √ k 𝓁 + m𝛽a 1 k
For small J, k𝓁 and ka may be expanded around k up to the ±√ √ + − k 2
J(𝛼𝓁 + 𝓁𝛼a ) R2 (𝛼 𝓁 + 𝓁𝛼a )
first-order terms, which yields the expansion of Equations
32–35 and the resultant dispersion relation is Equation √ (34) (43)
in Tomotika’s paper; that is, 𝜎 = (a function of k and m) × J.
Thus, instability arises in 0 < kR < 1, for which the crit-
ical wavenumber is given by kc = R−1 = 2. Viscous normal
2.2.3 More viscous fluid outside stresses are what produce the difference between IPF and
The equations are the same except that subscripts 𝓁 and a are VPF. This difference is small when k is small and large for k
interchanged and m, 𝓁, and J are replaced with m′ , 𝓁 ′ , and near to one √
(Figures 2–8).
J ′ , respectively: For large J, Equation (43) reduces to
( ) √( )
1 1 𝜌a D𝛾 1 k
m = , 𝓁 = , J =
′ ′ ′
(37) 𝜎=± − k 2 (44)
m 𝓁 𝜇a2 R2 (𝛼𝓁 + 𝓁𝛼a )
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe073
8 General
10 10
IPF
1 1
0.1 0.1
VPF
IPF
σ
FVF
σ
0.01 VPF 0.01
FVF 0.001
0.001
0.0001
0.0001 0.01 0.1 1
0.01 0.1 1
k
k
Figure 5. The growth rate 𝜎 versus k for case 11, SO10000 in air.
Figure 3. The growth rate 𝜎 versus k for case 5, water in benzene.
10 10
1 IPF
VPF IPF
1
0.1
VPF
0.1 FVF 0.01
FVF
σ
0.001
0.01
0.0001
0.001
1E–05
0.0001 1E–06
0.01 0.1 1 0.01 0.1 1
k
k
Figure 4. The growth rate 𝜎 versus k for case 8, glycerin in air. Figure 6. The growth rate 𝜎 versus k for case 12, goldensyrup in
BBoil.
which is just the solution in the IPF, giving for instability

a maximum growth rate 𝜎m = 𝜎(km ) with the associated in the limit of J → 0; the latter is not included in IPF. In
wavenumber km . When J is not too small, Equation (43) √ limit of k → 0, Equation (45) is then reduced to 𝜎 =
the
reduces to Equation (44) in the limit k → 0; in this case, the J∕(1 + m), which changes monotonically with increasing
normal viscous stresses disappear and 𝜎 of VPF has the same √aspect is different from that of FVF (where km for
m. This
asymptotic form small J has a maximum with respect to m and is reduced
√ as IPF.
For small J, Equation (43) for instability is reduced to to 0 for m → 0 and m → ∞; refer to Tomotika (1935) and
Lee and Flumerfelt (1981)).
√ Around the maximum growth rate, 𝜎m = 𝜎(km ) and
( ) J
1 1
𝜎= −k 2
(45) d𝜎m ∕dkm = 0, we have an expansion of 𝜎:
2 R2 k(𝛽𝓁 + m𝛽a )
1 d 𝜎m
2
which is another asymptotic solution in J → 0 and is in 𝜎(k) = 𝜎m + (k − km )2 + · · · (46)
good agreement with the curves of maximum growth rate 2 dkm2
𝜎m of VPF in Figures 11–15. Therefore, we find that VPF
bridges two asymptotic solutions, one is given by Equation thus 𝜎m , km , and the curvature d2 𝜎m ∕dkm2 may be used to
(44) when J → ∞ and the other is given by Equation (45) compare the results of VPF, FVF, and IPF.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe073
10 10
IPF
1 1
0.1 0.1
0.01 0.01
VPF (l, m)
σ σm (0.01, 0.01)
(0.01, 1.00)
0.001 0.001 (0.01, 100)
(0.01, 1000)
FVF (1.00, 0.01)
(1.00, 1.00)
(1.00, 100)
0.0001 0.0001 (1.00, 1000)
(100, 0.01)
(100, 1.00)
(100, 100)
1E–05 1E–05 (100, 1000)

(1000, 0.01)
(1000, 1.00)
(1000, 100)
(1000, 1000)
1E–06 1E–06
0.01 0.1 1 0.0001 0.01 1 100 10,000 1E+06 1E+08
k √J
Figure 7. The growth rate 𝜎 versus k for case 14, tar pitch mixture √
in goldensyrup. Figure 9. Maximum growth rate 𝜎m versus J for various values
of 𝓁 and m in the fully viscous case.
10
than VPF (especially when m is close to the critical; see
VPF Figures 3, 6–8), but the peak values are very close (see
1 IPF Figure 7, where |d2 𝜎m ∕dkm2 | is small).
Table 3 lists the maximum growth rate and the wavenumber
0.1 of maximum growth for fully viscous and VPF. We measure
σ FVF the agreement by monitoring the ratio of maximum growth
0.01 rates 𝜎mV ∕𝜎mF and the ratio of the maximizing wavenumbers.
The agreement is good when these ratios are nearly one.
Table 3 shows very good agreements for high Reynolds
0.001
numbers greater than O(104 ) and reasonable agreement for
Reynolds numbers greater than O(1). We call the readers
0.0001 attention to the fact that the agreements between fully viscous
0.01 0.1 1
and VPF are good when J is large, even the fluid when the
k
pairs are two liquids. This result is in apparent disagreement
Figure 8. The growth rate 𝜎 versus k for case 15, (inverse), air with the notion that such agreements are somehow associated
in mercury; kmI = kmV = kmF = 0.9696, 𝜎mI = 2.319, 𝜎mV = 2.318, with the behavior of boundary layers at gas–liquid surfaces
𝜎mF = 2.317, for which 𝜎mV ∕𝜎mI = 0.9996 and 𝜎mV ∕𝜎mF = 1.000. (Section 2.6) and not with boundary layers at liquid–liquid
surfaces.
In Table 4, we give the growth rate ratios and associated
2.3 Growth rate curves, 𝝈 versus k wavenumber ratios for VPF and IPF.
Growth rate curves were computed for 14 fluid pairs; 𝓁, a are

listed in Table 1.
2.4 Maximum growth√ rates and wavenumbers,
In Table 2, we list the 28 values of dimensionless param- 𝝈m and km versus J
eters needed to calculate growth rates for FVF; 14 when the
more viscous liquid is inside and an additional 14 when the The growth rate curves 𝜎 versus k depend only on three
more viscous liquid is outside. Growth rate curves 𝜎 versus control parameters 𝓁, m, and J. The dimensionless descrip-
k for the 14 fluids listed in Table 1 are given in Figures 2–7. tion allows for maximum√generality. We show how 𝜎m and
The inverse case, with the viscous fluid outside, is plotted km from FVF vary with J for different values of 𝓁 and m
in Figure 8. There are three curves in each figure belonging in Figures 9 and
√ 10.
to fully viscous, VPF, and IPF. The curves have a universal For large J, the maximum growth rate in Figure 9
order with the highest growth given by IPF and the lowest depends only upon 𝓁 as expected just by IPF. For
√ √ small
growth rates by FVF. Long waves are more stable for FVF J, the maximum growth rate is proportional to J and
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe073
10 General
Table 1. Fluid pairs for study of capillary instability when the viscous fluid is inside; density (kg/m3 ), viscosity (kg/m⋅s), and interfacial
tension (N/m).
No. Material (Fluid 𝓁-fluid a) 𝜌𝓁 (kg/m3 ) 𝜇𝓁 (kg/m⋅s) 𝜌a (kg/m3 ) 𝜇a (kg/m⋅s) 𝛾 (N/m)
1 Mercury-air 13 500 0.00156 1.2 1.8 ×10−5 0.4821
2 Mercury-water 13 500 0.00156 1000 0.001 0.375
3 Water-air 1000 0.001 1.2 1.8 ×10−5 0.0728
4 Benzene-air 860 0.00065 1.2 1.8 ×10−5 0.02886
5 Water-benzene 1000 0.001 860 0.00065 0.0328
6 SO100-air 969 0.1 1.2 1.8 ×10−5 0.021
7 Glycerin-mercury 1257 0.782 13 500 0.00156 0.375
8 Glycerin-air 1257 0.782 1.2 1.8 ×10−5 0.0634
9 Oil-air 879.8 0.483 1.3 1.85 ×10−5 0.0315
10 Goldensyrup-CC4 and paraffin 1400 11.0 1600 0.0034 0.023
11 SO10000-air 969 10.0 1.2 1.8 ×10−5 0.021
12 Goldensyrup-BBoil 1400 11.0 900 6.0 0.017
13 Goldensyrup-Black lubrication oil 1400 11.0 850 10.0 0.008
14 Tar pitch mixture-goldensyrup 1400 200.0 1400 11.0 0.023
An additional 14 pairs numbered from 15 to 28 are obtained by inverting 1 to 14 so that the viscous fluid is outside; for example, 15 is air-mercury. These
28 fluid pairs are the data base for this article.
Table 2. Dimensionless parameters 𝓁 = 𝜌a ∕𝜌𝓁 , m = 𝜇a ∕𝜇𝓁 and J = 𝜌𝛾D∕𝜇 2 is a Reynolds number based on the maximum viscosity,
which is the viscosity 𝜇𝓁 listed in Table 1.
No. 𝓁 m No. 𝓁 m J
1 8.889E−05 1.154E−02 15 1.125E+04 8.667E+01 2.674E+07
2 7.407E−02 6.410E−01 16 1.350E+01 1.560E+00 2.080E+07
3 1.200E−03 1.800E−02 17 8.333E+02 5.556E+01 7.280E+05
4 1.395E−03 2.769E−02 18 7.167E+02 3.611E+01 5.874E+05
5 8.600E−01 6.500E−01 19 1.163E+00 1.538E+00 3.280E+05
6 1.238E−03 1.800E−04 20 8.075E+02 5.556E+03 2.035E+01
7 1.074E+01 1.995E−03 21 9.311E−02 5.013E+02 7.708E+00
8 9.547E−04 2.302E−05 22 1.048E+03 4.344E+04 1.303E+00
9 1.478E−03 3.830E−05 23 6.768E+02 2.611E+04 1.188E+00
10 1.143E+00 3.091E−04 24 8.750E−01 3.235E+03 2.661E−03
11 1.238E−03 1.800E−06 25 8.075E+02 5.556E+05 2.035E−03
12 6.429E−01 5.455E−01 26 1.556E+00 1.833E+00 1.967E−03
13 6.071E−01 9.091E−01 27 1.647E+00 1.100E+00 9.256E−04
14 1.000E+00 5.500E−02 28 1.000E+00 1.818E+01 8.050E−06
Entries 15–28 are for cases in which 𝜇𝓁 and 𝜌𝓁 are for the outside fluid.
Table 3. Maximum growth rate and the associated wavenumber ratios indexed by J; cases 1–14 are viscous fluid inside.
No. J kmV 𝜎mV kmF 𝜎mF kmV ∕kmF 𝜎mV ∕𝜎mF
1 2.6744E+07 1.3957E+00 9.7090E−01 1.3957E+00 9.7048E−01 1.0000E+00 1.0004E+00
2 2.0803E+07 1.3894E+00 9.6337E−01 1.3894E+00 9.5517E−01 1.0000E+00 1.0086E+00
3 2.0803E+07 1.3957E+00 9.6975E−01 1.3894E+00 9.6706E−01 1.0045E+00 1.0028E+00
4 7.2800E+05 1.3957E+00 9.6958E−01 1.3894E+00 9.6643E−01 1.0045E+00 1.0033E+00
5 5.8745E+05 1.3585E+00 8.9325E−01 1.3524E+00 8.4918E−01 1.0045E+00 1.0519E+00
6 3.2800E+05 1.2416E+00 7.8900E−01 1.0898E+00 5.9326E−01 1.1393E+00 1.3299E+00
7 3.1834E+04 1.0704E+00 4.7575E−01 9.9608E−01 3.4141E−01 1.0746E+00 1.3935E+00
8 2.0349E+01 9.8716E−01 5.1382E−01 7.4027E−01 2.7489E−01 1.3335E+00 1.8692E+00
9 1.3032E+00 9.7832E−01 5.0282E−01 7.3035E−01 2.6577E−01 1.3395E+00 1.8920E+00
10 1.1880E+00 2.9710E−01 4.8735E−02 2.7033E−01 1.6553E−02 1.0990E+00 2.9442E+00
11 4.2500E−03 2.7772E−01 4.2951E−02 1.7242E−01 1.4812E−02 1.6108E+00 2.8998E+00
12 2.0349E−03 2.0181E−01 2.7576E−02 1.0608E+00 4.3485E−03 1.9024E−01 6.3414E+00
13 6.8000E−04 1.4468E−01 1.5550E−02 1.1146E+00 2.2753E−03 1.2980E−01 6.8343E+00
14 8.0500E−06 6.7356E−02 2.6807E−03 7.1733E−01 6.4485E−04 9.3898E−02 4.1571E+00
The ratios are nearly one, indicating agreement between FVF and VPF when J is large.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe073
Table 4. Maximum growth rate and wavenumber ratios for VPF and IPF when the viscous liquid is inside (No. 1–14).
No. kmI 𝜎mI kmV 𝜎mV kmV ∕kmI 𝜎mV ∕𝜎mI
1 1.3957E+00 9.7110E−01 1.3957E+00 9.7090E−01 1.0000E+00 9.9979E−01
2 1.3894E+00 9.6377E−01 1.3894E+00 9.6337E−01 1.0000E+00 9.9958E−01
3 1.3957E+00 9.7099E−01 1.3957E+00 9.6975E−01 1.0000E+00 9.9873E−01
4 1.3957E+00 9.7097E−01 1.3957E+00 9.6958E−01 1.0000E+00 9.9857E−01
5 1.3585E+00 8.9590E−01 1.3585E+00 8.9325E−01 1.0000E+00 9.9704E−01
6 1.3957E+00 9.7098E−01 1.2416E+00 7.8900E−01 8.8965E−01 8.1258E−01
7 1.1924E+00 5.5735E−01 1.0704E+00 4.7575E−01 8.9769E−01 8.5361E−01
8 1.3957E+00 9.7101E−01 9.8716E−01 5.1382E−01 7.0731E−01 5.2916E−01
9 1.3957E+00 9.7096E−01 9.7832E−01 5.0282E−01 7.0098E−01 5.1786E−01
10 1.3463E+00 8.7508E−01 2.9710E−01 4.8735E−02 2.2067E−01 5.5692E−02
11 1.3957E+00 9.7098E−01 2.7772E−01 4.2951E−02 1.9899E−01 4.4235E−02
12 1.3646E+00 9.1304E−01 2.0181E−01 2.7576E−02 1.4788E−01 3.0202E−02
13 1.3708E+00 9.1596E−01 1.4468E−01 1.5550E−02 1.0554E−01 1.6977E−02
14 1.3524E+00 8.8539E−01 6.7356E−02 2.6807E−03 4.9804E−02 3.0277E−03
1.6 10
IPF
1.4 1
1.2 0.1
(l, m)
(0.01, 0.01)
(0.01, 1.00)
km σm 0.01 VPF
1
(0.01, 100)
(0.01, 1000)
(1.00, 0.01)
0.8 (1.00, 1.00)
(1.00, 100)
0.001
(1.00, 1000)
(100, 0.01)
(100, 1.00)
(100, 100) 0.0001 FVF
0.6 (100, 1000)
(1000, 0.01)
(1000, 1.00)
(1000, 100)
0.4
(1000, 1000)
1E–05
0.0001 0.01 1 100 10,000 1E+06 1E+08
√J 2
√
Figure 10. Wavenumber km versus J for the values of 𝓁 and m for 1.5 IPF
FVF. The existence of a maximum value of km at values of J near 1
√
for certain values of 𝓁 and m is noteworthy. For small J, km has a
√
maximum with respect to m. For large J, all theories collapse to km 1
IPF, which does not depend on the viscosity ratio m but does depend
on the density ratio 𝓁.
FVF
0.5
is shifted by m, which is evaluated by Tomotika’s Equation VPF

0
(34). Equation (32) includes these two asymptotic √
solutions. 0.0001 0.01 1 100 10,000 1E+06 1E+08
Corresponding to Figure 9, k changes with J as in √J
√ m
Figure 10. For large J, km is evaluated by IPF (0.9696 ≤
√
km ≤ 1.396, for which
√ refer to Equations 48, 49 and Figure Figure 11. 𝜎m and km versus J for values of (𝓁, m) = (8.889 ×
16b). For small J, km has a maximum with respect to m 10−5 , 1.154 × 10−2 ) for mercury in air.
and is reduced to 0 for m → 0 and m → ∞; note that km =
1.178 at mc = 3.57, thus 0 < km ≤ 1.178. The existence of a
maximum value of km at values of J near 1 for certain values 𝓁 and m, which are given in Table 2. We can find √ the two
of 𝓁 and m is noteworthy. asymptotic solutions, one is√given by IPF for large J and
√ values 𝜎m and the
In Figures 11–15, we plotted the peak the other is given for small J; Equation (45) for VPF and
corresponding wavenumber km versus J for fixed values of Tomotika’s Equation (34) for FVF. The maximum growth
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe073
12 General
10 10
IPF
1 1
IPF
0.1 0.1
σm 0.01 σm 0.01
VPF
VPF
0.001 0.001
FVF
FVF
0.0001 0.0001
1E–05 1E–05
2 2
1.5 1.5 IPF

IPF
FVF
km 1 km 1
VPF
0.5 0.5
VPF
FVF
0 0
0.0001 0.01 1 100 10,000 1E+06 1E+08 0.0001 0.01 1 100 10,000 1E+06 1E+08
√J √J
√ √
Figure 12. 𝜎m and km versus J for values of (𝓁, m) = (8.600 × Figure 13. 𝜎m and km versus J for values of (𝓁, m) = (1.238 ×
10−1 , 6.500 × 10−1 ) for water in benzene. 10−3 , 1.800 × 10−6 ) for SO10000 in air.
rates 𝜎m and km for IPF do not depend on J and m and appear

If the fluid of density 𝜌𝓁 is outside and 𝜌a inside, then Ta =
as the highest flat value. The smallest growth rate is for FVF.
D∕Ua , 𝓁 ′ = 1∕𝓁 and the subscript a and 𝓁 are interchanged
in Equation (47), for which we find that
2.5 𝝈mI versus km for IPF
{
2.319 at kmI = 0.9696 for 𝓁 ′ ≪ 1
𝜎mI =
For IPF, the growth √ rate 𝜎I (based upon the time scale 0.9711 × 𝓁 ′−1∕2 at kmI = 1.396 for 𝓁 ′ ≫ 1
T𝓁 = D∕U𝓁 , U𝓁 = 𝛾∕(𝜌𝓁 D), 𝓁 = 𝜌a ∕𝜌𝓁 and R = 1∕2) is
(49)
expressed as
√( ) The asymptotic forms (48) and (49) are shown as dashed
1 k
𝜎I = − k 2 (47) lines in Figure 16. The cross point in Figure 16a is given
R 2 (𝛼𝓁 + 𝓁𝛼a )
by 𝓁 1∕2 = 2.319∕0.971, which gives the critical value 𝓁c =
√( ) 5.70 (𝓁c′ = 1∕𝓁c = 0.175). This may be used to evaluate 𝜎m ,
1 k
For small 𝓁, this reduces to 𝜎I = R2
− k 2
𝛼𝓁
, while for although the corresponding wavenumber km changes in the
√( ) range wider than 0.175 < 𝓁 < 5.70. It is stressed, however,
1 k
large 𝓁, it reduces to 𝜎I = R 2
− k 2
𝓁𝛼
. that when J is large, VPF has two structures as in IPF.
a
Thus, combination of the results shown in Figure 16 leads
to asymptotic forms of the maximum growth rate 𝜎mI : 2.6 Conclusions and discussion
{
0.971 at kmI = 1.39 for 𝓁 ≪ 1
𝜎mI = (48) We studied capillary instability of a fluid cylinder of viscosity
2.319 × 𝓁 −1∕2 at kmI = 0.969 for 𝓁 ≫ 1 𝜇𝓁 in a fluid with viscosity 𝜇a ; the fluids may be liquid or gas.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe073
10 10
IPF
IPF
1 1
0.1
0.1
0.01
σm σm 0.01
FVF
0.001 VPF
VPF 0.001
0.0001
FVF
0.0001
1E–05
1E–06 1E–05
2 2.0
1.5 1.5
IPF
1.0 IPF
km 1 km
FVF FVF
0.5 0.5
VPF VPF
0 0
0.0001 0.01 1 100 10,000 1E+06 1E+08 1E–06 0.0001 0.01 1 100 10,000 1E+06 1E+08
√J √J
√ √
Figure 14. 𝜎m and km versus J for values of (𝓁, m) = Figure 15. 𝜎m and km versus J for values of (𝓁, m) = (1.125 ×
(1.000, 5.500 × 10−2 ) for tar pitch mixture in goldensyrup. 104 , 8.667 × 101 ) for air in mercury.
Comparisons of growth rate curves for FVF, VPF, and

The problem is completely characterized by three numbers: IPF are given in Figures 2–8 for 7(5) of 28 fluid pairs.
a viscosity ratio m = 𝜇a ∕𝜇𝓁 , a density ratio 𝓁 = 𝜌a ∕𝜌𝓁 , and a Comparisons of the maximum growth √ rate 𝜎m and associated
Reynolds number J = 𝜌𝓁 𝛾D∕𝜇𝓁2 based on a collapse velocity wavenumber km as a function of J for different values
𝛾∕𝜇𝓁 where 𝜇𝓁 and 𝜌𝓁 are for the more viscous of the two of m and 𝓁 are presented in Figures 11–15. From these
fluids. The goal of this article is to evaluate the utility of VPF figures, we may conclude that the maximum growth rates
as an approximation to the unapproximated viscous problem and wavenumber for IPF, VPF, and FVF converge when J is
introduced by Tomotika (1935) and studied for special cases large; for smaller J, the growth rates of IPF are greatest (and
by Chandrasekhar (1961) and for limiting cases by Lee and independent of J) and these FVFs are smallest and decrease
Flumerfelt (1981). The effects of vorticity and the continuity with decreasing J. The growth rates of VPF track FVF and
of the tangential component of velocity and stress cannot be lie between IPF and FVF. A similar behavior is exhibited by
enforced in the frame of potential flow of a viscous fluid, the associated wavenumbers, with √ VPF giving the smallest
but the extensional effects of viscous stresses on capillary km and IPF the largest km when J is not too large.
collapse are retained in the normal stress balance. It follows, from the comparisons just presented, that VPF
Analysis of the viscous flow reveals the existence of finite is a much better approximation of FVF than IPF for small
maximum values of km , for certain viscosity ratios, as J is J and no worse than IPF for all J. There is absolutely no
increased (Figures 9 and 10). We found that IPF emerges as advantage to putting the viscosities to zero in the analysis
a unique high Reynolds limit (practically, with J > O(10)) of of potential flow.
both the fully viscous and VPF analysis. The inviscid limit The convergence of FVF and VPF to IPF when the
depends only on the density ratio 𝓁. Reynolds number J is large could have been anticipated
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe073
14 General
(a) 10 the dissipation integral on potential flow over a sphere (see

Joseph, Liao, and Hu, 1993).
1 Our calculations of capillary instability given here show
that VPFs approximate fully viscous liquid–liquid and
0.1
gas–liquid flows in cases in which IPF fails dismally
σm
provided only that J is not too small.
0.01
0.001
3 REMARKS ON PART I AND II
0.0001
Part I was reused partly from the original paper of (LATE)
1E–05 Prof. D. D. Joseph (2006a) published on PNAS (Proceedings
1E–06 0.0001 0.01 1 l 100 10,000 1E+06 1E+08
σmI versus l of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States
(b) 1.6
of America), under the permission granted by PNAS. That
1.5 paper is best fitted to the title of this article, and please
1.4 refer to his historical notes on potential flow of viscous
fluids (Joseph, 2006b,c). Part II was taken from Funada and
1.3
Joseph (2002), where potential flows are expressed using
k 1.2 stream function, opposite to the common sense. This work
1.1 at early stage of VPS was extended to viscoelastic fluids in
Funada and Joseph (2003). For recent version of VPF, refer
1
to Wang, Joseph, and Funada (2005a,b,c), where the viscous
0.9 tangential stresses are involved in pressure correction. Those
0.8 topics are included in the book of Joseph, Funada, and Wang
1E–06 0.0001 0.01 1 100 10,000 1E+06 1E+08 (2007). The theory is then applied to a spherical drop/bubble
l
kmI versus l in Padrino, Funada, and Joseph (2008). All my thanks are
devoted to (LATE) Prof. D. D. Joseph.
Figure 16. Maximum growth rate 𝜎mI and associated wave number
for IPF: + + + fluid 𝓁 is inside,
√ × × × fluid is outside. 𝜎 is made
dimensionless with T𝓁 = D∕ 𝛾∕𝜌𝓁 D when fluid 𝓁 is inside and
√
with T𝓁 = D∕ 𝛾∕𝜌a D when it is outside. The asymptotic forms REFERENCES
(48) and (49) are marked with a dashed line and bold dashed line
respectively.
Batchelor, G.K. (1967) An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
from general fluid mechanical principles. On the other Chandrasekhar, S. (1961) Hydrodynamic and Hydromagnetic
Stability, Oxford University Press.
hand, Harper (1972) has argued (see also Joseph and Liao,
1994, pp 6 and 7) that the success of the Levich (1949, Dias, F., Dyachenko, A.I., and Zakharov, V.E. (2008) Theory of
weakly damped free-surface flow: a new formulation based on
1962) potential flow approximation in calculating the drag potential flow solutions. Physics Letters A, 372, 1297.
on a rising spherical bubble of gas is due to the nature Funada, T. and Joseph, D.D. (2001) Viscous potential flow analysis
of the boundary layer at a tangentially stress-free surface. of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in a channel. Journal of Fluid
Presumably liquid–gas surfaces approximate such stress-free Mechanics, 445, 263–283.
conditions when the viscosity contrast is large, but not at Funada, T. and Joseph, D.D. (2002) Viscous potential flow analysis
liquid–liquid surfaces such as water and benzene in which of capillary instability. International Journal of Multiphase Flow,
the viscosities are comparable. 28, 1459–1478.
Levich computed the drag by equating UD, where U is Funada, T. and Joseph, D.D. (2003) Viscoelastic potential flow
the rise velocity and D the drag, to the viscous dissipation analysis of capillary instability. Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid
Mechanics, 111, 87–105.
in the liquid as would be true for the steady drag on a
Harper, J.F. (1972) The motion of bubbles and drops through liquids.
solid. The approximation arises on both sides of the balance,
Advances in Applied Mechanics, 12, 59–129.
on the left side—either by assuming that every part of the
Joseph, D.D. (2006a) Helmholtz decomposition coupling rotational
boundary of the bubble moves with the same velocity U, or to irrotational flow of a viscous fluid. Proceedings of the National
that the tangential component of the traction vector vanishes academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103 (39),
at the bubble’s surface—and on the right, by evaluating 14272–14277.
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Joseph, D.D. (2006b) Potential flow of viscous fluids: historical notes. Padrino, J.C., Funada, T., and Joseph, D.D. (2008) Purely irrotational
International Journal of Multiphase Flow, 32, 285–310. theories for the viscous effects on the oscillations of drops and
Joseph, D.D. (2006c) Addendum (Helmholtz decomposition) to: bubbles. International Journal of Multiphase Flow, 34, 61–75.
“Potential flow of viscous fluids: Historical notes”. International Plateau, JAF (1873) Statique experimentale et theorique des liquide
Journal of Multiphase Flow, 32, 886–887. soumis aux seules forces moleculaire, vol. ii, p. 231.
Joseph, D.D. and Liao, T.Y. (1994) Potential flows of viscous and Rayleigh, L. (1879) On the capillary phenomena of jets. Proceedings
viscoelastic fluids. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 265, 1–23. of the Royal Society of London Series A, 29, 71–79.
Joseph, D.D., Beavers, G.S., and Funada, T. (2002) Rayleigh-Taylor Rayleigh, L. (1892) On the instability of a cylinder of viscous liquid
instability of viscoelastic drops at high Weber numbers. Journal of under capillary force. Philosophical Magazine, 34 (207), 145–154.
Fluid Mechanics, 453, 109–132. Tomotika, S. (1935) On the instability of a cylindrical thread of a
Joseph, D.D., Belanger, J., and Beavers, G.S. (1999) Breakup of a viscous liquid surrounded by another viscous fluid. Proceedings of
liquid drop suddenly exposed to a highspeed airstream. Interna- the Royal Society of London Series A, 150, 322–337.
tional Journal of Multiphase Flow, 25, 1263–1303. Wang, J. and Joseph, D.D. (2006a) Pressure corrections for the effects
Joseph, D.D., Funada, T., and Wang, J. (2007) Potential Flows of of viscosity on the irrotational flow outside Prandtl’s boundary
Viscous and Viscoelastic Fluids, Cambridge University Press. layer. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 557, 145–165.
Joseph, D.D., Liao, T.Y., and Hu, H.H. (1993) Drag and moment in a Wang, J. and Joseph, D.D. (2006b) Boundary layer analysis for
viscous potential flow. European Journal of Mechanics - B/Fluids, effects of viscosity on the irrotational flow induced by a rapidly
12 (1), 97–106. rotating cylinder in a uniform stream. Journal of Fluid Mechanics,
Lamb, H. (1932) Hydrodynamics, Cambridge University Press, 557, 167–190.
Cambridge, reprinted (1945) 6th edn, Dover, New York. Wang, J. and Joseph, D.D. (2006c) Purely irrotational theories of the
Landau, L.D. and Lifshitz, E.M. (1987) Fluid Mechanics, 2nd edn, effect of the viscosity on the decay of free gravity waves. Journal
Pergamon, Oxford. of Fluid Mechanics, 559, 461–472.
Lee, W.K. and Flumerfelt, R.W. (1981) Instability of stationary and Wang, J., Joseph, D.D., and Funada, T. (2005a) Purely irrotational
uniformly moving cylinderical fluid bodies-I. Newtonian systems. theories of the effects of viscosity and viscoelasticity on capillary
International Journal of Multiphase Flow, 7 (2), 363–383. instability of a liquid cylinder. Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid
Mechanics, 129, 106–116.
Levich, V.G. (1949) The motion of bubbles at high Reynolds
numbers. Zh. Eksperim Teor. Fiz., 19, 18; also see Physiochem- Wang, J., Joseph, D.D., and Funada, T. (2005b) Pressure corrections
ical Hydrodynamics, English translation by Scripta Technica, for potential flow analysis of capillary instability of viscous fluids.
Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1962, p. 436ff. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 522, 383–394.
Padrino, J.C. and Joseph, D.D. (2006) Numerical study of the Wang, J., Joseph, D.D., and Funada, T. (2005c) Viscous contributions
steady-state uniform flow past a rotating cylinder. Journal of Fluid to the pressure for potential flow analysis of capillary instability of
Mechanics, 557, 191–223. two viscous fluids. Physics of Fluids, 17, 052105.
Padrino, J.C. and Joseph, D.D. (2007) Correction of Lamb’s dissi- Weber, C. (1931) Zum Zerfall eines Flüssigkeitsstrahles. Zeitschrift
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waves. Physics of Fluids, 19, 082105.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe073
Finite-Depth and Shallow Water Waves
Jacco Groeneweg and Ap van Dongeren
Deltares, Delft, The Netherlands
interactions and depth-induced breaking become important

1 Introduction 1 and even dominant over the other processes. The dominant
2 Dominant Processes in Nearshore Areas 1 shallow water processes have been described in Section 2.
3 Wave Propagation 4 In the shallow water region, the wave propagation is
complex. Horizontal variations in the bathymetry cause
4 Wave-Induced Set-Up and Currents 6
shoaling, refraction, wave energy redistribution, and
5 Infragravity Waves 7 breaking, whereas horizontal variations in amplitude cause
6 Conclusions 8 diffraction. Obstacles cause the waves to reflect. Moreover,
Glossary 8 time-varying water levels and ambient currents that are
Related Articles 9 induced by tides or river discharges may interact with the
References 9 waves. In Section 3, the wave propagation processes have
been described.
Waves also transport momentum, which acts as a hori-
zontal force in the water. Gradients in these so-called radi-
ation stresses act as a force that may generate a set-up or
1 INTRODUCTION set-down of the water level or a current. Gradients of radi-
ation stresses typically occur in the nearshore area, where
Free surface waves are usually generated by wind, with some
energetic waves propagate on sloping beaches. In Section 4
notable exceptions such as tsunamis caused by seaquakes.
this is elaborated on in more detail.
These waves travel from deep water through intermediate
The incident waves force the longer-period waves, the
depths into shallow regions, where they encounter the coast-
so-called infragravity waves, which are released from the
line, possibly with islands, headlands, estuaries, tidal flats,
short-wave groups in the shoaling and breaking process.
reefs, harbors, and so on.
These long waves reflect off the beach, propagate seaward,
In deep water, the wave motion is dominated by the
and may become trapped on the coastline as edge waves
processes of wind generation, whitecapping (wave breaking
or propagate out to deeper water as leaky waves. The total
due to steepening of the waves), and quadruplet interac-
motion of the incoming and outgoing long waves produces a
tions (see Generation of Waves by Wind; Wave Breaking
standing wave-like pattern, which is called surf beats. This
and Dissipation). Although these processes tend to inten-
process is outlined in Section 5.
sify when waves propagate from deep to shallower water,
The relative importance of the aforementioned processes is
other processes become dominant. In the nearshore region,
listed in Table 1, based on Battjes (1994).
bed friction will become effective over distances of many
wave lengths. In even shallower water, triad wave–wave
2 DOMINANT PROCESSES IN
Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering, online © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. NEARSHORE AREAS
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe083
In the nearshore area, dissipative processes such as
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 depth-induced breaking, bed friction, and dissipation due
2 General
Table 1. Relative importance of the various processes affecting the evolution of waves in oceanic and
coastal waters.
Process Oceans Shelf Seas Nearshore Harbors
Depth refraction/shoaling + ++ +
Diffraction o ++
Reflection o ++
Current refraction o +
Quadruplet interactions ++ ++ o
Triad interactions + o
Wind input ++ ++ o
Whitecapping ++ ++ o
Depth-induced breaking o ++
Bottom friction ++ +
After Battjes (1994).
++, dominant; +, significant but not dominant; o, of minor importance; and blank, negligible.
to vegetation and nonlinear wave–wave interactions change Hmax , which can be roughly estimated from the local depth
the wave height and distribution of energy over frequencies d: Hmax /d ≈ 0.75. However, depending on the bottom slope,
and directions significantly. In this section these processes wave steepness, wind, and other factors, this value may be in
are elaborated. between 0.5 and 1.5.
2.1 Depth-Induced Wave Breaking 2.2 Bottom Friction

The most visual nonlinear process affecting waves in shallow Besides wave dissipation due to depth-induced breaking,
waters is depth-induced breaking. The process is poorly waves also decrease in wave height due to bottom fric-
understood, certainly the violent breaking of waves against, tional dissipation. The dissipation is caused by the transfer
for example, rocks is beyond any theoretical modeling. of energy and momentum from the orbital motion of water
Nevertheless, two-dimensional (vertical) Navier–Stokes particles above the turbulent bottom boundary layer to the
equations provide remarkably realistic pictures of the water turbulent motion in the layer itself. Such transfer strongly
surface and particle motions. depends on the wave field and the bottom characteristics.
On a uniform sloping beach, the wave motion is mainly The dissipation rate at the bottom is typically expressed as
determined by the slope angle 𝛼 and the wave steepness the (phase-averaged) product of the velocity of the water
H/L0 , characterized by the wave height H and deep water particles and the shear stress just above the turbulent bottom
steepness L0 = gT2 /2𝜋, with T the wave period and g the boundary layer.
gravitational acceleration. Iribarren and Norales (1949) For sandy and muddy topographies, the bottom frictional
derived a breaker criterion, relating the slope angle√and wave dissipation value is small and the effects are only felt over
steepness: if the Iribarren number 𝜉 = tan 𝛼∕ H∕L0 is distances of 1 km or more. Thus, in shallow tidal inlet seas,
smaller than a critical value of 𝜉 c ≅ 2.3, waves are breaking. this energy sink is important, but in sandy surf zones it is
Laboratory measurements (Galvin, 1968) show that this not. However, in rocky and coral coastal environments, the
critical value is typically slightly larger. The Iribarren frictional dissipation is much higher, up to an order of magni-
number is often used to predict the type of breaker (Battjes, tude or more relative to sandy shores (Lowe, Koseff, and
1974). From the nonbreaking regime, characterized by a Monismith, 2005; Rosman and Hench, 2011; and many refer-
high Iribarren number, toward breaking, the following types ences therein). Lowe, Koseff, and Monismith (2005) found
of breaking are observed (Galvin, 1968): collapsing or that wave friction is frequency dependent and decreases with
surging (𝜉 > 3), plunging (0.5 < 𝜉 < 3), and spilling (𝜉 < 0.5) decreasing frequencies.
breakers (Figure 1). Battjes (1974) also showed that the
Iribarren number not only characterizes the breaker type, but
also the reflection of waves off the slope, wave run-up up 2.3 Dissipation through Vegetation
the slope, and stability of the armoring layer of a breakwater
(concrete blocks or rubble-mound). Waves can be dissipated not only through depth-induced
The process of breaking limits the wave height in shallow breaking or bottom friction dissipation but also through dissi-
waters. The individual wave height in an irregular wave pation in vegetation. The vegetation, which in the simplest
field in shallow water cannot exceed some maximum value configuration is modeled as stems with a certain density,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe083
Finite-Depth and Shallow Water Waves 3
Break point Spilling
Plunging
Break point
Break point
Collapsing
Break point Surging
Figure 1. The four main types of wave breaking on a beach. (After Galvin, 1968.)
diameter, and rigidity, exerts a drag force on the wave motion. deep water to a shape characterized by sharp crests, flat
In addition, the waves put the vegetation in motion. This troughs, and relatively steep shoreward faces. These profile
constitutes a transfer of energy from the waves to the vegeta- distortions, which occur just before wave breaking, are due
tion, and thus the wave energy and amplitude decrease as the to nonlinear effects in the nearshore region, where energy
waves propagate through the vegetated field, as illustrated in is transferred from the peak frequency of the waves to
Figure 2. higher harmonics. Together with depth-induced breaking,
Some of the earliest formulations are given by Dalrymple, these nonlinear interactions represent the dominant physical
Kirby, and Hwang (1984) who modeled the effect of vege- mechanisms in the evolution of waves in the nearshore.
tation as a drag force, neglecting the motion of the plants. Phillips (1960) showed theoretically that a second-order
Later, Asano, Deguchi, and Kobayashi (1993) included plant Stokes wave is the result of a nonlinear interaction between
motion. Mendez and Losada (2004) gave formulations for two primary wave trains that forces a harmonic. The super-
both random and regular waves. harmonic wave has the scalar-sum in frequency and the
Besides wave attenuation, vegetation also reduces the vector-sum in wavenumber. Likewise the subharmonic is
wave-induced set-up and even causes set-down. As is shown created from the difference between the two primary compo-
by Dean and Bender (2006), for the case of linear waves, nents. If this component satisfies the linear dispersion rela-
emergent plants cause a nonzero net drag force, because of tion, the interaction is resonant, implying a one-way transfer
the variation of the free surface, on the water column that of energy to the harmonic. This is only possible in very
reduces the pressure gradient and thus cause less set-up. For shallow water. In intermediate depths the waves are weakly
submergent plants, linear theory predicts no net drag force, dispersive and the linear dispersion relation is not satis-
but in that case wave asymmetries can cause a net force and fied. The interaction is nonresonant and the transfer of
also a reduction in set-up. Some experimental evidence of energy between the components is back and forth due to the
wave set-down and wave set-up reduction is given by Ozeren mismatch in the phase speed. The intensity of the triad inter-
and Wren (2010). actions is mainly controlled by the phase mismatch.
When waves propagate over intermediate or shallow water
2.4 Nonlinear Triad Interactions depths, in which the bathymetry is uneven, these bottom
undulations affect the wave field. The undulating bottom
Observations of shoaling wave fields indicate that waves can be decomposed in bottom components (e.g., through
evolve from a slightly peaked, nearly sinusoidal shape in Fourier decomposition). The nonlinear mechanism affecting
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe083
4 General
0.25
0.2
Hmean (m)
0.15
Hm0 = 0.22 m
0.1 Tp = 2.5 s
h = 0.77 m
0.05
(a) 0
0.04
No vegetation
0.03 With vegetation
ηmean (m)
0.02
0.01
(b) −0.01
−0.2
z (m)
−0.4
−0.6
−0.8
6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
(c) x (m)
Figure 2. Modeled and measured wave heights and modeled set-up on a plane-sloping beach, with and without vegetation. Panel (a) wave
heights without vegetation (measured: cube symbols and modeled: solid line), with vegetation (measured: triangles and modeled: dashed
line). Panel (b) modeled setup. Panel (c) cross section of the beach with vegetation indicated. (Created by author using data from Løvås,
2000.)
the wave field is governed by the closure of the so-called that are directionally aligned with the primary directional
Bragg-type resonant conditions between wave triads and peak. Directionally broad spectra behave differently as
a bottom component (Liu and Yue, 1998; Alam, Liu, and they transform in shallow water. The so-called noncolinear
Yue, 2010; Toledo and Agnon, 2009). Wave energy can be interactions produce sub- and superharmonics that have
transferred through superharmonic interactions between two a different direction than the primary peaks. The noncol-
waves to a higher harmonic one with the sum of the frequen- inear triad interactions (without interaction with bottom)
cies. The wave direction is determined by the wavenumber or Bragg-type resonant interactions (with interaction with
vector sum of the two originating waves together with a bottom) may broaden the directional distribution. This
bottom component that closes the resonance condition (in change in direction is relevant for many coastal issues.
Figure 3 denoted with kr ). In the same manner, energy can be
transferred to lower harmonics via subharmonic interaction
mechanism to wave frequencies of the differences between
combinations of two waves. 3 WAVE PROPAGATION
As waves propagate into shallow water, changing bottom
topography tends to narrow the directional distribution The limited water depth and presence of currents in the
due to refraction. The wavenumber vectors attain nearly shallow regions affect the amplitude and direction of the
the same direction (and are called colinear). Nonlinear waves. The propagation of waves in the shallow regions
interactions between these waves generate superharmonics is characterized by the processes of shoaling, refraction,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe083
θb1
kb
−k2 H
kr
θr1 θ21
k1
θ1 = 0 Cg
Beach
Offshore
(a)
Bottom
k1 θ21
θ1 = 0
Figure 4. Decrease of depth leads to shoaling, i.e. increase of wave
height due to decrease of wave group velocity. The wave height
θr1 k2 becomes infinite at the coast line if dissipative mechanisms are
absent.
kr
θb1 kb
Beach
Wave
(b) crest
Figure 3. Geometric construction for sub- (a) and superharmonic

(b) cases. For given wavenumbers k1 and k2 , a bottom component
kb that connects the end of k1 –k2 (a) to the resonance circle (circle
of radius kr = |kr | centered at the origin) forms a quartet among k1 ,
k2 , and kr (𝜃 ij is the angle between ki and kj ). A similar solution is
obtained for superharmonic resonance (b). (Figure based on Alam,
Liu, and Yue, 2010.)
Wave
rays
diffraction, and reflection. Each of those processes is

Depth
described here. isoline
As waves propagate into shallow water, the phase velocity
and group velocity decrease. The energy flux, which is Figure 5. Decrease of depth leads refraction of oblique incident
the product of the group velocity and the energy, remains waves: a theoretical illustration for a wave train running into a
constant, which implies that the energy or wave height coastal region with parallel depth isolines.
has to increase. This process is called shoaling (illustrated
in Figure 4). This can also be understood physically: as
the waves propagate into shallower water, the wave speed the crest. For a situation with parallel depth contours, the
decreases and thus the wave lengths. This causes a bunching change in wave direction 𝜃 can be determined from Snell’s
up of energy. law: sin 𝜃/c is constant along a wave ray, and is very similar
For a wave propagating toward a straight coastline at to the well-known physics of light rays refracting through a
normal incidence, the change in wave energy is equal to the prism.
change in group velocity, without the presence of dissipa- In combination with shoaling, refraction affects the wave
tive effects. If a wave approaches the same straight coast, amplitude. Exact expressions for the changes in wave direc-
but now at an angle, the wave will slowly change direction tion and wave amplitude due to refraction and shoaling can
as it propagates to the coast, that is, waves are refracting be found in many textbooks, such as Holthuijsen (2007).
(Figure 5). This is caused by variations of the phase speed c These expressions are based on linear wave theory.
along the wave crest. These variations in phase speed can be Diffraction is the turning of waves toward areas with lower
either caused by depth variations or current variations along wave amplitudes, as illustrated in Figure 6. The effect of
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe083
6 General
Geometric shadow line 4 WAVE-INDUCED SET-UP AND

CURRENTS
Wave
rays As described in Potential Wave Theory, Instability of
Wave crests Wave Trains, according to linear wave theory, waves induce
a pressure variation in the water column as well as an orbital
motion of the water particles. These two components cause a
momentum flux (a flow of energy) through a vertical plane in
the water column. When the momentum flux is averaged over
a wave period and integrated over depth, the resulting force
Breakwater is nonzero, mainly because of the variation of the free surface
over a wave cycle. This means that waves exert a force on the
water column (Longuet-Higgins and Stewart, 1962, 1964;
Dean and Dalrymple, 1991). This force, the radiation stress
gradient, is a function of the wave amplitude (squared) and
the angle of incidence.
In the simplest conceptual model of normally incident
Figure 6. A theoretical illustration of diffraction: wave crests waves on a plane-sloping beach, this implies that when
curling around the head of a breakwater towards the sheltered area. waves are shoaling, that is, increasing in amplitude, the force
increases shoreward. This positive gradient in the force must
be balanced by another term in the momentum balance, a
negative pressure gradient. Physically, this means that due to
diffraction is particularly large along the geometric shadow
wave shoaling the mean water level decreases. This effect has
line of obstacles such as breakwaters and islands where
first been measured in the lab (Bowen, Inman, and Simmons,
waves tend to curl around the obstacle. The wave ampli-
1968) and can be estimated as roughly 5% of the depth at
tude can vary considerably over just a couple of wavelengths.
which waves break, so typically in the order of centime-
In order to determine the wave amplitude variation due to
ters in the field. In most engineering applications this steady
diffraction, use is made of phase-resolving models based on
set-down is ignored. However, in the case of infragravity (IG)
Huygens’ principle. An analytical solution to the diffrac-
waves (see Section 5), the variation of the wave amplitude in
tion problem is available for the simple case of a straight,
wave groups also forces a nonsteady set-down wave, which
semi-infinite breakwater (Sommerfeld, 1896). This can even
is known as the bound wave and is important for instance for
be extended to situations with combinations of individual moored ships.
obstacles. Goda (2000) showed that random, short-crested Conversely, when the waves are breaking, the amplitude
waves create smoother diffraction patterns of the significant reduces and a net negative radiation force is exerted on the
wave height than an equivalent, long-crested wave would do. water column. This force is balanced by a positive pressure
For situations with a more complicated layout of obstacles, gradient, a wave-induced set-up. The increase in water level
a numerical computer model is required. is illustrated in Figure 2. This set-up is much larger than the
Waves may be reflected off the coast or an obstacle. set-down and cannot be ignored, also because the still-water
At each point in front of an obstacle, the wave motion depth goes to zero near the shoreline. The set-up at the
would be the sum of the incoming wave components and shore is typically 15% of the depth at breaking, that is, in
the reflecting components. The nature of reflection deter- the order of tens of centimeters, or, in another parameter-
mines which model to use. The mechanisms involved in the ization, 20–30% of the deep water significant wave height
reflection are usually so complex that the reflection coeffi- (Guza and Thornton, 1981; Nielsen, 1988). Longuet-Higgins
cient cannot be determined theoretically. On the basis of the and Stewart’s (1962, 1964) theory was verified in the labo-
observations, Battjes (1974) found a relation between the ratory by Bowen, Inman, and Simmons (1968) and many
reflection coefficient R at the shoreline and the surf simi- studies afterward. However, also before the radiation stress
larity parameter of Iribarren (see Section 2), as R = 0.1 𝜉 2 . concept was derived, mean water level anomalies of 50 cm
This implies that the steeper the bottom slope, the lower were already measured on atolls by Munk and Sargent
the wave height and the longer the wave period, the higher (1948).
the reflection coefficient. Conversely, high, short waves on For nonplane sloping beaches, for instance in the case of
a mild slope will tend to dissipate and not reflect off the a bar-trough system, the radiation stress force is not only
shoreline. balanced by a pressure gradient but also by advection, which
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe083
means that breaking waves drive a flow over the bar in IG waves were first observed by Munk (1949) and Tucker
the direction of wave propagation. By virtue of continuity (1950) in the field. They noticed a low-frequency signal at a
of mass, the water in the trough behind the bar must be time lag relative to swell wave groups.
returned to sea, typically in concentrated seaward-directed The generation, propagation, and decay of IG waves are
flows, known as rip currents. summarized as follows. In the simplest conceptual descrip-
Finally, in the case of obliquely incident waves, the radiation, consider two wave components (a so-called bichromatic
tion stress acts not only in the cross-shore direction but also wave field) propagating over a horizontal bottom. Since
in the longshore direction. There, the radiation stress drives a the two wave components travel at slightly different phase
longshore current, which is only balanced by bottom friction. speeds, the wave amplitudes of the components sometimes
These longshore currents can be in the order of 1 m s−1 and add up and sometimes cancel each other, forming a wave
are powerful agents to move sediment. group pattern. The wave components force a longer-period
wave at a frequency that is the difference of the frequencies of
5 INFRAGRAVITY WAVES the two primary wave components. This wave is in antiphase
with the wave groups (its trough coincides with the crest of
IG waves, sometimes also called low-frequency waves the wave group) and travels phase-locked, or bound, to the
or subharmonic gravity waves, are waves that are forced wave group, and is thus called the bound wave (Biésel, 1952;
through subharmonic interactions of sea and swell wave Longuet-Higgins and Stewart, 1962).
components. Because of their amplitude, these waves are In nature, the sea-swell wave field is composed of a large
important for dune erosion, bar-trough formation, and wave number of random components and through subharmonic
run-up. Because of their wavelength, they are important for interactions, a spectrum of bound wave components is forced
the estimation of downtime of moored ships in deeper water. through mechanisms described by Hasselmann (1962) and
Incident wavegroups
Breakpoint
Released or Reflection
groupiness
forced long wave
Incident Outgoing Shoaling zone
bound long free long forced incident
(a) wave wave long wave
Incident wavegroups Breakpoint
Reflection
Breakpoint
forced
long wave
Breakpoint
Outgoing free forced
(b) long wave long wave
Figure 7. Two mechanisms of IG wave generation: By enhanced subharmonic interaction of wave components in the wave group and
release of the bound subharmonic waves at the breakpoint (a) and by a moving breakpoint of the wave components in the wave group (b).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe083
8 General
Herbers, Elgar, and Guza (1994). These bound IG waves or set-down of the water level or a current. Secondly, the
typically have frequencies in the range of 0.01–0.04 Hz, and incident waves force the so-called infragravity waves, which
in deeper water have amplitudes of mere centimeters. are released from the short-wave groups in the shoaling and
As the wave groups propagate toward the coast, the breaking process.
sea-swell waves start to shoal and ultimately break. In this
process, energy is transferred from the sea-swell frequencies
to the IG waves, which ultimately may reach amplitudes GLOSSARY
near the shore of tens of centimeters and even meters. There
are two mechanisms by which IG waves are generated in Bottom friction Wave dissipation mechanism due to
the nearshore zone: by enhancement over the sloping seabed bed friction.
in the nearshore zone as a result of the continued forcing Bound wave A non-steady set-down wave that is
by the shoaling waves, up to the breakpoint (List, 1992; forced by the variation of the wave
Masselink, 1995), or even within the surf zone (Foda and amplitude in wave groups.
Mei, 1981; Schäffer and Svendsen, 1988), see Figure 7a. Depth-induced Wave dissipation mechanism starting
Alternatively, IG waves may be generated by a moving breaking when the wave height becomes
breakpoint (Symonds, Huntley, and Bowen, 1982; Symonds larger than a certain fraction of the
and Bowen, 1984), see Figure 7b. The former is dominant water depth.
on mild-sloped topography ,while the latter is important on Diffraction The flow of energy along the wave
steeper slopes (Battjes et al., 2004). crest in a direction at right angles to
After IG waves are generated and are released from the the direction of wave propagation
wave groups, they propagate to the coast, where they may Dispersion relation Relation between wave length and its
dissipate due to bottom friction (Pomeroy et al., 2012), IG wave frequency, as a result of the
wave breaking (Van Dongeren et al., 2007), and nonlinear effect of dispersion on the
transfer back to the short waves (Henderson et al., 2006) or properties of a wave propagating in
reflect off the coast and propagate back out to sea as free water.
waves. Depending on their angle of incidence, these waves Group velocity The velocity with which the overall
may be refractively trapped on the coast as “edge waves” shape of the waves’ amplitudes,
or may escape to deeper water as leaky waves. These leaky i.e., the wave envelope, propagates
IG waves may propagate across ocean basins (Bromirski and through space.
Stephen, 2012). Infragravity wave Waves that are forced through
With this synopsis, we can understand Munk and Tuckers subharmonic interactions of sea
observation. The wave groups they observed forced IG waves and swell wave components.
in their shoaling and breaking process. These waves traveled Phase velocity The rate at which the wave phase
back from the beach to the observation site, which explains propagates in water.
the measured time lag. For an excellent literature review on Quadruplet wave Exchange of wave energy within
this topic, reference is made to Baldock (2012). interactions resonant sets of four wave
components, redistributing energy
over the spectrum
6 CONCLUSIONS Radiation stresses Depth-integrated, phase-averaged
excess momentum flux caused by
Free surface waves are affected by many processes, varying the presence of the surface gravity
in strength when the waves are propagating from deep waves, which is exerted on the
through intermediate to shallow water. In this article, the mean flow.
dominant shallow water processes of triad wave–wave inter- Reflection Waves bouncing off against an
actions and dissipation through depth-induced breaking, obstacle.
bottom friction, and vegetation have been described in detail. Refraction Change in the wave propagation
In addition, the relevant wave propagation processes of direction with the change in water
shoaling, refraction, diffraction, and reflection have been depth.
discussed. Set-up Local elevation in the mean water
Two typical wave-induced aspects in the nearshore area level on the foreshore, caused by
have been highlighted. Firstly, gradients in these so-called the reduction in wave height
radiation stresses act as a force that may generate a set-up through the surf-zone.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe083
Shallow water wave A progressive water wave whose Battjes, J.A., Bakkenes, H.J., Janssen, T.T., and van Dongeren,
A.R. (2004) Shoaling of subharmonic gravity waves. Journal of
wave length is much larger than the
Geophysical Research, 109, C02009. doi: 10.1029/2003JC001863
water depth.
Baldock, T.E. (2012) Dissipation of incident forced long waves in
Shoaling Shortening and steeping of the waves the surf zone—implications for the concept of “bound” wave
when they propagate into shallower release at short wave breaking. Coastal Engineering, 60, 276–285,
water. 10.1016/j.coastaleng.2011.11.002.
Surf beat Long period (typically several Biésel, F. (1952) Equations générales au second ordre de la houle
minutes) oscillation of the water irrégulière. Houille Blanche, 5, 371–376.
line on the beach. Bowen, A.J., Inman, D.L., and Simmons, V.P. (1968) Wave
Triad wave Exchange of wave energy within ’set-down’ and set-up. Journal of Geophysical Research, 73 (8),
2569–2577.
interactions resonant sets of three wave
components, redistributing energy Bromirski, P.D. and Stephen, R.A. (2012) Response of the Ross Ice
Shelf to gravity wave forcing. Annals of Glaciology, 53 (60). doi:
over the spectrum. 10.3189/2012AoG60A058
Whitecapping Steepness-induced wave-breaking,
Dalrymple, R.A., Kirby, J.T., and Hwang, P.A. (1984) Wave diffrac-
which occurs in deeper water when tion due to areas of energy dissipation. Journal of Waterway Port,
the wave height becomes too large Coastal, and Ocean Engineering, 110, 67–79.
compared to the wavelength. Dean, R.G. and Dalrymple, R.A. (1991) Water Wave Mechanics for
Engineers and Scientists, World Scientific, Singapore.
Dean, R.G. and Bender, C.J. (2006) Static wave setup with emphasis
RELATED ARTICLES on damping effects by vegetation and bottom friction. Coastal
Engineering, 53 (2), 149–156.
Wind, Wave and Current Modeling and Prediction van Dongeren, A., Battjes, J., Janssen, T., van Noorloos, J., Steen-
hauer, K., Steenbergen, G., and Reniers, A. (2007) Shoaling and
Potential Wave Theory, Instability of Wave Trains shoreline dissipation of low-frequency waves. Journal of Geophys-
Types of Ocean Surface Waves, Wave Classification ical Research, 112, C02011. doi: 10.1029/2006JC003701
Regular, Irregular Waves and the Wave Spectrum Foda, M.A. and Mei, C.C. (1981) Nonlinear excitation of
Frequency-Direction Spectra of Wind-Generated Gravity long-trapped wave by a group of short swells. Journal of
Waves Fluid Mechanics, 111, 319–345.
Wave and Crest Height Distributions Galvin, C.J. (1968) Breaker type classification on three laboratory
Generation of Waves by Wind beaches. Journal of Geophysical Research, 73 (12), 3651–3659.
Wave Breaking and Dissipation Goda, Y. (2000) Random Seas and Design of Maritime Structures,
Wave–Current Interaction World Scientific, Singapore, pp. 1–443.
Spectral Wave Modeling Guza, R.T. and Thornton, E.B. (1981) Wave set-up on a natural beach.
Journal of Geophysical Research, 86, 4133–4137.
Phase-Resolving Wave Modeling
Hasselmann, K. (1962) On the nonlinear energy transfer in a
Wave Energy Converters
gravity-wave spectrum. Part 1. General theory. Journal of Fluid
Mechanics, 12, 481–500.
Henderson, S.M., Guza, R.T., Elgar, S., Herbers, T.H.C., and Bowen,
A.J. (2006) Nonlinear generation and loss of infragravity wave
energy. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111, C12007. doi:
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ocean waves. Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, 29, water waves: the complementary mild-slope equations. Journal of
855. Fluid Mechanics, 641, 509–520.
Nielsen, P. (1988) Wave setup: a field study. Journal of Geophysical Tucker, M.J. (1950) Surf beats: sea waves of 1 to 5 minute period.
Research, 93 (C12), 15643–15652. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series A, 202,
Ozeren, Y. and Wren, D.G. (2010) Laboratory measurements of 565–573.
wave attenuation through model and live vegetation. Coastal
Hazards—Selected Papers from EMI, 2010 (2), 45–56.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe083
Composite Materials
Felicity J. Guild1 , Ambrose C. Taylor1 , and Jon Downes2
1 Imperial College London, London, UK
2 University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
introduce composite materials, describing their properties as

1 Introduction 1 well as some drawbacks, with the objective of allowing that
2 Mechanical Properties 3 potential to be realized.
3 Joining to Metals 7
4 Choices for Marine Applications 9 1.1 Composite materials
5 Conclusions 12
Endnotes 12 A composite can be defined as a material composed of more
Glossary 12 than one distinct constituent. Materials have been combined
to produce a composite material with enhanced properties
Related Articles 13
since ancient times; an obvious example is the addition of
References 13 straw to mud as a building material. Currently, composite
materials in the marine environment are mainly based on
polymeric resins as the matrix material. The resin prop-
erties can be enhanced using particulate reinforcements as
1 INTRODUCTION described in Section 2.1, but the major reinforcement arises
from the addition of fibers.
Many current marine applications could not exist without
composite materials. The unique properties of composite
materials combining light weight with strength and stiff- 1.1.1 Fibers
ness have allowed the extension of design parameters in
The fibers used in marine applications are glass fibers,
the marine environment. Critical applications include UK
carbon fibers, or other organic fibers such as Kevlar. Typical
lifeboats and larger sailing yachts whose hulls and masts
values of fiber diameter and stiffness and strength are given
rely on the high strength and stiffness of advanced fiber
in Table 1. Unidirectional continuous fibers are grouped
composite materials. Vessels using composites range from
together in bundles, which are described as tows, containing
small dinghies and canoes, through large leisure craft
around 10,000 fibers.
including sailing yachts and motor boats, to 70 m naval
Tows of fibers can be woven together to make a fabric
ships. There are several applications of composite materials
with fibers usually oriented in two orthogonal directions.
in the defense and commercial fields, and these have the
An example of a simple cross-weave is shown in Figure 1;
potential to increase due to the excellent combination of
this fabric is known as woven-roving. More complex weave
properties of the composites. The aim of this article is to
patterns derived from the textile industry are available
including twill weave and satin weaves. Weaving allows the
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. introduction of two different fiber tows, generally glass and
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe146
carbon, with alternate tows of the two fibers in one or both
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 directions; these are known as hybrid reinforcements.
2 General
Table 1. Some typical fiber properties. 1.2 Manufacturing techniques

Fiber Diameter Stiffness Strength
(μm) (GPa) (MPa) There are many manufacturing techniques for fiber compos-
E-glass 10 70 3500 ites (Mallick, 2008); those mainly used for marine compos-
PITCH-based HM carbon 10 700 3600 ites are briefly described in this article. The simplest tech-
PAN-based Type I HS carbon 5.5 390 4500 nique that has been used for many years is hand lay-up, where
PAN-based Type II HS carbon 7 220 4500
resins are impregnated into fiber mats using hand operated
Kevlar® 49 12 130 3800
rollers and brushes within a mold. The laminates are cured in
ambient conditions. An extension of the hand lay-up process
is to use a vacuum bagging technique or pressure bag, where
the impregnated laminate is sealed in a bag which is evacu-
ated using a vacuum pump. This technique allows a pressure
of up to one atmosphere to be applied to the laminate for
further consolidation.
More complex manufacturing processes require a two-part
mold; the fiber stack is first laid up in the lower mold, and
then the upper mold is clamped over the stack. The fiber
stack can be previously prepared as a preform, when the fiber
stack has been pressed into the correct shape and loosely
held together with a binder. After the mold is complete, resin
is injected under pressure at one end. At the other end, a
vacuum can be pulled. This process is known as vacuum
injection. After the resin has completely wetted all the fibers,
the inlets are closed and the laminate is left to cure. Both the
injection process and the curing process may take place in
ambient conditions or at elevated temperatures.
Figure 1. Glass fiber woven-roving cloth. (Reproduced from Different manufacturing processes are required to produce
Federal Transit Administration (2002). © US Federal Transit composite cylinders or rods. Filament winding is used to
Administration, 2002.)
produce hollow circular components. Fiber tows are pulled
through a bath of resin, then through a die to control the resin
Short glass fibers, typically 10–30 mm long, orientated content, and wound around a mandrel. The orientation of the
randomly in all directions within a plane, can be bound fibers may be constant or varied; this is controlled by the
together using a poly(vinyl acetate) (PVA) emulsion or fiber feeding mechanism. Curing can take place in ambient
powder binder to form a loose mat, known as chopped strand conditions or the mandrel may be heated to assist curing.
mat (CSM). Pultrusion is used to produce composite rods with fibers
oriented parallel to the axis. The fibers are pulled through a
resin bath into a heated die where the fibers are impregnated
and the rod is cured. This is a continuous process which
1.1.2 Resin systems
produces high volume fraction rods with straight fibers.
The resin types used as the matrix of composite materials in Preimpregnated fibers and fabrics are used for some crit-
marine applications are generally epoxy or polyester resins. ical marine applications; this is the material used for aircraft
The role of the matrix is to transfer stress to the strong and structural components. The fibers or fabrics are preimpreg-
stiff fibers by wetting and adhering to the fibers. The matrix nated with a precatalyzed resin by the materials manufac-
also protects the fibers from abrasive damage. Epoxy and turer. This material must usually be stored in a freezer. After
polyester resins are thermosetting materials, or thermosets; defrosting, the preimpregnated materials are laid up in a mold
this means that they cure from a viscous liquid to a hard by hand or machine. The mold and material is enclosed in a
glassy solid, via a chemical reaction in situ, by mixing vacuum bag and cured in a pressurized oven, an autoclave,
with a hardener and catalyst. Different curing conditions at around five atmospheres of pressure at elevated tempera-
are required for different resin systems. These conditions tures, typically around 120–180∘ C. This process is expen-
can vary from ambient conditions to complex cure cycles at sive, both in material and tooling cost, but produces high
elevated temperatures. quality laminates.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe146
Composite Materials 3
1.3 Sandwich materials (Kinloch, 1997), and matrix toughness is a vital property as
described in Section 2.2.6.
The flexural or bending stiffness of any panel is proportional The increase in toughness for the addition of conventional
to the cube of its thickness. Thus, thin laminates, which may (micrometer scale) sized soft particles to an epoxy resin can
be very stiff and strong in tension, will have poor bending be of the order of an order of magnitude for around 20%
properties. This problem is overcome by making a sandwich addition (Yee and Pearson, 1986). Similarly, the addition of
using composite skins and a thick lightweight core material. conventional sized hard particles improves the toughness, but
The skins used for marine applications may be carbon or the increased values are less than half those attained for soft
glass fiber laminates. particles for a given volume fraction of particles. The advan-
Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) foam is the preferred core tages of hard particle addition is that their addition does not
material for many marine applications. This is a consistent lead to decrease in stiffness of the reinforced material as
closed-cell and moisture-resistant core material, which is occurs for addition of soft particles, and the material prop-
available in a range of densities from 45 to 400 kg/m3 . The erties, particularly the value of toughness, are less suscep-
material is supplied as sheets of solid foam in varying thick- tible to temperature variability. Rubber-toughened polymers
ness. An alternative core material is a honeycomb core of can be sensitive to temperatures around freezing since the
hexagonal cells. The material of the honeycomb is often rubber properties can change around these temperatures from
paper-based, which is dipped into a bath of resin and cured. rubbery to glassy (Chen et al., 2013). There is much current
interest in the addition of nano-sized particles to polymeric
resins (Chen et al., 2013).
2 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
2.2 Fiber-reinforced laminates
This section describes the stiffness and strength of the
composite materials that are most prevalent in marine The high stiffness and strength of fiber-reinforced mate-
applications. The strength of a composite material is rials arises from the high performance fibers incorporated
inherently difficult to predict since the micromechanical in the composite material; typical values of fiber stiffness
mechanisms leading to failure involve interactions between and strength are shown in Table 1. This high performance
the constituent materials. For composite laminates, there therefore is found in the fiber direction; the stiffness and
is further complexity since failure may occur between strength in other directions is very much reduced. Structural
neighboring plies. This section includes consideration of failures in composite materials often arise from unpredicted
two types of strength: tensile strength and toughness. The stress not in the fiber direction. Structural design using fiber
tensile strength of a material defines the maximum load composite materials must include design of the composite
it can resist under slowly increasing monotonic load; it is material itself.
often described as “quasi-static strength.” The toughness
defines the ability of a material to resist the growth of a crack 2.2.1 Unidirectional continuous fibers
and is measured by the “fracture energy” that defines the
energy required to form a unit of crack area. Since failures The stiffness of a unidirectional continuous fiber laminate
of materials in-service, under conditions such as fatigue or can be well described by the rule of mixtures. This approach
impact, principally arise from crack growth, the toughness is based on the concept that the fibers, having modulus Ef ,
of a material may be the most important property to consider and the surrounding matrix, having modulus Em , are under
for marine applications. the same strain. For a composite containing a volume fraction
Vf of continuous fibers, the modulus of the composite tested
parallel to the fiber direction, EL , is well predicted using the
2.1 Particle reinforced polymers
rule of mixtures as
Particles are added to resin matrices to improve the proper-
EL = Ef Vf + Em (1 –Vf ) (1)
ties of the material. These particles may be harder or softer
than the matrix, and their addition causes some increase The prediction of the modulus transverse to the fibers, ET ,
or decrease in the stiffness of the matrix as expected. The is more complex. The simple approach is to assume that the
purpose of these modifications to the resin is to increase fibers and the surrounding matrix are under the same stress.
the toughness of the material. Particulate-filled polymers in This expression, known as the inverse rule of mixtures is
the marine environment are used as adhesives or the matrix
of fiber-reinforced composites. The importance of tough- Ef Em
ness for the service performance of adhesives is paramount ET = (2)
Em Vf + Ef (1 − Vf )
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe146
4 General
However, this expression does not agree with experimental 2.2.3 Fiber-reinforced laminates
measurements of the modulus transverse to the fibers. More
accurate predictions can be obtained using the Halpin–Tsai The highest stiffness and strength of laminates is, of course,
equations as described in several texts (Harris, 1999). when all the fibers are arranged in one direction; this is
The transverse modulus is, of course, much smaller than known as a unidirectional laminate. The problem with such
the longitudinal modulus of a continuous fiber laminate. For a laminate is that there are then two directions with low stiff-
ness and strength, one in the plane as well as the out-of-plane
a typical glass-reinforced composite, the difference can be
direction. However, when the direction of stress is well
around a factor of four or five, but for a high performance
known, such an arrangement of fibers uses composite lami-
carbon-reinforced composite, the difference can be more
nates to the best advantage.
than an order of magnitude. This low stiffness applies to
For many structural applications, the use of quasi-isotropic
the directions transverse to the fibers within the plane and
laminates is the best solution. These laminates have the same
through the thickness of the laminate.
properties in all direction in the plane of the laminate; they
The strength of unidirectional composites used in marine
are isotropic in the plane, like metals. There remains the
applications with fairly ductile resins can be fairly well
problem of the less stiff out-of-plane direction. The different
predicted using a rule-of-mixtures approach as shown in
layers of a laminate are described as plies. Quasi-isotropic
Equation 1. The strength perpendicular to the fibers is very laminates have fibers oriented in the two orthogonal direc-
low, less than the strength of the resin alone. In laminates tions, termed 0∘ and 90∘ , and in the intermediate direc-
containing fibers in different directions, micro-cracks can tions, +45∘ and −45∘ . For maximum strength, the differ-
occur in the off-axis layers at very low applied loads. ence between neighboring plies is often restricted to 45∘ .
Cross-ply laminate have fibers oriented at 0∘ and 90∘ .
The full description of different laminates and their
complex behavior, including twisting on application of load,
2.2.2 Short fibers
is beyond the scope of this article but is presented in several
Short glass fibers oriented in all directions within a plane texts (Harris, 1999; Daniel and Ishai, 1994). Briefly, to
can be bound together to form CSM. CSM is isotropic in the preserve conventional behavior under load it is important
plane; the stiffness and strength is the same in all directions that laminates are symmetric and balanced. Laminates are
in the plane. The out-of-plane direction is far less stiff and symmetric if there is symmetry regarding the directions of
strong, as described for the unidirectional continuous fibers. plies around the mid-plane of the laminate. Laminates are
The simplest approach to predicting the in-plane stiffness balanced if for every angle of ply +𝜃 there is a ply at the
of CSM is via modification of the rule of mixtures. The rule angle −𝜃.
of mixtures can be modified by two factors: 𝜂 l , the efficiency Laminate lay-ups are described by the angles of the plies,
factor that takes into account the short fibers, and 𝜂 𝜃 , the starting from the bottom of the laminate. If the laminate is
Krenchel factor that takes into account the variability in fiber symmetric, only half the lay-up may be stated with use of the
direction. The in-plane stiffness is evaluated using subscript s. If neighboring plies have the same direction, this
is shown using a subscript with the number. Some examples
of laminates and their description are given in Table 2.
EC = 𝜂l 𝜂θ Ef Vf + Em (1 –Vf ) (3)
2.2.4 Analysis of laminates: classical laminate
For a random distribution with fibers oriented in all direc- theory
tions in the plane, the value of the Krenchel factor is 0.375
The stiffness of any laminate in any direction, containing any
(Prassianakis, Kytopoulos, and Sideridis, 2006). The value
number of plies in any direction, can be found using classical
of the efficiency factor is hard to define; the value may be
laminate theory (CLT). CLT is available as a package that can
volume fraction dependent with a value between 0.4 and 0.8
be downloaded from the internet (e.g., Laminator1 ; LAP2 ).
(Fu et al., 2000).
The main assumptions of this analysis are as follows:
The strength of CSM is hard to predict due to the short
fiber length and the random orientation. If the fibers are
Table 2. Description of laminates.
all aligned in one direction, the strength in that direction
is typically 60–70% that of a continuous fiber composite Laminate Type Description Number of Plies
(Harris, 1999). For a random distribution, the strength is Unidirectional laminate [02 ] 2
reduced by approximately the Krenchel factor as described Cross-ply laminate [0/90]s 4
Quasi-isotropic laminate [0/45/90/-45]s 8
for the stiffness calculations.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe146
0.9
0.8
Normalized longitudinal modulus
0.7
0.6
GFRP
0.5
CFRP
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
(a) Angle (°)
200
GFRP CFRP
180
160
Longitudinal
Transverse
140
Modulus (GPa)
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
UD Cross-ply Quasi- UD Cross-ply Quasi-
(b) isotropic isotropic
Figure 2. Properties of laminates predicted by classical laminate theory. (a) Variation of longitudinal modulus with angle for unidirectional
laminate. (b) Comparison of values of longitudinal and transverse modulus for different laminates.
1. The stress in the laminate is in the plane of the laminate The results of CLT are accurate for large structural lami-
only; there is no through-thickness stress. nates when the effects of the edges, where these assump-
2. The plies are perfectly bonded between each other. tions are not applicable, are negligible. Results from calcu-
3. All displacements are small so classical elasticity can be lations using CLT are shown in Figure 2. These results
used. are for a typical glass fiber-reinforced polyester (GFRP)
4. The strain through a ply varies linearly (Kirchhoff resin, containing around 50% volume fraction of fibers,
hypothesis). and PAN-based Type I (Table 1) carbon fiber-reinforced
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe146
6 General
epoxy resin (CFRP), containing around 50% volume frac- from failure criteria for isotropic materials; the main model in
tion of fibers. Figure 2a shows the values of normalized (with use is known as the Tsai–Hill model (Azzi and Tsai, 1965),
respect to the 0∘ value) values of longitudinal modulus for which is available in commercial finite element codes and
a unidirectional laminate tested at different angles. Partic- CLT packages. This model requires three values of laminate
ularly for the CFRP, when the difference in the longitu- strength.
dinal and transverse properties is higher, there is a rapid More robust models consider the failure of each ply at
reduction in stiffness for low angles. For both laminates, different angles separately. The failure criterion which
the modulus reduces to the transverse value at around angle
considers possible failure arising from fiber tension or
of 50∘ . Figure 2b compares the longitudinal and trans-
compression, or matrix tension or compression, arises from
verse stiffness of the laminates described in Table 2. As
the work of Hashin (1980). This criterion is now available in
expected, the unidirectional laminate has the highest value
of longitudinal modulus and the lowest value of transverse commercial finite element codes. The accuracy of the results
modulus. The values of longitudinal and transverse modulus is obviously dependent on the accuracy of the six values of
are identical for cross-ply and quasi-isotropic laminates. The strength. Similarly, strength of laminates can be estimated
values for the cross-ply laminates are higher than for the using CLT packages that require five strength values.
quasi-isotropic laminates. However, it must be remembered These strength theories all require several values of
that cross-ply laminates have very poor properties in other strength and an analytical package. A simple approach to
in-plane directions, whereas quasi-isotropic laminates are approximate the strength of symmetric balanced laminate
isotropic in-plane. with fiber angles of 0∘ , 90∘ , or ±45∘ , such as cross-ply or
The results in Figure 2 have been calculated using CLT quasi-isotropic laminates, was first proposed by Hart-Smith
analysis. There are many examples of experimental inves- in 1993 and was later extended (Hart-Smith, 2002a) and
tigations that show good agreement with the results of CLT is known as the ten-percent rule. This approach assigns
analysis. The results in Figure 2 are a general guide to the one-tenth of the uniaxial strength to the off-axis 90∘ and
properties that are found for typical GFRP and CFRP lami- ±45∘ plies; only one strength value, the uniaxial strength, is
nates.
thus required. The predicted strength from this approach for
these types of laminates shows reasonable agreement with
2.2.5 Tensile strength of laminates
results from CLT packages (Harris, 1999). Figure 3 shows
The strength of fiber-reinforced laminates is very hard to the predicted strength, derived using the ten-percent rule, of
predict. There are several single-expression methods derived the same laminates shown in Figure 2. These strength values
GFRP CFRP
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
Strength (GPa)
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
UD Cross-ply Quasi- UD Cross-ply Quasi-
isotropic isotropic
Figure 3. Strength of laminates predicted using the ten-percent rule (Hart-Smith, 2002a).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe146
follow the same trends as found for the stiffness of the lami- contribution from the foam or honeycomb core is detectable
nates (Figure 2), but with less difference between values for (Capela, Ferreira, and Costa, 2013).
the glass-reinforced and carbon-reinforced laminates. The Failure in bending of sandwich materials generally initiates
complex nature of failure in composite laminates means that at the interface between the skin and core. The strength can
these results are only an indication of the relative strengths be reduced by the presence of voids and other manufacturing
of different laminates and represent the onset of damage defects at this interface; strength may be improved using a
in an off-axis ply; further, load-carrying capacity after the bonder at the interface (Borsellino, Calabrese, and Di Bella,
onset of damage may be available from aligned plies. 2007). The strength of these materials is hard to predict, but
different systems can be compared using the stresses at the
interface calculated in CLT.
2.2.6 Toughness of laminates
All the strength theories described earlier refer to composite
laminates within their plane. In service, most failures of 3 JOINING TO METALS
composite laminates take place at the edges of the laminate or
around a cutout or hole. This arises since the stress state at the Although some, small, composite parts can be made as a
edge of a laminate includes through-thickness stress, perpen- single piece, the use of composites in structures implies
dicular to all fiber directions, which is the weakest direction. that some joints need to be made. Further, structures are
Failure generally occurs via growth of cracks between the often made from standard sections that are then assembled,
plies; this is known as interlaminar crack growth. This is the for example, pultruded stringers are joined to panels for
most dangerous failure mode of composite laminates since increased stiffness. Some of these joins can be achieved by
it can be hard to detect. Further, this is the most prevalent cocuring, where partially cured composite parts are assem-
type of damage arising from low velocity impact on the bled with a structural adhesive and the structure is then
plane of a composite laminate and during fatigue loading fully cured by application of heat. However, for many struc-
of composite laminates. Resistance to interlaminar crack tures, and those over a certain size, secondary joining will
growth is controlled by the interlaminar toughness of the be required. Welding is not an option for composites, but
laminate. mechanical fasteners and adhesive bonding can be used.
The measurement of the interlaminar toughness of
composite laminates is the subject of extensive and continual
3.1 Mechanical joining
research efforts, details of which are beyond the scope of
this article. Briefly, resistance to interlaminar crack growth
The mechanical joining of composites to metals or them-
is primarily controlled by the toughness of the resin matrix.
selves can be achieved using nuts and bolts or by machining
The stress between plies is reduced if the angle between
a thread into the metal component. Standard threads should
neighboring plies is reduced; some design codes for the use
not be machined into composites as their strength is too low.
of quasi-isotropic laminates restrict this angle to 45∘ . The
Although self-tapping screws can be used for joining poly-
interlaminar toughness, thus the resistance to delamination,
mers such as polypropylene, they are not suitable for use
can be improved by incorporating particles, particularly
with composites as the low through-thickness strength of
nano-particles, into the matrix (Zeng et al., 2012) as
the composite will lead the threads to strip (Matthews and
discussed in Section 2.1. The most effective method to
Rawlings, 1994). Such screws also damage the composite
inhibit delamination is to introduce through-thickness
by breaking the fibers and cracking the polymeric matrix.
reinforcement in the form of metal pins, known as z-pins
Although satisfactory initial strength may be obtained, this
(Pingkarawat and Mouritz, 2014); this process is effective
damage is liable to propagate in service and lead to failure.
but can be expensive and time-consuming to apply.
Inserts comprising a threaded stud or a nut welded to a
perforated metal plate can be used with composites. These
2.3 Sandwich materials may be molded into the composite, being inserted during
lay-up of the composite, or may be adhesively bonded onto
Sandwich materials consisting of composite skins the surface of the composite. Such fasteners allow standard
surrounding a foam or honeycomb core are used to improve metric or imperial threads to be used, while the metal plate
bending stiffness, as required for many marine applications. spreads the load, reducing the stress concentration on the
The bending stiffness of these panels can be calculated using composite (BigHead Bonding Fasteners, 2014).
CLT. The major contribution of the panel stiffness arises Rivets can be used to join composites, but care must be
from the stiffness of the composite skins, although some taken to minimize damage from drilling and clinching the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe146
8 General
rivet. Nuts and bolts can also be used and are probably structural applications. The properties of the adhesives vary
the best type of mechanical fasteners to use. However, the considerably, with a wide range of toughness and stiffness
drilled holes cause stress concentrations. For an isotropic being available. The selection of an adhesive involves consid-
material, a circular hole will give a stress concentration factor eration of the application conditions, the curing conditions,
of three, but for a composite, the stress concentration may and the in-service conditions.
be higher or lower than three depending on the lay-up (Ko, Joint design is critical for adhesive bonding, and it is
1985). The location of the maximum stress and the stress not sufficient to simply replace welding with an adhesive.
concentration depend on the fiber orientation. The magnitude Adhesives perform poorly when loaded in tension or peel
and distribution of stress at the hole is also dependent on the but are strong when loaded in shear. Simple changes to the
clearance between the bolt and the hole (Kelly and Hallström, design of a joint to reduce the peel stresses can give a large
2004). increase in strength. The joint must also be able to be jigged
The strength of bolted connections can be estimated in position until the adhesives cures sufficiently to support the
by simple equations, see Matthews and Rawlings (1994). components. This is often achieved using a few mechanical
Designing joints with a sufficient distance between the holes fasteners, clamps, or a framework.
and the edges of the sheet allows reasonable strengths to The surface treatment of the substrates that are to be adhe-
be obtained. The use of multiple rows of bolts can increase sively bonded is also critical to the joint strength but espe-
strength compared with a single row (Hart-Smith, 1987). cially to the durability of the joint. For adhesion, the surfaces
As the bearing strength of composites and thin metal sheets must be clean and dry as the adhesive must wet the substrates
is low, these parts may need reinforcement, for example, when it is a liquid state. The removal of contamination from
by bonding on patches or molding metal plates into the the surfaces of the substrates is essential, as oil or finger
composite. The use of washers helps to spread the load. marks will prevent the adhesive from adhering to the surface.
However, these methods add weight and complexity to the Some adhesives, such as the hot-curing epoxies used in the
composite components, undermining some of their advan- automotive industry, are able to absorb press oil from the
tages. Care must also be taken during assembly, as over surface of a component and still achieve good adhesion. A
tightening the nut and bolt can crush the composite. water break test can be used to check that the surface is clean,
The use of mechanical fasteners allows the construc- as a small amount of distilled water should wet and spread
tion of sectional structures, thus enabling prefabrication, when applied to the surface, without breaking up into indi-
repair, and replacement of sections. Prefabrication is also vidual droplets. There are many potential surface treatments
readily achieved using adhesive bonding, but the advantage available, and these have been reviewed in both general arti-
of mechanical fasteners is the reversibility of the joint. Thus, cles (Bishopp, 2005) and in material-specific articles, for
a damaged section can be unbolted relatively quickly and example, for titanium alloys (Molitor, Barron, and Young,
replaced, whereas adhesive bonding is a permanent attach- 2001).
ment and attempts to remove a section are likely to damage For the metal side of the joint, the simplest surface treat-
the surrounding areas. ment is to degrease the surfaces. A better treatment is to
abrade and degrease, but for good long-term durability using
metal substrates an abrade, degrease, and a chemical or an
3.2 Adhesive bonding electrochemical treatment is generally used (Bishopp, 2005).
For aluminum alloys, a chromic-sulfuric acid etch is the basic
Adhesives can be used to make structural joints between treatment, but an anodizing step, where a stable columnar
almost any combination of materials. The use of adhesives oxide layer is built up on the surface (as used by the aerospace
enables a better (more even) stress distribution in the joint industry), is the preferred treatment (Venables, 1984). A
than with the use of mechanical fasteners (Kinloch, 1997). A primer is normally applied, as its low viscosity allows the
wide range of adhesive chemistries are available, although primer to penetrate into the open oxide structure to form
epoxies, polyurethanes, and acrylics are most commonly an interphase between the metal and the adhesive. Such a
used for structural applications. Such structural adhesives are treatment results in very good durability even in wet condi-
thermoset polymers, but they are highly modified to increase tions. Stainless steel is difficult to adhesively bond, and the
the toughness and control the rheology. They are available in difficulty increases with an increasing chromium content
various forms, as a liquid, paste, film, or tape. They may be (Bishopp, 2005).
single-part or two-part, and hot- or cold-curing (i.e., curing Composite parts are generally produced with a peel-ply in
at room temperature). Other curing types are also available, the areas where they will be adhesively bonded. A peel-ply
such as the use of ultraviolet light, anaerobic curing, or mois- is a layer of fibers that can be peeled away to create a
ture curing. However, these adhesives tend not to be used for fresh surface for bonding and may be “wet” or “dry.” A
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe146
wet peel-ply is preinfused with a resin, whereas a dry peel adhesives are structural. Sealants prevent water ingress and
ply is treated fibers that will be wetted by the composite generally allow more relative movement between surfaces
matrix resin during consolidation. Wet peel plies are often than adhesives. Many of the features in their use are similar,
preferred, as dry peel plies can give poor adhesion, and peel as surface treatment may be required to ensure good adhesion
plies treated with release agent so that they peel off easily and durability. During application, the sealant should wet the
will transfer this release agent to the bonding surface to surface to ensure that a defect-free seal with the surface is
make forming a strong joint difficult. The peel ply is torn made, and its wetting ability can be determined by measuring
off just prior to application of the adhesive, to give a clean the contact angle (Kinloch, 1987).
surface for the adhesive to adhere to. Care must be taken Adhesives and sealants are used in semistructural applica-
that the ply is completely removed as any fibers left behind tions, such as glazing. Windows are commonly sealed into
will act as defects. There are numerous cases documented the structure using a semistructural sealant. This acts partly
where bonded joints have failed at a peel-ply-formed surface as an adhesive and partly as a sealant. The windows add
(Hart-Smith, 2002b). Alternatively, a wet grit-blast treatment stiffness to the structure, for example, in coach construc-
may be used. This removes the release agent left on the tion. Nonstructural applications of adhesives include vibra-
surface of the composite after manufacture and the surface tion damping and adhesion of trim or decorative panels. In
layer of the matrix polymer without damaging the fibers. This these cases, many of the same concerns apply that the surface
gives a better surface for adhesive bonding than peel-ply but is suitable for bonding and that the long-term durability is
is more labor intensive (Hart-Smith, 2002b). harder to achieve than initial adhesion.
The strength of adhesively bonded joints is not simple
to estimate. Standard solutions for the stress distribution
are available for lap joints, where two substrates are adhe- 4 CHOICES FOR MARINE
sively bonded where they overlap. However, the strength
of even a simple single lap joint varies not only with the
APPLICATIONS
adhesive properties but also with the substrate properties.
This section presents a summary of the uses of composite
For example, a different strength may be obtained using a
materials in the marine industry. Attention is focused on
metal substrate with a high yield stress than using a ductile
fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP); however, it should be borne
substrate with a low yield stress (Karachalios, Adams, and
in mind that the term composites includes a wide range of
da Silva, 2013a, b). Increasing the overlap length may not
materials such as fiber-reinforced metals, fiber-reinforced
increase the joint strength, as in many cases, the stresses
cement, ferrocement, reinforced concrete, and other combi-
are concentrated at the ends of the overlap, and the center
nations. A wider overview on the application of composite
of the joint carries very little load. Tapering the ends of the
materials in the marine sector can be found in Smith (1990),
overlap, or stepping or scarfing the joint can also increase
Shenoi and Wellicome (1993), and Greene (1999).
the strength (Mallick, 2008). In most cases, and certainly for
more complex joints, finite element analysis is required. The
strength of the joint will also depend on the size and location 4.1 Small craft
of defects (Hart-Smith, 1984; Karachalios, Adams, and da
Silva, 2013c), and whether the surfaces are suitably treated The earliest use of fiber-reinforced materials for serious
and well prepared. application to boat constructions appears to have been made
Adhesives can also be used to repair damaged composite by the US Navy in the early 1940s (Graner, 1982; Spaulding,
parts (Charalambides et al., 1998). The damaged section 1966). At this time, attempts to fabricate boat hulls using
of composite is cut out and a patch is bonded in. As this pressure bag and vacuum-injection techniques proved only
often occurs in the field, care must be taken with surface moderately successful restricting vessels to sizes of less than
treatment. The composite will often require scarfing, that approximately 15 m in length. During the early 1950s, devel-
is, machining at a shallow angle, to achieve good repaired opment of hand lay-up methods using cold cure polyester
strength, and this is not trivial. Further, repair frequently has resin with E-glass reinforcement led to a rapid expansion
to use room-temperature-curing adhesives, and the properties of GFRP boat construction. GFRP is now employed in a
of these tend to be lower than for hot-curing adhesives. very wide range of boat hulls including dinghies, kayaks,
speedboats, coastal and ocean going yachts, work boats, pilot
3.3 Seals and passenger launches, and lifeboats (Greene, 1999). The
UK-based Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) builds
The basic difference between sealants and adhesives can and operates a fleet of over 340 fiber-reinforced composite
be approximated as sealants being nonstructural, whereas search and rescue craft ranging in length from 7 to 17 m
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe146
10 General
(RNLI, 2014) and speeds of 25 knots. Typically, the construc- (Mouritz et al., 2001) where the main reason for employing
tion of an all-weather lifeboat such as the RNLI Tamar vessel GFRP is to achieve low magnetic signature in order to avoid
would consist of the preimpregnated fabric being hand laid activation of magnetic mines. Construction of MCMVs had
into the mold building up to produce a solid glass-fiber lami- previously traditionally been in wood however the supply of
nate for the lower hull. The upper sections of the hull are suitable materials and skills are in short supply.
then a sandwich construction consisting of glass-fiber skin More recent naval applications of FRP include construction
and high density foam core. Carbon-fiber-reinforced top-hat of landing craft, fast patrol boats, and submersibles. Signifi-
stiffeners are added to the inside of the hull for further stiff- cant investment has been made by the Royal Swedish Navy
ening. In other parts of the lifeboat, a single skin construction in the development of the Visby Class corvettes (Lindblom,
is used with reinforcing stiffeners attached (RNLI, 2014). 2003). These are 72.7 m length vessels with a carbon fiber
GFRP hulls are employed in a large proportion of small and PVC sandwich construction and went into service in
fishing boats (length overall < 25 m) although with some 2009. The Royal Norwegian Navy operates the Skjold class
notable exceptions, the fishing industry has been conserva- corvettes that operate at 60 knots and are constructed from
tive in adopting GFRP for larger hulls. GFRP sandwich composite. However, at this time, no other
The success of FRP in this field, where wood has previ- navies have invested in large surface ships fully manufac-
ously been the traditional building material of choice, can be tured from composite materials.
attributed to Significant investment has been made in the reduction
of topside weight with GFRP sandwich construction of
1. Competitive first costs. the hanger and superstructure components of the Lafayette
2. Trouble free performance and low maintenance costs. Frigate. One of the challenges with a composite to metallic
3. The ease with which complex shapes can be fabricated. connection is how to allow for load transfer and maintain
structural integrity. The recent US Navy DDG1000 Zumwalt
destroyers have an all composite superstructure, which is
4.2 Cargo and large passenger vessels connected to the steel hull via bolted steel plates that are then
welded to the deck structure. Much work has been carried
In ships of over about 40 m length, steel rather than wood
out into both full composite superstructures (Critchfield,
is the main alternative to GFRP. As hull size is reduced,
Morgan, and Potter, 1991; Smith and Chalmers, 1987) and
the relative cost of steel construction increases, becoming
the connection to metallic hulls (Wright, Wu, and Gibson,
generally uncompetitive for hulls <20 m in length. The need
2000; Gibson et al., 2004; Boyd et al., 2008).
for a corrosion margin tends also to lead to excessive weight
FRP composite structures have enabled the development of
in small steel boats. For ships of over 40 m, however, the low
integrated technology masts that have overcome issues previ-
cost of heavy welded steel construction is normally a decisive ously experienced with steel masts by improving corrosion
advantage. Detailed studies by various researchers (Scott resistance, improved sensor performance, and lower radar
and Sommella, 1971) have indicated that FRP cargo ships cross section (Kane, Fixter, and Pogson, 2009). In addition
of up to 140 m might be economically viable; however, the to the improved stealth, environmental protection, and reduc-
flexural stiffness issues associated with large FRP structures tion of electromagnetic interference with sensors, a potential
would need to be addressed. Unless imaginative design, weight saving in the order of 10–30% is also possible with
improved materials, and automated fabrication can bring the corresponding improvement in ship stability and perfor-
about a substantial reduction in costs, FRP seems unlikely mance (Mouritz et al., 2001).
to become competitive with steel for construction of large
ships except where special requirements exist, for example,
4.4 High performance craft
for carriage of corrosive or cryogenic bulk cargo, where a
nonmagnetic hull is required, or where substantial weight
The high specific strength and superior specific stiffness of
saving is necessary for performance reasons. Application
FRP offered by carbon and other high modulus fibers have
to large passenger vessels and other large vessel types is
led to a dramatic growth in the application to weight critical
restricted by the current regulatory requirements (SOLAS
aerospace structures. Feasibility studies (Smith and Monks,
2009, IMO) for noncombustibility of structural materials.
1982) have indicated that substantial savings in hull weight
could be achieved by use of hybrid carbon/glass laminates
4.3 Naval vessels in place of steel and aluminum for construction of hydrofoil
and fast patrol boat hulls, and that associated increases in
The most significant naval application of FRP has been hull first-cost may be largely or entirely offset by whole-life
in construction of mine countermeasure vessels (MCMVs) savings in maintenance cost.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe146
Another important exception has been the increasing use of 4.6 Superstructures, masts, and funnels in ships
advanced composite construction in ultra-high performance and offshore applications
sailing craft and power boats. Racing boats of this kind, often
sponsored by large industrial or commercial organizations, Bending of a ship’s hull induces deformations that, in the
are an economic aberration: very high material and fabrica- presence of a rigid superstructure, tend to cause high stresses
tion costs, which would be intolerable in any other marine in the main hull structure, particularly at the superstructure
vehicle, are accepted, risks are increased and durability is ends. In some existing ships, fatigue failures induced by such
sacrificed in order to achieve minimum weight hulls and stresses have curtailed the ship’s useful life.
spars that are capable of winning prestige events such as the An effective way of avoiding unwanted hull–superstructure
round-the-world races and the America’s Cup. Examples of interaction is use of a low modulus material in the super-
such vessels include the Volvo Ocean 65, which is a carbon structure: GFRP is one such material, having tensile and
sandwich construction vessel, and the America’s Cup ACC compressive strengths of the same order as the yield strength
72 catamarans. This type of craft aims to stretch technology of mild steel with a Young’s modulus <10% that of steel.
to its limits and potentially provides a valuable spin-off in Smith and Chalmers (1987) established that use of GFRP in
design methodology and understanding of material limita- ship superstructures, either on its own or as part of a hybrid
tions. construction including metallic transverse frames, transverse
bulkheads, and possibly decks, offers a means of virtu-
4.5 Underwater vehicles ally eliminating the problem of fatigue cracking caused by
hull–superstructure interaction. Better fire resistance could
Mobile underwater vehicles designed for either moderate or be obtained than is provided by aluminum, together (in
extreme depths are likely to require minimization of struc- warships) with better ballistic protection. GFRP superstruc-
tural weight as a basis for increasing payload and extending tures could be achieved with weights lower than in steel and
operating range. By virtue of their high specific compres- approximately the same as in aluminum, with costs interme-
sive strength, FRP offer major potential weight savings rela- diate between those of steel and aluminum. Similar conclu-
tive to conventional metallic materials. Careful design is, sions apply to funnel structures.
however, necessary against buckling failure, complicated by The development of GFRP superstructure modules for
creep effects, and failure under fatigue and impact loads. offshore platforms and design of weight sensitive helicopter
FRP submersibles fabricated by hand lay-up using decks is ongoing. Use of FRP in weight critical mast struc-
polyester resin and E-glass reinforcement have been devel- tures also appears to offer advantages. Both monolithic,
oped successfully for offshore operations in moderate molded FRP construction and open, pin-jointed lattice
sea depths. Filament wound S-glass/epoxy and carbon construction based on the use of tubular FRP elements with
fiber/epoxy shells with helical or polar fiber orientation metallic endings are feasible.
having high compressive strengths have been extensively Composite materials have gained widespread acceptance
researched and appear to offer large potential advantages within the offshore oil and gas industry for application in
over high strength steel, aluminum or titanium in the pres- pipework and fluid handling situations. Fiber-reinforced
sure hulls of high performance submersibles for naval or composite materials present several advantages for offshore
deep-water exploration purposes (Moon et al., 2010). applications, such as high specific strength and stiffness,
Stiffened single-skin GFRP laminates based on polyester high corrosion resistance, low thermal conductivity, excel-
resin with CSM and woven roving reinforcement have been lent damping properties, and high fatigue resistance, all
used widely in naval submarines for free-flooded casings, of which are applicable to the ability to withstand the
fins and fairings mounted externally on the steel pressure severe conditions experienced in the offshore environment.
hulls of submarines. Weight minimization is an important Composite products offer potential cost advantages, in
requirement in such structures that, although not required particular when they replace corrosion resistant metals such
to resist full pressure loading, must be able to withstand as copper-nickel alloys, stainless steel, and titanium, which
impact forces associated with minor collisions together with are used in offshore platforms for various applications.
hydrodynamic loads including pounding by waves during The resistance to corrosion of composite materials also
surface operation. In this application, GFRP has success- potentially contributes to improving reliability and safety
fully replaced aluminum that gave rise to severe electrolytic and lower life cycle costs. An overview of potential use
corrosion problems in earlier designs. Ongoing research in of composite materials in the offshore industry is given in
to the use of composite materials in submarine structures Gibson (2003).
is ongoing but of limited availability in the public domain Risers connect the seabed well head to the offshore plat-
(Smith, 1999). form or vessel allowing the transfer of oil, gas, and drilling
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe146
12 General
fluids between the two points. Composite construction offers wear, improved vibration characteristics and easier handling
potentially significant weight saving over comparable steel (Mouritz et al., 2001). It is noteworthy that substitution of
risers; however, the design and construction is significantly compression-molded FRP for machined aluminum in the
more complex. Composite materials are porous in nature propellers and shrouds of the US Navy’s Mark 46 and Mark
and may possess microcracks in the structure that could 48 propellers resulted not only in weight reduction but also
lead to loss of containment and pressure. The choice of in a cost saving of over 50% (Pegg and Reyes, 1986).
materials, resin, and fiber orientation will be specific to the
requirements of the application, as will the complexity of 4.9 Other applications
the construction. Fabrication of the composite component
of the riser is usually in the form of filament winding or Fiber-reinforced materials are also used to make a wide
pultrusion-based methodologies. range of nonstructural components much as in the wider
Piping systems have been manufactured from composite marine industry. These include floor grids/gratings, hand
materials due to their ability to offer resistance to the rails, ladders, decking, and accommodation cabins. The
numerous corrosive fluids encountered in offshore opera- corrosion resistance and long-term reduction in maintenance
tions at varying pressures and temperatures along with the of these components that is offered by the use of such mate-
expected environmental conditions. The potential weight rials is a significant factor in their uptake. The often uniform
saving offered by composite materials offer significant shape of many of these components lends them to automated
construction advantages. In a similar manner to the risers production methods such as pultrusion.
previously discussed, the fabrication of composite pipes is
likely to be either filament winding or pultrusion based. The
specific choice of fiber and resin matrix will be specified 5 CONCLUSIONS
according to the actual usage of the pipework (Tarnopol’skii,
Kulakov, and Mungaiov, 1999). Fiber-reinforced polymer composites have enormous further
potential in a wide range of applications in the marine envi-
4.7 Radomes and sonar domes ronment. The stiffness and strength combined with their
light weight allows designs which would not be possible
High specific strength and radar transparency have led to with conventional materials. However, design must always
extensive use of GFRP in warship radomes. Light sandwich be specific to the material, taking into account the low
construction, based on foam or honeycomb cores with skins through-thickness properties as well as the joining issues.
formed by epoxy or polyester resin reinforced by glass cloth, The understanding and acceptance of these design param-
is commonly used in larger domes; single-skin construction eters will allow the potential of fiber-reinforced polymer
may be used in small domes. A high standard of fabrication composites to be realized in the marine environment.
is required with careful matching of dimensions to radar
wavelength. Warship radomes must in some cases be able to
withstand substantial levels of air blast loading and provide
some protection against high velocity fragments. ENDNOTES
In a similar manner to radomes, GFRP is used extensively
in warship sonar domes (Mouritz et al., 2001) whose purpose 1. http://www.thelaminator.net
is to provide smooth flow round sonar transducers on a 2. http://www.anaglyph.co.uk
ship’s bottom, together with protection against damage by
hydrodynamic loads and flotsam impact. Domes, which are
normally water filled, must have a high degree of acoustic
transparency. In order to avoid signal distortion, discrete
GLOSSARY
stiffeners must be eliminated as far as possible and laminate
Applications The uses to which these materials are
void content minimized.
suited.
CFRP Carbon fiber reinforced plastic.
4.8 Propellers and shafting GFRP Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic.
Joining To connect or fasten two objects
Scope exists for use of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic together.
(CFRP) or hybrid CFRP/GFRP in propellers and propeller Stiffness Measure of the resistance of an object
shafts, where weight saving can result in reduced bearing to deformation.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe146
Strength Measure of the ability of an object to Gibson, A.G. (2003) The cost effective use of fibre reinforced
composites offshore. Research Report for the Health and Safety
withstand applied stress without
Executive, University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
failure.
Gibson, A.G., Wright, P.N.H., Wu, Y.-S., Mouritz, A.P., Mathys,
Z., and Gardiner, C.P. (2004) Fire Integrity of Polymer Compos-
ites Using the Two Layer Model. 49th International SAMPE
RELATED ARTICLES Symposium and Exhibition: Materials and Processing Technology.
Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering,
Properties of Materials Long Beach.
Mechanical Testing Methods Graner, W.R. (1982) Marine applications, in Handbook of Compos-
Introduction to Non Destructive Testing and Condition ites (ed. G. Lubin), Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York,
Monitoring pp. 699–721.
NDT Methods Greene, E. (1999) Marine Composites, 2nd edn, Eric Greene Asso-
ciates, Annapolis.
Harris, B. (1999) Engineering Composite Materials, 2nd edn, IOM
Communications, London.
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe146
Tides and Water Levels
Ivan D. Haigh
University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
Tides are the regular rise and fall of the sea caused by
1 Introduction 1 astronomical forces. The nontidal residual is the part of the
2 Tidal Variations 1 sea level that remains once the astronomical tidal component
3 Nontidal Residual 9 has been removed. This primarily contains the meteorolog-
ical contribution to sea level. Mean sea level is the average
4 Mean Sea Level 10
height of the sea over longer periods of time, resulting from
5 Summary 11 changes in ocean volume or mass and/or vertical land move-
Glossary 12 ments. In the following sections, each of these components
Related Articles 13 is discussed in turn; but emphasis is given to tides, as they
References 13 are most predictable and the dominant sea-level fluctuations
Further Reading 13 in many regions.
2 TIDAL VARIATIONS
1 INTRODUCTION 2.1 Background
Sea level relates to the vertical change in the height of the Tides are the regular rise and fall of the sea caused by
sea surface, which occurs over all time and space scales from the gravitational attraction and rotation of the Earth, Moon,
many different forcing mechanisms. The term water level is and Sun. Understanding tides (and sea level in general)
used more specifically to refer to the height of the sea surface is important for a diverse range of practical and scientific
above some reference level or benchmark. Here, we focus on applications, including: the design of offshore structures
sea levels after the short-term variations due to wind waves and defenses against coastal flooding (such as the Thames
(which are dealt with in Types of Ocean Surface Waves, Barrier in London), coastal erosion, navigation, transport of
Wave Classification) are averaged out, often called still sea pollutants (e.g., an oil spill), and the extraction of tidal power
levels. At any particular time or location, the observed sea (Pugh and Woodworth, 2014). Tides also have a controlling
level can be regarding as being the combination of three influence on sediment transport, mixing and water quality
main factors (Pugh and Woodworth, 2014): and marine biological processes.
The study of tides has a long history (Cartwright, 1999).
Observed sea level Galileo (1564–1642), Descartes (1596–1650), and Kepler
= tidal level + nontidal residual + mean sea level (1) (1571–1630) all proposed theories for how tides were
generated, but it was not until Isaac Newton (1642–1727)
developed his universal law of gravitation and equilibrium
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. tidal theory, that tides could be more adequately explained.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe122
Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827) built on Newton’s
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 work and established the dynamical theory of tides, which
2 General
described the ocean’s real reaction to tidal forces. William the two bodies (i.e., Fg = Fc ), for the system to remain in
Thompson (1824–1907) developed the concept of harmonic equilibrium. If the system was not in equilibrium, the Earth
analysis. This was refined by George Darwin (1845–1912) and Moon would collide into each other or accelerated
and allowed accurate predictions of the tide to be made away from each other. At the center of the Earth, the two
at any site where sea-level measurements had been made. forces exactly balance. However, for locations nearer to the
Since then, further progress has been made in understanding Moon the gravitation force is larger than the centrifugal
and mapping tidal patterns; driven by the advancement of force; for locations further away, the centrifugal force is
computers and tidal models from the 1950s, and progress in larger than the gravitation force (Figure 1a). This difference
instrumentation, especially with global measurements of sea is the tide-generating force (Ft ). At a point on the Earth’s
level being made from the 1970s with satellites. surface, it is the difference between Equations 2 and 3,
which simplifies to:
2.2 The tide-generating force
Mm
Ft = Ga (4)
The bases for a physical understanding of how tides are R3
generated lies with Newton’s Law of Gravitation Attraction where a is the radius of the Earth.
which states that the force (F) of gravitational attraction of It is not the local vertical variation in the tide-generating
two particles of masses M1 and M2 separated by a distance R force that causes water on the Earth’s surface to be drawn
is given by: into two bulges on opposite sides of the Earth. Instead,
MM
F = G 12 2 (2) it is the small horizontal tractive force, the component of
R
the force tangential to the Earth’s surface, which creates
where G is the universal gravitational constant the accelerations needed to move water (Figure 1b). This
(6.6 × 10−11 N M2 /kg2 ). Equation 2 shows that the grav- force, although small, has nothing to oppose it; whereas the
itational attraction increases, the greater the masses of the vertical tide-generating force acts against the much larger
two bodies, and also increases, the smaller the distance gravitational attraction upon the ocean, directed toward the
between the two bodies is. center of the Earth.
Let us start by considering just the Moon’s role in gener- The tide-generating forces associated with the Sun can be
ating tides on the Earth. The Earth and Moon revolve as a thought of in a similar way. However, the solar tidal forces
single system around a common center of mass known as are a factor of 0.46 weaker than the forces resulting from the
the barycenter, with a single revolution taking 27.32 days. Moon. This is because, while the mass of the Sun is much
Because the size of the Earth is 81 times larger than the greater than the mass of the Moon (27 million times larger),
Moon, the location of the barycenter lies within the Earth. this is offset by the greater distance from the Earth (the Sun
The Earth and Moon circle about the barycenter without is 390 times further from the Earth than the Moon).
any rotation in absolute space and therefore, each point on
or within the Earth travels in circles which have the same
2.3 Equilibrium tidal theory
radius. Hence, they experience an equal acceleration and an
equal centrifugal force (Fc ) as a result. This force is directed
Newton established the equilibrium tidal theory, which is
parallel to a line joining the centers of the Earth and Moon.
useful for describing several features of observed tides. In
Unlike the centrifugal force, which is the same everywhere
this theory he made three assumptions: (i) the Earth has
on the Earth, the gravitational force depends on location,
no continental land masses and is covered by an ocean of
and is directed toward the center of the Moon’s mass. The
uniform depth; (ii) the oceans respond immediately to the
gravitation force (Fg ) at a particular location on or within the
tide-generating force; and (iii) the effects of friction and
Earth is given by:
MM rotation can be ignored. If we assume the Moon is stationary
Fg = G e m2 (3) and aligned with the Earth’s equator, then in an ideal ocean,
(R-r)
the horizontal component of the lunar tide-generating
where Me and Mm are the mass of the Earth and Moon, force would cause bulges on opposite sides of the Earth
respectively, and r the distance between the Earth’s center (Figure 2a). Therefore, a point on the equator would expe-
and the point of interest. Locations away from the Moon rience two high tides each day as the Earth rotates beneath
experience a gravitational force smaller than that experienced these bulges in an anticlockwise direction on its polar axis,
at sites nearer to the Moon. taking 24 h to complete one rotation (Figure 2b). A point
The total centrifugal force of the Earth–Moon system must north or south of the equator would still experience two high
exactly balance the forces of gravitation attraction between tides a day, but because it is located at a lower point on the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe122
Tides and Water Levels 3
Centifugal
Gravitational
Tide generating
Earth to Moon/Sun
(a)
Earth to Moon/Sun
(b)
Centifugal Gravitational
force Gravitational Centifugal force
force force
Centifugal Gravitational
Tide generating force force Tide generating
force force
Tide generating
(c)
force
Figure 1. The direction and magnitude of the: (a) vertical; and (b) horizontal tide-generating force on the Earth’s surface (looking side on
to the Earth); created by the (c) balance between the centrifugal force and the gravitational force.
tidal bulge, the height of high water would be smaller. We with smaller than average tidal range (Figure 4). The Moon
assumed a stationary Moon; however, in reality, the Moon cycles through its phases every 29.5 days. Therefore a set of
has moved on in its monthly rotation around the barycenter spring-neap tides occurs about every 15 days.
by the time the Earth has completed a full rotation. It there- Tidal patterns are further complicated by two important
fore takes about 50 min longer than a solar day for the point factors: (i) the Moon’s orbital plane around the Earth’s
on the equator to reach the maximum part of the first bulge and the Earth’s rotational plane around the Sun are not
again. It is for this reason that semidiurnal (i.e., twice daily) always over the equator; and (ii) the Moon’s orbit around the
tides occur every 12 h and 25 min. If we ignore the Moon Earth, and the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, are not circular.
and just consider the Sun, then the same features would be Consider the first. The Earth rotates around the Sun on a
observed, except the time between high waters would be plane which is inclined at 23∘ 27′ to the Earth’s equator called
exactly 12 h and the maximum height of high water would the ecliptic. The Moon orbits the Earth on a plane that is
be just less than half of that observed for the Moon. included by 5∘ 9′ to the ecliptic. As the Moon revolves around
Now consider the effect of the Moon and Sun together. the barycenter, its position above the Earth varies between
When the Earth, Moon, and Sun are in alignment, during latitudes 28∘ 36′ (i.e., 23∘ 27′ + 5∘ 9′ ) north or south of the
either full or new moon, the equilibrium tidal bulges asso- equator taking 27.2 days to complete a cycle. When the Moon
ciated with the Moon and Sun are in phase (Figure 3a) and (or the Sun) is north or south of the equator the tidal budges
combine to create a spring tide with a larger than average are titled relative to the equator (Figure 2c). A point on the
tidal range (Figure 4). When the Moon is positioned half way Earth’s surface would experience two high tides a day, but
between the new and full phases (Figure 3b), the two tidal the relative heights of each would be different (Figure 2d).
bulges are out of phase and cancel out to produce a neap tide This is referred to as diurnal inequality. As an observer
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe122
4 General
25 1.5
20
15
1 2
10
2
Level (m)
5
0 Earth 1 Moon 0.5
−5
−10 0 1
−15
−20
−0.5
−25 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48
−30 −20 −10 0 10 20 30 40
(a) (b)
1.5
Moon
1 2
2
Level (m) 0.5
Earth 1
0 1
−0.5
0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48
(c) (d) Hours
Figure 2. (a, c) The Earth’s (looking side on to the Earth) double tidal bulge aligned with the Moon that is located over the equator in (a)
and over the Tropic of Cancer in (c); (b, d) Tidal curves (offset for presentation purposes) over a 48-h period at sites 1 and 2, the locations
of which are marked on plots (a) and (c), respectively.
moved north or south, the relative difference between the two the Earth) to apogee (its further approach to the Earth) and
bulges would grow larger until essentially only one (diurnal) back (Figure 5a). At perigee and apogee, the lunar tidal forces
tide a day would be observed. Diurnal inequality reaches are 15% greater or less than average, respectively. It is for this
a maximum when the Moon is at its maximum northern reason that there are usually differences in the range of the
declination and again about 2 weeks later when it is at its two spring-neap cycles observed in a given month. The orbit
maximum southern declination. of the Earth–Moon system around the Sun is also elliptical,
The effect of solar declination is similar to that of the lunar with the Earth moving from perihelion (closest to the Sun) to
declination. The Sun’s declination varies over 365.25 days, aphelion (furthest from the Sun) over a period of 366.5 days
by 23∘ 27′ north or south of the equator, causing the seasons. (Figure 5). However, the difference in distance is only about
The largest diurnal tides occur in June and December during 4%, so tides are only marginally larger at perihelion.
the solstices, when the Sun is located over the tropics. The Variations in tidal forces also arise over longer time scales
smallest diurnal tides occur in March and September during as a result of both the 8.85-year cycle of lunar perigee, which
the equinoxes when the Sun is over the equator. As the influence tides as a 4.4-year cycle, and the 18.61-year lunar
strength of the diurnal forces increases the semidiurnal force nodal cycle (Cartwright, 1974; Wood, 2001; Haigh, Eliot,
reduces, and vice-versa. Hence, the semi-diurnal tidal forces and Pattiaratchi, 2011).
are maximum at the equinoxes and minimum at the solstices.
Now consider the second factor—the Earth and Moon 2.4 Harmonic analysis and tidal prediction
both travel in elliptical not circular orbits. This varies the
distance between the Moon and Earth and the Sun and Predicting times and heights of tides has many practical
Earth, which alters the strength of the lunar and solar and scientific applications. Prediction methods have evolved
tidal-generating force, respectively. Over a period of 27.6 from simple techniques that relate high water timing to the
days, the Moon moves from perigee (its closest approach to phases of the Moon (Pugh and Woodworth, 2014), through
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe122
30
20
10
−10
−20
−30
−80 −60 −40 −20 0 20 40
(a)
(b)
Figure 3. View looking down upon the Earth from the north pole when: (a) The Earth, Moon, and Sun are aligned during full or new
moon—the equilibrium tidal bulges associated with the Moon and Sun are in phase and combine to create a spring tide; (b) The Moon is
positioned half way between the new and full phases—the two tidal budges are out of phase and cancel out to produce a neap tide with
smaller than average tidal range.
to the more sophisticated harmonic analysis (Doodson, to a given site. The frequency of each of the tidal constituent
1921; Godwin, 1972; Foreman, 1977) and response analysis can be expressed as a linear combination of six fundamental
methods (Munk and Cartwright, 1966). Here we focus on astronomical forcing harmonics. From these, the positions
the harmonic analysis method as it builds on the equilib- of the Sun and Moon, and hence the tidal generating forces,
rium tidal theory and is widely used today. The underlying can be calculated at any time (Foreman, 1977).
principle of this method is the assumption that, no matter It is possible to relate each individual tidal harmonic to
how complex they appear, the tidal variations at any loca- real astronomical behavior (Pugh and Woodworth, 2014).
tion can be represented by the sum of a finite number For example, assume, as we did earlier, that the Moon rotates
of simple harmonic terms (tidal constituents), described around the Earth in a purely circular path aligned with the
mathematically by: equator, with the Earth rotating beneath it. This gives rise
to two symmetrical tides every 24 h and 50 min, which are
H cos (𝜔t-g) (5) represented by a single harmonic called M2 (M represents
the Moon and 2 because it is approximately twice daily). At
where H is the amplitude, 𝜔 the frequency, g the phase the equator the amplitude (H) of M2 would be about 0.27 m
lag relative to a defined time zero, and t time. Each tidal for the equilibrium tide. In a similar manner, if we just
constituents has a fixed frequency, which corresponds consider the Sun. We would observe two tides every 24 h
precisely with the frequency of the celestial forcing that represented by a single harmonic called S2 (S representing
gives rise to it, and an amplitude and phase which is unique the Sun and 2 for twice daily). At the equator the amplitude
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe122
6 General
2.5
1.5 Lunar tide (M2)
1
Level (m)
Solar tide (S2)

0.5
Neaps
−0.5
Springs Combined tide (M2 +S2)
−1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Days
Figure 4. Lunar (M2 ; dotted line), solar (S2 ; dashed line) and combined (solid line) tidal curves (offset for presentation purposes) over a
15-day period.
Moon Moon
Earth
Apogee Perigee
(a)
Earth Earth
Sun
Aphelion Perihelion
(b)
Figure 5. The elliptical orbits of the: (a) Moon around the Earth–Moon barycenter; and (b) the Earth around the Sun.
(H) of S2 would be about 0.13 m for the equilibrium tide. If be predicted to a useful accuracy using only a small subset
the Moon and Earth’s orbit was exactly circular and aligned of these.
with the equator, we would only have to deal with M2 and In order to predict tides at any given location, we need to
S2 ; the combination of which give raise to a spring/neap tidal know the frequencies, amplitudes and phase of the tidal cons-
cycle (Figure 4). But because of the changing declination tituents. The frequencies, as described above, are fixed, but
of the Moon and Sun, and the elliptical orbits of the Earth the amplitudes and phases of the different constituents vary
and Moon, additional constituents need to be introduced to with location. The aim of the harmonic analysis is therefore
take these more complex motions into account. In total more to determine them. For each location, this involves least-
than 400 tidal constituents have been identified, including squares fitting of the tidal constituents to water-level mea-
additional constituents which account for the distortions surements at that site. The estimated amplitudes and phases
of the tidal curve in regions of shallow water (Doodson, of each constituent can be substituted into Equation 5 and
1921; Cartwright and Tayler, 1971). However, the tide can then the terms summed, to predict the tides into the future.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe122
2.5 Dynamic tidal theory In the deep ocean, tides are generated directly by the
tide-generating forces. These tidal waves then spread onto
The equilibrium theory is useful because it helps to describe the surrounding shallow shelf seas and their characteristics
several features of observed tides. It also severs as a reference are altered through resonance and standing wave generation.
system for harmonic analysis and prediction. However, the On the shelf the wave slows down, because the depth reduces.
tide we observe in reality, bears little resemblance to the The wavelength is reduced and the wave amplitude increases
theoretical characteristics of the equilibrium tide. The ocean because the wave energy is now concentrated in a smaller
tides have much larger mean ranges with considerable spatial area. The largest amplification of a tide wave usually occurs
differences in size. The times of high water vary spatially, in a bay, or on a continental shelf with the right combination
with a pattern that bears little resemblance to the simple of depth and width (one quarter of a tidal wave length),
idea of a double bulge moving from east to west, decreasing through tidal resonance.
in amplitude northward or southward. This is because, as As tidal waves approach the shallower water near the coast,
Laplace showed in established the dynamical theory of tides, they encounter the irregular and complex topography of the
none of the three principle assumptions of the equilibrium coastline, and move into estuaries, bays and tidal inlets where
theory are valid: (i) the presence of land prevents the tidal they undergo even larger distortions. As the tide travels into a
bulges from directly circumnavigating the globe; (ii) the narrowing Bay or Estuary, the tidal range increases, because
rotation of the Earth on its polar axis is too rapid for the the same energy is being forced through a smaller opening.
inertia of the water masses to be overcome in sufficient time In extreme cases, this can result in the formation of a tidal
to establish an immediate equilibrium tide (the ocean depth bore. In very shallow water the wave crest (i.e., high water)
would need to be deeper than 20 km for the equilibrium will travel faster than the trough (i.e., low water), resulting in
tide at the equator to keep up with the Moon); (iii) water tidal asymmetry. In some shallow water locations, like on the
movements induced by tide-generating forces are subject to central south coast of the United Kingdom, interesting tidal
friction and the Coriolis force, the later acts to deflect tidal features such as double high or low water develop (Figure 7).
flows to the right in Northern Hemisphere and to the left in
Southern Hemisphere. 2.6 Tidal classification by range and form
The combination of these three factors, results in tides trav-
elling as Kelvin Waves and the development of amphidromic As we have seen from dynamic tidal theory, tides behave
systems. The global ocean is essentially broken into sepa- very differently in different regions and hence observed tidal
rate basins separated by landmasses. In these enclosed ocean curves vary considerably around the world (Figure 8). It is
basins the tidal wave travels from east to west, elevating therefore useful to classify tidal environments at a partic-
sea level against the western margin of the basin. Water is ular location, by their range and/or form (Brown et al.,
then forced to flow eastward, because of the resulting slope 1989). Tidal range is the vertical difference in height between
in the ocean surface which produces a pressure gradient. consecutive high and low waters over a tidal cycle. Tidal
In an ocean basin in the North Hemisphere, the eastward range varies temporally and spatially. Temporally, tidal range
flow is deflected to the right by the Coriolis force, which varies due to changes in the position and alignment of the
caused elevated sea levels against the southern margin of the Moon and Sun relative to the Earth, as discussed earlier.
basin. The water is driven northward by the pressure gradient. Spatially, tidal range varies according to the hydrodynamic
This is then deflected to the west and so on. Therefore the response of a particular ocean basin, shelf sea, bay, or estuary
wave crest rotates around the ocean basin in an anticlockwise to astronomical tidal forcing. The global distribution of mean
direction, in the North Hemisphere. This wave is referred to tidal range is shown in Figure 9a. Tidal ranges are typi-
as a Kelvin Wave. The amplitude and phase of the M2 tidal cally smallest in the open ocean, along open ocean coast-
constituent globally are shown in Figure 6, which illustrates lines and in almost fully enclosed seas, such as the Mediter-
the main ocean amphidromic systems. ranean; and are usually largest in semienclosed seas and
Amphidromic systems are also set up on continental funnel-shaped entrances of bays and estuaries, such as the
shelves and in large bays. These however are scaled down as Bristol Channel in the United Kingdom and the Bay of
the wave speeds are reduced in shallow water and there are Fundy in Canada, or regions where a continental shelf has
significant energy losses due to bottom friction. When there the right combination of depth and width for tidal reso-
is substantial energy dissipation, amphidromic points are nance to occur, such as on the northwest Australian shelf.
shifted to the west in the Northern Hemisphere. In strongly Tides can be crudely classified by their mean range into:
dissipative systems, or narrow basins or bays, amphidromic macrotidal (>4 m); mesotidal (2–4 m); and microtidal (<2 m)
point can be shifted onto land. (Masselink, Hughes, and Knight, 2003). Other tidal-range
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe122
8 General
Amplitude
80 (m)
1.5
60
40
20 1
Latitude (°)
−20
0.5
−40
−60
−80
0
−150 −100 −50 0 50 100 150
(a) Longitude (°)
Phase
80 (°)
360
60
315
40
270
20
Latitude (°)
225
0
180
−20
135
−40
90
−60
45
−80
0
−150 −100 −50 0 50 100 150
(b) Longitude (°)
Figure 6. Global: (a) amplitude; and (b) phase; of the M2 tidal constituent. Tidal constituents are from the TPXO7.2 global ocean model
and downloaded from http://volkov.oce.orst.edu/tides/. (Estimated using tidal constituents derived from TPXO7.2 global ocean model ©
Egbert and Erofeeva (2002).)
descriptors (including, highest and lowest astronomical tide, O1 ) and semi-diurnal (i.e., M2 and S2 ) tidal constituent ampli-
mean high and mean low water springs and neaps, mean tudes (H) using the following equation:
higher high water and mean lower high water) have been
developed to describe local tide regimes (Pugh and Wood- (HK1 + HO2 )
worth, 2014). F= (6)
HM2 + HS2
The form of the tide relates to whether a location experi-
ences: two high and low tides each lunar day—semidiurnal
tide (Figure 8a); a single high and low water tide each lunar The tides may be roughly classified as:
day—diurnal tide (Figure 8d); or, periods of two high and
low waters a lunar day and periods of a single high and low F = 0–0.25 Semi-diurnal form
water each lunar day—mixed tide (Figure 8b and c). The F = 0.25–1.50 Mixed, mainly semi-diurnal
form factor (F) can be used to quantitatively classify these F = 1.50–3.00 Mixed, mainly diurnal
tidal regimes at a particular location (Pugh and Woodworth, F = >3.00 Diurnal form
2014). This is derived from the main diurnal (i.e., K1 and
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe122
6
Portsmouth, UK
5
4
Level (m)
3
(a) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
3
Weymouth, UK
2.5
2
Level (m)
1.5
0.5
−0.5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
(b) Hours
Figure 7. Spring (solid) and neap (dotted) tidal curves at: (a) Portsmouth; and (b) Weymouth in the United Kingdom, showing
shallow-water distortions.
The global distribution of the form factor is shown in increase or decrease sea level. The most dramatic changes
Figure 9b. occur during storms, when low atmospheric pressure allows
sea level to rise and gale force winds, combined with the
Earth’s rotation, force water toward the coastline; creating a
3 NONTIDAL RESIDUAL storm surge. Storm surges can last from hours to days and can
elevate sea level by several meters over an area of hundreds
The regular and predictable patterns of tides are constantly to thousands of square kilometers.
being modified by irregular factors, the most important being When large storm surges coincide with high water of a
weather. This is why tidal predictions of sea level differ from spring tide, extreme sea levels arise and this can lead to
those actually observed (Pugh and Woodworth, 2014). The serious coastal flooding. When coastal flooding occurs along
nontidal residual (i.e., the part of the sea level that remains
low-lying and highly populated coastlines, the impacts can
once the astronomical tidal and mean sea-level components
be devastating and long lasting with wide ranging social,
have been removed) therefore primarily contains the meteo-
economic, and environmental consequences. Several signif-
rological contribution (Figure 10). This is why it is some-
times referred to as the meteorological residual or surge icant events in the last decade (e.g., Hurricane Katrina in
component, although more commonly, the term surge, or New Orleans in August 2005, Cyclone Xynthia on the French
storm surge, is used to describe a particular event during Atlantic coast in 2010, Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey in
which a very large nontidal component is generated. 2012, and most recently Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines
Weather affects sea level in two ways: (i) through changes in 2013), have dramatically emphasized the high vulnera-
in atmospheric pressure; and (ii) through variations in wind bility of densely populated coastline to extreme sea-level
stress. Changes in atmospheric pressure and wind act to events and coastal flooding, in different parts of the world.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe122
10 General
(a) Bristol Channel, UK
5
Level (m)
−5
(b) San Francisco, USA

2
Level (m)
−2
(c) Manila, Philippines
1
Level (m)
−1
(d) Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia
2
Level (m)
−2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Day
Figure 8. Tidal curves over a 30-day period at: (a) the Bristol Channel, UK; (b) San Francisco, USA; (c) Manila, Philippines; and (d) Gulf
of Carpentaria, Australia.
In shallow water regions, nonlinear interactions can occur averaged out. It is important to distinguish between eustatic
between the tidal and nontidal components of sea level. and relative mean sea-level change. Eustatic (or absolute)
This process has been most studied in the southern North mean sea level reflects only the change in sea height, whereas
Sea where it tends to cause surge maxima to occur most relative mean sea level represents the change in sea height
frequently on the rising tide. The interaction patterns in the and changes in the level of the land at a local or regional
North Sea can be explained by the combined effect of a scale. Changes in sea height are caused by changes in water
phase shift of the tidal signal and the modulation of surge volume or mass, and by variations in the shape of the oceanic
production due to water depth changes through the tidal cycle basins over geological time scales. The main factors that
(Horsburgh and Wilson, 2007). It is for this reason that the increase the volume or mass of the ocean are: (i) the melting
term skew surge has started to be used. A skew surge is the of land-based sources of ice (glaciers and ice caps, and the
difference between the maximum observed sea level and the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica); (ii) thermal expan-
maximum predicted tide regardless of their timing during a sion of seawater; and (iii) changes in terrestrial hydrological
tidal cycle. regimes. Vertical land movements arise from both natural
geological (tectonics, glacial isostatic adjustment, etc.) and
anthropogenic (usually subsidence caused by withdrawal of
4 MEAN SEA LEVEL ground water) processes.
Over many hundreds of thousands of years, mean sea level
Mean sea level is the average height of the sea surface over has varied by as much as 130 m as major ice sheets grew
a longer period of time (usually a month or year), with the and shrank during glacial–interglacial cycles (Church et al.,
short-term variations associated with tides and storm surges 2013). Palaeo data from corals indicate that during the last
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe122
Tidal range
80 (m)
6
60
40 5
20
Latitude (°)
4
0
3
−20
−40 2
−60 1
−80
0
−150 −100 −50 0 50 100 150
(a) Longitude (°)
Form factor
80 4
60 3.5
40 3
20
Latitude (°)
2.5
0 2
−20
1.5
−40
1
−60
0.5
−80
0
−150 −100 −50 0 50 100 150
(b) Longitude (°)
Figure 9. (a, b) Global distribution of mean tidal range and tidal form factor. Estimated using tidal constituents derived from TPXO7.2
global ocean model and downloaded from http://volkov.oce.orst.edu/tides/. (Estimated using tidal constituents derived from TPXO7.2
global ocean model © Egbert and Erofeeva (2002).)
interglacial period (about 125,000 years ago) sea level was Over the last 3000 years, changes in mean sea level were at
4–6 m above that of present day. Sea level then fell to more the most a few tenths of millimeters per year; whereas the
than 120 m below the present day level as water became global average rate of rise estimated for the twentieth century
trapped in ice sheets during the last ice age. Levels then rose was 1.7 mm/year. Measurements from altimetry suggest that
rapidly until about 6000 years ago as ice melted, at average the rate of mean sea-level rise has almost doubled over the
rates of 10 mm/year. Between 6000 and 2000 years ago, sea last two decades. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
level rose more slowly and there was little change in sea level Change’s Fifth Assessment Report predicts that global mean
from 2000 years ago until more recently. sea level is likely to rise a further 28–97 cm by 2100 (Church
However, there has been considerable interest in mean sea et al., 2013).
level in recent decades because of concern that sea levels are
rising as result of climate change, and the negative impact
this will have on growing coastal communities (Pugh and 5 SUMMARY
Woodworth, 2014). Palaeo sea level data from coastal sedi-
ments, the few long (pre-1900) tide gauge records and recon- For many purposes, the observed sea level (excluding wind
structions of mean sea level (made by combining tide gauge waves) can be regarding as being the combination of three
records with satellite altimetry measurements), all indicate main components: tides; the nontidal residual; and mean sea
that there was an increase in the rate of global mean sea level level. Tides are the most predictable and dominant compo-
rise during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. nent of sea-level fluctuations in many areas and to fully
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe122
12 General
1.4
1.2
0.8
Level (m)
0.6
0.4
0.2
−0.2
−0.4
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
(a)
Pressure (mbar)
1030
1020
1010
1000
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
(b) Day
Figure 10. (a) The observed sea-level (solid) and the tidal (dashed) and nontidal components (dotted); and (b) atmospheric pressure; during
May 2014 at Fremantle, Western Australia.
understand and predict them, one must understand both GLOSSARY

the astronomical forcing that gives rise to them and also
the response of the oceans, to this forcing (Parker, 2005).
Knowledge of the astronomical forcing helps to describe Mean sea The average height of the sea over longer
several features of tides and servers as a basis for the level periods of time (usually a month or
tide’s predictability, but it is the knowledge of tidal hydro- year).
dynamics in a particular ocean basin or shelf sea, which Nontidal The part of the sea level that remains once the
provides understanding of the timing of high and low water, residual astronomical tidal component has been
the range and form of the tide and any shallow water removed. This primarily contains the
distortions of the tidal curve. The nontidal residual is the meteorological contribution to sea level.
part of sea level that remains once the astronomical tidal Sea level The vertical change in the height of the sea
surface, which occurs over all time and
and mean sea-level components have been removed and
space scales from many different forcing
primarily contains the meteorological contribution to sea
mechanisms (i.e., waves, seiches, tsunamis,
level. The most dramatic meteorological related sea-level
tides, storm surges, and mean sea level).
changes occur during storms, when low atmospheric pres-
Storm A large-change in sea level generated by low
sure allows sea level to rise and strong winds force water surge atmospheric pressure and strong winds
toward the coastline; creating storm surges which can lead associated with an extreme meteorological
to coastal flooding. Mean sea level is the average height of event.
the sea over longer periods of time, usually a month or year, Tides The regular rise and fall of the sea caused by
with the short-term variations associated with the tide and the gravitational attraction and rotation of
storm surges average out. The main climate-related factors the Earth, Moon, and Sun system.
that are currently increasing mean sea levels are: the melting Water level The height of the sea surface above a reference
of land-based sources of ice, thermal expansion of seawater level or benchmark, often called a tidal
and changes in terrestrial hydrological regimes. datum.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe122
RELATED ARTICLES Horsburgh, K. J. and Wilson, C. (2007) Tide-surge interaction and

its role in the distribution of surge residuals in the North Sea. J.
Geophys. Res., 112.
Wind, Wave and Current Modeling and Prediction
Masselink, G., Hughes, M., and Knight, J. (2003) Introduction to
Types of Ocean Surface Waves, Wave Classification
Coastal Processes and Geomorphology, Hodder Education, UK.
Munk, W.H. and Cartwright, D.E. (1966) Tidal spectroscopy and
prediction. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of
REFERENCES London, A259, 533–581.
Parker, B. (2005) Tides, in Encyclopedia of Coast Science (ed. M.L.
Schwartz), Springer, The Netherlands.
Brown, J., Colling, A., Park, D., Philips, J., Rothery, J., and Wright, J.
Pugh, D. and Woodworth, P. (2014) Sea-Level Science: Under-
(1989) Tides, in Waves, Tides and Shallow-Water Processes (ed. G.
standing Tides, Surgefs, Tsunamis and Mean Sea Level Changes,
Bearman), Butterworth Heinemann and Open University, Milton
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 407 pp.
Keynes, UK.
Wood, F. (2001) Tidal Dynamics, Volume I: Theory and Analysis of
Cartwright, D.E. (1974) Years of peak astronomical tides. Nature, 248
Tidal Forces, Coastal Education and Research Foundation, 326 pp
(5450), 656–657.
(Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 30).
Cartwright, D.E. (1999) Tides, a Scientific History, University Press,
Cambridge, 289 pp.
Cartwright, D.E. and Tayler, R.J. (1971) New computations of the
tide-generating potential. Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astro-
nomical Society, 23 (1), 45–73. FURTHER READING
Church, J.A., Clark, P.U., Cazenave, A., Gregory, J.M., Jevrejeva, S.,
Levermann, A., Merrifield, M.A., Milne, G.A., Nerem, R.S., Nunn, Church, J.A., Woodworth, P.L., Aarup, T., and Wilson, W.S. (2010)
P.D., Payne, A.J., Pfeffer, W.T., Stammer, D., and Unnikrishnan, Understanding Sea-Level Rise and Variability, Wiley-Blackwell,
A.S. (2013) Sea level change. Climate change. The physical London, 428 pp.
science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assess- Doodson, A.T. and Warburg, H.D. (1941) Admiralty Manual of Tides,
ment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London.
Douglas, B.C., Kearney, M.S., and Leatherman, S.P. (2000) Sea Level
Doodson, A.T. (1921) The harmonic development of the Rise: History and Consequences, Academic Press, San Diego,
tide-generating potential. Proceedings of the Royal Society 272 pp.
of London. Series A, 100 (704), 305–329.
Forrester, W.D. (1983) Canadian Tidal Manual, Department of Fish-
Egbert, G.D. and Erofeeva, S. (2002) Efficient inverse modeling eries and Oceans, Ottawa, 138 pp.
of barotropic ocean tides. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic
Technology, 19 (2), 183–204. IOC (1985) Manual on sea level measurement and interpretation,
volume 1—basic procedures. Intergovernmental Oceanographic
Foreman, M.G.G. (1977) Manual for tidal heights analysis and Commission Manuals and Guides. Number 14. IOC, Paris, 83 pp.
prediction. Pacific Marine Science Report No. 77-10, Institute of http://www.pol.ac.uk/psmsl/manuals/ioc_14i.pdf.
Ocean Sciences, Patricia Bay, Sidney, B.C., 66 pp. http://www
.omg.unb.ca/GGE/5013_LABS/heights.pdf. IOC (2006) Manual on sea level measurement and interpreta-
tion, volume IV: an update to 2006. Intergovernmental Oceano-
Godwin, G. (1972) The Analysis of Tides, University of Toronto graphic Commission Manuals and Guides. Number 14. IOC, Paris,
Press, Toronto, Canada. 88 pp. http://www.pol.ac.uk/psmsl/manuals/manual_14_final_21_
Haigh, I.D., Eliot, M., and Pattiaratchi, C. (2011) Modeling global 09_06.pdf.
influences of the 18.6-year nodal cycle and quasi-4.4 year cycle on Pugh, D.J. (1987) Tides, Surges and Mean Sea-Level, A Handbook
high tidal levels. Journal of Geophysical Research—Oceans, 116, for Engineers and Scientists, Wiley, Chichester, 472 pp.
C06025. doi: 10.1029/2010JC006645
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe122
Risk Analysis
Ahmed Hassanin and Paul Jukes
The Jukes Group, TX, USA
Following a methodological framework to determine the

1 Introduction 1 nature and level of a risk that is associated with an activity or
2 Basics 2 a task is the basis of risk analysis. Risk analysis, also referred
3 Risk Assesment Process 2 to as risk assessment, is widely used as a decision-making
4 Quantitative Risk Assessment 2 support tool with respect to mitigation and compliance
5 Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) 3 measures. Risk analysis is based on a systematic proba-
6 Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) 7 bilistic approach that analytically quantifies the risk based
on the probability and the consequence. Many models have
Related Articles 10
been developed to describe risk both quantitatively and qual-
References 10
itatively. Some of these models and methods include fault
Further Reading 10
trees, event trees, Bayesian belief networks, and Markov
models. Succinctly, risk analysis specifies what is at stake,
assesses uncertainties of relevant quantities, and produces a
complete risk description (Aven et al., 2014).
1 INTRODUCTION
It is imperative to understand the definition of the word
Good decision-making is critical for any business to become “risk” prior to introducing the different methods of analysis.
successful. In an offshore environment where decisions To understand risk, it is important to understand three other
are influenced by a multitude of inputs, decision-making terms: hazards/threats, controls, and events. Hazards/threats
becomes more influential. To make good decision, a good refer to the various conditions that might result in the occur-
decision process must be in place. The following items are rence of an undesirable adverse event. Controls refer to the
components of a good decision-making process according to measures that would be taken to prevent hazards/threats from
the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS): causing the undesirable events to occur; whether they are
physical, procedural, or addressing human factors. Events
• Identification of an extensive range of potential possibil- refer to an occurrence with an associated outcome that can
ities range in severity. With the previous terms in mind, risk can
• Effective evaluation of each possibility’s merits be defined as “the product of the frequency with which an
• Suitable amount of input and review of each possibility event is anticipated to occur and the consequence of the
• Timely and just decision-making methods event’s outcome” (ABS, 2000). Frequency of a risk occur-
• Proper communication and implementation of decisions.
rence is defined as the number of events that would occur
in a defined unit time (typically in years). Consequence
of a risk occurrence is defined as the number of negative
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. effects (people affected, property damaged, etc.) per event.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe177
Therefore, the dimensions used to express risk are conse-
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 quences/year.
2 General
2 BASICS • Identifying hazards/threats

• Assessing frequency of hazards/threats
The following questions must be answered to better under- • Assessing consequences of hazards/threats
stand the risk associated with an activity: • Evaluating the risk.
• What can go wrong? Each of the risk assessment steps has different analysis
• How likely is it to happen? methods that can be implemented as shown in Figure 2 (ABS,
• What impacts does it have? 2000). In this article, we focus on general QRA approach,
failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA), and fault tree
For a good decision to be made, quantitative answers analysis (FTA).
are usually sufficient. However, when managers consider
cost/benefit associated with the decisions, a more compre-
hensive method would be used such as quantitative risk 4 QUANTITATIVE RISK ASSESSMENT
assessment (QRA). The foundation upon how risk analysis
is done along with answering the previous question can QRA is a method of identifying and analyzing risk from
provide a full understanding of the risk. The foundation a quantitative perspective as the name suggests. A QRA
comprises the following: suggests mitigation methods to satisfy regulatory criteria.
A QRA is a systematic approach that expresses risk quan-
titatively by estimates of the frequency and consequences
• Historical experience
of hazardous events (DNV GL). These studies are typically
• Analytical methods (quantitative or qualitative)
necessary for production and processing facilities, HPHT
• Knowledge and good judgment.
pipelines, and storage/importation sites. The purpose is to
aid in the decision-making process and meeting regulatory
criteria. Focusing on QRA can validate that risks are as low
3 RISK ASSESMENT PROCESS as reasonably practicable (ALARP).
QRA is frequently applied to offshore operations where
Figure 1 clearly depicts the risk assessment process and hazardous activities could have a significant impact. This
the possible results from both a qualitative and quantitative type of risk analysis has been a crucial part in developing
approach (ABS, 2000). The figure follows the following safety regimes in the offshore industry. In 1980, after a
basic four steps of risk assessment: series of offshore accidents that occurred in the Norwegian
Qualitative techniques Quantitative techniques
Frequency assessment
Model Estimate
causes likelihoods Absolute and
relative risks
Hazard Estimate Major risk
identification likelihoods contributors
Consequence assessment
Comparisons
Model Estimate with other
effects impacts risks
Qualitative ranking Quantified benefits and costs

of recommendations of risk-reduction alternatives
Figure 1. Risk assessment process. (https://ww2.eagle.org/content/dam/eagle/rules-and-guides/current/other/97_riskassessapplmarineand

offshoreoandg/pub97_riskassesment.pdf.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe177
Risk Analysis 3
Risk assessment
methods
Hazard Frequency Consequence Risk

identification assessment assessment evaluation
methods methods methods methods
Literature Historical Source term Risk matrix
search records models F–N curve
What-if review Fault tree Atmospheric Risk profile
Safety audit analysis dispersion Risk isopleth
Walk-through Event tree models Risk density
Checklist analysis Blast and curve
Brainstorming Human thermal Risk index
HAZOP reliability radiation
analysis models
FMEA
HAZID Common cause Aquatic
failure analysis transport
models
Effect models
Mitigation
models
Figure 2. Risk assessment methods. (https://ww2.eagle.org/content/dam/eagle/rules-and-guides/current/other/97_riskassessapplmarine

andoffshoreoandg/pub97_riskassesment.pdf.)
continental shelf, a series of guidelines for safety evaluation systems’ equipment as it considers their failure modes
of offshore platform conceptual design was implemented. individually. According to ABS, the reason FMEA is used
It devised that QRA should be carried out in for any new in the industry to identify failures is the ability to produce
offshore installations in the Norwegian region during the qualitative data (failure modes, root cause, and mitigation)
conceptual design phase of the project. Eventually, the QRA as well as quantitative data (failure frequency and/or failure
methodology was established based on several experiences, consequence). The outputs could be easily used to define
but the most significant incident that propelled its develop- certain risks that are associated with the mechanical and
ment and implementation in the industry is the Piper Alpha electrical systems onboard an offshore platform.
platform incident in 1988 (Skogdalen and Vinnem, 2013). As FMEA should be conducted during the design and opera-
QRA started out as a regulatory requirement, nowadays, it is tion development phase. If the failure modes of the systems
driven by the industry itself. are not considered, the safety of the offshore vessel/platform
and its crew could be jeopardized.
5 FAILURE MODES AND EFFECTS 5.1 FMEA strategy

ANALYSIS (FMEA)
The procedure of developing an FMEA strategy is as
A major part of risk analysis is hazard identification. For follows:
well-defined systems, FMEA is the best suited approach
of identifying hazards and the risk associated with them. • Defining the design philosophy to be validated by the
Although a well-defined system on an offshore platform FMEA
could be broad (vessel safety, harbor transit, etc.), FMEA • Selecting a proper FMEA standard
is more suited to more specific mechanical and electrical • Defining the FMEA scope
systems (fire suppression system, vessel propulsion, etc.) • Assembling an FMEA team
As the name suggests, FMEA is solely based on identifying • Starting data management
the possible failure modes of each system and the possible • Conducting the FMEA study
mitigations or safeguards to be taken and it is an inductive • Creating an FMEA report (might require verification by
method (vs deductive). In addition, it is a key analysis confirming the compliance of the design to the standard
in developing and optimizing maintenance schedules for or classification).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe177
4 General
5.2 FMEA standards Later on, multiple industries sought the benefit of such
a risk assessment approach that they adopted the same
There are several standards that could be used for reference methodologies.
when developing a risk analysis method as FMEA. The
following are some of the commonly used ones: 5.3 Data management
• IEC 60812: Analysis techniques for system reliability For an FMEA study to be conducted correctly, input data
• MIL-STD-1629A: US military standard—procedures for must be identified, collected, and organized properly. Input
performing a failure mode, effects, and criticality anal- data that can be used in an FMEA study can be in the
ysis (FMECA). (This standard was cancelled in 1998 but form of general system configuration, layout data, systems
is still widely adopted by commercial companies.) schematics, historical FEMA studies, operational philos-
• TM 5-698-4: US army technical manual—FMECA for ophy documentation, and hardware listings. In addition,
command, control, communications, computer, intelli- more data can be collected by communicating with the
gence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) facili- design and operations teams.
ties. As mentioned earlier, FMEA is only one of the many
available risk analysis tools that can be used. Inputs to an
As it is apparent from the previous standards, quite FMEA study can also be outputs of other risk analysis tools
a few are developed by the military. This is due to the such as HAZOP, HAZID, and root cause analysis.
fact that FMEA was initially adopted by the US Depart- Once the input data is collected, the FMEA team will
ment of Defense for its systems’ design (ABS, 2015). conduct analysis to ensure all the information required is
Define the analysis
Develop system
functional block
diagrams/
worksheets
Identify failure
modes and causes
Identify failure
detection methods Identify corrective
Analyze effects
and existing risk actions
control
Criticality ranking
Tabulate worksheet
data
Figure 3. FMEA study methodology (based on ABS methodology). (https://ww2.eagle.org/content/dam/eagle/rules-and-guides/current/

design_and_analysis/215_fmea/FMEA_GN_e-Sept17.pdf.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe177
Risk Analysis 5
within reach. This analysis will assess the availability of Figure 4 shows a type of block diagrams called reliability
information on the system design, operational concepts and block diagram, which is very useful in identifying the bound-
procedures, and so on. aries required for an FMEA study. The blocks shown in series
are on a critical path, while ones that are in parallel are
5.4 FMEA study redundant and the system as a whole can still function with
their failure. The dotted line represents the boundary of the
The FMEA study methodology is outlined in Figure 3. system. The first and the last systems could be a part of a
larger one.
The idea of the block diagram is to break down a large
5.4.1 Define analysis system into smaller components that can be easily defined.
The system to be analyzed is defined based on the following: As it was mentioned earlier, multiple input data is provided to
assist in identifying potential failures and risks. Engineering
• System boundaries: drawings and schematics are especially helpful in creating
– Physical block diagrams as they will show each component and any
– Operational. secondary components that are required. An example shown
• Equipment scope and depth of the analysis in Figure 5 illustrates how an FMEA study should include
• System functions the effect of one component on the overall system (global)
• Interface functions rather than just the component itself (local). Figure 5 is
• Expected performance and limitations a demonstration of a pipe laying activity where the force
• Failure definitions. exerted by the pipe laying can affect the position of the vessel
as it exerts a force on the dynamic positioning (DP) system.
The force exerted is a function of multiple variables (depth
5.4.2 Develop analysis approach and pipe size). If an FMEA study is conducted on the pipe
Typically, a combination of failure mode block diagrams and tensioner, which axially loads the pipe as it is being laid, the
worksheets is used to identify the different failure modes. effect on the tensioner and the vessel should be included.
5.4.2.1 Block diagrams. A functional block diagram

shows how each components of the system interact with 5.4.2.2 Failure mode worksheets. Figure 6 shows how a
each other. Other than helping in visualizing the interactions, typical FMEA table looks like. The main headlines include
they help in identifying critical components. the description of the failure in terms of the mode, cause,
Block diagrams provide the following: and detection. The effects of the failure are described by the
local and global reach. The safeguards are described by the
• High level overview of the systems/subsystems sequence prevention and mitigation methods. The quantitative portion
for successful operations is scaled based on severity and likelihood. The scales used
• Easy method of identifying failure modes, effects, are typically generated by the FMEA team. Lastly, corrective
causes, and possible hidden failures. actions are listed in case of the failure occurrence.
Subsystem/ Subsystem/ Subsystem/

equipment equipment equipment
A B1 C
Subsystem/
equipment
B2
Figure 4. Reliability block diagram. (https://ww2.eagle.org/content/dam/eagle/rules-and-guides/current/design_and_analysis/215_fmea/

FMEA_GN_e-Sept17.pdf.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe177
6 General
W/L
Force exerted by
pipe on DP system.
It is a function of
depth and pipe
size.
Laying direction Pipe
Seabed
Figure 5. Factors that can impact FMEA study in pipe laying activity. (https://ww2.eagle.org/content/dam/eagle/rules-and-guides/current/
design_and_analysis/215_fmea/FMEA_GN_e-Sept17.pdf.)
Operational mode: Describe the operational mode
Description Corrective
of unit
Description of failure Effects of failure Safeguards Severity1 Likelihood1 actions
Low/ Low/
Failure Failure Detection Prevention Mitigation
ID Function Local Global med/ med/
mode causes of failure of failure of effect
high high
How do
you know Effects Effects
that the on the on other
failure is same systems,
occuring? system on the
system
and
Loss of effects
function? on HSE
1 The severity and likelihood assessments in the highlighted columns are the risk-based ranking or criticality that is captured
during the FMECAs. If the severity and likelihood are in the unacceptable range based on previously agreed criteria,
corrective actions are needed, and the risk “after” corrective actions should also be evaluated.
Figure 6. FMEA worksheet. (Courtesy of ABS; https://ww2.eagle.org/content/dam/eagle/rules-and-guides/current/design_and_analysis/

215_fmea/FMEA_GN_e-Sept17.pdf.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe177
Risk Analysis 7
6 FAULT TREE ANALYSIS (FTA) this procedural analysis will reduce risks as the vulnera-
bilities in the system will be identified.
Unlike FMEA, which is an inductive method, FTA is a
deductive method of analyzing risk. It graphically portrays
a logical relationship among failures, human errors, and 6.2 Symbols
external events. This type of analysis provides a qualitative
description of potential failures that might occur (logical The symbols used in an FTA to describe the sequence of
paths and root causes) as well as quantitative estimates events and conditions that leads to the top tree are shown in
(frequencies and consequences), which can be used to Figure 7 (Padley).
analyze risk. FTAs can be applied to any system but are Using these symbols, a fault tree can be constructed based
best adopted in complex situations that are made up of large on the specified steps. Figure 8 shows an example of a fault
combinations of events. This makes FTA very popular in the tree constructed to analyze why an engine fails to operate as
offshore oil and gas industry. shown in Figure 7 (Padley).
FTA is a top-down process by which an undesirable event
is logically decomposed into its possible causes in increasing 6.3 FTA rules
details until the cause(s) of the top event is identified.
There are six common rules associated with constructing a
fault tree. These might differ from one source to another in
6.1 FTA process terms of order but fairly follow the same thorough process.
The following are the ones adapted from Dr. Marshall (2012)
The process to conduct an FTA is as follows (compare from the University of Warwick:
to FMEA and notice similarities and differences). These
steps are adopted from the US Coast Guard risk-based 1. The cause that results in the occurrence of an event must
decision-making guideline: be immediate, necessary, and sufficient.
(a) Immediate: The causal event is most direct and closest
• Define the system for which failure information is in space and time to derive the occurrence of the above
required. event.
• Identify the problem of interest that the FTA will address. (b) Necessary: The event above cannot result from a
This means defining a specific top event. subset of the causal event.
• Construct the treetop structure by identifying the events (c) Sufficient: The event will surely (under all circum-
and conditions that lead to the top event. stances) cause the event above.
• Decompose each branch to its lowest task. By identifying 2. The event box statements must be clearly written to
the direct events and conditions, each level can be broken precisely describe the what and when of the event.
down to its simplest detail. 3. The event can be either a State of component fault or
• Conduct the FTA for the different combinations and State of system fault.
permutations that could result to the top event. A minimal (a) State of component fault is a fault that consists of a
cut set is the sufficient and necessary events and condi- component failure. It will always use an OR gate in
tions that will cause the top event. Think of it as the the fault tree.
shortest way from the root to the treetop. (b) State of systems fault is a fault that does not consist
• Adjust the model by identifying the critical dependent of a component failure. It will use AND, OR, or
failure potentials. This is referred to as qualitative INHIBIT gate in the fault tee.
common cause of failure. Dependent failure potentials 4. If the normal functionality of a component results in
are single occurrences that could result in several events a fault sequence that propagates through the tree, the
or conditions to happen simultaneously. component is assumed to be functioning normally.
• Conduct a quantitative analysis if necessary. This is done 5. All gate inputs must be clearly defined and understood
using statistical characterizations regarding the failure before further analysis is undertaken.
and repair of different event and conditions. It is done 6. There should be no gate-to-gate connections in a fault
to predict the future performance of the system. tree. Gate inputs should be adequately defined fault
• Make decisions! Based on the fault tree, decisions can events. However, there should never be consecutively
now be made by recommending proper solutions to weak connected gates, that is, no gate output can be another
points in the system. Understanding the full system from gate’s input.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe177
8 General
Symbol Name Description

Primary event symbols
Circle Basic event – a basic initiating fault requiring
no further development
Oval Conditioning event – specific conditions or

restrictions that apply to any logic gate (used
with INHIBIT gate)
Diamond Undeveloped event – an event that is not

developed further because it is of insufficient
consequence or because information is
unavailable
House External event – an event which is normally

expected to occur (not a fault event)
Intermediate event symbols

Rectangle A fault event that occurs as a result of the
logical combination of other events
Gate symbols
OR gate The union operation of events, that is, the output
event occurs if (at least) one or more of the
inputs occur
AND gate The intersection operation of events, that is, the

output event occurs if and only if all the inputs
occur
INHIBIT The output event occurs if the (single) input

gate event occurs in the presence of an enabling
condition (i.e., Conditioning Event (oval) drawn
to the right of the gate)
Transfer symbols
Triangle-in Indicates that the tree is developed further
someplace else (e.g., another page)
Triangle-out Indicates that this portion of the tree is a sub-

tree connected to the corresponding Triangle-In
(appears at the top of the tree)
Figure 7. FTA symbols. (http://www.civil.uwaterloo.ca/maknight/courses/CIVE240-05/Week%2011/Fault%20Tree%20Analysis.pdf.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe177
Risk Analysis 9
Motor falls
to operate
Detect No current
in motor to motor
Switch Wire Fuse falls Power

open failure open supply
(open) failure
3 4
Fuse
Switch Switch Fuse failure failure under
falls opened due to overload normal
open erroneously conditions
(open)
5 Fuse falls
open
Overload
in circuit
Wire Power
failure failure
(shorted) (surge)
Figure 8. FTA example for a fault engine. (http://www.civil.uwaterloo.ca/maknight/courses/CIVE240-05/Week%2011/Fault%20Tree

%20Analysis.pdf.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe177
10 General
RELATED ARTICLES probabilistic and Non-Probabilistic Methods, John Wiley & Sons,
Inc., New York.
Acceptability of Risk Marshall, J. (2012) An Introduction to Fault Tree Analysis.
Human Factors Padley, M. (2014) Fault Tree Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
New York.
Skogdalen, J. and Vinnem, J. (2013) Quantitative Risk Analysis
Offshore—Human and Organizational Factors.
REFERENCES
American Bureau of Shipping (2000) Risk Assessment Applications FURTHER READING

for the Marine and Offshore Oil and Gas Industries.
American Bureau of Shipping (2015) Failure Mode and Effects
Analysis (FMEA) for Classifications. American Bureau of Shipping (2003) Risk Evaluations for the Clas-
sification of Marine-Related Facilities.
Aven, T., Baraldi, P., Flage, R., and Zio, E. (2014) Uncertainty in Risk
Assessment: The Representation and Treatment of Uncertainties by
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe177
Transport Modes and Intermodality
Olli-Pekka Hilmola
Lappeenranta University of Technology, Kouvola, Finland
perspective (as compared to road or domestic sea/water trans-

1 Introduction 1 ports). In 2009, share of railways in the United States was
2 Market Driven Development 3 42.2%. Situation is of course much dependent on geography,
3 Intermodality: CO2 Effects of Different Transportation amount of sea ports, and amount of independent regions
Chain Configurations 5 within these two continents (Vassallo, 2005; Rodrigue and
4 Great Need to Avoid Oil: Price and Availability Notteboom, 2012). In Europe, everything is more fragmented
Challenge 6 and each country or region wants to develop own logistics
sector through sea ports (if coastal line is available). For
5 Specifics of Dry Ports 7
example, in aftermath of European economic crisis, sea port
6 Conclusions 10 handling for containers (having connection to Asia) has been
Glossary 10 increasing in Greece as new route to Central Europe emerged
References 11 through it as use of convenient hinterland position (Bellos,
2014). Same applies to that of Poland (and sea ports Gdansk
and Gdynia; see Port of Gdansk, 2014; Port of Gdynia, 2014),
where these two close proximity sea ports compete against
main hub sea ports of Germany, Belgium, and Netherlands
1 INTRODUCTION
with its direct connections to China. Lower cost of Polish
port, coupled together with emerging manufacturing base in
In hinterland transports, road transport has taken significant
Poland, has increased container handling substantially after
role nearly in everywhere within last half a century time
crisis of 2008–2009. Actually Polish sea ports did not expe-
period. However, exceptions still exist, but in general, direc-
rience downward trend in container handling at all during the
tion has been toward fast, polluting, and oil-dependent road
crisis (which is exceptional even in the global scale).
transports. It should be remembered that in the early 1950s,
Situation in China was for long period of time favoring rail-
railway share from total domestic transportation of Euro-
pean countries was roughly 60% and the same applied to ways, and in the late 1970s actually in domestic transporta-
the United States (Vassallo, 2005). However, situation has tion market, situation was such that the railway was having
completely changed. In Europe, we are currently in a situ- slightly higher market share than that of road transports (44%
ation, where railway ton-kilometer is one-fourth of that of vs 34%). However, explosive growth of export industries in
road transports (European Union, 2013). In the United States, following decades changed everything. Road transportation
situation has improved a bit as railways were deregulated in grew 37.4 times in volume sense within period 1978–2012,
the early 1980s, and the result has been increased compet- and as comparison railways grew only 3.5 times (National
itiveness, lower prices, and higher volumes in decades’ Bureau of Statistics of China, 2013). From domestic trans-
portation market, road transportation holds now well above
75% market share in China. Actually, it is so that from
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. sustainable transportation domestic transportation modes
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe199
only waterway transport through rivers in China has shown
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 some growth, having currently market share of 11%, which is
2 General
slightly higher than that of railways. In China, railways have also in the perspective of four decades (in the early 1970s, the
dropped to the position of transporting only bulk, mainly coal price of barrel was 1.8 USD, roughly 60 times lower than that
and smelting materials (Jiang, 2013). of today; for detailed analysis concerning oil price develop-
The key question for environmentalists, countries under ment vs stock market valuations in long term, see Hilmola,
huge trade deficits, and companies struggling to find cost 2013a). It is also inevitable that peak oil theory will mate-
efficiency is to use more intermodality in their logistics rialize globally and availability will be more restricted and
solutions. This could be explained further with Figure 1. prices will mushroom substantially because of this (Reynolds
Currently, the mostly favored transportation modes of air and Kolodziej, 2008; Maggio and Cacciola, 2009; El-Gamal
and road are in the end showing very high pollution levels and Jaffe, 2010).
(CO2 ) per ton-kilometer and should be replaced completely Intermodality (or multimodality) to work properly in
with lower polluting modes or only used in combination with hinterland and sea/continental transport context needs units,
lower polluting ones. Please do note from Figure 1 that some which equalize all shipments that in transshipment points
shipping solutions, such as ropax and roro, emit a lot of CO2 handling is fast and having low cost. Globally, there is only
and are also in the list of “to be avoided or minimized.” It one solution, and that is to use containers in transportation,
should be noted that CO2 cautious transportation logistics boxes typically 20, 40, or 45 feet long (it is possible that
strategy is not only good for the environment but it also bene- in Asia somewhere in the future sea ports are handling
fits from lower dependency on oil. It is simple in the case that 80 million TEUs per annum, see Yap and Lam, 2013).
higher use of fuel (e.g., kerosene or diesel) results in higher This will enable cost efficient and automated handling,
CO2 emissions in transports. So, by eliminating or avoiding ensuring the availability and low cost of transports in
CO2 , companies automatically lower their dependency on different modes simultaneously. Of course, other solutions
oil resource that has increased substantially in price terms or unitized boxes exist, like swap bodies or semitrailers,
within the previous decade (in 2002, the price of barrel was but these are more dependent on the significant usage of
25 USD, and a decade later it was 4.4–4.5 times higher), but road transports in logistics chain (Woxenius and Berqvist,
3.00
Increasing use toward right end of axel

2.506
2.50 Avoid using towards left end of axel, or make
combinations with right end of the axel
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.621 0.579 kg CO2 per tonne-km

0.384
0.50
0.134 0.126 0.084

0.060 0.040 0.036 0.033 0.028 0.013 0.009 0.003
0.00
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Figure 1. Emissions (CO2 ) per ton-kilometer in different freight transportation mode and submodes. (Created using data from Defra (2014)
and VTT Lipasto (2012).)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe199
Transport Modes and Intermodality 3
2011; Morales-Fusco, Sauri, and Lago, 2012). For long not anymore serving industrialized, dark, dusty, and messy
distance, these are simply inappropriate as swap bodies and primary and secondary industries, but have really gained
semitrailers are 10–20 times costly to own as compared to foothold from general cargo segment of trucks and semi-
containers and require always special arrangements from trailers as well as containers.
other than road transportation mode (like railway wagons Similar long-term development has been present in
or sea vessels of roro/ropax, because these unitized devices Sweden, where freight market competition and deregulation
cannot be stacked on above each other). started in 1990s. Results have been similar to that of the
United Kingdom. As Figure 2 illustrates, transportation
volumes have slightly increased by 18% in the period of
2 MARKET DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT 1995–2011. During the years, railway market share from
entire transportation markets has increased also somewhat,
Airlines (Goetz, 2002; Goetz and Vowles, 2009; Gong, 2006) but not as substantially as in the United Kingdom. However,
and road (Lacey, 1990; Lafontaine and Malaguzzi, 2009) recipe has been nearly the same—more intermodal trans-
transports were firstly deregulated in the United States, ports and more road-rail transportation chains in the use.
Europe, and also in parts globally, and this is partially the Especially, main container sea port Göteborg has played
reason, why other transportation modes have lacked so much vital role in this development (Roso, 2007, 2009). Sweden
behind in volume development during the years. Another is has been able to keep its industrial competitiveness high,
the flexibility and amount of actors in these subsectors of together with some large mines, and therefore railway
transportation (air and road). However, inland waterways market share is as high as 38–39%.
and railways will experience similar kind of booms, if equal As an opposite of liberal and progressing railway markets
circumstances are being created. We already have strong is the Finnish one, and as Figure 2 illustrates, in volume
evidence from North American railway sector, from both the wise, this market has not changed at all in the observation
United States and Canada, out of this sort of development period. Actually, small percent decline in railway transport
after deregulation and privatization have progressed further. volumes has occurred. However, Finland has been going
Based on these studies, both society and customers have through drastic industrial restructuring not only in basic
received positive effects out of these processes (Peltzman, industries (illustrative case study Koskinen and Hilmola,
Levine, and Noll, 1989; Eakin et al., 2010; Boardman et al., 2011; Hämäläinen, 2011), but also in high tech indus-
2012). Benefits are gained in the long term and are not tries (like Nokia and its production network); reasons of
short-term type (Bitzan and Keeler, 2003; Gu and Lafrance, railway volume malaise are elsewhere. Finnish markets
2010). lack freight side competition and real alternatives for large
In European Union deregulation at rails is still in its infancy governmentally owned corporation owning railway oper-
stage, but number of countries has already recorded one ations (passenger and freight), road transports (passenger
or two decade long processes. Deregulation and privati- and freight), and construction (mostly infrastructure).
zation were firstly implemented in Europe within the UK During the years, railway market incumbent has ended
market, where all operations, track maintenance, and owner- numerous container transportation routes (in 2004, 261,900
ship were free for competition in the middle of 1990s TEUs were transported in Finnish railway network, and in
(Hilmola, Ujvari, and Szekely 2007; Laisi, 2013). As dereg- 2012, this declined to 43,105 TEUs; VR, 2005; Statistics
ulation process in the United Kingdom was a full-scale Finland, 2013) as well as intermodal transports of trucks
attempt in the very beginning, it led to short-term failure. and semitrailers on trains (VR, 2012; Pöyskö, Meriläinen,
However, after reverting track ownership and maintenance and Mäenpää, 2011). Volume declines in these are very
in the hands of governmental company and keeping opera- substantial. Railways have concentrated on their slowly
tions (passenger and freight) under competition, this trial was declining core of basic industries, mostly in wood, pulp,
set to continue on its course. Results in the long term have and paper industries. End result is the endless restructuring
been good, especially in demand generation side. Freight need and declining volumes in the transportation subsector,
market volume development is illustrated in Figure 2. From which owns all important ingredients to success—like
1995, volumes have increased nearly by 60% in the United having long collaboration and interoperability with Russian
Kingdom, and railway market share from transportation railway markets (Hilletofth et al., 2007; Tsuji, 2007), one
markets has increased from just above 7% to more than 11%. of the largest in the world (and one of the markets, where
During the same period of time, the United Kingdom has consumer sector sales have increased significantly in the
recorded considerable amount of manufacturing job losses previous decade time).
and factory closures, and even truck transportation volumes In Finland, railway market is not locked in legislative
have declined in this period with few percent. Railways are manner—all changes have been made such that railway
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe199
4 General
25
20
15
Railways (SWE)
Railways (UK)
Railways (FIN)
10
0
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Figure 2. Railway freight (000 million ton-km) in three different European countries during period of 1995–2011. (Created using data
from European Commission (2013).)
markets would have entrants and different-sized companies warehouses, railway terminals, railway arrangement yards,
serving new emerging transportation submarkets. However, and railway maintenance extremely colorful and difficult for
differing railway gauge width from Central Europe (1524 new entrants. In countries, such as Sweden or the United
mm instead of 1435 mm) and greatly differing technical Kingdom, these practices have been found and agreed during
demands for rolling stock as compared to Baltic States and the decades of free competition and numerous actors existing
Russia (using gauge width of 1520 mm) have resulted in the in the field. However, in other countries, like Finland, these
situation that rolling stock is nearly impossible to import as issues take time to resolve, and some entrants to the markets
used, second hand wagons and traction locomotives (railway just need to swallow all delays and costs to make complex
engine). As it is currently the case, governmental operator system functional. All these hinder intermodal transportation
is refusing to lease or sell its own rolling stock, and then development, cause great harm for environment, and make
new railway freight market entrants have only an opportu- societies to be greatly dependent on oil.
nity to acquire entirely new rolling stock from manufacturers Of course, European railway market is not an example
fulfilling Finnish norms. This is really costly route, and it is as itself in world context, as in other continents, vertical
foreseen how many years it will take that other actors are integration has been favored. This, for example, is the
actively participating in the markets. case in the United States and Canada. Railway companies
These three country examples only illustrate to the reader own both infrastructure and operations. Similar arrange-
that intermodal transports are sometimes extremely difficult ment was tried in the United Kingdom, but it greatly failed.
to implement in countries, where competition does not exist. However, railway infrastructure was owned by separate
Simply put, different size actors are not there to fulfill all company in the United Kingdom as compared to those who
the possible demand. In addition, lacking activity and actors were running railway operations. This was partly the reason,
in the markets make all administrative issues regarding to why in Europe infrastructure ownership is diverted from
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe199
actual operations, and infrastructure is in stable govern- tons of CO2 emissions due to transportation process) could
mental hands. Of course, some troublesome issues in Europe be achieved with rigid container ship strategy, where journey
exist still as infrastructure is managed and maintained inside will take more than 40 days. This is an option for items,
of governmentally owned railway company. Then there exist which are not expensive or time-sensitive cargo. However,
simply possibility that big railway companies favor their own for these, other intermodal transport solution between sea
departments and functions as sharing capacity and making and air plays an important and attractive option.
annual schedules for freight trains (remember that typically Inside continent, the use of intermodal transports is
in capacity allocation passenger trains have highest priority becoming more common, and especially in cases, where rail
and freight always waits). transports is used, for example, in the final mile delivery from
sea port to inland terminal (dry port) from where items are
then placed for consumption or shipped with trucks to final
3 INTERMODALITY: CO2 EFFECTS OF
destination. This is of course very CO2 emission friendly
DIFFERENT TRANSPORTATION
as shown in Table 2 as final option, where container ship is
CHAIN CONFIGURATIONS used to deliver container from Bremerhaven, Germany to
Helsinki, Finland, and continuing from there with freight
Most important driving factor of intermodal transports today
train to hinterland destination, Tampere. In here, CO2 emis-
is the declining dependency of oil and lower CO2 emissions.
As these go hand in hand and together, numerous corpora- sions are below 0.8 tons, which is nearly 70% less than
tions have implemented strategies of environmental sustain- using road transports (semitrailer truck) from Bremerhaven
ability. These are implemented not necessarily because of to Stockholm and from there onward using ropax ferry to
environmental drive or reason, but as companies are afraid of reach Turku, Finland, and eventually driving off semitrailer
their performance as supply network if oil prices continue to truck from ferry and reaching by road the final destination of
climb higher. Lower CO2 supply networks are simply more Tampere. In here, the same tradeoff is well presented, what
robust for future changes and possible scenarios. It is also was present between continents—lower CO2 emissions,
very likely that CO2 emissions become liability and have actually radically lower, are possible in transportation logis-
some price tag in Europe within forthcoming years. tics, and as downside transportation chains become very
In Table 1 is presented one typical CO2 reduction strategy time consuming and have several times longer lead times.
of international manufacturing network, where corporation This is actually the case in Table 2, where container ship is
is producing most of its physical end products in China used in the second last delivery option, but road transport
and these are supplied with three different methods to is favored instead of environmentally friendly railway (this
Europe (in this case to Northern Europe, Finland; similar requires still more than 8 days as compared to less than 2
CO2 comparison studies, please see, e.g., Liao, Tseng, and days in more polluting alternatives).
Lu, 2009; Hanaoka and Regmi, 2011; Janic and Vleugel, From these two hypothetical (Tables 1 and 2) but yet
2012; Nieuwenhuis, Beresford, and Ki-Young Choi, 2012; common situations in real life, we may conclude that some
Hilmola, 2013b). The easiest way to supply and owning minor CO2 emissions are easy to implement without losing
shortest lead time would result from an approach, where 10 that much lead time performance. In Table 1, it is the use of
ton shipment (on airline containers) is shipped directly with sea and air and intermodal transports, and in Table 2, it is
freight airplane from Hong Kong to Finland. This results in
the usage of roro ships and road transports. Painful and most
nearly 50 tons of CO2 emissions and lead time of 3 days. An
challenging improvement area lies typically after 20–30%
easy way to decrease the emission amounts is by combining
reduction area—implementing radical reductions is more
sea transportation to the shipment. In the second case, the
or less impossible without changing factory configuration
container ship carries 10 tons to Dubai from where items are
loaded to freight airplane, heading to Finland (typically used and supply chain strategy drastically. Some experiences are
in Asia for difficult destinations as air transportation network offered in case studies, where longer transportation delay
coverage is not so dense, like that reported from the port of is used as an opportunity to complete sales processes and
Singapore study by Tan and Hilmola, 2012). Savings in CO2 items are just loaded and stored to ships without having any
emissions are substantial, a bit more than one-third. This final customer order at hand (in-transit strategy). This of
option of course will be more transportation cost efficient, course leads to excessive inventory holdings within supply
but takes 23 days, which might be too much for valuable chain but is reported to be beneficial (Hilletofth, Hilmola,
cargo, which ties considerable amount of capital and might and Claesson, 2011), when for example, sales price inflation
lose some value during long transport process. In CO2 wise, is significant (typically emerging markets of Asia have such
more than 90% reduction (actually resulting just above 3 situation).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe199
6 General
Table 1. Continental transportation need and different options with performance concerning 10-ton container originating from Hong Kong
and ending to Helsinki, Finland.
Transportation Device From To Distance Duration kg CO2 Total Difference

(km) (days) per Emissions
ton-km (10 ton)
Air (long distance, international) Hong Kong Helsinki 8000 3 0.6214 49712.0
Container ship (8000+ TEU) Hong Kong Dubai 8000 20 0.0125 1000.0
Air (long distance, international) Dubai Helsinki 5000 3 0.6214 31070.0
Total Hong Kong Helsinki 13,000 23 32070.0 −35.5%
Container ship (8000+ TEU) Hong Kong Bremen/Bremerhaven 20,000 34 0.0125 2500.0
Container ship (<1000 TEU) Bremen/Bremerhaven Helsinki 2100 8 0.0363 762.3
Total Hong Kong Helsinki 22,100 42 3262.3% −93.4%
Table 2. Transportation of 10-ton container from Bremerhaven, Germany to Tampere, Finland—four options with performance.
Transportation Device From To Distance Duration kg CO2 Total Difference

(km) (days) per Emissions
ton-km (10 ton)
Road transport (Gross >33 ton) Bremen/Bremerhaven Stockholm 1282 1.79 0.0838 1074.4
Large Ropax ferry Stockholm Turku 324 1.29 0.3843 1245.6
Road transport (Gross >33 ton) Turku Tampere 166 0.17 0.0838 139.1
Total Bremen/Bremerhaven Tampere 1772 1.46 2459.2
Road transport (Gross >33 ton) Bremen/Bremerhaven Travemünde 255 0.27 0.0838 213.7
Roro (150 trailers), VTT Travemünde Helsinki (Vuosaari) 1132 1.29 0.1340 1516.9
Road transport (Gross >33 ton) Helsinki (Vuosaari) Tampere 184 0.19 0.0838 154.2
Total Bremen/Bremerhaven Tampere 1571 1.48 1884.8 −23.4%
Container ship (<1000 TEU) Bremen/Bremerhaven Helsinki (Vuosaari) 2100 8.00 0.0363 762.3
Road transport (Gross >33 ton) Helsinki (Vuosaari) Tampere 184 0.19 0.0838 154.2
Container ship (<1000 TEU) Bremen/Bremerhaven Helsinki (Vuosaari) 2100 8 0.0363 762.3
Railway (electric, with exchange work) Helsinki (Vuosaari) Tampere 180 1.5 0.0092 16.6
4 GREAT NEED TO AVOID OIL: PRICE consumption in domestic markets is continuously increasing
AND AVAILABILITY CHALLENGE among oil producers. Therefore, export volumes are showing
plateau state.
As concluded, earlier CO2 prevention will result directly Most worrying trend in oil dependency is that of China—it
to lower diesel oil consumption (as typically transporta- has accelerated and continuously increased since the early
tion modes use diesel oil as energy source, with exception 1990s. Even if oil dependency of the United States has
of air transports using kerosene). Getting rid or lowering slowed down considerably during the previous decade time
oil dependency is extremely important as oil exports are period, it is unclear whether this development is long-term
barely growing any longer and main oil producers have trajectory, or is it similar situation and demand pattern, what
increasing needs to use produced oil for their own purposes was experienced during the mid-1970s until early 1980s.
in the domestic markets. Figure 3 illustrates this with global Even if major oil producers and exporters are not showing
TOP5 oil producers: Both China and the United States are extremely bleak development, situation is not so good within
totally dependent on oil imports to fuel their economies, Europe. Both major producers, the United Kingdom and
while important exporters such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Norway, are showing long-term slowing down trajectory
and Iran are having difficulties to increase their oil export (Figure 4). Actually in these two countries, peak oil was
amounts. Reason of this phenomenon is twofold: Oil produc- experienced already in the early 2000s. Production peak
tion volumes are hard to increase significantly and own in the United Kingdom was in 1999, and decline until
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe199
600
400
200
0 Saudi Arabia (Diff)

1965 1967 1969 1971 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 Russia (Diff)
Iran (Diff)
China (Diff)
−200 US (Diff)
−400
−600
−800
Figure 3. Difference between oil production and consumption (million tons) in five major oil market countries. (Created by the author
using data from BP (2014).)
2013 has been 70.4% volume wise. In Norway, peak oil able to build own economies not be so dependent on oil,
was experienced in 2001, and volume decline recorded and especially this concerns transports. Second option is
has reached 48.8%. Due to oil price increases from early to develop own production, but its effects are more than
2000s (fourfold) and weakening USD during the same period uncertain and great volume growth is improbable in the
(e.g., against Euro currency), export in terms of USDs has future. If developed economies do not change their course
not declined in either of these countries, and it is actually and as China seems to be without any power to avoid its
still slightly growing (growth was extremely strong until oil dependency, it is most probable that situation in 1970s
2008–2009 global credit crunch). shall be repeated in the following years (as global economic
Except for Italian oil production (has leveled off), Denmark growth takes off after 2020s). It could be so that prices
and Romania are showing similar significant declines in oil increase by 10 or 20 times from current levels. Then, it is not
production as what was the situation with Norway and the superficial to talk about price of 1000 or 2000 USD per barrel
of oil. Therefore, for businesses and transportation chains, it
United Kingdom. This means that especially within Europe,
is important to build robust and less oil-dependent operations
there does not exist oil resources inside of the continent in the
to avoid inevitable inflation of the forthcoming years.
following decades and countries as well as individuals either
have to import oil from other continents or just decrease
the dependency in significant manner. This concern greatly 5 SPECIFICS OF DRY PORTS
freight transports, since transport sector is nowadays most
important consumption source for diesel oil. It is well known and recognized that hub-and-spoke config-
It can always be speculated, what is the oil price in the uration within sea container transports and airlines globally
following decades. Much of price reaction in the future is have resulted in more use of automation in material handling,
dependent on the developed economies and how they are lower prices, high frequency, and good connectivity
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe199
8 General
180
160
140
120
Norway (Prod)
100
United Kingdom (Prod)
Denmark (Prod)
80 Italy (Prod)
Romania (Prod)
60
40
20
0
1965 1967 1969 1971 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013
Figure 4. Declining oil production in Europe (million tons) in five major oil producers. (Created by the author using data from BP (2014).)
(Lumsden, Dallari, and Ruggeri, 1999; Rajasekar and 2012) with the use of rail. Typically inland terminals are fed
Fouts, 2009). As negative side of this configuration is seen, from sea ports, but it could also be so that longer distance
the requirement of all spokes to use certain named hubs railway traffic from foreign countries is the main feeder.
to proceed to the destination. In some cases, this results in In these terminal areas, cargo is loaded or unloaded, and
excessive travel distances and costs. It is always the case all further and nearby connections to/from terminals are
that hub-and-spoke configuration leads to higher distances made with road transports. With this configuration, main
traveled as compared to point-to-point service. However, leg, for example, from sea port to terminal is completed with
even small change in hub-and-spoke configuration will CO2 emission saving railway transports using electricity
erode system performance and results in lower fill-rates traction, while final distribution is taken care with frequent
(e.g., between hub-and-hub main lines plus feeding traffic of truck and lorry traffic. System holds similar advantages and
spokes to hubs) and lower frequencies offered. It is also so disadvantages as other hub-and-spoke configurations. For
that point-to-point systems perform well, but these need very example, sea ports will save space and are able to serve
high volumes to support their existence—think about low higher number of ships as their proximate hinterland is
cost airlines and their rapid turnarounds and transformation not crowded with containers or semitrailers waiting. As
of networks from lower volume airports and connections sea areas are desired places to live and land is having high
(Dobruszkes, 2006). costs, it is understandable that sea ports are interested from
In hinterland transports, hub-and-spoke is needed, if dry port development, where terminals are located more
intermodality is being used within large scale. This means on inland towns and cities. In addition, social implications
numerous terminals located in hinterlands, and respective are significant as job transfer from sea ports to inland
daily or twice a week connectivity to these inland terminals terminals happens—many rural areas will gain job opportu-
(or dry ports, more see Figure 5; more details see Roso, nities and construction activity as well as other investments
Woxenius, and Lumsden, 2009; Monios and Wilmsmeier, feed rural area economies. In national economy level, dry
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe199
Customer 7
Typical “Dry Port”

(200–300 km distance)
Sea port
Customer 4
Customer 6
Very short range “Dry Port”
(10–20 km distance)
Customer 1 Customer 3 Customer 5

Customer 2
Figure 5. Sea port connected with two hypothetical dry ports/inland terminals with railway connection, which serves number of different
customers in their sphere of influence with road transports.
ports result in considerable savings of oil being imported for processes), then clear commitment for co-operation between
transportation sector as main legs of transportation processes local government, state, and main actors of railway sector
are taken care by railway transports with full-length trains is needed (in order that private sector can succeed in the
and electricity traction. As oil consumption declines, then use of dry ports). Even small piece in the puzzle can derail
does CO2 emissions (major objective of the entire world all efforts and make inland terminal to malfunction. For
during the forthcoming decades). For transportation compa- example, this could be the price, frequency, or delay in
nies and terminal operators, inland terminals (or dry ports) transferring wagons from railway arrangement yard to termi-
enable lower costs as land and rent of facilities in inlands nals (or sudden change in conditions of these). Due to raw
are typically much cheaper than in sea port areas, and labor material-based service nature of railway industry in general
cost is having lower hourly rates as rural areas have typically (entire railway transport was invented in nineteenth century
higher unemployment rates and different union contracts as to serve mines), ability to serve time and cost-sensitive cargo
sea ports. Flexibility of labor resources is most often much can be inappropriate for general cargo. Railways need to
better than in sea ports, and trucking companies have easier change their lead time from days to hours, and being able
task to manage their fleet as well as working time restrictions to serve customers even with few wagons of carrying cargo
(breaks, lunch breaks, and daily free time—these are having as well as being prompt in their deliveries.
very strict laws in Europe) as journeys are much shorter Yet another challenge is the serving railway company or
than otherwise. In advanced inland terminals, value-added companies for specific dry port. Typically dry port connec-
logistics, together with some assembly, packaging and tion is managed by one company only, and the entire trans-
repair, could be competitively offered. In addition, custom portation system is then dependent on this single company,
operations could be transferred to these—these save a lot of its management, taken risks, and financial situation. If this
time of imported goods and also improve export lead times company fails for one reason or the other, then entire liveli-
of nearby industries. hood of inland terminal is threatened. In addition, on the
With all inevitable benefits of dry ports, it is less discussed other side, road transport has been in Europe developing very
issue, what are the downsides or caveats. Main challenge is attractive discounted prices in the areas of close to coun-
that most important transportation responsibility is devoted tries, where salaries are low and/or have access to cheaper
to railways. This transportation subsector needs huge infras- diesel oil. During recession times, road transports are also
tructure to support it, not only in terms of rolling stock to very flexible with its pricing as oil markets typically decline
serve container transports but also reasonably sized arrange- heavily in global recession (like it did in 2008–2009), leading
ment yards and railway lines to terminals. Moreover, if not all to cheaper diesel oil. Small companies at roads dominate the
terminals have accesses to railway network, then transparent industry, for example, in European Union and entrepreneurs
and fair pricing of using common railway terminals for all the are known to be very flexible with their salaries, if demand
actors show interest and transportation volumes. In railway starts to suddenly erode. So, very cheap prices are available
sector, these mean that railway sector deregulation and priva- in times of recession (as salaries show flexibility together
tization have already proceeded from start of competition with diesel oil), and it is very demanding to say no for
to phase, where numerous different sized actors are serving these. However, in contrary to trucking price flexibility with
the sector. If other situation exist (e.g., start of deregulation economic cycles, railway industry is very contracyclic. As
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe199
10 General
this transportation sector is capital intensive (rolling stock, elsewhere in emerging world and oil producing countries
railway network and loading/unloading equipment), actors leads to very scary future scenario. New oil price crisis is
have typically neglected aggressive discounts. This leads to just few steps away, even if major oil producers would be
situation that entire inland terminal area needs long-term able to have peaceful development and stable business envi-
commitment on the use of railways, if dry port configu- ronment in the future. Oil is finite resource and has shown
ration and benefits are desired to be sustained. Short-term tendency of growing prices in last decade time, but strongly
profitability maximization leads typically in the use of road so in four decades of time period. If early 1970s is used as
transports, it is, however, unsustainable for long-term objec- starting ground for future projections of price, then it is not
tives faced by the earth today. abnormal to talk about level of 1000 USD per barrel. This
is very demanding price level for global supply chains. New
innovations are needed then, and transportation chains need
6 CONCLUSIONS to transform themselves in significant fashion.
Companies planning to use environmental-friendly trans-
Entire transportation sector is facing great challenge to portation modes need to take into account the sector situation
reduce its emissions, and particularly to offload the built in each country of economic region, where this action is
dependency on diesel oil. Basically, road transportation use planned. For example, in Sweden or the United Kingdom, it
should be minimized or if used, then trucking units should be is possible and even competitive to use railways, but in some
as large as possible. In addition, by principle in all transporta- other countries, where only governmental operator offers
tion flows, combinations of transportation modes should be services in the markets is less successful situation for such
used in transportation chains to avoid excessive CO2 load on action. In the forthcoming years, we shall see higher prices in
the Earth. Intermodalism should be seen as general philos- transportation chains, and companies will have no choice but
ophy rather than seeing it only as hinterland transportation to use slower speed modes. Transportation network should
challenge to replace road with railway transports. In some be seen in light of offering both transportation services and
cases, it could be so that air transport is in part replaced by inventory holding. Longer lead time and higher inventory
sea transports or road by river transport or barge. These are level pipelines could be tolerated in practice, but information
all very demanding requirements for transportation chains, applications and management approaches should dramati-
which have been used to transport 80–90% from cargo by cally change. This basically means that we have less inven-
road at hinterlands and execute longer distance transports tory at warehouses, factories, or terminals and more so in
in prompt fashion. Typically, hurry or lead time pressure in transportation devices (like illustrated in Hilletofth, Hilmola,
transports will lead to CO2 emissions. This is the case with air and Claesson, 2011). Rolling inventory at transportation
transports, and also with roro or ropax vessels offering short devices with responsive delivery abilities is increasingly the
sea shipping services. However, these ships are not used only norm in the 2040s and 2050s.
in short distances. It could even be continental transports full
of new cars to be transported with roro ships from Asia to
Europe. For example, in case study of Nieuwenhuis, Beres- GLOSSARY
ford, and Ki-Young Choi (2012), evaluation of continental
car export flows from Asia to Europe led to situation that
manufacturing transplant unit establishment was proposed CO2 The release of carbon into the atmosphere.
to Europe. This was totally opposite to case company as emissions
operating mode was long-distance transportation chains and Dry ports An inland intermodal terminal directly
export strategy from Asia to Europe. connected by road or rail to a seaport and
Objective of business is always the existence and profits as operating as a centre for the
well as profitability. All companies and corporations are arti- transshipment of sea cargo to inland
ficial creations—agreements between owners that such orga- destinations.
nization exist. Therefore, business decisions in logistics are Intermodal Transportation that involves the use of more
typically just serving the purposes of companies at best (lead transports than one mode of transport for a journey.
time, costs, and flexibility). However, most of this is arising Oil Any neutral, nonpolar chemical substance
from the availability of reasonably priced oil. It is of course that is a viscous liquid at ambient
so that oil will not end from the world, but its availability temperatures and is both hydrophobic
will tighten, and prices shall respond on it. Currently, China and lipophilic.
is constantly and alarmingly growing its foreign oil depen- Transportation The means by which mobility is supported.
dency. This coupled together with growing consumption in modes
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe199
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe199
Generation of Waves by Wind
Tihomir Hristov
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
of two components, one that is uncorrelated with the surface

1 Introduction 1 motion and one which is correlated, or coherent, with that
2 Dynamic Equations for the Wind–Wave motion. The correlated component exits only when the waves
Interaction 2 are present, thus it is a feedback influence of the waves on
3 Patterns in the Wave-Coherent Flow 4 the wind. While the uncorrelated component may instanta-
4 Comparing Theory and Observations of neously exchange energy with the surface waves, when it is
Wave-Coherent Flow 5 averaged over a sufficiently long time interval or over a large
5 Empirical Studies of Wind–Wave Interaction 7 area of the surface, that exchange gives no net contribution to
the generation of waves. It is the wave-coherent component
6 Conclusions 7
of the air flow that cumulatively transfers energy to the wave
Glossary 8
motion and leads to a wave growth. At light winds, when
Related Articles 8 turbulence in the wind is of low intensity, the wave-coherent
References 8 component is directly observable in time series of wind
velocity and air pressure (Figure 1). At moderate and high
wind speeds, the wave-coherent air flow still exists, yet
the superimposed turbulence may dominate and preclude
1 INTRODUCTION the visual recognition of wave-coherent fluctuations in the
measured velocity, although not in pressure. In such condi-
The wind-generated ocean waves occur from the interactions, statistical analysis tools identify the wave-coherent
tion of two random media—the turbulent air flow and the flow, as in Grare, Lenain, and Kendall Melville (2013),
compliant ocean surface beneath it. The description of the who present the relative intensity of the wave-coherent flow
generation process thus aptly belongs in the field of statis-
through the coherence between the measured wind velocity
tical fluid mechanics. Given the elevation 𝜂 and the vertical
and the surface elevation directly beneath. As the concept
velocity 𝜂̇ at a point of the air–sea interface, over time, the
of a wave-coherent air flow is at the core of the engine that
atmospheric pressure p there causes a transfer of kinetic
drives the ocean surface waves, understanding the process of
energy to the wave field at an averaged rate of ⟨p𝜂⟩. ̇ The
physical framework of understanding the wind–wave gener- wave generation requires to describe the statistical and the
ation emerges from noticing that only the part of the atmo- dynamic patterns of that flow in time and space. In pursuing
spheric pressure correlated with the surface motion causes such a goal, it is helpful to consider waves of small slope.
the energy exchange. To outline that framework, it is there- The validity of this approximation in the ocean is commonly
fore helpful to regard the air flow over the ocean as consisting guaranteed by the wave-breaking phenomenon (Babanin,
2011, 2014), which limits the wave slope’s growth.
Considering the limited insight into the statistical and the
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. dynamic role of the coherent structures in complex flows
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe081
gained by the vast effort on the subject (Pope, 2000), the
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 wave-coherent flow perhaps stands as a rare instance of a
2 General
Horiz. velocity
(m/s)
2
1
(a) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
0.5
Vert. velocity
(m/s)
−0.5
(b) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
2
Pressure
(Pa)
0
−2
(c) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Wave height
0.5
0
(m)
−0.5
−1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
(d) Time (s)
Figure 1. Wave-induced velocities and pressure in the atmospheric surface layer over the ocean. The time series were collected from the
Air–Sea Interaction Tower off Martha’s Vineyard during the Coupled Boundary Layers Air–Sea Transfer (CBLAST) experiment (Edson
et al., 2007). Plot (a) displays the horizontal wind velocity measured by four ultrasonic anemometers at these heights from the surface: 4 m
solid line (—), 6.4 m dash-dot line (—⋅), 10 m dashed line (--), and 15 m dotted line (.....). Plot (b) follows the same line style coding and
shows the vertical wind velocity measured by the same instruments. Plot (c) shows the variation of the atmospheric pressure at heights 6.4 m
solid line (—) and 10 m dash-dot line (—⋅). Plot (d) presents the evolution of the sea surface elevation directly beneath the instruments. The
data illustrate the concept of wave-coherent flow formally described by Equations 4 and 5.
coherent structure exhibiting both a discernible pattern and a 𝜕v 𝜕v 1 𝜕p

+ U + uj 𝜕j v − 𝜕j (uj v) = − (2)
dynamic significance. 𝜕t 𝜕x 𝜌 𝜕y
𝜕w 𝜕w 1 𝜕p g𝜃
+U + uj 𝜕j w − 𝜕j (uj w) = − + (3)
𝜕t 𝜕x 𝜌 𝜕z Θ
2 DYNAMIC EQUATIONS FOR THE
WIND–WAVE INTERACTION with uj ≡ (u, v, w) used for brevity and the overbar (⋅)
signifying a time average. According to the concept
In a stratified, stationary, horizontally homogeneous atmo- already outlined, surface waves on the bottom boundary
spheric boundary layer, the velocity (U + u, v, w), pressure of such a layer introduce wave-correlated modulation
P + p, and temperature Θ + 𝜃 can be considered as sums in the wind {(̃ u, 0, w ̃ ), ̃ p, 𝜃},̃ which along with the
of averaged {(U(z), 0, 0), P, Θ(z)} and fluctuating {(u, v, wave-uncorrelated fluctuations {(u′ , v′ , w′ ), p′ , 𝜃 ′ },
w), p, 𝜃} fields. For such a layer, after subtracting from the form the total fluctuating fields {(u, v, w), p, 𝜃}, that is,
Navier–Stokes equations their Reynolds average, one arrives u = u′ + ̃u, v = v′ , w = w′ + w ̃ , p = p′ + ̃
p, 𝜃 = 𝜃 ′ + 𝜃. ̃
to a set of equations obeyed by the fluctuating fields {(u, v, Using the correlation with the waves as a separation crite-
w), p, 𝜃}: rion, one can construct a wave-coherent filter (⋅). ̃ When it is
acting on {(u, v, w), p, 𝜃}, the filter suppresses the uncorre-
𝜕u 𝜕u 𝜕U 1 𝜕p lated fields {(u′ , v′ , w′ ), p′ , 𝜃 ′ } and retains the wave effects
+U +w + uj 𝜕j u − 𝜕j (uj u) = − (1) u, 0, w
{(̃ ̃ ), ̃
p, 𝜃}̃ according to the rules (̃ ̃ ̃
ui ) = ũ i , (̃
p) = p̃ ,
𝜕t 𝜕x 𝜕z 𝜌 𝜕x
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe081
Generation of Waves by Wind 3
(̃
̃ = 𝜃,
𝜃) ̃′ ) = 0, (p
̃ (u
i
̃′ ) = 0, (𝜃
̃ ̃
′ ) = 0, (u′
i
ũ j ) = 0. Applied to with Ri = 0, Equation 7 is transformed into the Rayleigh
Equations 1, 2, and 3, the wave-coherent filter yields equation ( )
d2 𝜙 1 d2 𝜒
− 1 + 𝜙=0 (8)
𝜕̃
u 𝜕̃
u 𝜕U 1 𝜕̃
p d𝜉 2 𝜒 d𝜉 2
+U ̃
+w +̃
uj 𝜕j̃
u − 𝜕j (uj u) = − (4)
𝜕t 𝜕x 𝜕z 𝜌 𝜕x
The solutions 𝜙(𝜉; 𝜒 0 ) of Equation 8 form a parametric
family with respect to 𝜒 0 = –𝜅c/u* , where c/u* is known
𝜕̃
w 𝜕̃
w p g𝜃̃
1 𝜕̃ as the wave age. Furthermore, the solution 𝜙(𝜉; 𝜒 0 ) obeys
+U +̃
uj 𝜕j w
̃ − 𝜕j (uj w) = − + (5)
𝜕t 𝜕x 𝜌 𝜕z Θ boundary conditions ensuring that it vanishes at infinity,
that is, 𝜙 → 0 as 𝜉 → ∞, and that the vertical velocity is
Consider a monochromatic surface wave with a wave
continuous at the air–water interface, that is, 𝜙0 (𝜒 0 ) ≡ 𝜙(𝜉 0 ;
number k and a phase speed c, 𝜂 = aeik(x − ct) , that is
𝜒 0) = 𝜒 0.
wind-aligned (k||U). Linearizing Equations 4 and 5,
The complex-valued solutions of Equation 8, 𝜙(𝜉; 𝜒 0 ),
possible under the small slope approximation (ka ≪ 1),
carry information for both the magnitude and the phase
and introducing a stream function 𝜓 = (u* /𝜅)𝜙𝜂, such that
of the wave-coherent fields. With 𝜌a being the air density,
̃
u = −𝜕z 𝜓, ̃ = 𝜕x 𝜓
w (6) the velocity and pressure fields {(̃ u, w̃ ), ̃
p} predicted by
Equation 8 are given by
𝜅 being the von Karman’s constant and u2∗ = −(uw), lets ( u ) d𝜙
∗
one arrive from Equations 4 and 5 to the Taylor–Goldstein ̃
u=− k𝜂 = Tũ (𝜉, 𝜒0 )𝜂 (9)
𝜅 d𝜉
equation (Drazin and Reid, 2004)
(u )
( ) ( )2 ∗
d2 U ′′ U′ ̃=i
w 𝜙k𝜂 = Tw̃ (𝜉, 𝜒0 )𝜂 (10)
− k2 𝜙′′ − 𝜙 + Ri 𝜙 = 0, 𝜅
dz2 U−c U−c
g 𝜕Θ ′ −2 ( u )2 ( d𝜙 d𝜒
)
∗
Ri = (U ) (7) ̃
p = 𝜌a 𝜒 −𝜙 k𝜂 = Tp̃ (𝜉, 𝜒0 )𝜂 (11)
Θ 𝜕z 𝜅 d𝜉 d𝜉
where Ri is the gradient Richardson number (Kaimal and Here, Tū , Tw̃ , and T̃p are the transfer functions for the
Finnigan, 1994). Note that by choosing the stream function in u, w
velocities (̃ ̃ ) and the pressure ̃
p in response to the wave
the form 𝜓 = (u* /𝜅)𝜙𝜂, we define 𝜙 as a transfer function for forcing 𝜂.
the air flow’s response 𝜓 to the wave forcing 𝜂. While origi- Noting that 𝜂̇ = i (u∗ ∕𝜅)𝜒0 k𝜂, taking p0 ≡ p(𝜉 0 ; 𝜒 0 ) to
nally proposed to describe the instabilities in laminar parallel be the pressure at the surface, p∗0 —its complex conjugate,
flows, here the Taylor–Goldstein equation 7 is derived for the and using the boundary condition 𝜙(𝜉 0 ; 𝜒 0 ) = 𝜒 0 , the
wave-coherent flow in a turbulent boundary layer. With the wind-to-wave energy transfer rate then is
coefficients in Equation 7 determined by the averaged wind ( )
( u )3 d𝜙 ||
U, that equation describes the interaction between the mean 1
ℜ⟨p∗0 𝜂⟩̇ = 𝜌a ∗ 𝜒02 ℑ (ka)2 (12)
air flow and the surface waves. 2 𝜅 d𝜉 ||𝜉0
The specific case of a convectively neutral atmospheric
boundary layer, that is, Ri = 0, is often encountered over It predicts exponential increase of the wave energy in time.
the ocean and allows a significant analytic and numer- The normalized form of Equation 12, ℜ⟨p∗0 𝜂⟩∕[𝜌̇ 3 2
a u∗ (ka) ],
ical progress in finding and interpreting the solutions of is shown in Figure 2.
Equation 7. In such a layer the wind speed profile is, to a
good approximation (Ruggles, 1970), logarithmic, that is,
ℜ〈𝜌∗0𝜂〉 / [𝜌au3∗ (ka)2]
U(z) = (u* /𝜅) log(z/z0 ). The surface roughness of the ocean z0 100
Ω = 0.01
is commonly assumed to follow the Charnock’s parametriza- Ω = 0.02
tion z0 = (Ω/g)(u* /𝜅)2 , where g is the acceleration of gravity 50
and Ω is a dimensionless parameter of the order of 10–2 . After
transitioning to dimensionless variables 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
c/u∗
U−c
𝜉 = kz, 𝜉0 = kz0 , 𝜒= ,
u∗ ∕𝜅
Figure 2. Normalized form of wind-to-wave energy transfer
𝜅c 𝜅U rate (Equation 12), ℜ⟨p∗0 𝜂⟩∕[𝜌
̇ 3 2
𝜒0 = 𝜒(z0 ) = − , 𝜒 − 𝜒0 = a u∗ (ka) ] for two values of the
u∗ u∗ Charnock’s surface roughness parameter Ω.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe081
4 General
{
3 PATTERNS IN THE WAVE-COHERENT log |𝜉 − 𝜉c | − i𝜋 for 𝜉 < 𝜉c
FLOW log(𝜉 − 𝜉c ) = (16)
log |𝜉 − 𝜉c | for 𝜉 > 𝜉c
In search for distinct features in the wave-coherent flow, Applying the calculus of residues, the energy transfer rate
one could first notice that the Rayleigh equation 8 has a can be expressed through quantities at the critical height 𝜉 c ,
regular singularity when 𝜒 = 0, that is, at the height where
the averaged wind speed U(z) matches the wave’s phase ℜ ⟨p∗0 𝜂⟩
̇ 𝜋 𝜒c′′
speed c, commonly known as the critical height zc . Below, = 𝜒 |𝜙 |2 (17)
𝜌a u3∗ (ka)2 2𝜅 3 0 𝜒c′ c
the subscript c will be used for quantities at the critical
height, for example, 𝜉 c = kzc . A useful relationship between Furthermore, it can be shown (Lin, 1955) that the
the dimensionless critical height 𝜉 c and the parameter 𝜒 0 is wave-supported kinematic stress 𝜏 = ℜ ⟨̃ ̃ ⟩ is constant
u∗ w
below the critical height, absent above it, and discontinuous
𝜉c = Ω𝜒0−2 e−𝜒0 (13) at the critical height, that is,
{ ( )2
It is a general property of the second-order linear differ- − 12 u∗ ∕𝜅 𝜒0 ℑ[𝜙′ (𝜉0 ; 𝜒0 )] (ka)2 for 𝜉 < 𝜉c
𝜏(𝜉; 𝜒0 ) =
ential equations (Whittaker and Watson, 1996; Dennery and 0 for 𝜉 > 𝜉c
Krzywicki, 1996), that when the two roots of the corre- (18)
sponding indicial equation differ by an integer—in the case This property of the wave-supported stress has been
of Equation 8, these roots are 0 and 1—one of the two linearly observed in a laboratory experiment (Zavadsky and Shemer,
independent solutions 𝜙1 , 𝜙2 of the differential equation 2012). Both Equations 17 and 18 therefore indicate that
includes a logarithmic term, that is, the momentum and energy carried downward by the atmo-
spheric turbulent motion, at the critical height 𝜉 c , undergo
𝜙1 (𝜉) = (𝜉 − 𝜉c )P1 (𝜉 − 𝜉c ) (14) a partial conversion into momentum and energy carried by
the wave-coherent motion, which are ultimately transferred
to the surface waves. The latter suggests that the wind–wave
𝜒c′′ interaction is formally occurring at the critical height, thus
𝜙2 (𝜉) = P2 (𝜉 − 𝜉c ) + 𝜙 (𝜉) log (𝜉 − 𝜉c ) (15)
𝜒c′ 1 giving a dynamic significance to the location 𝜉 c . Flow
streamlines (Figure 3) and pressure profiles (Figure 4),
Here, P1 (𝜉 − 𝜉 c ) and P2 (𝜉 − 𝜉 c ) are analytic power series constructed numerically from Equation 8, illustrate a flow
of the form 1 + b1 (𝜉 − 𝜉 c ) + · · ·. Physical considerations field realization. In Figure 3 the critical height 𝜉 c is the
(Tollmien, 1931; Lin, 1955) have led to the conclusion that location in the flow where the two distinct eddy structures
the proper solution branch in 𝜙2 is the one for which are brought into contact and where the said conversion is
Direction of propagation →
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

Wave phase k · x (°)
Figure 3. Wave-induced flow streamlines constructed from a numerical solution of Equation 8 for c/u* = 4.375. The solid line is the
air–water interface and the dashed line is the critical height zc .
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe081
25
19
100 12
|p| (𝜌au2∗ k𝜂)
arg(p) (°)
270 5
25
10−2 19
12
5 180
10−4
10−4 10−2 100 102 10−4 10−2 100 102
(a) z/zc (b) z/zc
Figure 4. Profiles of the normalized magnitude (a) and phase (b) of the wave-coherent pressure (Equation 11). Constructed from the
numerical solution of the Rayleigh equation 8 for the wave age parameter c/u* taking the values 5, 12, 19, and 25.
taking place. While the vertical velocity w ̃ exhibits one air flow and the wave field and must have the least possible
phase discontinuity at the critical height, as predicted by response to the wave forcing. The latter reduces the plat-
Equation 16, the horizontal velocity ũ has a second one, form motion and the associated spurious components in the
occurring at the center of the eddy above the critical height, air flow velocity being measured. As these conditions make
Figure 3. For a range of wave ages, the pressure exhibits no ships unsuitable for the purpose, a large vessel has been
distinct features at the critical height, Figure 4. The energy specifically designed to meet them. The Floating Instru-
transfer rate in the form 17 offers an insight regarding the ment Platform (FLIP), operated by the Scripps Institution
vanishing wind–wave interaction for fast waves, Figure 2. of Oceanography, is a unique instrument in that regard. It
The fast waves generally have their phase speed c matching has periods of heave (27 s) and of pitch and roll (53 s) far
the wind speed U at larger heights zc , while Uc′′ ∕Uc′ ∝ z−1c exceeding the typical wave periods, and thus has a highly
decreases with zc . suppressed response to wave forcing. The photograph in
Tollmien (1931) was the first to point out that the Rayleigh Figure 5 shows FLIP with a deployed array of sensors. A
equation 8 has solutions in the form 14–16, and Lin’s book horizontal boom of about 20 m length allows positioning of
(1955) made these results more widely known. Standing on the instruments far from the hull, thus practically eliminating
these findings and inspired by Ursell’s review (1956), Miles any flow distortion at the measurements location. Ultrasonic
(1957) suggested that the Rayleigh equation 8 with a loga- anemometers are used for measuring the wind velocity, and
rithmic wind profile may describe the generation of ocean resistive wave wire measures the surface elevation directly
surface waves by wind. Over the decades that followed, the beneath.
work of Miles (1957) has been probably the most widely Distinct flow features predicted by the theory presented
cited model for developing waves and perhaps the least well above and identified in observations would constitute
understood of the theories because of the less-than-intuitive a persuasive support for that theory. The experimental
nature of the theory (Edson et al., 1999). detection of one such feature, the characteristic phase
discontinuity at the critical height zc (Equation 16), in
measurements of the vertical wave-coherent velocity
4 COMPARING THEORY AND ̃ is described below. The phase of w
w ̃ in Equation 10,
OBSERVATIONS OF WAVE-COHERENT 𝜑w̃ (z∕zc ; c∕u∗ ) = arg (̃
w), constructed from the numerical
FLOW solution of Equation 8, is shown in Figure 6, with the phase
discontinuity (Equation 16) clearly appearing at z/zc = 1.
The physical theory of ocean surface wave generation by Consider an instrument at a height zi above the averaged
wind outlined above requires an experimental validation. ocean surface, where the averaged wind velocity is U(zi ). For
While laboratory experiments can deliver a useful insight the wave mode with phase speed c = U(zi ), the instrument is
(Zavadsky and Shemer, 2012), a field experiment is still at the mode’s critical height. For all the modes with phase
necessary to provide the realistic scales and conditions for speed c < U(zi ), the instrument is above their critical height,
studies on wind–wave interaction. The preferable location of and for all the modes with phase speed c faster than U(zi ),
such experiment is the open ocean, where the bottom refrac- the instrument is below their critical height. As required by
tion is negligible. The platform from which the measure- the boundary condition at the interface, the vertical velocity
ments are made must cause minimal distortion of both the there has a phase difference of 90∘ with the surface elevation,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe081
6 General
90
45
φω~ (°)
0
−45
10−2
−90 100
40 30 20 10 102
0 z/zc
c/u∗
Figure 6. Phase of the vertical wave-coherent velocity in the wind,

𝜑w̃ = arg [̃
w(z∕zc ; c∕u∗ )], thin solid lines, obtained from solving the
Rayleigh equation 8. The discontinuity (Equation 16) is clear at
z/zc = 1. For an instrument at a fixed height zi and a spectrum of
wind-aligned surface waves providing a range for the wave age
parameter c/u* , Equation 13 defines a curve So in the plane (z/zc ,
c/u* ), marked with circles. Evaluating 𝜑w̃ over the curve So produces
a curve S• , marked with dots. S• projected onto the plane (c/u* ,
𝜑w̃ ) generates the curve S◽ , marked with squares, that represents
the theoretically predicted dependence 𝜑w̃ (c∕u∗ ).
Given the friction velocity u* , an experimentally esti-

mated counterpart of 𝜑w̃ (c) is the phase of the transfer
function arg[Tw̃ (c)]. The transfer function is obtained from
Figure 5. Experimental setting on the Floating Instrument Plat-
form FLIP. Instrumented mast is deployed at about 20 m from the
the cross-spectral density Pw𝜂 (c) between the vertical wind
hull to minimize any flow distortion. (US Navy / Office of Naval velocity w and surface elevation 𝜂 and the power spectral
Research photo). density of the surface waves P𝜂𝜂 (c), that is,
and that phase difference is maintained from the surface up Pw𝜂 (c)
to the critical height, Figure 6. Consequently, for all modes Tw̃ (c) = (19)
P𝜂𝜂 (c)
c > U(zi ), the phase 𝜑w̃ (zi ∕zc , c∕u∗ ) = 90∘ and for wave
modes c ≤ U(zi ), due to the discontinuity (Equation 16), the Here, the deep water dispersion equation c = g/𝜔 allows
phase 𝜑w̃ should have a rapid change away from 90∘ . transition from spectral densities with respect to the wave
With zi fixed and the wave spectrum providing a range for frequency 𝜔, commonly produced from time series, to spec-
the wave age parameter (c/u* ), Equation 13 defines a curve tral densities with respect to the wave phase speed c, suitable
So in the plane (z/zc , c/u* ) for comparison with the theoretical predictions. Figure 7
z z shows the measured 𝜑w̃ (c), calculated from experimental
= i e−𝜅c∕u∗ data collected from FLIP in the open ocean, where the
zc z0
thick black line represents the wind speed history. The phase
shown with circles in Figure 6. Evaluating 𝜑w̃ over the exhibits the pattern predicted in Figure 6, where the wave
curve So produces a curve in the space (z∕zc , c∕u∗ , 𝜑w̃ ), modes faster than the averaged wind U(zi ) induce vertical
S• ∶ 𝜑w̃ (So ) = arg[̃
w(So )], marked with dots in Figure 6. velocity with phase 𝜑w̃ (c) close to 90∘ , and at phase speed
The projection of S• onto the plane (c∕u∗ , 𝜑w̃ ) defines a c = U(zi ), the phase 𝜑w̃ (c) undergoes a rapid descent. The
curve S◽ , marked with squares in Figure 6, representing the latter demonstrates that the critical layer is observable over
dependence 𝜑w̃ (c∕u∗ ) that an instrument at height zi would the ocean, and thus the physical mechanism for wind–wave
detect. As expected S◽ , that is, the numerically constructed interaction associated with it is active. Grare, Lenain, and
𝜑w̃ (c∕u∗ ), maintains a value of 90∘ for the fast waves and Kendall Melville (2013) and Hristov, Miller, and Friehe
rapidly descents for wave modes slower than the averaged (2003) have reported such a close consistency between
wind U(zi ). predicted and observed patterns in the wave-coherent flow.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe081
100
50
𝜑w∼ (°)
0
−50
14
12
10 4 5
c (m 8 2 3
/s) 6 0 1
)
Time (days
Figure 7. Phase of the vertical wave-coherent velocity in the wind, 𝜑w̃ , as observed from an experiment in the open ocean (Hristov, Miller,
and Friehe, 2003). The phase is calculated from the transfer function of the vertical velocity and the surface elevation directly beneath, that
is, 𝜑w̃ = arg [Tw̃ (c)], with Tw̃ (c) defined in Equation 19. The thick black line shows the wind speed history and coincides with the line of the
rapid descent of 𝜑w̃ (c). The pattern of 𝜑w̃ (c) is related to the phase discontinuity at the critical height (Equation 16) and is consistent with
the theoretical curve S◽ from Figure 6. Similar agreement of theory and measurements has been reported by Grare, Lenain, and Kendall
Melville (2013).
5 EMPIRICAL STUDIES OF WIND–WAVE deformation of the wind profile from its logarithmic shape
INTERACTION is typically less than 2%, and is thus difficult to detect
next to stronger influences on profile shape coming from
Support for the mechanism of wind–wave generation nonstationarity, horizontal inhomogeneity, and deviations
through wave-coherent flow has emerged lately from sepa- from convective neutrality. Consequently, the wave-induced
rate field (Hristov, Miller, and Friehe, 2003; Grare, Lenain, departures from the predictions of the Monin–Obukhov
and Kendall Melville, 2013) and laboratory (Zavadsky and theory are too weak to be clearly observable or to be relied
Shemer, 2012) experiments. Alternative empirical approach on for wind–wave interaction studies.
pursued in a large number of earlier works has regarded the
air–sea interface as an aerodynamically rough surface and
has sought to describe the wind–wave interaction through 6 CONCLUSIONS
the behavior of the surface’s drag coefficient CD . The
coefficient relates the kinematic stress u2∗ = −(uw) to the At heights available for atmospheric measurements, the
wind speed Ul at a particular height l, that is, u2∗ = CD Ul2 . wind–wave interaction only weakly affects standard
As a convectively neutral turbulent boundary layer has no characteristics of the atmospheric flow, such as wind
characteristic vertical scale, the selection of l is arbitrary and velocity profile and kinetic energy balance (Hristov and
often l = 10 m is chosen. Experimental estimates of CD have Ruiz-Plancarte, 2014). This greatly constrains the ability
invariably produced a significant scatter and no reproducible of empirical studies and of numerical (RANS) models
patterns have emerged in CD as a function of variables concerned with such characteristics to deliver insight into
describing the atmospheric conditions or the sea state. the physics of wind–wave coupling. Mechanistic under-
Furthermore, estimates made both from a field experiment standing of wind–wave coupling emerges from the concept
and from the wave-coherent flow theory show (Hristov and of wave-coherent flow. The theoretical analysis of that flow
Ruiz-Plancarte, 2014) that the wave-supported stress at the (Tollmien, 1931; Miles, 1957; Hristov and Ruiz-Plancarte,
heights typically used for determining CD is a small fraction, 2014) predicts that energy transfer from the wind to a wave
less than 5%, of the total stress. Such finding indicates that mode of phase speed c formally occurs at the height where
the drag coefficient CD is almost insensitive to the wave feed- the wind speed matches the phase speed c, known as critical
back on the wind, and thus is a poor measure for wind–wave height. The transfer functions of wave feedback into the
interaction. Conceptually similar efforts to describe the air velocity reveal distinct patterns at the critical height,
wind–wave interaction through wave-induced departures such as discontinuities of the wave-coherent velocity’s
from the Monin–Obukhov phenomenology (Kaimal and phase and of the wave-supported momentum flux. Hristov,
Finnigan, 1994) in the marine atmospheric boundary layer Miller, and Friehe (2003), separately Grare, Lenain, and
have been pursued as well and have encountered the same Kendall Melville (2013), as well as Zavadsky and Shemer
challenge. As the wave-supported stress fraction is small, the (2012), have reported observations of these distinct patterns,
wave-induced departures from the Monin–Obukhov theory thus providing support for the mechanism of wind–wave
are correspondingly small. For instance, the wave-induced generation through wave-coherent flow.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe081
8 General
GLOSSARY Edson, J., Paluszkiewicz, T., Sandgathe, S., Vincent, L.,

Goodman, L., Curtin, T., Hollister, J., Colton, M., Anderson, S.,
Andreas, E., Burk, S., Chen, S., Crescenti, G., D’Asaro, E.,
Davidson, K., Donelan, M., Doyle, J., Farmer, D., Gargett, A.,
Critical height The critical height for a given mode Graber, H., Haidvogel, D., Kepert, J., Mahrt, L., Martin, M.,
of a ocean surface wave is the McClean, J., McGillis, W., McKenna, S., McWilliams, J.,
height from the sea surface where Niiler, P., Rogers, D., Skyllingstad, E., Sullivan, P., Weller, R., and
the averaged wind speed equals the Wilczak, J. (1999) Coupled Marine Boundary Layers and Air-Sea
Interaction Initiative: Combining Process Studies, Simulations,
phase speed of the wave mode.
and Numerical Models, http://www.whoi.edu/science/AOPE/
Marine The lowest 50 m above the ocean dept/r5.pdf (accessed 17 September 2007).
atmospheric surface. Edson, J., Crawford, T., Crescenti, J., Farrar, T., Frew, N., Gerbi, G.,
surface layer Helmis, C., Hristov, T., Khelif, D., Jessup, A., Jonsson, H.,
Phase A feature of the wave-coherent air Li, M., Mahrt, L., McGillis, W., Plueddemann, A., Shen, L.,
discontinuity flow over surface waves described Skyllingstad, E., Stanton, T., Sullivan, P., Sun, J., Trowbridge, J.,
at the critical by Equation 16. Vickers, D., Wang, S., Wang, Q., Weller, R., Wilkin, J.,
Williams, A.J., III, Yue, D.K.P., and Zappa, C. (2007) The Coupled
height Boundary Layers and Air-Sea transfer experiment in low winds.
Wave-coherent The set of hydrodynamic fields, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 88 (3), 341–356.
flow including velocity, pressure, and Grare, L., Lenain, L., and Kendall Melville, W. (2013) Wave-coherent
temperature, that at a given spatial airflow and critical layers over ocean waves. Journal of Physical
point are coherent with the sea Oceanography, 43 (10), 2156–2172, journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/
surface motion immediately 10.1175/JPO-D-13-056.1.
beneath that point. Hristov, T. and Ruiz-Plancarte, J. (2014) Dynamic balances in a
Wind-generated The surface waves in the ocean wavy boundary layer. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 44 (12),
3185–3194.
waves resulting from the action of the
wind; to be distinguished from tidal Hristov, T., Miller, S., and Friehe, C. (2003) Dynamical coupling of
wind and ocean waves through wave-induced air flow. Nature, 422
waves, internal waves, tsunami, etc. (6927), 55–58. doi: 10.1038/nature01382
Kaimal, J.C. and Finnigan, J.J. (1994) Atmospheric Boundary Layer
Flows, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
RELATED ARTICLES Lin, C.C. (1955) The Theory of Hydrodynamic Stability, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge.
Inviscid Hydrodynamics Miles, J.W. (1957) On the generation of surface waves by shear flows.
Types of Ocean Surface Waves, Wave Classification Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 3, 185–204.
Wave Breaking and Dissipation Pope, S.B. (2000) Turbulent Flows, Cambridge University Press,
Wave Boundary Layer in the Lower Atmosphere New York, p. xviii.
Phase-Resolving Wave Modeling Ruggles, K.W. (1970) The vertical mean wind profile over the ocean
for light to moderate winds. Journal of Applied Meteorology, 9,
389–395.
Tollmien, W. (1931) The production of turbulence. Technical Memo-
REFERENCES randum 609, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics,
Washington, March 1931.
Ursell, F. (1956) Wave generation by wind, in Surveys in Mechanics
Babanin, A.V. (2011) Breaking and Dissipation of Ocean Surface (eds G.K. Batchelor and R.M. Davies), Cambridge University
Waves, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Press, New York, pp. 216–249.
Babanin, A.V. (2014) Wave breaking and dissipation, in Encyclo- Whittaker, E.T. and Watson, G.N. (1996) A Course of Modern Anal-
pedia of Marine and Offshore Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, ysis, Chapter X, Section 10.32, 4th edn, Cambridge University
Inc., New York. Press, Cambridge, pp. 200–201.
Dennery, P. and Krzywicki, A. (1996) Mathematics for Physicists, Zavadsky, A. and Shemer, L. (2012) Characterization of turbulent
Dover, New York, pp. 1–300. airflow over evolving water-waves in a wind-wave tank. Journal
Drazin, P.G. and Reid, W.H. (2004) Hydrodynamic Stability, 2nd edn, of Geophysical Research, Oceans, 117 (C11), C00J19.
Cambridge University Press, New York.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe081
Flow Around Ships and Underwater Vehicles
Alessandro Iafrati
CNR-INSEAN—Marine Technology Research Institute, Rome, Italy
rising toward the free surface. This affects the behavior of the
1 Introduction 1 capillary waves and leads to the formation of a long wake,
2 Ship Generated Flow 1 which is easily detectable by radars. When the ship moves
3 Underwater Vehicles 7 in waves or starts maneuvering operations, the flow becomes
far more complicated. Viscous effects at the keels generated
4 Conclusions 11
large vortex structures that contribute to the damping and
References 11 stabilize the vessel.
Motivated by the above considerations, a brief overview
of the most recent research advances is provided here. The
discussion presented is only qualitative, whereas the inter-
1 INTRODUCTION ested reader can find a deeper and more quantitative discus-
sion on the cited literature. The basic hydrodynamic aspects
The flow generated by a surface or an underwater vehicle that are already well known are omitted. The work is divided
has immediate consequences on its drag as well as on the into two sections, one dedicated to ships and the second one
behavior of the ship in waves, and thus on the comfort to underwater vehicles. For the ship, the discussion concerns
onboard, and on the stability and maneuvering characteris- the breaking of the bow wave, the separated flow at the stern,
tics. The flow arriving at the propeller plane and that gener- the flow about propellers, and the interaction with hull and
ated by the propeller itself govern the propulsion efficiency rudders and the flow about ships in maneuver or in unsteady
but, due to the unsteadiness of the loading, they are also motion. For underwater vehicles, the topics are the flow
responsible for the transmission of structural vibrations and generated by a submarine in steady motion, the flow about
noise to the interior of the vessel. The noise generated by the the propeller and the interaction with hull, sail, and rudder,
propeller may also have an environmental impact, at least and, finally, some considerations are given for supercavi-
on the most busy ship routes. The propeller noise is even tating vehicles.
more important for submarines, which have to be as silent as
possible during their mission. The breaking of the bow wave,
beside increasing the ship drag, generates a highly turbu-
lent flow with large air entrainment. The turbulent bubbly
2 SHIP GENERATED FLOW
flow is a very important source of noise, which affects the
signal received by the sonar located in the fore part of the
2.1 Free surface flow
hull. Moreover, the fragmentation process of the entrained
A ship moving on the still water surface generates a wave
air cavities produces tiny bubbles that persist for long time
pattern moving with the vehicle. As explained by Lord
after the passage of the ship and scavenge surfactants while
Kelvin first, unless the water depth is very shallow, the wave
system is made of divergent and transverse components and
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. it is of dispersive type, with wavelength depending on the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe076
ship’s speed. The generation of the wave system is respon-
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 sible for a drag component that depends on the hull shape
2 General
and varies with the Froude number (Lighthill, 1978) number, but in general, there is a sheet of water propagating
along the hull, reaching a maximum height and plunging onto
V the free surface. The impact of the spray sheet on the free
Fr = √
gL surface leads to the formation of counterrotating vortex pairs
located just beneath the free surface. The two vortices induce
Here, V is the velocity scale, L the length scale, and g a downward flow in the middle, which can be recognized by
the gravitational acceleration. The wave pattern of a ship the formation of scars on the free surface (Figure 1, left). The
and the associated drag component received considerable formation of the vortices associated to the breaking process
attention in the past. Partly, this is because they can be enhances the dissipation, and it is responsible for an addi-
mathematically modeled to some extent within the potential tional drag component. Quantitative data of these vortices,
flow assumption and the corresponding problems can be in terms of velocity and vorticity distributions, are provided
solved by analytical or semianalytical approaches. Another in Olivieri et al. (2007) either by flow measurements or by
reason that contributed to the comprehension of the problem computational results (Figure 1, right). Results indicate that
and the development of the theoretical modeling was the the higher is the Froude number, the stronger are the plunging
possibility of measuring the free surface elevation in scaled jets and the resulting vortices. The wave-breaking flow is
model tests based on the Froude similarity in towing tanks. highly intermittent with the free surface characterized by
However, there are many aspects of the flow about a ship large fluctuations. The two counterrotating vortices together
that cannot be easily described by the theory or even investi- with the downward flow in the scar region entrain air bubbles
gated experimentally. This is for instance the case of the bow that are captured, and eventually fragmented, by the flow
and shoulder waves that, depending on the hull shape and induced by the vortices and are not able to exit for long time
speed, can break. A combined numerical and experimental after the bow passage.
investigation aimed at characterizing the free surface flow in The comparison of the laboratory observations with the
the bow region is presented in Olivieri et al. (2007). The exact full-scale phenomenon indicates that the free surface in the
dynamics depends on the flare of the ship bow and the Froude model test is much smoother. Partly this is because tests are
(i) 0.04 (i)

X vorticity: −10 −6 −2 2 6 10
0.02
0
z
−0.02
−0.04
V1
V3
−0.06
0.04 0.08 0.12 0.16 0.2

(ii)
y
Scar 1 0.04 (ii)
X vorticity: −10 −6 −2 2 6 10
0.02
0
Scar 2
z
−0.02
−0.04 V1 V3
−0.06
Capillaries
0.04 0.08 0.12 0.16 0.2
(a) (b) y
Figure 1. (a) The pictures show the breaking of the bow wave. A water sheet rises along the flare of the hull and successively plunges onto
the free surface leading to the formation of counterrotating vortices just beneath the free surface. The downward flow generates scars where
air bubbles are entrained. (b) The pictures show the vorticity field as obtained from measurements (A) and by CFD (B). (Reproduced with
permission from Olivieri et al. (2007). © American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2007.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe076
Flow Around Ships and Underwater Vehicles 3
the role played by surface tension, as it is indicated by the

ratio between the inertia terms and surface tension forces
10 expressed by the Weber number
√
𝜌L
We = V
𝜎
Here, 𝜌 is the water density and 𝜎 the surface tension. This

implies that by increasing the length scale, surface tension,
as opponent to the free surface deformation, is less effective
and leads to a thinner water sheet propagating up to a higher
level and resulting in a stronger plunging jet and in turn
stronger vortices. The reduced surface tension effect can be
recognized by the larger free surface fluctuations and the
Figure 2. Bow flow generated by tests of models at different scales increased amount of drops and entrained bubbles (Figure 2).
(from top to bottom: 14.32, 24.82, 46.59). The pictures, which refer
The results in terms of ship resistance vary with the Froude
to tests at Fr = 0.35, clearly indicate the higher level reached by
the water sheet along the hull in the larger model. In turn, this number. For Froude numbers >0.25, the larger model is
implies a stronger jet plunging on the free surface and an enhanced characterized by a higher resistance compared to the smaller
fragmentation of the free surface. (Reproduced with permission ones. The increase in the wave resistance component can be
from Pistani, Olivieri, and Campana (2008). © American Society estimated in about 5–10%, which is a rather relevant fraction.
of Mechanical Engineers, 2008.)
The experimental investigation of the breaking flow at
the bow is limited by the difficulty of achieving a detailed
conducted in fresh water, but a more important reason is description of the flow inside the breaking region in a
that viscous and surface tension effects cannot be properly nonintrusive manner. As already discussed, additional details
scaled. The important role played by the scale effects, and can be derived by numerical simulations provided they can
the different role played by surface tension in particular, is handle the topological changes of the interface and deal with
evidenced by Pistani, Olivieri, and Campana (2008). Experi- the two-phase flow preferably. Examples exist for grid-based
ments at three different model scales have been compared for methods (Di Mascio, Broglia, and Muscari, 2007; Wilson,
evaluating the influence of the scale on the wave-breaking Carrica, and Stern, 2007) or meshless approaches (Marrone
dynamics and the consequences in terms of model resis- et al., 2012). The results shown in Figure 3 display the forma-
tance. When increasing the length of the model, the speed tion of the spray sheet along the hull and the successive
has to increase as L1/2 in order to operate in the Froude simi- plunging of the jet, which rebounds on the water surface
larity, which is fundamental for a correct scaling of the wave giving rise to a secondary jet. The meshless computation
pattern. Correspondingly, the increase in the speed reduces provides some finer details of the flow, highlighting the
Z
Z
|curI(U)|(g/H)½
X 0 1.25 2.5 3.75 5
Y X
Y
(a) (b)
Figure 3. Wave-breaking flow at the bow, as predicted by computational simulations. Results obtained by a grid-based and a meshless
approach are shown in (a) and (b), respectively. (a, Reproduced with permission from Di Mascio, Broglia, and Muscari (2007). © Elsevier,
2007; b, Reproduced with permission from Marrone et al. (2012). © Elsevier, 2012.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe076
4 General
formation of the scars and the outward propagation of the of the full-scale phenomenon. Again, computational tools
bubbly flow at the toe of the breaker front. can overtake the physical limits of the model scaling and, at
The wave pattern and the drag of a ship also depend on least in principle, can simulate the full-scale problem. Even
the details of the flow at the stern. A first question concerns though a simulation at full scale is still infeasible due to the
the occurrence of flow separation at the stern. The problem huge computational effort required, a recent example given
was investigated experimentally in Maki, Troesch, and Beck by Hendrickson et al. (2013) shows some interesting aspects
(2008) in order to identify the conditions beyond which of the flow behind a rectangular box. The model highlights
separation occurs and the transom gets dry. The measure- the formation of a highly turbulent and bubbly flow resulting
ments show that the first wave crest behind the step grows from the flow exiting from the edges and, successively,
with increasing Froude number based on the transom draft, generated by the interaction of the two sides of the separated
and the root mean square (RMS) is largest in the down- flow which ends up with the formation of the rooster tail
stream region of the first crest. The RMS fluctuations get the (Figure 5a). Application to different geometry indicates that
maximum for draft Froude number around 1.5. Once the flow the two ridges collide at the center plane behind the transom
detaches from the side wall and the transom gets dry, the free at a distance that is 2.5 times the breadth of the box, and
surface flow becomes rather complicated. A detailed exper- behind this point, the rooster tail develops (Figure 5b). The
imental study aimed at investigating the flow immediately results also show that behind the rooster tail, waves radiate
behind a transom stern is discussed in Martìnez-Legazpi away from the center plane and form a divergent wave. The
et al. (2013). They showed that when the flow leaves the volume of entrained air increases in the region where the
stern, the interaction between the vertical and the horizontal divergent waves begin to break.
free surface portions, gives rise to a jet at the corner that
propagates upward and then, depending on the draft Froude
number, either plunges onto the free surface at a certain 2.2 Propeller flow and propeller–surround
distance behind the stern (Figure 4) or leads to a bulge sliding interactions
on the inclined free surface as in a spilling breaking event.
Although not shown in the paper, once the jet plunges on The flow in the stern region is strongly influenced by
the free surface, some vortices are generated as it is for the the propulsion system, which is not considered in the
breaking of the bow wave. Independently of the breaking above-mentioned examples. The propulsion system can be
type, some air is entrained in this region, which remains for of different type, depending on the ship characteristics. For
long time after the passage of the ship. high speed craft, a fuel efficient solution is represented by
As for the bow flow, also for this case, the behavior supercavitating propellers. In these propellers, a cavitation
is strongly dependent on the scaling effects. The bubble develops at the suction side of the blade and collapses
air-entrainment process is governed by surface tension behind the trailing edge, with advantages in terms of noise
and thus, scaled models tests are not always representative generation and surface erosion in comparison to the cases
1.5
1
z /Δ h
0.5
−1 0
0 0.5
1
2 1
(a) y /Δ h x /Δ h (b)
Figure 4. (a,b) Flow behind a vertical, transversal, plate with finite draft. The flow, which mimics that behind a transom stern, is
characterized by the development of a jet at the corner. The jet rises while moving downward, eventually plunging on the free surface
in the middle. (Reproduced with permission from Martìnez-Legazpi et al. (2013). © Springer, 2012.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe076
Z
0 Y
X
0.5
0.4
0.3 2
0.2
0.1
x/B
−0.1
−0.2
−0.3
−0.4
−0.5 4
(a) (b)
Figure 5. Flow behind a rectangular box. (a) The interface location is shown. (b) The temporary averaged free surface elevation that shows
the development of the jet at the corners, as shown in Figure 4, and the collision of the two ridges that lead to the rooster tail formation.
(Reproduced with permission from Hendrickson et al. (2013). © IOS Press BV, 2013.)
in which the cavity collapses on the solid surface (Young experimentally investigated in Felli, Camussi, and Di Felice
and Kinnas, 2013). Often, due to the shallow draft of the (2011). The study used detailed time-resolved visualizations
vessels and the lowering of the free surface level caused and velocimetry measurements to examine the effect of the
by the induced flow, the propeller operates partially outside spiral-to-spiral distance on the mechanisms of wake evolu-
of the water. The flow change significantly and it is highly tion and instability transition. The study is carried out for
unsteady, with the blade periodically entering and exiting propellers with different number of blades. From the high
the free surface. The flow and the resulting load on the speed visualization, it is seen that the instability of the tip
blade have strong similarities with those characterizing the vortices starts as a leapfrog interaction of two successive
inclined asymmetric water entry of a wedge (Semenov and spirals (Figure 6b). Results indicate that the destabilization
Iafrati, 2006; Faltinsen and Semenov, 2008). Interesting of the tip vortices happens before that of the hub vortices,
experiments and underwater visualizations of the cavitating independently of the blade number and the propeller loading
flow generated by surface piercing propellers are presented conditions (Figure 6a). In the far wake, the cavitating traces
in Altamirano (2010). of the tip vortices appear distorted and weaken as the distance
Because of the much wider application, propellers used from the propeller increases, due to the vorticity diffusion.
for large displacement ships have been studied in deeper The above-mentioned study, albeit providing detailed
detail with the aim of improving their efficiency. Focusing information on the hydrodynamics of the propellers, is
the attention to the most recent research advances, the not representative of the operative conditions when the
wake evolution and instability past an isolated propeller is propeller is in the wake of the ship and in front of the rudder.
(a) (b)
Figure 6. (a) The envelops of the tip and hub vortices with the identification of the regions where the instabilities develop. (b) The
characteristics patterns of the tip and hub vortices, showing the beginning of the instability of the tip vortices. (Reproduced with permission
of Dr. Mario Felli. © Dr. Mario Felli.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe076
6 General
θ = 0° θ = 0°
U/U∞ U/U∞ U/U∞

1.08
1.05 1.25 1.50
1.02 1.13 1.36
0.99 1.01 1.23
0.96 0.89 1.09
0.92 0.76 0.96
0.89 0.64 0.82
0.86 0.52 0.69
0.83 0.40 0.55
0.80
−1 0 1 −1 0 1
−1 0 1
(a) r/R (b) r/R (c) r/R
Figure 7. Wake at the propeller plane without the propeller (a), with the propeller installed (b), and behind the propeller (c). The
measurements refer to the starboard side of a twin-screw propeller. (Reproduced with permission from Felli and Di Felice (2005). ©
Springer, 2005.)
When the propeller is behind the ship, the incoming flow

is nonuniform due to the wake and thrust and torque vary
y/R = 0.09
during the propeller revolution. In order to better understand
the propeller behavior in operation, it is common to measure
the flow arriving at the propeller plane, with and without
the propeller, as well as the wake behind the propeller. A
good example of such an analysis is presented in Felli and
Di Felice (2005) who provided a detailed description of the
in-phase velocity field. In Figure 7, the U-velocity maps at
the propeller plane without the propeller, at the propeller
plane with the propeller installed and behind the propeller,
are shown. The wake without the propeller displays a signif-
icant velocity reduction in the part above the hub, and the
traces of the brackets can also be noticed. With the propeller
installed, the suction increases the incoming velocity at the
propeller plane and makes it more uniform even though the
velocity reduction caused by the brackets and the upper part
−200 −150 −100 −50 0 50 100 150 200
of the hub is still evident. Behind the propeller, the flow is
accelerated while the velocity reduction at the hub appears
Figure 8. Phase-locked measurements of the out-of-plane vorticity
at the center. component. (Reproduced with permission from Felli and Falchi
As soon as the wake develops, it interacts with the rudder (2011). © Springer, 2011.)
and the dynamics is different from that shown in Figure 6.
A quite detailed study of the wake–rudder interaction is
provided in Felli and Falchi (2011). A typical distribution Being rather complicated, detailed measurements are rather
of the out-of-plane vorticity ahead and behind the rudder is scarce but, fortunately, the recent computational fluid
displayed in Figure 8, where the traces of the tip vortices, dynamics (CFD) developments have made many interesting
rather equally spaced, can be recognized. results available.
A rather good example is given in Carrica, Sadat-Hosseini,
and Stern (2012), where the development of the broaching
2.3 Flow about ships in maneuver or in unsteady instability is analyzed and simulated in details. The
motion broaching is one of the most challenging loss of dynamic
stability. It usually happens in following or quartering seas
In the above-mentioned sections, the ship has been assumed when the ship is moving with a speed close to the wave
in steady forward motion only. Generally, the situation speed. When the instability develops, the ship start rolling
is more complicated because of the interaction with the with large roll angles and violent accelerations. Further-
incoming wave system or due to maneuvering operations. more, since the velocity of the ship is comparable to the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe076
Z
Z
X
Y
Y
X Q
50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
(a) (b)
Figure 9. Numerical simulations of the broaching instability. The flow generated at the free surface and beneath the hull is shown. (a)
Vertical structures are shown in terms of isosurfaces of one invariant of the strain tensor, whereas colors refer to the axial velocity. (b)
The axial vorticity distributions are displayed at different sections. (Reproduced with permission from Carrica, Sadat-Hosseini, and Stern
(2012). © Elsevier, 2012.)
wave speed, the rudder is not able to exert any action and the Froude numbers and drift angles, with measurements taken at
ship is no longer able to maneuver and to turn in a different several cross planes, even behind the stern. Results, some of
orientation with respect to the incoming waves. In these them shown in Figure 11, highlight the formation of vortices
conditions, the flow is rather complex, as it is shown in released at the keel lines of the two hulls that detach progres-
Figure 9. The figure shows the large roll angle developed sively far from the hull surfaces moving toward the stern.
as a consequence of the instability process with the highly
complicated flow in the stern region. Due to the large roll
motion, a large flow separation occurs at the bilge keels, 3 UNDERWATER VEHICLES
which contribute to the damping. Figure 9b also shows
A rather simplified classification of the moving underwater
the interaction of the strong vortices released by the keels
bodies can be done in terms of their speed. We may distin-
with the propeller. Another, quite interesting example of
guish low speed vehicles used for monitoring, such as sea
the flow around a ship in drift motion is given in Xing,
gliders or autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV); medium
Bhushan, and Stern (2012). In these conditions, additional
speed vehicles, such as submarines; high speed vehicles, that
vortex structures are generated due to the inclined flow. is, cavitating and supercavitating torpedo; or, finally, ultra-
An example is provided in Figure 10, which refers to a high speed exceeding the speed of sound in water, such as
ship moving with 12∘ drift angle. The figure highlights the projectiles. The latter cannot be considered as vehicles, but
formation of a rather complicated vortical flow beneath the the interested reader can find a discussion of the most rele-
hull, which is due to the interaction of the inclined flow vant aspects in Kirschner et al. (1996), Kirschner (2001), and
with the solid surfaces. In particular, a large vortex that is Saurel, Cocchi, and Butler (1999).
detached from the bilge on the windward side of the bow Sea glider or AUV are usually employed for ocean explo-
region (fore-body bilge vortex, FBV) crosses the hull bottom ration and monitoring, as well as for monitoring of floating
and arrives at the opposite side of the hull where it separates or offshore structures. There is an increasing interest toward
definitively, leading to a large vortex that is detached from the development of vehicles that can move faster, deeper,
the hull surface (fore-body side vortex, FSV). and in a more reliable manner. For the control of the vehicle
Another interesting example is given in Broglia et al. during the mission, an accurate knowledge of the hydrody-
(2012) and Falchi et al. (2014), where the flow beneath a namics and maneuvering characteristics is essential. Some
catamaran in drift motion is experimentally investigated with interesting studies in this direction are provided in Phillips,
the aim of achieving a better characterization of the maneu- Turnock, and Furlong (2010), where the hydrodynamics
vering parameters. The study analyses the flow at different parameters are determined through computational tools, and
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe076
8 General
z 0
x
Helicity: −1 −0.8−0.6−0.4−0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
0.4 0.6
Fore-body bilge vortex (FBV) Aft-body side vortex (ASV)
y −0.02 0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8 0.7
0.7 0.5
−0.04 0.6 0.8 0.8
z/Lpp
0.9
0.6
0.7 0.9
.7
Fore-body side vortex (FSV) −0.06 0.5 0 0.9
Aft-body hairpin vortex (ABHPV) Aft-body bilge vortex (ABV)
(a)
z −0.08
−0.04 −0.02 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18
Helicity: −1 −0.8−0.6−0.4−0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 x
Aft-body side vortex (ASV) (b) y/Lpp
y
0 .1
0.
0.02
0.9
0.
0. 0
1
7 .8
0.0
.3
0.6
−0.02 0.0
20
00..5 0.9
1
0.
0. 0.7
0.8
0.5
0.5
0. 0.7
8
0.6
0.5
z/Lpp
0.6
Aft-body bilge vortex (ABV)
−0.04 0.5 0.8
8
0. 0.9
0.6
0.8
0.6
7
0. 0.9
0.8
0.4
−0.06
0.5
Aft-body hairpin vortex (ABHPV) 0.5.7
0
−0.08
Fore-body side vortex (FSV)
−0.04 −0.02 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18
(c) (d) y/Lpp
Figure 10. (a,c) The complex vortical structures around a ship hull in drift motion. (b,d) The contours of the wake velocity along a transverse
plane in the aft region are provided for the same condition. (Reproduced with permission from Xing, Bhushan, and Stern (2012). © Elsevier,
2012.)
Keel vortex core
−30 −25 −20 −15 −11 −6 −1 4 9 14 18 23 28 Vorticity sheet from the

hull boundary layer
(a) (b) (c)
Figure 11. (a) Vorticity distribution at a transverse plane of a catamaran in drift motion. (b,c) The vorticity field around the leeward and
windward vortices are shown in terms of the instantaneous and average fields. (Reproduced with permission from Falchi et al. (2014). ©
Springer, 2014.)
some of the flow features are shown. A much wider overview be seen. The important effect played by the appendages on
covering different aspects of AUV technology and applica- the resulting flow is clearly highlighted. Maximum pressure
tions can be found in Cruz (2011). values are correctly located at the hull bow and the leading
The flow becomes more complicated when increasing the edges of the appendages, whereas minimum values occur
speed as nonlinear effects become more pronounced. In at the maximum thickness regions. Results indicate that the
Broglia, Di Mascio, and Muscari (2007), some studies on velocity field arriving at the upper rudder is perturbed by
the flow generated by a submarine during steady maneuvers the presence of the sail, whereas the pressure is close to the
are conducted by using a computational tool for the evalua- free stream value. The characteristics of the flow arriving at
tion of the force and moment coefficients. As an example, in the rudder have important consequences on the forces that
Figure 12, the distributions of the axial velocity and pres- can be exerted by the fluid on the vehicle during maneuvers.
sure are shown for a submarine in open water or nearby The appendages also affect the flow arriving at the propeller
the free surface. In the latter case, the free surface defor- plane and thus the efficiency of the propulsion system. The
mation associated to the passage of the vehicle can also wake of the submarine persists for more than one submarine
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe076
𝛽 = 0.0° Θ = 0.0° 𝛽 = 0.0° Θ = −5.0°

z
x
y
umin = −0.4
umax = 1.4
Δu = 0.1
umin = −0.4 𝛽 = 0.0° Θ = 0.0°

umax = 1.3
Δu = 0.1
𝛽 = 0.0° Θ = 0.0°
z
x
y
𝛽 = 0.0° Θ = +5.0°
pmin = −0.3
pmax = 0.5
Δp = 0.05
(a) (b)
Figure 12. (a) The distributions of the axial velocity and pressure distribution around a submarine in open water conditions. (b) The axial
velocity distributions are shown for a submarine close to the free surface. (Reproduced with permission from Broglia, Di Mascio, and
Muscari (2007). © International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers.)
length downstream, whereas the pressure quickly recovers that originated at the interaction of the sail with the subma-
the free-stream value. rine body compress the boundary layer in the central region
Similar studies are presented in Chase and Carrica (2013), and thicken it at the sides. This creates a boundary layer
where the detailed flow about the propeller is also consid- region with reduced thickness in the middle, which grows in
ered. The interest for the propeller modeling stems from the transversal size going downstream. The wake of the sail
the fact that propeller performance and efficiency, always can also be recognized by the form of the wake behind the
relevant for any vehicle, are even more important for a propeller. When the submarine maneuvers, the region with
submarine. This is because for a submarine the propeller is compressed boundary layer is moved to starboard and the tip
optimized for reduced noise emission, and this means that vortex rolls the low velocity wake flow from the sail. During
it is characterized by more and larger blades with respect the maneuver, the rudders undergo a hydrodynamic loading
to a ship propeller. For the same torque, the additional
and thus the tip and necklace vortices appear, the latter
blades may reduce the overall thrust and thus reduce both
prone to become unstable. The resulting flow behind the
performance and efficiency (Felli, Guj, and Camussi, 2008).
propeller is far more complicated than in the straight-ahead
An example of the flow generated by a submarine propeller
condition. Additional examples of the flow about submarines
in open water is given in Figure 13 where the vortex sheets
generated by the blades are shown. The circumferential in maneuvers can be found in Zhang et al. (2013).
vorticity distribution along a longitudinal plane through the When the speed increases significantly, the pressure dimin-
propeller axis is also displayed. In Figure 13a and b, the ishes and drops below the vapor pressure, thus leading to
hub vortex can be identified as well. Of course, the problem cavitation. As explained in Ceccio (2010), the occurrence
is more complicated when the propeller is in the wake of of cavitation can be exploited in order to reduce the friction
the submarine. Examples of the flow in these conditions are component to the drag, even if an increase in the pressure
given in Chase and Carrica (2013) and Chase, Michael, and drag is needed sometime. The limiting case is the one in
Carrica (2013). In Figure 14, the flow about a submarine which the cavity starts at the tip of the vehicle and encom-
in straight-ahead and in rotating arm turn conditions are passes it entirely, which is the case of supercavitating vehi-
shown. In the straight-ahead case, the longitudinal vortices cles. An example of such flow is given in Figure 15. As it
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe076
10 General
Very fine
Very-fine
(a) (b)
Figure 13. Detailed numerical simulations of the flow about a submarine propeller. (a) The vortical structures are displayed on the basis
of the second invariant of the strain tensor. (b) The vorticity distribution along a longitudinal plane. (Reproduced with permission from
Broglia, Mascio, and Muscari (2007). © Elsevier, 2013.)
Z Z
Y
X
X Y
V
U
0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
P P
−0.1 −0.08 −0.06 −0.04 −0.02 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 −0.12 −0.08 −0.04 0 0.04 0.08 0.12
(a) (b)
Figure 14. Detailed numerical simulations of the flow about a submarine. The straight-ahead and the rotating arm turn are shown in (a)
and (b) pictures, respectively. (Reproduced with permission from Chase, Michael, and Carrica (2013). © IOS Press BV, 2013.)
(Balas et al., 2006; Kirschner et al., 2002). The problem

is further complicated by the fact that there exist different
flow regimes, depending on the Froude number. For Fr ≫ 1,
the cavity has a periodic filling with liquid and subsequent
break off. For moderate values, the gravity has a stabilizing
effect. In particular, when the gravity acts perpendicular to
the cavity axis, the buoyancy causes a bending of the cavity
Figure 15. Flow about supercavitating vehicles. (Reproduced with and a twin vortex system is released in the liquid phase
permission from Balas et al. (2006). © Springer, 2006.) beneath the cavity. Due to the cavity curvature, the re-entrant
jet impinges to the lower cavity surface, and the gas shed
by this process is entrained by the twin vortices. A detailed
can be seen, only the head of the vehicle, which is the cavi- explanation of the different flow regimes can be found in
tator, is in contact with the liquid. Depending on the speed, Ceccio (2010) where additional references can also be found.
the cavity can be ventilated with gas in order to increase Several analytical studies aimed at identifying the cavity
the size of the bubble and/or to reduce the speed needed to shape are given in Serebryakov (2001), whereas quite inter-
achieve the supercavitating condition. The control of such esting studies concerning the cavity dynamics are presented
vehicles is rather complicated and needs dedicated modeling in Paryshev (2006) and Kirschner and Arzoumanian (2008).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe076
4 CONCLUSIONS Faltinsen, O.M. and Semenov, Y. (2008) Nonlinear problem of

flat-plate entry into an incompressible liquid. Journal of Fluid
Mechanics, 611, 151–173.
In this contribution, a brief overview on some features of
the flow generated by ships and underwater vehicles is Felli, M. and Di Felice, F. (2005) Propeller wake analysis in nonuni-
form inflow by LDV phase sampling techniques. Journal of Marine
presented. Attention is mainly focused at showing some of Science and Technology, 10, 159–172.
the most interesting aspects of the flow observed through
Felli, M. and Falchi, M. (2011) Propeller tip and hub vortex dynamics
both numerical or experimental investigations. The discus- in the interaction with a rudder. Experiments in Fluids, 51,
sion is intentionally rather qualitative and it is aimed at 1385–1402.
introducing the different topics. The scope is to stimulate Felli, M., Guj, G., and Camussi, R. (2008) Effect of the number of
the interested reader in going into a more detailed discussion blades on propeller wake evolution. Experiments in Fluids, 44,
provided more detailed discussion provided in the references 409–418.
given here in the following. Felli, M., Camussi, R., and Di Felice, F. (2011) Mechanisms of
evolution of the propeller wake in the transition and far fields.
Hendrickson, K., Weymouth, G., Banerjee, S., and Yue, D.K.-P.
REFERENCES (2013) Air entrainment and multiphase turbulence in the bubbly
wake of a transom stern. International Shipbuilding Progress, 60,
Altamirano, L. (2010) Flow visualization of the ventilated cavi- 375–401.
ties generated by a surface piercing propeller. MS thesis. Florida Kirschner, I.N. (2001) Results of Selected Experiments Involving
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe076
Internal Waves
Nicole L. Jones and Gregory N. Ivey
University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia
internal waves with periods comparable to a day experience

1 Introduction 1 the effects of the earth’s rotation, which results in an addi-
2 Theory 2 tional restoring effect due to the Coriolis force (Pedlosky,
3 Internal Tides 5 1982).
Internal waves in the ocean can be generated by the wind
4 Implications for Marine and Offshore
and mean flow. As discussed below, however, the interac-
Engineering 8
tion of the surface tide-driven flow with bottom topography is
5 Conclusions 9 the most important generation mechanism, producing waves
Acknowledgments 10 known as internal tides. Internal tides are generated and
Glossary 10 dissipated at preferential locations depending on the bottom
References 10 slope, tidal frequency, and the density stratification (the
density stratification varies both spatially and temporally).
The propagation of internal waves is further influenced by
the background circulation and stratification. The combined
effect of these processes creates a rich and complex internal
wave field in the ocean.
1 INTRODUCTION As the amplitude of the internal waves increases, nonlinear
effects start to become important. This leads to new classes
Internal waves are a ubiquitous feature in the ocean. They
of waves, which we will term large amplitude nonlinear
are of considerable importance in the marine environment
internal waves (NLIWs), often simply referred to as solitons
as they both create currents and drive turbulent ocean
in the literature. NLIWs are seen throughout the global ocean
mixing. Easily observed surface gravity waves propagate
(Figure 1) and as they propagate, they induce large vertical
due to the restoring force of buoyancy at the free surface
displacements of constant density (isopycnal) surfaces of
(which results from the density difference between air
O(100 m) and strong horizontal velocities of O(1–2 m/s)
and water). Similarly, waves at internal density surfaces
(Van Gastel et al., 2009). Such large displacements and
propagate due to the restoring force of buoyancy at the
velocities, in turn, affect nutrient mixing and biological
internal surface (in this case resulting from the density productivity (Kaartvedt, Klevjer, and Aksnes, 2012), sedi-
difference between the fluid layers). While internal waves ment resuspension (Quaresma et al., 2007), the propaga-
at an interface propagate horizontally, internal waves in a tion of acoustic waves (Williams et al., 2001), and marine
continuously stratified fluid propagate obliquely, the exact and offshore engineering operations (Osborne, Burch, and
angle of propagation depending on the wave frequency Scarlet, 1978).
and strength of the ambient density stratification. Finally, This article first discusses the theory of internal waves. It
then focuses on the generation, propagation, and dissipation
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. of internal tides. Finally, it considers the implications of
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe089 internal tide dynamics for engineering design and operation
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2
in the offshore environment.
2 General
50°N
25°N
0°
25°S
50°S
180° 120°W 60°W 0° 60°E 120°E 180°
Figure 1. Location of NLIWs as seen from MODIS satellite observations from August 2002 to May 2004 showing more than 3500
observations. (Reproduced from Jackson, da Silva, and Jeans (2012). © The Oceanography Society, 2012.)
2 THEORY The magnitude of the internal wave-induced velocity in

the upper layer is |u1 | = |d𝜙1 /dx| = (𝜂 0 /h1 )c0 , which is small
2.1 Waves at a density interface compared to the phase speed (as by assumption 𝜂 0 /h1 is
small). As the phase √ speed of shallow water waves at the
Sinusoidal linear internal waves at an internal density inter- free surface is cf ≈ gh2 , clearly the phase speed of internal
face, where the upper layer has density 𝜌1 and depth h1 , waves is small compared to the phase speed of free surface
and the lower layer has density 𝜌2 = 𝜌1 + Δ𝜌 and depth h2 waves.
(Figure 2a), are the closest analogy to surface waves. In the Internal waves with amplitudes comparable or larger than
oceanic context, this corresponds to a well-mixed surface the upper layer depth are of particular relevance to marine
layer with the thermocline at depth h1 (with the depth h2 and offshore engineering (Osborne and Burch, 1980). An
and density 𝜌2 the equivalent values for the remainder of initially small amplitude linear long wave can progres-
the water column). Consider the case of an external-forcing sively steepen due to nonlinear effects. Eventually, dispersive
process creating a small interface perturbation, which can be effects, which tend to flatten the wave, become important and
described by balance the steepening process (Figure 2b). This combina-
𝜂(x, t) = 𝜂0 cos(kx − 𝜔t) (1) tion of effects is described by the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV)
equation (Sutherland, 2010)
where 𝜂 0 a is the amplitude, k the wavenumber, and 𝜔 the
frequency. If the amplitude is small and the wavelength 𝜂t + c0 𝜂x + 𝛼𝜂𝜂x + 𝛽𝜂xxx = 0 (4)
𝜆 = 2𝜋/k is long compared to either h1 or h2 , the perturbation
moves at the linear phase speed (Sutherland, 2010)
√ 𝜂t + c0 𝜂x + 𝛼𝜂𝜂x = 0
hh
c0 = g′ 1 2 (2)
h1 + h2 where
3 (h1 − h2 )
𝛼= c (5)
where the reduced gravity g′ = gΔ𝜌/𝜌1 . The velocity poten- 2 0 h1 h2
tials in the layers can be written as
1
c0 𝛽= chh (6)
𝜙1 = − 𝜂 sin(kx − 𝜔t) 6 0 1 2
kh1 0
c In this formulation, 𝜂 is defined as positive upward, and for
𝜙2 = 0 𝜂0 sin(kx − 𝜔t) (3) the thin upper-layer case only an initial wave of depression
kh2
(𝜂 < 1) will steepen. Balancing the unsteady term with the
Thus, in the typical oceanic case, where h1 ≪ h2 , internal
√ nonlinear steepening term yields an estimate for the time
waves at the thermocline have a phase speed of c0 ≈ g′ h1 . it takes for nonlinear waves to first form, the steepening
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe089
Internal Waves 3
z
z=0 x
h1 Density ρ1
η c
λ
h2
Density ρ1 + Δρ
(a)
Wave amplitude (cm)
0
−1
−2
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
(b) Times (s)
c
a
h L
(c)
Figure 2. (a) Schematic of a linear internal wave with amplitude a and wavelength 𝜆 = 2𝜋/k propagating along the density interface in
a two-layer fluid. (b) Laboratory observation of the evolution of nonlinear internal waves propagating past a fixed measurement location
in a two-layered fluid. (Reproduced from Horn, Imberger, and Ivey (2001) with permission from Cambridge University Press. © 2001.)
(c) Schematic of hump-shaped solitary wave.
timescale TS (Horn, Imberger, and Ivey, 2001). This illustrates one of the most fundamental properties of
NLIWs: they propagate faster than the linear wave speed c0 .
L In addition, particularly in the thinner of the two fluid layers,
TS ∼ (7)
𝛼𝜂0 induced speeds can be very large. While we cannot attribute
For the case of a thin upper-layer (h1 ≪ h2 ), the steep- a wavelength to an NLIW of this type, we can characterize
ening timescale reduces to TS ∼ (L/c0 )(h1 /𝜂 0 ). The thinner the horizontal extent L of the wave as
the upper layer, the faster the steepening process is. For the √
special case of h1 = h2 , the nonlinear steepening parameter 1 𝛽
L= (10)
𝛼 = 0 and nonlinear effects cannot occur. 12 a𝛼
Analytical solutions of the KdV equation can be found Unlike linear waves, this illustrates that the horizontal
for waves of permanent form, including the hump-shaped extent of the NLIW is a function of both wave amplitude a
solitary wave (Figure 2c) given by and the layer depths. Figure 3 shows how varying the ratio
( ) of layer depths has a strong effect on the temporal evolution
x − ct
𝜂(x, t) = a sec h2 (8) of an initially linear long wave into a train of solitary waves.
L
Analytical solutions of the KdV equation can be found for
which propagates at speed a broad range of circumstances, and the KdV equation can be
( ) extended to include such effects as slow variations in back-
1
c = c0 1 + 𝛼a (9) ground properties (Grimshaw et al., 1998; El, Grimshaw,
3
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe089
4 General
(a)
2
η (cm)
0
−2
(b)
2
η (cm)
−2
(c)
2
η (cm)
−2
(d)
2
η (cm)
−2
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Times (s)
Figure 3. Laboratory observations of the evolution of nonlinear internal wave train showing the effect of varying layer depths. Panels (a–d)
have layer depth ratios h1 /(h1 + h2 ) = 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2. (Reproduced from Horn, Imberger, and Ivey (2001) with permission from Cambridge
University Press. © 2001.)
and Tiong, 2012). KdV theory and its weakly nonlinear rela- and is given by (Sutherland, 2010)
tives are restricted to waves with small amplitude compared
to the shallow layer depth. However, many oceanic internal 𝜔2 = N 2 sin2 𝜃 (11)
waves have amplitudes greater than the shallow layer depth
(Helfrich and Melville, 1986). Further, when solitary waves where 𝜔 is the wave frequency, N = (−(g/𝜌)d𝜌/dz)1/2 the
shoal, and overturning and breaking occurs, these processes buoyancy frequency characterizing the strength of the back-
are all beyond the capacity of analytical theory, and a combi- ground stratification 𝜌(z), and 𝜃 the angle from the horizontal
nation of laboratory experiments (Michallet and Ivey, 1999; of the group velocity vector. In the limit when 𝜔 = N, the
Sutherland, Barrett, and Ivey, 2013), direct field observations group velocity vector, the direction of energy propagation,
(Martini et al., 2012), and fully nonlinear numerical simula- is in the horizontal—as was the case for internal waves at a
tions (Zhang, Fringer, and Ramp, 2011) must instead be used density interface above.
In the case where 𝜔 < N, internal waves propagate
(Section 3.3).
obliquely and when the wave reflects from any boundary,
the dispersion relation dictates the incident and the reflected
waves must have the same frequency and hence inclination
2.2 Waves in fluids with continuous stratification to the horizontal, irrespective of the slope of the boundary.
These propagation characteristics explain why internal
Consider now the case of internal waves in a continuously waves transport energy throughout the ocean. For a given
stratified fluid. The dispersion relation for small amplitude frequency, there is a critical bottom slope at which the
internal waves is independent of wavenumber (wavelength) reflected waves must be parallel to the boundary, and this
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe089
Internal Waves 5
is known to generate considerable bottom turbulence in the Whether the tidally generated internal energy dissipates
bottom boundary layer (Ivey and Nokes, 1989). If the waves locally or propagates away is largely determined by two
have timescales comparable to the rotation of the earth, the parameters: (i) the critical slope parameter 𝛾, defined as the
Coriolis effects can also be important, and the dispersion ratio of the local topographic slope S to the internal wave
relation is generalized to slope [(𝜔2 − f2 )/(N2 − 𝜔2 )]1/2 and (ii) the tidal excursion
parameter, defined as the ratio of the tidal excursion length
𝜔2 = N 2 sin2 𝜃 + f 2 cos2 𝜃 (12) u0 /𝜔 to the characteristic length scale of the local topog-
raphy ls (u0 is the velocity amplitude of the cross-isobath
where f = 2Ω sin 𝜙, Ω is the planetary rotation rate and 𝜙 the surface tide). As 𝛾 approaches one, the topography is termed
latitude. critical and the local turbulent dissipation of energy is mini-
The ocean has a depth-varying stratification, stronger near mized and the internal tide propagates as a beam (Lim, Ivey,
the surface and weaker at depth, and hence the buoyancy and Jones, 2010). Estimates of local dissipation range from
frequency N = N(z). In this case, the internal waves are best <8% at steep supercritical topography (Klymak et al., 2006)
described in terms of modes. For an unbounded ocean in the to ∼30% at subcritical topography (St. Laurent and Garrett,
horizontal direction and neglecting rotation, if the induced 2002). When the tidal excursion parameter u0 /𝜔ls < 1, a
vertical velocity is given by w = W(z)e− i(kx − 𝜔t) , the vertical modal response is observed (Echeverri et al., 2009). Under
modes W(z) are given by solutions of continuous stratification an internal beam results, whereas
( 2 ) a mode-1 wave is generated for the two-layer stratifica-
d2 W 2 N (z) − 𝜔2 tion case.
+k W=0 (13)
dz2 𝜔2 As u0 /𝜔ls approaches one, the nonlinear advective terms
become important and nonlinear features such as internal
which can be solved subject to the boundary conditions that
hydraulic jumps or lee waves may be observed, accompanied
W = 0 at the top and bottom boundaries (Pedlosky, 2003).
by locally enhanced dissipation and turbulent mixing (Legg
The general character of these modal solutions for any N(z)
and Klymak, 2008). This is the mechanism for direct genera-
is that they propagate energy in the horizontal direction and
tion of NLIWs. Isolated topography such as sills, banks, and
that most energy is retained in the lowest modes.
ridges are among the principal generation sites of NLIWs in
The KdV equation has also been adapted to continuous
the ocean (Farmer and Armi, 1988). These seabed features
stratification by decomposing the particle velocities and
provide the variation in depth required to produce the tran-
wave displacements into a linear combination of vertical
sition between subcritical and supercritical flow, resulting
modes (Apel et al., 1985).
in the production of a stationary lee wave of depression
at the pycnocline downstream of the sill that can advance
over the sill/bank as the flow slackens and becomes subcrit-
3 INTERNAL TIDES
ical. Hydraulic jumps often result in the formation of an
internal bore when the tide reverses (Lim, Ivey, and Jones,
Internal tides and NLIWs represent a significant contribution
2010). Hydraulic jumps can also form when the flow is
to the internal motions that occur on many continental slopes
forced through a contraction, due to topography such as sills
and shelves (Rayson, Jones, and Ivey, 2012). They are often a
(Klymak and Gregg, 2004) or the channel between two adja-
dominant energy source for turbulent mixing and cross-shore
cent islands (Rayson, 2012).
transport (Shroyer, Moum, and Nash, 2010b; Bluteau, Jones,
NLIWs can also be generated by the evolution of energetic
and Ivey, 2011). The remainder of this chapter will focus on
internal tide and NLIW dynamics. linear internal tides that steepen and evolve into NLIWs as
they propagate (Section 2.1). Finally, NLIWs can form when
internal tide beams interact with the pycnocline and transfer
3.1 Generation energy to create interfacial waves (Azevedo, da Silva, and
New, 2006). Jackson, da Silva, and Jeans (2012) provide
Internal tides occur when the oscillatory barotropic (surface) a recent review of the different generation mechanisms of
tide sweeps density-stratified ocean water over sloping NLIWs.
topography, producing local internal pressure perturbations.
These local perturbations can subsequently propagate as
internal tides away from the generation region, transmitting 3.2 Propagation
energy to regions often quite remote (i.e., distances of over
1000 km) from the original generation site (Zhao and Alford, Internal tides can propagate for large distances across ocean
2009). basins with minimal dissipation. For example, Alford et al.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe089
6 General
(a) No breaking (b) Surging breaking

Warm (light)
Uo (Tide)
(c) Collapsing breaking Cold (heavy)
(a)
(d) Collapsing-plunging breaking Warm (light)
Uo (Tide)
α
Cold (heavy)
1/2
ω2
(e) Plunging breaking α = tan θ =
N2 – ω2
(b)
Figure 5. Schematic of internal wave generation by tidal flow over

topography for (a) two-layer stratification and (b) continuous strat-
Figure 4. (a–e) Schematics illustrating large amplitude nonlinear ification.
internal waves breaking on a sloping bottom. If the Iribarren number
Ir > 1.5 (see Equation 14), there is backward reflection and no
breaking; if 0.7 < Ir < 1.0, there is collapsing wave breaking; if As a result, the occurrence and amplitude of internal tides in
Ir < 0.3, there is plunging wave breaking; and if Ir → 0, there is such environments may not be connected to the strength of
forward reflection and energy loss to bottom friction. (Reproduced
the tidal forcing. In coastal regions, the remotely generated
from Sutherland, Barrett, and Ivey (2013) with permission from J.
Wiley. © 2013.) long-distance-propagating internal tides can also interfere
with locally generated waves, further complicating the
dynamics (Martini et al., 2011).
(2007) showed that mode-1 internal tides do not lose appre-
In regions where the magnitude of the surface tide velocity
ciable energy as they propagate north across the Pacific
is similar to the phase speed of the NLIWs, depending on the
Ocean from Hawaii. Kelly et al. (2013) further demonstrated
phasing between the surface tide the arrival of an offshore
that dissipation or loss of energy from mode-1 internal tides,
generated NLIW, an NLIW packet can be moved back and
due to interaction with small-scale topography, is gener-
forth by the surface tide. For example, on the Australian
ally <10% per 1000 km of propagation. Remotely generated
NWS there are observations of three NLIW events in one
NLIWs can also travel large distances, for example, almost
12.4 h tidal cycle (Van Gastel et al., 2009). The packet of
500 km in the case of NLIWs generated in the Luzon Strait
NLIWs is temporarily swept back offshore by the barotropic
traveling across the South China Sea (Ramp et al., 2004).
tide and then swept inshore again as the tide reverses,
Mesoscale motions (including near inertial motions,
passing by the observation point three times (Fringer et al.,
geostrophic currents, and mesoscale eddies) result in vari-
submitted).
ations in the velocity and density over 10–500 km scales,
causing internal tides to refract horizontally as they radiate
from their generation sites (Rainville and Pinkel, 2006). 3.3 Dissipation
Further, temporal variation in the background velocity struc-
ture also results in Doppler shifting, which alters the arrival Unlike the uniform depth cases considered in Figure 1, as
times of the internal tide. This influence is more dramatic on linear internal tides propagate into shallow water, they will be
continental shelves, where internal wave speeds are much influenced by the presence of the sloping bottom (Figures 4
slower (≈0.4–0.5 m/s) and low-frequency currents are much and 5). For supercritical slopes with 𝛾 > 1, some internal tide
faster than in the ocean basins, allowing strong refraction energy will be reflected back from the slope: about 30%
and Doppler shifting of the internal tide (Nash et al., 2012). in the case of a supercritical slope in the South China Sea
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe089
Internal Waves 7
(Klymak et al., 2011). Experiments have shown that internal dissipate more readily. The remaining 40% is reflected (Kelly
tides impacting on near-critical slopes result in significant et al., 2013).
nonlinearities and mixing (Ivey and Nokes, 1989). Strong Both locally and remotely generated NLIWs dissipate
near-bed currents and enhanced diffusivities (>10−3 m2 /s) energy when they break. When the amplitude of an NLIW
have been observed on near-critical slopes (Aucan et al., becomes significant with respect to the total water depth, the
2006; Martini et al., 2012) (Figure 6). In addition, internal leading edge of the wave steepens and the trailing edge flat-
wave breaking near the shelf break can lead to the creation tens, transforming the wave into an upslope internal bore, the
of boluses (bores with a trapped core) potentially leading wave breaks. The resultant large overturns generate elevated
to dramatic onshore transport of material (Venayagamoorthy turbulent dissipation and mixing (Klymak and Moum, 2003).
and Fringer, 2007). Locations where shoaling waves are dissipated in deep water
For subcritical slopes with 𝛾 < 1, much of the impinging over the slope are likely to be important to global ocean
linear internal tide energy is forward reflected with little local mixing (Nash et al., 2007). To characterize this internal soli-
energy loss and transferred upslope. The energy ultimately tary wave-breaking process, Boegman, Ivey, and Imberger
dissipates in shallower water on the continental shelf after (2005) introduced the Iribarren number Ir
undergoing nonlinear transformations (Kelly et al., 2012).
Kelly et al. (2013) found that, globally averaged, 20% of
an impinging mode-1 internal tide is transmitted onto the S
Ir = √ (14)
continental shelf and 40% scatters to higher modes, which a∕L
1.5 0.4
0.75 0.2
V (m / s)
η (m)
0 0
−0.75 −0.2
−1.5 −0.4
(a) 2
Turbidity (NTU)
1.5
0.5
0
(b)
50
40
30
z (m)
20 29
10
(c) 28
0
100
27
80
26
60
z (m)
25
40
24
20 T (°C)
0.5 m/s
0 0.5 m/s
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 10.5 11 11.5 12
(d) Time (h)
Figure 6. Field observations of a large amplitude nonlinear internal wave on the Australian North West Shelf. (a) Tidal elevation and
cross-shore surface tide velocity, (b) turbidity at 10 m above bed, (c) near-bed high-resolution cross-shore baroclinic currents (vectors) and
temperature structure, and (d) full water column cross-shore baroclinic currents (vectors) and temperature structure.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe089
8 General
where a and L are defined in Section 2.1. Boegman, Ivey, 4.1 Measuring and modeling NLIWs
and Imberger (2005) considered waves described by KdV
theory. Sutherland, Barrett, and Ivey (2013) extended this As observational techniques have improved and scientists
idea to consider waves with an amplitude significantly larger have moved toward ever-faster sampling speeds, NLIWs
than the upper-layer depth and hence beyond the applica- have emerged as ubiquitous on the world’s continental
bility of KdV theory. Equation 14 was generalized such that shelves, in marginal seas, and near straits and restrictions
a = aSW and L = Lsw characterize the amplitude and hori- where high-speed flow occurs. In order to understand
zontal extent of the incident wave. Sutherland, Barrett, and the dynamics of NLIWs, rapid measurements (O(1 min)
Ivey (2013) define four regimes as shown in Figure 3. As sampling intervals) of velocity and density are required
the waves approach the slope, there is a drawdown of the throughout the entire water column and over many sites
density interface and Sutherland, Barrett, and Ivey (2013) (Alford, Gregg, and Merrifield, 2006). Further, the data
find that the maximum
√ extent of the interface drawdown is record must be long enough to characterize the variability
given by Hi ≃ 4saSW LSW . As bottom slopes are typically experienced at the location of interest. At sites with seasonal
small in the ocean, this drawdown depth can be up to 200 m variation in stratification, a minimum of a year-long data
and corresponding excursion lengths along the bottom can set is required. Sites close to generation may only require a
be 5 km (Table 1, from Sutherland, Barrett, and Ivey, 2013). short record to capture spring-neap variation (Nash et al.,
Thus, a considerable extent of sloping marine regions can 2012). More specialized measurements of NLIW dynamics
be influenced by direct interaction with breaking NLIWs. can be captured via ship-based observations by following
Observations on continental shelves have demonstrated that wave packets as they propagate inshore (Shroyer, Moum,
breaking NLIWs can lead to near-bed velocities in excess of and Nash, 2010a).
1 m/s (Van Gastel et al., 2009), strongly vertically sheared Numerical models of internal tides play an important role
currents (Moum et al., 2003) and enhanced mixing (Klymak in the operational oceanography of shelf dynamics, primarily
and Moum, 2003). because they can put sparse observations into context (Carter,
Gregg, and Merrifield, 2006; Van Gastel et al., 2009; Rayson
4 IMPLICATIONS FOR MARINE AND et al., 2011). Carter, Fringer, and Zaron (2012) provide a
OFFSHORE ENGINEERING recent review on regional models of internal waves. Here we
summarize some important considerations when developing
As NLIWs are potentially hazardous to subsea oil and gas internal tide numerical models.
operations, the ability to predict the occurrence and arrival In general, internal tides have long wavelengths compared
of these waves is necessary for both cost effective operation with the water depth, and therefore the primarily horizontal
and safety. Importantly, the local fluid velocity will always be fluid particle acceleration arises almost entirely from hydro-
the sum of the induced velocities associated with the internal static pressure gradients. Therefore, hydrostatic models, such
wave and the local surface tide (and any other) background as the Regional Oceanic Modeling System (ROMS), are
velocities. Despite the considerable body of knowledge about able to describe internal tides. The nonhydrostatic pres-
these waves, the prediction of NLIWs remains a very chal- sure becomes important when simulating NLIWs, requiring
lenging issue and the subject of ongoing research. Here we a nonhydrostatic model such as the Stanford Unstructured
discuss: (i) the state-of-the-art in measuring and modeling Non-hydrostatic Terrain-following Adaptive Navier–Stokes
NLIWs, (ii) the influence of NLIWs on sediment mobiliza- Simulator (SUNTANS).
tion, and (iii) the techniques used to estimate the forces Modeling internal tides is computationally expensive, due
exerted by NLIWs on structures. to the combination of the high horizontal grid resolution
Table 1. Extract of data from Table 2 of Boegman, Ivey, and Imberger (2005) giving observed ambient conditions including the
upper-layer depth (h1 ), the lower-layer depth (h2 ), the topographic slope (S), and the observed amplitude (aSW ) and total horizontal extent
(𝜆∞ ≃ 4LSW ) of an approaching solitary wave.
Location S h1 h2 aSW 𝜆∞ Ir Hi a Li a Source
North West Shelf 3/2000 43 80 30 910 0.0041 6.4 4300 Holloway (1987)
North West Shelf 3/2000 48 75 35 830 0.0037 6.6 4400 Holloway (1987)
Scotian Shelf 1/200 50 100 30 1100 0.015 13 2600 Sandstrom and Elliott (1984)
Sulu Sea 1/11 170 3300 65 6300 0.45 193 2100 Apel et al. (1985)
a Refers to the predicted maximum of interface descent and horizontal excursion.
Reproduced from Sutherland, Barrett, and Ivey (2013) with permission from J. Wiley. © 2013.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe089
Internal Waves 9
required to accurately generate internal tides over fine-scale shoaling process is highly nonstationary, and this must be
topographic features and the large domain required for the taken into account when modeling resuspension. Thus,
propagation of coastal internal tides, which have wavelengths traditional near-bed viscous stress models are inappropriate
of ∼100 km (Jachec et al., 2006). The model time step must for these flows.
be ∼1 min to resolve internal tide generation, but the model Only limited field observations of the bulk features of
must be run long enough to capture the spring-neap vari- breaking NLIW sediment resuspension exist. However,
ability in forcing. coastal data from a shoaling wave of elevation suggests a
A further consideration is the accurate reproduction of: (i) “highly sheared bottom layer and stress-driven turbulence”
mesoscale features that can modify the internal tide field (Klymak and Moum, 2003). Further, enhanced vertical
(Arbic et al., 2012) and (ii) remotely generated internal tides sediment fluxes and nepheloid layers have been observed on
that can interact with regionally generated waves (Carter, continental slopes and attributed to bore-like motions at the
Fringer, and Zaron, 2012). A larger model domain and/or tidal frequency (McPhee-Shaw et al., 2004; Walter et al.,
specific boundary conditions are required to satisfy this 2012). These studies highlight the need for better-resolved
consideration. observations of NLIWs.
4.2 Sediment mobilization 4.3 Loading on structures
The prediction of sediment mobilization is critical to the If the NLIW characteristics at a particular site are known,
design and operation of offshore infrastructure. NLIWs then one can compute the forces and torques exerted by
can contribute to and even dominate the resuspension and NLIWs on structures, such as cylindrical piles. For example,
transport of sediment on continental slopes and shelves Cai, Long, and Wang (2008) and Xu et al. (2012) use the
and can even shape the continental slope and shelf on Morison equation approach, where the induced force on a
geologic time scales (Cacchione, Pratson, and Ogston, 2002). cylindrical pile comes from the combination of a drag force
Recent field, laboratory, and numerical studies have demon- associated with the mean wave-induced velocity and from
strated that propagating NLIWs (Diamessis and Redekopp, an inertial force associated with the time rate of change
2006), shoaling NLIWs (Hosegood, Bonnin, and van Haren, of this mean velocity. With forcing from NLIWs, this time
2004), and breaking internal waves (Bonnin et al., 2006) rate of change of the mean velocity is due to the solitary
can all drive significant sediment resuspension and transport wave. Because at any instant the horizontal velocity has
(Figure 6). considerable vertical shear, the drag force contribution will
Direct numerical simulations and laboratory experiments be strongly depth dependent. Cai, Long, and Wang (2008)
have demonstrated that as NLIWs of depression propa- conclude that because of the vertical shear, the forces (and
gate (over even flat topography), jet-like flows develop particularly the torque loading) are considerably enhanced
beneath the wave troughs. This ultimately leads to flow by the presence of the internal waves. Such work assumes
separation, elevated bed stress stresses, and periodic vortex that analytical approaches based on the KdV equation can
shedding, which ascend into the water column (Diamessis be used to describe the internal solitary wave. As discussed
and Redekopp, 2006). Dynamics in the near-bed regions above, however, many solitary waves are of a scale which is
under NLIWs of depression and elevation favor sediment beyond the capability of these analytical solutions. It is clear
resuspension; however, field studies have been inconclu- that fully nonlinear and nonhydrostatic models are needed to
sive. For instance, while one field data set demonstrated provide the loading in the Morrison equation approach.
that the maximum vertical sediment flux correlated with
peak bed shear stress (Bogucki, Redekopp, and Barth, 2005),
another study found the opposite result (Bogucki, Dickey, 5 CONCLUSIONS
and Redekopp, 1997).
When NLIWs shoal, numerical modeling and laboratory Internal waves are ubiquitous in the ocean, and NLIWs can
experiments have determined that global instabilities form be of particular importance to marine and offshore engi-
in the turbulent boundary layer (Diamessis and Redekopp, neering applications, given the induced strong currents they
2006; Boegman and Ivey, 2009). The highly energetic create when passing through a region. These currents are
content of the associated coherent vortical structures of significance due to the potential for preferential sedi-
(including the height obtained when they are ejected from ment transport and scouring impacting on infrastructure, the
the bed) appears to be the driving mechanism for sediment load applied to infrastructure, and the interference with ship
resuspension and entrainment under shoaling NLIWs. The operations. Forecasting the arrival and intensity of NLIWs
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe089
10 General
remains very challenging because of the number of factors Aucan, J., Merrifield, M.A., Luther, D.S., and Flament, P. (2006)
that determine NLIW dynamics. These factors include tidal Tidal mixing events on the deep flanks of Kaena Ridge, Hawaii.
Journal of Physical Oceanography, 36, 1202–1219.
forcing, bathymetry, density stratification, and mean back-
ground flows. The prediction of NLIW dynamics requires Azevedo, A., da Silva, J.C.B., and New, A.L. (2006) On the genera-
tion and propagation of internal solitary waves in the southern Bay
a combination of observations and specialized numerical
of Biscay. Deep Sea Research, Part I, 53, 927–941.
modeling.
Bluteau, C.E., Jones, N.L., and Ivey, G.N. (2011) Dynamics of a
tidally-forced stratified shear flow on the continental slope. Journal
of Geophysical Research, 116, C11017.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Boegman, L. and Ivey, G.N. (2009) Flow separation and resuspension
beneath shoaling nonlinear internal waves. Journal of Geophysical
Australian Research Council Discovery Project Research, 114, 1–15.
DP35603700 supported the observations shown in Boegman, L., Ivey, G.N., and Imberger, J. (2005) The energetics of
Figure 6a–c. We acknowledge the use of the Australian large-scale internal wave degeneration in lakes. Journal of Fluid
Integrated Marine Observing System data in Figure 6d. Mechanics, 531, 159–180.
Bogucki, D., Dickey, T., and Redekopp, L.G. (1997) Sediment
resuspension and mixing by resonantly generated internal solitary
waves. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 27, 1181–1196.
GLOSSARY Bogucki, D.J., Redekopp, L.G., and Barth, J.A. (2005) Internal soli-
tary waves in the Coastal Mixing and Optics 1996 experiment:
multimodal structure and resuspension. Journal of Geophysical
Density Layers of different density water Research, 110, 1–19.
stratification resulting from changes in Bonnin, J., van Haren, H., Hosegood, P., and Brummer, G.-J.A.
temperature or salinity. (2006) Burst resuspension of seabed material at the foot of the
Internal waves Waves at internal density surfaces continental slope in the Rockall Channel. Marine Geology, 226,
that propagate due to the 167–184.
restoring force of buoyancy. Cacchione, D.A., Pratson, L.F., and Ogston, A.S. (2002) The shaping
Loading on The forces on infrastructure placed of continental slopes by internal tides. Science, 296, 724–727.
structures in the ocean. Cai, S., Long, X., and Wang, S. (2008) Forces and torques exerted by
Solitons Large amplitude nonlinear internal internal solitons in shear flows on cylindrical piles. Applied Ocean
waves (in this context). Research, 30, 72–77.
Sediment transport The resuspension and transport of Carter, G.S., Gregg, M.C., and Merrifield, M.A. (2006) Flow and
mixing around a small seamount on Kaena Ridge, Hawaii. Journal
sediment from the sea floor.
of Physical Oceanography, 36, 1036–1052.
Turbulent mixing Irreversible mixing resulting from
Carter, G.S., Fringer, O.B., and Zaron, E.D. (2012) Regional models
processes such as mean shear
of internal tides. Oceanography, 25, 56–65.
and convection.
Diamessis, P.J. and Redekopp, L.G. (2006) Numerical investiga-
tion of solitary internal wave-induced global instability in shallow
water benthic boundary layers. Journal of Physical Oceanography,
36, 784–812.
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe089
Historical Development of the Marine Industry
Barbara E. Jones
Lloyd’s Register Foundation, London, UK
design when few vessels went far from land, characterized

1 Introduction 1 by high bows and sterns, small size, slow speed, dependence
2 Voyages of Exploration 3 on wind, and a lack of seaworthiness.
3 The Steam Age 4 The archaeological finds at Xiaoshan City, China, and
4 Metals at Sea 7 As-Sabiyah, Kuwait, show evidence of early man’s ship-
building and naval architecture skills. The Chinese boat is in
5 The Modern Ship 8
the form of a dugout canoe, believed to date from 7500 years
6 The Nuclear Age 11 ago. The Kuwaiti site, known as H3 contains the remains of
Glossary 13 a reed boat, evidenced in a fragment of bituminous amalgam
Related Articles 14 that has reed impressions on top and barnacles attached to
References 15 the bottom. Dating from circa 5300 years ago, it is probably
Further Reading 15 one of the earliest examples of a sailing vessel.
Images of the oar-powered ships of the Nile valley,
constructed more than 6000 years ago, are the earliest ships
of which we have images through rock carvings and pottery
decorations. The earliest survivor of the shipwright’s trade
1 INTRODUCTION is the funeral ship of the Pharaoh Cheops, who lived approx-
imately 5000 years ago, buried near his Great Pyramid at
Man’s relationship with the sea stretches back many thou-
Giza (Kemp, 2002).
sands of years. Humans may have crossed the sea from
More than 4000 years ago, the Phoenicians became the
mainland Greece to Crete, more than 130,000 years ago and
greatest seafarers of the ancient world with two distinct styles
from South East Asian islands to the closest part of the
of ship. A squat, cumbersome design of merchant vessel,
Australian continent more than 50,000 years ago. Of these
rounded at both ends, ideal for the carriage of freight and
journeys, there is no known evidence other than the archae-
people, and oar-propelled war galleys capable of short bursts
ological evidence of the tools and shelters they have left
of speed and rapid maneuvers. They founded settlements
behind (Fagan, 2012).
on the African coast, including Carthage, and ranged far
Until the explorations of Henry, the Navigator, Columbus,
and wide. The Pharaoh Nekko commissioned a Phoenician
and Vasco Da Gama, most of the developments of the
captain to circumnavigate Africa, which he did in 3 years.
ship were due to creating trading centers and maintaining
The Ancient Greek vessels were mainly galleys with
the monopoly of trade. From the time of the voyages of
distinctive types known as unireme, bireme, or trireme
discovery, representatives of nations, rather than colonies of
according to the number and tiered arrangement of the oars.
traders, took to the sea. There was little progress in ship
A trireme could be fitted with some 170 oars with bows
usually terminated in a ram. These vessels had a forecastle
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. for protection and a flying deck running from aft to stern to
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe001
enable combat without interfering with the oarsmen. Sails
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 were used as auxiliaries to the oars. They are known to have
2 General
used signaling by flags and lights by reflecting the sun’s By circa 1180, ship development saw the use of proper
rays from a shield, and in the voyage of St Paul, there is rudders rather than steering oars worked from the starboard
reference to “casting the lead,” a practice in use for many (steerboard) side. Evidence of their existence is found carved
hundreds of years to judge the depth of water. Galleys were into the font at Winchester Cathedral, UK and on a wall of
successful, despite the reliance on oar power. The last naval Fide Church, Sweden (Haws, 1976).
battle between galleys was the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 Development of seapower in Venice and Genoa came
(Figure 1). following the fall of the Roman Empire. Both the Venetians
The Norseman or Vikings undertook raiding and explo-
and Genoese were expert shipbuilders even building ships
ration voyages in the late eighth century AD, reaching
for Louis IX of France in 1268. These Italian Republics
Ireland, Greenland, and North America, to an area known
plus Sardinia adopted the earliest known form of load line,
as Vinland. With three main categories of vessel, merchant,
marked on their vessels to prevent overloading. They also
war, and ceremonial, their drakkars or dragon ships were the
largest, powered by 34 oars and with a single mast and sail adopted various other laws for safeguarding both ships and
(Steinitz, 1849). cargoes. Further north, a confederation which would become
King Alfred who acceded to the English throne in 871 known as the Hanseatic League, had a generally similar
was the first king to realize the importance to England of constitution to these Mediterranean trading republics. The
sea power, building large ships in excess of 60 oars. His League was probably founded circa 1159 by the merchants
successor, Edgar, was reported to have increased the navy of Hamburg and Lubeck, to protect their trading enterprises
to 3600 vessels and commenced sea patrols. and merchandize (Lindsay, 1874).
Figure 1. The galley was a successful ship type developed over hundreds of years. The Battle of Lepanto in 1571 was the last naval battle
between galleys. (Reproduced with permission from Lloyd’s Register Foundation Collection. © Lloyd’s Register Foundation, 2015.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe001
Historical Development of the Marine Industry 3
2 VOYAGES OF EXPLORATION the Great Harry. Although this vessel presented an inspiring
appearance, she was a bad sea ship that rolled and pitched
The voyages of Vasco da Gama and Columbus were made heavily and was difficult to steer, but her type was the inspi-
at the time the Hanseatic League was at the height of its ration of naval constructors for some years to come.
power, and this opening up of the world entirely altered Many new problems faced the shipbuilders of those days in
the attitude of nations with regard to maritime adventure. order to enable vessels to undertake long voyages. Ships were
Columbus in his famous voyage of 1492 employed three sheathed with metal to counteract the effect of the Teredo
vessels; two caravels with high poop and forecastle entirely worm and marine growth, capstans were introduced, rigging
open and without a deck amidships and a third vessel, the and the arrangement of sails were more closely studied,
Santa Maria decked throughout (Lindsay, 1874). along with many other improvements. Phineas Pett, the first
John Cabot, a naturalized Venetian, Amerigo Vespucci, and Master of the Shipwrights Company in England, added many
many others continued the impetus for voyages to discover new ideas with regard to methods of construction during the
new lands. The greater sea risks experienced on long distance early part of the seventeenth century. He designed the first
voyages necessitated improvements in naval architecture. three-decked warship, the Sovereign of the Seas, completed
The invention of cannon and its use onboard ship also led to in 1637 (Figure 2).
further changes in construction. The sides, instead of sloping It was realized that the two distinct type of vessels then in
outward, had now to “tumble home” a design first introduced use and known, for purposes of differentiation as the “Round
in the Mediterranean. Ship” and the “Galley,” had many faults. The former was
In the United Kingdom, Henry VII now began a vigorous slow and clumsy but could withstand bad weather, the latter
policy for the establishment of a Royal Navy. Henry VIII was handy and useful in war but of such low freeboard that
continued the naval shipbuilding program and commissioned she was unsafe except in fine weather. Out of these two types
Figure 2. Sovereign of the Seas, completed in 1637 and designed by Phineas Pett, was the first three-decked warship. (Reproduced with
permission from Lloyd’s Register Foundation Collection. © Lloyd’s Register Foundation, 2015.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe001
4 General
“Stoving” was adopted, the pieces of wood buried in wet

sand and heated which extended the life of the wood and
rendered it more pliable. There followed the introduction of
steaming and subsequently boiling the wood in kilns, which
was followed by the seasoning of timbers in storage for a
regulation period of 6 months.
Further development came from The United Company of
Merchant Venturers of England, founded in 1600, commonly
known as the Honourable East India Company (HEIC).
Other companies were founded in The Netherlands, Sweden,
Austria, Portugal, France and Denmark. Their ships were
excellently built and fitted, with a very full form in order to
carry large cargoes.
Sailing ships would gradually begin to decline, due entirely
to the impact of the steam engine, with the exception of
America’s development of the fast tea clipper. After the
war of 1812, the American shipbuilders concentrated on
improving sailing ship design and construction with ships of
finer lines and more sail area. Progress yielded the famous
clipper ships, which were designed for rapid travel over
long voyages. Great Republic, built at Boston in 1853,
was a ship-rigged, four-masted vessel of 335 feet in length
and was the largest clipper ever built. Many of the clipper
ships were of composite construction (Figure 4). The British
constructed a fleet of tea clippers which reigned supreme
until the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. One of the most
Figure 3. Benjamin Martell, Chief Surveyor for Lloyd’s Register, famous of these vessels was the Thermopylae, which was
prepared Tables of Freeboard in 1873 based on the principle of of composite build constructed by Walter Hood at Aberdeen
reserve buoyancy. The Tables, modified after discussion with many
for Messrs (Figure 5) George Thompson & Co and designed
interested parties, were adopted and issued by the British Board of
Trade in 1886. (Reproduced with permission from Lloyd’s Register by Bernard Waymouth. Her first voyage from London to
Foundation Collection. © Lloyd’s Register Foundation, 2015.) Melbourne, completed in 63 days, created a record. There
were many exciting races between tea clippers, the most
famous being between Ariel and Taeping in 1866. Taeping
rose the galleon, which had a length of about 120 foot and left Foochow 20 min after the Ariel and won the race by
a tonnage of about 1100. These vessels were not as lofty 12 min after sailing 16,000 miles. The highest recorded speed
as the great merchant carracks but had two and sometimes for any sailing vessel was 21 knots, which was made by the
three decks. They were the stepping stone to the great ships clipper James Baines.
of the line which culminated in the vessels which fought at Until the coming of the age of steam, man had been at the
Trafalgar. The advantage of this larger type was that although mercy of wind and tide, sailing ships being reliant upon both.
not so mobile as the galley, they could take to the sea at The commercial steam vessel was to change all of that. Many
all times and remain there for a considerable time owing to early experiments were made including Blasco de Garay who
the quantity of stores they carried. The art of shipbuilding exhibited his vessel to Charles V at Barcelona in 1543. More
was already being studied scientifically in France and The successful were the experiments of the eighteenth century
Netherlands and the Soliel Royal of 1940 tons built in France leading to the steam age.
was a great advance on previous ships of the period.
During the early part of the eighteenth century, improve-
ments were made to the equipment, ventilation, and fittings 3 THE STEAM AGE
of the ships, but the chief innovation was to the system of hull
construction and the methods of working the hull timbers. In 1736, Jonathon Hulls took out a UK patent for his
In the early days of Mediterranean shipbuilding, the timber steam paddle vessel. By 1778, Marquis Claude de Jouf-
was always worked “green,” when in a more pliable state. fray d’Abbans was undertaking trials of his steamboat
Vessels built of green timber were left to season on the stocks. on the River Daub. His second, successful steamboat, the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe001
Figure 4. Illustration for the Lloyd’s Register Rules for the Construction and Classification of Composite Ships, published in 1868.
(Reproduced with permission from Lloyd’s Register Foundation Collection. © Lloyd’s Register Foundation, 2015.)
Pyroscaphe, built in 1783, steamed on the River Saône for at work and took an 8-mile trip on her. Fulton discussed
15 min. Americans James Ramsey of Virginia and John the engine with Symington and took notes, which subse-
Fitch of Philadelphia, the Italian Serafino Serratti, and the quently helped with his own experiments. A second, larger,
Scotsman Patrick Miller were also developing experimental and more powerful Charlotte Dundas constructed in 1802
steamboats. John Fitch’s boat made a 20-mile trial trip on towed vessels on the canal, including two laden sloops,
October 12, 1788, carrying 30 passengers from Philadelphia Active and Euphemia for a distance of 19.5 miles against a
to Burlington on the Delaware River. He tried to develop a strong gale. Symington’s experiments ended with objection
regular steamboat service on the river, the first in the world, from the managers of the canal. Meanwhile, Robert Fulton’s
but competition from very fast and efficient stagecoach
experiments began firstly on the River Seine in 1803 and
services doomed it to failure and by the summer of 1790,
continued with the Clermont built at Corlears Hook in 1807,
the service terminated (Rowland, 1970).
which steamed the Hudson River between New York and
William Symington’s experiments moved steam engines
Albany (Rowland, 1970; Spratt, 1958).
from experimental to commercial use. He constructed steam
engines for Patrick Miller’s boats of 1788 and 1789. The John Stevens launched his first successful steamboat in
latter traveled the Forth and Clyde Canal at 6 miles per hour. April 1808 at Hoboken, New York. He sent the Phoenix
Miller abandoned his experiments and it would be 11 years to Philadelphia and she became the first steamer to venture
before Symington revisited his work with the marine steam into the open sea. From 1809, the steamer Accommodation
engine. was running a passenger service on the St Lawrence River
His new patron, Lord Dundas, commissioned an engine between Quebec and Montreal (Rowland, 1970).
for a stern-wheel paddle tug named Charlotte Dundas, The first commercially run steamer built in Europe was the
completed in 1801, and used repeatedly on the Forth and 25-ton Comet launched on July 24, 1812 by John Wood &
Clyde Canal, Robert Fulton the American engineer saw her Co of Port Glasgow for Henry Bell of Helensburgh. She was
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe001
6 General
Figure 5. The composite tea clipper Thermopylae, built by Walter

Hood, Aberdeen for George Thompson’s Aberdeen White Star
Line, was famous for her races from China to the United Kingdom
against the Cutty Sark. (Reproduced with permission from Lloyd’s
Register Foundation Collection. © Lloyd’s Register Foundation,
2015.)
40 feet long and fitted with a 3HP engine with which she
obtained a speed of about 5 miles an hour (Spratt, 1958).
Early steamers were constructed similarly to sailing ships.
It became apparent that they behaved differently at sea; the
use of engines meant that the vessel had no need to tack
and did not need to heel easily. Shipbuilders modified the Figure 6. The construction of the steamer Great Eastern by John
hull form of the vessels they built, and David Napier began Scott Russell in 1858 to Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s design was
to experiment with model ships and tank testing. He was an outstanding feat of engineering ingenuity. The vessel was unsur-
passed in terms of size until the arrival White Star Line’s Oceanic
in advance of his time. Tank testing benefits were not fully
40 years later. Although ahead of her time, she was uneconomical
appreciated until the work of William Froude and John I to run, leading a varied life until finally broken up in 1889–1890.
Thornycroft much later in the nineteenth century (Rowland, (Reproduced with permission from Lloyd’s Register Foundation
1970). Collection. © Lloyd’s Register Foundation, 2015.)
Froude has been dubbed the father of modern naval archi-
tecture. In 1856, Brunel asked him to investigate the laws
of motion of a ship among waves, with particular refer- down every 4 days for descaling. The early steamers from
ence to the Great Eastern, and he sailed on her maiden necessity used both steam and sail, according to position and
voyage (Figure 6). At his suggestion, she was fitted with latitude. They used steam against prevailing headwinds and
bilge keels. Other Froude experiments concerned the form in calm seas, sail when they hit the prevailing trade winds
of propellers and the relationship between the resistance of that could help them on their passage.
models and full size ships. Encouraged by Sir Edward Reid, By 1832, 100 paddle steamers were recorded as classed
Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy, to pursue his research, by Lloyd’s Register, and they voyaged to India and crossed
a sum of £2000 was placed at his disposal for the construction the Atlantic to New York and Boston. Although the
of a tank to confirm the results of his work. side-lever engine remained the standard for ocean-going
Soon ocean passages were attempted. The first steamer paddle steamers, in 1837, Seaward & Capel fitted the first
crossed the Atlantic in 1819, when the American Savannah direct-acting, fixed cylinder, vertical marine steam engine to
under Captain Moses Rogers made the attempt. Only part of HMS Gorgon, a steam frigate launched that year.
her voyage was by steam as she ran out of coal. In 1827, the The Sirius, owned by the St George Steam Packet Co
Dutch warship Curacao left for the West Indies, and in 1833, and built in 1838, was the first vessel to cross the Atlantic
the Canadian built Royal William became the first vessel to continuously and entirely under steam, making the passage
cross the Atlantic from Nova Scotia to the United Kingdom in 18 days and 10 h, averaging about 7.5 knots and arriving
entirely under steam, although her boilers had to be shut in New York 1 day ahead of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe001
Great Western. These two ships showed that the days of long
distance travel by steamer had arrived.
The earliest known use of paddle wheels was by the
Roman armies invading Sicily under Claudius Caudex
(Spratt, 1958). The earliest steamers also used paddle
wheels, although in 1785 Joseph Bramah became the first
person to patent a propeller design. Although never used
by Bramah, in 1802, Edward Shorter introduced a variation
of the design with power provided by eight men (Carlton,
2012).
By 1835, a development was to mark a new beginning
when Francis Pettit Smith designed a screw propelled model
operated by clockwork. His invention was applied to a small
steam launch, the Francis Smith, which made trips from
London to Dover. The Archimedes launched in November
1838 was fitted with a propeller of 7-foot diameter having
a helix of one complete turn. Reaching speeds of nine knots,
she went to Portsmouth and her performance compared
to HMS Vulcan, one of the Royal Navy’s fastest paddle
steamers. An impressed Admiralty ordered HMS Rattler, a
screw-driven frigate, from Sheerness Dockyard. Brunel saw
the advantage of propellers which he adopted for his Great
Britain. John Ericsson, another propeller inventor, took his
ideas to America where it was applied to many river steamers Figure 7. Gabriel Snodgrass was an eighteenth-century naval
and to the American frigate USS Princeton (Rowland, 1970). architect and ship surveyor to the Honourable East India Company.
His revolutionary attitude was evident in his introduction of the use
of iron for knees, riders, and braces to the ships of the company.
(Reproduced with permission from Lloyd’s Register Foundation
4 METALS AT SEA Collection. © Lloyd’s Register Foundation, 2015.)
Iron in ship’s construction probably dates to the time

of Samuel Pepys while the French were experimenting
with iron knees from 1707. In 1784, Henry Cort’s system previously anticipated. The use of metal for a ship’s hull was
produced good quality malleable wrought iron from pig not without problems.
iron and opened the way for its use in shipbuilding. Gabriel Hull structures of these early iron ships closely followed
Snodgrass, Surveyor to the HEIC, introduced a new system that of wooden shipbuilding. The wooden shipbuilders knew
using iron knees, riders, and braces to the new HEIC ships little of the properties of iron, and those who had experience
building in the 1780s (Figure 7) (Goodwin, 1997). of working iron knew little of the requirements for building
Iron was first used to construct a complete vessel in 1777 a ship. The quality of work varied enormously from one
for a 12-foot long pleasure boat made from sheet iron in yard to another. Another major constraint was the small
Yorkshire. In 1787, John Wilkinson built an 8-ton canal size of the iron plates. Iron ships also introduced a unique
barge called Trial. The Vulcan of 1818 is considered to be problem of their own. The magnetic field of the iron hull
first commercial vessel built of iron. Within 3 years, the caused dangerous deviations in the magnetic compasses and
first iron steamer, the Aaron Manby, was built. Constructed could make them completely unreliable, leading to the loss of
at Horsley in 1821, she was sent to London in sections for several including the emigrant ship Tayleur, in January 1854.
assembly. Earlier, Jackson & Jordan, builders of the Ironside, aware of
In 1838, the first ocean-going iron vessel, the sailing ship the problem, retained the services of the British Astronomer
Ironsides, was launched at Liverpool (Spratt). Preeminent Royal, Sir George Airey, to investigate this and propose
metallurgical industries facilitated this development due to remedies. In 1838, Airey used the iron steamer Rainbow
the superiority of iron and then steel over wood as a ship- to devise a system to neutralize or control the compass
building material. It was the combination of the iron and then deviation using magnets and pieces of unmagnetized iron.
steel hull, which, together with the screw propeller, gave rise Fouling is a serious problem for iron or steel ships. Even
to the subsequent development of the ship in a manner not with the best protective antifouling composition applied to
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe001
8 General
their hull, iron, and steel ships could not remain afloat more thought to be the first ocean-going steel-built steamship.
than a year without becoming so fouled, they suffered a At first, both iron and then steel ships had riveted plates.
serious loss of speed. They frequently underwent docking The need for more efficient use of labor during the First
for cleaning and recoating, two or three times a year (Clarke, World War meant the pioneering and adoption of welding
1986). In March 1861, Lord Clarence Paget stated before a techniques. One of the earliest ocean-going ships built
House of Commons committee “If an iron ship were for a under the new technology was shipbuilder Cammell Laird’s
couple of months in an equatorial latitude, her bottom would coaster Fullagar (Watson, 2010).
become like a lawyer’s wig” (Clarke, 1986).
The British Admiralty was also convinced that iron was
unsuitable as a shipbuilding material believing iron ships 5 THE MODERN SHIP
under fire would suffer far more damage. They decreed
that iron vessels could not carry mail contracts after 1850. The introduction of iron and then steel to shipbuilding helped
The Crimean War demonstrated the weakness of wooden in the development of the modern era of shipping and paved
hulled ships when faced with shell-fire, particularly from the way for new shipbuilding methods and shipyards, even-
rifled ordnance. The year 1862 saw the first engagement tually moving the traditional shipbuilding areas from west
between ironclads, which took place in Hampton Roads. to east. Metal hulls also heralded the advent of steam and
The French Navy took the initiative and launched La Gloire, then diesel propulsion, the machinery, and shafting of both
the British retaliated with HMS Warrior completed in 1860. requiring more rigid hulls.
They sounded the death knell for the wooden walls. It also heralded the change to the specialist ship. No longer
The use of metal as a protection for ships of war goes were ships solely cargo carriers, carrying a combination of
back many hundreds of years. Many civilizations have used cargoes and at times passengers. Ship types developed for
metal for their fighting ships including the Korean Admiral specific trades; passenger liners to carry emigrants and the
Yi Sun who in 1592 devised a Turtle ship, with an iron-plated rich, tankers to carry fuel, and the workhorse tramp steamers.
turtleback deck impervious to fire arrows or bullets and Into the twentieth century, specialization became even more
studded with sharp spikes as a defence against boarders. This acute with gas carriers, cruise liners, bulk carriers, heavy lift
ship with its ram stem, a hull designed for high speed and fast vessels, container ships, and a myriad of other ship types.
maneuvering led the Korean fleet to astonishing victories. Propulsion would develop beyond the dreams of the earliest
Isambard Kingdom Brunel saw the benefits of iron marine engineers. The simple single expansion steam engine
construction. His Great Britain, built at Bristol in 1843, was gave way to compound engines from the 1850s, and the triple
a revolutionary ship. She was the first to combine an iron expansion engine from 1871. By the end of the nineteenth
hull with screw propulsion and the first such steamer to cross century, the quadruple expansion engine had been introduced
the Atlantic. She went ashore on the coast of Ireland and and the steam turbine was under development. One of the
remained there for a winter without incurring much damage earliest vessels to use Parson’s steam turbine technology
thereby encouraging the development of iron shipbuilding. was Sir Christopher Furness’ yacht Emerald in 1903. To
The steamer passed through many phases, one of the most be swiftly followed by Allan Line’s Victorian a year later
outstanding of which was the construction of Brunel’s Great (Watson, 2010).
Eastern by John Scott Russell in 1858 (Figure 6). This vessel, Just before the end of the nineteenth century, Rudolf Diesel
with a displacement of 27,000 tons, was considered one of would develop the engine that bears his name, still the engine
the wonders of the world. Driven by both paddle wheels of choice for the vast majority of ships today. One of the
and a screw propeller, her 7650HP engines gave a speed of earliest vessels to be powered by a marine Diesel was Royal
14.5 knots. She had a double skin and many other structural Dutch Shell’s small tanker Vulcanus, under construction in
features far ahead of their time. 1910, 2 years before the more famous Selandia.
The dominance of iron was short lived. Steel found favor The increasing number of steamers saw a growth in ports
because it was stronger and ultimately cheaper. One of the developed for coal bunkering and handling the new cargo
earliest was the steel, screw steamer Annie, launched by and passenger traffic. Starting in 1871 with the French
Samuelson of Hull in 1864. In 1866, surveyors from Lloyd’s vessel Frigorifique carrying a cargo of Argentinean beef,
Register (Figure 3) visited the Barrow Haematite Steel and developments in refrigeration technology and refrigerating
approved the quality of the steel being made, reporting machinery meant ships could carry perishable cargoes and
favorably on the construction of a 1500-ton vessel. They open up new markets across the world. Dockside cold stores
also gave good reports of the steel produced by the Bessemer would follow (Watson, 2010).
process. In 1879, Union Steam Ship Co of New Zealand’s Expertise gained from refrigerated cargo vessels would
Rotomahana was completed by Wm Denny & Bros and is enable the development of the liquefied natural gas (LNG)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe001
and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers in the twen- passengers as much the cargo as the freight the ships carried,
tieth century starting with Royal Dutch Shell’s Agnita in and their accommodation was at its most basic.
1931. These highly specialized vessels require an extremely The new passenger line companies that sprung up from
low temperature to carry their cargoes. The earliest exper- the mid-nineteenth century, and the ships they commis-
imental LNG was the conversion of the Methane Pioneer sioned, were to change all that. Two of the most famous, the
in 1958. Significant developments have taken place and one Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation (P&O) founded in
of the most recent of these highly specialized vessels is the 1837 and the Cunard Line founded in 1839, took passenger
266,000 m3 Mozah. comfort to new levels and the rest followed, including the
One of the earliest types of specialist ship during the iron Hamburg-America Line founded in 1847.
Two of the most famous vessels as regards development
age was the steam collier and with them developed water
were the Inman Line’s City of Paris and City of New York
ballast tanks and double bottoms. Colliers epitomized the
built in 1888. These were the first successful twin screw
successful combination of an iron or steel hull, easily acces-
vessels, and from that time sails as auxiliaries to engine
sible holds for bulk cargoes with a reliable steam engine. power were gradually withdrawn. Ships became bigger,
Today’s workhorses of the sea are the huge bulk carriers with faster, and more luxurious as owners and shipbuilders pushed
large holds capable of carrying any bulk cargo. the technological boundaries. Cunard Line launched Maure-
At the other end of the scale are the passenger liners and tania in 1907 one of the first express liners to be turbine
their present-day granddaughters, the cruise liners. Passenger driven (Figure 8). She held the Blue Riband until 1929. White
traffic grew in the nineteenth century often carried by the Star’s Olympic followed in 1911, then her sisters Britannic
speedier mail packets. People needed to travel to their post- and Titanic, the sinking of which in 1912 would be the
ings or as emigrants seeking a new life in a new land. The impetus for the start of the Safety of Life at Sea Conven-
ships that carried them were the cargo ships of the day, the tions. While in Germany Imperator, was completed in 1913,
Figure 8. Cunard Line’s transatlantic passenger liner Mauretania, built in 1907, and her sister vessel Lusitania were the world’s largest and
fastest ships when completed. (Reproduced with permission from Lloyd’s Register Foundation Collection. © Lloyd’s Register Foundation,
2015.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe001
10 General
the first ship to exceed 50,000 tons gross. The Rotterdam of it following his visit to the Caspian Sea. The earliest commer-
1908 was the largest under the Dutch flag, and Tenyo Maru cial exploitation dates from 1859 when “Colonel” Drake
was the first Japanese ship with steam turbines. drilled his first well near Titusville, Pennsylvania. Initially,
Orville Wright took to the air on 17 December 1903 and in the oil was transported at sea using wooden barrels which
time air travel would impact on the passenger liner but a new meant the full deadweight capacity of ships was unutilized.
era of cruising would develop. P&O first offered excursion The first full cargo of oil shipped across the North Atlantic
voyages from 1844, traveling to the Mediterranean on their was on the 224 ton sailing brig Elizabeth Watts, chartered in
Tagus. People became interested in voyages for pleasure and December 1861 for a voyage from Philadelphia to London
leisure cruising was born. Orient Line offered cruises to the with 180 tons of oil in barrels. By 1882, the United States was
Baltic from 1889 on Chimborazo and Garrone. P&O’s Vectis exporting 1.6 million tons and improved methods of carriage
made their first cruise to the Norwegian Fjords in 1904. Dual were needed.
purpose the ships carried emigrants to new lands in the off There was a need for bulk carriage utilizing the full dead-
season. weight capacity, protecting the boiler and engine room,
The most outstanding of all the passenger liners was the providing for expansion of the cargo, and addressing the
Normandie built for Compagnie Générale Transatlantique in stability problems caused by the free surface area of the
1935. She was the largest, fastest and most powerful steam, liquid. Bulk carriage would also enable quicker loading and
turbo-electric driven passenger ship ever built. Normandie discharge by pumping. Various attempts were made but the
was designed by Vladimir Yourkevitch, former naval problems were first successfully addressed on the Caspian
architect of the Imperial Russian Navy, whose innovative Sea and Russian rivers. Caspian oil was either shipped from
ideas included a slanting clipper bow and bulbous forefoot Black Sea ports or taken via the Volga River and canals to the
combined with slim hydrodynamic hull. Baltic. The Marinsky Canal limited the size of the tankers.
Increased air traffic and lower fares impacted the cruise Robert and Ludwig Nobel entered the oil business in 1873
and emigration industry from the 1950s, but the companies and, starting with the Zoroaster in 1878, built a fleet of sea
fought back in the 1970s with the introduction of cheaper and river tankers. Their iron hulls were double riveted to
cruises and bigger ships. By the 1980s, cruise ships could prevent leakage, and they had double bulkheads between the
carry more than 2000 passengers and were designed to make boiler room and the cargo tanks.
the ship the destination with innovations to attract passengers A German owner introduced the first true ancestor of the
(Figure 9). One such is Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines whose modern tankers when Wilhelm Riedemann ordered Gluckauf
new Quantum of the Seas delivered 2014, has a revolutionary from W.G. Armstrong, Mitchell & Co, Newcastle. Launched
skydiving simulator. on November 25, 1885 Gluckauf had centerline longitudinal
One of the most important developments in the latter half of and transverse bulkheads to subdivide and control the cargo,
the nineteenth century was the oil industry and the tanker. Oil which extended to the skin of the ship. Each compartment
was not a new commodity, in 1270, Marco Polo wrote about had a trunkway serving to control expansion and topping
Figure 9. The Allure of the Seas, completed by STX Europe’s Turku yard in 2010, is one of Royal Caribbean Line’s Oasis-class, the largest
cruise ships ever built, which can accommodate over 6000 passengers. (Allure of the Seas (ship, 2009) 001 (cropped).jpg by Rolf H. used
under Creative Commons License.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe001
up, to allow for the escape of vapor. Her boiler room was Europe was rerouted via the Cape of Good Hope. This
protected by double bulkheads and any leakage could be removed the limits of size dictated by the canal and allowed
pumped back into the expansion trunks. the economies of scale to be achieved. Progress was fast and
Another milestone came on August 23, 1892. Murex a new by 1959 Daniel Ludwig’s 104,000 tons deadweight Universe
tanker built to the Suez Canal safety regulations for tankers, Apollo became the first tanker to pass 100,000 tons dead-
and owned by Marcus Samuel, became the first tanker to weight.
transit the Suez Canal. By the end of the nineteenth century, Tanker sizes steadily grew and eventually the feasibility
there were some 193 tankers of some 637,000 total dead- study for a 500,000-tons deadweight vessel was conducted
weight. At the same time, a revolutionary change in design although the plans for the million ton tanker remained on
took place when Joseph Isherwood introduced his system the drawing board. In 1976, the 418,000 tons deadweight
of longitudinal framing. Isherwood patented his system of Seawise Giant was launched, later being enlarged to 564,000
construction, the first ship being the tanker Paul Paix of 1908. tons deadweight and renamed Jahre Viking, she remains the
After World War II, many of the T2 type turbo-electric largest tanker built.
tankers became available to commercial companies. They
also had automatic controls of both boilers and machinery
which led to the widespread adoption of the unattended 6 THE NUCLEAR AGE
machinery space.
The Suez War of 1956 and the closure of the Suez Canal The postwar years saw the optimistic portrayal of nuclear
meant much of the tanker trade from the Middle East to energy as the power of the future. This resulted in the
Figure 10. Murmansk Shipping Company’s nuclear-powered icebreaking LASH carrier, Sevmorput, completed in 1988 by Zaliv Shipyard,
Kerch, Ukraine. (Reproduced with permission from Barbara Jones. © Barbara Jones, 2015.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe001
12 General
commissioning of the world’s first nuclear submarine in of man’s involvement with the sea, they are a relative
1955, the USN Nautilus. The first British nuclear submarine newcomer. The concept had been around since the 1920s
followed, HMS Dreadnought being launched in October when used for rail movements, but the pioneering really
1960. began in earnest in the 1950s and started to make an impact
Three mercantile nuclear powered ships were designed and in the late 1960s. One of the earliest purpose built container
built largely as demonstrator projects for the technology. The ships was the 1961 built William Holyman, though she
American Savannah was the first to be completed in 1962 predated the standardization of container sizes. In 1968, one
under President Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace programme. of the first container ships built to take the new standard
She was followed by the German ore carrier Otto Hahn in size of containers in cellular holds was Manchester Liners
1968 and finally the Japanese Mutsu in 1972. Today, apart Manchester Challenge. She could carry 500 twenty-foot
from the many naval applications, the only commercial area equivalent units (TEU). Today, Maersk McKinney Moller can
in which nuclear power is still employed is with the Russian carry over 18,000 TEU. Containerization has had a momen-
LASH carrier and container ship Sevmorput, and their Arctic tous effect on ports and terminals and the equipment for
icebreaker ships of the Arktika class, the latest of which, 50 handling them, in many cases, causing new terminals to
Let Pobedy, is the largest and most powerful icebreaker ever be constructed to replace outdated equipment incapable of
constructed (Figure 10). Their first nuclear icebreaker, Lenin, handling and storing the boxes. The container has become
is now a museum ship (Figure 11). the box that changed our world. Its use has meant the growth
Containerization and container ships have truly changed of new manufacturing markets in the East providing cheaper
the world we live in. However, in terms of the history goods to new global markets.
Figure 11. Lenin, the world’s first nuclear-powered merchant ship, was launched in 1957 by Baltic Shipbuilding and Engineering Works,
Leningrad. (Reproduced with permission from Barbara Jones. © Barbara Jones, 2015.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe001
GLOSSARY Containers/TEU Twenty-foot equivalent unit – The

measure used for container
Ballast Carried instead of cargo in order to capacity, a TEU is a volume
stabilise an empty vessel and measurement equal to one
comprises high density standard 20-foot length
materials or water. container. Other standard sizes
Bessemer Named after Henry Bessemer who are multiples of the twenty-foot
process patented the process in 1855, unit, i.e. forty-foot. Some
this process for the mass companies in the USA use other
production of steel using pig sizes i.e. thirty-five foot units.
iron removes impurities from Deadweight Specifies the weight in tonnes
the iron with air or oxygen being (1,000 kg) of cargo, stores, fuel,
blown through the molten iron. passengers and crew carried by
Bilge keel Used to stabilise the hull and stop a vessel, expressed in tonnes. It
it from rolling, usually in pairs is often used to specify the
at the base of the vessel, one on maximum permissible load.
either side of the ship. Diesel engine An internal combustion engine,
Bulbous bow Eliminates the bow wave and fuel is ignited from heat
reduces resistance, which generated by air compression.
optimises fuel efficiency when Displacement The immersed weight displaced in
loaded to a certain draught and tonnage water, based upon Archimedes’
travelling at a certain speed. Principle.
Bulbous foot Precursor to the bulbous bow, Double bottom A second watertight hull that gives
which see. additional protection to the ship.
Bulkhead A partition dividing the hull into Gross registered The internal capacity of a ship
separate compartments and tons available for the cargo,
often watertight to minimise passengers, crew and machinery
flooding. spaces measured in cubic feet,
Classification The development, implementation divided by 100, expressed as
and maintenance of standards gross registered tons. Therefore,
(Rules) for the design, 100 cubic feet equals one gross
construction and operation of ton. Gross registered tonnage
ships and offshore units. was replaced by gross tonnage
Compliance with these for most flag states under the
standards ensures assignment International Convention on
and maintenance of class. Tonnage Measurement of Ships,
Clipper A 19th century fast sailing ship, adopted by IMO on 23 June
usually ship or barque rigged 1969 and entering into force 18
with 3 or more masts. July 1982.
Clipper bow A wide bow extending upwards Gross tonnage The function of the moulded
and forwards in a curve which volume of all enclosed spaces of
allows the vessel to move faster the ship. It forms the basis on
through the waves. which manning rules and safety
Composite A ship with wooden planking that regulations are applied and
construction has been built on a wrought iron registration fees determined.
frame and often used tea Gross tonnage is determined
clippers. from a formula using the total
Container ship A vessel specifically constructed enclosed volume of the ship,
or converted to carry containers and has no units.
on deck and in cellular holds.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe001
14 General
Honourable East One of the world’s oldest maritime Naval The science of designing craft for
India trading companies, its origins architecture use of floating on, or going
Company date back to 1600 when it was under the sea.
(HEIC) incorporated by Royal Charter Net registered Derived by deducting from the
of Queen Elizabeth I. tonnage gross registered tonnage the
Horsepower The unit of measurement of power capacity unavailable for cargo,
(HP) representing the rate at which such as crew accommodation
work is done. It was first and machinery space.
adopted in the late eighteenth Oar-powered A vessel powered by people using
century by the engineer James oars or paddles for propulsion.
Watt for comparing the output Passenger liner A vessel specifically designed for
of steam engines with the power the carriage of passengers on
of draft horses. regular service over ocean
Hull form The design of the hull to achieve routes.
maximum speed and cargo Safety of Life at The International Convention for
carrying capacity. Sea (SOLAS) Safety of Life at Sea; first
Iron vessel A metal used in ship construction conference held in 1913 in
from the late eighteenth century. response to the sinking of the
Liquefied Cooling natural gas to Titanic.
Natural Gas approximately −163∘ C changes Sailing vessel A vessel designed to use sail(s) to
(LNG) it from gas to liquid. When catch the wind’s force to
liquefied, the gas is reduced to provide motion.
1/600th of its original volume, Ship-rigged A sailing vessel rigged with a full
making it economic to transport set of sails, the majority square
in purpose-built ships. shaped, to harness the wind for
Liquefied Often called propane because it motive force to move the vessel.
Petroleum Gas comprises various mixtures of Steamer A vessel using a steam engine for
(LPG) propane and other similar types propulsion.
of hydrocarbon gases. These Steel vessel An alloy of iron and iron carbide
hydrocarbons are gases at room used to construct steel hulls.
temperature, but turn to liquid Tanker A vessel constructed for the
when compressed. While the carriage of oil or bulk liquid
distribution of LNG requires cargoes.
heavy infrastructure TEU See container
investments, LPG is more easily Unattended Denotes a classification society
transported. Machinery notation which indicates that the
Load line The line on a merchant ship Space ship can operate with
depicting the maximum depth to unattended machinery for
which it can be loaded. The load agreed periods of time.
line is affected by the area and Water ballast See ballast
season the ship is trading in.
Mail packet A fast vessel with a government
contract to carry mail. RELATED ARTICLES
Metal sheathed From the late 18th century, the
hulls of wooden vessels were Properties of Materials
sheathed below the waterline to Container Terminals
discourage both the burrowing Break Bulk and Bulk Terminals
Teredo worm and fouling of the Transport Modes and Intermodality
hull. Port Logistics and Hinterland Development
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe001
Supply Chain Risk and Vulnerability in Maritime Ports and Goodwin, P. (1997) The Influence of Iron in Ship Construction: 1660
Terminals to 1830, Maritime Park Association, San Francisco.
Liquid Bulk and Oil Terminals Haws, D. (1976) Ships and the Sea, A Chronological Review,
Dry Ports and Logistics Platforms Hart-Davis, MacGibbon Ltd., London.
Ship Types, Duties, and General Characteristics Kemp, P. (2002) The History of Ships, Grange Books, Hoo.
Propulsor Types Lindsay, W.S. (1874) History of Merchant Shipping and Ancient
High Speed Craft Commerce, 4 vols, Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle,
London.
Propeller Design Process
Rowland, K.T. (1970) Steam at sea, in A History of Steam Navigation,
Delivery Trials
David & Charles (Publishers) Limited, Newton Abbot.
Main Propulsion Arrangement and Power Generation
Spratt, H.P. (1958) The Birth of the Steamboat, Charles Griffin &
Concepts Company Ltd., London.
Slow-Speed Two-Stroke Engines
Steinitz, F. (1849) The Ship, its Origin and Progress, Wm H. Allen
Medium Speed Diesel Engines for Maritime Applications and Co., London.
Gas Turbines for Marine Applications Watson, N. (2010) Lloyd’s Register 250 Years of Service, Lloyd’s
Detailed Structural Design Register, London.
Structural Design Methods and Documentation
Ship Design for Ice
Icebreakers
Ice Class and Ice-Going Merchant Ships FURTHER READING
Ship Registration
Classification Societies
Abell, Sir Westcott (1933) The Safe Sea, Charles Birchall & Sons Ltd,
Liverpool.
Abell, Sir Westcott (1948) The Shipwright’s Trade, The University
Press, Cambridge.
REFERENCES Anderson, R. and Anderson, R.C. (1963) The Sailing-Ship Six Thou-
sand Years of History, Bonanza Books, New York.
Carlton, J. (2012) Marine Propellers and Propulsion, Armstrong, R. (1975) Powered Ships, I: The Beginnings, Ernest Benn
Butterworth-Heinemann, London. Limited, London and Tonbridge.
Clarke, J.F. (1986) The Changeover from Wood to Iron Shipbuilding. Dunn, L. (1971) Ships A Picture History, Pan Books Ltd., London.
Occasional Papers in the History of Science and Technology No. Kennedy, J. (1903) The History of Steam Navigation, Charles
3, Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic. Birchall Limited, Liverpool.
Fagan, B. (2012) Beyond the Blue Horizon, How the Earliest
Mariners Unlocked the Secrets of the Oceans, Bloomsbury,
London.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe001
Marine and Subsea External Seawater Side Corrosion
Paul Jukes1 and Binder Singh2
1 The Jukes Group, TX, USA
2 PragmaticaGGS LLc, Houston, TX, USA
cathodic protection (CP) or coating, the life of the asset

1 Introduction 1 can be greatly reduced. For example, worldwide surveys
2 External Corrosion Mechanisms 1 consistently show that the greatest threat to the integrity of
3 Types of External Corrosion 2 upstream pipelines is corrosion. For the upstream industry,
external corrosion can equate to about 15% of the total
4 Cathodic Protection (CP) 9
failures that occur (Singh and Poblete, 2015). Hence, it is
5 Cathodic Protection—Sacrificial Anodes 10 important to understand the factors that can cause external
6 Bracelet Anodes 11 corrosion and the mechanisms involved.
7 Ships and Boats 11 Also, it is important to know what type of corrosion protec-
8 Marine 13 tion needs to be used to allow safe operation of the asset
9 Coatings 13 for the life of the design. It is essential to get designs
10 Fusion Bonded Epoxy (FBE) 14 right with minimal intervention over the life cycle (typically
20–30 years). A number of marine/offshore/subsea failures,
11 FBE Dual Layer 14
including major accident events, have been linked to corro-
12 Three-Layer PP 14 sion, and in particular, the role of localized corrosion has
13 Thermally Sprayed Aluminum (TSA) Coatings 14 been identified as important.
14 Problems of CP and Coatings 14
References 17
2 EXTERNAL CORROSION
Further Reading 17
MECHANISMS
There are four main parts to consider in the external corro-

sion mechanism, or corrosion cell, as shown in Figure 1:
1 INTRODUCTION (i) Anode (location where corrosion takes place) oxida-
tion half-reaction; (ii) Cathode (no corrosion) reduction
Corrosion is the deterioration of a substance or its properties
half-reaction; (iii) Electrolyte (soil, water, moisture, etc.);
as a result of an undesirable reaction with the environment,
and (iv) Electrical connection between anode and cathode
and is a natural process, and the gradual destruction of
(wire, metal wall, etc.). Electrochemical corrosion can be
metals by chemical and/or electrochemical reaction with
stopped by eliminating any one of the four components.
their environment. External corrosion is an important aspect
In practice, for a metal surface, say steel, the anode and
for both marine and offshore. If not dealt with, using
cathode sites can be distributed on the same surface, and
so direct separation is not possible, and the most practical
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. means of intervention is therefore to eliminate or mitigate
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe153
the action of the electrolyte (seawater). That can be done via
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 CP, an insulating barrier (coating), or adding passivating or
2 General
Anode
Metallic path
Electron
Cathode flow
Electrolyte
Figure 1. Four parts to corrosion. Graham E.C. Bell, Ph.D., P.E. HDR Schiff. Check website source. www.ohiowea.org/docs/
Wed0800Coll_Basic_Mech_Corrosion.pdf.
filming chemicals (inhibitors). The other alternative is to use 3.1 Uniform corrosion
a corrosion-resistant alloy (CRA) with an inherently lower
corrosion rate due to its more inert or stable electrochemical It is the corrosion over the entire exposed surface of the struc-
properties, such as certain copper-based alloys, high order ture and at a uniform rate. An example would be a structure
nickel alloys, duplex stainless steels, and titanium. Those are exposed to the atmosphere causing atmospheric corrosion.
examined more closely in other sections of the EMOE. Maximum metal loss is by this form. It is not dangerous,
and the corrosion rate can be measured in the laboratory.
3.2 Galvanic corrosion (mixed metals)

3 TYPES OF EXTERNAL CORROSION
Dissimilar metals can escalate corrosion. Galvanic corrosion
There are several types of external corrosion that need to be is of major interest to the marine industry and offshore
considered; the most prominent are as follows: industry as the water (containing salts) contacts pipes or
metal structures. Galvanic corrosion occurs when two
• Uniform corrosion different metals have physical or electrical contact with
• Galvanic corrosion (mixed metals) each other and are immersed in a common electrolyte, or
• Crevice corrosion when the same metal is exposed to electrolyte with different
• Selective leaching (dealloying) concentrations, for example, steel and copper.
• Pitting corrosion In a galvanic couple, the more active metal (the anode)
• Cavitation damage corrodes at an accelerated rate, and the more noble metal
• Erosion–corrosion (the cathode) corrodes at a slower rate. When immersed
• Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) separately, each metal corrodes at its own rate. For example,
• Hydrogen embrittlement zinc and aluminum alloys are often used as a sacrificial anode
• Sulfide stress cracking (SSC) for steel structures (Figures 2 and 3).
• Hydrogen embrittlement, liquid metal embrittlement
• Microbial corrosion 3.3 Crevice corrosion
• Corrosion fatigue
• Corrosion under insulation (CUI) Crevice corrosion is a localized form of corrosion occurring
• Corrosion under supports (CUPS) quite similar to CUI. in confined spaces (crevices), to which the access of the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe153
Marine and Subsea External Seawater Side Corrosion 3
Figure 2. Low velocity seawater—steel heads dissolved unfavorable area ratio: small anode large cathode. (Reproduced with permission
from Singh, B., Poblete, B., ‘Offshore Pipeline Risk, Corrosion, and Integrity Management, Oil and Gas Pipelines—Integrity and Safety
Handbook, edited by R. Winston Revie, Wiley. © Wiley.)
Figure 3. Low velocity seawater copper heads intact: favorable area ratio small cathode large anode. (Reproduced with permission from
Singh, B., Poblete, B., ‘Offshore Pipeline Risk, Corrosion, and Integrity Management, Oil and Gas Pipelines—Integrity and Safety
Handbook, edited by R. Winston Revie, Wiley. © Wiley.)
working fluid from the environment is limited. Formation evaluated with ASTM standard procedures. A critical
of a differential aeration cell leads to corrosion inside the crevice corrosion temperature is commonly used to rank a
crevices. Examples of crevices are gaps and contact areas material’s resistance to crevice corrosion. Note that crevice
between parts, under gaskets or seals, inside cracks and corrosion is virtually impossible to eliminate but can be
seams, spaces filled with deposits, and under sludge piles. mitigated (Figures 4 and 5).
Crevice corrosion is influenced by the crevice type Above shows an example of crevice corrosion; intensive
(metal–metal and metal–nonmetal), crevice geometry (size localized corrosion with small volumes of stagnant corrosive
and surface finish), and metallurgical and environmental caused by holes, gaskets, surface deposits, flanges, and lap
factors. The susceptibility to crevice corrosion can be joints.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe153
4 General
Crevice corrosion-most insidious

Outside crevice
Higher oxygen
Higher pH O2
Lower chloride
Cathodic reduction
OH− Cl− Fe++

H+
e− Inside crevice
Low oxygen (<20ppb)
Low pH (<3)
High chloride (>10x
outside)
Anodic dissolution
Figure 4. Mechanism of crevice corrosion. (Source Unknown.)
Figure 5. Example of crevice corrosion. (Source Unknown.)
3.4 Selective leaching (dealloying) by corrosion processes. Alloys exposed to corrosives expe-
rience selective leaching out of the more active constituent,
Selective leaching, also called dealloying, demetalification, for example, dezincification of brass, loss of structural
parting, and selective corrosion, is a corrosion type in stability, and mechanical strength. The mechanism can be
some solid solution alloys, when in suitable conditions a prevented with careful selection of metals/alloys, control
component of the alloys is preferentially leached from the of the environment, and the use of sacrificial anode CP or
material. It is the removal of one solid element from alloy impressed current CP (Figure 6).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe153
Figure 6. An example of selective leaching for copper alloys. http://www.amteccorrosion.co.uk/copperandalloysguide.html (Reproduced

with permission from Amtec Consultants Ltd. © 2017.)
Figure 7. Pitting corrosion. Pipeline Corrosion and Cracking and the Associated Calibration Considerations for Same Side Sizing
Applications, Ginzel, R.K. & Kanters, W.A., Email: rginzel@eclipsescientific.com, Web: www.eclipsescientific.com.
3.5 Pitting corrosion be more dangerous than uniform corrosion damage

because it is more difficult to detect, predict, and design
It is a form of extremely localized attack causing holes against.
in the metal, the most destructive form, and difficult Figure 7 shows an example of general pitting corrosion
to detect and measure. Pitting corrosion is a local- with some pits joining to form larger pits and intercon-
ized form of corrosion by which cavities or “holes” nected pitting. Figure 8 shows the different types of pitting
are produced in the material. Pitting is considered to corrosion.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe153
6 General
Narrow, deep Shallow, wide Elliptical Vertical grain attack
Sideway pits
Subsurface Undercutting Horizontal grain attack
Figure 8. Pitting corrosion. https://www.nace.org/Pitting-Corrosion/.
Photo of a blade damaged by cavitation erosion
Figure 9. Cavitation erosion. http://www.vicprop.com/store2/blog/cavitation_erosion.
3.6 Cavitation damage 3.7 Stress corrosion cracking (SCC)
This type of damage is a special case of erosion–corrosion. SCC is the growth of crack formation in a corrosive environ-
In high velocity systems, local pressure reductions create ment. It can lead to unexpected sudden failure of normally
water vapor bubbles that get attached to the metal surface ductile metals subjected to a tensile stress, especially at
and burst at increased pressure, causing metal damage. This elevated temperature. Below shows SCC with a close-up of
can be prevalent for ship propellers. The forces and stresses the surface of a steel pipeline showing indications of SCC
(two clusters of small black lines) revealed by magnetic
involved can far exceed the yield stress of the material being
particle inspection. Cracks that would normally have been
used, and localized stresses of the order of >140 ksi have
invisible are detectable due to the magnetic particles clus-
been stipulated (Massey, 1979). This mechanism is predom- tering at the crack openings. The scale at the bottom is in
inantly a mechanical process and mostly observed on impel- millimeters.
lors and ship propellers; however, it can also occur in subsea Certain austenitic stainless steels and aluminum alloys
systems especially downstream of Christmas tree chokes crack in the presence of chlorides, mild steel cracks in the
and may be accentuated when combined with corrosion and presence of alkali (boiler cracking) and nitrates, and copper
particulate erosion (Figure 9). alloys crack in ammoniacal solutions (season cracking).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe153
Figure 10. Stress corrosion cracking. (Reproduced from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_corrosion_cracking#/media/File:Stress_

corrosion_cracking_revealed_by_magnetic_particles.JPG. © Davidmack 2012.)
Figure 11. Hydrogen embrittlement. (Reproduced from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_embrittlement. © CEphoto, Uwe Aranas.
2014.)
This limits the usefulness of austenitic stainless steel for matrix from hydrogen evolution reactions in acidic zones or
containing water with higher than few parts per million via excessive CP.
of chlorides at temperatures above 50∘ C. Worse still, high SSC is often regarded a similar type of environmental
tensile structural steels crack in an unexpectedly brittle cracking related to sour service. This is a complex mech-
manner in a whole variety of aqueous environments, espe- anism addressed by many technical conferences, joint
cially containing chlorides. With the possible exception of industry projects, and so on. The interested reader should
the latter, which is a special example of hydrogen cracking, refer to the NACE MR 0175/ISO 15156 as a good starting
all the others display the phenomenon of subcritical crack point and be cognizant of the fact that H2S or sour corro-
growth, that is, small surface flaws propagate (usually sion is a different mechanism based on a weight loss or
smoothly) under conditions where fracture mechanics pitting phenomena. SSC is a critical failure mechanism
predicts that failure should not occur (Figure 10). that is receiving greater attention as reservoirs sour with
water injection, consumption, and age. It should be noted
that SSC and indeed SCC are usually surface breaking
3.8 Hydrogen embrittlement phenomena, whereas hydrogen embrittlement per se can
also be nonemergent as illustrated in Figure 11. Actually,
High strength materials stressed in the presence of hydrogen all environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) can be quite
crack at reduced stress levels. Hydrogen may be dissolved dangerous especially at high pressures and temperatures,
in the metal or present as a gas outside or enter the metal which could lead to explosive failures, with catastrophic
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe153
8 General
SRB corrosion attack
Settled
water
C rusty top hat
APB
Activity
Low M.W. Ac
H
Bio film 2S
SRB ids
ACTIVITY
Iron e
Atta d
sulfide
ck
Sulfi
film Sulfide
Iron cathodic
Anodic
action
iron
Steel consumption
Figure 12. Microbial corrosion/SRBs. (Source Unknown.)
consequences. Most EAC phenomena (many more) are sludge, which smells of hydrogen sulfide when treated with
similar in nature involving stress and corrosive species, and acid. Corrosion rates can be very high and design corro-
much information is available in the literature and web pages sion allowances can soon be exceeded leading to premature
for interested parties. failure of the steel pile.5 Piles that have been coated and have
CP installed at the time of construction are not susceptible
3.9 Microbial corrosion/SRBs to ALWC. For unprotected piles, sacrificial anodes can be
installed locally to the affected areas to inhibit the corrosion
Microbial corrosion, or commonly known as microbiolog- or a complete retrofitted sacrificial anode system can be
ically influenced corrosion (MIC), is a corrosion caused or installed. Affected areas can also be treated using CP, using
promoted by microorganisms, usually chemoautotrophs. It either sacrificial anodes or applying current to an inert anode
can apply to both metallic and nonmetallic materials, in the to produce a calcareous deposit, which will help shield the
presence or absence of oxygen. Sulfate-reducing bacteria are metal from further attack.
active in the absence of oxygen (anaerobic); they produce The MIC phenomena are complex, with many types of
hydrogen sulfide, causing SSC. In the presence of oxygen bacteria being involved. The critical environments may be
(aerobic), some bacteria may directly oxidize iron to iron aerobic or anaerobic and quite often fluctuating. Noting that
oxides and hydroxides, other bacteria oxidize sulfur and ALWC has also been noted inside pipelines often in conjunc-
produce sulfuric acid causing biogenic sulfide corrosion. tion with other mechnaisms.
Concentration cells can form in the deposits of corrosion
products, leading to localized corrosion. See schematic
Figure 12; the key parameter is most often the stagnation of 3.10 Corrosion fatigue
fluids and so is most common in pipeline dead legs, and low
lying areas of pressure vessels, as well as for susceptible Corrosion fatigue is fatigue in a corrosive environment. It
infrastructure and mooring chains lying on the sea bed. is the mechanical degradation of a material under the joint
Accelerated low water corrosion (ALWC) is a particularly action of corrosion and cyclic loading. Nearly all engineering
aggressive form of MIC that affects steel piles in seawater structures experience some form of alternating stress and are
near the low water tide mark. It is characterized by an orange exposed to harmful environments during their service life.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe153
The effect of corrosion on a smooth-specimen S–N The problems of flowline CUI in marine atmospheres
diagram is shown schematically on the right. Curve A shows and at, for example, topsides supporting members can also
the fatigue behavior of a material tested in air. A fatigue be sources of failure. The problem is usually real-time
threshold (or limit) is seen in curve A, corresponding to the monitoring and the lack of effective inspection. The issue
horizontal part of the curve. Curves B and C represent the is less prominent under subsea conditions since the CP
fatigue behavior of the same material in two corrosive envi- usually kicks in to protect the steel, although in shielded
ronments. In curve B, the fatigue failure at high stress levels areas where there is no throw or attenuation of CP, such
is retarded, and the fatigue limit is eliminated. In curve C, localized mechanisms could be a threat. The solution, hith-
the whole curve is shifted to the left; this indicates a general erto, has been to regularly remove the insulation, visually
lowering in fatigue strength, accelerated initiation at higher inspect the steel (or other alloy), repair the corroded areas
stresses and elimination of the fatigue limit. The relevance as necessary, and then replace the insulation. This is a very
of corrosion fatigue is receiving more attention as deep-sea labor- and cost-intensive exercise and is a major burden
campaigns have progressed, and many project-specific on asset operating expenses. Many creative solutions are
studies and JIPs have evolved to address this critical failure being looked at by multiple companies, universities, and
mechanism. Corrosion fatigue seems to be of more concern joint research ventures, but the best solutions thus far are
at weldments and bolting/fastener arrangements with and still to remove and replace. Advanced thermal imaging
without CP. The combined effect of cyclic stress, corrosive inspection and guided wave techniques appear to have
species (chlorides/seawater), and hydrogen from possible good promise for the future, along with improved life cycle
CP overprotection can be a very onerous condition, now coatings. Creative sacrificial foil and sacrificial coatings
warranting greater attention by regulatory authorities, espe- such as thermally sprayed aluminum (TSA) and galvanizing
cially with respect to bolting and fasteners in the wake of may also be useful although there are concerns about loss
the 2010 Macondo incident (Figure 13). of performance at higher temperatures, and for certain zinc
galvanization, the possibilities of reverse polarity that could
3.11 Corrosion under insulation accelerate corrosion rather than mitigate. The development
and use of advanced real-time electrochemical techniques is
CUI is a severe form of localized external corrosion that being actively pursued by many authorities, and hopefully
occurs in carbon and low alloy steel equipment that has been results are made public in the near future.
insulated. CUI has been described as the major unresolved The similar mechanism of corrosion under pipe supports
damage mechanism in the field of asset integrity manage- (CUPS) is also a serious problem in offshore topsides;
ment by the oil majors. This form of corrosion occurs when however, since in this case the corrosion is usually visible,
water is absorbed by or collected in the insulation. The careful inspection can be used more effectively to resolve
equipment begins to corrode as it is exposed to water and integrity issues before any unexpected failures. In this
oxygen. case, the close workings of corrosion specialists and struc-
tural integrity engineers are a must, especially where the
pipes or vessels in question are high pressure hydrocarbon
containing equipment. The use of semicircular thermo-
plastic insert materials (“I-Rod”) has proved to be a very
successful solution for new greenfield designs although
challenges still remain for aging brownfield facilities, where
the rationalization of continued fitness for purpose can be
Stress
a compelling calculus. The interested reader may consult

A with many highly educational web pages to learn more, for
B example, www.stoprust.com and www.corrosion-doctors
.org, in particular (Figure 14).
C
Log number of cycles
Effect of corrosion on S-N curve

4 CATHODIC PROTECTION (CP)
A- Air, B- Corrosive 1, C- Corrosive 2
CP is the action of applying an external electric field to
Figure 13. Fatigue corrosion. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/ prevent the anode reaction (i.e., oxidation) from occurring
wiki/Corrosion_fatigue.) at the metal surface.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe153
10 General
Figure 14. CUI, Patrick Dunn, Polyguard Products, Inc., pjd@polyguardproducts.com.
This is normally achieved by lowering the potential of threshold values or KPIs. However, there can be issues under
the metal that is immersed in an electrolyte by supplying unique attenuation and shielding conditions whereupon the
electrons from an outside source. The electric pathway protective current may not reach all susceptible areas, and it
within the electrolyte is completed using sacrificial metal to is suggested that the interested reader acquaint accordingly.
be the anode. As with all corrosion phenomena, the specialist input of
The anode corrodes rather than the metal structure (sacrifi- a subject matter expert (SME) is always recommended
cial). There are passive galvanic CP systems and impressed to ensure that reliable solutions are developed and that
current types. retrofit options when necessary are deployed at the right
Coatings such as fusion bonded epoxy (FBE), TSA or time. The advantage of marine and subsea CP systems is
marine epoxies, and CTE also provide a protective coating; that the knowledge base is sufficiently advanced such that
the FBE has a good track record in conjunction with subsea accurate monitoring and in-service inspection can preempt
CP systems. TSA coatings perform very well on their own most failure scenarios. Some important CP observations and
since the aluminum is itself sacrificial and thus protects the criteria are emphasized as follows (Figure 15).
steel at damage sites and holidays.
As with all CP and coatings solutions, it is vital to perform
regular surveys and inspections to ensure the continued 5 CATHODIC PROTECTION—
protection of the steel surfaces. Many in-service inspection, SACRIFICIAL ANODES
monitoring, and retrofitting are available in the industry, and
the reader may “google” CP and coatings to get more detailed Design (Pipelines: DNV F103 Structures DNV: RP B401):
guidance on such systems.
There are many codes and standards available for more • Subsea usually Al/Zn/In alloy or pure zinc
detailed design and monitoring guidance, for example, • Bracelet type, stand-off
numerous issued by DNV, NACE, LR, and ABS, and if used • Sled mounted.
properly can render the steel relatively immune to corrosion.
Some of the more common recommended practices are Note: Care required with anode chemistries—differs for
listed in the reading list; most of the methodologies given deep or shallow seawaters. The change over depth is consid-
are approximately the same with the end aim to “push” the ered to be in the 800–1000 ft range.
potential of the steel from its native state of around −550 Sizing considers the following:
to −630 mV to a more negative value than −800 mV (vs
Ag/AgCl Ref. cell). In real conditions, operating CP values • Weight of alloy (alloy capacity and mean current require-
in the range −900 to −1000 mV are recognized to be good ments)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe153
Electrolyte (seawater) Electrolyte (seawater)
e− e−
Power
− +
supply
Electrical
connection
Electrical
cable
Metal ions
Sacrificial Impressed
anode (zinc) current
anode
Figure 15. Cathodic Protection using Sacrificial and Impressed Current Systems. (Source Unknown.)
• Anode end of life resistance—based on surface area 6 BRACELET ANODES

• Anode spacing.
These are attached to the subsea pipeline every couple of
Note: Care with anode distribution and clustering to avoid pipe joints. Pipeline anodes are cast as two half shells that
mutual interference effects when anodes are sited too close are placed around the pipe. The anode will be corroded to
to each other. about 20% of its initial weight over the life of the project.
Broad level of protection (all values relative to Ag/AgCl The half shells are either bolted or welded together on the
Ref. cell): pipe. This can be either undertaken on the lay barge or on the
pipes at the fabrication yard. The continuity of metal to anode
• −800 mV: Code required for protection. In practice, must be assured and typically a resistance measurement
>−850 mV preferred. of <0.05 Ohms is required for bolting and <0.001 Ohms
• −900 to −1050 mV: Typical level of protection from Al for weldments, and typically most company specifications
anodes provide similar or more strict guidelines (Figure 17).
• −600 mV: Typical average corrosion potential of carbon
steel (nonprotected).
7 SHIPS AND BOATS
Note: Overprotection is recognized at >−1100 mV. Here,
nascent hydrogen may enter the alloy to recombine to form The white patches visible on the ship’s hull are zinc block
molecular hydrogen at susceptible sites such as inclusions, sacrificial anodes.
thus leading to high stresses and dangerous embrittlement. CP on ships is often implemented by galvanic anodes
The codes, standards, and regulations require CP systems attached to the hull and ICCP for larger vessels. Since ships
to be fit for purpose over life cycles and that separate CP are regularly removed from the water for inspections and
designs are verified to be compatible to each other on systems maintenance, it is a simple task to replace the galvanic
integration. anodes.
CP theory and design has reached very good performance Galvanic anodes are generally shaped to reduce drag in the
levels; nevertheless, challenges continue to be faced, in water and fitted flush to the hull to also try to minimize drag.
particular CP of; mooring chains, in confined spaces, under Smaller vessels, with nonmetallic hulls, such as yachts,
riser strakes, and at thermal insulation damage sites. The are equipped with galvanic anodes to protect areas such as
corrosion specialist must always apply the latest knowledge outboard motors. As with all galvanic CP, this application
accrued in order to ensure that aggressive seawater corrosion relies on a solid electrical connection between the anode and
is always arrested (Figure 16). the item to be protected.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe153
12 General
Figure 16. Aluminum sacrificial anodes on a steel jacket structure. (Reproduced from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathodic_protection.
© Chetan. 2005.)
Figure 17. Pipeline bracelet anode. (Source Unknown.)
For ICCP on ships, the anodes are usually constructed complete the circuit. Ship ICCP anodes are flush-mounted,
of a relatively inert material such as platinized titanium. minimizing the effects of drag on the ship, and located a
A DC power supply is provided within the ship and the minimum 5 ft below the light load line in an area to avoid
anodes mounted on the outside of the hull. The anode cables mechanical damage. The current density required for protec-
are introduced into the ship via a compression seal fitting tion is a function of velocity and considered when selecting
and routed to the DC power source. The negative cable the current capacity and location of anode placement on
from the power supply is simply attached to the hull to the hull.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe153
Some ships may require specialist treatment, for example, for this reiterative calculation are well defined in the
aluminum hulls with steel fixtures will create an electro- standards (DNV, ISO, NACE, etc.).
chemical cell where the aluminum hull can act as a galvanic • Use best practices percentages for predicted coating
anode and corrosion is enhanced. In cases like this, aluminum breakdown factors, best to agree code values with the end
or zinc galvanic anodes can be used to offset the potential client.
difference between the aluminum hull and the steel fixture. • Use best practice current densities for the region involved
If the steel fixtures are large, several galvanic anodes may be and agree the code numbers with the end client.
required, or even a small ICCP system. • Agree with client SMEs the final anode mass, numbers,
and sizes, and where appropriate, get a third-party verifi-
cation of the design calculation results.
• Ensure that adequate monitoring and survey plans are
8 MARINE designed in for easier application during service (external
corrosion and CP integrity management plan).
Marine CP covers many areas, jetties, harbors, and offshore • Allow reasonable consideration of shielded areas—such
structures. The variety of different types of structure leads to as under strakes and under thermal thick insulation (often
a variety of systems to provide protection. Galvanic anodes multilayer 3-5LPP or 3-5LPE).
are favored, but ICCP can also often be used. Because of • Double check final drawings for anode distributions,
the wide variety of structure geometry, composition, and ensuring that anodes are not put too close together (to
architecture, specialized firms are often required to engineer avoid mutual interference).
structure-specific CP systems. Sometimes marine structures • The SME/CP practitioner must always ensure usage of
require retroactive modification to be effectively protected. the latest editions of codes, standards, and recommended
Often hybrid systems may be contemplated either for new practices, as well as keeping up to date with industry
greenfield designs or even older assets as brownfield designs lessons learned.
and retrofits. Such hybrids have the advantage of supple- • Once CP designs are verified, regular potential survey,
menting each other as they work in tandem. The importance ROV monitoring, and coating assessments must be used
of regular CP surveys, monitoring, and inspection cannot be to ensure that appropriate “retrofits” can be implemented
overemphasized. Overall CP along with robust coatings is if/as required.
an excellent and well-proven technology; nevertheless, there • Fouling and calcareous deposits with and without CP are
are quite frequent modifications and changes to the various topics not detailed herein for brevity, but of much rele-
standards mentioned, and so the responsible engineering vance once detailed designs get under way; and readers
authority must remain aware of such changes and any new are encouraged to google search accordingly. Noting
developments. other sections in the EMOE also cover separately.
Emphasizing that there are many subtleties involved with
CP design, and a complex balance of theory and practice are
necessary for successful applications, and it is expedient to 9 COATINGS
list some of the main features in that regard, namely:
Protecting a pipeline with just cathodic protection would not
• Careful consideration of exposed steel area with or be cost-effective, and hence coatings are used for corrosion
without coatings; this calculation can be critical and is protection with a CP system.
often the greatest source of error. The properties of the coating have to be the following
• Selection of anodes for marine/offshore seawaters; (Palmer and Roger, 2008):
aluminum anodes are better choice due to lower weight
and acceptable electrochemical properties. Zinc and • Low permeability to water and salts
magnesium anodes may be contemplated in rare cases. • Low permeability to oxygen
• Ensure that correct depth properties and constituents of • Good adhesion to the pipeline steel
regional seawaters and temperatures are used, along with • Adequate temperature stability
local seawater flow currents. • Ease of application
• Ensure that anode properties such as chemical composi- • Acceptable unit price
tion, electrochemical capacity, efficiency, and availability • Flexibility to accommodate strains due to installation
are fully considered. • Resistance to biodegradation
• Carefully consider size, geometry, and weight of anodes • Ease of patch repair
as well as total mass required for the life cycle. Formulas • Nontoxicity, environmentally friendly
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe153
14 General
• Ultraviolet stability for the period during storage coating with high abrasion resistance is used. A typical
• Resistance to cathodic disbondment system can consist of an FBE base coat (20 mils) bonded to
• Compatibility to CP. a PP coating (20 mils). The PP layer provides mechanical
protection.
There are various types of coatings that can be applied to
the pipeline. The main coatings are as follows:
12 THREE-LAYER PP
• Asphalt
• Coal tar enamel Three-layer PP coating consists of an epoxy or FBE, a ther-
• FBE moplastic adhesive coating and a PP top coat. The PE and
• Polyethylene (PE) PP coatings are extruded coatings. These coatings are used
• Extruded thermoplastics PE and polypropylene (PP) for additional protection against corrosion and are commonly
• Elastomeric coatings: polychloroprene and ethylene used for dynamic systems such as SCRs and where the
propylene diamine (EPDM) temperature of the internal fluid is high. These pipe coat-
• TSA coatings. ings are frequently used in pipelines that are installed by the
reeling method. The field joint coating for the three-layer
For offshore applications, the most common forms of coat- systems is more difficult to apply and takes a longer time.
ings are FBE, dual-layer FBE, three-layer PP, and TSA However, in Europe, PE and PP coatings are preferred
coatings. because of their high dielectric strength, water tightness,
thickness, and very low CP current requirement.
10 FUSION BONDED EPOXY (FBE)

13 THERMALLY SPRAYED ALUMINUM
FBE coating, also known as fusion-bond epoxy powder (TSA) COATINGS
coating and commonly referred to as FBE coating, is an
epoxy-based powder coating that is widely used to protect TSA coatings are increasingly used to mitigate the corrosion
steel pipe used in pipeline construction, concrete reinforcing on subsea pipelines and structures. Use has increased signif-
bars (rebar), and on a wide variety of piping connections, icantly in the past 25 years with many offshore (topside,
valves, and so on from corrosion. FBE coatings are ther- splash zone and subsea structures, and risers and heat
moset polymer coatings. They come under the category of exchangers) and onshore applications (process pipe work
protective coatings in paints and coating nomenclature. The and fittings and vessels under insulation) being adopted.
name fusion-bond epoxy is due to resin cross-linking and the TSA coatings are widely used in offshore industry as a
application method, which is different from a conventional long-term corrosion control method (as sacrificial coat-
paint. The resin and hardener components in the dry powder ings), suitable for structures subjected to temperatures
FBE stock remain unreacted at normal storage conditions. exceeding 120∘ C where a minimum of 200 μm thickness
At typical coating application temperatures, usually in the is recommended. Sealer is often recommended for TSA to
range 180–250∘ C (356–482∘ F), the contents of the powder fill surface-connected porosities resulting from the spraying
melt and transform to a liquid form. The liquid FBE film process and prevent the penetration of corrosive substance
wets and flows onto the steel surface on which it is applied, within the coating. It has been reported that TSA coatings
and soon becomes a solid coating by chemical cross-linking, perform better when sealed with organic or silicone sealers;
assisted by heat. This process is known as fusion bonding. however, one must note that this will increase the cost of the
coating process.
11 FBE DUAL LAYER

14 PROBLEMS OF CP AND COATINGS
Dual-layer FBE coatings are used when additional protec-
tion is required for the outer layer such as high temperature 14.1 Production of hydrogen
and abrasion resistance. For deepwater trunklines the high
temperature of the internal fluid dissipates rapidly reaching A side effect of improperly applied CP is the production of
ambient within a few miles. Therefore, the need for such atomic hydrogen, leading to its absorption in the protected
coatings is limited for steel catenary risers (SCRs) at the metal and subsequent hydrogen embrittlement of welds and
touchdown area where abrasion is high and an additional materials with high hardness. Under normal conditions, the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe153
atomic hydrogen will combine at the metal surface to create the CP system across the exterior coating, which are further
hydrogen gas, which cannot penetrate the metal. Hydrogen pronounced in areas of insufficient or substandard CP current
atoms, however, are small enough to pass through the crys- emanating from the pipeline’s CP system. This produces an
talline steel structure, and lead in some cases to hydrogen area on the pipeline of insufficient CP defense against metal
embrittlement. loss aggravated by an exterior corrosive environment.”
Cathodic shielding is referenced in a number of the stan-
14.2 Cathodic disbonding dards listed as follows. Newly issued USDOT regulation
Title 49 CFR 192.112, in the section for additional design
This is a process of disbondment of protective coatings from requirements for steel pipe using alternative maximum
the protected structure (cathode) due to the formation of allowable operating pressure requires that “The pipe must
hydrogen ions over the surface of the protected material be protected against external corrosion by a non-shielding
(cathode). Disbonding can be exacerbated by an increase coating” (see coatings section on standard). Also, the
in alkali ions and an increase in cathodic polarization. The NACE SP0169:2007 standard defines shielding in Section 2,
degree of disbonding is also reliant on the type of coating, cautions against the use of materials that create electrical
with some coatings affected more than others. CP systems shielding in Section 4.2.3, cautions against use of external
should be operated so that the structure does not become coatings that create electrical shielding in Section 5.1.2.3,
excessively polarized, since this also promotes disbonding and instructs readers to take “appropriate action” when the
due to excessively negative potentials. Cathodic disbonding effects of electrical shielding of CP current are detected on
occurs rapidly in pipelines that contain hot fluids because the an operating pipeline in Section 10.9.
process is accelerated by heat flow.
14.3 Cathodic shielding

14.4 Overactive anode
As mentioned earlier, effectiveness of CP systems on steel
pipelines can be impaired by the use of solid film-backed 14.4.1 Anode and TSA performance
dielectric coatings such as PE tapes, shrinkable pipeline
Challenges to deepwater CP designs are thought related to
sleeves, and factory-applied single or multiple solid film
inappropriate deepwater cold anode chemistries, and great
coatings. This phenomenon occurs because of the high elec-
car should be taken in the design. Overactive anodes can
trical resistivity of these film backings. Protective electric
reflect rapid consumption even after 1–2 years, and the need
current from the CP system is blocked or shielded from
for designers to accurately determine the surface area of
reaching the underlying metal by the highly resistive film
seawater-wetted steel is crucial in the design calculations.
backing. Cathodic shielding was first defined in the 1980s
The use of coatings must be supported with reliable coating
as being a problem, and technical papers on the subject have
been regularly published since then. breakdown factors (typically 2–10% for most scenarios;
A 1999 report (Transportation Safety Board of Canada) information is usually given by most of the CP standards and
concerning a 20,600 bbl (3280 m3 ) spill from a Saskatchewan recommended practices available. Often the use of multiple
crude oil line contains an excellent definition of the cathodic alloys (especially CRAs) in a subsea design (e.g., tie back)
shielding problem: can lead to an excessive overload of the CP systems, also
“The triple situation of disbondment of the (corrosion) leading to rapid anode dissolution. Many company or project
coating, the dielectric nature of the coating, and the unique specifications have their own guidelines to address such
electrochemical environment established under the exterior issues, and the designers must be appreciative of the criteria
coating, which acts as a shield to the electrical CP current, required.
is referred to as CP shielding. The combination of tenting In any event, diligent monitoring and close visual inspec-
and disbondment permits a corrosive environment around tion can help recognize such problems so that timely inter-
the outside of the pipe to enter into the void between the vention via anode retrofitting can be deployed before the
exterior coating and the pipe surface. With the development integrity of the pipe, manifold, riser, or structure are impacted
of this CP shielding phenomenon, impressed current from the (Figure 18).
CP system cannot access exposed metal under the exterior Other reasons for early deterioration of anodes and TSA
coating to protect the pipe surface from the consequences coatings may be connected to higher dissolved oxygen
of an aggressive corrosive environment. The CP shielding in warmer subsea loop currents >5 ppm (rather than the
phenomenon induces changes in the potential gradient of expected <2 ppm at depth beyond around 3000 ft).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe153
16 General
Figure 18. “Overactive” anode.
Figure 19. “Overactive” TSA. (Source Unknown.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe153
14.4.2 TSA coating: accelerated attack FURTHER READING

The widespread use of TSA for subsea coatings has on occa-
sion led to overactive dissolution of the TSA coating; this ANSI/NACE SP0607-2007/ISO 15589-2 (MOD) (2007) Petroleum
and natural gas industries—Cathodic protection of pipeline trans-
may be at least partially due to “unaccounted for” bare steel, portation systems.
or CRA components, which will tend to further consume
Bland, J. Corrosion tests of flame sprayed coated steel: 19-Year
the TSA as a distributed anode. The TSA coatings are thin Report, American Welding Society.
typically <10 mils (250 μm) thick. The coatings are in fact Ce, N. and Paul, S., Thermally Sprayed Aluminum Coatings for the
very hard and very durable and have been seen elsewhere to Protection of Subsea Risers and Pipelines Carrying Hot Fluids,
survive very long periods (e.g., >30 years on TLP tendons in © 2016 TWI Ltd; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article
North Sea) (Figure 19). is an open access publication under the terms and conditions
The modern-day outlook for FBE and TSA in conjunc- of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
tion with CP is good, although it would be duly diligent to
test any new applications especially for nonstandard applica- DNV-RP-B401 (2010) Cathodic Protection Design, Oct.
tions such as occluded cells, shielded areas, and mixed hybrid DNV-RP-F103 (2010) Cathodic Protection of Submarine Pipelines
by galvanic anodes, Oct.
systems. Once commissioned, the field conditions can be
verified by a plan of selective monitoring to ensure continued Fischer, K.P., Thomason, W.H., Rosbrook, T., and Murali, J. (1995)
Performance history of thermally sprayed coatings in offshore
mechanical integrity. Such surveys can be expensive but service. Mater Perform, 34 (4), 27–35.
usually well justifiable and indeed often required by regu-
Gartland, P.O. and Eggen, T.G. TSA coatings in seawater with and
latory mandate. In summary, challenging seawater corrosion without cathodic protection, Publication no.
especially in conjunction with MIC can be extremely aggres- http://www.metallisation.com/news/articles/tsa-on-subsea-pipes-
sive, and so CP/coatings present a solid means of control and-risers.html,
when good design and retrofit options are safely and readily Jukes, P. and Singh, B. (2011–2016) University of Houston, UH
available. Lectures Series.
Singh, B., Jukes, P., Wittkower, B., and Poblete, B. (2009) Offshore
Integrity Management 20 Years On—Overview of Lessons Learnt
Post Piper Alpha. Proceedings of Offshore Technology Confer-
REFERENCES ence, Houston, TX, Paper OTC 20051-PP.
Wolfson, S.L. (1996) Corrosion Control of Subsea Piping Systems
Using Thermal Sprayed Aluminum Coatings. NACE Intl. Paper
Massey, B.S. (1979) Fluid Mechanics, Rheinhold. 96560, Corrosion 96, Denver, USA.
Palmer, A.C. and Roger, A.K. (2008) Subsea Pipeline Engineering, Working Party on Marine Corrosion of Stainless Steels (1993) Chlo-
2nd edn, PennWell, Tulsa, OK, USA. rination and Microbial Effects, European Federation of Corrosion
Singh, B. and Poblete, B. (2015) Offshore pipeline risk, corrosion, Societies, London, UK.
and integrity management, in Oil and Gas Pipelines—Integrity and
Safety Handbook (ed. R. Winston Revie), John Wiley & Sons.
Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe153
Fabrication Welding Processes
Paul Jukes
The Jukes Group, TX, USA
of personnel, preheat and post-weld heat treatment require-

1 Introduction 1 ments, quality requirements and economics.
2 Shielded Metal Arc Welding 1 For example, plates can be welded onshore with different
3 Gas Tungsten Arc Welding 3 time lines than offshore pipelines welded on a lay barge,
where the daily cost of a lay barge is extremely expensive.
4 Flux-Cored Arc Welding 4
Also, welding is governed by the skill of the welder, and this
5 Gas Metal Arc Welding 4 has a significant factor in the welding type and the quality of
6 Submerged Arc Welding 5 the weld.
7 Semiautomatic/Automatic Processes 6 The most commonly used welding types are shielded metal
8 Weld Procedure Specification (WPS) 6 arc welding (SMAW), gas metal arc welding (GMAW),
9 Procedure Qualification Record (PQR) 7 submerged arc welding (SAW), flux-cored arc welding
(FCAW), and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW).
10 Welder Performance Qualification 7
11 Welding Positions 7
12 Weld Quality 8 2 SHIELDED METAL ARC WELDING
Acknowledgments 8
SMAW is one of the most popular types of welding processes
References 8
and is heavily used for maintenance and repair, construction
Further Reading 8 of heavy steel structures and industrial fabrication, short
lengths of offshore lines, small diameter lines, repairs, and
structural welds. This is a manual type welding process and
is sometimes referred to as stick welding.
1 INTRODUCTION The main components consist of a AC or DC power supply,
an electrode lead with an electrode holder, ground lead, and
Many types of welding processes are used in the marine a consumable welding electrode. Figure 1 shows the SMAW
and offshore industry. The type of welding method is deter- system setup. A constant current power supply is generally
mined by the contractor’s capability, the type and size of used and the arc voltage is related to arc length, which can
the metal plates being welded, safety, requirements specified be increased or decreased in length by manipulating the
by owner or Engineering, welding position and accessibility, electrode.
joint requirements and preparation, welding equipment and In the SMAW process, a consumable electrode covered
power sources, consumables, experience and qualifications with a flux, as shown in Figure 2, is used to create an arc and
a weld pool. Vapors from the flux create shielding gas that
reduces contamination of the weld. The flux also produces
Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering, online © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. a layer of slag that protects the weld, although the slag
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. eventually has to be hammered and chipped away.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe148
SMAW is the least efficient welding process due to the
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 time taken to replace the consumable electrode and to remove
2 General
Electrode holder
Electrode lead
AC or DC Welding
constant current electrode
power supply
Work
Work lead
Ground clamp
Figure 1. SMAW (shielded metal arc welding) system setup. (Metal Arts Press Books for Craftsmen, Chapter 5. Shielded Metal Arc
Welding. http://www.metalartspress.com/books/chapters/chapter-5-shielded-metal-arc-welding.)
Shielded metal arc welding

(SMAW)
Electrode
Power supply
Coating
Arc Weld pool
Protecting
gas
Slag layer
Solidified weld
Workpiece
Figure 3. SMAW in action on an onshore pipeline girth weld.

(http://image.thefabricator.com/a/smaw-a-welders-guide---
advice-and-troubleshooting-tips-for-beginners-smaw-welders-
guide.jpg?size=1000x1000.)
Figure 2. SMAW weld process. (http://www.substech
.com/dokuwiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?w=&h=&cache=cache&
media=shielded_metal_arc_welding.png.)
where
the slag layer from the weld. However, it is one of the most
popular methods due to its portability and the relatively low E is voltage (V),
skill level required (compared to other methods). I is the current (A),
Figure 3 shows SMAW being used to weld an onshore Travel speed is expressed in in./min.
pipeline girth weld. The SMAW process is the standard
welding method for onshore pipelines. The quality of SMAW is a function of many factors,
Welding input (HI) is calculated in terms of J/in. and heat including workmanship, weld cleanliness, consumable
input is calculated in terms of J/in. storage practices, adequate preheat, and joint design.
Poor-quality welding may show excessive weld spatter,
E × I × 60 porosity, lack of fusion, inadequate penetration, and hot or
HI = cold cracking.
travel speed
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe148
Fabrication Welding Processes 3
Advantages of SMAW include the following (Marlow, 3 GAS TUNGSTEN ARC WELDING
2012):
GTAW, formerly called tungsten inert gas (TIG), is
• It utilizes relatively low cost equipment. used for high precision welds such as root passes in
• SMAW can weld many different metals and alloys, corrosion-resistant alloys (CRAs). GTAW uses a tungsten
including the most commonly used. electrode (nonconsumable) and a filler rod, and the electric
• SMAW is relatively portable and can be used in confined arc is protected by a shielding gas.
spaces. Depending on the material, the weld can be prepared with
• With different current settings and rod diameters, the or without a filler metal. A shielding gas such as helium or
same equipment can weld metals from 1/8′′ (16 gauge) argon is used to protect the arc and control oxidation of the
to metals of several inches thick. There is no upper weld. Although GTAW allows greater control of the weld
limit on the thickness of metal that can be welded with giving greater quality, it is actually more challenging for the
SMAW, although commercial considerations may favor welder. It is also much slower, but it can be used to weld
other processes for very thick sections. stainless steels and aluminum.
• Welds can be performed in any position. Shielding gas is usually an inert gas such as argon or
• SMAW is less affected by wind and drafts than helium, either individually or as a mixture, sometimes with
gas-shielded processes such as GMAW and GTAW. hydrogen or nitrogen. Reactive gasses such as oxygen or
carbon dioxide are not commonly used due to possible
Disadvantages of SMAW are identified as follows damage to the electrode. The shielding gas protects the
(Marlow, 2012): weld pool from contamination and the adjoining metal from
oxidation (Figure 4).
• Not suitable for metal sheets under 1/8′′ thick. GTAW allows for better control of the weld arc than
• Operator duty cycle and overall deposition rate are SMAW, but more skill is required as two hands have to be
usually lower with SMAW than with wire-fed processes used. Figure 5 shows GTAW in action.
because, with SMAW, welding must be stopped when Advantages of GTAW (WB Alloys, 2017) are identified as
the electrode is consumed and needs to be replaced. follows:
• Not all of the electrode can be used. The remaining stub
in the electrode holder must be discarded, wasting 1–2′′ • It produces high quality, low distortion welds.
of every electrode. • It is usually free of weld spatter associated with other
• The frequent stops and starts caused by changing elec- methods.
trodes can result in weld defects. • It can be used with or without filler wire.
GTAW head
Direction of
weld
Power
Shielding gas
Contact tube
Filler rod Tungsten electrode

(non-consumable)
Electrical arc Weld bead
Copper shoe
(optional)
Shielding gas
Figure 4. GTAW (gas tungsten arc welding) process. (http://www.wballoys.co.uk/TIG/what-is-tig-welding.html.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe148
4 General
welding of CRAs. Automated GTAW processes, especially

orbital and narrow gap hot-wire systems, show much better
productivity and are more commonly used for repetitive
production welding.
4 FLUX-CORED ARC WELDING

FCAW is a semiautomatic, or automatic, arc welding process
and continuously feeds a consumable electrode allowing a
higher deposition rate than SMAW or GTAW. A flux-cored
wire is fed into the nozzle and contact tip. The flux will
produce some shielding gases, and the process may or may
not require an external shielding gas, depending on the elec-
Figure 5. GTAW in action. (http://orc.com.pe/capacitacion- trode. FCAW is judged to require less welding skill than
soldadura-en-proceso-manual-de-gtaw-y-calificacion-en- SMAW or GTAW (Figure 6).
posicion-6g/.) Advantages of FCAW are highlighted as follows:
• For some electrodes, no shielding gas is required, which

• It welds almost all metals including dissimilar ones. is an advantage for outdoor windy environments.
• It gives precise control of welding heat. • Faster weld deposition rates than SMAW or GTAW.
• Less skill required than SMAW or GTAW.
Disadvantages, or limitations, of GTAW (WB Alloys,
2017) are identified as follows: Disadvantages of FCAW are highlighted as follows:
• It produces lower deposition rates than consumable elec- • More expensive consumables than SMAW or GTAW.
trode arc welding processes. • More smoke and fumes generated than SMAW or GTAW.
• It requires greater welder skill than other methods such • Changing filler requires changing the whole spool and
as SMAW. this can take time.
• It is often problematic in drafty environments. • Deposits made with consumables designed to be used
• It may incorporate tungsten inclusions if the electrode is without an applied shielding gas often have poor
allowed to touch the weld pool. toughness.
• It may permit contamination of the weld metal if
shielding by gas stream is not maintained.
5 GAS METAL ARC WELDING
Although manual GTAW produces high quality welds with
excellent properties, the process is slow and as a result is GMAW, formerly known as MIG (metal inert gas), uses a
not widely used offshore except for hyperbaric welding and shielding gas and a continuous wire electrode as the filler
Contact tip Nozzle
Flux core wire

Solidified slag
Arc
Solidified weld metal
Base material
Gas shielding
Figure 6. FCAW process. (Copied from website https://www.pinterest.com/pin/526006431452758775/.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe148
Control system
Switch
Wire speed control Wire reel
Pilot light
Gas out
Work Gas in
Gun control
Manually
held gun Gas
source
Wire feed
drive motor
Contactor control
110 V supply Welding machine
Figure 7. GMAW system setup. (http://constructionmanuals.tpub.com/14250/css/Gas-Metal-Arc-Welding-GMAW-190.htm.)
Electric arc zone Processing direction
Melt pool
Contact tip (electrode)
Solidified deposit Motor driven filler wire
Sheilding gas
Base metal (ground)
Figure 8. GMAW process. (Reproduced with permission from Hayden Corporation. © 2017.)
metal. The wire electrode may be hollow, filled with metal • The higher heat input mode of axial spray is restricted to
powder. GMAW can be manual, semiautomatic, or auto- flat or horizontal welding positions.
matic. It is used on large diameter pipelines, including most • The use of argon-based shielding gas for axial spray
major offshore pipelines. Depending on the voltage and wire and pulsed spray transfer modes is more expensive than
feed rate, transfer mode may be in the spray, globular, or 100% carbon dioxide (CO2 ).
short-circuiting (Figures 7 and 8). • GMAW can be prone to lack of fusion defects if the
Benefits of GMAW (Nadzam, 1997) are as follows: welder attempts to lay too large of a bead.
• Generally, lower cost per length of weld metal deposited

when compared to other open arc welding processes. 6 SUBMERGED ARC WELDING
• Lower cost electrode.
• Reduced welding fume generation. SAW uses an electric arc beneath a layer of granulated flux.
• Minimal post-weld cleanup. Once an arc is established, the molten flux acts as a conductor
to allow the current to pass through to the weld base. The use
Limitations of GMAW (Nadzam, 1997) are as follows: of a flux dramatically reduces the weld splatter and fumes
associated with other welding processes. SAW can produce
• The higher heat input axial spray transfer generally fast welding rates and is particularly useful for welding heavy
restricts its use to thicker base materials. sections (Figures 9 and 10).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe148
6 General
• The process is suitable for both indoor and outdoor

Electrode wire
works.
• Welds produced are sound, uniform, ductile, corrosion
Welding head AC or DC current
Residual flux jaws supply lead
resistant, and have good impact value.
layer • Single-pass welds can be made in thick plates with
Flux feed from normal equipment.
hopper
• The arc is always covered under a blanket of flux, thus
Slag layer Flux feed to there is no chance of spatter of weld.
joint • 50–90% of the flux is recoverable, recycled, and reused.
Weld deposit
Earth lead Limitations of SAW are as follows:

Di connection
rec
tio
no Flux layer
• Limited to ferrous (steel or stainless steels) and some
fw nickel-based alloys.
eld
ing • Normally limited to the 1F, 1G, and 2F positions.
• Normally limited to long, straight seams or rotated pipes
or vessels.
• Requires relatively troublesome flux-handling systems.
Figure 9. Automatic SAW (submerged arc welding) process.
(http://www.twi-global.com/technical-knowledge/job-knowledge/ • Flux and slag residue can present a health and safety
submerged-arc-welding-process-005/.) concern.
• Requires interpass and post-weld slag removal.
• May require backing strips for proper root penetration.
• Limited to high thickness materials.
Submerged Arc (SAW) at
Arc Energy Resources Ltd
7 SEMIAUTOMATIC/AUTOMATIC
PROCESSES
Many welding processes can be readily automated, including
GTAW, FCAW, GMAW, and SAW. Automated processes
can provide greater consistency and higher deposition rates
(Figure 11).
Single head or counter-rotating heads can be used using
mechanized systems. The operator’s responsibilities include
insuring fusion and making adjustments to travel speed, arc
Figure 10. Automatic SAW in action. (Image taken from Youtube length, and so on. On a lay barge, the welding may be
by Arc Energy Resources.)
undertaken with a number of passes at separate welding
stations.
Automation of welding processes often requires
SAW is used for welding together double joints on lay customized positioning and welding equipment. Propri-
barges (Bai and Bai, 2005). SAW is a high heat input method. etary systems have been developed for welding of offshore
The chemistry of the line pipe has a large influence on the pipelines to produce maximum weld rates with consistently
properties of the final weld. high quality welds. Because pipe barge day rates are rela-
Advantages of SAW are as follows: tively high, it is important to maximize the pipeline lay rate
and repairs that halt production are doubly expensive.
• High deposition rates.
• Deep weld penetration.
• Sound welds are readily made (with good process design 8 WELD PROCEDURE SPECIFICATION
and control). (WPS)
• Minimal welding fume or arc light is emitted.
• Very little edge preparation is necessary depending on Weld quality and the properties of a weld are a function of
joint configuration and required penetration. many variables. To achieve consistent quality, most industrial
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe148
satisfactory, the welding parameters may be used to prepare

a WPS (weld procedure specification) for use in production
welding. A WPS that has been demonstrated in this manner
to produce satisfactory welds is termed as qualified WPS.
The PQR serves as a record of the development and qualifi-
cation of the WPS.
Welding standards define essential and nonessential vari-
ables. Essential variables are those for which the WPS
must specify that production welding be within a specified
range of the value used to prepare the PQR test coupon.
(If a fabricator wishes to perform welding outside of that
range, another test coupon must be prepared and tested
for a separate PQR.) Nonessential variables are not judged
to be as critical, and fabricators may change them on a
Figure 11. Semiautomatic/automatic welding of offshore new WPS without having to prepare another test coupon
pipelines. (http://www.arguslimited.com/en/welding.) or PQR.
In addition, some standards, such as ASME BPVC Section
IX, define supplementary essential variables. Supplementary
welding is performed in accordance with written welding essential variables are those that are essential only if the base
procedure specifications that specify most of those vari- material has a toughness requirement. This is done because
ables. Welding standards such as AWS D1.1, API 1104, preserving toughness in the base material and heat-affected
ASME BPVC Section IX, and DNV OS C401 provide lists zone often requires special precautions.
of variables that must be specified in a welding procedure Some welding standards, such as AWS D1.1, have “pre-
specification. qualified” WPSs, generally limited to easily welded mate-
Depending on the particular standard and welding process, rials and very commonly used consumables and processes.
these variables may include the following: When using such procedures, the standard does not require
formal testing of the WPS, but only testing of welder
• base material (composition and thickness), performance.
• filler material,
• shielding gas or flux,
• joint design, 10 WELDER PERFORMANCE
• welding process, QUALIFICATION
• electrical characteristics,
• heat input, Welding standards generally require a fabricator to produce
• welding position, both a PQR demonstrating that a WPS can produce a satis-
• minimum preheat temperature, factory weld and welder performance qualification (WPQ)
• maximum interpass temperature, records demonstrating that each welder can produce welds of
• post-weld heat treatment, and satisfactory quality using a particular welding process. The
• many others. level of testing required for a WPQ is generally substantially
less than that required for a PQR and demonstrated that profi-
Any significant change to those variables, as defined by the ciency with a given process may qualify a welder for the
welding standard, requires the preparation and possibly the use of several WPSs. The requirements of the appropriate
qualification of a separate welding specification. welding standard should be consulted carefully when quali-
fying welders and WPSs.
9 PROCEDURE QUALIFICATION
RECORD (PQR) 11 WELDING POSITIONS
A procedure qualification record (PQR) is the record of all Out-of-position welding (i.e., welding overhead or on a
the welding parameters used in the preparation of a test vertical surface) presents particular challenges for the welder
weld and the results of the nondestructive and destructive and position is generally considered an essential variable for
testing performed on that test weld. If those test results are welder qualification.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe148
8 General
There is a standard terminology for the position of a weld: • Nickel alloys have particularly viscous weld pools and
are prone to poor penetration and hot cracking.
• Titanium welds can be embrittled by contamination
11.1 Plate welds of the weld pool with carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and
nitrogen, placing sharp constraints on shielding gasses.
Groove welds
In terms of welding processes, all processes that use
• 1G flat position
a flux or slag are vulnerable to slag inclusions. GMAW
• 2G horizontal position
welding is limited to small beads and welders who attempt
• 3G vertical position
to expedite welding by using larger beads risk lack of fusion
• 4G overhead position
defects. GTAW welds may be contaminated with tungsten
inclusions if the electrode is allowed to touch the molten
Fillet welds weld pool.
• 1F flat position Maintaining the high weld quality demanded by offshore
• 2F horizontal position and marine construction requires skilled workmanship,
• 3F vertical position detailed knowledge of the welding process, understanding
• 4F overhead position the alloys being welded, and knowledge of the capabilities
and limitations of the inspection techniques being used to
inspect the finished product. Welding standards provide
11.2 Pipe welds helpful guidance, but mere code compliance is not to be
confused with sound engineering practice. High quality
Groove welds industrial welding requires skilled, knowledgeable people
from the engineering office to the shop floor.
• 1G horizontal position
• 2G vertical position
• 5G horizontal fixed position ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• 6G inclined position
The author would like to acknowledge Mike Burns from
Stress Engineering for reviewing this document.
12 WELD QUALITY
Each welding process and alloy system has its own issues
affecting weld quality. All welds are affected by quality of REFERENCES
workmanship, although automated systems are less.
Carbon and low alloy steels are vulnerable, to varying Bai, Y. and Bai, Q. (2005) Subsea Pipelines and Risers, Elsevier.
degrees, to cold cracking, a type of hydrogen stress Marlow, F. (2012) Welding Know-How: Tips & Techniques of Master
cracking in which hydrogen dissolved in the weld pool Welders, Metal Arts Press. Metal Arts Press Books for Craftsmen,
causes cracking in the heat-affected zone or even in the ‘Shielded Metal Arc Welding’, Chapter 5.
weld metal itself. Preventive measures include careful Nadzam, J. (ed.) (1997) Gas Metal Arc Welding Guidelines (PDF),
cleaning of weld joints before welding, use of low Lincoln Electric.
hydrogen consumables, appropriate consumable storage and WB Alloys (2017) www.wballoys.co.uk/TIG/what-is-tig-welding
baking practices, preheat, post-weld baking, and controlled .html
cooling.
Examples from other alloy systems are as follows:
• Aluminum alloys will generally lose strength in the FURTHER READING

heat-affected zone and may require special considera-
tions in joint design to compensate. Albanese, C. (2017) GMAW (Solid wire) vs. FCAW (Flux-Cored
• Austenitic stainless steels are relatively easy to weld, but Wire). www.advancedweldingsupply.com.
the composition of the weld deposit must be carefully Althouse, A.D., Turnquist, C.H., Bowditch, W.A., Bowditch, K.E.,
formulated to avoid hot cracking. and Bowditch, M.A. (2012) Modern Welding, 11th edn.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe148
American Welding Society (2004) Welding Handbook, Welding Miller Electric Mfg Co (2013a) Guidelines for Shielded Metal Arc
Processes Part 1, American Welding Society, Miami, FL. ISBN: Welding (SMAW) (PDF), Miller Electric Mfg Co., Appleton, WI.
0-87171-729-8 Miller Electric Mfg Co (2013b) Guidelines for Gas Tungsten Arc
Jeffus, L. (2016) Welding: Principles and Applications. Welding (GTAW) (PDF), Miller Electric Mfg Co., Appleton, WI.
Miller Electric Mfg Co (2012) Guidelines for Gas Metal Arc Welding
(GMAW) (PDF), Miller Electric Mfg Co, Appleton, WI.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe148
Wind, Wave and Current Modeling and Prediction
James M. Kaihatu
At the heart of the physical processes giving rise to marine

1 Introduction 1 conditions of interest is the coupling between the atmosphere
2 Basics of Modeling and Prediction 1 and the ocean. Detailed knowledge of these interactions
3 Wind Models 4 is becoming more comprehensive and detailed, and thus
less reliant on parameterizations to represent the physics.
4 Wave Models 5
Incorporation of these detailed physical descriptions into
5 Circulation Models 6 working numerical models has often resulted in improved
6 Prediction Methodology 8 forecasts; however, in many cases, the increased complexity
7 Dissemination 9 has also affected model robustness, thus requiring data to
8 Summary 9 guide models toward optimum solutions.
Glossary 9
References 9
2 BASICS OF MODELING AND
PREDICTION
In essence, a numerical model involves numerical solution

1 INTRODUCTION of a differential equation. This particular form of solution
technique is used because of the following:
The success of marine operations depends heavily on the
state of the marine environment at the time of operations. • The equation (with attendant boundary and initial condi-
These operations can be rendered at hazard should the wind, tions) is impossible to solve using mathematical tech-
wave, and (or) current environment not be conducive to their niques.
safe, successful completion. Since many of these operations • The computational domain of interest does not lend itself
require significant preplanning, the predicted condition of to analytical solution.
the marine environment is a necessary input into the deci- • Both of the above.
sion process. As computational power has greatly increased,
numerical models have supplanted empirical or semianalyt- Numerical discretization techniques are employed to
ical methods for predicting oceanic conditions. The rise of convert the (continuous) differential equation into a discrete
the Internet and the development of Web technology have algebraic equation (or system of equations). A compre-
also made possible rapid dissemination of forecast informa- hensive treatment of this is far beyond the scope of this
tion to interested parties. work; excellent overviews of numerical techniques in fluid
dynamics can be found in Fletcher (1991) and Roache
(1998), among many others.
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. As a simple illustration, we consider a one-dimensional
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe123
diffusion equation. The exact physical process governed by
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 this equation is not important, but for the sake of illustration,
2 General
t boundary conditions and the shape of the material, analytic

solutions exist (Greenberg, 1988). However, we can illus-
trate the numerical discretization with the forward-time,
centered-space (FTCS) scheme, possibly the most straight-
Δt forward numerical scheme to use. The resulting discretized
equation would be
n+1
n 𝜙n+1
j
− 𝜙nj 𝜙nj−1 − 2𝜙nj + 𝜙nj+1
−𝛼 =0 (2)
Δt Δx
x
j−1 j j+1 where n is the time step index, j the spatial step index, Δt the
Δx
time step, and Δx the space step. In order to use this equation
Figure 1. A Cartesian mesh for the diffusion equation. The compu-
for calculation, a numerical grid or mesh must be established.
tational “molecule” for the FTCS method is outlined, with the In the case of this example, it would consist of a Cartesian
unknown quantity 𝜙n+1
j
shown in grey. mesh over which the discretized equation would be solved.
In addition, initial and boundary conditions need to be spec-
we will assume that it is governing the diffusion of heat ified; the relative complexity of these conditions affects their
through a material: numerical treatment. An illustration of a suitable Cartesian
mesh and an outline of the computational “molecule” formed
𝜕𝜙 𝜕2𝜙 by the FTCS method is shown in Figure 1, while Figure 2
−𝛼 2 =0 (1) shows the solution for several time steps, given a partic-
𝜕t 𝜕x
ular initial condition (at t = 0) and boundary conditions. This
where 𝜙 is the dependent variable (temperature, in our exercise is a convenient illustration of numerical methods as
example), 𝛼 the diffusion coefficient (in our example, it applied to a differential equation. For various reasons, the
would be a property of the conducting material), x a spatial FTCS method may not be the optimal scheme for this partic-
coordinate, and t the time. Depending on the nature of the ular equation.
Diffusion equation with FTCS: Δx = 0.01 m Δ t = 0.000025 s α = 1

1
0.9 t=0
t = 0.025 s
0.8 t = 0.05 s
t = 0.075 s
t = 0.1 s
0.7 t = 0.125 s
0.6
0.5
ϕ
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
x (m)
Figure 2. Solutions of the diffusion equation for various time steps.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe123
Wind, Wave and Current Modeling and Prediction 3
In engineering practice, it is more likely that numerical is also increased in areas where this is not warranted (e.g.,
prediction would involve the use of existing models rather offshore areas). This problem can be ameliorated using
than the development of new models. Therefore, a more gridding techniques that conform to the domain. Curvilinear
practical discussion involves the various numerical meshes coordinates and unstructured finite element grids are two
used in predictive models. The Cartesian mesh shown in such techniques applicable to complex domains; an example
Figure 1, while straightforward to construct, is not always of a curvilinear grid applied to a complex domain appears
the best option for many applications. Figure 3 shows in Figure 3. In addition, it is also necessary to move from
the application of a Cartesian model to a domain with a Cartesian grids when the domain is sufficiently large to
complex coastline. It is apparent that the shoreline can only be best described in latitude and longitude rather than the
be approximated by the sharp corners and rigid structure Cartesian x, y coordinates. In this case, spherical coordinates
of the Cartesian grid. While spatial resolution can also be are useful for global applications.
increased to better fit the coastline, the effects of this reso- While the modeling technique and the gridding are part
lution increase is not limited to the coastline, as resolution of the modeling procedure, the specification of forcing
Water depth (m)

24-Oct-2003 00:20:00
14000 Depth averaged velocity (m/s)
400 24-Oct-2003 00:27:00
1.5
12000 7800
350
10000 300 7600

y Coordinate (m) →
250 1
8000 7400
Distance (m) →
200
6000
7200
150
4000 0.5
7000
100
2000
50 6800
0 0 0
4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 1.12 1.14 1.16
(a) x Coordinate (m) → (c) Distance (m) → × 104
Morphologic grid Depth averaged velocity (m/s)

14000 24-Oct-2003 00:27:00
1.5
6600
12000
6400
10000
y Coordinate (m) →
1
6200
Distance (m) →
8000
6000
6000
5800 0.5
4000
2000 5600
0 0
4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17
(b) x Coordinate (m) → (d) Distance (m) → × 104
Figure 3. Example of the use of curvilinear grids for the Delft3D FLOW model as applied to the Scripps/La Jolla Canyon area. (a)
Bathymetry. (b) Curvilinear grid. (c) Nearshore wave-forced depth-averaged velocities for the upper half of the domain. (d) Nearshore
wave-forced depth-averaged velocities for the lower half of the domain.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe123
4 General
conditions and the amelioration of model error are also universities. The model is formulated in “terrain-following”
important to the quality of the predictions. As an example, a (or 𝜂) coordinates for the vertical dimension, which allows
major forcing component for waves is wind, as provided by the model to easily handle topography. While similar to the
meteorological models. The spatial and temporal resolution commonly used 𝜎 coordinates in ocean circulation models,
of the model output plays a large role in the determination the 𝜂 coordinate is directly tied to the hydrostatic pressure
of the scales of motion and influence in the wave and current (Laprise, 1992):
models. If, for example, the wind model provides forcing to
ph − pht
wave and current models at a 12-h resolution, the effect of the 𝜂= (3)
daily sea breeze on the coastal ocean will not be represented. 𝜇
In addition, spatial resolution in the wind model may be where
sufficiently coarse to neglect the effect of mountain ranges
or small islands on the wind field and, consequently, on the 𝜇 = phs − pht (4)
oceanic flow. Furthermore, sources of model errors that origi-
nate from the forcing conditions (wind field, boundary condi- In the above, ph is the hydrostatic pressure, phs the hydro-
tions) can be reduced using data assimilation techniques. static pressure on the land surface, and pht the hydrostatic
pressure on the top boundary. Figure 4 (from Skamarock
et al., 2005) shows the 𝜂 coordinates. Application of this
3 WIND MODELS transformation to the conservation form of the compressible,
nonhydrostatic Euler equations (Ooyama, 1990) leads to:
As wind is a primary driver of ocean processes, the capa- ( ) ( )
bility to predict meteorological processes over the ocean 𝜕u 𝜕 𝜕𝜙 𝜕 𝜕𝜙
+ (∇ ⋅ Vu) − p + p = Fu (5)
is paramount. In contrast to wave or ocean circulation 𝜕t 𝜕x 𝜕𝜂 𝜕x 𝜕x
modeling, numerical weather prediction is a relatively ( ) ( )
𝜕v 𝜕 𝜕𝜙 𝜕 𝜕𝜙
mature field. Many innovations in forecasting technology + (∇ ⋅ Vv) − p + p = Fv (6)
𝜕t 𝜕y 𝜕𝜂 𝜕y 𝜕y
have first been developed in weather forecasting, driven by ( )
the need for accurate weather forecasts. For example, one of 𝜕w 𝜕p
+ (∇ ⋅ Vw) − g − 𝜇 = Fw (7)
the earliest studies of what is now known as chaos theory was 𝜕t 𝜕𝜂
by Lorenz (1963), who determined that numerical weather 𝜕Θ
prediction models exhibited strong sensitivity to initial + (∇ ⋅ VΘ) = 0 (8)
𝜕t
conditions. As this sensitivity would have a deleterious 𝜕𝜇
effect on the tenability of operational weather prediction for + (∇ ⋅ V) = 0 (9)
𝜕t
any reasonable forecast length, data assimilation techniques
𝜕𝜙 1
were developed to help guide the forecast to an optimum + [(V ⋅ ∇𝜙) − gw] = 0 (10)
solution; a brief history can be found in Navon (2009). 𝜕t 𝜇
Today, many of these innovations have been applied to In addition, the density 𝜌 is specified from
ocean circulation modeling and are part of the general
operational prediction protocol. 𝜕𝜙
= −𝛼𝜇 (11)
Generally, weather prediction systems either predict the 𝜕𝜂
passage and effect of large-scale weather systems or focus on
and the pressure is related to the reference (sea-level) pres-
specific events such as tropical cyclones. While the wind field
sure as
evolves on a large grid in the case of large-scale (synoptic)
( )
weather forecasts, tropical cyclone modeling follows the Rd 𝜃 𝛾
cyclone, with few interactions with the surrounding wind p = po (12)
po 𝛼
field except as steering currents. Hurricane models also
generally have additional dynamics that describe the devel- In the above-mentioned equations, (u, v, w) are the
opment of the hurricane itself. In this section, we discuss (zonal, meridional, and vertical) velocities, respectively;
several operational models of each type. V = 𝜇(u, v, w); 𝜙 = gz (the geopotential); p the pressure;
One weather model presently in operational use is the Θ = 𝜇𝜃; 𝜃 the potential temperature; 𝛾 the ratio of the heat
Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model, which capacities for dry air; Rd the gas constant for dry air; and
was developed in a collaborative effort among the National 𝛼 = 1∕𝜌, or the inverse density. The terms on the right-hand
Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), the National side of the equations are the forcing terms that incorpo-
Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and several rate external effects (model physics, turbulence, rotation,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe123
etc.) into the system. It should be noted that the equations and S the source term. The source term represents the effects
above are for dry air; moisture can be accommodated by a of wind wave energy input by wind and energy dissipation
redefinition of the variables, which allows for mass conser- by breaking and bottom friction. In the case of wave–current
vation (Skamarock et al., 2005). The WRF model has since interaction, the flux of wave “action” rather than wave energy
been fully incorporated into the NCEP operational stream, is the conserved quantity, and Equation 13 also retains a term
including variational data assimilation, postprocessing, and that denotes the change of wave action with frequency.
verification. As of the time of writing, the WRF model is the The source term S in Equation 13 includes input of energy
core of weather forecasting systems for NCEP, the Air Force by wind, redistribution of energy via nonlinear wave–wave
Weather Agency, the Earth Systems Research Laboratory, interactions, and depletion of energy by whitecapping,
and the National Severe Storms Laboratory, as well as for bottom friction, and (for coastal models) depth-limited
various government and/or commercial centers. In addition wave breaking. The descriptions of these mechanisms have
to the WRF model, NCEP also uses regional models (e.g., changed as more is known about their physics (Komen et
the North American Mesoscale Model, or NAM) and global al., 1994; Holthuijsen, 2007).
models (the Global Forecast System, or GFS), which can be The development of wave models for operational use
used to force local WRF setups. started with the so-called first generation models (Gelci,
The US Navy has developed its own weather fore- Cazalé, and Vassal, 1957). These models consisted of three
casting models which, at their core, are similar to WRF, source terms (generation, dissipation, and advection) and
with differences in the numerics and some of the phys- provided predictions of wave conditions at a single point.
ical parameterizations. An early forecasting model used The generation and dissipation terms are tuned to repro-
for global predictions is the Navy Operational Global duce observed characteristics. Later versions of this genre of
Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS; Hogan and models did explicitly model the advection of wave energy on
Rosmond, 1991); in recent years, the Navy has used the a numerical grid (Gelci, Devillaz, and Chavy, 1964) but the
Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System individual physical mechanisms were assumed to be active
(COAMPS; Hodur, 1997) for high-resolution modeling. independent of each other. Models known as second genera-
The Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, in partner- tion models expand the representations of the physics some-
ship with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration what, although still rely on parameterizations for nonlinear
(NOAA), has developed an “earth-system” model frame- wave–wave interactions and other physical processes. While
work (Dunne et al., 2012), which couples atmosphere, ocean, second-generation models are still used (Monbaliu, 2003),
and land processes. The weather forecasting component of the state of the art is represented by third-generation models.
this system is the Atmospheric Model version 2 (AM2); These models solve the full energy transport equation with no
however, this is typically referenced as the “Geophysical a priori assumption on the shape of the spectrum. The source
Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) model.” terms describing nonlinear interactions, wind input, and
wave energy dissipation are simplified, with the nonlinear
interaction term (Hasselmann et al., 1985) computed in a
4 WAVE MODELS reduced form to allow for expedient calculation.
One of the first third-generation models to be used
The modeling of wave propagation and generation over large routinely for wave prediction is WAM (Komen et al., 1994).
scales is generally well-served with energy-based phase- This model had enjoyed widespread use by various commer-
averaged models rather than deterministic phase-resolving cial, government and military operational centers for many
models. A typical phase averaged wave model can be written years. One of the advantages of the model was its modular
in spherical coordinates as (Holthuijsen, 2007): structure, which allowed efficient operation on limited
memory computational platforms. In addition, the numerical
𝜕E( f , 𝜃; 𝜆, 𝜙, t) 𝜕Cg,𝜆 E(f , 𝜃; 𝜆, 𝜙, t)
+ scheme for the geographic terms in the WAM model is
𝜕t 𝜕𝜆
first order, which requires less memory than more accu-
𝜕C g,𝜙 E(f , 𝜃; 𝜆, 𝜙, t) 𝜕Cg,𝜃 E( f , 𝜃; 𝜆.𝜙, t) rate, less diffusive schemes. As computational resources
+ (cos 𝜙)−1 +
𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜃 have increased in speed, and as parallel computation
= S(f , 𝜃; 𝜆, 𝜙, t) (13) has become more widespread, models with more accurate
geographic propagation schemes have become more evident;
where E is the energy density (units of length squared per examples include WAVEWATCH-III (Tolman, 1999) and
(f , 𝜃)), 𝜆 the longitude, 𝜙 the latitude, Cg,𝜆 and Cg,𝜙 the TELEMAC-based Operational Model Addressing Wave
energy transport velocities in the longitude and latitude direc- Action Computation (TOMAWAC) (Benoit, Marcos, and
tions, respectively; Cg,𝜃 the turning rate of the wave field; Becq, 1996). In addition, limited domain coastal models
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe123
6 General
have also been developed; these include Simulating WAves structure design and construction, weather prediction, ocean
Nearshore (SWAN) (Booij, Ris, and Holthuijsen, 1999) and debris tracking, marine traffic control, and (in some special-
STeady WAVE model (STWAVE) (Resio, 1987). These latter ized applications, such as acoustics) sound speed prediction.
models are also better suited to shallow coastal areas, as they In this section, we describe the general aspects of operational
contain many of the relevant source terms (e.g., depth-limited ocean models and highlight a few examples. It is not intended
breaking and parameterized shallow water nonlinearity). to be a comprehensive list of operational ocean models.
Forcing for global wave models comes from wind predic- In most cases, the flow can be assumed to be hydro-
tions, with the winds at elevation of 10 m above the mean static (pressure is due solely to weight of the fluid) and that
sea surface generally used. While this is the default approach density differences are only included if multiplied by gravity
for routine forecasts, some adjustments may be required for (the so-called Boussinesq approximation). Manipulation of
intense events such as hurricanes. For example, Huang et al. the Navier–Stokes equations leads to the so-called primitive
(2013) note that the use of the standard wind product for equations (Blumberg and Mellor, 1987):
Hurricane Ike (Powell et al., 2010) overpredicted the wave
𝜕W
heights if the standard default wind wave generation mecha- ∇⋅U+ =0 (14)
nisms were used and suggest that the maximum drag coeffi- 𝜕z
cient in the SWAN model be set to a lower value to prevent
𝜕U 𝜕U
this overprediction. + U ⋅ ∇U + W −fV
Models such as SWAN typically have many free parame- 𝜕t 𝜕z
( )
ters that affect various physical processes represented in the 1 𝜕P 𝜕 𝜕U
=− + KM + Fx (15)
model (e.g., wind wave growth, bottom friction effects, and 𝜌o 𝜕x 𝜕z 𝜕z
whitecapping). These mechanisms are typically parameter-
ized representations of complex processes, and their perfor- 𝜕V 𝜕V
+ U ⋅ ∇V + W +fU
mance is often quite dependent on the values of the parame- 𝜕t 𝜕z
ters. Early versions of the WAM wave model (Komen et al., ( )
1 𝜕P 𝜕 𝜕V
1994) have been validated with available data and parameter =− + KM + Fy (16)
𝜌o 𝜕y 𝜕z 𝜕z
values set to optimize data–model agreement and insure that
the overall energy balance is achieved. These physical mech-
anisms and associated parameter values are usually used as 𝜕P
default options for models; for example, in SWAN, various = −𝜌g (17)
𝜕z
combinations of descriptions for dissipation, generation, and
nonlinear wave–wave interaction are identified with various where U is the horizontal velocity vector composed of the
generations of wave models (as discussed above), and a user zonal velocity component U and the meridional velocity
can select an entire suite of physical mechanisms and asso- V, W the vertical velocity, f the Coriolis parameter, KM
ciated parameter values reflective of a particular generation the vertical eddy diffusivity coefficient related to turbulent
of model. This both simplifies modeling and establishes a momentum mixing, P the pressure, 𝜌o the reference density, 𝜌
baseline from which further adjustments can be made for the local density, and F represents the subgrid scale processes
comparison and optimization. that are not directly resolved in the model. The x-coordinate
Operational wave models regularly undergo improvements is positive eastward, the y-coordinate is positive northward,
as new physics are uncovered and described. Both the SWAN and the z-coordinate is positive upward from the mean sea
and WAVEWATCH-III models (Tolman, 1999) have under- surface. The bottom is located at z = −H(x, y). As temper-
gone improvements via various directed research programs; ature and salinity gradients have effects on the hydrody-
improvements in WAVEWATCH-III have been documented namics, separate conservation equations are also written for
in Tolman, Banner, and Kaihatu (2013). them (Blumberg and Mellor, 1987):
( )
𝜕T 𝜕T 𝜕 𝜕T
+ U ⋅ ∇T + W = KH + FT
5 CIRCULATION MODELS 𝜕t 𝜕z 𝜕z 𝜕z
( )
𝜕S 𝜕S 𝜕 𝜕S
Ocean circulation models are also routinely run for oper- + U ⋅ ∇S + W = KH + FS (18)
𝜕t 𝜕z 𝜕z 𝜕z
ational predictions by civilian and military organizations.
Flows (and flow modification) from tides, wind, Coriolis where T is the temperature, S salinity, and KH the vertical
effects, salinity and temperature differences, and interaction eddy diffusivity coefficient related to temperature and
with the ocean bottom influence such activities as offshore salinity. From the temperature and salinity, an equation of
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe123
state (Fofonoff, 1962) is used to determine density, which

in turn feeds into the hydrodynamic Equation 17. The z
subgrid processes denoted by F are generally governed
by parameters that are related to the rate of strain tensor ρ
(Smagorinsky, 1963). The eddy diffusivity coefficients KM
and KH are dictated by the choice of closure scheme (Mellor
and Yamada, 1982).
One of the first operational models for oceanic flows is
the Princeton Ocean Model (POM; Blumberg and Mellor,
1987). The model used curvilinear grids in both the hori- σ
zontal and vertical dimensions. For the vertical discretiza-

tion, a “terrain-following” or “𝜎-coordinate” scheme was Figure 4. Definition sketch for various vertical discretization
developed, in which the vertical spatial discretization was schemes. (Source: Adapted with permission from Griffies et al.
expressed in terms of fixed percentages of the water depth (2000) © Elsevier, 2000.)
everywhere in the domain. This allowed the vertical grid to
smoothly transition between the variation of the bottom and
that of the free surface, and held the number of vertical grid- “stairstep” approximation of areas with complex bathymetry.
points to be constant everywhere. Variants of POM have also The 𝜎-level models can leave the surface mixed layer and
been developed: Finite Volume Community Ocean Model bottom boundary layers under-resolved in the deep ocean
(FVCOM) (Chen, Liu, and Beardsley, 2003), which uses (Haidvogel and Beckmann, 1999), as the layers between
an unstructured grid along with a finite-volume formulation 𝜎-levels widen away from the continential shelf. There are
for improved conservation properties; Navy Coastal Ocean additional problems representing horizontal pressure gradi-
Model (NCOM) (Martin, 2000), an ocean circulation model ents (Beckmann and Haidvogel, 1993). The 𝜌-level models
that can transition between a 𝜎-coordinate and a z-level coor- can also under-resolve the mixed surface layer or the bottom
dinate system and is used in conjunction with Navy oceano- boundary layer, although for the reason that these areas are
graphic products; and Rutgers Ocean Modeling System generally unstratified (Griffies et al., 2000). Recent years
(ROMS) (Haidvogel et al., 2000), which uses different have seen an increase in the development of “hybrid” models,
numerics and physical parameterizations than POM. which use a mixture of several vertical discretization systems
It is generally felt (Chassignet et al., 2007) that the choice in order to better fit different scenarios. The most sophis-
of vertical coordinate is one of the most important design ticated of these hybrid gridding systems perform a gener-
components in ocean models. In additional to 𝜎-coordinate alized mapping between two different coordinate systems.
models such as POM, models using z-coordinate vertical Models of this sort are called Lagrangian Vertical Direction
discretization include Modular Ocean Model (MOM; (LVD) models and include models such as HYbrid Coor-
Pacanowski, Dixon, and Rosati, 1991) and the MIT General dinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) (Bleck, 2002), which was
Ocean Model (Marshall et al., 1997). Another alternative developed in a collaboration between the Rosenstiel School
in vertical discretization is to align the grid elements in the of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of
vertical with some dynamical quantity, such as potential Miami and the US Naval Research Laboratory Oceanog-
density (a conserved quantity under stratified adiabatic raphy Division at Stennis, MS (Chassignet et al., 2011).
1 o
conditions). Use of isopycnals of potential density as the Global HYCOM is run at a 12 resolution for routine predic-
vertical coordinate allows for horizontal transport to take tions by the NCEP, which is sufficiently fine to resolve
place along isopycnal surfaces, which reduces the amount of most eddy structures in the ocean. Global HYCOM is also
numerical diffusion that might otherwise occur in the vertical run at Navy operational centers (e.g., Naval Oceanographic
in stratified flows (Chassignet et al., 2007). Models that use Office; Bub, 2007), replacing global NCOM (though NCOM
the isopycnal discretization in the vertical include Navy is still run for regional applications). The Navy HYCOM
Layered Ocean Model (NLOM; Wallcraft et al., 2003) and is run in conjunction with the Navy Coupled Ocean Data
Miami Isopycnic Coordinate Ocean Model (MICOM; Bleck, Assimilation (NCODA) system, which uses a wide range
1998); such models are often referred to as 𝜌-level models. of ocean measurements and multivariable optimal interpola-
Figure 4 shows the three different vertical gridding systems. tion to guide predictions toward higher accuracy (Chassignet,
Each discretization method has different potential difficul- 2011).
ties, and none has universal utility. For example, the z-level Often different models are run for predicting or analyzing
coordinate system can operate on the original system of specific events such as the effects of tropical cyclones. The
equations and is the most straightforward, but would lead to a ADvanced CIRCulation (ADCIRC; Luettich, Westerink,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe123
8 General
and Scheffner, 1992) model is a finite element model typi- primary reason for this can be found in one of the tenets of
cally used for predicting tides and hurricane-driven surge chaos theory (Lorenz, 1963); namely, that infinitesimally
in coastal areas. It is generally used as a depth-integrated small perturbations in the forcing conditions can lead to
model (two-dimensional flow), although a three-dimensional increasingly large errors in the modeled state, a problem that
version using a stretched vertical coordinate system similar may become more apparent as model sophistication (and,
to 𝜎-levels is available. Both the depth-integrated and likely, sensitivity) increases.
three-dimensional models use a vertically integrated conti- However, simple randomization of perturbations about
nuity equation for the free surface elevation. The model uses mean statistics of the control (via, for example, Monte-Carlo
the generalized wave continuity equation (GWCE) formu- methods) does not lead to the most efficient generation of
lation to suppress spurious short wave oscillations. In this ensembles. The problem lies in the initial perturbations used
formulation, the vertically integrated momentum equations to generate these ensembles. While random, it is most effi-
are substituted into the continuity equation to solve for the cient for the initial perturbations to span the space of the
free surface elevation. For the depth-integrated form of expected forecast errors with as few members as possible.
the model, the momentum dispersion terms are neglected Furthermore, the fastest growing errors in a model forecast
since they require knowledge of the vertical structure of are, in fact, not random but rather are well organized and
the horizontal velocities. ADCIRC uses an unstructured reflect the inherent errors in the model physics. Designing
finite element grid, which aids in fitting the grid to complex the perturbations to seek out these fastest growing error
coastlines while also allowing for coarser grid resolution modes, then, is an efficient and effective means of generating
offshore. A radiation condition is applied to the offshore ensembles.
portion of the grid. As breaking waves contribute to the The breeding method (Toth and Kalnay, 1993) is a method
storm surge via wave-induced setup caused by radiation used by NCEP for generating ensembles. In it, the opera-
stress gradients in the surf zone (Dean and Dalrymple, tional model is run with both the analysis field and a pertur-
1984), a wave model would be necessary to predict this bation of the analysis field, for a brief forecast time (6 h,
additional forcing. Recently, a finite-element version of the for example). The analysis field is then subtracted from the
SWAN wave model (called unSWAN) has been developed perturbed forecast, and the difference scaled so it has the
and integrated into the ADCIRC unstructured grid (Dietrich same variance as the initial perturbation. This is then applied
et al., 2011). The resulting coupled model has been used to the analysis field for the next forecast (thus becoming
for flood risk mapping (Johnson and Mahoney, 2011), the perturbed field) and run again for the following 6 h, and
evaluating coastal restoration projects in hurricane-stricken the process repeated. This methodology tends to select (or
areas (Cobell et al., 2013), and hindcasting hurricane waves “breeds”) the modes that grow the fastest over the forecast
and surge (Dietrich et al., 2011), among other applications. cycle. According to Toth and Kalnay (1993), the errors in
The model FVCOM, mentioned earlier with regards to its the corresponding ensembles start to reach a “saturation”
relation to POM and also a finite element model for an point after 4 days, after which the growth rate is no longer
unstructured grid, has also been used to hindcast hurricane dependent on the initial perturbation. These perturbations are
conditions (Rego and Li, 2009; Huang et al., 2013). thus considered the most representative for highlighting the
model sensitivity to errors in the analysis fields.
Other methods for performing ensemble forecasts have
6 PREDICTION METHODOLOGY been used by the European Centre for Medium-Range
Weather Forecasting (ECMWF). In contrast to the
While modeling capability has improved in accuracy, the constructed “breeding” method used by NCEP, the method
ultimate performance of a predictive model may have less employed by ECMWF uses the model adjoint (a series of
to do with model physics than the presence of errors in equations that map the sensitivity of the model governing
the forcing. With increased access to high-performance equation to variations in model parameters) to determine the
computing facilities, it is possible to provide metocean perturbations that lead to the fastest growing mode (Buizza
predictions that inherently account for the errors in the et al., 1993). Operational models that use variational data
forcing fields. These rely on ensemble predictions to assimilation techniques employ the adjoint equations as part
account for quantified variability in the forcing conditions of the assimilation process. Since the fastest growing modes
and map them onto the forecast. According to Epstein are the eigenvectors of the model adjoint operators corre-
(1969), the ensemble mean provides a more accurate depic- sponding to the largest eigenvalues (Buizza et al., 1993), the
tion of predicted conditions than a single deterministic result is a systematic estimation of the most representative
(control) forecast so long as the ensemble includes the perturbations to the system using an existing model forecast
uncertainty represented in the deterministic forecast. The framework.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe123
7 DISSEMINATION Numerical Algorithm used for numerical

model approximation of a mathematical
In most cases, dissemination of information to the general equation.
public is accomplished via the World Wide Web, although Operational A prediction of conditions which is
(depending on the application) automated upload to File prediction routinely generated and widely
Transfer Protocol (FTP) servers is performed; this step is disseminated.
particularly useful if the results are to be used to force other Wave model Numerical model for predictions of the
models for forecasts. ocean surface wave environment.
Generally, the standard product output is a field of oceano- Wind model Numerical model for predictions of
graphic and atmospheric variables (current velocities, wind atmospheric conditions.
speed, temperature, salinity, wave heights, etc.) and derived
variables (e.g., sound speed). These forecast fields are
displayed on a web page and updated as new forecasts
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Smagorinsky, J. (1963) General circulation experiments with the ical Society, 74, 2317–2330.
primitive equations. 1: the basic experiment. Monthly Weather Wallcraft, A.J., Kara, A.B., Hurlburt, H.E., and Rochford, P.A.
Review, 91, 99–164. (2003) The NRL Layered Global Ocean Model (NLOM) with an
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Technical Note 166, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Camp Springs, MD.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe123
Liquid Bulk and Oil Terminals
Yun H. Venus Lun and Wenting Zhu
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
rate of 32.6% compared to all of the other energy sources,

1 Introduction 1 such as natural gas, hydroelectricity, coal, nuclear energy,
2 Demand for Oil Transportation 1 and renewables (Table 3). Maritime oil transportation thus
3 Supply of Oil Transportation 5 plays a critical role in the moving of this energy source
throughout the world.
4 Oil Terminals 7
This article focuses on maritime oil transportation. After
Glossary 11 a preliminary discussion on liquid bulk cargo, the second
Related Articles 11 and third sections will be discussions on the demand for oil
References 11 transportation and its supply, respectively. The section after
that focuses on oil terminals, which are designed for loading,
unloading, storing, and transferring of oil. The characteris-
tics, operation process, and relevant safety guidelines of oil
1 INTRODUCTION terminals are presented.
Maritime transportation is the movement of cargo over water

transport networks and a prominent component of the global
2 DEMAND FOR OIL TRANSPORTATION
logistics chain. Today, approximately 90% of all goods by
volume are carried worldwide by sea (Valentine, Bena- In 2014, 2826 million tons of oil products were carried
mara, and Hoffmann, 2013). Marine transportation provides through maritime transportation using tankers as part of the
cost-efficient access to energy, raw materials, and finished
seaborne trade (OECD, 2015). A tanker is defined as a vessel
goods in places where they are needed (Grammenos, 2002;
that is specifically designed for moving liquid cargo, and
Berle, 2012). Table 1 shows the worldwide seaborne trade
the most common types of cargo carried in such vessels
for different types of cargo (i.e., containers, and dry and
are crude oil and oil products (Grammenos, 2002). On the
liquid bulk) from 2010 to 2014. The main types of liquid
other hand, other transport modes such as the pipeline trans-
bulk cargo include chemicals, gas, and oil; among these,
portation are comparatively smaller in scale and usually
oil dominates in terms of volume (Table 2). More specifi-
restricted by national borders or local geographical areas
cally, crude oil and oil products are the most common types
(Talley, 2011). For instance, large ongoing pipeline projects
of oil, and the market for these two categories of oil are
in the transportation of oil in the United States, together with
generally referred to the tanker trades in maritime economics
the expanded capacity to transport crude oil and refined prod-
(Talley, 2011).
ucts by rail, are mainly for the United States to transport
In addition, oil also globally persists as the leading energy
domestic and western Canadian crudes outward to the Gulf
source in terms of global energy consumption with a usage
Coast and the east and west coasts (OPEC Secretariat, 2014).
Tanker shipping, on the other hand, provides an econom-
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ical and convenient means to transport liquid bulk cargo
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe194
worldwide as one of the most important sectors in maritime
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 transportation.
2 Marine
Table 1. Worldwide seaborne trade in cargo ton-miles by cargo type, 2010–2014 (billions of ton-miles).
Seaborne Cargo 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 (Estimated)
Container 6833 7469 7673 8076 8514
Primary types of dry bulk cargo (coal, iron, grain, bauxite, 12,824 13,596 14,691 15,312 16,294
alumina, and phosphate rock)
Liquid bulk (chemicals, gas, and oil) 13,208 13,625 14,125 14,034 14,250
Created by the author using data from OECD (2015).
Table 2. Worldwide seaborne trade in ton-miles of liquid bulk cargo by cargo type (billions of
ton-miles).
Liquid Bulk Cargo 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 (Estimated)
Chemicals 824 864 889 908 899
Gas 1147 1344 1346 1347 1382
Oil 11,237 11,417 11,890 11,779 11,969
Created by the author using data from OECD (2015).
Table 3. Global primary energy consumption. production strategies to affect the overall industry
Energy Source Global Energy Consumption (%) price and production levels, thus controlling the quantity
of oil produced (Lun et al., 2013). Moreover, oligop-
Oil 32.6
Natural gas 23.7 sonies emerged because oil companies were the single
Coal 30.0 purchasers of oil transport services.
Nuclear energy 4.4 • Between 1861 and 1911, the high freight rate motivated
Hydroelectricity 6.8
investment in ships. The freight rate remained high as
Renewables 2.5
Total 100 the market took some time to adjust to the increase in
demand during this period of time.
Created by the author using data from BP (2015).
• In 1900–1920, new oil producing areas were discovered
in the United States, including the areas within the Gulf
2.1 Historical development
Coast, Texas and California, and also in Mexico.
A brief summary on the historical development of the oil – In 1900, Europe was the largest oil consumer, but not
market is provided as follows (Lun et al., 2013). entirely free from their reliance on coal. The United
States consumed only 20% of the world oil production
• In 1895, the oil market began when the Standard Oil at the time. From 1861 onward, the Suez Canal gener-
Company emerged in the United States as the first ally did not allow tankers to transit through, except
monopoly. in 1892 when passage of specially designed tankers
• The transport of oil by sea from the United States to was permitted, which were owned by Marcus Samuel
London started in 1861, following the discovery and & Company (founding company of Shell). The use
economic exploitation (refining) of oil fields in the north of the canal apparently reduced the average distance
east part of the United States. Half of the oil was exported traveled. “Shell Transport and Trading” was formed
to Europe and the Far East at that time. in 1897. Profits (rent in the Ricardian sense) then
• In 1886, the first tanker was launched (Wijnolst and were good, as demand was high and customers had
Wergeland, 1996). The tankers were also know as tank to pay a fee equivalent to that of a dry cargo sail ship
ships due to the name of the first specialized ships. with higher deadweight tonnage known as a marginal
Economies of scale supported the development of the use carrier, or a ship that is operating by cutting costs
of tanks in the construction of oil ships, in a way that had using older parts, reducing wages, and so on.
not been previously imagined. This also drove most of – In 1907, Shell Transport and the Royal Dutch
the developments that took place in the tanker industry Petroleum (which owned 34 ships) formed the
between 1861 and 1972 (Chandler, 1990; Wijnolst and “Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co Ltd” for the transport of
Wergeland, 1996). their own oil products.
• In 1910, the oil industry became “oligopsonic,” which – Innovations around that time included the internal
means that one company expects its pricing and combustion engine, which was invented by Karl Benz
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe194
Liquid Bulk and Oil Terminals 3
and ran on gasoline, “Model T” car produced by 19.8%; and the United States for 12.3%. In terms of oil
Ford in 1908, and an alternative engine, the diesel consumption, Europe and the Eurasia region together used
engine, which was introduced in 1892. All of these the most at 20.4% in 2014 and the Russian Federation and
encouraged the use of oil. Germany are the two largest countries of oil consumption in
– Between 1910 and 1920, car ownership in the United their region. This is followed by the United States, which
States increased annually by 33%, and truck fleets accounted for 19.9%. China was also one of the largest
grew by 27%, which greatly increased oil consump- consumers of oil in the world at 12.4% and additionally, had
tion. Finally, railways and ships also started to the largest increment in global oil consumption, while Japan
use oil products. In addition, two new oil compa- experienced the largest decline in 2014.
nies, “Texaco” and “Gulf Oil,” were formed, thus
demonopolizing the monopoly of the “Standard
Oil Company.” They used US Gulf ports, acquired 2.2 Demand for tankers
tankers, and obtained a market share from their
oilfields in the southern United States. The demand for tankers is derived from the trade activities
• Between 1900 and 1950, worldwide oil trade experi- between buyers and sellers in the energy trade market. As
enced a rapid and unanticipated growth, from less than well, the development of refinery capacities and strategic
35 million tons in 1903 to 35 million tons in 1920, and building of stock in different regions have also had a signifi-
182 million tons in 1950. The price of oil was then partly cant impact on the movement of tanker services. The produc-
determined by the supply controlled by the well-known tion of oil in different countries is not always proportional to
oil oligopolies made up of specific governments, that is, their reserves due to political conditions, and technical and
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries financial resources (Grammenos, 2002), which all contribute
(OPEC), with specific policies enacted after its establish- to different oil seaborne trade patterns. The shipping services
ment in 1960 and especially after the Caracas meeting provided by crude tankers and product oil tankers are impor-
in 1970 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The supply tant for illustrating trade patterns. A crude oil tanker is a
of oil was also partly controlled by the major oil compa- ship designed for moving unrefined crude oil, usually trans-
nies. Control of supply naturally leads to control of price, porting long hauls from production locations to refineries. On
given the elasticity of demand and the current technology the other hand, product tankers, which are smaller in size,
in use. However, the demand for oil products is beyond are used to transport petrochemical products of refineries,
the control of shipowners. Control of oil production natu- which are closer in proximity to the consumption markets.
rally led to the control of its transport by oil producers These product tankers are limited to trading clean or white
who were also the oil companies. petroleum products due to product contamination and high
cleaning costs (Grammenos, 2002). This also indicates that
Table 4 lists the top crude oil producers and consumers in the movement of crude tankers has a more fundamental
2014. The main oil production regions or countries are those impact on the oil movement worldwide with regard to both
in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia, which accounted the distances transported and the volume carried. Table 5
for 12.9% of the global oil production; Europe and Eurasia, provides an overview of the interarea movement of oil prod-
in particular, the Russian Federation, which accounted for ucts in 2014.
Table 4. Top 10 crude oil producer and consumers, 2014 (share of total % of million tons).
World Oil Production World Oil Consumption
1 Saudi Arabia (12.9%) Europe and Eurasia (20.4%)
2 Europe and Eurasia (19.8%) USA (19.9%)
3 USA (12.3%) China (12.4%)
4 Canada (5%) Japan (4.7%)
5 Iran (4%) India (4.3%)
6 United Arab Emirates (4%) Russian Federation (3.5%)
7 Iraq (3.8%) Brazil (3.4%)
8 Kuwait (3.6%) Saudi Arabia (3.4%)
9 Venezuela (3.3%) South Korea (2.6%)
10 Mexico (3.2%) Canada (2.4%)
Share of total in million tons 2735.0/4220.6 2493.0/4211.1
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe194
4
Marine
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe194
Table 5. Regional flow of oil, 2014 (million tons).
To:
From: USA Canada Mexico S. & Cent. Europe Former Soviet Middle Africa Australia China India Japan Singapore Other Asia Total
America Union East Pacific Exports
USA — 39.0 26.5 63.7 31.9 0.1 2.1 6.3 0.7 5.7 4.6 6.6 5.4 4.1 196.7
Canada 167.7 — a 0.7 4.2 a 0.1 a a 0.8 0.6 0.5 0.1 0.2 174.9
Mexico 41.8 1.1 — 0.9 11.2 a a a — 0.7 4.2 0.3 3.2 0.5 63.9
South and Central America 79.2 0.7 0.4 — 23.4 a 0.2 1.2 a 37.2 34.4 2.8 11.0 4.0 194.4
Europe 22.0 4.9 2.9 6.0 — 5.5 13.9 30.8 0.6 3.6 2.1 0.9 7.4 9.5 110.2
Former Soviet Union 18.1 1.1 0.1 2.0 296.4 — 13.9 2.8 2.0 45.8 2.0 15.6 11.9 27.3 438.9
Middle East 93.0 4.9 0.3 7.1 101.6 0.3 — 25.4 6.0 171.7 121.1 157.0 53.3 237.0 978.7
Africa 22.6 4.9 0.1 17.8 138.2 0.1 1.8 — 4.4 68.8 33.0 4.4 0.9 19.9 317.1
Australia 0.1 a a 0.3 a a a a — 3.0 0.1 2.2 2.3 7.4 15.3
China 0.3 0.1 0.1 3.9 0.5 0.4 1.5 1.2 0.5 — 1.0 0.5 5.0 11.3 26.2
India 4.3 a a 3.8 7.8 a 19.6 9.0 0.3 0.3 — 3.0 6.9 6.2 61.3
a a a
Japan 0.7 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 2.8 1.8 0.1 — 3.2 4.3 13.3
Singapore 0.5 a a 0.3 1.5 a 0.6 3.7 9.9 6.7 0.6 0.2 — 47.4 71.5
Other Asia Pacific 5.0 0.1 a 0.7 3.5 a 1.0 2.0 22.8 26.8 5.8 19.9 37.5 — 125.2
Total imports 455.5 56.8 30.6 107.6 620.4 6.5 54.7 82.5 50.0 372.8 209.6 213.9 148.0 379.0 2787.9
a
Less than 0.05.
Europe as a whole is the largest importing region of oil supply affects the market structure, which in turn, plays a
products. The flows are mainly from the Middle East, former significant role in determining the investment and operation
Soviet Union, and Africa, which provide 47.8%, 16.4%, and decisions in the marketplace (Tirole, 2003).
22.3% of oil (in millions of tons) to Europe, respectively. The
United States and China also have a large import demand
for oil; however, the demand from the United States has 3 SUPPLY OF OIL TRANSPORTATION
declined by approximately 6% over the previous year (BP,
2014). On the other hand, despite the comparatively low Tanker services are provided by different types of tankers.
total import volume, the growth in African countries is now Tankers are generally categorized by size, for example,
approximately 17%. Further growth is also expected in the Panamax (the largest that can sail through the Panama
refinery capacity and petroleum reserves of China (OECD, Canal), Aframax (for sailing around Africa), Suezmax (the
2015). In terms of exports, the Middle East dominates by largest that can sail through the Suez Canal), Very Large
contributing to 22.3% of the total oil movement in 2014. Crude Carrier (VLCC), and Ultra Large Crude Carrier
Figure 1 illustrates the trends in oil transportation demand (ULCC). Table 6 shows the world fleet by oil tankers in
from 2000 to 2014. It can be observed that in general, the 2013, 2014, and 2015, respectively, and illustrates the
volume of seaborne oil transportation has doubled over the general trend of the increase in their capacity. Table 7
past two decades. In 2014, the seaborne trade volume of provides the details of different sized and classes of tankers
tankers was 2826 million tons due to growth in demand for and their regular service routes.
energy commodities, around a 2% decline compared to the
previous year. Due to the limited growth in demand or even a
decrease in the import volume in some of the countries such 3.1 Tanker transportation market segment
as the United States as mentioned above, this decline could
have been greater without the increase in import demand The key elements in the tanker shipping markets include
from Asian countries, particularly India, and other African the freight rate and four different vessel markets, namely,
countries. the freight, new building, second-hand vessel, and demo-
These movements of oil further trigger the demand for lition markets. Sea transport services are addressed in
tankers. In the context of research in tanker shipping, the the freight market, new ships are ordered and built in the
demand for shipping stems from the seaborne trade in energy new building market, used ships are traded in the sale and
products since this demand occurs as a result of the need for purchase market/second-hand vessel market, and old or
seaborne tanker shipping services (i.e., derived demand). On obsolete ships are scrapped in the demolition market. These
the other hand, the supply of shipping services depends on four shipping markets can be further categorized into real
the fleet size in the tanker shipping market. From the perspec- and auxiliary markets (Grammenos, 2002; Lun and Quaddus,
tive of the industrial organization paradigm, the interaction 2009; Adland and Cullinane, 2006; Adland, Jia, and Stran-
between the demand for tanker shipping services and the denes, 2006). The new building and scrapping markets
4500 72.0%
4000 70.0% World oil

production
3500 68.0% (million
tonnes)
3000 66.0%
Seaborne
2500 64.0% trade (million
tonnes
2000 62.0% loaded)
1500 60.0% Seaborne
trade share of
1000 58.0%
production
500 56.0% (%)
0 54.0%
2000 2005 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Figure 1. Trends in oil transportation demand: 2000–2014. (Created by the author using data from BP (2011); BP (2015), and OECD
(2015).)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe194
6 Marine
Table 6. World fleet by oil tankers, 2014–2015 (thousands of dwt).

2013 2014 2015
Oil tankers/ world total 472,890/1,625,750 482,017/1,689,462 489,388/1,749,222
29.1% 28.6% 28.0%
Created by the author using data from OECD (2014) and OECD (2015).
Table 7. Oil tanker classifications and size.

Tanker Class Size (Deadweight) Examples of Major Service Routes
Product tanker 10,000–60,000 Caribbean refineries to the US east coast
Panamax 60,000–80,000 West coast of South America to the US Gulf refineries, the US Gulf and Venezuela
to the US west coast
Aframax 80,000–120,000 Basins of the Black Sea, the North Sea, Caribbean Sea, South and East China Seas,
and the Mediterranean
Suezmax 120,000–200,000 Nigeria and other West African countries to the United States and Europe
VLCC 200,000–320,000 Middle-East to Japan and the Far East, the North American east coast
ULCC 320,000–550,000
Reproduced with permission from Inkpen and Moffett (2011) © Penwell, 2011.
comprise real markets as their activities affect shipping in future freight rates. In the tanker shipping industry, the
activities in general. Transactions do not change existing demand for new vessels reflects the increased need for ship-
shipping capacity in the auxiliary market, which consists of ping capacity. There is the possibility that 1–3 years will
the freight market that trades sea transport services, while elapse from the placement of an order for a new vessel until
the sale and purchase market trades second-hand vessels. A the delivery of the ship itself to carry cargo in the freight
detailed description of these four types of markets in tanker market. From the perspective of business operations, the
transportation is provided as follows (Lun et al., 2013). prices of newly ships have a stabilizing effect in the tanker
shipping (Dikos, 2004). When the demand for seaborne rises,
3.1.1 Freight market high freight rate and profit level affect shipping firms to place
orders for new ships. This high freight rate implies that ship-
The freight market is a place where buyers and sellers are ping firms can earn higher than normal profit. On the other
brought together to trade sea transport services. The demand hand, with the increase in demand for new ships, prices in
for tanker shipping services and their supply interact with the shipping building market also increase, which implies
each other to determine the freight rate. The supply of ship- that the capital cost of shipping firms increases. Hence, the
ping services is inelastic in the short run. Excessive supply of increase in the price of new ships could be regarded as a form
shipping capacity causes not only a reduction in the freight of price stabilization, which establishes a barrier for shipping
rate but also extra operational costs when ships are laid up. firms to prevent excessive profit and price fluctuations.
On the other hand, a shortage of vessels leads to a rise in the
freight rate, which motivates shipping companies to adjust 3.1.3 Second-hand vessel market
their shipping capacity. Although trade volume has experi-
enced growth in the past decades, shipping companies may Newly built and second-hand vessels are substitutes for
make their investment decision only when they expect that each other as they are the same kind of assets (Beenstock,
the future freight rate will increase. However, it may take 1985). Newly built and used ships are positively associated
a few years for shipping firms to take in new ships if they as both can be used to carry cargo, but the lead time of
decide to increase their shipping capacity. using second-hand ships in the freight market is much shorter
than the deployment of newly built ships. In times of freight
3.1.2 New building vessel market booms, the second-hand vessel market is a good option
for shipping firms so that they can add to their shipping
The new building and the freight markets are positively asso- capacity to satisfy the demand for tanker shipping services
ciated. Shipping firms order new ships to expand their fleet (Goulielmos, 2008). The second-hand vessel market is an
size during freight booms, which indicate that they have posi- auxiliary market since the buying and selling of used ships
tive expectations in the growth of seaborne trade and increase do not change the existing number of ships and the carrying
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe194
capability in the tanker shipping market (Grammenos, 2002). 4 OIL TERMINALS

The sales and purchase market facilitates the entry of ship-
ping firms to the shipping market as shipping firms may 4.1 Characteristics
acquire ships in this market with lower capital requirements.
In addition, the second-hand vessel market helps to allocate Oil terminals are terminals where tankers are berthed or
ships among ship operators. With the sales and purchase of moored for the purpose of loading or discharging petroleum
used ships, shipowners can exit the market or restructure cargo (International Chamber of Shipping, 2006). In the
their existing fleets in response to demand that is dynamic in Safety Guidelines and Good Industry Practices for Oil
nature. When the demand for second-hand ships rises during Terminals, it is stated that oil terminals are facilities
freight booms, it can be observed that the second-hand vessel for storing oil and their derivatives (i.e., including but
market is closely connected to the freight market. That is not limited to naphtha, flammable liquids, etc.), as well
because as a consequence of a high freight rate, the demand as loading, unloading, and transfer activities (Candreva
for second-hand ships is also high as shipping firms need et al., 2014). Due to the product variety and specifica-
these ships to make higher than normal profits. Therefore, the tions, oil terminals are different from other terminals such
price of second-hand ships increases during freight booms as container terminals with respect to the design layout
and decreases during freight depression (Lun and Quaddus, and facilities, operation procedures, and regulations. A
2009) because low vessel prices are usually a response to low tanker berth is illustrated in Figure 2. A tanker terminal
freight rates. consists of jetties that are located where the berths are
In particular, the freight market can be classified as a built for modern tankers that require deep water, cargo
product market where sea transport services are traded in transfer equipment used to facilitate ship/shore connec-
a marketplace, while the new building and second-hand
tions and ensure proper linkage to the cargo system to
vessel markets can be categorized as a factor market in
ensure integrity (including marine loading arms on the
which vessels can be bought and sold. Therefore, shipping
jetties, cargo hoses, and vapor emissions control system),
firms are involved in two types of exchange functions. On
tanker farms (including storage tanks and pipelines for
the one hand, they sell products (i.e., shipping services) in
transporting oil inside the tank farm), office area, and
the product market. On the other hand, shipowners obtain
the train/truck movement area for inland transportation.
production factors (i.e., ships) in the new building market or
In addition, oil reception facilities and environmental
sale and purchase market.
protection equipment to avoid oil spills in oil terminals
and berths are also required. Due to the economies of
3.1.4 Scrapping vessel market using large tankers, the storage space near the berths is
Old or obsolete vessels are scrapped in the demolition usually generous. In order to safely allow oil to flow into
market. The activities of the new building and demolition the tanker under the force of gravity, the shore tanks are
markets determine the tanker shipping capacity to serve usually placed higher than the ship at a loading berth
seaborne trade (Grammenos, 2002). With the exception of (Alderton, 2013).
old ships that are unable to meet safety requirements and In general, oil terminals can be owned or operated
regulations, the scrapping decision made by shipowners by a single oil company, for example, DA18 and DA19
depends on expected financial return from scrapping the ExxonMobil Oil Terminal East and West in the Port of
ship and the future freight rate. An increase in scrap price Hong Kong, which belong to ExxonMobil Hong Kong
can mean higher chances that vessels are scrapped (Knapp, Limited. It also can be a joint or consortium owner-
Kumar, and Remijn, 2008). In the past decade, the world- ship, where two or more companies own a terminal
wide consumption of steel significantly grew, which induced together and share its operating costs, for example, the
a higher price of steel and subsequently increased the Mongstad oil terminal located near Bergen in western
scrapping price of demolished vessels (Knapp, Kumar, and Norway is owned both by Petoro and Statoil. Another
Remijn, 2008). The activities in the scrapping market are form is independent ownership, where a depot is owned
also linked with the second-hand market. During freight by an individual business that charges oil companies
booms, shipowners would keep their ships to carry cargo or (and others) a service fee to store and handle products.
sell them to other shipowners. On the other hand, shipowners For instance, Vopak Terminal Amsterdam Westpoort is
are willing to demolish their ships when they expect that the a terminal for handling clean petroleum products that is
profitability of vessels is negative in the foreseeable future, wholly owned by Royal Vopak in the Netherlands, a leading
and there is little demand for second-hand ships in the sale independent tank storage provider for the oil and chemical
and purchase market. industries.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe194
8 Marine
Tank farm
Marine
loading
arms
Shore
Jetties pipelines
Storage Office
tanks area
Road truck
Loading
Movement area
Figure 2. Tanker terminal. (Reproduced with permission from Alderton (2013). © Taylor and Francis, 2013.)
4.2 Operations tank that could be located miles away. The Oil Companies
International Marine Forum (OCIMF) has proposed clear
Unlike general cargo and container terminals that use roll-on guidelines in terms of the operating practices for tanker
roll-off or lift-on lift off to handle cargo, oil transportation terminals (Figure 3) (International Chamber of Shipping,
uses a pumping system through pipelines that go into a 2006).
(3) Limiting
(1) Pre-arrival (4) Ship/Shore
(2) Mooring conditions for
communications access
operations
(7) Operations where

(6) Over the tide
(5) Double banking the tide is not always
cargo operations
afloat
(8) Generation of (10) Reduction of

(9) Assessment of
pressure surges in pressure surge hazard
pressure surges
pipelines if needed
(11) Pipeline flow

(12) Marine movement (13) Tank to tank
control as a static
completion movement
precaution
Figure 3. Process of oil terminal operations. (Created by the author using data from ISGOTT 2006.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe194
According to Figure 3, the primary operations in oil termi- • Marine movement completion: When the ship/shore
nals are as follows. transfer operation is completed, the tanker leaves for
its next destination. Equipment, such as those for cargo
• Prearrival communications: The terminals provide ships transfer, should exit the operations.
that are visiting their berths with information on all perti- • Tank to tank movement: This stage involves transferring,
nent local regulations and terminal safety requirements. blending, and storing oil products in tank farms.
• Mooring: The equipment should fit the size of the ships
that are using the berths.
• Limiting conditions for operations: Terminals establish 4.3 Safety guidelines for oil terminals
weather operating limits based on ambient environmental
conditions (e.g., wind/current speed and direction, wave The impact of external regulations on tanker transportation
height and period, swell conditions, etc.) and define the has increased, given the growing environmental concerns of
limits for the thresholds of maneuvering during arrival the public over the past decades. Incidents of tankers at sea
and berthing, stopping, loading or discharging, removing or spills in terminals have triggered changes in the oper-
ships from berths, and so on. ations of the tanker industry. The International Maritime
• Ship/shore access: The way that ships access the shore Organization (IMO) has introduced double-hull tanker tech-
needs to comply with certain national regulations, gener- nology in Regulation 13 F, which came into force in 1992
ally based on the port state or the flag state of the ship. for the purpose of improving the safety of crude oil trans-
• Double banking: When two or more ships are berthed on portation (Grammenos, 2002). The sinking of the Erika in
the same jetty, the presence or operations of one ship act 1999 accelerated the phasing out of single-hulled tankers,
as a physical constraint on the other. which was adopted by the IMO in 2001. However, a single
• Over the tide cargo operations: The operations include measure cannot entirely prevent accidents. In addition to the
discharging or loading over the tide that utilizes the tidal implementation of stricter international regulations or laws,
changes in water depth, and either finish the loading of a well maintained, diligently operated, and high quality tankers
ship to its full draft as the water depth increases toward regardless of their construction are better proactive solutions
high tide or discharge the cargo to lighten the ship before to prevent accidents and oil spills at sea or in the terminal
there are low tidal levels. (Inkpen and Moffett, 2011).
• Operations where the tide is not always afloat: The With regard to oil terminals in particular, 29% of the large
parameters that include the seabed, slope of the seabed, oil spills since the 1970s have occurred during loading or
and hull strength of the ship should be assessed to ensure discharging, which are typical operations in oil terminals.
safety and provide essential services. These accidents that take place at oil terminal facilities can
• Generation of pressure surges in pipelines: It takes place also lead to significant costs for a company, including the
when there is a sudden change in the rate of flow of the need for repairs, loss of share value, cost of closure, remedi-
liquid in the pipeline. Pressure surges should be avoided ation, and claims made (Candreva et al., 2014). Oil terminals
as the pressure stress may exceed the strength of the pipes are facilities for storing oil. They also perform ship berthing,
or their components, and therefore an extensive spill of cargo loading, unloading, and transferring. Safety, therefore,
oil may take place. has a central role in oil terminal operations. For this purpose,
• Assessment of pressure surges: It includes the evaluation the International Safety Guide for Oil Tankers and Termi-
of effective valve closure time, derivation of the total nals (ISOGTT), which was reviewed by the International
pressure in the system, and the overall system design. Chamber of Shipping (ICS), OCIMF, and the International
• Reduction of pressure surge hazard if needed: After an Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), has become the
assessment is carried out for pressure surges, expert standard reference for the safe operation of oil tankers and
advice should be sought if the potential total pressure terminals (International Chamber of Shipping, 2006). This
may exceed or is close to the strength of any part of the standard also takes into account the principles that underlie
pipeline system. the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code
• Pipeline flow control as a static precaution (flow control with regard to the general safety guidelines in ports. Within
requirements, control of loading rates, and discharge the framework of the ISOGTT, safety and fire protection, and
into shore installations): To avoid the generation of preparation of emergencies are the two primary issues for
static charges during cargo transfer, it is necessary to operations in oil terminals. The safety guidelines generally
manage the flow rate of cargo linearly within the loading include design and operations aspects.
lines, both ashore and onboard when static accumulator The design aspects include the layout and facilities of a
cargoes are transferred. terminal and the design and operation of the equipment.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe194
10 Marine
• Layout and facilities: The layout and facilities of a systems for terminal handling and storing of crude oil
terminal are determined by the local topography and and petroleum products, firefighting equipment, water-
water depth, access to the berth(s), type and quantity borne firefighting equipment, protective clothing, and so
of cargo to be handled, local facilities and infrastruc- on (International Chamber of Shipping, 2006).
ture, environmental conditions, and national regulations • Emergency plan: Despite careful designing and safety
(International Chamber of Shipping, 2006). In terms of implementation, accidents cannot be completely
the development of new oil terminals, land use plan- excluded and only reduced. Therefore, in order to
ning is one of the key aspects which needs to be taken respond to emergencies in an orderly and efficient
into consideration (Candreva et al., 2014). For instance, manner, a comprehensive and well-practiced emergency
an appropriate and safe distance from transport routes, plan is essential. An emergency plan can be either
locations of public use and residential areas, and areas off-site (external) or on-site (internal). The latter should
of natural sensitivity or interest should be considered to be part of the operating manual and developed for
avoid any negative consequences and possible incidents each site and situation, while the former is developed
that involve human life and the environment. by competent authorities that cover wider areas with
• Design and operations of equipment: The most important industrial facilities (Candreva et al., 2014). As a whole,
safety considerations with regard to equipment are the this emergency plan should cover not only normal oper-
fitting of the piping, valve and pump designs, choice of ational hours but also incidents that may occur outside
construction material, protection of outdoor overground regular working times. The elements that should be
plant units, protection of underground containers and included in emergency procedures involve personnel,
pipelines, installation of level measurement devices, use information on cargo hazards, and human resources
of overfill prevention devices, and provision of equip- (International Chamber of Shipping, 2006).
ment designs (Candreva et al., 2014). Although these – Personnel members must be familiar with the emer-
design factors should be decided in the initial planning gency procedures, adequately trained, and clearly
and design stage for the terminal, proper development understand the actions required to respond to an
over time is still necessary in line with the changes in emergency. It is essential to provide them with
cargo throughput, tanker size, product variety, and envi- well-organized training.
ronmental conditions. – Information on the hazards associated with cargo
handled at terminals should be immediately avail-
The operation aspects include safety management plan, fire able in case of emergencies. For instance, the Mate-
protection, and emergency plan. rial Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) is recommended to
provide both workers and emergency personnel with
• Safety management plan: This is required in the opera-
the procedures for handling each specific product.
tion of all oil terminals for safety purposes. The primary
– Human resources are necessary to initiate, sustain, and
elements included in a safety program are process safety,
respond to emergencies. The requirements for human
leadership and safety culture, organization of work and
resources over the entire period of any emergency
personnel, operating manual, operating procedures and
should be determined based on a thorough study.
safe work practices, management of change, good indus-
Local emergency facilities, nearby airports, industrial
trial practices for transport and storage of hazardous
plants, or military installation may need to provide
materials, and management of abnormal situations
necessary assistance to ensure that human resources
(Candreva et al., 2014). The plan should be able to
at terminals are sufficient to initially respond to any
address questions such as those related to emergency
emergency and meet the needs.
management, hazard identification and risk assessment,
permit to work systems, incident reporting, investigation
and follow-up, and so on. Key components and procedures of emergency planning
• Fire protection: In addition, marine terminal fire protec- in terminals should also include steps such as preparation
tion should be provided through overlapping levels of (e.g., a specific initial plan and procedures to be followed in
protection, including prevention and isolation, detection mobilizing the resources of the terminal, reporting location,
and alarm facilities, protection equipment, emergency emergency organization, and control center), clear definition
and escape routes, emergency planning, and evacuation of individual responsibilities (e.g., civil firefighting brigade,
procedures. As a whole, a fire protection system should personnel who manage the control center and an emergency
take into consideration the following specific subsys- team), communications and alarms (e.g., alarms, contact
tems: alarm and signaling systems, detection and alarm lists, and communication system and discipline processes),
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe194
site plans and maps, access to equipment, road traffic move- REFERENCES
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medical facilities), and training for emergencies (Interna- freight rates in tanker markets. Transportation Research Part E:
tional Chamber of Shipping, 2006). Logistics and Transportation Review, 42 (3), 211–224.
In order to facilitate port management in oil terminals, Adland, R., Jia, H., and Strandenes, S. (2006) Asset bubbles in
the OCIMF has developed a voluntary program called shipping? An analysis of recent history in the drybulk market.
the Marine Terminal Information System (MTIS), which Maritime Economics & Logistics, 8 (3), 223–233.
involves a comprehensive safety system that includes the Alderton, P. (2013) Lloyd’s Practical Shipping Guides: Port Manage-
physical properties of a terminal, management system, and ment and Operations, 3rd edn., Informa Law from Routledge,
London.
operator training. This program is developed to achieve
Beenstock, M. (1985) A theory of ship prices. Maritime Policy and
higher safety standards, improve operational efficiency at
Management, 12 (3), 215–225.
ship/shore interface with better use of terminal information,
Berle, Ø. (2012) Risk and resilience in global maritime supply chains.
better trained and motivated staff, and a secure process that PhD thesis, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
is owned and managed by the terminal operators. BP (2011) BP statistical Review of World Energy, BP, London. http://
www.bp.com/content/dam/bp-country/de_de/PDFs/brochures/
statistical_review_of_world_energy_full_report_2011.pdf
GLOSSARY BP (2014) BP statistical Review of World Energy, BP, London. http://
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BP-statistical-review-of-world-energy-2014-full-report.pdf
Liquid bulk The main types of liquid bulk cargo
BP (2015) BP statistical Review of World Energy, BP, London.
cargo include chemicals, gas, and oil. https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/pdf/energy-economics/
Maritime trans- Maritime transportation is the statistical-review-2015/bp-statistical-review-of-world-energy-
portation movement of cargo over water 2015-full-report.pdf
transport networks and a prominent Candreva, F., De Rademaeker, E., Gowland, R., Isakov, A., Roberts,
component of the global logistics A., and Winkelmann-Oei, G. (2014) Safety Guidelines and Good
chain. Industry Practices for Oil Terminals, UNECE Convention, New
York and Geneva.
Oil terminals Oil terminals are terminals where
tankers are berthed or moored for Chandler, A.D. (1990) Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial
Capitalism, Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA.
the purpose of loading or
Dikos, G. (2004) New building prices: demand inelastic or perfectly
discharging petroleum cargo.
competitive? Maritime Economics & Logistics, 6 (4), 312–321.
Tanker A vessel that is specifically designed
Goulielmos, A.M. (2008) Risk analysis of the Aframax freight
for moving liquid cargo, and the market and of its new building and second hand prices, 1976–2008
most common types of cargo and 1984–2008. International Journal of Shipping and Transport
carried in such vessels are crude oil Logistics, 1 (1), 74–97.
and oil products. Grammenos, C.T. (2002) The Handbook of Maritime Economics and
Tanker shipping The key elements in the tanker Business, LLP, London.
market shipping markets include the Inkpen, A. and Moffett, M.H. (2011) The Global Oil & Gas Industry:
freight rate and four different Management, Strategy & Finance, PennWell Corporation, Tulsa,
vessel markets, namely, the freight, OK.
new building, second-hand vessel, International Chamber of Shipping (2006) ISGOTT International
Safety Guide for Oil Tankers and Terminals, Witherby & Co Ltd,
and demolition markets.
London.
Knapp, S., Kumar, S.N., and Remijn, A.B. (2008) Econometric
analysis of the ship demolition market. Marine Policy, 32 (6),
1023–1036.
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Lun, Y.H.V. and Quaddus, M.A. (2009) An empirical model of
the bulk shipping market. International Journal of Shipping and
Historical Development of the Marine Industry Transport Logistics, 1 (1), 37–54.
Introduction to Port Systems Lun, Y.H.V., Hilmola, O.P., Goulielmos, A.M., Lai, K.-H., and
Port Planning: A Case Study Applied to Iron Ore Port Cheng, T.C.E. (2013) Oil Transport Management, Springer,
Terminal London.
Ship Types, Duties, and General Characteristics OECD (2014) Review of Maritime Transport 2014. United Nations
The Port Security Framework Conference on Trade And Development (UNCTAD).
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OECD (2015) Review of Maritime Transport 2015. United Nations Valentine, V.F., Benamara, H., and Hoffmann, J. (2013) Maritime
Conference on Trade And Development (UNCTAD). transport and international seaborne trade. Maritime Policy &
OPEC Secretariat (2014) 2014 World Oil Outlook, Organization of Management, 40 (3), 226–242.
the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Austria. Wijnolst, N. and Wergeland, T. (1996) Shipping, Delft University
Talley, W.K. (2011) The Blackwell Companion to Maritime Press, Delft.
Economics, Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, West Sussex, UK.
Tirole, J. (2003) The Theory of Industrial Organization, The MIT
Press, Cambridge.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe194
Shipboard Condition Monitoring
Stuart Lunt
Parker Hannifin Corporation, West Sussex, UK
number (BN) in two-stroke diesel cylinder lubricating oils

1 Introduction 1 in engines burning sulfur-laden residual fuel oil (RFO). The
2 Main Text: Specific Oil Parameters 1 cylinder oil feed rate is adjusted and optimized to maintain an
3 Condition Monitoring in Practice: Cylinder adequate reserve of alkalinity in order to neutralize the acidic
Lubricating Oil 7 combustion by-products while providing sufficient lubrica-
tion but not at the expense of oversupply. By measuring BN
4 Concluding Remarks 9
periodically, any changes in fuel quality can be compen-
Endnotes 10 sated for. We shall return to this topical example in a later
Glossary 10 section.
Related Articles 10 Physical oil parameters such as viscosity and density
References 10 require portable instrumentation or sensor technologies
for their determination. Both are commercially available
at present although the range of sensors is somewhat
limited.
Lubricating oil contaminants may be liquid or solid
1 INTRODUCTION in form. Liquid contaminants include water, fuel, glycol
(coolant), and incorrect oil addition. Onboard testing options
Used oil analysis (UOA) provides data on oil condition for water contamination, for example, include simple chem-
and the presence of contaminants or wear debris (Toms ical reaction tests and more sophisticated infrared (IR)
and Toms, 2008). The condition of the oil is determined online systems. Solid contaminants can take the form of
by both chemical and physical parameters. For example, dirt, soot, and wear debris including steels from bearing
oxidation of oil due to elevated operating temperatures in elements, nonferrous metals such as brass from bearing
the presence of air will lead to an increase in acidity that cages, or white metal from shell bearings. Ferrous debris
can be quantified by determining the acid number (AN) of (steels) can be monitored by magnetometry and inductive
the oil. The American Society for the Testing of Materials sensors respond to nonferrous metals. Examples of these
(ASTM) and other standard organizations have published technologies are presented later.
laboratory standards for determining AN (and other chemical
parameters) to a high degree of accuracy, but these are not
readily transferable to the field, and alternative methods have
been developed. These field tests provide first line screening 2 MAIN TEXT: SPECIFIC OIL
and allow engineers to differentiate between normal and PARAMETERS
abnormal operation. One example is the monitoring of base
The key oil parameters to be measured in shipboard UOA
will depend on the type of equipment or machinery that is
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. to be monitored, but the following list will cover most areas
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe543
from main engines, cylinder lubrication, auxiliary engines,
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 generating sets, steering gear, and hydraulics:
2 General
• Water content is related to AN increase, and this has been shown to be

• BN effective in predicting varnish formation potential in turbine
• AN oils. Dielectric sensors will also respond to changes in AN,
• Viscosity but the same comments apply here as in the case of BN for
• Insolubles–mostly in the form of soot their nonselectivity.
• Salt Viscosity is probably the most important oil property
• Particle (dirt) contamination in providing the optimum film strength in bearings with
• Wear debris minimum frictional losses. Reduction in oil viscosity may
• Iron compounds from corrosion. be due to fuel dilution, shearing, water ingress, or incorrect
top up. Conversely, increases in viscosity arise from soot
Sources of water contamination include direct ingress of loading, incorrect filtration or centrifuging, and thickening
fresh or sea water, coolant leakage, and blowby gases, and it through oxidation or thermal degradation. For shipboard
is probably the most important contaminant (Cantley, 1977). monitoring, the options range from a simple twin channel
It is the prime cause of many different failure modes— comparator (viscostick) for go/no-go testing, through falling
displacement of lubricating oil films at contact surfaces, ball type viscometers, to online sensors. The task of deter-
corrosion, promotion of microbiological growth, hydrolysis mining viscosity degradation is not made any easier by the
of ester-based oils, and emulsification, to name but a few. strong, exponential, variation with temperature and thus
The measurement of water levels in lubricating oils followed the need to make a comparison of the measured viscosity
by any required corrective action is crucial to the reliable (at some operating temperature) to the manufacturer’s
and efficient operation of virtually all shipboard lubrica- data reported at a reference temperature (typically, 40 or
tion systems. A range of commercially available options is 100∘ C). In this respect, heated and temperature stabilized
available from simple chemical tests for free water, dielec- offline viscometers provide the closest to laboratory style
tric humidity sensors for water levels below the satura- measurements.
tion limit, and online systems employing IR absorption Density measurements of lubricating oils find little use
technologies for total (free plus dissolved) water content in marine applications although it is a key parameter in
measurement. determining the quality of bunkered fuel oils. Some viscosity
BN determination is most relevant to diesel engine lubri- sensors are able to determine density as a consequence of the
cants as alkaline additives in these oils provide protection measurement technique.
from acidic combustion by-products. It is not applicable to Insoluble testing is mostly applicable to diesel engine oils
gearbox and hydraulic applications. At present, shipboard where soot from fuel combustion, organic polymers from oil
measurement of BN is possible only with a chemical test, or fuel oxidation, sulfates from BN additive neutralization
although work is in progress to develop portable spectro- of fuel sulfur burning and, to a lesser degree, asphaltene
scopic instrumentation. It should be noted that dielectric formation from RFO burning engines, all accumulate in the
Oil Quality sensors are available that can trend changes in oil. High insoluble levels will lead to an increase in viscosity,
BN but as they also react to other oil parameters such as filter plugging, fouling of piston rings, and increased bearing
water content, AN, soot loading, and fuel dilution, it may not wear–particularly in the case of high soot loading. Field
be possible to determine the precise cause of any observed tests include visual inspection of filter patches–qualitative
changes in oil quality measurements. We will return to BN at best–or optical scattering/obscuration style devices. In
and its role in cylinder oil monitoring in more detail in a later these tests, prior dilution with heptane or a similar solvent
section. is often required to mobilize and/or disperse the insolubles
AN provides a measure of the oxidation of the oil. It content.
is particularly important in gas engines due to their high Salt is an indication of sea water ingress that can lead
combustion temperatures and a significant rise in AN can to corrosion issues. It can remain in the lubricant after
promote varnish formation, increase viscosity and accelerate the water is driven off by heat (in an engine) or removed
corrosion in the presence of water. It is also applicable to in a separator. Salt can further react with tin in bearing
gearbox and hydraulic lubricants but perhaps with reduced overlay materials and combustion by-products from RFO
severity. As for BN, the only specific test for AN available resulting in the formation of hard, abrasive materials. The
for shipboard use is an offline chemical test. This uses an maximum limits recommended by engine manufacturers are
alkaline reagent to neutralize the acidic components in the very low, generally less than 50 ppm and preferably zero.
presence of a color change pH indicator to determine the To test for salt contamination, filter patches impregnated
end point. A portable electroanalytical system is available to with silver nitrate can provide a simple go/no-go result.
trend antioxidant additive depletion (Fluitec, 2014), which Other, more quantitative methods include spectrochemical
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe543
Shipboard Condition Monitoring 3
analysis such as absorption or emission spectroscopy, but

these are difficult (read expensive) to implement onboard
marine vessels.
Nonmetallic particles such as dirt and grit have the poten-
tial to wreak havoc in hydraulic systems, gearboxes, and
engines. However, testing and monitoring such contamina-
tion is not easy in the field; optical counting instruments
are common for land-based hydraulic systems, but their
complexity limits shipboard adoption. The traditional field
method is to force an oil sample (diluted if required) through
a filter patch (of a suitable pore size) and then to visually
inspect any retained debris. However, the drawback with this
practice is that a microscope, or similar, and some experience
is required in the interpretation of the contamination pattern.
However, comparison charts are usually included in patch
test kits to help in the initial learning phase of any testing
programs. Typical filter pore sizes are around 8-10 μm, which
will trap dirt, grit, and also larger debris from internal wear Figure 1. Onboard oil test centre. (Reproduced by permission from
or failure. The visual identification and analysis of wear Parker Kittiwake.)
debris to diagnose wear mechanisms is the subject of the
vast field of analytical ferrography in which the size, color,
and morphology of the debris are indicative of the generating
been recently developed to determine the amount of iron
wear mechanism (Anderson, 1982; Hunt, 1993).
present in oils in compounded form (Atkinson, 2014) where
Metallic wear debris can be monitored independently of
the iron can be either or both the oxidation state of +2 (e.g.,
other particle contamination by magnetometry and induc-
sulfate) or +3 (e.g., oxide). Chemical tests for the presence
tive methods. Both offline instruments and online sensors
of iron in potable water have been commercially available
have been developed in which metallic debris can be counted
and/or quantified with electrical sense coils located in a for some time and make use of a reagent to form a colored
magnetic field. A key feature of these systems is the ability to iron complex from iron in the +2 oxidation state. The new
differentiate between ferrous and nonferrous materials due to oil test uses a combined reagent to first reduce any iron in an
their different interaction mechanisms. In the latter case this oxidation state of +3 to +2 and then second, to form a similar
is solely through the metal’s electrical susceptibility compo- colored complex from the +2 iron as in the water test. Quan-
nent, generating eddy currents that form a magnetic field in tification is achieved by colorimetry, either by means of a
opposition to the main field. In ferrous materials, the metal’s simple comparator or photometrically.
magnetic permeability gives rise to an additional magnetic In the following sections, some examples of test kits,
field that tends to reinforce the main field. This effect is portable instruments, and online measurement systems are
of a greater magnitude than that due to the induced eddy presented. The full range of available CBM options is very
currents and is in the opposite phase (Whittington et al., extensive, but the selection below provides insight into what
1992). Signals from the two types of interaction mechanisms is possible.
can be clearly distinguished, giving the material classifica-
tion, with their respective magnitudes dependent on debris
size and concentration. 2.1 Field test kits
Iron compounds are found in lubricating oils in the form
of sulfates or oxides largely as a result of internal corro- Comprehensive field test kits have been commercially avail-
sion. Corrosion will be exacerbated by the presence of water, able for many years for onboard CBM. Figure 1 shows an
acid, or alkaline contaminants. In an oil analysis laboratory, example of a Kittiwake Oil Test Centre, which includes reac-
sophisticated spectroscopic methods such as optical emis- tion cells for (i) water content determination, (ii) AN, and
sion are used to determine the total iron content, that is, (iii) BN, a heated viscometer and an insoluble light obscura-
both elemental (wear) and compounded (corrosion) forms. tion cell. All the cells and the viscometer can connect to an
Clearly, it would be advantageous to distinguish between electronic console for data readout.
the different forms of iron as a useful indication of the Free water content is easily measured through the
balance between wear and corrosion. A chemical test has following gas generating reaction of calcium hydride
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe543
4 General
with water.
CaH2 (solid) + 2H2 O (liquid)

→ Ca(OH)2 (aqueous) + 2H2 (gas) (1)
Given an excess of calcium hydride, all of the free water

will be consumed and the amount of hydrogen gas evolved
will be directly proportional to the free water content of
the sample. By carrying out the reaction in a closed cell,
a pressure rise will be observed with the terminal value
proportional to the amount of hydrogen produced. A suit-
ably calibrated pressure sensor is all that is required to
convert the pressure reading into a water content value. This
Figure 2. BN test cell. (Reproduced by permission from Parker
simple test has been used for many decades and is both Kittiwake.)
quick, requiring only a few minutes per test, and inexpen-
sive. Until recently, the only significant drawback was the
hazardous nature of the calcium hydride reagent that required
special (expensive) shipping procedures. This restriction no
longer applies following the development of a nonhazardous
formulation (Lunt and Dyson, 2009) that can be shipped
by normal means, significantly reducing the overall cost of
testing.
BN field testing is currently limited to oil formulations in
which the major additives for controlling the alkalinity are
carbonate containing detergents such as calcium alkylben-
zene sulfonate (Cizaire et al., 2004). Such formulations are
commonly found in two-stroke diesel cylinder lubricating
oils. The detergent forms a reverse micelle-like environment
that provides calcium carbonate as the alkaline material. The
reduction of the calcium carbonate during use can be moni-
tored by a similar gas evolution reaction to that for water but
in this case from the reaction of an acidic reagent to produce
carbon dioxide.
Figure 3. Viscostick viscosity comparator. (Reproduced by
CaCO3 (solid) + 2H+ (aqueous) permission from Parker Kittiwake.)
→ Ca2+ (aqueous) + CO2 (gas) + H2 O(liquid) (2)
The reaction cell (Figure 2) must first be calibrated with difference in viscosity which may be sufficient to condemn
a sample of the fresh oil, of known BN, to establish the (or otherwise) the oil under test.
maximum achievable pressure. For all subsequent used As noted in Section 2, iron compounds can be present in
samples, of the same oil type, the reduction in pressure from lubricating oils as a consequence of corrosion. Two types of
this value is directly related to the amount of carbonate that chemical test kits are available for determining iron concen-
has been used up. If all of the carbonate has been consumed, tration. The first, for example DOT.FAST,1 available from
no pressure will be generated and it follows that the BN has Chevron Marine (Chevron, 2014), uses an acid digestion
been reduced to zero. Hence a simple relationship exists process in which iron, in any form and in any oxidation state,
between pressure and BN reserve, allowing a calibration is turned into an iron compound in oxidation state +2. In a
curve to be determined. second and separate step, the compounded iron is allowed
A simple go/no-go test for changes in oil viscosity can be to react with a spectrophotometric reagent to form a colored
carried out using the viscostick shown in Figure 3 in which iron complex whose intensity is a measure of the original
a sample of in-service oil can be compared to fresh oil. The total iron content. The test takes several hours to run to
flow of the two oil streams gives a visual indication of the completion and measures the Total iron content, including
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe543
(a) (b)
Figure 4. (a): colored iron complex; (b): blank sample. (Repro- Figure 5. Comparator with graduated color wheel. (Reproduced by
duced by permission from Parker Kittiwake.) permission from Parker Kittiwake.)
any metallic iron from abrasive wear. In a recently released

Cold Corrosion Test Kit from Parker Kittiwake, a patented
(Atkinson, 2014) combined reagent has been developed to
produce a similar colored complex from only the iron present
in compounded form in the oil (Figure 4). This allows a better
indication of corrosive operating conditions in an engine than
a measure of the total iron content, which does not differen-
tiate between abrasive and corrosive wear regimes.
A simple color comparator (Figure 5) can be used to
determine the original concentration of iron compounds by
comparing the developed color to a graduated chart viewed
through a blank sample. The blank allows visual compensa-
tion for any darkening due to particulate scatter or similar.
The scale of the chart is determined through calibration
against known standards covering the required measure-
Figure 6. MobilGard monitor. (Reproduced by permission from
ment range. For most marine applications an upper value
Parker Kittiwake.)
of 400 ppm by weight is sufficient although this can be
adjusted by using a different oil sample volume. In prac-
tice, the complexing reagent concentration and volume have an increased cost. However, for some parameters, where a
been chosen to give a 0–400 ppm range for a 0.2 mL oil test kit does not exist, this is the only option. One example
sample with a resolution of 20 ppm. However, by halving is ferrous iron content only. Figure 6 shows a MobilGard
the oil sample to 0.1 mL, the upper limit can be increased to Monitor that uses magnetometry to determine a particle
800 ppm by weight. Similarly, a doubling of the oil sample quantification (PQ)2 index.
to 0.4 mL will lower the upper limit to 200 ppm by weight. PQ instruments for determining ferrous iron content were
In both the cases, the resolution figures will change to 40 and developed at Swansea University in the 1980s (Noria, 2001)
10 ppm, respectively. and are a common screening method in commercial labora-
tories for identifying abnormal samples that require further,
2.2 Portable instruments more detailed analysis. PQ provides acceptable linearity for
trending iron content although the reported number is an
Moving up a step in complexity, portable instruments can index rather than a mass or volume concentration. A typical
provide more accurate measurements than test kits, albeit at shipboard use of such instruments is in the monitoring of
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe543
6 General
contamination independently in diesel engine lubrication oil

(Byington et al., 2007).
A similar capacitive style sensor but with polymeric mate-
rial located between the electrodes is available from several
manufacturers for humidity measurements. The material and
pore size of the polymer preferentially allow water migra-
tion from the oil resulting in a dielectric change that can
be ascribed to water alone. These sensors respond only to
dissolved water, that is, below the saturation limit, which is
not so important in engine applications but is more appli-
cable to hydraulic drive circuits and gearboxes where water
ingress is possible. Humidity sensors report water content
Figure 7. Heated viscometer. (Reproduced by permission from
Parker Kittiwake.) in percentage equivalent relative humidity (%ERH). This
is due to their method of calibration using moist atmo-
spheres above saturated salt solutions. Conversion into more
used cylinder oils in two-stroke diesel engines. By measuring conventional concentration units (e.g., ppm) is possible but
the ferrous iron content periodically, it is possible to opti- requires a complete understanding of the water/oil satu-
mize the oil feed rate for the running conditions, providing ration curve as a function of temperature. While this is
adequate lubrication without excessive waste of oil and thus relatively straightforward to determine for new oils, any
keeping running costs at an acceptable level. In addition, degradation to the oil once in service can cause consider-
chief engineers can be alerted to any abnormal situations able deviation and lead to erroneous calculations. Humidity
such as cat fines carryover and take corrective action to sensors are best suited for trending purposes, providing an
prevent failure. indication if water (humidity) is varying outside of normal
Viscosity can be measured with good accuracy using an behavior.
instrument such as the rolling ball viscometer shown in For the measurement of total water content irrespective
Figure 7. A further advantage is the ability to heat and of the nature of the water, that is, dissolved only below
hold the oil sample at a reference temperature of 40∘ C for the saturation limit and dissolved plus free above, online
direct comparison to manufacturer’s data. It is difficult to IR systems have been developed. In these systems, a thin
interpret viscosity measurements taken at other tempera- oil stream flows between an IR source and detector fitted
tures due to the exponential-like temperature behavior of oil with narrow band interference filters. The center wavelength
viscosity. Derivation to the reference temperature requires an of one filter is chosen to isolate the water IR absorption
assumption that this temperature behavior–often referred to channel. In order to calibrate these systems, the attenuation
as viscosity index or VI–is similar to the fresh oil, which of of the IR in this channel as a function of known water
course is not at all certain. content in spiked samples is measured. There is an added
complication that any particulates (soot) present in the oil
2.3 Online sensors will also attenuate the IR but by a scattering process that
is largely independent of the wavelength and leads to a
As noted in Section 2, commercially available sensors background shift. A second filter with a center wavelength
include dielectric oil quality devices for overall oil condi- chosen at a position in the IR spectrum with no (or very low)
tion, relative humidity for dissolved water determination, absorption is therefore used to estimate the soot contribution
wear debris (both ferrous and nonferrous), total water and allow a correction to be made. Typical applications
content (free and dissolved), and viscosity. for these systems include system oil monitoring in slow or
Oil quality sensors based on capacitive sensing were intro- medium speed diesel engines (Figure 8).
duced in the 1990s by several automotive manufacturers By combining several sensors in a suite or package, it is
(Irion et al., 1997). These sensors determine the dielectric possible to continuously monitor crucial equipment for many
properties of the in-service oil that is affected by many parameters to provide the very earliest warning of incipient
factors including degradation, water contamination, soot failure. For example, Figure 9 shows a system for monitoring
loading, and so on. It is not readily possible to deconvolute the drive and seal oils in azimuthal thrusters. The system
the individual influences on the sensor output although monitors oil quality and moisture in both oil circuits with
Impact Technologies market a Smart Oil Sensor3 with the addition of wear debris in the drive oil.
variable frequency measurements and a smart algorithm, An extensible human machine interface (HMI) allows the
which is claimed to be able to trend water, fuel, and soot system to be configured in a variety of ways and to include
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe543
Figure 10. Typical HMI warning and alarm screen. (Reproduced

Figure 8. IR water monitoring system. (Reproduced by permission by permission from Parker Kittiwake.)
from Parker Kittiwake.)
further parameters. For example, bearing temperatures and

vibrational levels from additional sensors fitted at appro-
priate locations in the thruster (Figure 10).
A typical application for such systems is found in semisub-
mersible drilling rigs with several independent thrusters
providing the required maneuverability. Each thruster is
equipped with a sensor suite and a local HMI is in commu-
nication with a master control unit (HMI) allowing remote
monitoring of all parameters in a control room or similar.
Despite viscosity often being cited as the most impor-
tant parameter for lubricating oils, there has been very little
uptake in online sensing. Several manufacturers offer sensors
based on vibrating elements, for example, the Fluid Prop-
erty Sensor from Measurement Specialties (Measurement
Specialties, 2014). It is worth noting that the operating
frequency of these devices determines the sampling depth
within the fluid. In the case of ultrasonic sensors (>20 kHz),
this can be as short as 10 μm, which is somewhat unrep-
resentative of the bulk behavior (Agoston et al., 2005). As
noted previously, the response of vibrating element sensors
also depends on the fluid density and it is possible to sepa-
rately determine viscosity and density by suitable analysis
(Kim and Bau, 1989).
3 CONDITION MONITORING IN
PRACTICE: CYLINDER LUBRICATING
OIL
Figure 9. Sensor suite with local control HMI. (Reproduced by
In this section, we look at a particular example of condition
permission from Parker Kittiwake.)
monitoring in which a combination of tests and measure-
ments gives information on the operational state of a key
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe543
8 General
engine component, the two-stroke diesel cylinder liner. In

these engines, specially formulated cylinder oil is fed to
the cylinder liner by a system of lubricators at a rate deter-
mined (mostly) by the engine load and fuel quality. The oil
has two functions, lubrication and neutralization of acidic
combustion by-products, and is used on a total loss basis.
Historically, feed rate control was achieved by use of a
simple mechanical rpm-related lubricator. In order to reduce
costs, electronic control of the lubricators was introduced,
combining the ability to lower the feed rate as a func-
tion of engine load and with regard to fuel sulfur content
(low or high). The recent practice of slow steaming has
led to significant engine redesign and the requirement for
more dynamic control of feed rates. Together with the
constant need to guard against unexpected, abnormal condi- Figure 11. Ferrous iron magnetometer. (Reproduced by permis-
tions (e.g., cat fine attacks or scuffing events) this has only sion from Parker Kittiwake.)
strengthened the case for frequent (if not continuous) moni-
toring of the used oil for BN depletion, abrasive and corro-
sive wear. with the current fuel grade can be established. For such a test
Slow steaming and, more recently, super-slow steaming to be effective, periodic sampling or continuous monitoring
has achieved significant reductions in fuel consumption and is necessary.
therefore lower carbon dioxide emissions for the shipping For offline monitoring, BN depletion can be determined
industry. However, this has led to a rise in the failure rate using the simple reaction cell shown previously (Figure 2).
of liners through a so-called corrosive wear process. Ferrous iron content can be measured with an instrument
During combustion, the sulfur content of the RFO is such as the Mobilgard Monitor (Figure 6) or the Shell Analex
converted into sulfuric acid via the reactions shown in Alert (Figure 11). Nonferrous iron (corrosive iron) can be
Equations 3–5 (Sautermeister et al., 2012). Equation 5, the determined by the test kit described previously. Alterna-
oxidation of the sulfur dioxide, is catalyzed by vanadium tively, total iron content can be measured by acid diges-
pentoxide which is itself formed by the oxidation of the tion and colorimetry (Chevron, 2014) or by onboard X-ray
vanadium commonly found in RFOs. Note that the vana- fluorescence equipment (Maersk, 2014). The disadvantage
dium content depends on the source of the crude from with total iron measurements alone is that the balance
which the RFO is derived with South American crude and between abrasive wear and corrosive wear is undetermined
in particular Venezuelan and Mexican showing the highest
content.
S(solid) + O2 (gas) → SO2 (gas) (3)

2SO2 (gas) + O2 (gas) → SO3 (gas) (4)
SO3 (gas) + H2 O(gas) → H2 SO4 (aqueous∕gas) (5)
Slow steaming can lead to a reduction in local temperatures

at certain areas of the liner, increasing the risk of conden-
sation of the sulfuric acid as the dew point is crossed. In
these conditions, the neutralization demand on the cylinder
oil can be considerable and engine original equipment manu-
facturers (OEMs) recommend regular BN monitoring and
feed rate adjustment to maintain an adequate reserve. For
example, MAN B&W describe a procedure—a so-called
sweep test—in which an evaluation of both the BN reserve
and the iron content of the used oil are evaluated during a
controlled cycle of the engine. By a suitable analysis of the Figure 12. Continuous liner wear monitor. (Reproduced by
data, the correct lubricating factor for the engine running permission from Parker Kittiwake.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe543
Engine Hrs vs PPM-IMO number
400 Cylinder 1
Cylinder 2
380 Cylinder 3
360 Cylinder 4
Cylinder 5
340 Cylinder 6
Cylinder 7
320
Cylinder 8
300 Cylinder 9
Cylinder 10
280
Cylinder 11
260 Cylinder 12
240
PPM values
220
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
26,920 26,930 26,940 26,950 26,960 26,970 26,980 26,990 27,000 27,010 27,020 27,030
Engine Hrs
Figure 13. Increased wear following a cat fines attack. (Reproduced by permission from Parker Kittiwake.)
and therefore, it would still be prudent to measure ferrous or earlier peaks of higher iron measurements recorded during
nonferrous iron content separately. periodic sweep tests described earlier.
Turning to online, continuous monitoring, only ferrous iron
content measurements are currently possible using systems
based on inductive sensing (Figure 12). A sampling pipe 4 CONCLUDING REMARKS
or tube is connected to the scrape down drain line from
the engine cylinder and a periodic measurement is made The case for oil condition monitoring (OCM) is easily
of the ferrous iron content. In practice, the measurement made as it provides demonstrable cost savings. As part
chamber is allowed to fill to a preset level before measure- of a predictive maintenance program, OCM allows asset
ment and is then emptied with a compressed air blast after- owners to maximize oil and equipment life and reduce down-
ward, returning the sample to the drain line. One sensor can time due to unplanned maintenance or repair interventions.
be fitted to each drain line allowing independent monitoring OCM also increases safety in providing the earliest warn-
of the cylinders. ings of any incipient failures that could cause loss of life or
Some illustrative data from this system is shown in damage to equipment. Further benefits include the ability to
Figure 13 for the passage of a container vessel from a react quickly to unexpected changes in operating conditions
non-ECA to an ECA as the fuel was switched to a low sulfur or abnormal behavior. One of the challenges the industry
grade around 27,005 engine hours. During the passage, faces in increasing the adoption of OCM is to reduce the
the sea conditions had been rough and sediment in the low level of interpretation required in assessing the monitored
sulfur fuel day tank had been disturbed to the extent that the data. Given the rise in demand on crew due to ever more
separator could not cope with the cat fine carryover. In all, sophisticated and complex systems together with a push to
six liners were damaged beyond repair. Note also the three reduce staffing levels, this is a considerable undertaking.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe543
10 General
The ultimate goal of CBM is to provide simple and clear REFERENCES

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engine oil condition monitoring—application and interpretation of
results. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 121, 327–332.
Anderson, D.P. (1982) Wear particle atlas (revised). Technical Report
ENDNOTES NAEC-96-163, Naval Air Engineering Centre, Lakehurst, NJ.
Atkinson, D. (2014) Method for Determining the Concentration of
1. DOT.FAST is a registered trademark of Chevron Intel-
Iron Ions in Hydrocarbon Compositions. EU Patent Application
lectual Property LLC. EP13195943.9.
2. PQ is a registered trademark of Kittiwake Developments Byington, C., Brewer, R., Nair, V., and Mott, A. (2007) Experiences
Ltd. and Testing of An Autonomous On-Line Oil Quality Monitor for
3. Smart Oil Sensor is a registered trademark of Impact Diesel Engines. 62nd Annual Meeting of the Society of Tribolo-
Technologies LLC. gists and Lubrication Engineers, vol. 1, Society of Tribologists and
Lubrication Engineers, Curran Associates, Inc., pp. 45–67.
Cantley, R.E. (1977) The effect of water in lubricating oil on bearing
fatigue life. ASLE Transactions, 20, 244–248.
GLOSSARY Chevron (2014) Dot.Fast Drip Oil Analyzer, http://www
.chevronmarineproducts.com/services/dot-fast.aspx (accessed
13 May 2014).
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monitoring of condition in machinery, in order (2004) Tribochemistry of overbased calcium detergents studied
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Lubricating oils Liquid substances introduced to reduce Fluitec (2014) Ruler Analyzer, http://www.fluitec.com/ruler-
antioxidant-monitoring.php (accessed 21 May 2014).
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mutual contact. Hunt, T.M. (1993) Handbook of Wear Debris Analysis and Particle
Detection in Liquids, Springer, Netherlands.
Oil analysis The laboratory analysis of a lubricant’s
Irion, E., Land, K., Gürtler, T., and Klein, M. (1997) Oil-quality
properties, suspended contaminants,
prediction and oil-level detection with the TEMIC QLT-sensor
and wear debris. leads to variable maintenance intervals. SAE Technical Paper
Reliability- A process to ensure that systems Series, (970847).
centered continue to do what their users Kim, J.O. and Bau, H.H. (1989) Instrument for simultaneous
maintenance require in their present operating measurement of density and viscosity. Review of Scientific Instru-
context. ments, 60 (6), 1111–1115.
Sensor A device that measures or senses a Lunt, S.L. and Dyson, T.J. (2009) Composition and Method for
physical quantity and converts it into Determining the Water Content Present in Oil. GB Patent 2467373.
a signal that can be read by an Maersk (2014) Sea-Mate Analyzer, http://www.maerskfluid.com/
observer or by an instrument. index.php/analyser-overview (accessed 13 May 2014).
Measurement Specialties (MEAS) (2014) Fluid Property Sensor,
http://www.meas-spec.com/product/t_product.aspx?id=2956
(accessed 21 May 2014).
RELATED ARTICLES Noria (2001) On-Site Debris Monitors Add Value to PdM Programs,
Practicing Oil Analysis, http://www.machinerylubrication.com/
Condition Monitoring of Steerable Thrusters, An Overview, Read/219/debris-monitor-pdm (accessed 13 May 2014).
Practical Considerations and Example Cases Sautermeister, F.A., Priest, M., Lee, P.M., and Fox, M.F. (2012)
Lubricant Types and Performance in Marine Propulsion Impact of sulphuric acid on cylinder lubrication for large 2-stroke
Systems marine diesel engines: contact angle, interfacial tension and chem-
Slow-Speed Two-Stroke Engines ical interaction. Tribology International, 59, 47–56.
Medium Speed Diesel Engines for Maritime Applications Toms, L.A. and Toms, A.M. (2008). Machinery Oil Analysis:
Gas Turbines for Marine Applications Methods, Automation and Benefits, Society of Tribologists &
Lubrication Engineers, Park Ridge, IL, USA.
Lubrication Requirements for Two- and Four-Stroke Marine
Whittington, H.W., Flynn, B.W., and Mills, G.H. (1992) An on-line
Reciprocating Engines
wear debris monitor. Measurement Science and Technology, 3,
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Plain Bearings in Marine Applications
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe543
Fluid–Structure Interactions in Marine Engineering
Qingwei Ma1 , Venkatachalam Sriram2 , and Shiqiang Yan1
1 City University London, London, UK
2 IIT Madras, Chennai, India
in the ocean environment, which means that water and air

1 Introduction 1 always move around the marine structures, and so the struc-
2 Mathematical Formulations 3 tures encounter the forces from water and air. Under action of
3 Approaches for Dealing with Coupling 7 the forces, the structures move and/or deform. The movable
and deformable structure may alter flow field of water and
4 Numerical Methods for Solving FSI Problems 7
air; this in turn affects the forces of the fluids on struc-
5 Some Results of Fluid–Structure Interaction tures. Such a phenomenon of fluids and structures mutu-
Analysis in Marine Engineering 8 ally and dynamically affecting each other is referred to as
6 Summary 9 fluid–structure interaction, often shortened as FSI. The FSI
Acknowledgments 9 exists in many engineering fields, including, for example,
Glossary 9 interaction between air and aircraft structures in aeronau-
Related Articles 10 tical engineering, interaction between blood and tissues
in biomedical engineering, interaction between wind and
References 10
building in civil engineering, and so on. The main difference
of FSI in marine engineering from other fields lies in the exis-
tence of ocean waves. Our attention here focuses only on the
FSI in marine engineering. For convenience, the term FSI in
1 INTRODUCTION
marine engineering—or shortened one, FSIm—will be used
throughout the article to refer to FSI in this field.
1.1 Basic concept of fluid–structure interaction in
It is important to ensure that marine structures are safe,
marine engineering
functional, and economical when designing and constructing
them. It is also crucial that one can assess the performance
To make use of resources in oceans, various marine struc-
of structures after implementation and during operations. It is
tures, such as ships; spar platforms; Floating Production
the FSIm that underpins the design and assessment of marine
Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels; floating breakwa-
structures. Investigations on FSIm have started ever since
ters; and floating storage systems, have been built and
the man-made structures deployed in ocean. There are many
utilized. There is no doubt that more structures will be built
issues related to FSIm, not only regarding how to solve fluid
and utilized in a foreseeable period of time, though their
dynamics and structure dynamics but also regarding how to
types or uses may be different (Ma and Yan, 2009). All
simulate ocean waves and how to simulate water, air, and
marine structures operate in ocean and are surrounded by
structure interaction together.
water and air. There always exist waves, current, and wind
It is not possible to thoroughly discuss all the issues of
FSIm in a short article. Only brief introductions are given for
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. some important issues, including how the FSIm problems
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe134
are classified, how the FSIm is mathematically formulated,
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 how the coupling between fluids and structures is dealt with,
2 General
and what numerical methods one may employ to solve the Nevertheless, it may be too difficult to consider the free
FSIm problems. surface or its effects are not significant; one sometimes
ignores the free surface. On this basis, the FSI problems
1.2 Classification of FSIm and corresponding can be classified into a group that involves the free surface
examples and another group without considering the free surface influ-
ence. The former is also called as wave–structure inter-
The nature of FSIm can be different under different condi- action (WSI). As an example, in order to investigate the
tions. For the sake of analysis, FSIm may be classified hydrodynamics of the autonomous underwater vehicle or
into several types from different points of view, which are vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of the mooring lines or risers,
summarized in the following sections. the influence of the free surface is not that much important,
and only ocean current plays a dominant role, and so one
usually assumes that such structures operate in an unbounded
1.2.1 Rigid body or deformable structures
fluid domain without the free surface. On the other hand,
As indicated above, all structures in the field of offshore and when studying wave energy converting device, offshore plat-
ocean engineering may deform under action of water and air. forms, and coastal defense structures, the influence of the free
However, the effects of deformation are sometimes signifi- surface is important and must be taken into account.
cant but sometimes not. Based on this, the FSI problem in
marine engineering can be classified into two types, namely, 1.2.3 Moving or fixed structures
FSI for a rigid body and FSI for a deformable structure.
The FSI for a rigid body refers to the cases that struc- Marine structures can be classified into moving or floating
tural deformation is so little that its effect on fluid motion (such as ships and FPSOs) and fixed (such as jack-up plat-
does not need to be considered. In such cases, a structure forms and bottom-mounted offshore wind turbines) types.
is considered to undergo significant rigid motion with up The moving structures are also called sometimes as floating
to six degrees of freedom (DoFs), including three transla- structures when they work on the free surface. Fixed struc-
tional motions (surge, heave, and sway) and three rotational tures do not undergo rigid motions, while moving structures
motions (roll, yaw, and pitch). The FSI in these cases means do the opposite, though both may have structural deforma-
the interaction between the motions/dynamics of fluid and tion. For the FSIm of moving structures, rigid motions may
rigid structures. On the other hand, the FSI for a deformable or may not include the forward speed. Generally, ships have
structure refers to the cases that structural deformation has to a forward speed apart from oscillations induced by waves,
be taken into account and means the interaction between the while the offshore floating platforms under operational cona-
motions/dynamics of fluid and deformable structures with or tions are moored at a location and undergo only the oscilla-
without rigid motions. tions due to waves, though they may have a forward speed
Whether or not the deformation of a structure is considered during the towing to the site.
depends on the problems under investigation. For example,
when the seakeeping properties of a ship under operational 1.2.4 Linear and nonlinear FSI
conditions is dealt with, it is normally considered as a rigid
body moving over waves with a forward speed, and the There are many factors influencing the properties of FSIm.
motions are mainly due to heaving, pitching, and rolling, Depending on the nature of fluid and structural dynamics,
though sometimes yawing, swaying, and surging may also the effects of the factors can be superimposed. Under the
need to be accounted for. However, if one needs to investigate condition, the FSI is deemed to be linear. For example, when
the behaviors of a ship hull under the action of extreme a floating body in a small wave is investigated, the change
waves, such as the effects of slamming or green water, the in its wetted hull surface may be neglected, the boundary
deformation of the ship also needs to be considered apart conditions on the floating body and the free surface can be
from rigid motions. imposed on their mean position, and the production of fluc-
tuation parameters (such as oscillating fluid velocity due to
1.2.2 With or without a free surface waves) can be regarded as zero. Under these assumptions, the
fluid and structure motions are decoupled, or, in other words,
In other fields, like in aerospace or medical engineering, they can be solved separately, and the total solution is of the
there is no free surface involved in the FSI problems, that superimposition of the decoupled solutions. Comparatively,
is, the fluid is unbounded in space. However, in marine or in nonlinear FSIm problems, the effect of one factor depends
ocean engineering, there is always ocean wave on the inter- on others. The solutions are not equal to the superimposition
face between water and air, which is called free surface. of the decoupled solutions. Nevertheless, in the nonlinear
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe134
Fluid–Structure Interactions in Marine Engineering 3
category, people may choose to retain some main nonlinear z

factors and disregard others. This kind of approaches is y
weakly nonlinear, compared with fully nonlinear approaches Floating body
x
that take into account all relevant nonlinear factors.
2 MATHEMATICAL FORMULATIONS Mooring line
The general equations for FSI result from the applying of Figure 1. Illustration of coordinate system.
the fundamental dynamic principles or Newton’s second law
to fluids and structures together with boundary and initial
conditions, which can be found in textbooks or monographs, →
− →−
where F and N are the external forces and moments acting
for example, Belytschko et al. (2013), or in other arti- →
− ⃗̇ the translational velocity and acceler-
on the body, U c and U c
cles of this book. These equations describe the relationship →
− ⃗̇ its angular velocity
ation of its gravitational center, Ω and Ω
between the motion variables (such as velocities and accel- →
−
erations) and forces/moments (or pressure and stresses) on and acceleration, and 𝜃 (𝛼, 𝛽, 𝛾) the Euler angles and the
structures and fluids and reflect the conservation of mass, translational displacements. In the equations, [M] and [I]
momentum, and energy. The equations may appear in terms are mass and inertia-moment matrixes, respectively, and [B]
of integrals or derivatives. They may be given in Lagrangian is the transformation matrix formed by Euler angles and
(following material particles) or Eulerian (from a point of defined as
⎡ cos 𝛽 cos 𝛾 sin 𝛾 0⎤
view of a spatial point) forms and may also be given in mixed [B] = ⎢− cos 𝛽 sin 𝛾 cos 𝛾 0⎥ (5)
Lagrangian and Eulerian forms. The mixed form is called ⎢ ⎥
⎣ sin 𝛽 0 1⎦
as arbitrary Lagrangian and Eulerian (ALE) formulations.
However, these equations are not always directly used to The velocity at a point on the body is given by
solve FSI problems in marine engineering. Instead, various
→
− → →
U = Uc + Ω × →
− − −
simplified approaches are normally employed. rb (6)
2.1 Mathematical models for structures where → −r is the position vector of a point on the body relative
b
to the gravitational center.
For engineering applications, many models for different Usually, the rotational velocity product in Equation 2 is
structures have been used but only some typical ones will not significant and is often ignored. Without this term, the
be described here. equations for six DoFs motions seem to be independent and
linear. However, generally it is not the case. That is because
the forces and moments on the right-hand side of Equations 1
2.1.1 Rigid body model and 2 include the fluid forces. The fluid forces depend on
This model is employed to describe the rigid motion of the motions and positions of the structures. As a result, both
→
− →
− →
− →
−
marine structures. Generally, a marine structure moves with F and N are actually a function of U c and Ω. Due to this,
six DoFs as indicated above and shown in Figure 1, where the motion in one direction (e.g., in the forward direction
the coordinate system is also illustrated. The motions are of a ship) can cause a force or moment in other directions
governed by (Ma and Yan, 2009) (e.g., in the pitch direction of a ship). Consequently, the six
equations are generally coupled with each other; in other
⃗̇ = →
[M]U
−
F (1) words, the motion in one direction affects and is affected by
c
other directions.
Nevertheless, the coupling between the motions in different
⃗̇ + →
[I]Ω
− →
− → −
Ω × [I] Ω = N (2) directions is sometimes quite weak and can be disregarded.
For example, to investigate the seakeeping of a ship, one
may separate the motions into two groups: the motions
→
−
dS → − in longitudinal plane (surging, pitching, and heaving) and
= Uc (3)
dt the motions in the transverse plane (swaying, rolling, and
yawing) without considering the coupling between them.
→
− Decoupling or partially decoupling makes the problem
d𝜃 →−
[B] =Ω (4) simpler and relatively easy to be solved.
dt
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe134
4 General
The coupling between the motions in different direction cases, the boundary layer thickness is relatively very small.
does not mean that the problem is nonlinear. Actually, as long Hence, the velocity gradient perpendicular to the surface is
→−
as the forces and moments are proportional just to the U c and higher than the velocity gradient parallel to the surface. The
→
− perpendicular velocity gradient induces large shear stress
Ω, the problem is linear if the second term in Equation 2 is
ignored. In this case, the total solution can be found by the within the boundary layer fluid, whereas, outside this layer,
superimposing method as discussed above. the shear stress is sufficiently small, and so the fluid may
be regarded as inviscid. Based on this, one may consider
the fluid as inviscid or viscous or consider them separately
2.1.2 Linearly deformed model depending upon a problem concerned. For example, to inves-
In addition to rigid motion, the deformation of structures tigate the seakeeping of a ship, one may separate the wave
may also have to be considered for the FSIm analysis. In dynamics and viscous dynamics in a way that the viscous
spite of this, a problem about structural deformation may damping is obtained without the appearance of waves, while
be linearized as the material properties of the structure are the wave forces are estimated by solving the water wave field
within the elastic range, and the governing equations and without accounting for the viscosity. As a result, there are two
boundary conditions for structures may be applied on the classes of mathematical models: viscous models and inviscid
initial or known (undeformed) position. The branch of FSI models. Inviscid models are also called as potential flow
dealing with this kind of problem is called hydroelasticity in models or potential model. For the problems associated with
1970s, though the meaning of this word may also include marine engineering, fluid (water or air) is usually assumed
the cases with nonlinearity nowadays (Chen et al., 2006). to be incompressible, and thus there are basic four fluid vari-
In linear cases, the equations for structural dynamics can be ables to be solved: three velocity components and pressure.
simplified to a set of equations including the inertial term, Nevertheless, one may also need to consider the compress-
resistant term, restoring term, and external force terms. ibility and heat transfer. In such cases, more than basic four
variables are of course included. These cases are not covered
in this article.
2.1.3 Nonlinearly deformed model
The nonlinearity may be caused by a large change in the 2.2.1 Potential models
geometry of a structure, where the governing equations and
In the potential models, the fluid velocities can be expressed
boundary conditions must be applied to the deformed posi-
by the gradient of a scalar velocity potential function (shorted
tion, and some forces (such as the membrane forces of plate
as potential hereafter). The potential is imposed to satisfy
or beam) dependent on the deformation of a structure, which
the Laplace equations together with proper boundary and
are neglected in the linear model, must be considered. The
initial conditions. After the potential is found, the velocity
nonlinearity may also be caused by the inelastic or plastic
components are then estimated by differentiating the poten-
behavior of structural material, where the deflection of the
tial, and the pressure is evaluated by the Bernoulli equation.
structure is nonlinearly correlated with the external forces.
In this category, there are many models of different levels of
The geometrical and material nonlinearity may not occur
complexity of boundary conditions as summarized below. In
at the same time. In other words, a structure may undergo
marine engineering, potential models are mainly used to deal
large deformation but its material may still be elastic. One
with water wave problems. More details may be found in the
example is a flexible riser often seen in marine engineering.
recent book by Mei, Stiassnie, and Yue (2015).
It is noted that the consideration of nonlinearity is not neces-
sarily to be full, that is, some aspects of nonlinearity may 2.2.1.1 Linear potential model. The linear potential
be accounted for but others may be ignored. Corresponding models linearize all the boundary conditions including those
to this, a range of different models with different levels of on the free surface and body surfaces by assuming that
nonlinearity has been suggested, which is beyond the scope the wave steepness and the motions of water boundaries
of this short article. are both small. Linearization means that the products of
unknown variables are ignored and all boundary conditions
2.2 Mathematical models for fluids are imposed on the original configuration of boundaries. In
this context, the wave field can be split into three: incoming
The viscosity exits generally in all fluids but its effect is wave, diffraction wave, and radiation wave. The diffraction
not necessarily very important in all cases. For example, wave is induced by the disturbance of fixed structures to
for flow around ships, viscous effects are mainly restricted incoming waves, while the radiation wave refers to that
to a boundary layer attached to their hull, and in many induced by the motions or oscillations of structures in
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe134
still water. Each of the three wave fields can be solved Equation 9a, the atmospheric pressure has been taken as zero.
independently from one another, which leads to a great Equations 8a and 9a can also be given in the Eulerian form:
deal of simplification. The linear model is appropriate for
investigating the wave dynamics when the structure works 𝜕𝜑 1
= −gz − |∇𝜙|2 (8b)
under operational conditions and has been widely used in 𝜕t 2
the industry.
The linear potential model may be solved in frequency 𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜁 𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜁 𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜁
= + + (9b)
domain or in time domain. The time domain analysis directly 𝜕z 𝜕t 𝜕x 𝜕x 𝜕y 𝜕y
gives the solution varying with time, which is often obtained
by a step-by-step (time-marching) numerical scheme. The On all rigid boundaries, the velocity potential satisfies
frequency domain analysis basically assumes, based on
𝜕𝜙 → →
−
Fourier transform theory, that ocean waves can be decom- =−
n ⋅ U(t) (10)
posed into a large number of components expressed by sine 𝜕n
or cosine functions with different frequencies. The solution →
where U(t) and →
− −
is first found varying with frequency and then is inversely n are the velocity and the outward unit
transformed back to one varying with time if necessary. normal vector of the rigid boundaries (e.g., the hull surface
The time domain analysis can reflect the transient behav- of a structure), respectively. It is noted that Equations 8a and
iors of waves and their interaction with structures, while 9a are applicable to all cases including wave overturning, as
the frequency domain can describe the behaviors in steady long as the free surface is not penetrated and/or splashed,
states. For the linear model, the frequency domain approach while Equations 8b and 9b are not applicable when over-
is more popular than the time domain analysis as the latter turning waves appear. The fully nonlinear model can only
is relatively inefficient. However, the time domain method be solved in time domain.
can more accurately account for some nonlinear effects, such
as viscous damping involved in the motion equations of 2.2.1.3 Weak nonlinear potential model. Although the
structures. fully nonlinear potential model seems to be not very compli-
cated mathematically, it is not trivial to solve. Even with use
2.2.1.2 Fully nonlinear potential model. The word of the best computer technology available today, the solu-
“fully” in this model means that no extra assumption is tion of FSI problems involving the model still requires a
made apart from neglecting the viscosity. In this context, considerable amount of computational time, though the tech-
all the terms in boundary conditions are applied on the nique is available. Therefore, various approximate models
instantaneous boundaries. In these cases, the position and have been developed to meet the demand of marine industry.
configuration of boundaries are unknown and form a part of The most popular weak linear model is the one based on the
the solution. To be more specific, the governing equations second order theory. There is a large volume of publications
and boundary conditions for the velocity potential 𝜙 are regarding the model (Molin, 2002). The second order theory
outlined here. For this purpose, a Cartesian coordinate keeps the terms corresponding to the first and second power
system (oxyz) shown in Figure 1 is used with the oxy plane of wave steepness and disregards the higher order terms, that
on the mean free surface where z = 0 and with the z-axis is, those proportional to the nth power (n > 2) of wave steep-
being positive upward. ness. The boundary conditions are still applied to the initial
or unchanged boundaries. The second order model has been
∇2 𝜙 = 0 (7) widely applied to deal with regular and irregular (or random)
waves and their interaction with structures.
in fluid domain. On the free surface z = 𝜁 (x, y, t), it satis- Similar to linear model, the second order models can also
fies the kinematic and dynamic conditions in the following be formulated in frequency domain and time domain. The
Lagrangian form: examples for frequency domain analysis can be found in
Dx 𝜕𝜑 Dy 𝜕𝜑 Dz 𝜕𝜑 Molin (2002), while the time domain analysis is exampled
= , = , = (8a) by Wang and Wu (2007) and Isaacson and Cheung (1991).
Dt 𝜕x Dt 𝜕y Dt 𝜕z
There are many other weakly nonlinear potential models,
D𝜑 1 such as Boussinesq model and Korteweg–de Vries (KdV)
= −gz + |∇𝜑|2 (9a) model for shallow water problems, the model based on
Dt 2
Schrödinger equation, third order model, and so on (Kharif,
D
where Dt is the substantial (or total) time derivative following Pelinovsky, and Slunyaev, 2009). They will not be discussed
fluid particles and g is the gravitational acceleration. In in the article due to page space limit.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe134
6 General
2.2.2 Viscous models solution procedures adopted. Only the condition for pressure
is written as
Unlike potential models, fully nonlinear viscous model,
→ →
−
rather than a simplified one, is often directly employed in n ⋅ ∇p𝛼 = 𝜌𝛼 (→
− n ⋅→
− − n ⋅ U̇ + 𝜐𝛼→
g −→
− n ⋅ ∇2→
− −
u 𝛼) (15)
marine engineering. That is perhaps because the simplifi-
cation based on a small Reynolds number adopted in other On the interface between two-phase fluids, such as the free
fields is not valid in marine engineering. In this field, the surface between air and water, the normal and the tangential
normal practice is that the fluid is assumed to be incom- stresses on both sides of the interface must be the same,
pressible. It is also a normal practice that the heat transfer respectively, which can be mathematically described but
or thermal energy variant is not accounted for. Of course, in is not written out here. Readers are referred to advanced
some special cases, such as those related to the fuel sloshing textbooks if they wish to see more about this.
in liquefied natural gas (LNG) tank and oil/gas transfor-
mation in pipelines, the compressibility and heat transfer,
or even chemical reaction (leading mass transfer), may be 2.2.3 Hybrid potential–viscous models
considered. Such effects are not concerned in this article. On In recent years, hybrid potential–viscous models have been
this basis, the word “fully” here means that all parameters suggested, for example, Sriram, Ma, and Schlurmann (2014);
and terms are taken into account, except for compressibility, Kim, Yamashiro, and Yoshida (2010); and Grilli (2008). This
heat transfer, and mass transfer. In this context, the governing model takes the fact that viscosity plays an important role
equations (continuity equation and momentum equation) only near a structure, away from which it is either small
with appropriate boundary conditions for two-phase fluids or does not significantly affect the behaviors of structures.
based on the ALE formulation are given as below. In fluid Based on this, a hybrid potential–viscous model is formed
domain, the velocity and pressure satisfy in a way that the viscous model is used in a region around
d→
− structures, while the potential model is adopted outside. In
u𝛼
+ (→
u𝛼 −→
u m ) ⋅ ∇→ g − ∇p𝛼 + 𝜐𝛼 ∇2→
u𝛼 =→
− − − − 1 − this way, the fluid effect is well accounted for including the
u 𝛼 (11)
dt 𝜌𝛼 viscosity, while the computational effort is minimized.
There are two approaches to couple the two models: weak
∇ ⋅→
−
u𝛼 = 0 (12) coupling and strong coupling. In the weak coupling, the
potential model is simulated without the viscous model, and
where → −g is the gravitational acceleration, → −u is the fluid the result is then fed into viscous model as a boundary
velocity vector, p is the pressure, 𝜌 is the fluid density, 𝜐 condition. In other words, the results from the potential
is the fluid viscosity, and → −
u m is the velocity of reference model affect the viscous model but not vice versa. Whereas
point, which is often referred to the mesh moving velocity in the strong coupling, the information from both the models
and can be arbitrarily specified. If → um =→
− −u 𝛼 , the equation are exchanged, and their solutions are mutually dependent.
corresponding to these for full Lagrangian formulation. On The weak coupling is suitable only to the cases where the
the other hand, the equations become Eulerian formulation if disturbance of structures to the fluid flow is only significantly
→
−u m = 0. The subscript 𝛼 presents the fluid phase that may be limited to the region near them, while the strong coupling
equal to 1 or 2 if there are two phases, such as air and water. should be applied to all other cases. The strong coupling is
At a rigid instantaneous boundary (e.g., the hull surface of a much less inefficient compared with the weak coupling.
structure), the normal component of the fluid velocity equals
to that of the boundary velocity, that is,
2.2.4 Empirical models
→ →
u𝛼 ⋅→
n = U ⋅→
− − − −
n (13) In addition to the above models, there are also a group of
models that take into account of nonlinear effects in an
if a slip boundary condition is imposed; otherwise, if nonslip empirical way. The most important one is that based on
condition is imposed, the condition reads the Morison equation. This model is only valid for slender
→ structures whose transverse dimension is much smaller than
→
− −
u𝛼 = U (14) the wavelength (e.g., the ratio between them is <0.2). In such
→ cases, one can assume that wave properties are not affected
→
− −
where U and U̇ have the same meaning as pointed out by the presence of the structure and that the total wave force
above. can be expressed as the sum of inertia forces (proportional
At a rigid instantaneous boundary, a boundary condition for to wave fluid acceleration) and drag forces (proportional to
pressure and shear stresses may also be needed, depending on the product of wave fluid velocity). The inertial and drag
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe134
coefficients are determined empirically a priori, and there- coupling between fluids and structures. The ALE, overset,
fore wave kinematics used for this model can be estimated and immersed boundary (domain) approaches are most
without considering the existence of the structures. More widely investigated. The ALE approach treats the fluid
details can be found in a large number of publications, for and structure domains as connected to one another at the
example, Ma and Patel (2001) and Sarpkayta and Isaacsmo interface. The interface is tracked in a Lagrangian way, and
(1981). boundary conditions on the interface are imposed explicitly.
The computational grids for the domains are fitted to each
other but may be different in the sense that they are generated
3 APPROACHES FOR DEALING WITH separately and in different ways. The grids for both fluids
COUPLING and structures can be arbitrarily deformed to conform to the
motion and deformation of structures and the interface. In
If both fluids and structures are described by linear models, the overset method, the computational domain is comprised
coupling between them is relatively straightforward (Chen of a stationary background mesh and body-fitted overset
et al., 2006). This is because the solution of one model can mesh following the rigid motions of a structure. Only the
be separated from another. Here we mainly discuss the issues fluid model is solved over the stationary background mesh,
related to use of the fully nonlinear models that are required and the shape/hull of the structure is not directly seen in the
to solve the problems with large deformations and strong background mesh, but both the fluid and structure models
nonlinearity. are solved over the overset mesh. The interface is explicitly
From the point of view of mathematical formulation and treated in the overset mesh in the similar way to that for
the solution of algebraic systems (discretized system of the ALE approach. These two meshes overlap in a region
governing equations), there are largely two approaches for away from the structures. An interpolation is performed
dealing with the coupling between fluids and structures: between the variables defined on the background mesh
monolithic and partitioned (Heil, 2004). In a monolithic and the overset mesh, and therefore the variables on the
approach, the fluids and structures are considered as one two sets of meshes are coupled with each other. In the
entity and solved as a whole, advancing all variables simul- immersed boundary (domain) method (Hou, Wang, and
taneously in time. Sometimes it is also called a fully coupled Layton, 2012), both the domains for fluids and structures are
approach. In partitioned approach, the models for fluids and discretized over the same computational grid. When such
structures are computationally treated as isolated entities, a grid is generated, the configuration of structures and the
which may separately march in time steps (Felippa, Park, interface between fluids and structures are not considered.
and Farhat, 2001). In this approach, the iteration between The interface and structures are considered as an immersed
two models is required at each of time steps. There are many boundary (body), whose effects are accounted by adding
different ways for iteration. The basic method does not do forcing terms, either explicitly or implicitly. The features
iteration. In this method, one may solve the fluid flow first of meshes in the three approaches are that in ALE they are
using the information of structures in previous time steps, deformed; in the overset method the background mesh is
and then the results are fed to a structure solver before fixed, while the overset grid may be fixed or deformed; the
moving to the next time step. The second way for iteration is entire mesh in the immersed boundary (domain) method is
that the number of iterations is specified according to experi- fixed.
ence. For example, iteration is performed only once between
the two models. The third method for iteration is that the
number of iteration is determined by estimating an error. 4 NUMERICAL METHODS FOR
If the error between the results obtained by two successive SOLVING FSI PROBLEMS
iterations is acceptable, the iteration ceases; otherwise it
continues. In addition, the time steps used for fluid model The models described above are generally solved by numer-
and structure model may not be the same. If the dominating ical methods using computers. There are lots of numerical
time scales for fluid flow very much differ from structural methods to solve the problems about FSI. They can largely
responses, adopting different time steps for different models be classified into two groups: boundary-based methods and
can save computational time. It is noted that the partitioned field-based methods.
approach may lead to very good results, but they always The field-based methods refer to those that need to
are approximate to the true solution of corresponding fully discretize a whole domain and all boundaries. This group
coupled formulation. can be subclassified as mesh-based methods and meshless
From the point of view of handling the deformation of methods. The mesh-based methods include finite element
the FSI, there are many approaches for dealing with the method (FEM), finite difference method (FDM), and finite
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe134
8 General
volume method (FVM). The most widely used method for of the velocity potential located at the exact free surface
fluids is the FVM, while the most widely used method into a Taylor series of complementary unknown quantities
for structures is the FEM. There are several commer- about the mean water level as detailed in Dommermuth and
cial software packages, such as ANSYS Fluent and Star Yue (1987) and Ducrozet et al. (2007). In this way, the
CCM+ for FVM and ABAQUS and ANSYS Structural method needs only to discretize the mean free surface. As
Mechanics software for FEM. These commercial software discussed by Clamond and Grue (2001) and Wang, Ma, and
packages were originally developed only for fluids or struc- Yan (2016), the spectral boundary integral method also needs
tures, but it trends that they have been incorporating other only to discretize the mean free surface, but the difference
aspects. from the HOS is that the velocity on the free surface is
The meshless methods include smoothed particle hydro- obtained by an integral of the velocity potential and free
dynamics (SPH) method (Monaghan, 1994; Shao, 2012), surface elevation defined on the free surface. It is noted that
moving particle semi-implicit (MPS) method (Khayyer and these boundary-based methods are used only for solving the
Gotoh, 2010; Koshizuka and Oka, 1996), and meshless local problems described by the potential model as they all result
Petrov–Galerkin (MLPG) method (Han and Atluri, 2004; Ma from the Laplace equations. BEM and FEM will be discussed
and Zhou, 2009). Compared with meshed-based method, the in more details in another article of this book.
meshless methods are relatively new. They have been devel-
oped for simulating very large deformation of structures or
violent flow of fluids. The most applications of the meshless 5 SOME RESULTS OF
methods are for solving fluid problems, but there are also FLUID–STRUCTURE INTERACTION
examples for solving structural problems, in particular, by
the MLPG method (Han and Atluri, 2004).
ANALYSIS IN MARINE ENGINEERING
The field-based methods are mainly used for solving the
A few examples are presented in the section to give a taste of
fully nonlinear viscous model, though they, such as FEM,
application of FSI in marine engineering. For convenience,
have also been employed to solve fully nonlinear potential
only some results from the research group of the authors are
models (Ma and Yan, 2009). It is noted that when they would
discussed, but it is noted that there are a large volume of
be applied to solve linear potential problems, the field-based
results in public domain, and readers can easily find them
methods may not be as efficient as boundary-based methods,
by searching the internet.
although their efficiency for solving fully nonlinear complex
FSI problems may overtake boundary-based methods.
The boundary-based methods refer to these that need to 5.1 Rigid body responses in steep waves
only discretize all boundaries. Boundary element method
(BEM), higher-order spectral (HOS) method, and spec- The first case is for two ship-like structures with different
tral boundary integral method are typical boundary-based sizes moving in steep waves. The ships are considered
methods. The BEM is also sometimes called as the boundary as rigid bodies. The case is computed by using the fully
integral method. This method relies on the formulation nonlinear potential model and FEM as detailed by Ma and
of differential governing equations into boundary integral Yan (2009). The partitioned ALE approach is employed for
equations. They are equivalent before being described. Based dealing with the WSI with the iteration in each time step
on the boundary integral equations, the solution concerned until an error is accepted. Figure 2 shows two snapshots at
can be found by considering elements on the boundaries. different instants of time, in which the larger ship is subjected
More details about BEM may be found in, for example, to a head wave, while the smaller one lies in an oblique wave,
Grilli et al. (2010). The HOS method relies on the expansion and they move separately but mutually affect each other.
Figure 2. Snapshot of two ships in steep waves at two different instants of time.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe134
0.16 0.16 0.16

0.14 0.14 0.14
0.12 0.12 0.12
0.1 0.1 0.1
0.08 0.08 0.08
0.06 0.06 0.06
0.04 0.04 0.04
0.02 0.02 0.02
0 0 0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
(a) (b) (c)
Figure 3. Snapshots for flow through an elastic gate corresponding to t = 0.104 s, 0.268 s, and 0.484 s from (a)–(c), respectively. Red:
structure; blue: water.
5.2 Dam breaking with an elastic gate between fluids and structures, including monolithic and
partitioned formulations and immersed boundary (domain)
In this case, water on the left is stopped by a gate initially. and overset numerical approaches. Although a great achieve-
This gate consists of two parts: the upper part is rigid, while ment has been made, there is still a way to go for solving FSI
the lower part is elastic. At t = 0, the lower part is allowed to in marine engineering for complicated cases.
move, and so water flows out underneath the gate and the
gate is deflected by the force of water on it. This case is
simulated by using the MLPG_R (MLPG based on Rankine ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
source solution) method that is a meshless method based on
the full nonlinear viscous model as detailed in Sriram and Ma The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of
(2012). In this method, the partitioned Lagrangian approach EPSRC projects (EP/L01467X/1 and EP/N006569/1).
is employed to deal with the coupling of water and the elastic
gate with iteration in each time step until a specified small
error is achieved. Some snapshots at three instants of time
are illustrated in Figure 3, where one can see how the water GLOSSARY
interacts with the structure.
Boundary-based Boundary-based methods only
and field-based discretize all boundaries, while
5.3 Impact of a ship section methods field-based methods discretize the
whole fluid domain.
This example is about the impact of ship section on still Fluid–structure The interaction between a movable or
water, which is simulated by using the immersed boundary interaction deformable structure and the
(domain) method based on the fully nonlinear viscous model surrounding fluid flow.
with the monolithic approach (Yang et al., 2016). The ship Free surface The fluid interface between air and
section freely drops onto the water and moves downward. water.
The problem involves the two-phase fluids: air and water, and Hybrid A mathematical model that combines
the ship section is treated as a rigid body. potential–viscous potential and viscous models of fluid
model flow.
Mesh-based and Mesh-based methods are numerical
6 SUMMARY meshless methods in which the unknowns are
methods approximated by a function defined
This article has discussed the main idea and issues of FSI in at nodes on a mesh, while meshless
marine engineering. FSI in this field has to deal with ocean methods are based on interactions
waves. There exist several different classes of mathematical between each node and its neighbors.
models for solving FSI problem, including linear and fully MLPG_R Meshless Local Petrov–Galerkin
nonlinear models and potential and viscous models. Several method with Rankine source
approaches have been proposed for tackling the coupling solution.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe134
10 General
Numerical method A method for calculating an Nonlinear Water Waves, vol. 11 in Series in Advances in Coastal
and Ocean Engineering (ed Q.W. Ma), World Scientific Publishing
approximate solution usually by
Co. Pte. Ltd., pp. 75–128, ISBN: 978-981-283-649-6.
running a program on a computer.
Han, Z.D. and Atluri, S.N. (2004) Meshless Local Petrov-Galerkin
Potential and Potential models are inviscid (MLPG) approaches for solving 3D Problems in elasto-statics.
viscous models (nonviscous) models of fluid flow in Computer Modelling in Engineering & Sciences, 6 (2),
which the velocity field is expressed 169–188.
as a gradient of a scalar function, Heil, M. (2004) An efficient solver for the fully coupled solu-
while viscous models include tion of large-displacement fluid–structure interaction problems.
viscosity. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 193
(1–2), 1–23.
Hou, G., Wang, J., and Layton, A. (2012) Numerical methods for
fluid–structure interaction—a review. Communications in Compu-
RELATED ARTICLES tational Physics, 12 (2), 337–377.
Isaacson, M. and Cheung, K.F. (1991) Second order wave diffraction
CFD Methods in Ship Hydrodynamics around two-dimensional bodies by time-domain method. Applied
Inviscid Hydrodynamics Ocean Research, 13, 175–186.
Characteristics of Viscous, Rotational and Irrotational Flows Kharif, C., Pelinovsky, E., and Slunyaev, A. (2009) Rogue
Waves in the Ocean. Advances in Geophysical and Envi-
ronmental Mechanics and Mathematics, Springer, ISBN:
Deepwater Floating Production Systems—An Overview 978-3-540-88418-7.
Hydrodynamics of Substructure and Wave-in-Deck Loading Khayyer, A. and Gotoh, H. (2010) A higher order Laplacian model
on Fixed Steel Platforms for enhancement and stabilization of pressure calculation by the
Mega-Float MPS method. Applied Ocean Research, 32 (1), 124–131.
Wave–Current Interaction Kim, S.H., Yamashiro, M., and Yoshida, A. (2010) A simple
two-way coupling method of BEM and VOF model for
random wave calculations. Coastal Engineering, 57 (11–12),
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Koshizuka, S. and Oka, Y. (1996) Moving-particle semi-implicit
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Journal of Fluids and Structures, 23, 605–631. ISOPE 2016.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe134
Inviscid Hydrodynamics
Richard Manasseh
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
where u1 and u2 represent the speed of water flow at any

1 Introduction 1 two points (point 1 and point 2) on the same streamline, p1
2 Pressure 3 and p2 are the pressures in the water at points 1 and 2, and
3 Steady and Unsteady Flow and Streamlines 3 𝜌 is the density of the water. The engineer decides to apply
Bernoulli’s equation and sets point 1 to be far upstream and
4 Conservation of Mass 4
point 2 on the face of the structure at the centerline. Next, it is
5 Conservation of Momentum 4 clear that at the structure centerline, the water speed must be
6 Integral Forms: Bernoulli’s Equation 5 zero, because on either side, flow diverts to the left or right,
7 Vorticity, Streamfunction, and Velocity but on the centerline, it must come to a dead stop. Therefore,
Potential 6 u2 is zero. Meanwhile, u1 = 6 m∕s and at the surface, p1 is
8 Potential Flow 8 simply atmospheric pressure, which in this case is the same
9 Conformal Mapping 11 everywhere. Then, the required added pressure due to the
Glossary 12 current, p2 − p1 , is equal to 𝜌(u1 2 )∕2. Noting the density of
sea water is about 1026 kg∕m3 (see Section 1.4) gives an
Related Articles 12
answer of roughly 18 kPa. This may not seem like much,
References 12 indeed it is similar to the peak value of the engineer’s own
blood pressure, but 18 kPa corresponds to a weight of about
1.8 tonnes/m2 of the structure.
The engineer’s next assignment concerns a similar struc-
1 INTRODUCTION
ture, but placed on the ocean side of the harbor, where storm
waves may create a peak water speed of 6 m∕s with crests
1.1 The need for understanding
arriving every second. The engineer immediately applies
Bernoulli’s equation as before, but this time the result is
An inexperienced maritime engineer receives a first assign-
ment: a tidal flow creates a quasi-steady current with wrong. In this case, one needs to recognize why Equation 1
a maximum value of 6 m/s in a harbor. A temporary, is not valid, and get help on a different analysis.
lightweight rectangular-section structure is planned with In both the cases, laws derived from Inviscid-
a face at 90∘ to the current. With what pressure must the Hydrodynamics principles apply. However, different
structure be designed to withstand at its centerline? The assumptions prevail. In order to understand when simple
engineer remembers learning about Bernoulli’s equation, formulae like Bernoulli’s equation can be applied, and
when they cannot, it is important to understand where such
1 2 1 formulae come from.
(u2 − u1 2 ) = − (p2 − p1 ) (1)
2 𝜌
1.2 Definition of inviscid hydrodynamics
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe065
In this article, we will learn about the basics of Inviscid
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 Hydrodynamics, the building block on which an
2 Marine
understanding of fluid mechanics is based. Fluid Mechanics engineering. This variety of flowing substances raises the
is the study of the forces in fluids, and Fluid Dynamics is question: just what is a fluid? Do the same laws, such as
the study of forces in fluids in motion. Hydrodynamics is Bernoulli’s equation, apply to all?
a subset of Fluid Dynamics dealing only with the forces A simple definition of a fluid is “some substance that
due to the motion of water, although the principles in this flows.” However, there is a precise scientific definition: a
article are sufficiently general that they apply to aspects of fluid is a substance that deforms indefinitely in response to a
Aerodynamics as well. shear stress. Imagine an everyday solid: a rectangular block
It is important to understand what Inviscid Hydrodynamics of ice, held at the bottom, and with a horizontal force applied
does not include. The word “inviscid” means “no viscosity.” to its top face, for example, by a plate that grips the surface.
Thus, we will not consider the influence of viscosity, which Thus, there is a shear stress applied to its top face, equal to the
creates friction and drains energy from a fluid flow: it causes force divided by the area of the top face. On application of the
drag on bodies such as ships moving through fluid and drag shear stress, the ice will deform by a small amount, then stop.
on fluid moving past fixed objects or in channels. Viscosity Its top face will be moved horizontally, so that the block of
also engenders fluid-flow phenomena of immense impor- ice is no longer precisely a rectangle, but a parallelogram. If
tance, such as boundary layers. These cause further types of the shear stress is maintained constant, the deformation of the
drag but also create phenomena such as the oscillatory wake solid will not change the force due to its stiffness balancing
behind an object that is responsible for everything from the the applied force. If the shear stress is increased, the solid
flapping of a flag to the undermining of undersea pipelines. will deform further, and if it were increased further, the ice
Inviscid Hydrodynamics also does not include one of would eventually crack. (By the way, under noneveryday
the most important and challenging phenomena in physics: conditions, such as the immense pressure under a glacier, ice
turbulence. Although we will mention turbulence in passing can actually flow, but there it has effectively changed from a
in Section 5, dealing with it is a major study in its own right. solid to a viscous liquid.)
For most maritime engineers, the practical importance of Now imagine the same everyday ice is melted into water,
turbulence is similar to that of viscosity: a frictional loss of and held in a container. The same force, and thus the same
energy. All these effects will be considered in later articles. shear stress, is applied to the water’s surface. Now, however,
Furthermore, Inviscid Hydrodynamics generally does not there is no fixed deformation. Unlike the ice, the water
include effects due to fluid compressibility; these include continues to move as long as the shear stress continues to be
sound waves in the sea and also phenomena such as cavi- applied. It deforms indefinitely, pushed along horizontally by
tation, which is responsible for eroding ships’ propellers. the stress at the top and recirculating at the bottom, rather like
We will begin by defining key properties of fluids. Then, a conveyor belt (Figure 1).
we will consider the basic relation between depth in the sea
and pressure. Next, we consider the definitions of steady and
unsteady flow and streamlines. We explain how the conser-
vation of mass is represented in fluid flows. We apply the law
of conservation of momentum to find relations between pres-
sure and velocity such as Bernoulli’s equation. Finally, we
introduce potential flow, which is used to design the shapes
of streamlined bodies.
1.3 Definition of a fluid
The most obvious fluid a maritime engineer must deal with is

seawater, but a moment’s reflection reveals many other fluids.
The flow of lubricating oil in engines may become a crit-
ical issue in very cold weather; the flow of sediment may
block channels or undermine foundations. The flow of air in Figure 1. This vessel, the Swedish icebreaker Oden, is designed
the atmosphere—the wind—is of vital importance to many to move through a complex environment consisting of solid (sea
ice) as well as fluid (sea water). This is one instance where the
maritime engineering operations, owing to the wind’s ability principles of hydrodynamics alone would be insufficient for
to create waves, and to the wind’s interaction with struc- engineering design. (Reproduced from https://en.wikipedia.org/
tures at sea. The most famous such structure is a thin, flex- wiki/Oden_(1988_icebreaker)#/media/File:Swedish_icebreaker_
ible sheet: the sail, which launched the history of maritime Oden.jpg. U.S. Navy photo by Larry Larsson. Public domain.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe065
Inviscid Hydrodynamics 3
In this respect, gases, such as air, behave exactly the same stress, which acts parallel to a surface. In fact, the pressure in
as the liquid water. The difference between a gas and a liquid a fluid is simply one part of a mathematical construct called
is that a gas expands to fill a container, whereas a liquid the stress tensor, which includes the shear stresses as well.
forms a distinct surface. Nonetheless, when a shear stress is Like all the stresses, pressure is force per unit area, and thus
applied to a gas (via a moving wall in contact with it, such its units are ML−1 T−2 , in SI units Pascal (Pa) or N/m2 .
as a fan blade), it deforms indefinitely as long as the stress Imagine a fluid whose density may be considered constant
is applied. Thus, fluids may be both liquids and gases. So (such as water) and consider it motionless, so that it is in
yes, Bernoulli’s equation along with the wider laws of fluid hydrostatic equilibrium. Then, the only forces in the fluid
mechanics is applicable to gas as to a liquid. are due to gravity and pressure, which must balance to give
zero acceleration. By applying Newton’s Second Law to an
1.4 Fluid properties infinitesimally small “block” of fluid, it can be shown that
the pressure in excess of atmospheric pressure, p, is given by
Since the definition of a fluid given in Section 1.3 involves
the fluid’s response to shear stress, it could be argued p = 𝜌gz (2)
that the most fundamental property of a fluid is its
viscosity. However, in Inviscid Hydrodynamics, as noted in where g is the acceleration due to gravity (about 9.8 m/s2 )
Section 1.2, our calculations do not include the viscosity of and z the depth downward from the surface. Since 𝜌g roughly
the fluid. Many useful engineering estimates and designs equals 10,000 in SI units, we have a convenient rule of
can be made without considering viscosity. thumb: for every 10 m we descend in the sea, we are
The key fluid property we must consider is density. Density subjected to an additional pressure of 100 kPa. By coinci-
is the mass of a substance per unit volume, denoted 𝜌. Thus, dence, 100 kPa is roughly equal to atmospheric pressure, so
its units are mass per unit length cubed, written as ML−3 , we can also say that we feel one added atmosphere per 10 m
and in SI units these units are kg∕m3 . The density of gases depth.
varies considerably with pressure and temperature, and for In many maritime engineering problems, either the depth
most practical engineering purposes can be calculated using does not vary or flow at the surface is considered (z = 0).
the Ideal Gas Law, which we do not detail in this article. However, once there is fluid motion, Equation 2 will no
Differences in the Sun’s heating between the Equator and longer be sufficient; additional factors will affect the pres-
the Poles cause variations in air density that create the Earth’s sure.
weather. Nonetheless, for the flow of air due to the local wind
around an engineering structure, its density can be consid-
ered approximately constant, at about 1.2 kg/m3 . Inside engi- 3 STEADY AND UNSTEADY FLOW
neering systems such as compressors, for example, it would AND STREAMLINES
be quite different.
The density of liquids, in contrast, varies little with pres- The key difference between the first and second assignments
sure and temperature. The density of fresh water at 4∘ C of our inexperienced maritime engineer was that the flow
is about 999.97 kg∕m3 , and is usually approximated as a in the first assignment—the current—was steady, whereas
1000 kg/m3 ; indeed, the original definition of the kilogram in the second assignment—the storm waves—the flow was
is the mass of one liter of water, so that a cubic meter unsteady. A steady flow is one in which the velocity at a fixed
of water weighs about a tonne. Meanwhile, at 25∘ C, its point is not changing with time. In Section 5, we will see how
density, 997.04 kg/m3 , differs by only one-third of a percent. this is expressed mathematically. Steady flows are generally
However, salinity has a greater effect. Sea water density is easier to deal with. In a steady flow, the velocity field—the
a few percent higher, ranging from 1020 to 1029 kg/m3 at pattern created by the flowing fluid—remains unchanged as
the surface and is often taken to be 1026 kg/m3 . For most time goes by. However, in an unsteady flow, any alteration to
maritime engineering operations, these sea-water density the velocity field is possible, including the complete reversals
differences are small, but they are of immense importance in direction that are due to waves, and also including changes
in driving the ocean circulation and climate. in the pattern with time.
In a steady flow, we can define a streamline. A streamline is
the path taken by fluid particles in steady flow. The velocity
2 PRESSURE vector of fluid flow can never cross a streamline, and velocity
vectors are always tangential to streamlines. Therefore, in
Pressure is a type of mechanical stress that acts at right angles inviscid hydrodynamics, any streamline can be replaced by
to the surface of a body. In Section 1.3, we referred to shear a solid boundary, and vice versa. We will use this concept in
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe065
4 Marine
Section 8.5 when we calculate the lift force on a streamlined cross-sectional areas. To many of us, this is simply obvious
engineering section such as a rudder or fin. from the start and one might wonder why the contrivance of
considering the mass flux through a small slice is necessary.
However, beware. Equation 4 is not a fundamental law of
4 CONSERVATION OF MASS physics, merely one we have derived for our special example.
What if it were a different system, in which the density 𝜌 did
The law of conservation of mass in classical mechanics vary, for example, when gas is piped from deep in the ocean?
(which includes fluid mechanics) simply states that mass Moreover, what if the fluid flow were three-dimensional?
is neither created nor destroyed. This means that the mass Maritime engineers, unlike engineers dealing with flow in
carried into a fixed volume must either be all carried out, or pipes, have to calculate flows in at least two dimensions.
the mass must build up inside that volume. If mass increases This is because they are dealing mostly with external flows
in a fixed volume, the density must be increasing. Since in rather than internal flows. Flow diverts around the hull or
most maritime engineering applications we are assuming the rudder of a ship, or the support of an offshore structure, and
density is constant, we will soon see that the law of conserva- therefore its velocity varies not only in the x-direction, but
tion of mass reduces to the statement that the volume flowing in the y-direction as well. This two-dimensional issue is one
into a region per unit time must equal the volume flowing Hydrodynamicists also share with Aerodynamicists, since
out. We need to qualify this simple statement in the case the same issue applies to flow around the wings and fuselages
of a two-dimensional flow, such as that occurring at the sea of aircraft. In some cases, of course, three dimensions are
surface. In a two-dimensional flow, it is possible for the mass needed.
per unit area to build up with time even though the density In its most general, three-dimensional form, including the
is constant; this simply represents the sea surface rising with possibility of density varying, the Law of Conservation of
time in that area. Likewise, mass falling with time in an area Mass for a continuum is
could represent the sea surface falling. In other words, the
D𝜌
flow is not truly two dimensional. In three dimensions, mass = −𝜌 𝛁 ⋅u (5)
is always conserved. Dt
Imagine flow in a river or channel whose area A changes which is also called the continuity equation of fluid
from wider, with cross-sectional area A1 , to narrower, with dynamics. If the density is constant, Equation 5 reduces
cross-sectional area A2 . Equivalently, imagine a region of to
a steady flow bounded by two streamlines; as explained in 𝛁⋅u = 0 (6)
Section 3, in inviscid hydrodynamics, the streamlines are as
good as the solid banks of the river. The rate at which mass Equation 6 is often referred to as the incompressibility condi-
flows is called the mass flux, and in this one-dimensional tion.
example, the mass flux is 𝜌Au. As usual in calculus, imagine
an infinitesimal “slice” across the river, and that there is a
gradient in 𝜌Au with x. Now, we will apply the assumption 5 CONSERVATION OF MOMENTUM
that density is constant, and the equality of mass fluxes into
and out of the slice leads to Now, let us consider the conservation of momentum. It is
usually convenient to consider the derivative of this law with
𝜕(Au)
− =0 (3) respect to time. That is because the derivative of momentum
𝜕x
with respect to time is force, and in engineering it is usually
Integrating Equation 3 gives more practical for us to calculate balances of forces than
momenta. The derivative of the law of conservation of
Au = constant momentum is
F = ma (7)
so that
A1 u1 = A2 u2 (4) which is a famous equation, Newton’s Second Law, deduced
by Isaac Newton in 1686. It states that the vector force, F
Thus, Equation 4 effectively says “what goes in, must come equals mass, m, times the vector acceleration, a. Since this is
out,” or more precisely, that the volume flow rate at point a fluid mechanics problem, we will make a mathematically
1 must equal the volume flow rate at point 2. Equation 4 trivial but physically meaningful rearrangement,
shows us that if the river gets narrower, the speed gets higher,
and moreover that the ratio of speeds is given by the ratio of a = F∕m (8)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe065
because in fluid mechanics, the challenge is usually working Consider a tiny element in the fluid of dimensions 𝛿x,
out the acceleration of the fluid given the forces applied to 𝛿y, and 𝛿z, and the forces acting on it (in the x- direction,
it. Moreover, as we will see, the acceleration of a fluid can since we are only interested in u). Fluid flows are driven by
be extremely complex. Again, beware. Even in taking the differences in pressure, and considering that the pressure, p,
trivial step from Equation 7 to Equation 8, we are making a could vary with space, it turns out that the net force per unit
hidden assumption, which will only become apparent later: mass on our tiny element in the x-direction is given by
we are again assuming that the density of the water, 𝜌, is a
constant. F 1 𝜕p
=− (10)
We will need to express both a and F∕m in variables of m 𝜌 𝜕x
practical use to us, in particular the velocity and pressure.
Now a is the rate of change of velocity. We write it as Now, equating (9) and (10) gives the law of conservation of
momentum expressed in variables of practical interest,
( )
Du Dv Dw
a= , , 𝜕u 𝜕u 𝜕u 𝜕u 1 𝜕p
Dt Dt Dt +u +v +w =− (11)
𝜕t 𝜕x 𝜕y 𝜕z 𝜌 𝜕x
where the capital D in the derivatives signifies that all the
ways, both direct and indirect, that the velocity can change or, in vector form,
are to be considered. (If the density were not constant, we
would have to include 𝜌 in the derivatives.) Because a fluid Du 1
= − 𝛁p (12)
can deform indefinitely, different parts of the fluid can be Dt 𝜌
moving at different velocities. In other words, the velocity
Equation 12 is the constant-density (i.e., incompressible)
u, and hence its rate of change, Du∕Dt, is a function of the
version of the momentum equation first derived by Leonhard
spatial variables x, y, and z as well as time, t. For simplicity,
Euler in 1757 (and Equation 11 is the x-component of Euler’s
we will only consider the component of the acceleration in
equation). This is called the incompressible Euler Equation.
the x-direction, Du∕Dt, then generalize later to three dimen-
Allowing for the possibility that density could vary, the full
sions.
Euler equation is
An element of a fluid, like a solid, can accelerate by its D(𝜌u)
velocity increasing directly with time only. Using the usual = −𝛁p (13)
Dt
partial derivative notation, this is written 𝜕u∕𝜕t.
However, an element of a fluid, unlike a solid, can also
accelerate by moving into a region of the fluid where the 6 INTEGRAL FORMS: BERNOULLI’S
velocity is different. Using the chain rule of differential
calculus, we can immediately write down all the terms in
EQUATION
Du∕Dt that include these spatial variations as well , so that
We now make some simplifications that are very useful, but
the left-hand side of the x-component of Newton’s Second
very restrictive. Firstly, assume the fluid flow is steady, as
Law is given by
defined in Section 3. Thus, 𝜕u∕𝜕t = 0.
Du 𝜕u 𝜕u 𝜕u 𝜕u When discussing the law of conservation of mass, we
= +u +v +w (9) considered an effectively one-dimensional flow, such that
Dt 𝜕t 𝜕x 𝜕y 𝜕z
that in a river or channel—or a region of a steady flow
(The advective terms are called convective terms in bounded by two streamlines. The river changes from wider
some textbooks.) We can see that the advective terms are to narrower, and Equation 4 showed us how to calculate
nonlinear—they are proportional to the velocity squared. It the speed of flow across this change. Recall that in inviscid
is this nonlinearity that allows fluids to exhibit very complex hydrodynamics, the streamlines are the same as a solid wall.
behavior. The added ability to accelerate by changing posi- Now, let us consider the same one-dimensional situation for
tion can result in some of the most varied and beautiful the conservation of momentum equation, which means that
patterns and phenomena in nature, from the turbulence the advective terms v𝜕u∕𝜕y and w𝜕u∕𝜕z can be neglected.
behind a ship’s rudder to the swirl of a tropical cyclone, However, we should think carefully. When thinking about the
and from the pinch-off of a teardrop to the breaking of an mass conservation, neglecting the v and w required simply
ocean wave. estimating that v and w were so small compared with u that
To complete the conservation of momentum equation, we they could be neglected. However, now we are saying a bit
now need the right-hand side of our version of Newton’s more. We are also saying that the gradients of u in the y and z
Second Law (Equation 8). directions are so small that v × 𝜕u∕𝜕y and w × 𝜕u∕𝜕z can be
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe065
6 Marine
neglected. This is true one-dimensionality—we are claiming to viscosity among other factors. Thus, modern practice is to
that not only is there no motion in the y and z directions, there treat Bernoulli’s equation as a very convenient form of the
is no variation of u in the y and z directions. Beware! Even momentum conservation principle, but to remain alert to the
if, say, v is quite small, if 𝜕u∕𝜕y is very large, the nonlinear circumstances in which it is invalid.
advective term v𝜕u∕𝜕y could still be significant.
Thus, assuming complete one-dimensionality and steady
flow, integrate Equation 11 with respect to x, giving 7 VORTICITY, STREAMFUNCTION, AND
VELOCITY POTENTIAL
1 2 1
u = − p + constant (14)
2 𝜌 In this section, two important assumptions about a flow are
made. One of them is the constant-density assumption we
This is a simple version of another famous equation, called
already used to obtain Bernoulli’s equation. The assump-
Bernoulli’s Equation and derived by Daniel Bernoulli in
tions are quite restrictive simplifications, but they offer a
1738. Applying Equation 14 both upstream and downstream
powerful advantage. The other assumption is that an attribute
of the point where the river narrows, we get the equation the
of the flow that we are just about to study, the vorticity, is
inexperienced maritime engineer correctly applied in the first
zero. Together, the two assumptions permit the mathematical
assignment,
design of a wide range of engineering shapes of relevance
1 2 1 to maritime engineers, such as the profiles of rudders, fins,
(u − u1 2 ) = − (p2 − p1 ) (15)
2 2 𝜌 hydrofoils, or hulls, such that they are streamlined.
Combining Equations 15 and 4, we can find a relation 7.1 Vorticity and circulation
between the rate of flow at either point and the difference
between the pressure upstream and downstream. The vorticity of the flow is a measure of how rapidly an
Like Equation 4 we derived for the conservation of mass infinitesimally small block of fluid spins in a particular fluid
in our special case, Equation 15 is not a fundamental law of flow. For example, where a fast-moving region of water runs
physics, merely one we have derived for our special example. alongside a slow-moving region, there is high vorticity on
The inexperienced maritime engineer in Section 1.2 forgot the boundary between the two regions. By considering the
that Bernoulli’s equation (15) is only valid in steady flow, velocity components causing the infinitesimally small block
and waves are certainly not steady. Furthermore, what if to spin, the vorticity, Ωz of a two-dimensional flow field is
𝜌 were not constant? If the flow were unsteady, compress- found to be
ible, and three dimensional, we would be forced to use 𝜕v 𝜕u
Ωz = − (16)
the fundamental, and, unfortunately, harder-to-solve Euler 𝜕x 𝜕y
equation (13).
Bernoulli’s equation teaches us a key feature of inviscid Using vector calculus, the vorticity is a vector that is the curl
hydrodynamics: the pressure, and thus the force exerted by of the velocity, that is,
a flowing fluid, increases with the square of the flow speed.
𝛀 = 𝛁 ×u (17)
Doubling the flow speed means we have four times the force
to deal with. This simple and vital rule of thumb should be in
and in fact Equation 16 gives the vertical component of
the minds of all engineers dealing with steady incompressible
the vorticity vector; in two dimensions, that is the only
fluid flows. The only exception is to flows that are very small
component.
in scale, very slow, or in very viscous fluid, none of which
If there is vorticity, there is also circulation, denoted Γ.
are typical of maritime engineering.
Consider a region of the flow in which there is vorticity,
It is worth emphasizing that to get Equation 14, we inte-
but outside this region, the vorticity is zero. If we draw a
grated Euler’s equation with respect to distance. Euler’s
closed loop around the region and integrate the component
equation, like its precursor Newton’s Second Law, expresses
of velocity tangential to the loop with differential length dl,
a balance of forces. This step effectively multiplied force
the circulation is given by
by distance. Now, force multiplied by distance is energy,
and indeed Bernoulli actually came up with Equation 14 19
years before Euler figured out Equation 13 by thinking about Γ= u ⋅ dl (18)
∮C
energy, not forces. However, Bernoulli’s equation does not
account for all the energy in a fluid flow—in particular, Now imagine the loop is drawn smaller and smaller, and
outside of inviscid hydrodynamics, flows lose energy owing at the same time the velocity gets higher and higher, so
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe065
that Γ remains constant. In the limit in which the closed 𝜓 is defined as having the opposite sign, but Equation 20
loop is of zero size, we have a point vortex. The point is the convention most used in engineering. Substitution
vortex has a diameter of zero and infinite velocity, but the of Equation 20 into Equation 19 shows that 𝜓 satisfies the
circulation remains a finite constant and so is the vorticity. incompressibility condition from the conservation of mass
We will use this concept after we define the streamfunction law, so that by using 𝜓 we are effectively using the conser-
and potential flow. vation of mass law to eliminate one variable. However, there
is a much more profound reason to introduce the streamfunc-
7.2 Streamfunction tion 𝜓. Together with the potential-flow assumption that we
are about to make, the streamfunction will permit the design
As noted in Section 4, maritime engineers and their cousins, of streamlined engineering profiles.
the aerospace engineers, often deal with flows in two dimen-
sions, demanding two sets of the momentum equation, that 7.3 Velocity potential
is, Euler’s equation (11). While mathematicians can conve-
niently represent the two (or three) equations with a single Now we make a second assumption: that the flow is irrota-
vector equation (12), we cannot avoid the issue that there is tional. This means that the vorticity, Ωz , is zero, giving from
now an additional unknown. In addition to the component of Equation 16
velocity in the x-direction, u, we need to find the component 𝜕v 𝜕u
− =0 (22)
of velocity in the y-direction, v. 𝜕x 𝜕y
Clearly however, we have a third equation from the conser-
vation of mass law, Equation 5. To make use of conservation Thus, our second assumption on the velocity field also
of mass, one possible simplification is the assumption we directly relates u and v without any other unknowns. Simi-
have already made in our examples: that density is constant. larly to the streamfunction, we introduce a second new vari-
This reduces conservation of mass to the incompressibility able, 𝜙, called the velocity potential, which satisfies
condition, Equation 6; in velocity components, Equation 6 is
𝜕𝜙
u=
𝜕u 𝜕v 𝜕x
+ =0 (19)
𝜕x 𝜕y 𝜕𝜙
v= (23)
𝜕y
Since Equation 19 directly relates u and v without any
other unknowns, we can use it to eliminate one of them or, in vector form,
from the momentum equation (12). Then, we would have u = 𝛁𝜙 (24)
a relation between, for example, u and p as in Bernoulli’s
equation, although now unsteadiness and two dimensionality Substitution of Equation 23 into Equation 22 shows that 𝜙
is possible. Now, while elimination of u or v is certainly satisfies the irrotationality condition.
mathematically possible, the resulting nonlinear partial At first glance, introducing 𝜓 and 𝜙 may seem to be a step
differential equation would be difficult to solve in most backward: we wanted to eliminate one of u or v, and instead
cases, and if we did a numerical solution with a computer we have replaced them with two more unknowns, 𝜓 and 𝜙.
program, we would lose the basic understanding needed for However, if both Equations 20 and 23 are valid, we can apply
effective engineering design. the irrotationality condition to 𝜓 as well as 𝜙, and apply the
Instead of just eliminating u or v, we introduce a new incompressibility condition to 𝜙 as well as 𝜓. This result is
variable, usually denoted as 𝜓, called the streamfunction, both 𝜓 and 𝜙 satisfying Laplace’s Equation,
which satisfies
𝜕2 𝜓 𝜕2 𝜓
𝜕𝜓 + 2 =0
u= 𝜕x2 𝜕y
𝜕y
𝜕𝜓 𝜕2𝜙 𝜕2𝜙
v=− (20) + 2 =0 (25)
𝜕x 𝜕x2 𝜕y
or, in vector form, and a powerful and very useful mathematical theory, called
u = 𝛁× 𝜓 (21) potential theory, can be used, as we will see in Section 8.
Although the absence of vorticity may be a very restrictive
where 𝛙 is a vector with only its vertical component, 𝜓, assumption, in Section 8.5 we will learn a trick with vorticity
being nonzero. In some specializations of fluid mechanics, that makes potential flow of remarkably widespread validity.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe065
8 Marine
First, as an aside that will be useful for later articles, consider irrotational. As parcels of fluid orbit the center of the irro-
another circumstance in which potential flow is valid: waves. tational vortex, they do not spin. If one were facing North
Returning to the incompressible version of Euler’s equation while orbiting an irrotational vortex, one would always face
(12), let us assume that the velocity u is very small. The North. Because all the circulation is contained in the central
small-velocity assumption eliminates the nonlinear (advec- point vortex, the circulation of the irrotational vortex is fixed
tive) terms because they vary as the square of the velocity and equal to the circulation Γ of the central point vortex.
and thus are so small that they may be neglected, so that we In polar-coordinates, u is the component of velocity in the
get radial (r)-direction and v is the component of velocity in the
𝜕u 1
= − 𝛁p (26) azimuthal (𝜃) or “orbital” direction, such that v is positive for
𝜕t 𝜌 an anticlockwise motion. To relate u and v to 𝜙 and 𝜓, we
By combining Equation 26 and the mass-conservation need to know the definitions of the derivatives in polar coor-
equations with an appropriate version of the hydrostatic dinates. They are 𝜕∕(𝜕r) and (1∕r)𝜕∕(𝜕𝜃) in the radial and
equation, the result is a wave equation that has a solution azimuthal directions, respectively. In an irrotational vortex,
that is oscillatory and varies sinusoidally with time. Since u = 0 and v is given by
we know u varies sinusoidally with time, p must do so as
Γ
well, so that Equation 26 becomes v= (28)
2𝜋r
1
i 𝜔û = − 𝛁 p̂ (27) where r is the radius from the vortex center, and the corre-
𝜌 sponding velocity potential is
where 𝜔 is the radian frequency and û and p̂ the spatially
Γ
varying amplitudes of the oscillatory velocity and pressure, 𝜙= 𝜃 (29)
2𝜋
respectively. Now we can see that û = 𝛁 𝜙, where 𝜙 = −̂p∕
(i𝜔𝜌); this is the same as Equation 24. This means that where 𝜃 is the angle in the azimuthal direction. The corre-
small-amplitude ocean waves create velocity fields that can sponding streamfunction is given by
also be treated using the techniques of potential flow.
Γ
𝜓 =− ln r (30)
2𝜋
8 POTENTIAL FLOW
Lines of constant 𝜙 radiate from the vortex center, while
8.1 Irrotational vortex lines of constant 𝜓 are circles centered on the vortex center,
as shown in Figure 2. The irrotational vortex may seem to
Potential theory can be used to calculate the flow field around be a mathematical contrivance without relation to reality.
simple shapes such as a cylinder of circular section. Even However, it is a remarkably good approximation to many
more importantly, once we have calculated the flow field real vortices, and moreover it is an essential element of
around a simple shape such as a circular-section cylinder, the potential-flow theory that is used to design practical
we can calculate the flow field around any practical engi- engineering sections.
neering shape (such as the section of a ship’s rudder or hydro-
foil blade). We do this by transforming the circular section
8.2 Source and sink
into the desired shape using a technique called conformal
mapping (Section 9). Applying the same conformal map to
Now imagine a point from which fluid is emerging and
the flow field automatically gives us the flow field around
spreading radially outward. This is called a point source. Of
the practical engineering section, allowing it to calculate the
course, this is only possible if fluid is moving along the axis
forces such as the lift force on the section.
at right angles into the plane in which potential flow is valid,
To prepare for engineering design calculations using poten-
and abruptly turns when it hits the plane to flow outward.
tial flow, we need to think carefully about vorticity. Poten-
Equivalently, we could have flow converging radially on the
tial flow, as noted, is irrotational, so the vorticity is zero.
central point, and abruptly turning at the center to flow away
Nevertheless, we can exploit a peculiar-sounding but useful
from the plane; this is called a point sink. For a point source
concept: the irrotational vortex.
or sink, v = 0 and the radial velocity is given by
An irrotational vortex is when we imagine a point vortex
as defined in Section 7.1 at the center, with a given circula- Q
tion, Γ. However, everywhere else, u = 𝛁 𝜙, so the flow is u=
2𝜋r
(31)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe065
the corresponding velocity potential is
𝜙 = Ur cos 𝜃 (34)
and the corresponding streamfunction is given by
𝜓 = Ur sin 𝜃 (35)
8.4 Doublet
The doublet, like the irrotational vortex, is another strange

concept, but once we have covered it, we will have all the
Figure 2. Streamlines (solid lines; lines of constant 𝜓) and velocity tools to construct a practical engineering section. A doublet
potential contours (dashed lines; lines of constant 𝜙) for the irro-
is a source–sink pair of equal strength ±Q, as defined in
tational vortex. If the circulation Γ is positive, the vortex rotates
anticlockwise about its center. (Created by author.) Section 8.2 and placed along the x-axis equal distances d∕2
on either side of the origin. Now, imagine that the distance
between the source–sink pair, d, shrinks to zero while their
strength |Q| grows to infinity, such that the product of the
distance and their strength is a constant, S, given by S = dQ.
In the limit, the corresponding velocity potential is
S
𝜙= cos 𝜃 (36)
r
S
𝜓 = − sin 𝜃 (37)
r
The streamlines corresponding to a doublet are shown in
Figure 3. Streamlines (solid lines; lines of constant 𝜓) and velocity Figure 4.
potential contours (dashed lines; lines of constant 𝜙) for the source
or sink. If the strength Q is positive, fluid comes out of the center
and it is a source; if Q is negative, fluid goes into the center and it 8.5 Flow around a circular cylinder
is a sink. (Created by author.) with circulation
where Q is the source strength; if Q were negative, the Because all of the potential flows defined above satisfy
equations would represent a sink. The corresponding velocity Laplace’s equation, which is a linear differential equation,
potential is
Q
𝜙= ln r (32)
2𝜋
Q
𝜓= 𝜃 (33)
2𝜋
It is clear from Figure 3 that the pattern of the irrotational
vortex and the source/sink are identical, only that the lines of
constant 𝜙 and 𝜓 are swapped.
8.3 Uniform flow Figure 4. Doublet streamlines with the source on the left and
the sink on the right. (Reproduced from https://en.wikipedia.org/
The simplest flow proceeds in the positive x-direction with wiki/Potential_flow#/media/File:Construction_of_a_potential_
speed U without any variation at all, and in polar coordinates, flow.svg. Authored by Olivier Cleynen. Public domain.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe065
10 Marine
Figure 5. Streamlines (lines of constant 𝜓) for the potential flow Figure 6. Streamlines (lines of constant 𝜓) for the potential flow
around a circular cylinder. Although potential-flow patterns are around a circular cylinder with circulation. Parameters are the same
the same irrespective of size, if the region shown is 2 × 2 m in as in Figure 5, plus a circulation of Γ = −1.5 m2 ∕s. (Created by
size, the corresponding parameters are U = 1 m/s and S = 0.1 m2 ∕s. author.)
(Created by author.)
we can add any combination of them together and the result The result, shown in Figure 6, is that the vortex distorts
is still a solution of Laplace’s equation and therefore a valid the flow around the circular cylinder, sweeping the stream-
potential flow too. This is the power of potential-flow theory. lines upward at the leading edge, bunching them together at
Thus, let us put all these potential flows together. the top, sweeping them downward at the trailing edge and
Firstly, the streamlines produced by adding the uniform spreading them apart underneath the cylinder.
flow and the doublet (with the source on the left, as shown The peculiarity of the irrotational vortex can now be seen
in Figure 4) include one streamline that is a perfect circle. to have a physical meaning. In reality, there is no flow
Outside this circle is the flow pattern around a circular inside the solid cylinder and therefore no vorticity and no
cylinder, as shown in Figure 5. circulation. However, in later articles we will see that the
Of course, in reality there can be no flow inside the effect of viscosity is to create a thin boundary layer around
the cylinder surface that contains all the vorticity. Effectively,
cylinder, but since we know that any streamline in inviscid
our circular boundary is outside this boundary layer, so we
hydrodynamics can be replaced by a solid boundary, the flow
can continue to use irrotational potential flow to describe its
pattern outside the circular streamline is exactly the same as
effect on the flow field. (This is the “trick” referred to in
if there were a solid cylinder there. Moreover, thanks to our
Section 7.3.) The flow pattern in the circular cylinder with
potential-flow formula, we know exactly what the velocity
circulation is what one would see if a cylinder were spinning
is at every point around the cylinder. This is the pattern one
while fluid were moving past it. Indeed, one would see a
would see if a current were flowing extremely slowly past a
similar pattern if a ball were spinning while moving slowly
pier column of circular section, or if one were on a subma-
through fluid.
rine moving extremely slowly and observing the flow pattern
The consequence of the streamlines getting bunched up on
around its mast of circular section.
the top of the cylinder and spread out on the bottom can
Secondly, add an irrotational vortex of strength Γ centered
be seen by use of the continuity (mass conservation) and
at the cylinder center and rotating clockwise (remembering
Bernoulli equations. Since the same mass flow is always
that clockwise is a negative vortex, so Γ < 0). The corre-
passing between each pair of streamlines, by continuity, the
sponding velocity potential is
velocity must be higher on top of the cylinder and lower
S Γ below it. Then, by Bernoulli’s equation, the pressure must
𝜙 = Ur cos 𝜃 + cos 𝜃 + 𝜃 (38)
r 2𝜋 be lower on top and higher below. This pressure difference
acting on the cylinder creates an upward force, called lift. In
and the corresponding streamfunction is given by order to calculate this lift force, it is not necessary to figure
S Γ out the spacings between the streamlines and do calculations
𝜓 = Ur sin 𝜃 − sin 𝜃 − ln r (39) with the continuity and Bernoulli equations. It can be shown
r 2𝜋
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe065
Kutta–Joukowski Theorem, was developed in the early twen-

tieth century by Martin Kutta and Nikolai Joukowski. It is a
remarkably simple and powerful result that shows that it is
only the circulation (and the speed of motion) that is respon-
sible for lift, and, as we will see shortly, irrespective of the
shape of the cylinder.
As just noted, a similar pattern occurs around a spinning
ball, and thus a similar force at right angles to the direction
of motion and to the spin axis; depending on the orientation
of the ball’s spin axis, the force at right angles causes the
ball to curve in flight. This phenomenon, called the Magnus
effect, is exploited in many sports, although depending on the
type of ball, more complex effects also come into play.
Cylinders spinning in cross-flows are not common in
maritime engineering, although we note in passing that a
sailing ship exploiting the Magnus effect, called the Flet-
Figure 7. The E-ship-1 exploits the Magnus effect when wind
blows across its cylindrical rotors, effectively combining wind tner Rotor Ship, was first built and sailed in the 1920s, and
and engine propulsion to save energy. (Reproduced from https:// this concept was revived in a commercial vessel in 2009
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:E-Ship_1_achtern.JPG. (Figure 7). More commonly, however, we would like to know
Author: SteKrueBe. Distributed under Creative Commons 3.0.) the lift on a vessel’s keel, hydrofoil, fin, or stabilizer or the
sideways force on a rudder or other control surface.
that the lift force per unit span (that is, per unit direction into
the page), L, is given simply by
9 CONFORMAL MAPPING
In order to utilize potential flow in engineering design, we
L = −𝜌UΓ (40) define a single complex variable, W, that combines both the
velocity potential and streamfunction, and is given by
Although potential-flow theory was largely developed in
the eighteenth century, Equation 40, which is called the W(Z) = 𝜙 + i𝜓 (41)
0.5
−0.5
−1
−3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
−0.05
−0.1
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Figure 8. The Joukowski Transform given by Equation 44 changes a circle into a wing or fin-like profile. (Reproduced from https://
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Karman_Trefftz_transform.svg. Author: Kraaiennest. Distributed under Creative Commons 3.0.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe065
12 Marine
any part of a keel, rudder, fin, or hull, and therefore deter-

mine how strong we need to make it, or, if we need to move it,
what force and thus torque and power we need to move it. An
example is given in Figure 9; here, the flow is shown around
a standard foil section and not only is the overall lift known
Upper owing to Equation 40, because we know the distance between
Lower the foil surface and every streamline, we can determine using
Bernoulli’s equation the pressure at any point on the surface,
by beginning with an undisturbed streamline where the pres-
sure is the known ambient pressure, and working toward the
surface.
Figure 9. Potential flow around an airfoil (NACA 0012) at an This concludes our study of Inviscid Hydrodynamics, in
angle of attack of 11∘ , showing a narrower stream tube above which we learnt the definitions of fluid mechanics, the
versus below. (Reproduced from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ laws of conservation of mass and momentum, and how by
Foil_(fluid_mechanics)#/media/File:Streamlines_around_a_ applying the assumptions of incompressibility and irrota-
NACA_0012.svg. Authored by Michael Belisle. Public Domain.) tionality, we can design sections moving through fluid and
calculate the forces on them.
in which the spatial variables x and y are combined using For further reading on fundamental fluid dynamics, see
Batchelor (1973), and for an introduction to the fundamental
Z = x + iy (42) physics of the ocean and atmosphere see Gill (1982).
Instead of Z, we can imagine any co-ordinate system, 𝜁, GLOSSARY

given by
𝜁 = 𝜉 + i𝜂 (43) Fluid dynamics The study of forces in and due to the
motion of a fluid, which may be a
Now, by applying a mapping function to a circle liquid or a gas, or due to motion
in a 𝜁-plane, we can transform the circle into many relative to a fluid.
shapes of practical engineering interest. For example, Hydrodynamics The study of the forces in and due to
the deceptively-simple mathematical transformation water in motion or motion relative
to water.
1 Inviscid An idealisation in which a fluid has
Z=𝜁+ (44)
𝜁 no viscosity
Incompressible An idealisation in which the density
called the Joukowski Transform, changes a circle into a shape of a fluid does not change
in the Z-plane that looks remarkably like a section through a Maritime The design of vessels moving in the
wing or a fin, as shown in Figure 8. engineering sea or of structures in the sea.
More complicated transformations create even more
realistic engineering sections. Now, if we apply the same
transformation to our complex potential around the circular
RELATED ARTICLES
̃
cylinder in the 𝜁 -plane, W(𝜁), we arrive at the velocity field
around our realistic engineering section in the Z-plane, W.
Characteristics of Viscous, Rotational and Irrotational Flows
Since the circulation Γ and speed of flow U are not variables
Turbulence
of space, they are unchanged by the transformation, and
Rotational Waves, Wave Turbulence, and Wave Attenuation
hence the lift force is unchanged; indeed, the power of the
Kutta–Joukowski theorem (Equation 40) is that we will
always know the Lift, provided we know the circulation and
speed. In practice, we might want to achieve a particular REFERENCES
“lift” force per unit span (which may be sideways), L, when
moving through the sea at a particular speed, U; therefore, Batchelor, G. K. (1973) An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics,
we will always know the required circulation, Γ. Cambridge University Press, 634pp.
However, knowledge of the transformed velocity field Gill, A. E. (1982) Atmosphere-Ocean Dynamics, Academic Press,
London, 662pp.
means that we can calculate the force due to fluid flow on
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe065
Offshore Life Cycle Materials Performance
Tim Martin1 and Binder Singh2
1 University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
2 PragmaticaGGS LLc, Houston, TX, USA
Modern day designs in the Gulf of Mexico include

1 Introduction 1 prospects in water depths below 10,000 ft, reservoir pres-
2 Deepwater Production Environments 2 sures of 20,000 psi, and temperatures up to 350∘ F.
3 Materials Selection and Materials Performance 3 In addition, it is important to recognize the evolutionary
4 Corrosion Damage Mechanism’s 6 history of the oil industry. Onshore oil and gas fields have
5 Internal Corrosion Control 6 almost always required artificial lift and/or secondary
6 Development of a Corrosion Inhibition System 7 recovery methods. In todays’ most sophisticated operations,
recovery factors rarely exceed 30%, so the large offshore oil
7 Summarizing Remarks 8
accumulations will inevitably require technological enhance-
Acknowledgments 9
ments. The development of subsea pumps, seabed separation,
Related Articles 9 and similar technologies is likely to continue even in a “low”
References 9 price environment. One major impact on materials selection
has been the even greater desire to use carbon steel for cost
reasons rather than the more expensive corrosion-resistant
alloys (CRAs). This bias has enforced a greater drive to
1 INTRODUCTION better adapt existing technologies and reformulate inhibitors
for better design and materials performance.
As our society continues to consume greater and greater
As the offshore industry matures the increased capital
quantities of hydrocarbons, the move to explore in deeper
expenditures, need for a highly skilled work force and higher
waters has become inexorable. At the time of writing, major
reliability will drive us to favor developments with produc-
changes in oil production patterns and particularly the devel-
opment of shale oil in the USA are shaking the industry and tion rates greater than 100,000 barrels of oil per day (BOPD)
may result in a slowdown in offshore development. with design life greater than 35 years.
Notwithstanding, the offshore reserves are there and will be Although the marine and offshore industry has been
developed as and when economic conditions are favorable. making massive technological advances, the major changes
In the second decade of the twenty-first century, 90% of have tended to be for deepwater applications by necessity,
the Earth’s surface is subject to oil and gas exploration and so we will focus on that in this section. Noting that all
drilling in The Barents Sea and on Alaska’s North Slope, both such advances can be applied, with careful judgment, to
show great promise. shallow water assets, topside facilities, and shipping/marine
applications; indeed, across industries with appropriate
modifications. This section will focus on production side
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. (internal) life cycle issues rather than the external seawater
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe575
side, which are discussed in another section. Guidance on
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 the performance of the CRAs is given based on latest testing,
2 General
Figure 1. Rendition of a deep subsea field and associated structures and topsides. (Source Unknown.)
field experiences and challenges, and, where appropriate, 2.1 Subsea architecture
advances in technology identified along with fit for purpose
options and solutions. A “typical” deepwater development is illustrated in Figure 1.
A field will normally consist of 10–30 producing wells
spread over an area of many tens of square miles. Total length
of flowlines in a large field will be well over 250 miles.
2 DEEPWATER PRODUCTION Huge tonnages of steel are used in each development. The
ENVIRONMENTS subsea wellhead, or Christmas tree, is the primary isolation
mechanism for the subsurface equipment. Trees are normally
Reservoir conditions tend to vary widely across the major massive objects containing in-line valves with associated
sedimentary basins. In a “typical” Gulf of Mexico reservoir, actuation and monitoring equipment. A modern tree may be
the well stream consists of crude oil with an API (Amer- up to 30 ft in height.
ican Petroleum Institute) gravity of 20–35 (this represents a The producing wellhead is connected to a system of
moderate viscosity similar to room temperature molasses). production flowlines via a wellhead jumper; all flowline
Along with this, oil is associated with methane and some connections are made through a series of pipeline end
produced water, which is almost always saline. The fluid is modules or pipeline end manifold (PLEMS). A typical
normally found at pressures well above 10,000 psi at 250∘ F PLEM is shown in Figure 2, and this allows for multiple
or higher. Recent deep exploratory wells are suggesting that wellhead feeds to a single flowline and also provides an
the Gulf may contain very large quantities of heavier oil with anchor for the subsea flowlines and risers which are subject to
viscosity down around 15 API. substantial thermal expansion and seismic forces. A typical
In other parts of the world, conditions can be even more PLEM weighs 500–750 tons and is larger than a single
challenging: acid gas contents (CO2 and H2 S) of 5–25% are family home.
not uncommon and place great demands upon the materials The production platform is required to sustain continuous
of construction. oceanic waves, and in areas where tropical storms occur, the
Even in the Gulf of Mexico with acid gas contents below sea level may rise and fall by as much as 20 ft. To accom-
0.5%, the wellbore conditions (temperature, pressure, etc.) modate this movement, the production risers are designed to
cause the well stream to be corrosive to low alloy steels. stretch and lift off the sea floor. The tensile and compressive
The deeper plays today are reaching up to and above 300∘ F, forces on a riser can be high and movement continuous, so
which challenges many of the traditional materials used in consideration of metal fatigue is important. In addition, the
the oil industry. internal surfaces of the flowline and riser are in constant
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe575
Offshore Life Cycle Materials Performance 3
Baseline
inspection/corrosion monitoring
+ve
Commisioning Plant
period obsolete
Plant ageing (extra protective

measures required) Cash
Life extension requirements flow
Failure
frequency
Standard
life
Increased frequency of
corrosion monitoring
Reduced frequency of
corrosion monitoring
−ve
Time
Crevice/pit initiation
and development
Careful monitoring
of critical sites
Figure 2. Graph of a typical failure frequency and its relationship with cash flow or return on investment (ROI). (Adapted from API RP
17N (Latest Edition).)
contact with the production well stream, which often consists In most major developments, a hybrid design is favored
of a mix formation of water, oil, and natural gas at temper- with each of the above material choices employed at different
atures in excess of 200∘ F and flowing at rates of 25–50 fps. points within the subsea architecture.
3.1 All carbon steel construction

3 MATERIALS SELECTION AND
MATERIALS PERFORMANCE Carbon and low alloy steels are by far the most common
materials of construction for offshore equipment. The versa-
No standardized construction philosophy has yet emerged
tility of steel and the skill of modern steel makers provide
within the offshore industry, although certain practices have
the industry with tensile strengths in excess of 95 ksi, with
proven reliable and are becoming increasingly common.
ductility at 30%.
A number of references are available in the literature and
In contact with seawater and hydrocarbons at elevated
a concise reading list is provided at the end of this article
temperatures, however, low alloy and carbon steels are
(Simon Thomas et al., 2002; Singh et al., 2009; Nyborg,
thermodynamically unstable and must be protected from
2010; Poblete, Singh, and Dalzell, 2007; DNV RP A203,
corrosion. External corrosion protective coatings, cathodic
Latest Edition; API RP 17N, Latest Edition; Singh and
protection, and protection of internal surfaces via the appli-
Poblete, 2015; Treseder, Baboian, and Munger, 1991;
cation of corrosion inhibitors (CIs) have each become billion
Fontana and Greene, 1987; Singh and Lamacchia, 2016).
dollar industries.
Three broad categories for materials selection can be iden-
The largest usage for carbon and low alloy steel is with
tified and will be discussed briefly before the requirements
the platform superstructure, subsea flowlines and risers and
of each component of a subsea assembly are considered in
for the pressure-bearing envelope of the complex equipment
detail.
such as production trees and PLEMS.
The four fundamental material selection choices are as
follows:
3.2 Corrosion-resistant alloy cladding
• All low alloy/carbon steel construction.
• CRA cladding (mechanical or welded). A variety of products are available in CRA clad form. The
• Full CRA construction. alloys offered include Alloy 625, Alloy 825, Alloy 316L,
• A hybrid design consisting of low alloy/clad steel and and various combinations of duplex stainless steel. The
solid CRA at carefully selected locations. CRA is applied to the internal “wetted” surfaces of the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe575
4 General
component and the pressure-bearing membrane is manufac- 3.4 Common material combinations
tured from carbon or low alloy steel. Methods of cladding
include weld overlay, roll bonding, hydrostatic bonding, 3.4.1 Weld head/production trees
and explosive cladding. CRA clad steel materials have been
outstandingly successful in applications where the appro- The production tree is essentially an assemblage of valves,
priate CRA cladding has been selected. The technology flanges, elbows, and cross Tee’s. Complex in shape and
has seen widespread application in sour gas production required to hold full shut-in pressure, reliable performance
and for tree components. Weld overlay trees and valves in of the tree and its isolation valves is essential to reser-
Alloy 625 have become an industry standard. In several voir containment. The pressure-bearing material is usually
fields worldwide, flowlines in CRA clad material have a forged or hot worked low alloy steel, such as AISI 4130
produced successfully for over 25 years. Disadvantages (0.3 C, 0.6 Mn, 035 Si), 2-1/4 Cr I Mo or AISI 8630 (0.3 C,
of CRA cladding include high cost, increased delivery 0.5 Cr, 0.75 Mn, 2.0 Mo), each is a low alloy steel capable
times, and sometimes increased construction times. A of being tempered to high strength levels and yet retaining
great deal of interest remains with this technology: world a good degree of toughness where sour service conditions
manufacturing capacity is limited, and it is likely that are to be expected. These alloys must be normally subject to
deep water will utilize more of this product as the industry the controlled hardness requirements outlined in ISO 15156
evolves. (MR0175). To prevent possible corrosion issues, especially
corrosion mechanisms such as crevice corrosion, it is a stan-
dard practice to overlay all the “wetted” surfaces with a CRA.
3.3 Full corrosion-resistant alloy A standard materials specification for trees and valves is
AISI 4130 fitted with an internal overlay of Alloy 625 of
The alloys most frequently found in deepwater designs 0.125 in thickness. This combination of materials has been
include Alloy 625, Super Duplex Alloys, Duplex Steel, and so successful that many thousands of such valves have seen
Alloy 316. The cost of these alloys normally mitigate against trouble-free service for up to 20 years and the combination
their widespread usage; in small bore piping (<4 in. diam- has become an industry standard.
eter), it may be cost-effective to specify solid CRA. So in
practice, Alloys 625 and 316L are frequently used for subsea
3.4.2 Wellhead jumper
flowlines for hydraulic lines, chemical transmission lines,
and similar applications. The Duplex alloys, particularly the The jumper carries production fluid from the tree to the
so-called Super Duplex consisting of 25% Cr with 7% Ni, are subsea flowline. Jumpers are typically 4–8 in in diam-
finding increasing usage in topside equipment, where some eter and are designed to convey around 10,000 Bbl of
operators claim that the reduction in weight for the thinner liquid/day. Velocity in the line varies typically from 30
wall material outweighs the disadvantage of the higher cost up to 75 fps. Jumpers may be subject to erosional wear
and Duplex alloys are commonly specified for the internals and are usually difficult to inspect. The subsea flowline
of umbilical assemblies. is accessible to in-line inspection devices (smart pig) and
Invariably, material performance decisions are based on the production tubing may be inspected by caliper. The
project budgets, ability to monitor effectively, return on jumper, however, often incorporates a thermal insulation to
investment (ROI), and client risk tolerance; the latter is often protect against paraffin deposition and hydrate formation.
best quantified via the so-called ALARP criteria, where- This thick external coating makes inspection in situ very
upon the risk is deemed to be “as low as reasonably prac- difficult. Consequently, the jumper is designed for ease of
ticable (ALARP).” Such decisions are best made by group removal and wherever practical to operate for the life of
consensus via relevant subject matter experts (SMEs) early the field. Materials of construction tend to be low alloy
in the design process, under the terms and conditions of a steel usually fitted with an internal protective layer of Alloy
formal hazards and operability (HAZOP) or failure modes 625. The length of the jumper varies dependent on well
effects and criticality analysis (FMECA) type workshops. spacing, with the incorporation of at least 1 right angle
The latest thinking is that for high risk systems, such work- bend to accommodate thermal expansion; a first-generation
shops should be repeated every 3–5 years, to verify ongoing jumper is typically around 50–200 ft. In the latest develop-
suitability and continued mechanical integrity. The first of ments, wellhead jumpers up to and above 1000 ft are being
these is often referred to as the preliminary HAZOP or considered.
PHAZOP and that must be carried out as early as possible so The jumper is subject to various corrosion mechanisms
that material issues can be resolved before changes become such as pitting corrosion, general weight loss, and in C-steel
too onerous. construction preferential weld corrosion. A particular
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe575
concern, due to the high velocities frequently encountered, higher in gas production than in crude oil as some (not all)
is erosion induced by particulate matter. Less data have been crude oils have a natural inhibitive effect. In most deepwater
collected to date on erosive wear rates for such components. developments today, acid gas content is such that significant
In the author’s experience, the erosive wear rate on Alloy corrosion may occur to carbon steel and continuous treat-
625 surfaces has proved negligible. ment with corrosion inhibitors is the norm. In many devel-
opments, sand deposition may be significant and regular
3.4.3 Pipeline end modules maintenance pigging is necessary to prevent the buildup of
solids.
In addition to being a connection point for the individual
well flow streams, PLEMS serve several important purposes.
The PLEM is an anchor point for the subsea flowline, and
it may act as an expansion joint for the risers, allowing for 3.4.5 Risers
vertical movement as ocean conditions change. The PLEM
There are several distinct designs for risers, the distin-
is essentially a pipeline manifold with flanged connections
guishing features being the methods for anchoring at surface
between 3 and 12, which is protected from dropped objects
and seabed and also the contribution the risers will make to
and anchor damage within a large steel frame. The weight of
the support of the topside platform. As ocean depth increases,
the PLEM varies from 100 up to 750 tons and the larger ones
the demands on the riser increase. In some cases, modern
are substantially bigger than a two-story house.
designs require the riser to anchor the platform in position
The PLEM sees production fluid from several wells and
and accommodate vertical movement. In others, the riser
incorporates a number of elbows that may be subject to
may be designed to move as ocean conditions change and the
flow impingement. Degradation mechanisms include erosive
so-called riser touchdown point may be designed for vertical
wear, general and localized corrosion, and occasionally
and lateral displacement of several feet as producing and
issues such as fatigue. The wetted components are generally
ocean conditions vary.
specified in a pipeline material such as API 5L and are
The riser is normally manufactured from a high quality, low
internally weld over laid with Alloy 625 or other CRA.
The framework is a welded construction steel structure, alloy steel with tensile strength in the range of 80 ksi to 95
usually Grade A53 that should be equipped with an external ksi. The size of riser varies from 8 to 12 in or higher and with
corrosion-protective coating alongside sacrificial anode wall thickness often above 1-1/4 in. To manufacture such
cathodic protection. pipe in large quantity with consistent mechanical properties
is a challenge; in particular, the requirements for hardness
control in sour service may challenge the heavier walled
3.4.4 Subsea flowlines pipes. All the degradation mechanisms applicable to subsea
The subsea flowline conveys a usually hot product to the base flowlines are also applicable to the riser with the addition that
of the risers. The diameters range from 8 to 12 in for most fatigue can be a major consideration.
developments, but in the case of large natural gas fields, it Many modern designs will incorporate an 8 to 12-3/4 in
may go as high as 26 in. The lengths vary but are typically diameter line with length of up to and above 5000 ft; the
in the range of 5–20 miles; exceptionally, the length of line external surface is protected by a thermal insulation and
may be up to 100 miles. corrosion protection coating, whereas the internal surface is
To prevent adverse effects of cooling, such as paraffin in contact with potentially corrosive production fluids.
deposition, hydrate formation, and top of the line corrosion, The influence of pitting corrosion and hydrogen diffu-
subsea flowlines are usually insulated. This may take the sion on fatigue life must be considered during design.
form of an external jacket; occasionally, a pipe-in-pipe One solution to these issues is to apply a so-called knock-
design is utilized. This hybrid design methodology compli- down factor or safety factor for the fatigue life. In other
cates inspection, and modern best practice is used to designs, the fatigue-sensitive areas are equipped with a
construct a flowline loop where all pipeline manifolds and corrosion-resistant liner of Alloy 625, usually applied by
flowline sections can be accessed by an in-line inspec- weld overlay. In some cases, near full-scale corrosion fatigue
tion device (smart pig). Where smart pigging is not an testing has been carried out to verify the design envelopes
option, operators turn to predictive corrosion modeling more closely.
and the transference with careful interpretation of topside Riser design and materials selection are a highly special-
inspection/monitoring data to subsea segments. ized subset of offshore engineering, and the issue of fatigue
The degradation mechanisms relevant to flowlines are life under today’s producing conditions is likely to remain a
dependent on the product; in general, corrosion rates will be matter of interest for several years to come.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe575
6 General
4 CORROSION DAMAGE MECHANISM’S not feasible, and the risks are deemed high, a close
monitoring plan is essential.
A typical well stream composition in the Gulf of Mexico • Galvanic Corrosion. Where an Alloy 625 interface meets
will consist of crude oil at an API gravity of 20–35 along C-steel pipe, there is a risk for galvanic corrosion.
with a quantity of associated gas (methane/ethane + higher Precautions are necessary at the design stage to miti-
ends) and some produced water. The fluid is normally found gate this risk: provision of extra heavy wall pipe across
at pressures well above 10,000 psi and temperatures above the transition zone, and qualification of the corrosion
200∘ F. The deeper plays today are reaching up to and above inhibitor program for galvanic corrosion set at an upper
300∘ F, temperatures that challenge many of the traditional limit of two times the non-galvanic corrosion rate have
materials used in the oil industry. been used in recent years.
Along with the gas usually comes a quantity of acid gases, • Preferential Weld Attack (PWA). This form of corrosion
CO2 and H2 S. The acid gas content may vary widely, but occurs when the heat-affected zone or weld bead suffer
even at low levels, 0.5 mol% or lower, the general conditions accelerated dissolution. It is an especially insidious form
in the wellbore (temperature, pressure, etc.) render the well of corrosion as the in-line inspection will not always
stream susceptible to corrosion and designers must always pick up on weld line attack due to sensor standoff flow
consider this when specifying carbon and low alloy steels. disturbances.
A variety of corrosion mechanisms are in play in deep Each of the above corrosion mechanisms, galvanic,
water; corrosion rates will vary with operating temperature, PWA, and under deposit corrosion (UDC), will produce
with acid gas content and water chemistry ranging from penetration rates that may be higher than those predicted
0.2 mm/year to >3.0 mm/year in severe cases. At these rates from general corrosion. The author has found that a factor
and with design lives of 30 years, proactive, reliable corro- of 1.25–1.50 should be applied to the general corrosion
sion mitigation measures are necessary. rate in order to calculate the likely maximum degree of
The following provides a list of the more common corro- penetration, although some SMEs and companies use a
sion mechanisms along with typical rates at which the author factor of ×2, based on in-house laboratory data.
has seen these occur: • Top of the Line Corrosion (TLC). This corrosion mecha-
nism occurs when a flowline loses heat to the ocean and
• General Corrosion. When acid gases such as CO2 and operates in stratified flow. In such condition, a thin film
H2 S are present, any free water can expect to contain a of condensing water may form on the upper surfaces of
proportion of these as a dissolved phase. If the pH falls the pipe and water from the bottom of the line will not
much below 6.0, iron can corrode and results in what is contact the top. When this occurs, the pH of the thin
often called bottom of the line corrosion at points where film water can be significantly lower than that of the
a continuous free water phase may be in contact with the bulk water and rapid corrosion results. TLC is fortunately
flowline walls. not common, but when it does occur, it is very difficult
This form of corrosion usually develops into discreet to mitigate in service as droplet transport to the top of
areas of local attack, often just called pitting, although the line may not possible and treatment by conventional
pitting is itself a stand-alone mechanism, but it is the inhibition is, therefore, ineffective. Prevention of TLC
shape and morphology of the damage that is important is best accomplished at the design stage by designing
for engineering criticality assessments (ECA) or fitness to prevent stratified flow or by ensuring that all areas
for service (FFS) exercises. subject to condensation are equipped with a CRA lining,
• Under Deposit Attack. High rate wells often produce or, indeed, localized thermal insulation such as three or
quantities of sand as a result of erosion due to the draw five LPP (three- or five-layer polypropylene or some-
down pressure across the wellbore perforations. times polyethylene) are applied to control the tempera-
Although the amount of sand produced may be only ture differentials.
a small proportion of the overall fluid volume, it is
produced continuously and may build up within the flow-
line if fluid flow regimes and geometry conditions allow.
As velocities in the flowline decrease, sand may deposit 5 INTERNAL CORROSION CONTROL
in the bottom of the line and where this area is water
wetted under deposit corrosion results. To prevent The corrosion rate of C-steel is determined by a complex
long-term degradation, a flowline maintenance program series of variables, several of which are interrelated, predic-
with regular cleaning pigs is necessary. Where this is tion of corrosion rates in a production flowline is not yet fully
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe575
reliable. There are a number of corrosion models offered by (at design stage obtained from Prediction Software) and the
industry, none are 100% proof, and so decisions are based inhibited corrosion rate obtained from corrosion inhibitor
on a company risk policy and responsibility. Some of the qualification conducted in the laboratory.
key variables are temperature, pressure, organic acid and acid This calculation method was described by Royal Dutch
gas content, water chemistry, flow rate, sand or particulate Shell in a paper in 2002, see References List (Simon Thomas
content, and the gas/oil/water ratios. et al., 2002).
Several of these variables may interact to influence the
pH of the aqueous phase, and it is generally recognized Corrosion allowance (CA)
that temperature and pH are the most influential variables. [ ]
D D
Modern deepwater developments tend to be both hot and = CRUNINHIB × N × 1 − + CRINHIB × N × (1)
365 365
high pressure, in part, due to the depth of the reservoirs, so
even low acid gas contents at 0.2 mol% CO2 tend to result in where
moderate to high corrosion rates.
In addition, the water content can vary considerably CRUNINHIB = uninhibited corrosion rate mm/year
over time and corrosion rates are often influenced by this. CRINHIB = inhibited corrosion rate mm/year
Theoretical predictions tend to suggest that the corrosion N = design life in years (35)
rate of C-steel will be highest in the early production year D = number of days/year in which the corrosion inhibition
(0–3 years) even though water cut at this time is low. And system is operational.
there is also evidence that as the water cut increases in later
life, localized corrosion rates invariably increase too. A A standard calculation is to assume 90% effectiveness for
schematic of issues anticipated through a typical life cycle corrosion inhibitor with 90% and 60% availability for the CI
is shown in Figure 2. delivery system. The interested reader is encouraged to look
at other similar studies primarily via NACE on this approach
(Nyborg, 2010).
In an offshore system with 30-year design life, an avail-
6 DEVELOPMENT OF A CORROSION ability number of 60% will not satisfy the design criteria and
INHIBITION SYSTEM availability close to or above 90% is often necessary. The
cost of achieving such high availability must be measured
In most subsea developments, an internal corrosion control against the operating cost of ongoing corrosion, where
program is necessary, and corrosion rates are often at a level the inspection costs for riser pipe and the uncertainties
where continuous operation of the system is required. Oper- introduced by pitting corrosion do result in some very high
ating a chemical delivery system in an offshore environment ongoing maintenance costs.
for design life of 30 years or more is a significant challenge. The effectiveness of an inhibitor is defined as inhibited
The standard way to design a corrosion program is to select corrosion rate divided by the uninhibited corrosion rate,
a corrosion allowance (CA) and then operate the corrosion as obtained in a standard laboratory test (simulated field
control system to ensure that metal loss rates do not exceed conditions). Availability is defined as the run time expressed
the allowance over the life of the project. in number of days per year for which injection system is
There is no single, widely accepted definition of how a performing. The working schematic in Figure 3 shows how
CA should be calculated or what it is intended to achieve. In engineers rely on key performance indicators such as a target
its initial concept, a CA was intended to ensure that a pres- corrosion rate to ensure continued integrity. This type of
sure vessel did not exceed its code minimum wall thickness approach is usually part of a wider corrosion and integrity
requirements in service. For some major oil companies, the management program.
CA in a pipeline was simply meant to accommodate damage Corrosion management strategies and detailed plans are
incurred during transportation and construction. often used to help control dangerous corrosion and integrity
In recent years, with the introduction of sophisticated labo- issues. Typically important threshold criteria are utilized
ratory techniques for qualification of corrosion inhibitors, it to help maintain mechanical integrity. In Figure 3, the
has been possible to predict the long-term performance of a ALARP KPI is shown at 0.3–0.7 mm/year, although, in
pipeline, based on the predictions of corrosion rate, and this practice, the target is more usually 0.1–0.2 mm/year for
is the method most offshore operators select. steady states. Higher numbers may be accepted for short
In this method, the CA is selected to be close to the predefined upsets or excursions only. This will be dependent
predicted cumulative corrosion rate (CCR) where the CCR on the functional, design, or life extension parameters set.
is considered to be the sum of the uninhibited corrosion rate Invariably with the new global economic perspectives and
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe575
8 General
Inhibitor formulation verify cocktails will perform to

efficiency required (>95%) lab and field
(via vendor)
Flowline corrosion inhibition program

availability/reliability at 98%
(via operator)
No
Yes
Primary KPI target uniform <0.1mm/year,
localized <0.2mm/year
Develop total corrosion

allowance Ongoing
Integrate all monitors feedback
via additive or ALARP condition
may allow up to
(improvements)
synergistic guidelines
0.3–0.7 mm/year
Function field life
System design
Online monitoring Inhibition scheme
Operations and
Performance and reliability
Probes, coupons, maintenance
Evaluation for steady state
advanced techniques, procedures
and under excursions
FSM, RPCM, AE, etc. Data collection
Legend
Risk assessment activity (modeling and analysis)
Annual corrosion integrity statement
Risk based inspection/monitoring activity (recommendation to proceed)
Risk management activity
Figure 3. Typical working schematic to optimize corrosion inhibition and corrosion management—example only. (Adapted from research
in progress and training modules developed, Fontana and Greene (1987); Singh and Lamacchia (2016).)
unforeseen challenges, the impetus for the oil and gas

industry has switched from inherently safer (and more ‘Added -
costly) designs to inherently more reliable operations, value’
thus spreading out the cost (amortization) over the life ROI and cost Fit for purpose
cycle. savings solutions
This has reemphasized the connecting links between ideal

and pragmatic solutions. The added value factor now is
so much more influenced by ROI, and this might be best Competency
addressed in definable stages by the use of adapted existing Experience
techniques rather than expensive brand new technologies Advanced

field, JIP, lab data
per se, time will tell, see Figure 4. The need for tech- Innovation
nology advances within financial constraints has been instru-

mental in the better adaptations of existing technologies and
methods often across industries. Figure 4. Schematic depicting the crucial links between pertinent
Invariably, designers, scientists, engineers, and technolo- decision stage gates. (Source Unknown.)
gists will need to work more closely to arrive at solutions that
meet critical (USA) health safety environment (UK health
safety executive) (HSE) and ROI requirements. Thus, it is 7 SUMMARIZING REMARKS
surmised that reactive, proactive, and active corrosion assess-
ments within risk management will now be even more vital Life cycle integrity remains the biggest challenge within
in the new age of business decisions. offshore engineering; many methods have evolved to
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe575
help control this often uncertain aspect, especially Subsea Trees

where inspection and monitoring are not always viable. Riser Technology
Nevertheless, important materials selection and materials
performance will need to be a cornerstone within any
offshore or marine enterprises. REFERENCES
The most valuable observation is the need for continued,
through life vigilance, employing the latest technologies in
preventative maintenance coupled with, where appropriate, API RP 17N (Latest Edition) API RP 17N Technology Qualification,
American Petroleum Institute.
focused regulatory control. A balance must be maintained
DNV RP A203 (Latest Edition) DNV RP A203 Qualification of
between “mandates” financial burdens, HSE, and creativity
New Technology, Det Norsk Veritas, The Norwegian Standards
of solutions. Authority.
Setting goals is paramount, identifying hazards, and Fontana, M.G. and Greene, N. (1987) Corrosion Engineering,
“engineering out” the problem areas, is best done by McGraw Hill Book Co., New York.
multidisciplined SMEs in small-step sequences. Materials Nyborg, R. (2010) CO2 Corrosion Models for Oil & Gas Production
performance, methodologies, and adaptive techniques, Systems. NACE 2010, Paper 10371, San Antonio, Texas, USA,
when necessary, do require difficult changes and lateral 2010.
thinking, but serious traction can be obtained with the use Poblete, B., Singh, B., and Dalzell, G. (2007) The Inherent Safe
of inherently safer and inherently more reliable designs and Design of an Offshore Installation—A Leap of Faith. Chem-
operations. Companies must involve experienced metallur- ical Plant Safety Conference, TAMU, MKOPSC, College Station,
Texas, USA, Oct 2007.
gists and corrosion engineers early in the design process,
most effectively at the PHAZOP workshops. Simon Thomas, M.J.J., Prager, L.H., Voermans, C.V.M., Miglin,
B.P., Pots, B.F.M., and Rippon, I.J. (2002) Deterministic, Pipeline
Integrity Assessment to Optimize Corrosion Control and Reduce
Cost. NACE International Conference, paper 02075, Denver, Co,
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS USA, April, 2002.
Singh, B. and Lamacchia, D. (2016) BP Americas, Mechan-
The authors acknowledge the role and support of past and ical, Corrosion, & Materials Engineering Training Modules,
Helios/Westlake Training Center, Houston.
present employers, academic institutions, as well as many
Singh, B. and Poblete, B.R. (2015) Offshore pipeline risk, corrosion,
collaborating colleagues. The information disseminated and
and integrity management, Chapter 49, in Oil & Gas Pipelines
opinions rendered are those of the writers’, given in good Integrity and Safety Handbook, (ed. R.W. Revie), John Wiley &
faith for informational and educational purposes only. Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, p. 727.
Singh, B., Jukes, P., Wittkower, B., and Poblete, B. (2009) Offshore
Integrity Management 20 Years On—Overview of Lessons Learnt
Post Piper Alpha. Paper OTC-20051-PP, OTC Houston, Texas,
RELATED ARTICLES USA, 2009.
Treseder, R.S., Baboian, R., and Munger, C.G. (eds) (1991) NACE
Properties of Materials Corrosion Engineer’s Reference Book, 2nd edn, NACE Interna-
Common Marine Alloys tional, Houston, TX (Later editions available).
Internal Corrosion Considerations for Offshore Oil and Gas
Production (Downhole and Production)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe575
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe575
Systems Completion and Commissioning
Alan Mills
Global Falcon Americas Inc., Houston, TX, USA
on the Owner’s goals for a functional and energy efficient

1 Introduction 1 facility. The earlier a Commissioning Provider is involved
in the project process the greater the chance there is for the
2 Conclusion 14 Commissioning Provider to influence corrections without
Related Article 15 increased costs later.
References 15
Compare the above with the definition from API RP 1 FSC:
Commissioning comprises activities undertaken after

1 INTRODUCTION Pre-Commissioning to verify dynamically that the func-
tioning of Systems and Sub Systems is in accordance with
specified requirements and to verify, as accurately as possible,
1.1 What is commissioning? that the System or Sub System is ready for Start-Up
Reproduced courtesy of the American Petroleum Institute.
Until recently, in the Oil & Gas sector of the Energy industry,
the definition of Commissioning has largely depended on
whom one asks. Each of the superoperators applies its
So, it is very strange that the name given to the process
own form of Commissioning, which they would describe as
of verifying a project has been fully completed, checked,
Commissioning Philosophy, and if viewed from far enough
tested, started up, and handed over to Operations does not
away, these would look nearly identical to the human eye.
have or require specific academic qualifications. Although
Only on closer inspection can the differences be discerned.
some engineering degree courses do discuss Commissioning,
We need to go deeper to know what is meant by Commis-
the author is unaware of any university bachelor’s degree
sioning.
or post graduate degree in Commissioning. Consider also
A very good definition of Commissioning is taken from
that currently, there is not a single professional engineering
Complete Commissioning, a project management company
institution (UK) or professional engineering society (US) to
from Maryland, USA. I have substituted “facility” for their
specifically recognize the status of practitioners as Commis-
word “building,” and included the most relevant parts:
sioning Technician, Commissioning Engineer and Commis-
Commissioning is the process of planning, documenting, sioning Manager. It is even stranger when you consider that
scheduling, testing, adjusting, verifying, and training, to the Commissioning phase actually defines the way a project
provide a facility that operates as a fully functional system is completed and whether the project is a success or failure.
per the Owner’s Project Requirements. The goal of the If you were a financial investor to a project, a successful
Commissioning Process is to enhance the quality of the deliv-
ered project by focusing the design and construction team Commissioning phase would be a powerful signal to predict
whether the expected rate of return will ever be achieved.
Or in the opposite case, that an unsuccessful Commissioning
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. phase is an indication that the payback period will be much
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe154
longer than expected and the forecast rate of return may never
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 be achieved.
2 Offshore
Until the introduction of API RP 1 FSC, within the Oil & Phase 3 Develop
Gas sector at least, the real meaning of Systems Comple- Phase 4 Execute
tion and what Commissioning is all about has been largely Phase 5 Operate
implied. We can be grateful to the publication for providing
much-needed clarity. Notice in the earlier diagram of the five stage-gate phases
that in a project, two curves are overlaid:
1.2 What is systems completion?
1. The Influence Curve that declines from Phase 1
2. The Cost Change Curve that increases from Phase 1
API RP 1 FSC defines Systems Completion as the process
through which the technical integrity and design of a newly
The two curves are anecdotal, not scientific, but they are
built facility is verified and the new facility is turned over
true, proven by experience.
from the project to the asset owner or from the contractor to
Notice that near the end of Phase 3, a final investment
owner.
decision (FID) is taken. If positive, the project will move into
the next Phase, Execute.
1.3 The relationship between systems completion See also the statement that value impact is greater before
and commissioning FID (Figure 3).
In order for the Commissioning and Start-Up phase to be
1.3.1 Systems completion is the engineering successful and the overall outcome of the project to be seen as
discipline practiced from the earliest stages in successful, much of our effort will focus on the earlier stages
the project life cycle and includes all of the project life cycle, in Phases 2 and 3.
commissioning and start-up activities through
handover to operations
1.4 Many changes and some similarities
Many Operators apply a phase-gate approach to project
development. The typical model is a five-phase model The Commissioning and Start-Up of facilities have become
(Figures 1, 2): considerably more complex in the past 30 years. While the
number of commissionable systems on a facility, say an
Phase 1 Appraise onshore Gas Plant or an offshore Oil and Gas production
Phase 2 Select platform, would have been broadly similar in the 1970s or
Appraise Select Develop Execute Operate

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5
Field development Concept definition Basis of design Detail design of: Commissioning
Feasibility studies and development FEED engineering - Flowlines Pipeline reassessments
Concept identification Pre-FEED engineering Cost estimation and - Trunklines Inspection and repair
Cost estimation System engineering & RFO optimization - Subsea structures Damage assessments
Project planning Flow assurance Technical specification - Risers Life of field extension
Risk assessments Material evaluation Tender strategy and support - Landfalls Integrity management
Cost evaluation Project definition 3rd party verification Operational support
Design review Material selection services Offshore support
Field layout optimization Advanced analyses Certification services
Geotechnical evaluations Flow assurance Offshore support
Operational philosophies Fabircation support
Provision of personnel
Systems Systems Systems Systems Systems

completion in completion in completion in completion in completion in
phase 1 phase 2 phase 3 phase 4 phase 5
Figure 1. Systems completion: 5 stage gate model. (Reproduced with permission from Falcon Global Ltd © 2000–2015.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe154
Systems Completion and Commissioning 3
Value Value impact is greater before FID Costs

100% 100%
Influence
over value
Cost of
changes
FID
Identify/
Select Define Execute Operate
assess
Opportunity realisation process phases during project maturation
Figure 2. The influence curve and 5 stage gate model. (Reproduced with courtesy of Shell Oil.)
1980s, there has been a dramatic increase in the number left-hand side. These are a tiered sequence of tests, checks,
of commissionable Tagged Items, specifically in Electrical, reports, and records that build from relatively simple and
Instrumentation, and Controls. In addition, the duty of care straightforward to complex procedures. Across our industry,
placed on Operators in all countries, developed or devel- these tests, checks, reports, and records are generically
oping, plus the need for compliance with regulatory require- known as Checksheets or Inspection Test Reports/Inspection
ments have combined to make the Commissioning and Test Records (ITRs). A tiered approach to Checksheets or
Start-Up of a facility a hugely complex business. It is ITRs means that at the lowest level, there is completion
received wisdom that Commissioning and Start-Up is no of Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), verified on Vendor
longer a subset of Construction. Checksheets (V Checksheets, V ITRs) or Equipment Check-
However, there are some factors that were critical in the sheets (E Checksheets, E ITRs).
1970s or 1980s and remain so today, irrespective of the With most projects attempting to execute a “fast track”
complexity, and those are the need for Preservation, Tight- approach, this is necessarily achieved by doing as much
ness, and Cleanliness. Every Commissioning Manager for off-site activity as possible, deploying modularized construc-
any project, whatever its size, location, nature, or industrial tion techniques.
sector must recognize the prime importance of these factors When a project deploys a contracting strategy that involves
and the severe consequences of not doing so. multiple work locations and a modularized approach, a
key assumption is made to complete Commissioning to the
1.4.1 The completions pyramid maximum extent at the module yard. Certainly, all Precom-
missioning activities should be completed.
We represent the completion of any system within a project
as shown in Figure 4. We say that the completion of any given 1.4.2 Hierarchy of checksheets
system in a project, whether a Utility System or a Process
System, can be simplified as shown in the diagram which we A Checksheets or A ITRs relate to individual commission-
call the Completions Pyramid, modified to be in accordance able components, known as Tags or Tagged Items. In the
with API RP 1 FSC. middle (usually, but not always), there are B Checksheets,
The terminology used throughout is in accordance with known as B ITRs, to record the completion of Precom-
API RP 1 FSC. Many organizations will already use a similar missioning, Function Testing, or Static Commissioning. At
terminology in their codes, standards, and procedures. the highest, we have C Checksheets or C ITRs, relating to
In the Completions Pyramid, which corresponds to Figure Subsystems and Systems, and are often more commonly
1 in Section 4.1 of RP 1 FSC, we look at each system in stages known as Commissioning Procedures or Operational Test
or levels. Procedures (OTPs).
The activities that must be completed to achieve each The completion of on-site construction activities and inte-
stage or level in the Completions Pyramid are shown on the gration of modularized units in the facility is recorded on
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe154
4
Offshore
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

Phase 4 Phase 5
identify and assess generate & select develop preferred
execute operate and evaluate
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe154
opportunities alternative(s) alternative
As per project schedule As per project schedule As per project schedule As per project schedule

Endorser(s): Commissioning Manager Endorser(s): Commissioning Manager Endorser(s): Commissioning Manager Endorser(s): Commissioning Manager Endorser(s): Commissioning Manager
Decision Exec.: Project Manager Decision Exec.: Project Manager Decision Exec.: Project Manager Decision Exec.: Project Manager Decision Exec.: Project Manager
Dec. Rev. Board: Operations Team Dec. Rev. Board: Operations Team Dec. Rev. Board: Operations Team Dec. Rev. Board: Operations Team Dec. Rev. Board: Operations Team
Alignment with Operations Alignment with Operations Alignment with Operations Alignment with Operations
Alignment with Operations
Excellence and Assurance Excellence and Assurance, Excellence and Assurance, Excellence and Assurance
Excellence and Assurance
To determine deliverables Focus items complete Focus items complete
through CPDEP phases for
Commissioning and Start-up
Guidance for preparedness Functional system breaks, Inspection and Test

of all systems Completions, Draft organization, Certification, Finalized
Safe And Succesful Start-up
Commissioning & Start-up Preliminary Commissioing Commissioning and Start-up
activities and Start-up strategy strategy
Project Manager: Project Manager: Project Manager: Project Manager: Project Manager:
Team Members: Team Members: Commissioning Manager, Team Members: Commissioning Manager, Team Members: Commissioning Manager, Team Members: Commissioning Manager,
Operations Operations, EPC discipline Leads Operations, EPC discipline Leads Operations
Focus Items: Focus Items: Focus Items: Focus Items: Focus Items:
Produce over-arching project specific procedures Initial Schedule Finalize Start-up sequence System performance testing certificate
Commissioning philosophy Conceptual sequence Finalize schedule Asset performance testing certificate
System completions strategy Select handover database tool (WinPCS etc) Sub-system limits per detail design Final documentation packages
Certification process Generate generic isolation procedures Produce Hook-up P&ID’s On the job training
Create lessons learnes to achieve best practices Lessons learned Order Commissioning and Start-up spares Close out database
Workflow of key CSU processes Roles and responsibilities per contracting strategy Finalize commissioning cost Close out
Review Assest registers for system completion database Initial System and sub-system linits from FEED Vendor mobilization plan
Align with regulatory requirements System listing and numbering Punchlisrt procedure
Population of SCDB for major equipment Initital population of MC database for major items List special loads for commissioning
Create project schedule with CSU fully integrated Start-up sequence Populate database with engineering documents
Create and apply the completions pyramid Updated cost estimate Performance testing plan
Develop an authentis FAT/SAT programme Initial start-up anf commissioning spares list Complete check sheet matrices
Develop handover requirements Select check sheet formats SIMOP’s plan
Specify SCDB reporting requirements Preliminary performance testing plan Final HSE plan
System, listing and numbering Preliminary HSE plan System commissioning procedures (Mock Ops)
Preliminary SC scope Risk management plan Start-up procedures
Hock-up and commissioning strategy Handover procedures
Roles and responsibilities
Resources: Resources: Resources: Resources: Resources:

Construction Manager, Commissioning Manager HSE, Procurement, Planning and Cost, Commissioning HSE, Procurement, Planning and Cost, Commissioning Commissioning Engineers, Vendors
Engineers, Construction lead Engineers, Technicians, Vendors, Contractors,
Inspectors
Figure 3. The 5 stage gate phases. (Reproduced with courtesy of Chevron Corporation.)
Steady state operations

All category “C”
punch list items
Commence completed by
operations operations
final performance
Final commissioning activities test
Pre Startup Safety Review (PSSR)
all C Checksheets complete Dynamic
Ready for Start-up Certificate commissioning
All category “B”
punch list items
All B Checksheets complete complete
Ready for Commissioning Certificates
Static commissioning
All A Checksheets complete

Mechanical Completion Certificates All category “A”
Mechanical completion punch list items
complete
Inspection & testing records and

factory acceptance records All FAT
Factory acceptance testing punch list items
complete
Completions Pyramid © 2005

with reference to API RP IFSC Figure 1
Figure 4. Completions pyramid. (Reproduced with permission from Falcon Global Ltd © 2000–2015.)
“A” Checksheets or “A” ITRs. Any outstanding work is recorded on Category “A” or Category “B” PLIs, depending
recorded by Punch Listing, and the Punch List Items (PLIs) on the severity. Precommissioning is achieved when the B
arising are referred to as Category “A.” When the A Check- Checksheets of each Discipline and all Category A PLIs
sheets of each Discipline and all Category A PLIs have have been completed. Note, Category B PLIs can carry
been completed, this is known as Mechanical Completion. over to Dynamic Commissioning. Therefore, when all the B
A Mechanical Completion certificate is issued to record the Checksheets and all Category A PLIs within the System or
status. For organizational purposes, Mechanical Completion Subsystem have been completed, a Ready for Commissioning
is often segmented by Discipline and System or Subsystem (RFC) certificate is issued to record the status.
and the corresponding Discipline Mechanical Completion Completion of the Commissioning Procedures (aka, C
Certificate aka, Discipline Acceptance Certificate (DMCC, ITRs) and any Category A PLIs and all Category B PLIs
DAC) issued to record the status. is required to achieve Dynamic Commissioning or just
Therefore, to achieve Mechanical Completion, all A Commissioning.
Checksheets (AITRs) must be completed. Note also that any After this comes Start-Up and Performance Testing, and at
snags or faults must also be completed. In the industry, these the pinnacle, we have Stable Operations.
are commonly known as PLIs and are also usually tiered in Another significant advantage of adopting the Completions
order of severity and priority, known as PLI Categories. API Pyramid approach is that it helps communicate to the project
RP 1 FSC has adopted the industry convention and catego- team about what is happening on their project by simpli-
rized these as A, B, C, and D. So, to achieve Mechanical fying, but without sacrificing, important information. During
Completion of any given System, all A Checksheets (AITRs) the initial training, we encourage the project team on each
and all Category A Punch List Items (PLI Cat A) must also new project about to use our specialized software, Zenator
be completed. [aka, Systems Completion Database (SCDB)], to develop a
The next phase is known as Precommissioning which is Completions Pyramid for their project (Figures 5, 6).
also known as Static Commissioning, Function Testing, or Prior to publication of API RP 1 FSC refers to the Comple-
Dry Commissioning. The work activities are recorded on tions Pyramid in Figure 6. It was produced in 2010, before
“B” Checksheets or “B” ITRs. Any outstanding work is API RP 1 FSC was published in 2013.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe154
6
Offshore
CONSTRUCTION WORK PACK CONSTRUCTION

CCR
COMPLETION COMPLETION WALK PLANT READINESS
CONSTRUCTION WORK Contractor Submits CCR Further PSSR1
THROUGH INSPECTION (Construction Completion Report) YES INSPECTION CONSTRUCTION TEST WORK
PACK Drawing list Updated by Construction Lube Oil Flushing
Testing All Isolations, blinds & PACKS
QA Records Contractor Hydro testing Any A
Ready to Construct sign off Compant Sign Off Required BLUE test instruments fitter, Reviewed by Company
Construction records Company 2* Flushing/Drying items on the
by Company TAGS ON Equipment Ready for
Red Line drawings Completed CCCR Produced Testing Leak tests punch list?
Mobilization NO DPR Sign Off
Fabrication Complete (Construction Completion Check NO E&I Tests 4
Procedures COWR carry over work Company Sign Off
Installation Complete Record) Company Sign Off 3
Tooling register YES
Hydro test packs agreed
Construction Equipment “Non Energized” testing
Staffing etc....
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe154
complete Construction corrects CONDUCT TESTING
Any A NO Boundaries Punchlist A items E & I Equipment
Construction Work packs
Company Sign Off 1 items on the Isolated Hydro testing
completed
punch list? LOTO applied Leak Test

Construction completion
Punch List Flushing/Drying
CONSTRUCTION QA
YES Identified non- Signed by Contractor & CNL Component testing
Construction corrects Construction corrects compliance PIC’s DPR Sign Off
defects Punchlist A & B items Blue lags indicate equipment that is locked out A items must be cleared 5*
Company Sign Off
under the control of Construction before commissioning begins
All personnel to be briefed that BLUE lagged equipment Discuss & B items must be cleared
Construction corrects YES NCR Agreed before Mechanical
1. May operate at any time agree with
Punchlist A & B items YES CTR Signed Completion CONSTRUCTION TESTING
2. Work on that equipment must be authorized C items must be cleared
NO Any A or B before Final Acceptance
COMPLETION REPORT &
by construction manager
Punchlist items PUNCH LIST
NO Any A or B QA QA Document Review & System
Closed Register
Punchlist items check Inspection by Contractor &
Company
CTCR and punch List compiled
NOTICE OF MECHANICAL
(Construction Testing completion Report)
COMPLETION MECHANICAL COMPLETION COMMISSIONING WORK PACKS
COMMISSIONING AND
Company Inspection Contractor to Issue Notice of
FUNCTIONAL TESTING
Commissioning Work Pack of system and review Mechanical Completion Reviewed by Company
Includes
Initial Sign Off 10 completed Contractor handover QA
System testing RE-INSTATE EQUIPMENT
Commissioning Work documents, Test records, DPR Sign Off
Component testing 9 Shut Downs as required for De- Plant ready for Commissioning
Company Acceptance Pack manuals & redline designs, Company Sign Off
On-job training isolation of process Plant in de-energized and safe
Mechanical completion 11 etc
Contractors state
START UP READINESS ASSESSMENT FOCUS
Construction corrects SYSTEM HAND-OVER
PSSR3 Punchlist A & B items Final start up & Performance test plan Construction hand over Systems to
Whole of Platform/Facility Emergency response plan Commissioning
PSSR SOP’s and manuals completed PSSR2
YES Handover of Construction Work
All of the platform’s system Red line designs provided NO System ready for commissioning and packs, redlined designs, QA
functional testing & Commissioning reports, manuals,test results and functional testing records, commissioning manuals
commissioning complete general QA documentation provided
Any A & B Process fluids may be introduced at this and test records Any A
Validation of critical competencies of O&M Any A Punchlist GREEN Construction provides CCR
Punchlist items personnel stage items on the
Company Sign Off 12 items TAGS ON (Construction Completion Report)
Electrical Systems livened NO punch list?
Operating Plan for start up and continuous ALL staff advised of hand over of
operation Mechanical systems
NO Communications protocol YES Instrument/Control
YES
Logistics support provided by Contractor, Vendors Company Sign Off 8 Boundaries CTCR Sign Off 6*
and Company isolated
MOC requirements Reviewed and addressed LOTO applied Systems Sign Off 7*
PSSR3 Punch list – ALL A & B items closed out and Construction corrects
Construction corrects
signed off Punchlist A items Green lags indicate equipment that is transferred to commissioning – Punchlist A items
Final Commissioning Work Pack Sign Off All personnel must be briefed that green lagged equipment
DPR Approval for startup 1. May operate at any time
START-UP READINESS 2. Work on that equipment must be authorized by commissioning manager
ASSESSMENT Resolve
Company Sign Off Issues
13
DPR Inspection &
NO
Approval to Startup 14 START UP PLANT 7 Day Plant PLATFORM HAND OVER PACK
Limit access to the facility to only persons Continuous Operation ISSUE NOTICE OF Contractor provides all document NOTICE OF FINAL
directly involved with the proceedings MECHANICAL Sign Off
deliverables YES ACCEPTANCE issued DPR issues Licence to Operate
Completion within 120 days of Acceptance of To include any ACCEPTANCE By
System hand over packs by Company to ISSUE Facility Acceptance Certificate
Mechanical Completion manufacturer Company Operations &
completed contractor Transfer to Operations
Start Up and run all systems up to full design performance testing DPR
capacity within production limitations. required Company Sign Off 15 Outstanding C punch list items
16 Company Sign Off 17
Complete On Job training of Company staff. identified and closed out
* Construction Work Pack system component sign off at Company discretion.
Figure 5. Example of a complex flow diagram for systems completion. (Reproduced with permission from Falcon Global Ltd © 2000–2015.)
Warranty period begins
Acceptance and asset transfer
Issue Final Acceptance Certificate
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe154
Transfer to Operations: (FACTO)
DPR issue permit to operate

All category “C”
Issue Notice of Mechanical Start-up &
punch list items
Acceptance to Contractor: (NMA) performance
completed by
Apply to DPR for Approval to testing
operations
Commision and License to Operate
Mechanical completion achieved
PSSR 3 complete
Commissioning Work Pack 100%
Issue Notice of MC to Contractor All category “B”
Issue Notice of DPR for PSSR 3 Commissioning punch list items
complete
PSSR 2 complete
CTCR Checksheets 100%
Complete Construction Test Work Pack:
Issue Notice to DPR for PSSR 2 Testing
All category “A”

PSSR 1 complete
punch list items
CCCR Checksheets 100% complete
Complete Construction Work Pack:
Construction
Issue Notice to DPR for PSSR 1
Issue Construction Work Pack: (CWP)

Completions Pyramid © 2005
priod to publication of API RP I FSC
Figure 6. Completions pyramid for the same project as shown in Figure 5 [Prior to publication of API RP 1 FSC]. (Reproduced with permission from Falcon Global Ltd ©
2000–2015.)
Systems Completion and Commissioning
7
8 Offshore
Reproduced with grateful thanks to ExxonMobil Systems completion turnover process

Mechanical Handover First hydrocarbon Final accepatance
completion Care, Custody & Control Transfer: Asset Transfer:
Non-energized Energized Project => Production Operations Project => Production
System A
Process systems
System Construction Static Comm’g Dynamic Comm’g
System B
Start-up (3)
System Z
Ready for Start-up (4) Continuous Ops
Discipline Sub System System Partial Partial

Disc Staic Ready for System Ready for Transfer of
Mechanical Mechanical Mechanical System Ready for
Commission’g Commission’g Turnover Start-up Asset
Completion Completion Completion Turnover Start-up
Certificate Certificate Certificate Certificate Letter
Certificate Certificate Certificate Certificate Certificate
System A
Process systems
Utilities and non
System Construction Static Comm’g Dynamic Comm’g Continuous Ops
System B
System Z
Notes
1. Introduction of the process fluid (oil, water or gas) for process facilities or first generation of power for power plants
2. The transfer of lead stewardship between EMDC and EMPC is covered by the Stewardship Transfer Process
3. Includes Facility Stabilization and Performance Test
4. Includes CP3 Independent Project Review, Operations Readiness Review, Go/No Go Readiness Review
5. Required if part of a System is to be Dynamically Commissioned
6. Required for Commissionable Systems only
7. Required if part of a System is to be Turned Over
8. Required if part of the Facility is to be Started up
EMDC Systems Completion Process rev0.xls 27/02/2009
Figure 7. Progressive systems completion methodology. (Reproduced with permission from Falcon Global Ltd © 2000–2015.)
1.4.3 Progressive systems completion methodology tasks using process media, after Precommissioning is
complete.
As Construction work on the project nears completion, the – According to the UK Health & Safety Executive,
work moves from an Area or Module approach to focusing Commissioning of the process plant is the practical
on the completion of the priority systems needed to Start-Up test of the adequacy of prior preparations, including
and Operate the plant or facility. In order to achieve Start-Up training of operating personnel and provision of
in the shortest possible time without compromising safety adequate operating instructions. As the possibility of
or integrity, all projects will follow a form of the stage-gate unforeseen eventualities cannot be eliminated during
process shown below, what we in Falcon Global call Progres- this period when operating experience is being gained,
sive Systems Completion Methodology (PSCM) (Figure 7). the need for safety precautions should be reviewed.
The UK’s Health & Safety Executive (HSE) use the This should form part of the Hazard and Operability
following definitions for Commissioning and related Study (HAZOP)/Risk Assessment processes applied
activities: to the installation. Full written operating instructions
• Commissioning should be provided for all commissioning activities.
– Energized testing of all equipment to confirm that – Commissioning Procedures document a logical
it is satisfactory for Start-Up and operation. Such progression of steps necessary to verify that the
tests include ductor/resistance/earthing/trip tests, installed plant is fully functional and fit for purpose.
control and shutdown loop testing, electric motor A general sequence of steps in Commissioning may
runs, pump/fan/turbine/compressor/engine trial runs, typically include:
and leak testing.
• System Configuration Check
• Commissioning and Start-Up Procedures – The purpose of this activity is to trace all pipework and
– Commissioning and Start-Up Procedures are used at connections to verify the system configuration and to
a System/Plant level for the “wet” Commissioning visually inspect items of equipment to ensure that they
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe154
are clean, empty, and fit for purpose as appropriate • Handover

before undertaking water trials. – Each section should be read in detail to gain under-
standing about the particular requirements of the
• Instrumentation System Check—Verification of Alarms
activity before undertaking the activity itself and
and Trips
completing the associated checklist. The checklist
– The purpose of this activity is to ensure that all instru-
will serve as a permanent record of the activity, and
mentation, alarm settings, microprocessor signals,
can be reviewed if future modifications are under-
and hardwire trips pertaining to the installation are
taken.
functional. This will also check that signals from
– It is assumed that before the commencement of
the field instrumentation are displayed locally and
commissioning activities, full support from plant
are being correctly relayed to the computer interface
personnel has been obtained.
rack, as well as to the computer system.
• Flushing and Cleaning of Lines and Vessels with Water The more one looks, then without question, the more one
– The purpose of this activity is to clean all items of finds (Global Falcon, 2013).
pipework and the vessels that make up the installation.
This task shall also ensure that there are no obstruc-
tions, blockages, or any potential contaminants in 1.5 Safety and environmental considerations
any of the process lines or vessels that may have
resulted from materials being left inside the system We should think of Safety in two broad categories: Process
from the construction phase. If chemicals incompat- safety and occupational safety.
ible with water are to be used, it is important that the Process safety is developed from protocols such as HAZOP
pipelines and equipment are thoroughly dried before with adherence to the resultant procedures by competent
introduction of the chemicals. This is normally done people.
by passing dry air through the plant. Occupational safety is about protecting the health, safety,
and welfare of people at work.
• Assessment of Ancillary Equipment Bringing both elements together, we develop a culture
– The main aim of this assessment is to verify the of safety. Many organizations genuinely espouse the
performance of all ancillary equipment. This may values of a safety culture and others less so. As the BP
include pumps, fans, heat exchangers, condensers, Macondo/Transocean Deepwater Horizon disaster, the US
and so on. government has widened the brief of API RP 75 (1991),
developed post Piper Alpha, established for US Continental
• Calibration of Vessels and Instrumentation
Shelf (USCS) Operators and Contractors, a process of
– The purpose of this activity is to check the calibration
and performance of all vessels and instrumentation regulation that can be described as “by the Companies, for
pertaining to the installation. To a certain extent, this the Companies.” Each Operator and Contractor is obligated
will be carried out in conjunction with the system to own and operate a safety and environmental management
prechecks to ensure that the correct set points and system (SEMS), auditable through third party audits. This
alarm points have been established for use in the water vital topic is extremely well covered by the Center for
trials. Offshore Safety (Establishing a Culture of Safety, 2014).
Within the USCS, all Commissioning and Start-Up activi-
• Start-Up Protocol ties and their adherence to API RP 1 FSC will be a subset of
– The purpose of this procedure is to provide guidance the applicable company’s SEMS and its obligation to adhere
for bringing the installation online starting from an to API RP 75. Regulation and compliance will be monitored
empty nonoperational system. by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement
(BSEE).
• Shutdown Protocol
Awareness of safety and specific environmental conditions
– The purpose of this procedure is to provide guidance
in which the project is subjected to are paramount. Compli-
for taking the installation offline starting from a fully
ance with safety and environmental protection regulations is
operational system.
mandatory.
• Chemical Trials Environments vary depending on the nature of the plant
– The aim of this activity is to verify the performance or facility being commissioned, whether it is Onshore or
of the installation by simulating “live” conditions by Offshore, whether it is in a factory or Fabrication Yard in
following standard procedures. a developed area, or whether it is in a remote location.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe154
10 Offshore
Table 1. Sources for further information.
UK Health & Safety Executive (HSE): http://www.hse

.gov.uk/index.htm
US Occupational Safety & Health Administration

(OSHA): http://www.osha.gov
US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, US

BSEE: http://www.bsee.org
(continued overleaf)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe154
Table 1. (Continued)
US Center for Offshore Safety, US COS: http://www

.centerforoffshoresafety.org/
Australian National Offshore Petroleum Safety and

Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA),
Australia NOPSEMA: http://www.nopsema.gov.au/
The presentation by Charlie Williams, Executive Director at the Center for Offshore Safety, is also recommended for reading (Presentation by Charlie
Williams, Executive Director at the Center for Offshore Safety; US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement).
(Table from American Petroleum Institute. © API.)
Some factors are constant, irrespective of the environment, • Ensure that the Commissioning Team is of sufficient
for example: size to adequately control and police commissioning
activities on the project.
• Early involvement of the Commissioning Manager and • Participate with adequate representation of discipline
forming the Commissioning Team. skill sets and expertise in HAZOPs.
• The need for demonstrably competent, well-trained • Observance of the Permit to Work (PTW) system.
people in the Commissioning Team, closely following • Good signage and markers are essential to inform others
procedure, respecting the culture of safe working, and of areas that barricaded because they are hazardous and
protection of the environment. unsafe to unauthorized personnel.
• Safety training for the Commissioning Team will be • Maintain strict discipline on Change Control.
broad and diverse from basic First Aid, Fire Fighting, • Record all Changes in a Change Management notice.
Confined Space Entry, and Offshore Survival, to the • If Zenator (SCDB) is being deployed, ensure that all
advanced courses and certification as a nominated Changes are recorded in the Management of Change
responsible person (NRP) for HV Electrical and specific facility, to give an accurate history, current status, and
safety systems. audit trail.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe154
12 Offshore
A simplified commissioning logic with Zenator systems
Start
Establish Project Expectations and Requirements to

define the work scope for Commissioning & Start Up
Step 1 – Preparation and Outline Planning Develop and outline Schedule to show timeline
Scope Definition Develop a budget
During Front End Engineering Design (FEED)
Recruit the Commissioning Manager and key team
members
Engage Stakeholders and build relationships
On budgetary approval, develop requirements for:
Recruit and train the Commissioning Team
Step 2 – Detailed Planning Develop Procedures and Handovers
Detailed Planning Schedule participation in Vendor Inspections and
At Start of Detailed Design
FATs
Perform Gap Analysis – Skill sets, work Processes,
Equipment, Documentation
Refer to API RP 1 FSC Tab 1, Systems Purchase license for Zenator (SCDB)
Completion Planning and Organization Activities
Engage Specialist Subcontractors
Raise POs for Specialist Equipment
Participate in Systemization, HAZOPs with
Step 3 – Implementation Operations and Engineering
Within 3 months of Start of Detailed Design
Implementation
Identify Checksheets and Tag Type Matrix
Montior Scope, Schedule & Budget, refine if needed
Develop RACI, Work Processes for Commissioning
Finalize Performance Testing criteria
Plan mobilization to Site(s)
With Operations and Engineering, set Battery Limits
Step 4 – Systemization on P&IDs
Within 6 months of Start of Detailed Design Systemization Define Reporting requirements in Zenator (SCDB)
Agree Handovers with Construction and Operations
Step 5,6 & 7 – Mobilize, Reporting, Work Flows Produce Documentation and Zenator Reports
Start populating Zenator with Project Data
Within 9 months of Start of Detailed Design
From Reports Plus

Monitor Progress Complete ITRs
Overall Progress Zenator Record PLIs
Rundown Curves & Reporting with Mobilize to Site(s)
Work Flows Record MOCs
High level reports Zenator Record Inhibits & Isolations
Detailed reports
Refer to Completions Pyramid and

API RP 1 FSC Fig 1, Systems Completion Execution Process
Step 8 – Make Progressive Handovers Progress Progress all Completions activities in accordance with
Progress Work Flow through Dynamic Commissioning of
completions Project Schedule to Pre-Start Up Safety Review
Systems, complete Certification, prepare to make Staged Prepare for Performance Testing
Pyramid
Handovers to Operations in line with Project Schedule
Participate with Operations in each PSSR

Catalogue all MOCs
Start-up On acceptance, run Performance Tests, commence
Step 9 – Start Up & Performance Testing Performance Test transfer of care, custody and control (TCCC) to Operations
TCCC Train Operations personnel
Handover Documentation
Export from Zenator to CMMS
Assist Operations to run parts of Plant / Facility

Increase scope, improve reliability and production
Step 10 – Achieve Stable Operations Stable Operations throughput until design targets are met
Completion Certificates issued Prepare Operations Manuals
Handover Documentation through Zenator.
Plant Debugged and Operating

Step 11 – Warranty Period Begins Process Warranty achieved
Certifying Authority and Regulator satisfied Warrantly Period Complete Handover of Final Documentation
Final Acceptance Notice Issued Operations have read-only access to Zenator
Commissioning Team demobilizes
Finish
Flow Chart - Simplified Commissioning Logic with Zenator Systems - Rev G.vsd Reproduced with grateful thanks to Martin Killcross, “Chemical and Process Plant Commissioning Handbook”
Figure 8. A simplified commissioning logic. (Reproduced with permission from Falcon Global Ltd © 2000–2015.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe154
Simplified commissioning logic
Start-up
% Complete
Commissioning
Progress curve
Off-site and on-site

construction
Influence curve
FEED & DE
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 8
Step 9
5, 6, 7
Steps
Step
Step
10
11
Project Completion Fill
Launch turnovers to operations
project information
Launch Start-up
engineering deliverables
% Complete
Commissioning
Progress curve
Off-site and On-site

construction
FATs Influence curve

Preservations
FEED & DE
Project duration
Implement Zenator
Figure 9. Influence curves. In the upper diagram the influence curve is shown against steps in the simplified commissioning logic. In the
lower diagram the influence curve is shown against project activities during stage gate phase 4, execute. (Reproduced with permission from
Falcon Global Ltd © 2000–2015.)
• Clear indication of all temporary equipment, Inhibits, • Observe Certifying Authority and Regulatory Require-
and Isolations at the physical locations and recorded on ments.
relevant drawings (P&IDs, SLDs) and the actual Permit • Maintain the safety training of the Commissioning Team
to Work. with periodic drills and refreshers (Table 1).
• If Zenator (aka, SCDB) is being deployed, addition-
ally ensure that the placing and subsequent removal of
temporary equipment, such as Strainers, Inhibits, and 1.6 The commissioning approach
Isolations, are recorded, to give an accurate history,
current status and audit trail. Plan and prepare early, while influence is at its most effec-
• If Zenator (SCDB) is not being deployed, maintain a tive. On the following pages, refer to the two Influence
register to record placing and subsequent removal of Curve diagrams and the overlay of Steps from the Simplified
temporary equipment, such as Strainers, Inhibits, and Commissioning Logic, embedded here.
Isolations, to give an accurate history, current status, and “The potential for failure increases significantly if the
audit trail. project team does not start planning early for systems
• Uphold and actively enforce safety regulations and completion. The project team shall, “Begin with the end in
site-specific restrictions. mind” early in the project life cycle. This means that the
• Show respect for the Governing Law. project team shall incorporate systems completion in the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe154
14 Offshore
Table 2. Systems completion planning and organization activities, reproduced from API RP 1 FSC.
FEED Planning Activities Recommended Detailed Engineering Activities
(a) Develop system and completion strategy (a) Systems completion risk assessment
(b) Develop systems completion execution plan (b) Finalize systems and subsystem definition and inclusion in
(c) Define certification process engineering documents
(d) Review asset register and ensure that systems completion (c) Procure and implement SCDB
(SC) database requirements are included (d) Obtain and track vendor IRN and punch lists in SCDB
(e) Produce system list and minimum system testing (e) Develop permit to work (PTW)/lockout/tag out (LOTO) system
requirements and acceptance criteria (f) Produce site SC turnover procedure:
(f) Produce the initial start-up sequence with milestones and (1) Define certification process
integrate into schedule (2) Define and prepare turnover completion package
(g) Identify risks based on start-up sequence (3) Finalize SC milestones and schedule
(h) Produce the SC scope for execution contracts (g) Define and purchase commissioning and start-up spares
(i) Identify required function tests, lie-ins commissioning, (h) Witness and track factory acceptance tests
and/or start-up procedures for each system (i) Review project redline procedure
(j) Identify and plan regulatory requirements (j) Produce and finalize the following plans:
(k) Provide and review SC requirements in procurement plans (1) systems completion execution plan
(l) Define A, B, and C checksheets and preservations, (2) systems completer database execution plan
responsibilities, requirements, and certificates (3) equipment preservation plan
(m) Define inspection test plan with project quality process (4) vendor support plan
(n) Initiate systems definition on PFDs, P&IDs, instrument (5) subcontracts plan and SOW
block diagrams, and one-line diagrams (6) produce systems completion turnover package (one per
system), see example in Annex A
(o) Gather lessons learned for inclusion into execution plan
(k) Finalize systems definition and mark on engineering documents
(p) Liaise with engineering to agree an efficient and
controlled data exchange with SCDB (l) Safety instrumented function proof test procedures
FEED, front end engineering design; PFDs, process flow diagrams; P&IDs, piping & instrument diagram; IRN, inspection release note; SOW, Scope of
Work. (Reproduced courtesy of the American Petroleum Institute.)
design of the facilities and develop a systems completion 1.6.2 Implementing—steps 3 to 8

plan that is updated as the project progresses. The key to a
safe, smooth and efficient completions process is obtaining The “doing” phase, thought of as “commissioning,”
complete alignment with all involved parties in the plan- but embracing activities prior and subsequent to actual
ning phase and solid communication throughout the execu- “commissioning.”
tion phase.” API RP 1FSC Recommended Practice for
Facilities Systems Completion Planning and Execution, 1st
1.6.3 Closing out—steps 9 to 11
Edition—Courtesy of API.
Quite simply, the industry guideline is now recommending This final phase will define how the project is perceived by
that projects do what many of us in the business have known those responsible to take custody and continue operations
for years. as the plant or facility goes into production. On completion
These notes have been developed from many years of expe- of Closing Out, the Commissioning Team will demobilize
rience, garnered from knowledge, and a variety of accredited (Figures 8, 9).
sources. It is in alignment with API RP 1FSC 1st Edition and The activities referred to as Steps 1 to 7 in the Simplified
so we focus on the three phases that typify the commissioning Commissioning Model are also contained in Table 2.
of a plant or facility, whether Onshore or Offshore. These are:
• Preparing
• Implementing 2 CONCLUSION
• Closing Out
Pipeline commissioning is in most respects, very similar to
1.6.1 Preparing—steps 1 and 2 plant commissioning, but with a few key differences. First,
to state the obvious, with pipeline commissioning, the ends
Recruiting, organizing, gathering information, developing of the pipeline may be several kilometers apart. Whereas on
schedules, and producing documentation. a plant, it is quite likely to be relatively self-contained.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe154
Also, the pipeline itself may be submerged (or buried) RELATED ARTICLE
on the seabed, so may not be easily accessible to visual
inspection. If on land, the pipeline may extend over many Offshore Pipeline Design Technology
kilometers of terrain, which may only be visually inspected
from altitude. Pipeline visual inspection methods are avail-
able and heavily utilize autonomous vehicles, such as remote REFERENCES
operating vehicles (guided submarine equipment) in the case
of subsea pipelines and unmanned drones, with land-based API RP 75 (1991), Safety and Environmental Management Program
pipelines. for US Continental Shelf Offshore Operations and Facilities.
In the case of plant commissioning, extensive hands-on Center for Offshore Safety (2014) Establishing a Culture of Safety,
visual inspection plays a significant role. http://www.centerforoffshoresafety.org/ (accessed 12 December
Secondly, with the commissioning team separated by the 2017).
length of the pipeline being tested, absolute reliance on Global Falcon (2013) Zenator (aka, Systems Completion Database
excellent communications is more important than ever. [SCDB])—Systems Completion Process (A4).
Although the specific testing, equipment used, and Global Falcon (2013) Glossary of Terms for Zenator (aka, Systems
specialist companies involved are likely unique to pipeline Completion Database [SCDB]) Systems.
commissioning, the actual methodology, preparation, record Presentation by Charlie Williams, Executive Director at the Center
keeping, reporting, and engineering principles involved are for Offshore Safety, January 2014.
identical to plant commissioning. US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, https://
www.bsee.gov/ (accessed 19 December 2017).
It should be helpful for engineers and managers to know
these factors.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe154
Port Equipment and Technology
Rudy R. Negenborn, Dingena L. Schott, and Francesco Corman
Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
barges, short sea shipping, or trains. Alternatively, liquids can

1 Introduction 1 be transported from and to port areas using pipeline systems.
2 Container Terminals 2 Since the past century, the way in which goods are trans-
3 Dry Bulk Terminals 5 ported over sea changed significantly with the emergence of
new technology. The introduction of containerized freight
4 Role of Communication Technology 7
made it possible to transport not only bulk solid materials
5 Conclusions and Outlook 8 but also many (fragile) products. New technology regarding
Acknowledgments 8 ship propulsion leads to a much shorter travel time than with
Related Articles 8 the use of traditional sailing ships. The evolution of the steam
Glossary 9 engine and later on diesel powered engines had a big influ-
References 9 ence on the velocity of ships and increased the spatial reach
of ships.
Sea transport started to focus on two main types of goods
namely bulk solid materials and containerized freight. Within
ports, terminals were built specialized in handling bulk solid
1 INTRODUCTION materials or specialized in handling containerized goods
only. Dedicated infrastructure within the terminals them-
1.1 Ports, terminals, and transport equipment selves, between the terminals in a port area, and between the
port area and the hinterland made it possible to create a fast
Ports play a key role in the development of the global transfer toward the origin and destination locations. At all
economy. Nowadays, it is not uncommon that supply chains places, but specifically inside the terminals, a vast range of
for production and transport of goods span the whole globe. transport equipment is used to actually bring to goods from
For such distances, the most economical way of transporta- one place to another.
tion is via the seas. Maritime transport, also due to the large Nowadays, containerized freight is still increasing. Due
economies of scale possible, therefore has become a key to the globalization, product manufacturing mostly takes
player in handling global freight transport flows. This puts place in places where production is cheapest. Location of
a lot of pressure on the ports and terminals, where the large production and consumption of products is in most cases far
flows of goods are exchanged, loaded, unloaded, and trans- away from each other. This causes that terminals expand and
shipped. The first and last stages of the freight flow from new terminals emerge more wide spread over the world (Xin,
Negenborn, and Lodewijks, 2014).
origin and destination in hinterlands ports can further occur
over land, inland waterways, or railway tracks, using trucks,
1.2 Orders of magnitude
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. To get a better feeling for the size of the transport system
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe546
considered, here are some key numbers, reported by Merk
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 and Dang (2012) and UNCTAD (2013). Container transport
2 Marine
is growing yearly by around 5%—currently a faster pace than has over the years become more and more important to
global economy. Containers are measured in 20-foot equiv- consider safety aspects in terminal operations. New tech-
alent units, namely, boxes of 20 foot long, 8 foot wide, and nological innovations can be used to achieve this. At last,
usually 8.5 foot tall. No less than 600,000,000 TEU are trans- the economic recession forced terminals to reconsider their
ported per year, roughly corresponding to 1,570,000,000 logistical processes, leading to technological innovations that
tons/year, around 15% of the total transport flows over sea. make such processes more efficient. All these innovations
Bulk and other cargo account for about 9,200,000,000 tons ultimately have an impact on the way in which transport
of goods loaded in ports worldwide. Gas and (crude) oil equipment is used.
account for less than one-third of the total (oil: 2,836,000,000
tons); main dry bulk (coal, iron, grain) account for about
1.4 Outline of this article
2,665,000,000 tons/year.
Of the top 60 container terminals worldwide, roughly half
In this article, an overview of the types of transport equip-
of them are in Asia; the other half is located in Europe
ment most frequently encountered in the different parts of
and America. The scale of container terminals can reach up
major ports is provided. A description of the role and func-
to 800 hectares in terminal surface, where more than 200
tion of the transport equipment is provided and current
quay cranes and 500 yard cranes are operating, to handle
research challenges regarding the development of new tech-
about 25,000 TEU/year. Considering the top 60 terminals,
nology for these types of transport equipment are provided.
the average amount of containers handled per year is around
Hereby, equipment is considered as those components that
4000 TEU, with an average amount of 50 quay cranes and
take care of the actual movements of cargo (in particular dry
100 yard cranes. Economies of scale push for large container
bulk and containers), whereas technology is considered as
terminals.
the more information- and communication-related systems
The largest ports worldwide for oil, petroleum, and liquid
that help to improve the performance of all these compo-
gas have a yearly output in the range of 30,000,000 dead-
nents. Throughout the text, key concepts are introduced and
weight tonnage (DWT). Such large ports can store up to
explained.
7,000,000 ton of liquid bulk and handle up to 100,000 ton/h.
This article is organized as follows: In Section 2, a general
Looking at the top 70 harbors for oil, two-thirds are in Asia;
overview of the processes in container terminals are given,
the average output of those 70 ports is around 2,500,000
as well as details of specific container handling equipment.
ton/year.
In Section 3, an overview of the processes and equipment in
Dry bulk relates to the transport of coal, iron ore, other
dry bulk terminals is provided. Section 4 provides an illustra-
ores, minerals, and grains. The top 30 coal bulk terminals are
tive example on the important role that communication tech-
relatively well balanced over the world regions. The average
nology plays in port areas. Section 5 concludes this article
storage capacity is 2,500,000 tons, with an output per year in
with concluding remarks and an outlook on future directions.
the order of 2,000,000 tons. The largest coal terminal is able
to achieve an output of 7,000,000 tons/year, with a handling
capacity of 40,000 tons/h.
Handling of iron ore is concentrated in fewer ports. The 2 CONTAINER TERMINALS
largest iron ore terminal is able to handle 3,000,000 ton/year,
with a loading capacity of 60,000 ton/h. The average over the 2.1 Overall transport process
15 largest terminals gives a yearly output of 750,000 tons and
a loading capacity of 15,000 ton/h. A container terminal focuses on the transhipment, trans-
portation, and storage of containerized goods and therefore
only handles containers of several specific dimensions, most
1.3 Drivers for technological innovation commonly 1 or 2 TEU standardized container sized, namely,
20 or 40 feet long (Carlo, Vis, and Roodbergen, 2014).
The aforementioned developments stimulate ports and termi- Generally, there are two processes taking place at a
nals to become more creative in their operations. Techno- container terminal. The import situation starts with a vessel,
logical innovations at equipment, terminal, and port level loaded with containers entering the port area, and sailing
are required to enable ports to become even more efficient to the terminal. When it arrives at the terminal, containers
in handling freight. Moreover, with a growing amount of will be unloaded from the vessel and be put in the terminal
terminals in existing ports, the available space decreases area. Within this area, the containers can either be trans-
rapidly. Scarce ground becomes more expensive, bringing ported directly toward the part where the containers can be
another reason for terminals to innovate. Besides this, it transferred onto another piece of transport equipment, such
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe546
Port Equipment and Technology 3
as a truck, a train, or a barge. Another option is that the from the vessel to the quay. Several of these cranes are
container will be stored on the terminal area for a certain typically used to unload larger vessels. A quay crane is
period of time. In this case, the container will be transported controlled by an operator who controls the crane from a cabin
to a storage area. From this storage area, the container can at the top of the crane. From that place, the operator has a
be picked up at a later moment. In the export situation, good view on the task that must be performed. Besides the
the order of operations is reversed. A barge, truck, or train conventional type of quay crane, which carries a container in
enters the terminal with a container. These containers will one go from vessel to quay, there is also a type of quay crane
be transported via the terminal area to a vessel. Also in this that places a container at the quay in two stages instead of
case, it is possible that a container is first stored for a given one. In the first stage, the container is picked up from the
time on the terminal area before being moved to a vessel. vessel and put on a platform on the crane. Then, a second
From this overall process description, specific processes trolley takes the container from that platform and delivers the
at a container terminal can be distinguished. Typical for container to the quay. The purpose of these two stages is that
a container terminal is the handling of single units. Each the overall turnaround time of the vessel can be shorter than
container needs a piece of equipment in order to be moved. when one stage. Another innovation describes the use of a
Sometimes, such pieces of equipment can carry only one second trolley for unloading a vessel from the sea side using
container; sometimes, they can carry multiple containers. a floating crane and not from the quay side of the vessel. The
containers will temporarily be stored on a platform of this
2.2 Commonly used transport equipment floating crane and later be put on the quay.
At a container terminal, several types of transport equipment

are used (Brinkmann, 2011; Steenken, Voß, and Stahlbock, 2.2.2 Terminal trucks/multitrailer systems
2004). In this section, the most commonly used types
of transport equipment (Figure 1) are briefly described At the moment that a container arrives at the quay, transport
from a container import perspective: quay cranes, terminal of that container can be done using a terminal truck, or
trucks/multitrailer systems, automated guided vehicles multitrailer system, which consists of a terminal truck with
(AGVs), straddle carriers, reach stackers, rubber tired gantry several trailers behind it. Each trailer can carry one container.
cranes, and rail mounted gantry cranes. Depending on the type of trailer, a 1 TEU or 2 TEU container
fits. The trailers are loaded by the quay crane. This means in
practice that it can take a while before the whole multitrailer
2.2.1 Quay cranes system is filled and ready to move toward the storage area or
When a vessel arrives at the quay of a terminal, the first type the transfer point. A multitrailer system is always controlled
of equipment used is a quay crane to tranship a container by a driver. With several pieces of transport equipment of this
type operating on the terminal area, dangerous or unexpected
situations can always occur.
2.2.3 Automated guided vehicles

Transporting containers over the terminal area fully auto-
mated is done using AGVs. An AGV is a kind of trailer on
which a container can be put. This trailer is controlled by
software and can drive autonomously through the terminal
area. Because this type of equipment is not driven by a
human operator, other nonautomated vehicles are usually not
allowed to enter the area in which the AGVs operate. Overall
terminal safety is generally increased, however, when AGVs
are used because accidents happen much less due to deci-
sions controlled by software and do not suddenly change
Figure 1. Overview of equipment in a container terminal. (Repro-
as can happen when an operator would control it. An AGV
duced from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/ can be powered with a battery pack or a diesel engine. For
df/2013-06-08_Projekt_Hei%C3%9Flufftballon_DSCF7624.jpg. future environmental regulations, battery-powered AGVs are
Author: Martina Nolte. Distributed under Creative Commons 3.0.) preferred.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe546
4 Marine
2.2.4 Straddle carriers 2.2.7 Rail-mounted gantry cranes

Transport of containers within the terminal can be done also For larger container terminals with often a large storage area,
with straddle carriers. A straddle carrier is characterized rail-mounted gantry cranes have proven to be very practical.
by its height. It transports a container between its wheels. A rail-mounted gantry crane operates in a similar way as
It can pick up a container and drive into a storage area a rubber-tired gantry crane, with as major difference that a
over a specific number of stacked containers on top of each rail-mounted gantry crane is fixed on rails. It can therefore
other, mostly to a maximum of three containers high. A only operate in a prespecified area. Most of the time two
human operator controls the straddle carrier from the top rail-mounted gantry cranes are placed on the same rail in
of the straddle carrier, from where it has a good view over a storage area. The storage area is then accessible from
all operations of the straddle carrier. It is possible to use two sides, from the quay side with containers from vessels,
the straddle carrier on the quay side or land side areas of and from the land side for containers to trucks and trains.
a terminal, or as transport equipment in the storage area, A container that needs to be stored can then efficiently be
depending on the other transport equipment used at the handled while the other gantry crane is handling a container
specific terminal. Using a straddle carrier enables terminals that needs to leave the storage area.
to store many containers on a relatively small area. Safety
is, however, sometimes an issue, due to size and difficult
manoeuvrability of a straddle carrier. Controlling it can, in 2.3 Technological trends and innovations at
particular, be challenging in crowded terminal areas. container terminals
2.2.5 Reach stackers At terminal level, there are a number of technological inno-
vation initiatives, partly focusing on improvements of the
Handling of containers at the terminal and especially at the existing transport equipment and partly focusing on new
storage area can be performed by reach stackers. A reach types of equipment that can be used instead of or in combi-
stacker grabs the top of the container and moves it in front of nation with the existing transport equipment.
the reach stacker. In this way, it is possible to simply stack
According to Rijsenbrij and Wieschemann (2011) and
containers on top of each other. A drawback of the use of
Xin, Negenborn, and Lodewijks (2014), trends in transport
reach stackers is that they cannot be used to create lanes of
equipment at container terminals focus on automation and
stacked containers close to each other with the possibility
environmental friendliness. This development is in partic-
to take out a specific container in, for example, the middle
ular visible in the area of AGV and straddle carriers design
lane. Reach stackers are, however, very useful for stacking
(Durrant-Whyte et al., 2007). Latest types of AGVs use
empty containers at a terminal. With empty containers, it is
GPS technology to monitor the locations of all AGVs on
not that important where a specific container is located, so
the terminal area. These AGVs can move “freely” over
the containers can be stacked and picked randomly. More-
the terminal area instead of following a fixed path as the
over, reach stackers have proven valuable at the transfer
earlier types of AGVs. Advanced energy-aware scheduling
points where containers are transferred on trains. Reach
and control techniques then need to be adopted in order to
stackers can easily place containers on railroad wagons, due
determine the best routes, especially when AGV operations
to handling of the containers from the side of such a wagon.
need to be synchronized with the operations of other equip-
ment in the terminal (Xin, Negenborn, and Lodewijks, 2014).
2.2.6 Rubber tired gantry cranes
Another development within transport equipment at
At the container storage area, rubber-tired gantry cranes are a container terminal involves increasing the amount of
a different type of equipment for stacking containers. It is containers that can be handled during transportation at once.
possible to stack with this type of equipment containers in As seen, a multitrailer system can handle multiple containers
multiple lanes next to each other. This type of crane can be in one movement from quay to storage area, although at the
used at different places on the storage area because it moves cost of higher loading and unloading time. Latest develop-
on wheels. Storage areas can be adjusted now, depending on ments are focusing on the so-called twin-load technology.
the amount of containers that are expected at a given moment. Especially, straddle carriers are designed to transport two
Stacking containers with a rubber-tired gantry crane is more containers instead of one. This reduces the total amount of
space efficient than using a reach stacker or a straddle carrier. movements when compared to the use of equipment that
Controlling a rubber-tired gantry crane is, however, typically can only carry single containers. However, the processes at
considered more complex than controlling a straddle carrier the storage area become more complex, since the containers
or a reach stacker. carried could have different storage locations.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe546
Double cycling is another innovation, aimed at increasing Zooming in on this process, the following process steps can
the handling rate. Double cycling can, for example, be used be distinguished. A vessel loaded with, for example, coal
for a quay crane for which the empty movements need to arrives at the quay of a dry bulk terminal. Then, a crane
be minimized (Goodchild and Daganzo, 2007). When one will grab the material out of the vessel and bring this to
container is being unloaded from a vessel, the crane takes the quay. Mostly, a hopper is used to continuously feed the
another container from the quay and loads this container belt conveyors for transport toward a temporary storage area
at another location in the vessel. This system only works on the terminal via a belt conveyor. At the storage area, a
well with a well-implemented strategy for controlling the stacker/reclaimer will pile up the bulk on the storage area and
movements. For transport on the terminal area itself, double reclaim it when it needs to be transported further toward the
cycling can be considered for an AGV that is not directed hinterland. Depending on the type of dry bulk to be stored,
to a single vessel only but tries to minimize its own empty it is either stored in open or in closed areas (such as silo
movements. It could then, for example, transport a container or closed sheds). From the storage area toward the loading
toward a vessel different from where it first came. stations of trucks, trains, or barges, the material is typically
also transported using belt conveyors. Barges are usually
directly loaded via the conveyor belt system, in the same way
3 DRY BULK TERMINALS as vessels are loaded.
Dry bulk terminals differ much from container terminals: the 3.2 Commonly used transport equipment
variety in amounts and types of dry bulk to be transported
is much broader than the rather limited number of types of In this section, the types of equipment typically used in larger
containers to be handled at container terminals. For a good dry bulk terminals (Figure 2) are described: grab cranes,
insight on a dry bulk terminal, first the different processes belt conveyors, stacker/reclaimers, mobile equipment, and
at a dry bulk terminal are discussed. Then, the commonly loading stations.
used types of equipment for these terminals are surveyed, and
technological trends are outlined. 3.2.1 Grab cranes
When a vessel arrives at the quay, the vessel needs to be
3.1 Overall transport process unloaded. Grab unloading is the most widely used method
for ship unloading (van Vianen, 2015). A crane with a grab
Dry bulk terminals (Lodewijks, Schott, and Ottjes, 2007) grabs the material from the vessel and puts it on the quay in
are used worldwide as a buffer between either international a hopper and repeats this until the vessel is unloaded. The
or intercontinental transportation and inland or domestic hopper acts as a buffer to ensure a continuous feed to the belt
transportation or the other way around. The product that
is handled at a dry bulk terminal can be all kinds of bulk
material such as coal, iron ore, grain, and minerals. The
major difference between a container terminal and a dry bulk
terminal is the product that is handled. While at container
terminals all handled containers have given specific dimen-
sions, and because of that, all equipment are adjusted to these
dimensions, a dry bulk terminal has to cope with different
types of dry bulk with different properties. Here, the dimen-
sions of the equipment and the performance together with the
material determine how much can be transhipped in a single
movement. For the different handling steps, different types
of equipment are used.
Although the handled product is different, the general
process at a dry bulk terminal is comparable to the process
at a container terminal: the transhipment of bulk from sea by
vessel to a truck, train, or barge for transport to the hinterland, Figure 2. Overview of equipment in a dry bulk terminal. (Repro-
and vice versa. With dry bulk terminals also, direct connec- duced from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A2013-
tions for transport of coal by a belt conveyor to neighboring 06-08_Projekt_Hei%C3%9Flufftballon_DSCF7610.jpg. Author:
coal-fired power plants are installed. Martina Nolte. Distributed under Creative Commons 3.0.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe546
6 Marine
conveyor system. During unloading, it is possible to move with this type of equipment, it is possible to combine both
the rail-mounted crane over the quay in order to be able to stacking and reclaiming operations.
serve the entire ship.
3.2.4 Mobile equipment
3.2.2 Belt conveyors
For reasons of flexibility, mobile hoppers, belt feeders, wheel
The flow of dry bulk material to be transported is much more loaders, and dump trucks are standard equipment too. They
continuous compared to the flow of containers in a container provide flexibility in taking materials to areas where the belt
terminal. With a belt conveyor, it is possible to transport conveyor system does not reach out. Wheel loaders are not
dry bulk in a more or less continuous flow, resulting in a only used on the terminal but also in the vessel on temporary
smaller delay in transporting dry bulk material and very little basis. They will be put in the vessel by the quay crane to
equipment movements. It is also relatively easy and energy collect all dry bulk left out of reach of the grab and move
efficient to transfer the dry bulk material from transport this into one pile of material so it can be taken to shore by
equipment toward the storage area. the grab. Also in the case that self-heating occurs in coal
A belt conveyor system exists of belt conveyors with wheel loaders can be useful. In that case, they will compress
several different lengths and transfer points. This makes it the stockpiles, thereby pushing out air, and so reducing the
possible to make 90∘ turns, for example, to reach and serve oxygen feed to the combustion process.
the whole terminal area by a network of conveyors. The
conveyors connect the unloaders to the stockyard where the
material is stored by the so-called stackers. Due to envi- 3.2.5 Loading stations
ronmental regulations, belt conveyors could be enclosed, in
Loading of trucks and trains is done with fully automated
order to prevent dust from spreading over the terminal area
loading systems. The material is transported to the loading
and beyond the borders of the terminal.
stations by the belt conveyor network. The stations load a
predefined amount of material from a fixed entry point into
3.2.3 Stacker/reclaimers the truck or train wagon. For loading of barges, either the ship
loader moves or the barges are hauled to achieve an evenly
A stacker/reclaimer (Lodewijks, Schott, and Ottjes, 2007)
distributed load in the hold.
is a vital piece of equipment used at a dry bulk terminal.
To minimize the total storage size, stockpiles made with a
stacker are important, as well as the reachability of these 3.3 Current technological trends and innovations
stockpiles. It is possible to have a separate stacker and sepa- at dry bulk terminals
rate reclaimer. The two functions can also be combined in
one machine: a stacker/reclaimer. Several innovations are taking place at dry bulk terminals,
Three technologies of stackers (Luttekes and Prins, 1991) starting at the quay side. The quay grab crane is currently
can be distinguished depending on the type of stockpile. mostly controlled by human operators from the top of the
For longitudinal stockpiles, the so-called slewing stackers crane. Recent developments, however, are aimed at fully
or nonslewing stackers can be used. Slewing stackers are automating unloading (Hansaport, 2015). This is a challenge
more flexible in use and can cover a big area more easily as the interaction between a grab and different kinds of bulk
than the nonslewing stackers. At conical stockpiles, radial materials is different.
stackers are used. A radial stacker can only rotate and not Dry bulk terminals produce dust (Lodewijks, Schott, and
move entirely. This makes it a much less suitable equipment Ottjes, 2007). This can be a problem for the direct environ-
for a large storage area but useful for covered circular storage ment of such terminals. Therefore, trends and technological
areas such as domes. innovations being developed for dry bulk terminals focus on
In addition, different types of reclaiming equipment for dry preventing dust production and try to deal with dust in the
bulk material can be distinguished. A bucket wheel reclaimer most environmental friendly way, for example, by covering
is mostly used (Luttekes and Prins, 1991). A bucket wheel belt conveyors and using closed belt systems (Lodewijks,
reclaimer is a large structure with, at the end of a boom, a Schott, and Ottjes, 2007). In addition, spraying of binders
big bucket wheel that can rotate. With this wheel, dry bulk on top of the open stockpiles is used to prevent formation of
can be picked up and transported via a belt conveyor. Then, dust at the storage area.
using a transfer, the dry bulk is transported further onto, for State-of-the-art particle-based methods such as discrete
example, another belt conveyor. The belt conveyor installed element modeling (DEM) are increasingly used. DEM
on the crane can also be used as for stacking operations. So enables for modeling bulk material in relation to the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe546
equipment performance and, as such, provides a virtual with the freight forwarder and planned the timeslot when the
prototyping environment that shortens time to market, vessel would be expected. For other transporters or vessels
reduces development costs, and enables assessment and that entered the port or even the same terminal in the port, this
improvement of equipment performance in terms of dust information was not available. When the vessel entered at a
formation (Derakhshani, Schott, and Lodewijks, 2013) and different time than originally scheduled, it was not possible
energy consumption. to reschedule all activities in the terminal in such a way that
Other environmental trends are application of speed control other vessel could be handled meanwhile.
of belt conveyors and changing belt conveyor compound to Nowadays, the communication is mostly depending on
reduce energy consumption up to 40% (Lodewijks, Schott, the development of the port and the country in which it is
and Ottjes, 2007; Pang and Lodewijks, 2011; Hiltermann located. In well-developed countries, the total infrastruc-
et al., 2011). In addition, the use of electric-powered trans- ture is much better than in some less-developed countries
port equipment instead of diesel-powered transport equip- or emerging countries. Connection to the port from the
ment contributes to dry bulk terminals becoming more envi- seaside and connection of the port with the hinterland
ronmentally friendly. is also dependent on the economy scale of that specific
Recently, a simulation-integrated design model for dry country. In well-developed countries, information tech-
bulk terminals (van Vianen, 2015; van Vianen et al., 2012) nology (IT) is much more available and better developed
was developed to support the logistical design process than in less-developed countries. Not only the type and
of these terminals. These models include the stochastic availability of information in a port is important but also the
processes and operational procedures that occur during daily way it is communicated to all stakeholders.
operations and proved to be successful in the formulation In the following section, IT and information-communication
and assessment of (re)designs. technology (ICT) within ports are discussed. These
information–communication flows are present on three
levels: port level, interconnecting terminal level, and within
4 ROLE OF COMMUNICATION a terminal. All three different levels need other information
TECHNOLOGY specific for their interest.
Over the past decades, the importance of communication

4.2 Port community systems
technology has increased rapidly. Back then, ports had a
different role in the transport chain. They determined which
Ports play a major role in the total transport chain of goods.
ship was handled when. The port roughly only needed to
Not only the physical goods transported through ports are
communicate with the skipper and the freight forwarder of
important, but also information flow through ports. Many
the goods to the hinterland. Nowadays, total supply chain
stakeholders are involved at a port. Not only the more
of goods is changed, and the demand of port customers
obvious stakeholders such as shipping lines, terminal oper-
is increased. Ports must more and more cope with tightly
ators, and freight forwarders, but also port authority, policy
planned schedules. To make the entire port perform well,
makers, or emergency services, for example. Each of them
communication is now of vital importance. Not only the ports
has their own interests. Availability of information for all
have grown, but also the amount of terminals within the port
these different interests is the main purpose of setting up a
increased as well as the terminal size. In this section, commu-
port community system (PCS).
nication between ports, within ports, and within terminals
A PCS can be defined as “holistic, geographically bounded
is presented, stated in a context of a changed technological
information hubs in global supply chains that preliminary
environment.
serve the interest of a heterogeneous collective of port related
companies” (Srour et al., 2008). Besides this goal of informa-
4.1 Historical and current communication tion sharing between all the stakeholders involved at a port,
process an information hub can also contribute to a more efficient
flow of goods passing through ports. With a separated infor-
Back in the days, a vessel entered a port and asked if it could mation flow from the physical flow of goods for example, it
arrive at the quay it was heading to. Then, the operators is possible to have information of an incoming freight before
at the quay would start to unload the vessel and contact it is physically there. This can help minimizing bottlenecks
the freight forwarder, which would take the freight further at the port within the total transport chain (Srour et al., 2008).
into the hinterland. Further communication did not happen. Important for a well-developed PCS is having each member
The terminal that handled the vessel in the port had contact in the system involved and enthusiastic. Benefits from a PCS
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe546
8 Marine
are not equal for all stakeholders and for the success of a area. This can also be adjusted during the movement, when
PCS support of every company involved is important. A good sudden disturbances happen on the chosen path. Before when
architecture and infrastructure of a PCS that fulfills the goals the transport equipment was controlled by operators, an oper-
set for the PCS is also necessary. Availability of the (right) ator needed to follow a fixed route on the terminal area. This
information is of vital importance for a success of the PCS. was not always the most efficient path.
At the storage area, ICT technology made it possible to
get easily access to information about the exact location of
4.3 Interterminal transport systems
a specific container or a pile of dry bulk material in the
storage area. For container terminals, reclaiming of specific
At the port level, communication between terminals is
containers from the storage area can be done faster now. A
increasingly important, in particular for container terminals.
good working planning model based on the time a container
With the growing number of containers entering ports per
is expected in the storage area, for example, makes the
year, the flow of containers must be handled in good order to
stacking and reclaiming even more efficient. Less undesired
the hinterland. And because port areas cannot always expand
movements due to containers on top of the needed container
enough and existing infrastructure cannot be changed easily,
can be planned in such a way that this is avoided.
cooperation between terminals in a port is important.
An example of this is interterminal transport (ITT)
(Duinkerken et al., 2007; Nieuwkoop et al., 2014; Schroer 5 CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK
et al., 2014; Steenken, Voß, and Stahlbock, 2004). The goal
of ITT is bundling of the transport movements within a port. This article reviewed the port equipment and technology
It is possible that a common storage area is used by several that is most often used at major ports worldwide. First the
terminals in the port for empty container storage; through economic relevance of port equipment is related to the flows
ITT these stored containers can be delivered onto the right of goods and its trends along global economy development.
terminal. Use of ITT can bundle the transfer of containers A clear evidence is that port sizes tend to increase, and
toward the hinterland. Combining containers from several equipment and their management is crucial for a port’s effi-
terminals for transport toward the hinterland can lead to ciency. The equipment for containerized and bulk transport
a faster total transport time because more containers are has been reviewed in detail. A future outlook over port equip-
available for transport at a single time. At some ports, ment is their efficient management to the points of partial
container-related activities as cleaning and inspection are or total automation. While at the level of machines, this
moved toward other locations around the port because of might be a purely technological problem, at the level of the
too little space in the port. Transporting these containers various stakeholder, exchange of information is crucial. To
is also done with ITT. Specific technology for physical this end, community systems and information platforms can
movement of containers between terminals within a port is help in exchanging information and collaborate toward effi-
needed as well as a communication architecture to control cient inter- and intraterminal operations.
this transport and planning well.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
4.4 Terminal transport
The authors greatly acknowledge the constructive support
At the terminal level, ICT has changed much on the way of E. van Bodegom in the preparations of this article.
operations are planned. As mentioned earlier, with a port This research is partially supported by the Maritime Project
communication system, it is possible have much more infor- “ShipDrive: A Novel Methodology for Integrated Modeling,
mation about the incoming or outgoing freight before the Control, and Optimization of Hybrid Ship Systems” (project
freight is actually there. This leads to more time for antic- 13276) of the Dutch Technology Foundation STW, a subdivi-
ipation on changed schedules due to delays for example. sion of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research
Total performance of the terminal can be increased when (NWO).
terminal operations are more efficient controlled. Not only
the planning and rescheduling of operations at the terminal
is more efficient due to ICT technology, but also the control RELATED ARTICLES
of transport equipment at a terminal is changed because of
ICT technology. Combined with automated transport equip- Port Planning: A Case Study Applied to Iron Ore Port
ment, it is now possible to determine an optimal solution for Terminal
transporting the containers most efficiently over the terminal Introduction to Port Systems
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe546
Container Terminals Hansaport (2015) Automation of Grab Ship Unloaders (GSU) for
Break Bulk and Bulk Terminals Bulk Materials. http://www.riegl.com/ (accessed 13 Feb 2015).
Port Efficiency and Performance Benchmarking Hiltermann, J., Lodewijks, G., Schott, G.L., Rijsenbrij, J.C., Dekkers,
Transport Modes and Intermodality A.J.M., and Pang, Y. (2011) A methodology to predict power
savings of troughed belt conveyors by speed control. Particulate
Port Logistics and Hinterland Development Science and Technology, 29 (1), 14–27.
Lodewijks, G., Schott, D.L., and Ottjes, J.A. (2007) Modern dry bulk
terminal design. Bulk Solids Handling, 27 (6), 364–376.
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Merk, O. and Dang, T. (2012) Efficiency of world ports in container
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe546
Estimation of Extreme Met-Ocean Conditions for
Offshore Engineering Applications
Vijay Panchang1 and Chan K. Jeong2
1 Texas A&M University, Galveston, TX, USA
2 Dockwise USA, Houston, TX, USA
years, Gumbel (1941) provided perhaps the first systematic

1 Introduction 1 approach to this ill-posed problem. The essence of the proce-
2 Basic Theory 2 dure lies in fitting available data to an appropriate probability
3 Parameter Estimation 3 distribution and then using that distribution in inverse fashion
4 Other Distributions 5 to identify an event corresponding to the specified N.
Such techniques, in general, have been used to iden-
5 Selection of the Appropriate Distribution 5
tify 100-, 200-, and other larger N-year return period esti-
6 Data Requirements 6
mates of significant wave heights (SWHs) and windspeeds
7 Trends in the Data 7 for offshore engineering applications in many parts of the
8 Recent Developments: Modeled Wind and Wave world. Examples include Panchang, Jeong, and Demirbilek
Data 7 (2013) and Panchang and Li (2006) for the Gulf of Mexico,
9 Summary and Conclusions 9 Neelamani, Al-Salem, and Rakha (2006, 2007) for a part
Acknowledgments 12 of the Persian Gulf, Golshani, Taebi, and Chegini (2007)
Endnotes 12 for the Caspian Sea, Canellas et al. (2007) for parts of the
Glossary 12 Mediterranean Sea, Aarnes, Breivik, and Reistad (2012) for
References 12 the Norwegian Sea, Panchang, Pearce, and Puri (1999) and
Panchang, Jeong, and Li (2008) for various regions of the
Gulf of Maine, and Muzathik et al. (2011) for the South
China Sea. Engineers can refer to these publications for
1 INTRODUCTION first-order estimates as needed for their design calculations,
although as described below, considerable scope may exist
The design of offshore structures entails the characterization for obtaining improved estimates. In any case, the method-
of events corresponding to a specified frequency of occur- ology lends itself to multiple solutions and it behooves the
rence. In engineering parlance, these events are related to the engineer to consider more than one estimate with knowledge
“return period” (also called the recurrence interval), denoted of the attendant limitations and assumptions.
by N and loosely defined as an event that is equaled or In fact, recent events have given a fillip to the exami-
exceeded once in N years. Although engineers had grap- nation of such issues. The hurricanes in the Gulf Mexico
pled with such estimation using ad hoc methods for many during the 2004–2008 period resulted in wave heights that
exceeded the previously calculated 100-year return period
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. estimates (SWH100 ) by as much as 6 m (approximately 50%)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe125
in the vicinity of several offshore facilities (Panchang and
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 Li, 2006), inflicting considerable damage to the structures
2 General
and disrupting supplies. Hurricane Katrina caused overtop- general, to estimate the N-year SWH (denoted by SWHN ),
ping of and damage to the levees that protect New Orleans Equation 2 may be rewritten as
from the 100-year surge. As a result of these events, exten-
sion of the design condition to larger return periods (or lower 1
1− = P(H < SWHN )
frequencies of occurrence) must be seriously considered. N
Even though a structure may be designed to withstand the { [ ( )]}
SWHN − a
100-year event (i.e., an event corresponding to a 1% prob- = exp − exp − (3)
b
ability of exceedance in any year), during its “design life”
of, say, 30 years, the probability of such an event being
experienced at least once is as high as 1 − (0.99)30 = 26%, The parameters a and b are determined in conjunction
which most engineers would be reluctant to accept. Prudence with available data (through a process known as parameter
would suggest lowering this risk by opting for a higher return estimation). Several methods are available for this process.
period. Differences in wave properties at different locations, as
While the basic framework for estimating conditions corre- represented by data, manifest themselves through differences
sponding to long return periods, described by Gumbel (1941, in a and b, so that, even if the Gumbel distribution itself is
1958) and subsequently in many textbooks, is fairly straight- applicable to the different locations, the actual formulas will
forward, the various steps involved present many alterna- be different.
tives, which have been the subject of considerable research In addition to the Gumbel distribution, other extreme value
in the past few years. The purpose of this article is to provide distributions have also been used. Isaacson and MacKenzie
a brief review of the salient features of such estimation and (1981), Muir and El-Shaarawai (1986), and Sorenson (1997)
to identify the most relevant methods available to the engi- provide lists of formulae for multiple distributions such as
neer and the choices that confront him. It is also intended the lognormal, Gumbel, Weibull, and the Frechet distribu-
to supplement the excellent earlier reviews by Isaacson and tions. In the well-cited papers authored by Chevron engineers
MacKenzie (1981) and Muir and El-Shaarawai (1986) by Petruaskas and Aagaard (1970, 1971), two distributions are
describing some more recent developments. reported as being common in offshore engineering practice:
the Gumbel and the Weibull distributions. The latter is given
by
2 BASIC THEORY
( )𝛼−1 ( ( )𝛼 )
Consider a set of SWHs (h1 , h2 , h3 , …, hi ), pertaining to H−𝛾
𝛼 H−𝛾
p(H) = exp − (4)
some regular or irregular time intervals, which cover a total 𝛽 𝛽 𝛽
[ ( )𝛼 ]
time duration of T (e.g., 1 year). Over a long period of time H−𝛾
(say several years), many such sets, say M, may be available P(H) = 1 − exp − (5)
𝛽
to the engineer. Now consider the set of maximum SWHs,
hereafter denoted by H, corresponding to each set; so long where 𝛼, 𝛽, and 𝛾 are the parameters of the distribution.
as the original SWHs in each of the M sets follows the In recent years, increasing ease of computational work has
same distribution, the maxima follow an “extreme value” enabled wider adoption of a more robust alternative, namely,
distribution. One such distribution is the well-known Gumbel the generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution:
distribution:
{ [ ( ( ))]} [ ( )]−(1∕𝜉)−1
H−a H−a 1 H−𝜇
p(H) = exp − + exp − (1) p(H; 𝜇, 𝜎, 𝜉) = 1+𝜉
b b 𝜎 𝜎
{ [ ( )]−1∕𝜉 }
{ [ ( )]}
H−a H−𝜇
P(H) = exp − exp − (2) exp − 1 + 𝜉 (6)
b 𝜎
where p(H) is the probability density function, P the cumu-
lative distribution function representing the probability of { [ ( )]−1∕𝜉 }
H−𝜇
an SWH being less than a specified value H, and a and b P(H; 𝜇, 𝜎, 𝜉) = exp − 1 + 𝜉 (7)
the parameters of the distribution that are yet to be esti- 𝜎
mated. However, once a and b are established, SWH100
may be determined simply by specifying the latin hypercube for 𝜉 ≠ 0. When 𝜉 = 0, the above-mentioned equations take
sampling (LHS) of Equation 2 as 0.99 and calculating H. In the following form:
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe125
Estimation of Extreme Met-Ocean Conditions for Offshore Engineering Applications 3
12
10
Significant wave height (m)
0
1 5 10 25 50 100 500 1000
Return period (years)
0.01 0.10 0.300.40 0.60 0.80 0.90 0.96 0.97 0.98 0.990 0.995 0.997 0.998 0.9991
Cumulative probability (P)
Figure 1. SWHs for various return periods, estimated using method of moments. (Created by the author using data from NOAA NCEI
(National Centers for Environmental Information) © (2015).)
[ ( )]
1 H−𝜇 yieldsa = 4. 23 and b = 0. 654. This calculation is practically
p(H; 𝜇, 𝜎, 𝜉) =exp − instantaneous. Specifying the LHS in Equation 2 as 0.99 (or
𝜎 𝜎
{ [ ( )]} substituting N = 100 in Equation 3) yields SWH100 = 7. 22 m
H−𝜇 as a first estimate. Choosing other values of N results in
exp − exp − (6a)
𝜎 Figure 1.
{ ( )} These preliminaries now enable us to address other aspects
H−𝜇 of extreme value prediction for ocean engineering applica-
P(H; 𝜇, 𝜎, 𝜉) = exp − exp − (7a)
𝜎 tions.
where 𝜉, 𝜇, and 𝜎 are the shape, location, and scale parame-
ters, respectively, of the distribution.
Equations 1–3 permit the demonstration of the basic calcu- 3 PARAMETER ESTIMATION
lations for estimating SWH100 , for example. Assume that this
estimate is needed in the vicinity of 27∘ 54′ 25′′ N, 95∘ 21′ 10′′ As described earlier, once the parameters of a particular
W in the Gulf Mexico. At this location, measurements from distribution are determined using the available data, it is
a buoy (NDBC 42019), maintained by the US National a simple matter to estimate the desired SWHN . Several
Data Buoy Center (National Ocean & Atmospheric Admin- methods are available for parameter estimation. In the
istration, NOAA), are available (http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov). engineering community, the “plotting position” method
The data consist of hourly values of SWH for the period has for many years been popular (Petruaskas and Aagaard,
1990–2013. The maximum SWH for each year is extracted 1970, 1971; Sorenson, 1997; Goda, 2010). It has been
to yield the following data Hi . used, for example, by Neelamani, Al-Salem, and Rakha
While details of parameter estimation are described later, (2007) for extreme wave height calculations in Kuwaiti
a quick solution may be obtained by using an appropriate waters and Panchang, Pearce, and Puri (1990) in the Gulf of
(free or inexpensive) software package. For example, using Maine. This method exploits the linear relationship between
Minitab or MATLAB with the Gumbel distribution option y = H versus x = −ln (−ln P)), which results from rewriting
and the “method of moments” for parameter estimation (Equation 1). The procedure consists of ranking the data
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe125
4 General
Table 1. Annual maximum SWH (in meters) near NDBC Buoy 42019.
Year 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
SWH (m) 4.8 4.5 4.4 5.8 3.5 4.5 5.45 4.2 5.4 4.85 4.33 3.83
Year 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
SWH (m) 4.81 5.55 3.64 5.92 4.89 4.26 6.31 3.58 4.57 3.46 4 3.99
12
10
Significant wave height (m)
0
−1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
−In(−In(i))
1 5 10 25 50 100 500 1000

Return period (years)
Figure 2. Return period estimated using the plotting position method. (Created by the author using data from NOAA NCEI (National
Centers for Environmental Information) © (2015).)
(m = 1 for the smallest) and assigning to each data point an formula i and the fact that i takes on multiple (somewhat
interim (empirical) probability (CDF), say i = m/(M + 1) or arbitrary) forms. In fact, in one example described by Petru-
variations thereof (Carter and Challenor, 1983; Muir and askas and Aagaard (1970, 1971) for the Weibull distribu-
El-Shaarawai, 1986), typically called the plotting position tion, this approach has produced a value of 𝛾 > Hmin , which
formula. violates the requirement for this distribution.
Using i in place of P ( _ ), the points x and y are plotted, Alternative methods such as the method of moments and
and the best-fit straight line yields a = 4.226 and b = 0.717 the method of maximum likelihood had been eschewed,
by way of the slope and intercept for the data set in Table 1. until recently, on the grounds of mathematical complexity
The calculations are quite easy to perform using Excel, (Goda, 1989; Isaacson and MacKenzie, 1981). However,
and Figure 2 shows the result for the data set used earlier. recent developments in computational techniques and soft-
Although in this case the parameters are fairly close to ware availability, combined with the speed of modern PCs,
those obtained earlier using the method of moments (with invalidate this objection. The method of maximum likeli-
Minitab), the plotting position method has been promoted hood, in particular, yields estimates that are statistically the
primarily because of its ease of use; in general, though, it most robust. (It is usually acknowledged to be superior to
can be faulted for its requirement of an interim probability other methods since it provides consistent estimates for large
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe125
data sets and no other unbiased estimator has a smaller vari- in Section 2 and the joint distribution is considerably more
ance.) These estimates are obtained by maximizing the joint complicated. While the relevant equations are presented by
likelihood (L) of the observed data, since in fact the data did Sobey and Orloff (1995) for the Gumbel distribution and
occur. This elegant principle leads to the following equations: by Coles (2001) for the GEV distribution, again the soft-
H1 ware available at http://www.isse.ucar.edu/extremevalues/
𝜕L∕𝜕a = 0 and 𝜕L∕𝜕b = 0 (8) software.html enables a user to readily apply these methods
to the data at hand. As in the case of the peaks-over-threshold
where L = pdf (H = H1 )⋅pdf (H = H2 ) . . . . (In practice, method, sensitivity of the results to the number of maxima
the natural log of L is used for convenience). Numerical chosen each year and also to the procedures used to sepa-
solution methods for the often complex nonlinear equations rate them must be examined. Application of this method is
(corresponding to Equation 8) are described in Panchang described in Jeong and Panchang (2008) for buoy data in the
(1967) for the Gumbel distribution and in Panchang and Gulf of Mexico, by Guedes Soares and Scotto (2004) for data
Gupta (1989) for the Weibull distribution. obtained from a North Sea buoy, and by Aarnes, Breivik, and
In his seminal book, Coles (2001) has described the use Reistad (2012) for Norwegian Sea data.
of maximum likelihood estimates for various forms of the A comparison of the results off the Italian coast, obtained
GEV distribution as well as other distributions. Nowadays, using multiple methods, may be found in Martucci et al.
the engineer need not concern himself with the intricacies of (2010). Aarnes, Breivik, and Reistad (2012) examined the
obtaining such parameters: free software from the National GEV distribution using the annual maxima, the r-largest
Centers for Atmospheric Research can be conveniently and maxima (r > 1), and the peaks-over-threshold methods; they
reliably availed of (http://www.isse.ucar.edu/extremevalues/ concluded that no model was uniformly superior in all cases.
software.html).
5 SELECTION OF THE APPROPRIATE

4 OTHER DISTRIBUTIONS DISTRIBUTION
The extreme value distributions in general are intended to As noted in Section 2, the estimate of 7.22 m as SWH100
be used in conjunction with a set of maxima (Hi ) from for the example considered was described as a first esti-
a chosen time interval (e.g., annual maxima). When the mate. This is because there is no a priori reason to assume
data set is not sufficiently large, two other options find that the Gumbel distribution, chosen in Section 2 for illus-
appeal. The first depends on extracting the “peaks” in a tration, is the best fit. Although engineering studies often
specified time interval T that exceed a chosen “threshold” confine themselves to a preselected distribution (Neelamani,
(the “peaks-over-threshold” method), for example, all SWH 2007; Berek et al., 2007), it must be recognized many distri-
values exceeding, say 7 m, may be selected for each year, as butions may fit the data well and there may be consider-
long as the chosen exceedances do not belong to the same able differences in the estimates obtained for long return
event (i.e., they are sufficiently far apart as to be indepen- periods. It must also be noted that the process of estimating
dent). In this case, the Generalized Pareto distribution is most a condition corresponding to a large N (i.e., a low proba-
often used (MacAfee and Wong, 2007), although Neela- bility of occurrence) involves, fundamentally, extrapolations
mani, Al-Salem, and Rakha (2007) and Golshani, Taebi, and to a range considerably exceeding the length of the data1 ;
Chegini (2007) have used this approach with the Gumbel yet it is only the data set, covering a much smaller period,
and Weibull distributions. One limitation of this approach, that can, using traditional statistical tools, help to measure
as opposed to the selection of annual maxima, is that the the goodness of fit. It is therefore incumbent upon the
results can be sensitive to the method used to select the data, engineer to examine multiple distributions and use subjec-
namely, to the chosen threshold, and a sensitivity analysis is tive as well as quantitative methods to choose an appro-
thus necessary (MacAfee and Wong, 2007; Canellas et al., priate result. Often, elementary techniques for identifying the
2007). Other difficulties while using this distribution relate appropriate distribution, based on goodness of fit, are used
to the parameter estimates (Mackay, Challenor, and Bahaj, (Martucci et al., 2010) use a simple coefficient of determina-
2011). tion relating to the model parameter estimates; Neelamani,
A second approach consists of using multiple maxima in Al-Salem, and Rakha (2007) used a coefficient of regres-
a given year. For instance, the three largest independent sion; see also Petruaskas and Aagaard (1970, 1971). Muir
SWHs in a year may be selected. Of course, the distri- and El-Shaarawai (1986) provide a list of methods that can
bution functions for the second largest SWH, third largest be used for this purpose. However, a fairly robust quanti-
SWH, and so on are different from the equations presented tative method, described more recently by Li et al. (2008),
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe125
6 General
may be of interest to users. Essentially, the process consists those resulting for the Gumbel distribution. This type of anal-
of making numerous additional simulations by first gener- ysis helps the engineer make informed choices.
ating equally plausible data sets by resampling the original
data set multiple times and then estimating the percentage of
the results that satisfy a prescribed criterion. 6 DATA REQUIREMENTS
The jackknife or the bootstrap method can be used to create
resampled data sets, but the degree of randomness in the As the earlier discussion suggests, a plethora of statistical
bootstrap resampling is apparently greater and the stability techniques and tools are available to the engineer for esti-
of the optimized parameters has been rigorously tested by Li mating high return-period events. What has been perhaps a
et al. (2008). A large number of data sets (say K = 500) are more vexing matter is obtaining, generating, and/or identi-
created using these resampling methods, and the maximum fying the appropriate data. Xu and Huang (2011) demon-
likelihood parameter estimates Q are calculated for each of strate the deleterious effects of short data sets on estimates of
the various cumulative density functions (G) being tested. long return-period conditions. According to a rule of thumb,
The maximum error norms are computed based on the differ- extrapolation is acceptable to a return period that is approx-
ence Δ between the empirical probabilities (=m/(M + 1), as imately three times as long as the data duration. In the Gulf
described in Section 3) and the modeled probabilities GQ , Mexico, for example, some buoys provide measurements that
and the average error norm for the K replicates is found as span approximately 35 years. At the locations of these buoys,
follows (Li et al., 2008): then, data may be sufficient to estimate SWH100 , but as noted
⟨ ⟩ in Section 1, often a higher return-period is desirable, for
|[ m ]h | which these data may be inadequate. Most other locations
E⟨Δm (Qj )⟩ = E max || − GQ (rmj )h || (9)
1≤m≤M | M + 1 m
| in the world yield far shorter data sets or no data at all.
As noted in Section 2, the classical method consists of
where E stands for the expected value, r1 , r2 , …, rM are the creating a data set containing the maxima from a given
SWH data in increasing order, j = 1, 2, …, K represents the interval of time. This interval of 1 year is chosen such that
individual sample number, and h is a parameter described the SWHs in these intervals are independent and identi-
later. To elaborate, one can generate 500 data sets, each cally distributed. Therefore, the annual maximum tends to
containing N points, from the original data using the boot- be a reasonable choice (the distribution of SWHs in 1 year
strap method, and for each data set, the maximum likeli- could generally be reasonably assumed to be comparable to
hood parameters Q can be determined. For each data point that for the following year, etc.). Caires, Swail, and Wang
in the set, the absolute value of the difference between the (2006) describe this as a “statistically sound method.” In the
empirical and theoretical probabilities is determined and the event, the largest SWHs occur in the late autumn and winter
maximum difference for all N points is found. E represents months, it may be best to use a summer-to-summer year
the average of this estimate for the 500 samples. If the candi- rather than the calendar year, to avoid the possibility of two
date distributions are, for instance, the Gumbel, Weibull, and maxima in successive years stemming from the same events.
GEV distributions, this calculation is repeated for the three To overcome the limitations of short data sets, monthly
distributions, and the distribution with the least error norm is maxima are sometimes chosen. However, the distribution of
selected as the preferred distribution. SWHs in each month may not be identical (e.g., calm seas
The parameter h is used to emphasize different parts of the occur in some months and stormy conditions in others), and
data while fitting the distribution to the data. If h is set equal if this approach is used, comparisons to other methods or esti-
to 1, both the lower and upper tails receive equal emphasis. mates may be needed to enhance confidence in the results
When h < 1, emphasis is placed on the lower tail, and when (Panchang and Li, 2006; Carter and Challenor, 1981).
h > 1, the upper tail, where “extreme” events occur, domi- Hindcasting of met-ocean conditions can be used to “gen-
nates. This aspect, along with a preference for the smallest erate” a data set using mathematical wave models, if no
error norm, helps the engineer select the most appropriate measurements are available. Sometimes, specific historical
model, rather than limiting himself to any preselected model. storms are modeled. This approach has been used, for
Panchang, Jeong, and Demirbilek (2013) have availed of example, by Panchang, Pearce, and Puri (1990) for the Gulf
this method to identify which of the three distributions of Maine and by Cavaleri et al. (1986) for the Tyrrhenian Sea.
mentioned in Section 1 is the most appropriate at various The maximum SWHs from each of the storms constitutes the
locations in the Gulf of Mexico. It was found that if the requisite data set. This is acceptable since the distribution
engineer chooses to emphasize the upper tail, estimates of SWHs during the different storms may be assumed to be
from the GEV distribution were to be preferred, and the comparable (typically, some small SWHs followed by some
SWH100 resulting from this distribution were larger than very large SWHs as the storm peaks, followed by smaller
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe125
SWHs as the storm subsides). In this case, as well as in the wind speeds and wave heights. Zheng et al. (2015) have
case when data are available but lack continuity, the number investigated decadal variability in global SWHs.
of maxima in the data set may be different from the overall The presence of such increasing trends suggests that the
duration (e.g., 15 storms covering 10 years or 15 annual likelihood of occurrence of a certain event is not the same
maxima for a period of 20 years in case of an incomplete now as it was some decades ago. As a result, nonstationary
data set). Equation 2 must then be modified as follows: statistics are gradually being introduced in ocean-related
{ [ ( )]} applications. The treatment of such models is beyond the
1 SWHN − a scope of this paper; however, a fairly simple description
1− = exp − exp − (10)
𝜆N b covering both increasing and decreasing extreme events can
be found in Salas and Obeysekera (2014). Essentially, the
where 𝜆 = average number of data points per year. parameters of the chosen distribution(s) are modeled as a
function of time. For example, for water level applications
using the Gumbel distribution, Salas and Obeysekera have
used the following:
7 TRENDS IN THE DATA { ( )}
H − 𝜇t
The calculations described earlier are based on the assump- P(H) = exp − exp − (11)
𝜎t
tion that the individual data points (annual or storm maxima)
covering a period of several years have an entirely random where 𝜇 t and 𝜎 t represent time-dependent parameters
likelihood of occurrence and are largely independent of (corresponding to the constant parameters a and b used in
time, that is, the stochastic process allows the selection Equation 1) and are sometimes modeled as 𝜇 t = 𝜇 0 + mt
of a joint distribution that is stationary. In other words, and 𝜎 t = 𝜎 0 + nt (Ruggiero, Komar, and Allan, 2010; Katz,
data from various time periods are essentially similar to 2013). Similar relations have been used by others, based
each other. However, the recognition of trends in several on an examination of the data and heuristic grounds, in
met-ocean parameters due, for example, to climate change conjunction with the software available at http://www.isse
or multidecadal oscillations has gained prominence in recent .ucar.edu/extremevalues/software.html.
years. For the northeast Atlantic, Wang, Zwiers, and Swail By way of results of such methods, in the context of
(2004) projected a 5–35 cm increase in the mean winter wave wave heights, Wang, Zwiers, and Swail (2004) projected a
heights in 2070–2099 relative to 1961–1990. A 109-year 60–100 cm increase in the fall SWH20 in the Norwegian Sea
hindcast enabled Bertin, Prouteau, and Letetrel (2013) to between 1990 and 2080. Caires, Swail, and Wang (2006)
relate increasing trends in the SWHs in the North Atlantic provide a demonstration of SWH calculations under different
to increasing wind speeds. Off the California coast, Graham climate change scenarios and suggest that SWH20 estimates
(2005) reported an increasing trend in the largest modeled for the year 2080 would be larger in some parts of the
SWHs of about 1.0–2.5 m for the period 1949–1999 (see world by about 20% relative to those for 1990. Examples of
also Graham et al., 2013). Examining buoy data, Komar applications to water levels include Warner and Tissot (2012)
and Allan (2007) reported an increase of 1.7 cm/year off and Obeysekera et al. (2013) who studied the effects of trends
the US east coast. Ruggiero, Komar, and Allan (2010) in the Gulf of Mexico; Mudersbach and Jensen (2010) who
reported an increase of about 7.1 cm/year in the largest estimate that the 100-year extreme water levels for the North
SWHs since the mid-1970s off the US northwest coast. Sea coast to be 5.07 m above datum using stationary methods
Based on 51 years of simulations, Panchang, Jeong, and but in excess of 5.4 m above datum for the year 2100; and
Demirbilek (2013) found that the eastern part of the Gulf Masina and Lamberti (2013) who examined extreme sea
of Mexico shows an increasing trend of approximately levels in the northern Adriatic in the context of North Atlantic
5.6 cm/year in the maximum SWH. In the same vein, and Arctic oscillations and wind-related seasonality.
using 40 years (1958–1999) of wave height simulations in
selected areas near the Italian coasts, Martucci et al. (2010)
reported the existence of a negative trend in the annual- 8 RECENT DEVELOPMENTS: MODELED
and winter-averaged sea state heights, and the existence WIND AND WAVE DATA
of a turning point in late eighties in the annual-averaged
trend of sea state heights at a site in the Northern Adriatic As can be seen from the earlier discussion, a data set of
Sea. Trends in the North Sea have also been discussed by sufficient length is a prerequisite to the generation of high
Weisse and Günther (2007). Using satellite altimeter data, return-period estimates that inspire confidence for design
Young et al. (2012) have examined trends in both global purposes; but it must be recognized at the outset that at any
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe125
8 General
desired location of interest for offshore engineering applica- Heideman and Mitchell, 2009; Panchang, Jeong, and Demir-
tions, there is only a remote chance of obtaining a database bilek, 2013). Often, such global forecasting/hindcasting
greater than, say, 25 years. In recent years, mathematical systems are scaled down or nested with regional/coastal
hindcast models have advanced tremendously and these may modeling systems such as the Alaska Ocean Observing
be reliably used to produce surrogate met-ocean data such System (http://portal.aoos.org/models-grids.php#module-
as wind speeds and SWHs. In addition to efforts by indi- search?page=1&tagId=42&q=). These provide real-time
vidual groups (companies, university researchers, etc.), the forecasts (Singhal, Panchang, and Lillibridge, 2010) but the
most notable development of interest may be the long-term modeled information is usually archived and may perhaps
hindcasts produced by major governmental agencies such be obtained from the modeling group.
as NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Predic- Using these data sets as a starting point can help alleviate,
tion (NCEP) and the European Centre for Medium-Range at least to a considerable extent, concerns such as the choice
Weather Forecasting. Simulations using a set of advanced of models and calibration and validation. To assist the engi-
wind and wave models, along with recomputations owing neer, we have developed a MATLAB package that links to
to technical/scientific advances, have enabled the creation the NOAA web site and helps the user to identify the grid
of databases covering much of the globe. Hindcasts and points closest to the specified location, to access the rele-
forecasts are available, often at no cost, to the public. Fore- vant data and perform spatial interpolations as needed, and
casts can be used for planning operations, and the hind- to determine monthly and annual maxima. Three statistical
casts cover approximately three decades. NOAA/NCEP’s distributions may also be selected and the estimates corre-
data sets are available at http://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/waves/ sponding to a specified return period will be readily calcu-
CFSR_hindcast.shtml. lated using two standalone codes (Gumbel and Weibull) and
The data sets include NOAA’s simulations with the WAVE- one optional method (GEV distribution) using the MATLAB
WATCH III model, which are called the Climate Forecast statistics tool box.
System Reanalysis Reforecast (CFSRR). This global data The package consists of two parts, as shown in Figure 3.
set is based on a 31-year (1979–2009) numerical wave hind- The first part builds the database using the CFSRR data and
cast and covers most offshore locations except the Caspian the multigrid WW3 model. As described earlier, CFSRR
Sea region. It presents wind speeds and directions, SWHs, data are available for the period 1979–2009, and the multi-
wave periods (Tp s), and the mean wave direction on a grid WW3 model is available for 2005 to present. Although
0.5∘ × 0.5∘ grid at a temporal resolution of 3 h. A some- the two simulations are based on different wind inputs, the
what different data set is based on the “multigrid WW3” results are largely consistent. (This can be verified by exam-
model that uses the “Global Forecast System” analysis or ining the data from the overlapping period 2005–2009.)
GFS windfields (http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/index.php? Thus, a combination of the two data sets is rendered possible,
branch=GFS). These data cover the entire globe and are resulting in a database up to 36 years in length, which can
carried out in monthly installments from February 2005 to yield monthly values of SWH, Tp , wave direction, wind
the present (ftp://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/history/waves). speed, and wind direction.
Other modeling efforts also lead to various databases The second part performs statistical analysis using the
and hindcast results that are available (e.g., http:// selected database. It provides monthly and annual distribu-
ecowatch.ncddc.noaa.gov/global-ncom/; Cieślikiewicz tion plots and tables by way of basic analysis and estimates
and Paplińska-Swerpel, 2008; Music and Nickovic, 2008; of SWH values corresponding to specified return periods as
Part 1 Part 2
Read data Basic analysis

Build database
results
INPUT
Longitude, latitude, and MATLAB tool
desired return period N
Download
Advanced
analysis resilts
NOAA data
Figure 3. Flowchart of the MATLAB package.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe125
4000
6.5
3500
6
3000
5.5
Latitude
2500
5
2000
4.5
1500
4
1000
3.5
500
Bathymetry (m)
3
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Longitude
Figure 4. Bathymetry off the Nigerian coast; the ⊗ denotes the location of interest. (Created by the author using data from NOAA NCEI
Table 2. Estimated extreme wave heights off the Nigerian coast. with specified peak periods can be prepared. For the location
Return Period Gumbel Weibull GEV Maximum SWH being considered, all of the NOAA modeled data (every 3 h
(m) (m) (m) Recorded (m) for 31 years) can be placed in bins, as given in Table 3.
SWH10 3.34 3.16 3.16 3.42 Figure 5 shows the joint distribution of SWH and Tp for
SWH100 3.86 3.37 3.38 two seasons. This figure, based on three-hourly data for all 31
years, indicates that the SWHs have some variation between
Created by the author using data from NOAA NCEI (National Centers for
Environmental Information) © (2015). two seasons but that the periods are constant between 10
and 15 s all year round. Similar seasonal or monthly analyses
can be performed for various wind and wave parameters. For
well as joint distribution of SWH and Tp . The user merely example, the three-hourly data for the month of July for all
supplies the input consisting of the longitude and latitude for 31 years yield Figures 6 and 7. If similar plots are constructed
the location of interest and the desired return period. for the whole year, they show that the direction of the winds
By way of example of the application of this package, we and the waves are largely constant from the south-west all
consider a location (4.0∘ E, 5.0∘ N) off the coast of Nigeria year round (not shown).
(Figure 4), which is an active area for offshore operations. The analyses described earlier can be extremely useful
The water depth is approximately 1683 m, and data length is for planning various offshore operations. The MATLAB
31 years (1979–2009). package makes it convenient to do so rapidly. Interested engi-
Table 2 gives, by way of output, the estimated 10- and neers may contact the authors for further information about
100-year return period SWH values using 31 annual SWH this tool.
maxima. The three methods yield different estimates. Note
that the SWH100 of 3.86 m estimated by the Gumbel model is
larger than the maximum SWH modeled, in 31 years, for that 9 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
location (viz. 3.42 m), whereas the other two distributions
yield smaller values. This is quite normal. (The MATLAB We have provided a brief summary of the salient features
package described earlier does not make computations for involved in estimating met-ocean conditions corresponding
identifying the preferred distribution, as described in Section to a specified recurrence interval. Such estimates, needed for
5.) design, cannot be “validated” with ground truth, and thus,
The availability of the database enables one to make the estimation represents a challenge from the viewpoint
other more elementary but useful calculations as well. For of establishing confidence in their use. Indeed, the Amer-
example, a composite table of the joint occurrence of SWHs ican Petroleum Institute (2000, 2007) has recently revised
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe125
10
General
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe125
Table 3. Number of waves with specified SWH and Tp characteristics (total 90,584).

SWH (m) Tp (s)
0–1 1–2 2–3 3–4 4–5 5–6 6–7 7–8 8–9 9–10 10–11 11–12 12–13 13–14 14–15 15–16 16–17 17–18 18–19 19–20
0.0–0.25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0.25–0.5 0 0 4 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0.5–0.75 0 0 0 11 0 7 0 7 20 27 21 26 19 15 9 4 1 0 0 0
0.75–1.0 0 0 0 0 8 13 6 30 170 556 694 620 384 308 161 85 70 25 4 7
1.0–1.25 0 0 0 0 42 77 27 41 411 1730 3096 3965 2680 1814 1186 594 387 217 51 35
1.25–1.5 0 0 0 0 21 125 37 17 223 1388 3289 5340 4955 3623 2461 1476 858 464 113 75
1.5–1.75 0 0 0 0 1 101 78 0 50 580 2454 3734 4607 3696 2554 1497 897 401 140 70
1.75–2.0 0 0 0 0 0 30 76 0 2 94 1048 2043 2899 3225 2122 1246 674 341 125 48
2.0–2.25 0 0 0 0 0 7 45 3 2 24 281 883 1184 1611 1505 876 453 195 50 32
2.25–2.5 0 0 0 0 0 1 31 7 0 0 34 320 370 594 690 452 213 87 44 12
2.5–2.75 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 3 0 0 0 63 166 184 265 174 92 32 13 8
2.75–3.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 3 0 0 0 0 39 48 75 87 60 25 13 0
3.0–3.25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 22 13 4 1 0
3.25–3.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 3 1 0
3.5–3.75 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3.75–4.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4.0–4.25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4.25–4.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4.5–4.75 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4.75–5.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 5
Nigeria Nigeria
4 (Nov. to Apr.) 4 (May to Oct.)
3 3
Hs (m)
Hs (m)
2 2
1 1
0 0
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
Tp (s) Tp (s)
(a) 1000 2000 3000 (b) 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Figure 5. Joint distributions of Hs and Tp (number of observations) for two seasons. (Created by the author using data from NOAA NCEI
50 50
40 40
Percentage (%)
Percentage (%)
30 30
20 20
10 10
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
(a) SWH (m) (b) Wind speed (m/s)
Figure 6. Wave and wind characteristics for July. (Created by the author using data from NOAA NCEI (National Centers for Environmental
Information) © (2015).)
0° 80% 0° 80%
337.5° 22.5° 337.5° 22.5°
315° 60% 45° 315° 45°
40% 25%
292.5° 67.5° 292.5° 67.5°
20%
270° 90° 270° 90°
247.5° 112.5° 247.5° 112.5°
225° 135° 225° 135°
202.5° 157.5° 202.5° 157.5°

(a) 180° (b) 180°
Figure 7. SWH (a) and wind direction (b) for July. (Created by the author using data from NOAA NCEI (National Centers for
Environmental Information) © (2015).)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe125
12 General
its estimates of such conditions in the Gulf of Mexico. The GEV (Generalized Extreme Value) a flexible
availability of data in recent years has been greatly enhanced distribution three parameter model that combines
owing to the modeling efforts of various government agen- the Gumbel, Frechet, and Weibull.
cies. These data can be used with a variety of statistical tools, Gumbel Extreme value theory type I.
the usage of which has also been greatly facilitated by the distribution
availability of free software. These tools are considerably NCEP model Hindcast Wave Model by National
more sophisticated than those used in previous years and Centers for Environmental Prediction.
allow the engineer to explore the use of multiple distribu- Trends Extremes of non-stationary statistics.
tions, to use multiple ways of using the data, to examine the Weibull Extreme value theory type III.
effects of trends in the data, and to use robust methods for distribution
identifying preferred distribution. The examination of such
alternatives should be emphasized because, as noted earlier,
there can be no validation of the estimates in the real sense of
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe125
Human Factors
Christopher Parker1 and Sam Ranasinghe2
1 Parker Enterprises, Unlimited
2 Unaffiliated
the fault of the individual. Rather, the user may be set up

1 What is Human Factors? 1 to fail based on latent hazards inherent to the design of
2 History 1 the system including the interfaces, equipment, technology,
3 Purpose and Benefits of Human Factors 2 environment, and organization.
Unlike most other engineering disciplines, HF does not
4 Goals of Integrating HF Into the Project
focus solely on the technical aspects of a system, but rather is
Lifecycle 3
the examination of the interaction between an individual or
5 Human Factors in Design 4 group of users of a system and the environment or technology
6 Integrating the Human Element in Risk in the execution of certain required tasks. A formal definition
Management 5 of HF is as follows:
7 Human Factors in Management Systems 6
Human Factors (or ergonomics) is the scientific discipline
8 Organizational Factors 7 concerned with the understanding of interactions among
Glossary 8 humans and other elements of a system, and the profession
that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design
Related Articles 9 in order to optimize human well-being and overall system
References 9 performance. (International Ergonomics Association)
HF is based on the foundation that the human element and

their ability to perform to a required level is critical in the
performance of a system as a whole. Just like hardware, soft-
1 WHAT IS HUMAN FACTORS? ware, and processes, the human component has capabilities
and limitations and can also be measured in terms of reli-
“Human error” has been identified as the root cause of many ability and availability, for example. The discipline of HF
incidents and accidents over recent decades amounting to is a wide one which considers what we know about human
damages and financial penalties in the billions of dollars. physical, cognitive, social, organizational, and psycholog-
Human Factors (HF) is the discipline that, accepting the fact ical capabilities, limitations, and tendencies in order to better
that humans are limited in their capabilities and have tenden- design a “human-centered” system that promotes maximum
cies to commit errors, aims to better understand human capa- human performance in terms of efficiency and minimiza-
bilities and apply this research and principles to the design tion of error, in other words: reliability, availability, and
of systems. HF proposes that reporting “human error” as a capability.
root cause is short sighted and rather, instances of human
error and lapses in human performance are not necessarily
2 HISTORY
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. The field of HF has a long history going back to the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe578
industrial revolution where manufacturers were first exam-
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 ining “designing the task to the human” rather than the
2 General
opposite. In other words, use workplace design or personnel risk optimization. This was validated by a USCG (United
selection as a means to help personnel to safely complete States Coast Guard) study which determined that between
their required tasks, rather than assume that all people 75% and 96% of all maritime accidents were the results of
are the same and operate to a consistent level. More formally, human errors (USCG). The extreme nature of the environ-
the evolution can be seen through recent developments in ment as well as the high stress challenges that personnel are
the military and federal government initiatives. The impetus exposed to introduce hazards and increases the difficulty of
for early HF research and applied design was the under- normal tasks compared with other working environments.
standing that human performance and the ability for user
(soldier, seaman, pilot, officer, astronaut, etc.) to execute
their required tasks within the performance requirements 3 PURPOSE AND BENEFITS OF HUMAN
while under the stresses salient to the operational environ- FACTORS
ment. From a practical and financial perspective, optimal
performance from the provided manpower within safe limi- First and foremost, the safety and well-being of individuals is
tations is ultimately the goal, which the application of HF can the primary purpose of implementing an HF strategy within
provide. system development. This will also entail optimizing the
For instance, the US Army’s MANPRINT program performance associated with the interaction between indi-
formally integrated the end user into the acquisition and vidual(s) and systems as well as minimizing their opportu-
development process for new equipment, weapons, and nity for committing errors. Additional benefits in terms of
material. In an effort to rapidly field new equipment, the the human element may also include improved morale and
Army discovered that the human performance aspects were well-being that can also affect one’s ability or tendency to
not integrated into the acquisition process (requirements perform their required duties (attitude).
generation, design, procurement, fielding, and operations). There are many other benefits that relate to the performance
Thereby, requiring additional training or redesign, both of of the system to include financial or in the case of develop-
which added time and cost, especially as systems increased ment, acquisition, and procurement, there can be significant
in complexity. In the early 1980s, senior Army leadership schedule impacts that can also materialize as cost premiums.
directed that the user be better integrated, and hence estab- As discussed in the US Army example, the costs of redesign
lished an organization responsible for this across the design when a system does not meet the needs or expectations of
and acquisition efforts for all new systems and equipment the users can escalate quickly and can also sustain to great
(US Army MANPRINT). amounts over time. These initial design or acquisition costs
The field of HF, while still gaining popularity, is extremely can be minimal by employing a robust HF strategy from the
broad in its subdisciplines and application. The field includes inception of the system development. However, the cost of
ergonomics (literally “the study of work”), which is some- changes to the design escalates as the design matures. Inte-
times considered a synonym for HF and focuses more on grating the end user at the inception will anticipate the needs
the physical aspects of performance to include human phys- of the user population and optimize the design accordingly.
iology and biomechanics (from the “neck down”). HF as a While training is a critical aspect in achieving compe-
field can also range from the discovery and research on how tence and ultimately reaching performance goals, proper HF
people interact with their environment, building on classic design can minimize the need for training. Intuitive design
experimental psychology research and principles, to inter- that addresses the needs of the user with proper warning
action design where user populations are involved in a rapid of hazards and opportunities for error and promotes safe
product development (namely high technology) process. behavior will require less training and retraining as a reliance
The mantra of the field of HF is to “know thy user,” and by for the desired behavior. Training (beyond familiarization)
that we mean that the end user and all associated character- should be a mitigation measure that is implemented to over-
istics therein that may affect its performance (age, culture, come areas where the design of a system does not meet the
training, physical abilities, etc.) must be clearly defined needs of the user. Excessive training implemented to over-
and verified through the design and development process. come designs that do not meet the expectations of the users
This way, ultimately the human performance requirements is often ineffective, especially in emergency situations. To
(a certain level of human performance is maintained for conclude, when HF is integrated, training needs and its asso-
a designated operational environment given appropriate ciated costs will be minimized.
training) may be verified and validated. The most salient cost of HF can be realized in the avoidance
It is from the fundamental goal of addressing human of incidents and accidents as a result of human error. We often
performance that the maritime and offshore environments hear of incidents and accidents in the maritime or oil and gas
find HF to be a critical component to performance and hazard industries where human error was identified as a root cause.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe578
Human Factors 3
integral part of a system that must be addressed accordingly.

It is the human end user (“people” as, shown in Figure 1.) that
Plant People on its own as well as in its interaction, shown as the overlap
between “people” and the adjacent entities of systems (hard-
ware, software, workplace, plant, etc.) and processes (organi-
Process zations or cultures). HF is where these three entities intersect
(Figure 1).
At a practical level, however, there is a fundamental
two-pronged approach to integrating HF through project life-
Figure 1. Human factors generalized. cycle in order to identify the needs of the user and the HF
requirements. This can be realized using the ideal combi-
nation of a goal or task-based approach with a prescriptive
Costs range from the hundreds to billions of dollars. These
approach (Figure 2, IOGP 454, 2011). The task analysis
costs as a result of the accidents can stem from equipment
or facility damages, fines and penalties, organizational costs method is a means to identify the required tasks and subtasks
(retraining, acquisition of personal protection, etc.), and most associated with a function and characterize all aspects therein
notably personnel injury or death. It is important to note that that relate to human performance (information requirements,
there is actually a root cause deeper than the error itself, human performance requirements, physical requirements,
which caused or allowed the user to commit an error. These etc.). From this information and analysis, these characteris-
causes are often easily corrected when identified correctly tics can then be transposed into requirements of the system
based on the nature of the error. that can transposed into design or training and ultimately be
validated during testing and operations. The task analysis
provides a “dynamic” way to document how a function is
4 GOALS OF INTEGRATING HF INTO executed in reality including all of the nuances that are crit-
THE PROJECT LIFECYCLE ical to its success. This may be a tedious process but can be
streamlined and prioritized to just the “critical tasks” or those
As mentioned in the introduction, the first assumption that that are deemed to have detrimental consequences should
must be made when considering HF is that the human is an they be executed incorrectly or not at all.
HFE requirements in regulations,

standards and company specifications
Examples: Examples:
• Workspace envelope • Human error ALARP demonstration
• Walkways, stairs, ladders, etc. • Risk of musculo-skeletal injury
• Valve access • Human efficiency
Goal-
Prescriptive
oriented
Design process
Change Analysis/ Design

Verifications
management studies requirements
Assumptions
and actions
Figure 2. Human factors interactions. (Reproduced from IOGP 454 2011. © The International Association of Oil & Gas Producers, 2011.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe578
4 General
Complementary to the task-based approach is the prescrip- the hazard has already occurred. Proactive hazard manage-
tive approach of developing requirements and that is to iden- ment can occur with proper HF analysis given the years
tify and collect more “static” criteria that can be applied to of knowledge that we now have in terms of human error.
design. On the basis of what is now many years of experi- We can identify the potential hazards to develop appropriate
ence and lessons learned that is documented in regulations mitigation thereby preventing incidents from occurring, also
and standards, prescriptive HF requirements serve a purpose promoting a cost savings when implemented early in the
of efficiency. Many of the requirements in HF standards are development process.
the result of task or goal-based analysis or research and have There has been a lot of discussion of design as a means to
become a heuristic, or rule of thumb. Or the criteria have been affect behavior, but when examining the system as a whole,
developed as a means to mitigate a certain hazard that was there are also impacts, particularly from the task-based
identified and serves to prevent the hazard from being real- approach to the many elements of human-system integration
ized in the future. Considering every system is different, the (HSI). In addition to HF, the approach must be supplemented
combination of the two approaches allows for flexibility and with considerations of training, manning (the quality and
tailoring while ensuring that past issues will not repeat. quantity of personnel), occupational health, habitability (the
Following the development of requirements, the HF quality of life and work), and all aspects of a human-centered
approach to design addresses potential hazards that have approach.
been identified. This model also provides us with an The ultimate goal is to use a systematic process to apply
approach to manage and control the human-related sources what we know and identify and what we do not know about
of hazards and effective safeguards to be put in place. This potential issues with human performance that may lead to
also happens to be the recommended approach to addressing hazards or problems with system performance before they
human factors engineering (HFE) in the design of systems. occur. We understand that it is natural and inevitable that
The approach is as follows in the order of preference and people will commit errors or not always be 100% available,
effectiveness: but to be able to anticipate these issues will provide for
increased mission success.
• Design to minimize the likelihood of errors and exposure
to hazards.
• Design to mitigate the consequences of error or other 5 HUMAN FACTORS IN DESIGN
acts.
• Provide the user with a warning of potential error or Implementing HF and minimizing the potential for human
hazard. error can be addressed proactively during the design phases
• Train user to prevent error or exposure to hazards. of projects. Errors can be induced by poor design, which are
• Write procedures to prevent error or exposure to hazards only partially mitigated by training and procedures.
from occurring. There are various interfaces between personnel and
systems on marine and offshore facilities. Typical interfaces
Using design as a means to affect behavior is the desired include alarms, controls, displays, ladders, valves, stairs,
course of action, but is not always possible or feasible. In and overall workspace arrangements. Through analysis
addition, we must also accept that there is no way to prevent and influence in the design stages, these interfaces can be
error entirely and therefore the consequences of the error, designed appropriately to address HF and the appropriate
assuming that it still may occur, must be minimized. Simi- physical and mental workload needs.
larly, the user should be warned when an error is imminent, Humans vary in size particularly between sexes and
with the last resort being a dependence on training and proce- between different races in geographical regions. This means
dures. The reliance on training, especially in an emergency that an understanding of physical differences is required by
situation is likely the least effective especially with a poorly the design and engineering teams so that the design of the
designed system. Procedures or job aids can be effective, work environment and systems meets the need and abilities
but likely will not yield the best performance in terms of of the user. Industry standards such as ABS (2014), ASTM
efficiency. F1166 (2013), and IOGP 454 (2011) provide solid guidance
Another benefit to conducting a task analysis early on on how to implement HFE in the design phase of facilities.
in the development process, coupled with a robust hazard Designers and engineers also need to have the mindset
analysis process is that opportunities for error and hazards and knowledge that the system will have to be designed to
to personnel can be proactively anticipated and mitigated meet the cultural and psychological understandings of the
before they are realized. Applying research and lessons users. For instance, the perception of color and how signage
learned can also be quite effective but these both consider that is defined varies between people in different geographical
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe578
Human Factors 5
regions. What may be easy to understand in one culture may steps in greater detail. The objective is to ensure that all errors
not be easy to understand in another culture. are recoverable and minimizes the potential for an incident
Designing a system with maintenance in mind is also very to occur. In addition, it is important to understand that any
important. Providing access to commonly malfunctioning maintenance or operations activities within hazardous area
parts and maintaining consistency in design result in less locations should be minimized to reduce the risk of personnel
time for training and less downtime to undertake mainte- being exposed to a potential accidental event. Useful sample
nance activities. Equipment and the workspace need to be questions to ask during hazard identification studies (e.g.,
designed and located such that they minimize the possibility HAZIDs, HAZOP, and What-If) include the following:
of equipment damage and personnel injury.
It needs to be noted that the human element is never
• What type of feedback is provided to personnel during a
truly eliminated from the system. The use of unmanned
process upset or change?
platforms has given rise to the belief that the human element
• What are the training/competency levels of personnel and
can be eliminated from the risk equation. It is important to
how this been verified?
understand that the human element will always be involved in
the risk equation from the design to operation to maintenance • What are the consequences of tasks omitted or performed
and training of the systems. incorrectly?
Given the growing complexity of offshore and marine • Which are the defined barriers, involving human inter-
systems (particularly for remote operations) and the increase action to prevent hazardous events and have they been
in data volume, it has become even more crucial to design defined, to the right level?
the systems to meet the users’ psychological capacity. This • What situational awareness do personnel have over the
becomes particularly critical when reacting to process upsets whole process?
or an abnormal event, which will require some type of
manual intervention. The influence of HF in the design More information on the different type of HF related ques-
can really be understood during hazard analysis and risk tions that need to be asked in various hazard analyses and risk
assessments when there is more focus on how the humans assessments can be found in HF in risk assessments (IOGP
interacts within the system to control hazards and manage 454, 2011).
risk.
6 INTEGRATING THE HUMAN 6.2 Assess risk

ELEMENT IN RISK MANAGEMENT
Once hazard identification has been undertaken, the next step
6.1 Identify hazards is to assess the risk (to personnel and assets), utilizing the
magnitude of consequences and likelihood of occurrence of
The first stage in risk management will be to identify hazards the specific event.
and the undesirable events (e.g., vessel collision and equip- It needs to be noted that likelihood of the event occurring
ment shutdown). This in turn will be followed by determining will be dependent on the identified barriers and safeguards
the causes why it occurred. in place. As mentioned previously, a lot of barriers will be
It is important to identify the critical tasks involved in the dependent on human performance (controlling, monitoring,
potential release of a hazard source or unintended shutdown and activating actions). Understanding the human needs and
of critical equipment. The key is to identify where human thus strengthening the human performance to perform these
performance is required to maintain integrity of the process actions will increase the management/execution of barriers
and where opportunities for human failure can occur. The and therefore ultimately reduce the risk in operations.
critical task steps should be identified to ensure that the The operational integrity not only means the equipment
hazard sources, hazardous events, and causes have been but also the reliability, availability, and maintainability of
identified. All hazard analyses or assessment methodologies personnel, which is crucial since the operational capability
have a HF element whether it is the cause of the hazardous is dependent on the training, skill, and competency of the
event or contributes to the escalation leading to a hazardous personnel. Training and competence of personnel performing
situation. each job should be specified from the beginning to influence
Critical steps can be identified by working alongside oper- the design of the equipment in order to allow for the design to
ations personnel to gain their knowledge and experience. HF reduce unnecessary special training and procedures required
techniques such as task analysis can be used to identify the to operate and maintain that equipment.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe578
6 General
6.3 Hazard/risk management More information on how to integrate HF in hazard anal-

ysis can be found in the HF in Hazard Analysis paper—OTC
When looking to reduce risks for events, the first philos- 25280 (Poblete, 2014).
ophy shall be to try and eliminate the hazards where possible.
During designing or engineering out the hazard, there will be
HF issues to be considered. Altering the workspace, equip- 7 HUMAN FACTORS IN MANAGEMENT
ment and the task may impact how personnel conduct their SYSTEMS
activities safely and efficiently. The strategy should also
include reducing the exposure of humans to the hazard conse- The human element transcends all elements of Management
quence. Systems from both a design and an organizational perspec-
There shall be an approach to reduce the likelihood tive. As more oil and gas and marine companies are devel-
of human error. This relates back to the earlier point on oping and integrating their management systems, the HF
component is becoming more prevalent and integrated.
understanding early what the critical steps are and where
Figure 3 as taken from OGP 368 (International Association
human failure can occur. The aspects of organization or
of Oil and Gas Producers, 2005) (HF—a means of improving
management system design, procedural development, and
HSE performance) demonstrates the interaction of individ-
training/skills/competency requirements all have an HF uals with each other, with facilities and equipment and with
focus. management systems. It can be seen how the different aspects
When defining extra barriers/safeguards, considerations of HF are implanted within the different element of manage-
need to be made on how these barriers will be monitored ment systems.
and managed by operations throughout the life of the facility. The day-to-day nature of keeping the management
There will be controlling, monitoring, and activating actions systems up to date and relevant relies on communication and
to be undertaken to ensure the integrity of the barriers and interaction between personnel. Operations cannot function
guarantee that they work as they are defined to do. efficiently or safely without these core activities.
Facilities
and equipment
People
Ergonomics
Human characteristics
Work space
(physical and mental)
Design
Human behavior
Maintenance
Fitness
Reliability
Stress
Physical characteristics
Fatigue
(noise, lighting, toxics, etc.)
Management systems
Leadership
Management commitment
Change management
Incident investigation
Hazard identification
Risk assessment
Procedures
Training
Figure 3. Human factors interactions.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe578
Human Factors 7
Table 1. Human factors in management systems.

Management System HF Considerations
Element
Operating The format, content, and layout of an operating procedure are critical for safe operation. Ensuring that
procedures procedures are designed, consistent, and accessible will minimize the likelihood of procedural errors and is a
key HF component
Management of The management of change process relies on attuned communication and coordination between stakeholders.
change This highlights the organizational component of human factors in ensuring that this can occur
In addition, the changes being proposed could increase the likelihood of human failure (e.g., changes to
workspace, equipment use, procedure, and personnel) and will therefore need HF to be included in the review
to mitigate this potential risk
Training and Ensuring that personnel have received training and are competent to fulfill their role is critical for managing
competency risks. Integrating HF can help ensure that the right level and medium of training are provided and can
assurance determine how competency is assessed
For example, when introducing a new equipment in the field, there can be negative (or lack of) transfer of
training between the old and new systems. Such situations would require focused effort, managed
implementation, and development of suitable job aids
Emergency Human factors can help determine the physical design of means of escape, design of response procedures, and
management supporting equipment. In addition, emergency response and incident management is dependent on personnel
functioning effectively in teams, having clear roles and responsibilities and being able to communicate with all
necessary stakeholders
Hazards analysis and Involving HF can contribute to reducing exposure to both personal and process safety hazards. HF tools and
risk assessment techniques can also help identify conditions that are likely to lead to human failure and high risk situations
This is particularly important when analyzing and reacting to process upsets and safety critical activities
Incident Incident investigations need to consider why human failures occurred. Finding the true underlying (or latent,
investigations root) cause is critical to preventing accidents recurring
Stating human error as root cause is too general and does not add value. The investigation needs to dig deeper
to understand if design and organizational factors contributed to the human failure
Mechanical integrity HF can be systematically applied to ensure that equipment is designed and laid out to support the required
operations and maintenance activities. Having equipment designed and located easily can increase efficiency
and reduce risk to personnel
Activities can take the form of structured assessments during the design and construction phases. Vendor
drawing assessments/3D model reviews are structured using task analyses and requirements-based checklists
Some of the key elements of a Management System where behavior and performance. Some of the key organizational
HF is integral and adds value are shown in Table 1. factors are shown in the following sections.
8.1 Organizational change
8 ORGANIZATIONAL FACTORS Organizational change can have a detrimental effect on safety

if it is not managed appropriately. Teams can experience
As stated on the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) web different types of organizational change. It can range from
site (UK HSE, 2016), people’s behavior in the workplace is use of contractors, reducing staffing levels, combining teams,
affected by the structure and characteristics of the organiza- or changes to roles and responsibilities.
tion they work within. Personnel respond to the messages and Organizational change is usually not analyzed and
cues they receive from managers and supervisors, though not controlled as thoroughly as process changes, but can be
always in the way intended. considered as part of the Management of Change (MoC)
To manage safety effectively, it is important to consider process. Organizational change should be planned in a
how these organizational level influences affect human thorough, systematic, and realistic way.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe578
8 General
8.2 Safety culture of activities between different parties and organizations.

This is particularly pertinent when managing contractors
An organization’s culture will influence human behavior and during activities such a shift handover and managing a
and human performance at work. Poor safety culture will Permit-to-Work (PTW).
contribute to incidents. The overall organization culture will All personnel including employees, contractors, and visi-
influence the safety culture and this will depend on the tors should have access to key information to help them
message being sent from the leadership of the organization. manage the hazards in the work place. This may include
Success comes from good leadership, good worker involve- key findings from risk assessments, safety data sheets, emer-
ment, and good communications. A safety climate survey gency response plans, and safety alerts. The medium (e.g.,
provides a snapshot of the organization’s culture in relation face-to-face, procedure, and radio) and method (e.g., written
to safety. and verbal) needs to be considered to ensure that the message
is communicated accurately and is not forgotten.
8.3 Behavioral safety
Promoting safe behavior at work is a critical part of the 8.6 Staffing levels
management of health and safety. Behavior turns systems
and procedures into reality. A significant number of acci- Staffing levels refers to having the right people in the right
dents are primarily caused by the behavior of front line place at the right time. It is ensuring not only that the right
personnel. There is a wide range of programs available which number of personnel is available to execute the activities but
generally involve the definition of safe/unsafe behaviors, also that the personnel have suitable knowledge, skill, and
observations of behaviors (by trained observers), and feed- experience to operate safely.
back/reinforcement of behaviors. The quality of the planning, assessment, implementation,
Strategies need to be defined on how to integrate behav- and monitoring will determine the impact of changes to
ioral strategies into the management system. The strategy staffing arrangements. It is therefore necessary to under-
needs to focus on changing individual behaviors while stand how staffing levels impact human performance that
considering changes to how people are organized, managed, can give rise to issues such as stress and fatigue. It is espe-
motivated, rewarded, their work environment, tools, and cially important to ensure adequate staffing levels for effec-
equipment. Knowing these elements will help improve tive performance of safety critical tasks (e.g., emergency
safety and prevent unsafe behaviors from occurring. response activities and control room monitoring).
8.4 Supervision 8.7 Fatigue management

Supervision plays a key role in many activities such as Fatigue is caused from insufficient sleep, excessive working
emergency management, contractor management, planning time, or poorly designed shift patterns. Fatigue results in
work, making decisions, managing fatigue and stress of reduced ability to process information, memory lapses, lack
personnel, monitoring performance, providing leadership, of attention, underestimation of risk, reduced coordination,
building teamwork, and ensuring workforce involvement. and so on. This can lead to accidents, ill-health, and reduced
Current supervisory arrangements need to be assessed to
productivity.
ensure that all key supervisory functions are clearly defined
A policy which guards against fatigue needs to be devel-
and appropriately allocated. In addition, it shall be ensured
oped that specifically addresses and sets limits on working
that relevant individuals have the time and the opportu-
hours, overtime, and shift swapping. In addition, considera-
nity to interact with the rest of their team to fulfill all of
tion of the sleeping arrangements of personnel needs to be
their supervisory responsibilities. Problems develop because
assessed to ensure that personnel receive quality undisturbed
of poorly defined responsibilities, heavy workloads, inade-
sleep during their rest time.
quate resources, or as a result of removing supervisory roles
altogether.
8.5 Communications GLOSSARY

Communications are very important in a wide range of Human error An action or decision which was not
safety critical tasks and activities as well as coordination intended.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe578
Human Factors 9
Human factors Scientific discipline concerned with the The Human Element in Shipping
understanding of interactions among Safety Management of Offshore Installations
humans and other elements of a
system, and the profession that applies
theory, principles, data and methods to
REFERENCES
design in order to optimize human
well-being and overall system
performance. ABS (2014) Guidance Notes on the Implementation of Human
Factors Engineering into the Design of Offshore Installations.
Human factors Application of human factors principle
American Bureau of Shipping.
engineering to the design and construction of
ASTM F1166 (2013) Standard Practice for Human Engineering
(HFE) systems. Design for Marine Systems, Equipment, and Facilities. ASTM
F1166-07
International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (2005) Human
RELATED ARTICLES Factors—A Means of Improving HSE Performance. OGP 368.
IOGP 454 (2011) Human factors engineering in projects—IOGP 454.
Risk Analysis Poblete, B.R., Parker, C.W., Ranasinghe, S., and Gandhi, M.S. (2014)
Acceptability of Risk Human Factors in Hazard Analysis. OTC 25280.
Seakeeping: Theoretical Aspects UK HSE (2016) http://www.hse.gov.uk/.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe578
Port Planning: A Case Study Applied to Iron Ore Port
Terminal
Newton Narciso Pereira2 , João F. Netto1 , Rui C. Botter1 and Afonso
C. Medina1
1 University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
2 Federal Fluminense University - School of Industrial Engineering Metallurgical at Volta Redonda, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
A simulation model is constructed that can represent oper-

1 Introduction 1 ations done at terminals. Those operations should be divided
2 Methodology 2 into systems according to the characteristic of executed
3 Study Case 5 tasks, using what is called systemic approach to analyze the
problem.
4 Premises and Service Level 7
In this study, an application of this methodology will be
5 Validation of the Model 9
exemplified for the sizing of a port terminal dedicated to
6 Results 11 the iron ore exportation produced in Brazil. Generally, the
7 Conclusions 11 global iron ore operation is done by major ports. In the
Glossary 13 past years, the increase of iron ore consumption, mainly
References 13 by China, has been obligating several terminals to invest
at the expansion of capacity and operational improvements.
For sizing systems in an assertive way, those terminals have
been using the discrete events simulation as a technique for
1 INTRODUCTION sizing and estimate the necessity of investments at acquisi-
tion of new machines equipment and land or offshore infras-
This article presents a methodology for sizing and evaluating tructure. The simulation aims to give a performance to the
the capacity of port terminals using computational simulation decision-making process through analysis that takes into
as the major tool to verify service levels offered by the port consideration the necessity of promoting efficient services
terminals. The concept of capacity associated to service level that guarantee better efficiency for resources.
is something that can be used along with simulation in several Thus, in the present study, the port terminal moves two
situations that involve logistic and commercial planning of types of iron ores, Pellet Feed and Sinter Feed. These
organizations. This enables a practical and direct vision of products that have different densities (2.58 t/m3 for Sinter
real behavior system, facilitating the comprehension of exis- Feed and 2.25 t/m3 for Pellet Feed) are transported until the
tent bottlenecks and being a way to see provided services
destiny through railways from the mine to the port. When
from the point of view of those who use those services.
it arrives at the port terminal, products are unloaded from
trains and directed to storage yards, where they wait to be
loaded to ships that operate at the port berth. We chose an
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. iron ore terminal for this study because those are large-sized
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe191
ports that move expressive cargo volume every year in
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 several parts of the world.
2 General
2 METHODOLOGY from other existent terminals and the experience of techni-

cians are used to validate the computational model.
The approach used to determine the port capacity should Finally, when the model is validated and scenarios are
consider the type of the project to be developed, Brown built, the concept of capacity associated to service level is
or Green Field. A Green Field project considers that the used to determine the real terminal capacity according to
project is new and is being conceived based on a port improvements done (expansion) and which subsystem will
conceptual project. Brown Field project means that a part be the limit, in other words, the bottleneck of the system.
of the port already exists and it will be done adaptations or
improvements on the existing layout to expand the opera- 2.1 Systemic approach
tional capacity of the port terminal.
Therefore, to analyze the port capacity, there are three Systemic approach helps in a project or director plan of a port
highly important steps to be considered. First, to ensure that terminal because it permits a more detailed analysis of each
the analysis is accurate and rich in details of the system, existing subsystem and components of the general system,
the concept called systemic approach is used (Botter, 1992; facilitating the determination of the system that limits the
Jenkins, 1972; Deming, 1994; Pappu, 2001). The terminal port terminal capacity, called bottleneck.
is divided into subsystems according to the characteristics Gualda (1995) says that the usage of an adequate method
of operations done. All possible operations that can occur to treat the problem from the systemic point of view is funda-
at a port terminal should be mapped in the function of mental. Detailing components of the subsystem represented
its characteristics and specifications. The objective of this by a port terminal is a method to solve a problem in a
analysis is to guarantee that the system was conceived with a sorted way.
broad view, considering all interactions of multiple activities Major elements that compose any port system are repre-
related to its operation. sented in Figure 1. A port system is represented by major
Next, a conceptual model is developed incorporating all systems, and arrival of ships and ground vehicles. An inter-
characteristics and rules of the operation, as well as the iden- mediate system is represented by movements of cargo and
tification of major input variables and outputs of port system. storage.
After that, a computational simulation model is built to repre- The system of arrival and exit of ships can be discretized
sent the reality of subsystems that compose the port terminal considering the following elements, according to UNCTAD
from the details of conceptual model. This computational (1975): Navigation aid, approach channel, pilotage outside
simulation model should be validated according to real data port, lock, protected water, port pilotage, towage, berthing,
in a way that a reliable model that enables analysis of expan- and unberthing. The process of mooring and unmooring
sion of the terminal in a direct way through the construction of a ship is represented by the following operations:
of scenarios is obtained. In cases of Green Field port projects, opening/closing of hatch, breaking out, cargo handling
one of the major difficulties is validating the computational onboard, and stowing and closing of hatch. The process
model, since the project is new. Thus, generally, benchmarks of movement and storage of cargo is characterized by
Vehicle arrivals subsystem

Ship arrivals or
land vehicles arrivals
Operations
Storage
subsystem
subsystem
(cargo handling)
Figure 1. Representation of operation system of a ship at the port.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe191
Port Planning: A Case Study Applied to Iron Ore Port Terminal 3
Transport industry Port Local community

Players/intervenings has different objectives
Management Governance
Citizens
Forwarders
MTOs Port Port
Client Government
operators autorities
Shipowners Port legislation Lobbies
Business
community
Efficiency
Efficacy
Sustainability
Figure 2. Link among port, operators, and society.
the following operations: transfer to/from quay, cargo dedicated to the transportation of iron ore. Figure 3 presents
handling on quay, transport to/from storage, and value-added the iron ore port terminal divided into subsystems, as
services. The system of ground dispatch is characterized by described.
delivery/receiving land vehicles and hinterland transport. The main component systems are car dumper (CD), stock-
Besides those, port terminals need to interact with several yards; stacker reclaimer (SR), reclaimer (RC), and ship
players of ports that are connected to the government and loader (SL). To a better visualization of analyzed systems,
service providers. Figure 2 shows those players that interact Figures 4–6 present again those three systems, individually
on daily routine of port terminals, which port projects need highlighted. The discharge system, highlighted in Figure 4, is
to consider a systemic vision. composed by the arrival of trains at terminal from the railway,
Focusing only at the elements that compose a port by CDs that operate along with unload lines and direct ore to
terminal, we present a systemic analysis of a port terminal the function of stacking of stackers–reclaimers or stackers,
RC1
Stockyard A
CD1/2 SR1
Stockyard B
CD3
RC2
CD4 Stockyard C
SR2
Stockyard D
RC3
Car dumper:
equipment’s
committed to do Stockyard E
trains discharge
SR3
Stockyard F
Reclaimers: equipment’s Shiploaders: S

Stackers-reclaimers: L
committed to reclaim the equipment’s committed
equipment’s committed to form
Stockyard: place product from the to load vessels with the
iron ore stack in the stockyard
to storage cargo stockyard to direct them iron ore reclaimed from
and to reclaim them for loading
to the ship the stockyards
Figure 3. Terminals divided into subsystems.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe191
4 General
RC1
Stockyard A
CD1/2 SR1
Stockyard B
CD3
RC2
CD4 Stockyard C
SR2
Stockyard D
RC3
Stockyard E
SR3
Stockyard F
S
L
Figure 4. Unload subsystem.
what can be called as interface between discharge subsystem Finally, RC machines take off the stored material that
and storage subsystem. is directed by the loading line until loading subsystem,
After being stacked at yard, iron ore is stored at the terminal composed by SLs and mooring berths, with limited capacity
waiting for ships to moor and get loaded. This is the storage to certain types of ships. In Figure 6, the loading subsystem
subsystem, highlighted in Figure 5. is highlighted.
RC1
Stockyard A
CD1/2 SR1
Stockyard B
CD3
RC2
CD4 Stockyard C
SR2
Stockyard D
RC3
Stockyard E
SR3
Stockyard F
S
L
Figure 5. Storage subsystem.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe191
RC1
Stockyard A
CD1/2 SR1
Stockyard B
CD3
RC2
CD4 Stockyard C
SR2
Stockyard D
RC3
Stockyard E
SR3
Stockyard F
S
L
Figure 6. Loading subsystem.
This approach of identifying operational characteristics of attended by the terminal in a predefined period of time
a port terminal can be applied to any kind of port. without any criteria of stipulated service level are violated.
Service level is a rate of performance “offered by a compo-
2.2 The simulation model nent, subsystem, or system that aims to translate the quality
of the service offered by the terminal and that can be
After identifying elements that compose the port system, it is measured” (Gualda, 1995). The capacity of a terminal, there-
possible to start structuring a simulation project to determine fore, is given by the lower capacity of components and
the capacity of the system. Therefore, a conceptual model subsystem, or by the bottleneck. A systemic analysis of the
must be elaborated, which is the enumeration of premises arrangement of the port is able to indicate the point of a
and rules to be taken into consideration in implementing possible operational bottleneck.
the computational model. After this computational model is This offered service level can be a competitive differential
built, through input data that represent performance indica- that is as important as the discount at prices, advertisement,
tors, the validation of the model should be done. This can or favorable payment conditions.
generate a further revision of the conceptual model and reim- With a simulation model, it is possible to obtain several
plementation of computational logics. Figure 7, adapted from rates and service levels obtained at operation of several
Chwif and Medina (2007), represents this iterative process, scenarios, and from those results, major service levels of
executed until the validation of the model that should be able the terminal are highlighted. Those which are not attended
to represent the system with its improvements and expansion. before will be verified, limiting, this way, the capacity of
With simulation model representing expansion scenarios, movement and exportation of iron ore.
it is possible to determine the capacity of the terminal using Such methodology will be used for all defined subsystems
the concept of capacity associated with the service level for and allow a definition of what are bottlenecks of the port
operations at the terminal. operation. In addition, which subsystem limits the capacity
of exportation of this port terminal.
2.3 Capacity associated with the service level
3 STUDY CASE
According to Gualda (1995), modeling of transport terminals
should help the planning and decision making of solutions 3.1 The terminal
to be adopted at planning, conception, or expansion of a
terminal. Still, the capacity of a transport terminal is obtained The terminal has a pier with 390 m in length and 21 m in
through the determination of maximum level of the demand width, with an access bridge of 500 m of extension. This
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe191
6 General
Objectives and definitions

Conceptual model (input
data)
Conception
Model implementation
Computational model
verifying Implementation
Analysis
Analysis and redefinitions

Experimental results
Model testing
Figure 7. Representation of steps followed in a simulation project.
RC1
Stockyard A
CD1/2 SR1
Stockyard B
CD3
RC2
CD4 Stockyard C
SR2
Stockyard D
RC3
Stockyard E
SR3
Stockyard F
S
L
Figure 8. Layout of expansion of ore terminal.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe191
pier has two berths, north berth (intern berth), which has the – size of the batch (cars): 134;
capacity to receive ships up to 152,000 deadweight (DWT), – number of batches per train (batches/train): 1
and south berth, which can receive up to 330,000 DWT, with – maximum number of trains per day: 20
respective draughts of 19 and 24 m. – those trains should do a rail maneuver, in average,
Berths are equipped with: 28.8 min, respecting the triangular distribution with
deviation of 0.1.
• One line of loading with nominal capacity of 13,800 tons • Storage subsystem: the storage of iron ore occurs from
per hour (tph); the moment products are unloaded and stacked at storage
• One SL with nominal capacity of 13,800 tph. yard until the moment the ship moored at the berth
asks the loading of those products. In other words, the
The storage area has approximately 215,000 m2 divided subsystem occurs since the stacking until the reclaiming
into 6 yards with total static capacity of 3,5 million tons (mt) of stacks.
of ore. Those yards are equipped with the following:
Two different products will be moved at the terminal: Pellet
• SR with nominal capacity of 8,800/8,400 tph; Feed (99% of total) and Sinter Feed (1% of total), and the
• conveyor belts with different nominal capacities (from capacity of storage of yards vary according to the product due
4,200 to 8,000 tph). to different densities. Figure 9 presents the capacity of all six
yards, divided into operational stacks, varying according to
Iron ore arrives at terminal by railroad compositions with the product stored on stockpiles.
an average of 130 cars. At arrival, each train is divided into Pellet Feed should occupy a higher area of storage yards.
two batches, which are unloaded by two CDs with nominal However, Sinter Feed must have its stockpiles in a way
capacities of 8,800 tph (CD 01/02) and 8,000 tph (CD 03). to enable flexibility of reclaiming and, due to that, three
Having the simulation model, it is aimed to analyze the stockpiles for this product will be necessary. Figure 10 shows
operational capacity of this terminal. Thus, the port layout which stockpiles will be captives for both products.
and operational premises defined at the conceptual model
should be verified. In this case, we are considering an exis- • About stockyards equipment:
tent terminal “Brown Field” and a project for its capacity – RCs have a nominal rate (rate from manufacturing
expansion. In this evaluation, the installation of new CD and equipment) of 8,000 tph, but they operate with a
stockyard as well as the adoption of new premises for iron commercial rate (total cargo handling/total ship oper-
ore loading at ships from a known fleet profile is considered. ation time) of 4,000 tph, as well as reclaiming opera-
Figure 8 presents the layout of the terminal considering its tions of SR.
expansion. – SR can operate as stackers and reclaimers, but operate
Thus, there is an inclusion of new storage yards and new prior as stacker and only RC at opportunities. That is
machine equipment that will enable a greater capacity of to say, when there is no demand for stacking.
movement to the terminal. One of the SLs, the one with – If an stacker reclaimer (SR) is reclaimed to a ship
higher capacity, can rotate from one berth to the other, and there is the necessity to stack, it interrupts the
increasing, this way, the loading ship efficiency. reclaiming instantly.
– CDs operate with commercial rates of 3,620 tph.
– Stacking rate will be a consequence of CD’s produc-
4 PREMISES AND SERVICE LEVEL tivity rates, since the stacking nominal capacity of SR
is higher than the nominal rate of CDs.
4.1 Conceptual model: characteristics of • Load subsystem: major characteristics of this subsystem
subsystems consider mooring berths for ships, SLs and the load
line that direction the iron ore reclaimed at yards to the
Characteristics defined at conceptual model are presented loading of vessels. Its major characteristics are:
below: – There are two SLs that operate at intern and extern
berths of the terminal, where one of them has a
• Unload subsystem: major characteristics of this nominal capacity rate of 16,000 tph and the smaller
subsystem refer to trains and premises of unload one has a nominal capacity rate of 12,500 tph.
operation that results at the operation of stacking ore at – The smaller SL operates only at the intern berth and
yards. Those major characteristics are: the bigger SL can operate at both berths (preferably at
– capacity of train wagons: 103.5 t; extern berth), with two RCs simultaneously.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe191
8 General
RC1
95,338 t de SF ou 95,338 t de SF ou 95,338 t de SF ou

83,143 t de PF 83,143 t de PF 83,143 t de PF
SR1
101,788 t de SF 101,788 t de SF 101,788 t de SF 101,788 t de SF

ou 88,768 t de PF ou 88,768 t de PF ou 88,768 t de PF ou 88,768 t de PF
RC2
101,788 t de SF 101,788 t de SF 101,788 t de SF 101,788 t de SF

ou 88,768 t de PF ou 88,768 t de PF ou 88,768 t de PF ou 88,768 t de PF
SR2
85,662 t de SF ou 85,662 t de SF ou 85,662 t de SF ou 85,662 t de SF ou

74,705 t de PF 74,705 t de PF 74,705 t de PF 74,705 t de PF
RC3
85,662 t de SF ou 85,662 t de SF ou 85,662 t de SF ou 85,662 t de SF ou

74,705 t de PF 74,705 t de PF 74,705 t de PF 74,705 t de PF
SR3
76,079 t de SF ou 76,079 t de SF ou 76,079 t de SF ou

66,348 t de PF 66,348 t de PF 66,348 t de PF
Figure 9. Layout of yard with capacities by product.
– If there is a ship at extern berth, it loads with SL of – The capacity of loading system of the smaller SL is
16,000 tph with two RCs, independently of having or 12,500 tph (nominal rate) or 6,250 tph (commercial
not a ship at the intern berth (that, in this case, operates rate).
with the smaller SL and two RCs, limiting the load – Therefore, the SL of 16,000 tph will always have
nominal rate to 12,500 tph). priority of using two RC machines for loading.
– While there is a ship only at the intern berth, it can – Rates of stacker machines and SLs are a consequence
of CD and RC machine operations. However, if the
operate with SL of 16,000 tph and two RCs, consid-
smaller SL is operating with two reclaim machines,
ering a setup time of 30 min after the end of intern load
the loading commercial rate cannot be over 6,250 tph,
berth and 30 min before the start of loading at extern
due to the limitation of the carrier of this SL.
berth, due to the rotation of SL and the movement at – The simulation model considers a setup time every
lines. time the SL of 16,000 tph rotates to operate in other
– It is important to say that during setup times, berth.
the ship of intern berth continues operating with – The loading happens, preferably, with SL, while SR
SL of 12,500 tph. There is not an interruption of can reclaim only when they have the opportunity. That
loading. is to say, when there is no necessity of using them at
– The capacity of loading system of bigger SL is stacking, this is the preferred operation.
16,000 tph (nominal rate) or 8,000 tph (commercial – A ship will never be loaded by two SLs simultane-
rate), and it can operate with two RC machines. ously.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe191
RC1
Loading rates generally are measured in tons per hour and
depend directly on iron ore reclaiming rates from stockyards,
Pellet feed Pellet feed Pellet feed at the interface between storage and loading subsystems.
This way, the average time that ships are waiting on queue
SR1 as an indicator that represents the service level of the terminal
Sinter is considered.
Pellet feed Pellet feed Pellet feed
feed Other important port indicator is the occupation rate of
RC2
machine equipment installed at the port terminal. This occu-
pation rate is the relation between time, where machine
Pellet feed Pellet feed Pellet feed Pellet feed equipment are operating, and calendar-hours “period of
time,” where the analysis is done, generally 8760 h of 1 year.
SR2 For mooring berths, occupation rate is the relation between
Sinter total time during the considered period where the berth is
Pellet feed Pellet feed Pellet feed
feed unavailable for mooring because it is already being used by
other vessel and it includes, yet, the period where ships are
RC3
executing mooring or unmooring maneuvers.
Pellet feed Sinter feed Pellet feed Pellet feed The machine equipment occupation rate and mooring berth
occupation rate are really important because it increases
SR3 the possibility of higher time for ships waiting on line. It
can compromise the port terminal if there is a necessity of
Pellet feed Pellet feed Pellet feed preventive maintenance in components of port systems. This
way, the occupation rate of machine equipment and mooring
berths is another indicator that represents the service level of
Figure 10. Localization of stockpiles for storage of different types the terminal.
of iron ore.
In brief, two major indicators that represent service level of
a port terminal are the average time on queue and occupation
Figure 11 present berths of mooring and two installed SLs. rate of machine equipment and mooring berths, with values
The capacity ranges of each ship class to be considered at prestipulated by people responsible for the operation of the
the operations simulation at the maritime terminal are: terminal. Values to be considered in this case study are:
• Small Cape (80,000–100,000 t); • Average time waiting on queue: 240 h or 10 days.
• Cape (140,000–185,000 t); • Maximum occupation rate of machine equipment and
• Large Cape (190,000–220,000 t); berths: 85%.
• Very Large Cape (230,000–350,000 t).
The queue of 240 h is considered the maximum accept-
From total to be handling, demands (total quantity) should able time for vessels to wait before starting the mooring
be distributed as the following:
maneuver. Nowadays, it is a real-time operation of this
terminal. The resources occupation rate of 85% is considered
• Small Cape: 0.8%;
because it enables that 5% of the time is used for preventive
• Cape: 63.9%;
maintenance of subsystems and generates a commitment of
• Large Cape: 2.1%;
90%, a value considered the limit to prevent stoppages of
• VLC: 33.2%;
operations. Those stoppages would cause loss of efficiency
and, consequently, increase of queues at the terminal.
4.2 Considered service levels
Service levels of the terminal should try to reduce demur-

rage as much as they can. In other words, it should reduce 5 VALIDATION OF THE MODEL
the queue of ships. To minimize queues, the terminal should
operate with maximum efficiency. All subsystems should When a simulation model is constructed, it is necessary to
operate together to result in high productivity rates for iron verify if existent logics and rules were implemented in a
ore loading, so that the ships will keep moored for an accept- correct way, that is to say, if the model represents correctly
able time. the system we are studying.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe191
10 General
Smallest SL (12,500 tph): it is

able to operate with 2 loading
lines, only in the internal berth, The smallest SL operates in
but the RECLAIMER rates the smallest berth until the
decrease due to the nominal turn of the largest SL to
rate limitation of 6250 tph SL load the vessel
SL
The largest SL: work in 2 loading lines,

operating preferentially in the extern
berth, but it is able to spin and operate in
the intern berth when the first one is
empty. The spinning operation occurs
respecting the setup time of 30 min
in each spin.
It has the preference in relation to the
smallest SL to operate with two
RECLAIMERS.
Figure 11. Layout of berths of mooring after expansion and improvements of the terminal.
This verification of simulation model validity is called • total time of occupation of extern berth (higher)
validation and should be done through performance rates and (hours): time in which the extern berth is occupied
other parameters obtained at the analysis of real data from by a vessel (remembering that this time includes periods
operation of the system. of maneuver);
In this article, an absolute error of 10% between data • total occupation rate of extern berth (%): relation
given by the company of the terminal and the results of between time in which the extern berth is occupied and
simulation model is considered. When all obtained informa- the hours calendar of 1 year (8760 h);
tion are compared to the results of the model and absolute • total loaded at extern berth (mt/year): total quantity of ore
errors are less than those 10%, the model will be considered loaded to ships at the extern berth;
validated. • average commercial rate of loading of extern berth (tph):
For validation, the operation done at 2013 will be consid- rate of productivity of extern berth, that is to say, average
ered, and the parameters obtained with the company referring quantity of iron ore that is loaded by hour at ships;
to the operation of this year are: • average waiting time on queue (hours): average time
that ships wait to start the loading operation at the
• attended demand (mt/year): total quantity of ore loaded terminal;
at ships; • average occupation rate of berths (%): average occupa-
• total time of occupation of intern berth (smaller) tion rate of both mooring berths;
(hours): time in which the intern berth is occupied by a • total demand loaded directly at CD to ships: this is
vessel (remembering that this time includes periods of the quantity loaded from the operation known as direct
maneuver); loading, where the iron ore that is discharged by trains
• total occupation rate of intern berth (%): relation between passes through the storage subsystem directly to the
time in which the intern berth is occupied and hours loading of ships.
calendar of 1 year (8760 h);
• total loaded at intern berth (mt/year): total quantity of ore Having those values given by the terminal, it was possible
loaded at ships at intern berth; to start the process of model validating. Thus, some
• average commercial rate of loading at intern berth (tph): simulations were executed. Input parameters and logics
productivity rate of inter berth. That is to say, average implemented were examined until the obtained results
quantity of iron ore that is loaded by hour at ships; were close to real values. This way, Table 1 presents the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe191
Table 1. Results obtained at validation of the simulation model.

Parameter Data Results Model Absolute Error (%)
Attended demand (mt/year) 39.5 39.3 0.4
Total occupation time of intern berth (smaller) (h) 7218.19 7125.70 1.3
Total occupation rate of intern berth (%) 82.4 83.2 1.0
Total loaded at intern berth (mt/year) 10.3 10.2 0.7
Total time of operation at intern berth (h) 5341.77 5399.03 1.1
Average commercial rate of loading of intern berth (tph) 1932.3 1875.7 2.9
Total time of occupation of extern berth (bigger) (h) 7858.66 7689.34 2.2
Total occupation rate of extern berth (%) 89.7 87.6 2.4
Total loaded at extern berth (mt/year) 29.2 29.0 0.4
Total operation time of extern berth (h) 6384.95 6035.69 5.5
Average commercial rate of loading of extern berth (t/h) 4566.0 4443.9 2.7
Average time of waiting on queue (h) 156.36 170.83 9.3
Average occupation of berths (%) 86.1 85.4 0.8
Total demand loaded directly from CDs to ships (mt/year) 12.3 11.1 9.7
results of validation scenario, comparing them to real data machine equipment will be installed at port terminal in this
given by the terminal and with the absolute errors of each operational condition.
result. As mooring berth is a component of loading subsystem,
It can be observed in Table 1 that the higher error obtained it can be concluded through systemic approach that this
was 9.7%, which is within the limit of 10% stipulated as subsystem is the bottleneck of the studied ore terminal to
acceptable and, thus, the model can be considered validated operate with this iron ore demand.
and ready to simulate expansion scenarios.
7 CONCLUSIONS
6 RESULTS
We conclude that the application of the concept of systemic
With a validated model aims obtaining the capacity of iron approach and the simulation discrete events technique
ore terminal with expansions planned by its owner. To make is a powerful tool to determine the capacity of port
this happen, service levels listed in Section 5, which limit terminals.
the capacity of cargo handling of the port terminal, should The concept of capacity associated to the service level
be observed. This way, after configuring the scenario with is useful for the execution of port terminal projects that
previewed improvements, the demand to be moved by the consider an implementation and/or improvements and
terminal should be gradually increased until one of the expansion of port terminals. The studied case showed
subsystems presents itself as a bottleneck, presenting an different subsystems that compose the iron ore port terminal.
occupation rate higher or equal to 85% in any of its resources Applying the techniques, it was possible to determine the
(machines equipment). maximum capacity of iron ore handling cargo at the port
Therefore, simulating the expansion scenario, a scenario terminal for a Brown Field project. The same technique
where the average occupation of mooring berths reaches the can be applied to Green Field projects and the service level
value of 85% and becomes the service level that limits the of the project even before its implementation determined.
capacity of iron ore terminal was obtained. The obtained Therefore, it is possible to determine what should be referral
results of this simulation are presented in Table 2. of the project.
Analyzing the results of Table 2, it can be observed that We chose an iron ore port terminal for a case study, but
among considered service levels (occupation rates and time it can applied for all kinds of port terminals that exist.
on queue), the average occupation rate of berths obtained For example, in container terminals, the simulation tech-
was 84.9%, the only occupation rate that reached a value niques have been implemented to solve complex problems
close to the limit of 85%. All other resources (machines of allocation and containers storage at stockyards and
equipment) were lower than this value, and the average time dispatch and circulation of vehicles in the port terminals.
of waiting on queue was 75.8 h. It shows that the expansion When the characteristics of the system are known, we
scenarios that were proposed show better results than the can look for a better solution to the port project using the
actual port terminal situation. It had occurred because new simulation.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe191
12 General
Table 2. Results obtained at simulating the expansion scenario.

Operational Indicator Simulation Result Operational Indicator Simulation Result
Total demand discharged at the 64,064,655.6 Total stacked by SR2 (t) 24,116,110.7
terminal (t)
Total demand loaded on ships (t) 63,983,721.5 Total stacked by SR3 (t) 16,652,924.4
Number of vessels generated 339 Total reclaimed by SR1 (t) 2,632,735.4
during simulation
Average time in queue of ships (h) 75.8 Total reclaimed by SR2 (t) 2,068,072.8
Total time of berthing (h) 1113.6 Total reclaimed by SR3 (t) 7,359,499.4
Total time of unberthing (h) 338.6 Total reclaimed by RC1 (t) 11,268,277.6
Average occupation of berths 84.9% Total reclaimed by RC2 (t) 22,035,597.1
Average occupation of extern berth 85.8% Total reclaimed by RC3 (t) 18,205,539.2
Average occupation of intern berth 84.0% Total stacked SR1 at stockyard 1 11,772,420.0
Average loading rate in external 5496.6 Total stacked SR1 at stockyard 2 11,523,200.0
berth (tph)
Average loading rate in internal 3081.2 Total stacked SR2 at stockyard 3 14,823,600.0
berth (tph)
Number of vessels in external berth 196 Total stacked SR2 at stockyard 4 9,292,507.0
Number of vessels in internal berth 143 Total stacked SR3 at stockyard 5 10,505,770.0
Average occupation of ship loaders 64.2% Total stacked SR3 at stockyard 6 6,147,157.0
Average occupation of smallest SL 79.9% Total reclaimed RC1 by stockyard 1 11,682,280.0
Average occupation of biggest SL 48.5% Total reclaimed SR1 by stockyard 1 79,967.6
Average loading rate in smallest SL 6939.6 Total reclaimed SR1 by stockyard 2 2,552,768.0
(tph)
Average loading rate in biggest SL 3626.9 Total reclaimed RC2 by stockyard 2 8,950,790.0
(tph)
Operating time in external berth (h) 5680.3 Total reclaimed RC2 by stockyard 3 13,084,810.0
Operating time in internal berth (h) 5566.5 Total reclaimed SR2 by stockyard 3 1,723,955.0
Time of simultaneous (burdening 2208.5 Total reclaimed SR2 by stockyard 4 344,117.9
internal berth)
Burden factor of the simultaneous 0% Total reclaimed RC3 by stockyard 4 8,941,556.0
operation
Total demand (t) attended by 48,574,201.9 Total reclaimed RC3 by stockyard 5 9,263,983.0
biggest SL
Total demand (t) attended by 15,409,519.6 Total reclaimed SR3 by stockyard 5 1,228,684.0
smallest SL
Total waiting time for 510.0 Total reclaimed SR3 by stockyard 6 6,130,815.0
tide—mooring at berth 1 (h)
Total waiting time for 707.8 Load at biggest SL with one reclaimer 2,992,652.9
tide—mooring at berth 2 (h)
Total waiting time for 202.4 Load at smallest SL with one reclaimer 4,609,857.6
tide—mooring at unberth 1 (h)
Total waiting time for 387.1 Load at biggest SL with two reclaimers 45,581,548.9
tide—mooring at unberth 2 (h)
Total demand (t) attended by 41,301,089.6 Load at smallest SL with two reclaimers 10,799,652.0
external berth
Total demand (t) attended by 22,682,631.8 Occupation of car dumper 1 61.9%
internal berth
Occupation stacker-reclaimer, SR1 76.5% Occupation of car dumper 2 61.9%
Occupation stacker-reclaimer, SR2 76.9% Occupation of car dumper 3 61.9%
Occupation stacker-reclaimer, SR3 76.5% Percentage of time without interference between the SLs 39.7%
Occupation reclaimer, RC1 41.1% Percentage of time with interference between the SLs 60.3%
Occupation reclaimer, RC2 73.6% Turns of biggest SL for external berth 128.3
Occupation reclaimer, RC3 63.5% Turns of biggest SL for internal berth 128.3
Total stacked by SR1 (t) 23,295,620.6 Percentage of time of biggest SL in the internal berth 14.9%
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe191
GLOSSARY Systemic In this paper, the systemic

approach is used to consider the
Bottleneck A place or stage in a process at existing subsystems.
which progress or expansion is Terminals In this work, a station on the line
impeded. of a transport line where freight
Capacity Actual or potential ability to is received and discharged.
perform, yield, or withstand. Validation The process to obtain a discrete
Iron ore Rocks and minerals from which events simulation model that
metallic iron can be represents how the system
economically extracted. The works and the results accuracy.
ores are usually rich in iron
oxides and vary in colour from
dark grey, bright yellow, deep
REFERENCES
purple, to rusty red.
Planning The act of make a plan. In this
paper the planning refers to a Botter, R.C. (1992) Methods for preparation of stowage plans of
container ships. Doctoral Thesis. University of São Paulo, São
port terminal expansion. Paulo.
Port A place where persons and
Chwif, L. and Medina, A.C. (2007) Modeling and Discrete Events
merchandise are allowed to pass, Simulation. Theory and Applications, 2nd edn, Author Edition, São
by water or land, into and out of Paulo.
a country and where customs Deming, W.E. (1994) The New Economics for Industry, Govern-
officers are stationed to inspect ment, Education, 2nd edn, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
or appraise imported goods. Cambridge.
Service levels Measures the performance of a Gualda, N.D.F. (1995) Transport of terminals: contribution to plan-
system. Certain goals are ning and operation development. Professor thesis. University of
defined and the service level São Paulo.
gives the goals should be Jenkins, G.M. (1972) ‘The Systems Approach. Systems Behavior’,
John Beishon and Geoff Peters (Eds.), Harper & Row, pp. 56–82.
achieved.
Simulation Is the representation of real system Pappu, M. (2001) A Systems Approach to Modern Port Planning and
Management. Department of Marketing and Logistics, University
in the computational of North Texas. Denton, TX
environment with some
UNCTAD (1975) Port Pricing, United Nations Conference on Trade
simplifies. and Development, New York, p. 78.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe191
Wave Effects in the Upper Ocean
Fangli Qiao1,2 and Chuan Jiang Huang1,2
1 The First Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao, China
2 Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, China
wave field to turbulence through complex wave–turbulence

1 Introduction 1 interaction. This has been extensively confirmed by labo-
2 Parameterization of Surface Waves 2 ratory experiments (Cheung and Street, 1988; Babanin and
3 The Upper Ocean Stratification 3 Haus, 2009; Dai et al., 2010), field observations (Anis and
Moum, 1995; Veron, Melville, and Lenain, 2009), as well
4 Currents and Circulations 5
as numerical simulations (Tsai, Chen, and Lu, 2015). It has
5 Diurnal to Interannual Variations 6 also been demonstrated that the predominant mechanism
6 Coastal and Shallow Seas 6 for turbulence generation is caused by the wave–turbulence
7 Conclusions 7 interaction. The enhancement of the background turbulence
Glossary 8 by non-breaking surface waves has been revealed for the first
Related Articles 8 time from in situ observations by Qiao et al. (2016).
In the ocean, surface waves are not totally determined by
References 8
local winds. Rather, mixed wind sea and swell conditions
are typical for the wave field in the open ocean (Chen et al.,
2002). A swell can propagate from its generation area, over
a long distance across ocean basins (Snodgrass et al., 1966;
1 INTRODUCTION
Collard, Ardhuin, and Chapron, 2009). Along its long path of
propagation, the amplitude of the swell gradually decreases,
Ocean surface gravity waves are mechanical waves propa-
in which a significant portion of energy leaks to the ocean
gated along the interface between the atmosphere and the
via wave–turbulence interaction. Thus, even in regions with
ocean with heights of millimeters to more than 10 m, which
weak winds, surface waves can still play a role in the
contribute greatly to the turbulence kinetic energy (TKE)
vertical mixing through the swell, especially in the upper
and the mixing process in the upper ocean. Most of the wave
ocean.
energy is locally dissipated through wave breaking. Measure-
Water particle orbits are not closed in surface gravity
ments revealed that wave breaking causes the TKE dissipa-
waves, which results in a residual current called Stokes
tion rate near the sea surface to be two orders of magnitude
drift. Interactions of the Stokes drift with Coriolis force
larger than that expected from the classical logarithmic
and vorticity generate a Coriolis–Stokes force (Hasselmann,
boundary layer (Agrawal et al., 1992; Drennan et al., 1996).
1970) and a vortex force (Lane, Restrepo, and McWilliams,
Surface waves in the real ocean are inherently nonlinear, so
2007), respectively. These two forces can directly influence
they are not truly potential waves before breaking (Phillips,
the velocity structure near the sea surface. Langmuir
1961). Nonbreaking waves can also transfer energy from the
cells, which are also associated with surface waves, can
directly destroy the near-surface stratification. On the other
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. hand, both the Stokes drift and Langmuir cells belong to
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe088
the motions induced by wave–turbulence interaction. In
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 some studies, the nonbreaking wave-induced mixing is
2 General
attributed to the effects of Stokes drift and/or Langmuir ⎡ ⎤

1∕2
cells (McWilliams, Sullivan, and Moeng, 1997; Teixeira and ⎢ ( ) ⎥

⃗ exp(2kz)dk⃗ ⎢𝜕
Belcher, 2002). Bv = 𝛼 E(k) 𝜔 E k⃗ exp(2kz)dk⃗⎥
2
∫∫ 𝜕z ⎢∫ ∫ ⎥
Wave effects on the ocean and climate have been noticed k⃗ ⎣ k⃗ ⎦
for a long time. However, most studies argued that wave (2)
effects are insignificant because they are believed to be where 𝛼 is a parameter determined using observations or
mainly confined to the near-surface zone. In fact, the strong numerical models, k the wave number, 𝜔 the wave angular
turbulence induced by wave–turbulence interaction, espe- ⃗ the wave number spectrum that can be
frequency, E(k)
cially when the waves considered are long swells, can extend computed from a wave number spectral model, and z the
to tens of meters, or even deeper, in the oceans (Anis upward positive coordinate with z = 0 at the surface. For a
and Moum, 1995). In some regions with weak background monochromatic surface wave, this parameterization can be
currents, such as the extratropical ocean, the vertical mixing reduced to (Qiao et al., 2008),
induced by surface waves is more important than that by the
velocity shear of the mean current for the upper ocean (Qiao Bv = 𝛼Aus0 e−3kz (3)
and Huang, 2012). Moreover, although some mechanisms,
such as the Coriolis–Stokes forcing, penetrate only a small where A is the amplitude of wave and us0 the magnitude of
the Stokes drift at the sea surface.
fraction of the mixed layer, they can substantially influence
It should be mentioned that the attempt to express the
the processes through the whole mixed layer (Polton, Lewis,
surface wave-induced vertical mixing as a function of wind
and Belcher, 2005).
speed (Hu and Wang, 2010; Huang and Qiao, 2010), although
So far, wave effects in the upper ocean have been mainly
simple and practicable, should be inappropriate, because the
studied based on numerical models. However, these ocean
swell, which plays a more important role than wind wave
circulation and climate models are incapable of explicitly
in the subsurface below 40 m, has not been included (Zhao
resolving small scale surface waves. Thus, a parame-
et al., 2012).
terization is needed to incorporate wave effects into
Wave–turbulence interaction in the ocean is related to the
ocean and climate models. Parameterization of surface
complicated coupling among the mean current, wave motion,
waves is reviewed briefly in the following section, and
and turbulence. Understanding of the dynamical processes
an overall review can be found in Ghantous and Babanin
involved remains rudimentary, even with great efforts spent
(2014).
during the past several decades. As the TKE dissipation rate
in the ocean can be directly measured with instruments,
it is feasible to develop an empirical scheme by observa-
tions. Based on this idea, Huang and Qiao (2010) intro-
2 PARAMETERIZATION OF SURFACE duced a parameterization of the dissipation rate induced by
WAVES wave–turbulence interaction, which was given as
Wave energy is transferred to the turbulence field when √ u u2

surface waves are breaking. The strong turbulence induced 𝜀w = 148𝛽 𝛿 s0 ∗ e2kz (4)
L
by wave breaking is mainly confined within the near-surface
where 𝛽 is a dimensionless constant, 𝛿 the wave steepness,
zone (Soloviev and Lukas, 2003). Its effect is usually
and L the wavelength.
incorporated into ocean models by modifying the surface
This parameterization focused on the wave-induced
boundary condition of the TKE prognostic equation. In the
nonlinear modulation on the total Reynolds stress from
scheme of Craig and Banner (1994), it was expressed as
the background turbulence. The parameter was obtained
from field observations, so that it involves mechanisms
F = mu3∗ (1) of wave–turbulence interaction, including the Stokes drift
and the Langmuir cells. Huang et al. (2012a) compared
where m is a dimensionless constant, which is usually set to the measured dissipation rate in the South China Sea with
100, and u* the friction velocity in water. the prediction by this scheme and found the agreement
Based on the Prandtl mixing length, Qiao et al. (2004) satisfactory at most of stations. The field observations in the
analytically expressed the nonbreaking surface wave- North Atlantic by Sutherland, Ward, and Christensen (2013)
induced vertical mixing as a function of wave number spec- also support this parameterization.
trum as follows, and the same expression can be achieved However, Kantha, Tamura, and Miyazawa (2014) claimed
by physical concept (Qiao et al., 2016), that this parameterization had overestimated the turbulence
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe088
Wave Effects in the Upper Ocean 3
generation associated with wave–turbulence interaction. (Weller and Price, 1988; Li, Zahariev, and Garrett, 1995;
Their comments were not appropriate because they confused Kukulka et al., 2009). However, effects of Langmuir cells
wave–turbulence interaction with their so-called Stokes seem to be mostly confined to the initial stages of the MLD
production and set an improper upper bound for the total growth (Skyllingstad, Smyth, and Crawford, 2000). Noh,
Reynolds stress. Goh, and Raasch (2011) argued that Langmuir cells could
significantly deepen the MLD only if the MLD is shallow
and the buoyancy jump across the mixed layer is small. For
3 THE UPPER OCEAN STRATIFICATION a deep mixed layer, effects of Langmuir cells are confined to
the upper part of the mixed layer, while insignificant in the
3.1 Mixed-layer depth low part (Weller and Price, 1988).
Some model results showed that wave breaking could
Conspicuous wave effects in the upper ocean may deepen deepen the simulated MLD in summer (Mellor and
the ocean mixed layer in summer. The ocean mixed layer is a
Blumberg, 2004). Others argued that the mixing associ-
well-mixed turbulent layer with little variation in temperature
ated with wave breaking is insufficient to influence the
with depth. It plays an important role in regulating the global
MLD (Burchard, 2001; Weber, 2008). In fact, although a
climate and its change. The mixed-layer depth (MLD) is
controlled primarily by the turbulent mixing process and large amount of wave energy is dissipated via breaking, its
surface buoyant forcing (Kraus and Turner, 1967). In the induced turbulence, which causes mixing, is mainly limited
summer, the MLD is usually shallow in the extratropical to the upper few meters. Huang et al. (2011) suggested that
ocean due to strong solar radiation along with relatively weak in regions with weak wind and strong surface heating, the
surface winds. mixed layer is usually very shallow. Wave breaking may play
When Langmuir cells appear, they rapidly destroy the a role in the behavior of the MLD, but its effects are very
near-surface stratification, followed by deepening the MLD confined. Under moderate and high wind conditions, the
POM MOM4
30S 30
25
40S
20
Latitude
15
50S
10
5
60S
0
(a) POP (b) CCSM3
30S 30
25
40S
20
Latitude
15
50S
10
5
60S
0
0E 60E 120E 180E 120W 60W 0W 0E 60E 120E 180E 120W 60W 0W
(c) Longitude (d) Longitude
Figure 1. Simulated austral summer MLD deviation (in m) in the Southern Ocean for the case with wave-induced mixing from that without
wave-induced mixing: (a) POM, (b) MOM4, (c) POP, and (d) CCSM3. (Reproduced with permission from Huang et al. (2012b). © Wiley,
2012.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe088
4 General
mixed layer is usually much deeper than the depth affected 3.2 Sea surface temperature
by wave breaking, so that wave-breaking effect is negligible.
The vertical mixing induced by wave–turbulence interac- In conjunction with the MLD deepening, surface waves
tion penetrates down to a depth that is comparable to the play a significant role in regulating the sea surface temper-
wavelength, although it decays rapidly with depth down from ature (SST). In the extratropical oceans with weak currents,
the surface. Therefore, it can affect a depth much greater than changes in the SST is primarily determined by sea surface
that of wave breaking, especially for swells with long wave- heat flux and its vertical transport. In ocean circulation
lengths. Huang et al. (2012b) studied effects of this mixing models, strong mixing induced by surface waves can transfer
on the mixed layer in the Southern Ocean using three oceanic more heat from the surface to subsurface, and the system-
models and a climate model and found that it could signif- atic error of simulated SST in summertime is corrected
icantly deepen the austral summer MLD in all simulations (Figure 2), while in climate models, SST can be increased
(Figure 1). Recently, Fan and Griffies (2014) showed similar due to complicated feedback processes in climate system
results based on another climate model. (Song, Qiao, and Song, 2012). Mellor and Blumberg (2004)
3
60°N
2.5
40°N 2
1.5
20°N 1
0.5
0°
0
−0.5
20°S
−1
40°S −1.5
−2
60°S −2.5
−3
(a) 50°E 150°E 110°W 10°W
3
60°N
2.5
40°N 2
1.5
20°N 1
0.5
0°
0
−0.5
20°S
−1
40°S −1.5
−2
60°S
−2.5
−3
(b) 50°E 150°E 110°W 10°W
Figure 2. The spatial distributions of the difference of the SST between the simulation and the COADS (comprehensive ocean-atmosphere
data set) climatology in February (a) without wave-induced mixing and (b) with wave-induced mixing. (Reproduced with permission from
Qiao et al., 2008. © Elsevier, 2008.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe088
argued that wave breaking can reduce summertime SST simulated seasonal thermocline is improved due to enhanced
when the MLD is relatively shallow. For a deep MLD, vertical mixing by surface waves, in which the temperature
effect of wave breaking seems to be insignificant, while profile is in good agreement with the observation with a
wave–turbulence interaction still plays an important role in maximum bias of 1∘ C.
decreasing the SST (Huang et al., 2011).
The tropical ocean is a region affected by complicated
ocean–atmosphere coupling. In the eastern tropical ocean, 4 CURRENTS AND CIRCULATIONS
surface waves are dominated by swells (Chen et al., 2002),
and the MLD is much shallower than that in the western Strong wave-induced mixing can transport a large amount of
(de Boyer Montégut et al., 2004), so that the effects of heat from the surface layer to the subsurface, which increases
surface waves are significant in the former. Consequently, in the subsurface temperature, then the heat content in the upper
the eastern tropical ocean, the decrease of SST induced by ocean. The sea water expands with heat, which results in
wave-induced mixing is much larger than that in the western. changes of sea surface height. The changes of sea surface
The uneven SST change can regulate the sea-level pressure height are nonuniform in space, which induce changes of
through air–sea interaction, then surface winds and currents, large-scale circulations via geostrophic adjustment. Huang,
which together in turn influence SST as in a feedback loop. Qiao, and Wei (2013) conducted two numerical experi-
Song, Qiao, and Song (2012) analyzed the effect of ments and found that both the western boundary current
wave-induced mixing on the SST in the tropical oceans and the Northern Equatorial Current are enhanced in the
using a climate model. In their model, the simulated SST case with the surface wave-induced mixing, compared with
decreased in the eastern basin, but increased in the western that without wave-induced mixing. In the other numerical
basin with a maximum of up to 1.0∘ C when wave-induced study (Huang et al., 2012b), the wave-induced mixing plays a
mixing was included (“West-Positive and East-Negative” role in regulating the overturning circulation in the Southern
pattern). As a result, the SST tropical bias that commonly Ocean (Figure 3).
bedevils nearly all climate models is much reduced. Surface waves can influence currents in the ocean through
the Stokes drift and its induced force. McWilliams and
Restrepo (1999) argued that surface waves could influence
3.3 Subsurface temperature in the ocean the ocean general circulation through the Stokes drift and
wave-averaged modifications to the boundary conditions.
In summer, a weakly stratified layer, named as the seasonal Using empirical regression formulas, they estimated that
thermocline, usually appears just below the mixed layer in wave effects are more significant at higher latitudes with
the extratropical oceans due to strong solar radiation and stronger winds, and that the Stokes transport is a significant
weak wind, while in winter, the mixed layer deepens and fraction of the Ekman transport in the mid-latitude westerly
the seasonal thermocline disappears due to strong surface wind regime.
cooling-induced convection. The strong mixing induced by
surface waves has an important effect on the distribution
of the temperature of the upper ocean, especially the struc- 0
−5
ture of the seasonal thermocline. Noh (1996) showed that 2
the inclusion of turbulence generated by wave breaking is 0.5

indispensable for the formation of a diurnal or seasonal ther-
Depth (km)
mocline under a stabilizing heat flux. 0

1.0 −3
Qiao and Huang (2012) compared the performance of
vertical mixing induced by vertical shear of the mean current 0
and that by surface waves in the upper ocean through a 3.0 −1
2
numerical model. They argued that the vertical mixing from
vertical shear alone was too weak especially in extratrop- 5.0
ical oceans and failed to produce a reasonable MLD and 70S 60S 50S 40S 30S
Latitude
seasonal thermocline. In the experiment, which discounts the
effects of surface waves, the simulated seasonal thermocline
Figure 3. The deviation of the global meridional overturning circu-
is somewhat shallower and sharper than observed, so that the lation (in Sv) in the Southern Ocean for the case with wave-induced
subsurface temperature is significantly underestimated with a mixing and without wave-induced mixing in the CCSM3. The
maximum bias of up to −4∘ C. When surface wave effects are vertical coordinate is uneven. (Reproduced with permission from
incorporated into the ocean circulation model, however, the Huang et al. (2012b). © Wiley, 2012.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe088
6 General
The Coriolis–Stokes forcing is an important mechanism in The spurious semiannual SST cycle in the equatorial eastern
controlling the dynamics of the upper ocean. Polton et al. Pacific was successfully removed in their numerical experi-
(2005) argued that the Coriolis–Stokes forcing substantially ment with wave-induced vertical mixing, although the ampli-
changes the current profile throughout the whole mixed layer tude of the SST annual cycle was weaker than that obtained
although this forcing penetrates only a small fraction of the by observation (Figure 4).
upper mixed layer in the ocean. Along with changes of SST, the simulation of El
Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was also improved
by surface waves in the experiments of Song et al. (2011).
ENSO is the strongest interannual variation with a 2- to
5 DIURNAL TO INTERANNUAL 7-year period in the climate system. The simulated ENSO
VARIATIONS period from NCAR climate model is only around 2 years
in the case without surface waves, which is in line with
Surface waves play a role in diurnal to interannual variations the previous studies (Collins et al., 2006). In the case with
of the ocean through regulating the upper ocean stratification. surface waves, however, the ENSO period has a broad
A diurnal cycle in heat flux leads to a daily cycle in SST and spectral peak in between 2 and 7 years, with more double
MLD. Janssen (2012) suggested that wave breaking is one of peaks around 3 and 5 years (Figure 5), which is basically
the dominant processes that control the diurnal cycle in SST consistent with observations.
in regions with shallow MLD.
Song, Qiao, and Wang (2011) studied effects of surface
waves on the SST seasonal cycle in the eastern equato- 6 COASTAL AND SHALLOW SEAS
rial Pacific. This region exhibits a pronounced annual cycle
in SST despite the dominance of a semiannual cycle in Surface waves can potentially affect the whole water column,
solar radiation. However, the simulated SST usually shows even the bottom boundary layer, in coastal and shallow seas.
a spurious semiannual cycle with an unreasonable cold Using a numerical model, Gerbi, Chant, and Wilkin (2013)
phase in February and August and warm phase in May and examined effects of the wave breaking on the evolution
December in most climate models (Collins et al., 2006; de of the buoyant plume in upwelling-favorable winds. The
Szoeke and Xie, 2008). Song et al. (2011) revealed that the results showed that wave breaking has nonnegligible effects
surface wave-induced mixing could remedy this problem. on plume evolution. A coastal plume separated from the
28
27.5
27
26.5
SST (°C)
26
25.5
25
24.5
24
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D
Time (month)
Figure 4. The seasonal cycle of the simulated SST in the equatorial eastern Pacific region (110∘ W–90∘ W, 5∘ S–5∘ N) from the case with
wave-induced mixing (dashed line) and the case without wave-induced mixing (solid line). (Reproduced with permission from Song et al.
(2011). © Springer, 2011.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe088
0.16
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
50 4.7917 2.1296 1.369 1.0088 0.7986 0.6609 0.5637 0.4915
Figure 5. Nino3.4 index power spectrum from the case with wave-induced mixing (solid line) and the case without wave-induced mixing
(dotted line). (Reproduced with permission from Song et al. (2011). © Springer, 2011.)
coast became thicker and narrower and propagated offshore mixing plays an important role in the stratification of the
more slowly when wave-breaking effect was included in the coastal and shallow seas, although tidal mixing may some-
model. times be the dominating mechanism at the bottom layer.
Wang et al. (2011) studied the effects of surface waves on Lin et al. (2006) investigated the formation mechanisms
sediment dynamics in a shoal with a water depth of <40 m of a well-mixed warm water column over a 20-m ridge,
and found that the wave–current interaction in the bottom surrounded by stratified cold water. They argued that both
boundary layer could increase the bottom stress, resulting in tidal and wave mixing are important for homogenizing this
strong sediment resuspension. In their model with surface warm water column. Removing either the bathymetric ridge
wave effect, the general features of turbidity maxima or wave-induced mixing has failed to reproduce this process
agreed well with the remote-sensing data. In the absence of in their numerical model. Hu and Wang (2010) suggested that
surface wave effect, the turbidity maxima moved offshore both surface waves-induced mixing and tidal stirring were
with suspended sediment concentration much reduced. They the major dynamical mechanisms for forming the seasonal
suggested that surface waves played a dominant role over and thermocline structure and the cold pool in the middle shelf
above the tides to form the turbidity maxima in this region. of the Bering Sea.
In somewhat deep water, the effects of surface waves on
bottom stress, and thus on sediment resuspension, are still
significant. Wang and Pinardi (2002) examined the dynamics 7 CONCLUSIONS
of coarse and fine sediment transport and resuspension in
the northern Adriatic Sea, with a water depth of 20–100 m. Surface gravity waves play an important role in regulating
Their results showed that wave-driven sediment resuspension the upper ocean stratification and circulation mainly through
is an important resuspension mechanism, and it regulates nonbreaking wave-induced vertical mixing. In the ocean,
significantly the sediment distribution and flux. On the other both the wave breaking and the wave–turbulence interac-
hand, Gargett et al. (2004) found that Langmuir cells play tion can transfer energy from the wave field to the turbu-
an important role in sediment resuspension and transport in lence and enhance vertical mixing in the upper ocean. The
shallow seas. vertical mixing induced by the former is mainly confined to
Wave energy can be transferred via swells to the coast, the near-surface zone on a depth scale of the wave height,
where the energy-carrying swells are dissipated. Rascle et al. while that by the latter penetrates down to a depth, which
(2008) estimated that 2.4 terawatt (TW) of wave energy is is comparable to the wavelength although it decays rapidly
radiated to the shores in the global oceans. Wave-induced with depth.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe088
8 General
The strong mixing induced by surface waves can transport Vertical mixing Processes caused mainly by oceanic
heat from the surface layer to the subsurface layer. In the turbulence destroy sea water
extratropical oceans with weak advections, surface waves vertical stratifications and
reduce the SST and increase the subsurface temperature in homogenize water properties.
ocean models, which can deepen the upper ocean mixed Wave-turbulence Interactions among surface waves,
layer and sustain a reasonable seasonal thermocline in the interaction currents, and turbulence, which
summertime. The swells can travel a long distance across transfer energy to the turbulence.
ocean basins, so that surface waves influence significantly the
vertical mixing and stratification via swells even in regions
with weak or no surface winds. In the equatorial oceans RELATED ARTICLES
with strong atmosphere–ocean coupling, in contrast, surface
waves decrease the SST in the eastern basins but increase the Wave–Current Interaction
SST in the western basins, which can reduce the SST bias in Wave–Ice Interactions
climate models. Wave Boundary Layer in the Lower Atmosphere
Along with changes of the upper ocean temperature,
surface waves can affect the oceanic circulation through
changes of sea surface height and surface winds associated
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe088
Acoustic Emission Techniques and Application
Len Rogers
Assent Engineering Ltd, Farnham Common, South Bucks, UK
1 INTRODUCTION
1 Introduction 1
2 Acoustic Emission 2 It is inevitable that flaws will be introduced into metallic
3 Fatigue Crack Detection in Ship Hull structures, vessels, and machinery during manufacture and
Structure—“Maximum Acceptable” and “Minimum construction and that some of these flaws will escape detec-
Detectable” Defect Size 4 tion. Once in service, if subjected to cyclic stress and/or a
4 Through Life Fatigue Damage Assessment 5 corrosive environment, they become the primary reason why
structures develop cracks, many of which go undetected for
5 Crack Propagation in Damage Tolerant
a variety of practical and logistical reasons. Crack growth
Structures 6
due to fatigue and stress corrosion is normally a slow degra-
6 Crack Life and Damage Assessment: S–N Curves
dation processes up to a point, beyond which failure may
Versus Fracture Mechanics 7
be sudden and catastrophic. Detection as early as possible
7 Detection of Acoustic Emission Associated with Stable during this initial period of stable crack growth is essen-
Fatigue Crack Evolution 8 tial if the consequences of an unexpected failure are to be
8 Location and Grading of AE Sources 9 avoided.
9 Characteristics of Crack Growth—“True” AE This article focuses on the application of in-service
Sources 12 acoustic emission (AE) monitoring for locating fatigue
10 Characteristics of Interference Noise—“False” cracks in ship hull structures and propulsion machinery.
AE Sources 16 It gives the application methodology in a high back-
11 Application on a Navy Cutter 16 ground noise environment, when the loading is usually
12 Machinery Condition Monitoring—Azipod Thrust greatest and damage occurs. The following applications are
Bearings 19 described:
13 Other Marine Applications 21
14 Conclusions 23 1. Global surveillance for fatigue crack detection in ships
and offshore structures.
Glossary 24
2. Detection of incipient fatigue cracks in the rolling
Related Articles 24 element bearings of azi-pod propulsors.
References 24
Other marine applications briefly touched on are (i) detec-
tion of the onset of cavitation erosion in a spade rudder and
(ii) liquid natural gas (LNG) cargo tank secondary barrier
leak location. A new fracture mechanics (FM) approach
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. to fatigue damage assessment and crack life prediction is
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
described, which provides a quantitative basis for the inter-
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 pretation of AE and strain monitoring results.
2 General
2 ACOUSTIC EMISSION microfracture events, it does not solely describe the inten-
sity of the resulting stress waves. This is determined by the
2.1 Analogy to seismic events “power” of the event.
The simplest way to explain the AE effect in metals is to

2.2 Stable crack growth in metals
make the analogy with earthquakes. The sudden relaxation of
strain energy, following a seismic fracture event in the earth’s
The mechanisms by which metals absorb and release energy
crust, and its conversion into elastic stress waves radiating
during stable crack growth are varied and complicated. AE
from the source event, has much in common with the AE
are the elastic stress waves produced during this process.
accompanying stable crack growth in metals. At first sight,
The term “acoustic emission” was first used in mechan-
this might appear surprising, since unlike metals, rocks are
ical testing of metals to describe the faint audible sounds
inherently brittle and are expected to fracture suddenly along
produced during plastic deformation. These faint pulses of
a fault line when the strain energy reaches some critical
sound, extending from audio to high ultrasonic frequencies
value. Metals on the other hand are ductile and able to absorb
as the deformation progresses, were correctly associated with
excess strain energy concentrated at defects and cracks by
slip and the formation of Luder lines, that is, regularly spaced
deforming plastically in a steady and controlled manner.
lines of atomic imperfections on crystallographic slip planes,
However, once the material at the tip of a crack has become
perpendicular to the direction of crack growth. This local
critically work hardened, the metal in this region fractures
work hardening process, which occurs within the plastic zone
like glass.
at the tip of a crack, eventually leads to a crack growth step
It would be totally inappropriate to take the analogy with
through the embrittled zone, the growth being temporarily
seismic events to the point of adopting the Richter Scale as
halted by crack tip blunting at the zone boundary. The stress
a measure of the magnitude of crack growth steps in metals.
waves resulting from crack growth steps are of much higher
Therefore, an AE event Magnitude Scale has been proposed
energy than the discrete plastic deformation events associ-
(Rogers, 2001) defined by:
ated with Luder lines and can be detected over several meters
in typical engineering structures.
Mae = log10 (Δa) (1) Stable fatigue crack growth can occur at stress levels well
below the yield stress of the material. It is a step process
where Δa is the fracture area in microns. On this scale, (Rogers, 2001; Davidson and Lankford, 1992) where each
a 1 μm2 fracture corresponds to magnitude 0 and hence a crack step is preceded by a relatively long period of plastic
1 mm2 fracture event, for example, corresponds to magni- deformation leading eventually to critical embrittlement of
tude 6. This is similar to the Richter Scale where a similar the plastic zone at local fracture instability. The zig-zag steps
expression relates the magnitude of a brittle seismic event are clearly visible on the micrograph of a section through the
to the fracture area in square meter (Rogers, 1998). The crack (Figure 1a). Pronounced striations (Luder lines) are
strain energy release rate for fracture events on the Richter usually evident on the fracture faces particularly of fatigue
Scale is 1018 times more energetic than events with the same cracks (Figure 1b).
magnitude number on the AE event Magnitude Scale. Table 1 Crack steps are around 50 μm in structural steels and are
compares the physical characteristics of the pressure wave “explosive” in nature, occurring with high instantaneous
from a seismic event of magnitude 4 with a micro-fracture fracture velocity around 300 m/s. The resulting short dura-
event during stable crack growth in mild steel of the same tion stress-wave pulses are a measure of the severity of the
magnitude number on the AE event Magnitude Scale. While fracture event and these are of most interest to the struc-
Mae is a convenient scale for quantifying the magnitude of tural engineer, offering the prospect of non-invasive and total
Table 1. Comparison of the physical characteristics of a magnitude 4 seismic event on the Richter Scale with a magnitude 4 microfracture
event on the AE event magnitude scale.
Parameter Seismic Event (M = 4) AE Event in Mild Steel (Mae = 4)
Fracture event area ∼100 m × 100 m ∼100 × 100 μm
Fracture velocity ∼500 m/s ∼250 m/s
Characteristic time ∼0.2 s ∼0.4 μs
Characteristic frequency ∼2.5 Hz ∼1.25 MHz
Wavelength (pressure wave) ∼2 km ∼4.6 mm
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
Acoustic Emission Techniques and Application 3
Crack front and

direction of growth
100 μm
(a) (b)
Figure 1. (a) Microstructure of a fatigue crack in a medium-strength steel with a mean grain size approximately 32 μm, 𝜎 y = 355 MPa,
𝜎 u = 505 MPa. (Reproduced from Rogers (2001). © Lloyd’s Register Group Limited, 2001.) (b) Schematic of fatigue striations of nearly
constant spacing “x” formed on the crystallographic slip planes at the crack tip during plastic deformation before a crack growth step. The
line spacing (around a micron or so) is determined principally by physical properties of the material (Fitzgerald, 1966).
volumetric surveillance of major structural elements. It is not depth (Paris and Erdogan, 1963), considered in the following
surprising, therefore, that AE has attracted and continues to discussion.
attract much interest, as it is one of the few readily measured The cumulative strain energy necessary to achieve local
effects that relate directly to the fracture process. fracture instability over a small distance ahead of the crack
A fatigue crack will initiate at a discontinuity only if the tip (the threshold plastic zone size) is considerably greater
stress concentration is sufficient for the material to yield than that required to produce fracture once the material
over a “threshold” distance ahead of the crack tip. This is critically embrittled. Table 2 gives the relative energy
of plastic deformation events and micro-fracture events
distance is referred to as the threshold plastic zone size for
together with their corresponding characteristic frequencies.
local fracture instability. Cyclic loading leads eventually to
The range of energies is large, from around 10−25 J for slip
critical embrittlement of the plastic zone and local fracture of a single row of atoms 50 μm wide over distance 1.0 μm to
instability, according to the Griffith energy balance criterion around 8 × 10−8 J for a 40 μm crack step and width 80 μm
(Griffith, 1920). The growth rate-determining factor is therein a structural steel. The plastic deformation events are
fore the number of cycle required to critically embrittle the considerably less energetic than microfracture events, even
plastic zone between crack growth steps. This has impor- when the deformation involves slip over many planes of
tant consequences regarding the interpretation of the Paris atoms and the creation of Luder lines. Micro-fracture events
Law that relates crack growth rate to stress range and crack by comparison generate large amplitude stress waves with
Table 2. Calculated energy and characteristic frequency associated with plastic deformation and fracture events in medium-strength steel
(Rogers, 2001).
Physical Event Structural Steel
Energy (J) Characteristic Frequency (𝜈 c )
−25
Slip of a single row of atoms 50 μm wide over distance 1.0 μm 1.2 × 10 0.90 kHz (standing wave)
4.8 × 10−25 3.6 kHz (traveling wave)
Breaking of a single atomic bond between opposing atoms for Mode 1 fracture 1.6 × 10−18 6.0 GHz
Creation of single Luder line of length 50 μm 1.3 × 10−13 0.87 MHz
Crack step 40 μm and width 80 μm for Mode 1 fracture 8.3 × 10−8 3.6 MHz
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
4 General
a “characteristic” high-frequency at source 𝜈 c given by the There is also the logistical support and associated disrup-
fracture velocity divided by twice the crack growth step typi- tion to consider. Even with these methods, the “minimum
cally (280 m/s)/(2 × 40 μm) = 3.5 MHz in embrittled grains detectable crack size” is at best 1–2 mm deep with surface
of medium-strength steel (Rogers, 2001). The wavelength of length around 10 mm, which can translate into 60–80% of
the resulting compression sound wave is around 2 mm, that the fatigue design life compared with a defect-free weld
is, much greater than the crystal grain size and is therefore (<0.25 mm deep crack) (Rogers, 2001).
little affected by grain size during propagation. In practice, periodic through life fatigue crack detection in
It was realized early in the development of nondestructive ship hull structures usually involves a close visual inspec-
testing (NDT) that AE monitoring could potentially over- tion by a qualified surveyor of the fatigue-sensitive detail,
come many of the difficulties associated with crack detec- to reveal surface breaking cracks. This means that the wall
tion in large structures. The method provides information on thickness below the crack (the ligament) has either failed
crack growth rate under service loading and environmental locally or is close to failure, for the crack to have opened
conditions, which is related directly to defect severity and sufficiently to be revealed. It implies that the “maximum
the associated risk to the structure. acceptable defect size” is a crack depth close to the crit-
There are two ways of applying the AE technique for crack ical value for ligament failure. This is acceptable provided
detection and location: that such a crack does not compromise either the residual
strength of the associated structural detail or the leak tight-
1. During a “controlled” overload test, for example, a proof ness of the vessel or lead to brittle failure of the detail at the
test ductile–brittle transition temperature.
2. For continuous in-service monitoring NDT provides only a snap shot in time of the existence
of possible anomalies and no information on their structural
significance. Damage diagnosis and the evaluation of its
3 FATIGUE CRACK DETECTION IN SHIP effect on the structure are separate functions.
HULL STRUCTURE—“MAXIMUM
ACCEPTABLE” AND “MINIMUM 3.2 Acoustic emission monitoring
DETECTABLE” DEFECT SIZE
AE monitoring is the only inspection method capable of
As part of the classification process that a ship in service remote in-service global surveillance of major structural
continues to meet the maintenance requirements of class, the detail for fatigue crack detection. It can overcome many
Condition Assessment Programme (CAP) produced by the of the difficulties associated with crack detection in major
classification authority specifies that hull inspection surveys, engineering structures, guiding inspection, and mainte-
guided by the Structural Design Assessment (SDA) and nance to avoid unexpected failures and enhance availability
Fatigue Design Assessment (FDA) of the hull, shall be without compromising safety. The method locates “acoustic
performed at periodic intervals through life in accordance hot spots” associated with growing cracks and measures
with the Survey and Repair Guide for the platform. The FDA their intensity (severity) with respect to service operating
is primarily an assessment of design, not current condition, (loading) conditions. The source severity is a measure of
and makes no provision for possible anomalies in struc- defect severity and the associated risk to the structure,
tural connections and material quality, and the consequential thus reducing uncertainty in structural evaluation based on
effects on fatigue life. It considers each structural connec- conventional inspection and modeling methods. The aim of
tion, its location, and the ship’s trading/operating pattern to AE monitoring is to determine the state of critical structural
identify where fatigue problems are likely to occur so that detail on the basis of the AE signal characteristics, measured
the through life periodic inspections can be focused on these over a period of time representative of the full range of
areas. dynamic loading of the hull. For a naval ship this is usually,
at minimum, a complete 6–8 months deployment in, for
3.1 Nondestructive testing (NDT) example, the North or South Atlantic.
In NDT, defect determination and the evaluation of its
Fatigue cracks are “tight” cracks and difficult to detect, significance on a structure are separate issues, whereas with
requiring good access and quality industrial NDT, for AE testing and monitoring these are inter-related by the very
example, dye pennetrant, magnetic particle or eddy current nature of the phenomenon. With NDT, it is usual to define
testing for detection, and ultrasonic testing or AC potential a “minimum detectable defect size,” which is determined
drop method for sizing, with the associated uncertainties. experimentally. As AE monitoring relates to crack growth,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
a different approach is required, which considers the stress 4 THROUGH LIFE FATIGUE DAMAGE
level and the crack growth rate. These factors determine ASSESSMENT
the required duration of monitoring. A minimum amount
of growth is necessary for crack detection and evaluation Fatigue damage assessment in marine structures require
purposes, which depends on the “maximum acceptable crack detection of cracks ranging in size from around 10% through
size.” wall thickness in critical welds to a meter or so in surface
Features of AE monitoring which differentiate it from more length at less sensitive locations. Figure 2a shows the
familiar NDT methods of crack detection are as follows: progress of a fatigue crack in a full-scale tubular steel
node joint, such as used in Offshore Production Platforms
1. Growing cracks are detected. (Rogers, 1987).
2. AE activity is correlated with the environmental These joints, as with ship hull structures, are damage
stressing for source severity grading purposes. tolerant and can support a large fatigue crack without seri-
3. An array of passive AE sensors is attached to the struc- ously affecting the load bearing capacity of the associated
ture so as to provide 100% volumetric surveillance. structural element (Stacey et al., 1996). In this example, the
4. Continuous monitoring is necessary for a period of time 360∘ brace weld (wall thickness 32 mm) has been devel-
sufficient to achieve a specified minimum amount of oped into a straight line and the crack surface length and
crack growth for detection and evaluation purposes. This crack depth shown at constant intervals of stressing cycles
depends on the crack growth rate, hence crack depth, from initiation through to failure of the joint. When the crack
and the maximum acceptable defect size, determined depth reached approximately 50% through wall thickness, its
from a structural design and fracture mechanics (FM) critical value corresponding to the fracture toughness of the
assessment. material, the growth moved principally to the sides. At this
5. It is necessary to monitor a structural loading parameter, point, the joint was just 45% into its life, defined as the loss
for example, strain at one or more appropriate locations. of structural stability and imminent failure. The crack depth
6. An FM crack life and damage assessment analysis is in this case is not solely the residual strength determining
usually performed to evaluate AE source significance factor.
with regard to crack growth rate and the associated risk Figure 2b shows the same crack data where the crack
to the structure. depth has been normalized with respect to wall thickness
l /t a /af
1.0 1.0
0.9 0.9
0.8 0.8
0.7 0.7
Crack growth
0.6 0.6
0.5 0.5
0.49
Crack area
0.4 0.4
0.3 0.3
0.2 0.2
0.1333
0.1 0.1
0 0
0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 4.5 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.0
6
(×10 Loading cycles)
(a) (b) (nf )t (nf )a
Figure 2. (a) Fatigue crack development in a full-scale brace/chord node joint from crack initiation to failure, measured by the MPI and
AC Potential Drop method, respectively. (Reproduced from Rogers (1987). © Elsevier, 1987.). (b) Corresponding normalized crack growth
through the wall thickness (𝓁/t) and normalized crack area (a/af ) as a function of normalized loading cycles to failure (n/nf ), where af is the
crack area at failure.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
6 General
and the crack area normalized with respect to the crack area consider the underlying physics of crack growth on an atomic
at failure. Note that the crack area when the depth was 50% scale. The approach provides quantitative expressions for the
through thickness was just 5% of the critical crack area at magnitude of AE events associated with plastic deformation
failure. From this point, crack growth through the thick- and crack growth and the displacement amplitude and spec-
ness slowed considerably as the load was shed to the sides trum of the resulting stress waves (Rogers, 2001). It has led to
driving the growth in these directions. In this example, it a modified Paris Law describing the true nature of the crack
appears the rate of increase in crack area is a better indicator
growth process (Figure 3a and b).
of the residual strength of the joint provided the material
The standard design S/N curves for welds depend on the
remains on the upper shelf of the ductile–brittle transition
temperature curve. type of welded joint and assume defect-free material, that
is, an initial defect size no greater than the threshold size
for fatigue crack growth. The critical crack size is taken as
5 CRACK PROPAGATION IN DAMAGE the crack depth corresponding to failure of the ligament K1c .
TOLERANT STRUCTURES While this approach has proved very effective and reliable
for “crack life” prediction in pressure vessels, it is now
AE monitoring, unlike NDT, is associated with the rate of
generally acknowledged to be excessively conservative for
crack growth which is directly related to the crack depth.
tough, damage tolerant structural elements.
In consequence, its development as an NDT method has
suffered from the absence of a quantitative FM model In such cases, detection of through wall thickness cracking
relating AE to the physical events associated with stable is often regarded adequate for crack detection purposes,
crack propagation. The traditional linear elastic fracture implying that such cracks are acceptable and the crack length
mechanics (LEFM) approach to modeling crack evolution over the surface is the crack life determining factor. There
requires amending to include the stepped nature of the are no hard and fast rules for this philosophy but through
crack growth processes. To achieve this, it is necessary to wall thickness cracking is usually regarded as unacceptable
1E−02 0.1
1 10 100 1000
1E−03 0.01
Crack growth rate dl/dN (mm/cycle)
1E−04 0.001
da/dN (mm/cycle)
Structural steel
1E−05 0.0001
1E−06 0.00001
1E−07 0.000001
−850 mV Fy ≤ 450 MPa
−850 mV Fy > 450 MPa
Ferritic steels in air
1E−08 0.0000001
100 ΔKth 1000
Alternating stress intensity factor (MN/m3/2)
(a) ΔK (Nmm−3/2) (b)
Figure 3. (a) Measured fatigue√ crack growth rate d𝓁/dn for structural steel node joints tested in air and sea water as a function of alternating
stress intensity factor ΔK = Δ𝜎 (𝜋𝓁), including the Paris Law straight line approximations for design purposes. (Reproduced from Sharp
et al. (1995). © Crown Copyright.) (b) Modified Paris Law to account for incremental crack growth from the threshold alternating stress
intensity factor to the fracture toughness (Rogers and Carlton, 2010). (Reproduced from Rogers and Carlton (2010). © Lloyd’s Register
Group Limited, 2010.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
in most cases, for example, floating production platforms and a function of blocks of loading cycles nbf , is then assumed
transportation of hazardous cargos. to be linear, given by a straight line joining the origin to the
An important feature of the AE effect is the relationship point D = 1 at failure (Figure 4). The number of blocks to
between the stress-wave amplitude and the area of the asso- failure is then simply 1/D1 .
ciated fracture event (Rogers, 2001). Therefore, monitoring
a suitable AE intensity parameter can provide an indicator of
the crack life based on the crack area, see gradient of crack 6.2 Fracture mechanics (FM)
area half way into the crack propagation life (Figure 2b).
At this stage in the crack growth process, discrete AE With major structural welds, small surface cracks or
events are readily detected in severe sea state conditions
crack-like defects and discontinuities, of the threshold size
(Rogers, 2001). When the surface crack length becomes the
necessary to propagate by fatigue (around 0.1–0.2 mm), are
life-determining factor, AE source location can be used to
present throughout the welds from the time of construction.
track growth over the surface at a known weld with accu-
It is usual therefore to treat the fatigue life of welded joints as
racy approaching the plate thickness (Rogers, 1994). Global
consisting entirely of crack propagation, on the assumption
AE monitoring, together with the nominal strain at selected
that a defect of the minimum size necessary to propagate
positions on the structure, can allow continued operation of
a fatigue crack will always be present. This is the basis of
a damage tolerant structure with cracks approaching through
the FM approach to predicting crack life from a specified
wall thickness. Remedial repairs may then be scheduled so
initial size to the critical crack depth for the subject class
as to minimize operational disruption without compromising
of weld (Figure 4). In this case, the fatigue life equates to
safely.
the crack propagation life and the damage is defined by
the ratio of the crack depth to the critical crack depth at
6 CRACK LIFE AND DAMAGE ligament failure, that is 𝓁/𝓁 c = 1. This is different to the
ASSESSMENT: S–N CURVES VERSUS damage parameter determined using standard design S–N
curves and the Miner’s Rule, which is a linear function of
FRACTURE MECHANICS
blocks of repeat stressing cycles to failure as illustrated in
6.1 S–N curves Figure 4. Inspection intervals must be such that a crack of the
“minimum detectable crack size” using an appropriate NDT
FDA using standard design S–N curves gives an estimate method will not propagate to the “maximum acceptable
of the minimum fatigue life of different class “defect-free” crack size” and possible failure of the subject detail in the
quality welded joints, tested in air under uniaxial loading and interval of time between inspections. S–N curves are of no
constant stress range (zero mean stress) conditions. While the value in determining the maximum acceptable crack size or
mean minus 2×(standard deviation) S–N curve is represen- the required interval of time between inspections to ensure
tative of the laboratory test data with 95% confidence, it is that fatigue cracks are detected before they become critical.
may be less representative of the quality of welding and NDT New Crack Life And Damage ASsessment software
at the construction site. There is also uncertainty regarding (CLADAS), based on the underlying physics of fracture,
the long-range residual stress in the structure associated with has been developed for predicting fatigue crack growth
fabrication of the hull. In addition, the uniaxial stressing, on (Rogers, 2001). It differentiates between the plastic defor-
which the design S–N curves are based, is unrepresentative mation process preceding crack growth steps and models the
of the in-service loading. In addition, there is the uncertainty true stepped nature of the crack growth process through to
associated with the through life operational profile (loading ligament failure, on a time history cyclic loading basis. Two
statistics) of the platform, used in the FDA. methods are used (i) LEFM where failure of the ligament
Fatigue damage, using the S–N method, is defined in terms is by fracture and (ii) elastic plastic fracture mechanics
of a linear damage parameter D where D = 1 at ligament (EPFM) where failure is by plastic collapse. They are
failure. Using S–N curves, it is only necessary to consider probabilistic FM methods, which allow for the effect of
ranges of cyclic stress to determine the fatigue endurance, uncertainties in the various parameters influencing the crack
that is, number of cycles to local failure of the weld by frac- growth process. They provided the basis for interpreting the
ture or plastic collapse of the ligament. In the case of variable AE and strain monitoring data in terms of crack growth rate
amplitude stress range loading, it is usual to first consider and corresponding crack depth. The software is designed for
one block of cycles, representative of the through life loading engineers unfamiliar with the intricacies of FM, who require
spectrum, and determine the associated fatigue damage “D1 ” a user-friendly tool to investigate the factors affecting fatigue
using the Miner’s Rule. The through life fatigue damage, as damage and its measurement.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
8 General
Increase in crack size from initial crack size lith

0.004 SN damage
=1 at failure
0.0035
SN
0.003
0.0025
0.002
New crack size
0.0015
0.001
0.0005
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Figure 4. Predicted crack growth (units m) in a ship hull weld, from strain gauge data, as a function of “blocks of cycles” to local ligament
failure (𝓁 = 𝓁 c ) and the corresponding damage “D” predicted using the appropriate design S–N curve. (Reproduced with permission of the
author. © Len Rogers.)
7 DETECTION OF ACOUSTIC EMISSION Figure 5b. Two compression wave lobes and four shear
ASSOCIATED WITH STABLE FATIGUE wave lobes are produced, each wave type traveling at a
CRACK EVOLUTION different velocity with different wave propagation and
attenuation characteristics. Mode conversion at the surface
7.1 Initial considerations generates surface waves that propagate with their own char-
acteristic velocity and attenuation. A single event therefore
AE waves are broadband packets of sound energy radiating produces a complex series of waves that change in character
from discrete physical events associated with crack evolution as the sound propagates through the structure. In addition to
in metals. However, the corresponding AE signal from a the complexity of the wave train from a single AE event, the
typical resonant AE sensor is a very convoluted function high frequency end of the power spectrum will be attenuated
of the original wave shape, because of the transfer function most, leading eventually to just plate waves (Lamb waves)
of the sensor and the sound propagation medium. This is surviving in the far field. Hence, in order to maximize the
illustrated in Figure 5a, which shows the true out of plane range of detection of AE, it is usual to choose a sensor which
displacement of a stress wave at a point close to source on the is resonant around the primary Lamb wave modes for the
surface of a test plate, measured using a laser interferometer, test plate. The sensing frequency used will also depend on
and the corresponding signal form a resonant AE sensor. It the maximum acceptable defect size and the background
is very important, therefore, to distinguish carefully between noise level.
the waveform of the stress waves in the material and the burst The first step with an in-service AE monitoring application
signal waveforms generated by the sensor. These often bare is to investigate the background noise and sound propagation
little relationship to each other, apart from the proportionality in the structure in different frequency bands to determine the
of their peak to peak amplitudes close to the source event optimum sensing frequency and sensor placement consistent
(within a few plate thicknesses). with the required “detectability” of AE, in accordance with
The different types of stress wave generated by a EN14584 (CEN Standard EN14584, 2005). All aspects of the
microfracture event are illustrated schematically in scope of work are considered at this stage.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
mV V
350 6
300 4
250 2
200 0
150 −2
100 −4 Slip plane
50 −6
0 −8
−50 −10
−100
Shear wave
−150 Compression wave
−20 −10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 μs
(a) (b)
Figure 5. (a) Comparison of the AE signal from a 0.3-mm Hsu-Nielsen calibration source measured with a resonant sensor (upper waveform
V) and corresponding out of plane displacement using a laser transducer (50 mV = 1.16 × 10−10 m). (Reproduced from Rogers (2001). ©
Lloyd’s Register Group Limited, 2001.) (b) Schematic of shear (transverse) and pressure (longitudinal) wave lobes generated by fracture
along a slip plane at the tip of a crack.
7.2 Choice of sensing frequency amplitude from the standard Hsu-Nielsen source at the same
position. The value of “𝜅,” together with the background
AE sensors are usually of the resonant type, with a response noise level and the sound attenuation curve(s) for the struc-
near the center of an octave frequency band chosen within ture, decides the maximum sensor spacing that can be used
the range 50 kHz to 2 MHz depending on the application. for the test. This shall be consistent with the requirement for
The choice of sensing frequency depends primarily on the detection by a minimum of three suitably positioned sensors
following: for both resolution and location of clusters of AE events asso-
ciated with a growing crack.
1. The magnitude of the microfracture events and the frac- The methodology for determining the maximum allowed
ture velocity. sensor spacing “rmax ” for a specified detectability 𝜅 is illus-
2. The structure geometry, plate thickness, surface coating, trated in Figure 6. It is given by the intersection of the
and surrounding fluid medium. attenuation curve for the Hsu-Nielsen source with an evalua-
3. The character of the background noise. tion threshold Ae , set 𝜅dB above the detection threshold Ad .
4. The attenuation characteristics of the sound propagation The detection threshold is set “X” dB (typically 6 dB) above
medium, with particular attention to welds, geometry, the peak background noise average signal level (ASL). The
cladding, and environment. recommended minimum value of “𝜅” for in-service detection
of stable fatigue crack growth or stress corrosion cracking is
The efficient utilization of sensors has important logistical 18 dB. However, good practice is always to strive for as large
and commercial implications when global surveillance of a value of “𝜅” as possible.
major structural elements is required.
7.3 Stress-wave attenuation, detectability “𝜿,” 8 LOCATION AND GRADING OF AE

and maximum allowed sensor spacing SOURCES
The detectability “𝜅” is a measure of the sensitivity of In-service AE monitoring of oil and gas production plat-
the installed equipment to microfracture events of a speci- forms is well established (Rogers, 2001) and has provided a
fied magnitude relative to the standard 0.5 mm Hsu-Nielsen comprehensive field and laboratory test data base on fatigue
source. The sensor placement shall be consistent with the crack growth AE in structural steel joints, which is directly
required detectability for the test. The detectability corre- applicable to ship hull structures. The following sections
sponds to the difference between the signal amplitude of illustrate the methodology for locating AE sources in high
the smallest AE event that requires detection and the signal background noise and grading the sources in terms of related
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
10 General
A (dBae) Figure 8b. This curve corresponds to the most severe (worst
case) sound attenuation direction in the steel shell structure,
in this case 25 mm plate with one face in contact with sea
Ah water and the other face, the sensing side, in contact with air.
The remaining curves correspond to detectability values of
15 and 30 dB relative to the Hsu-Nielsen source. Different
curves will apply for different materials, component geome-
tries, and sensing frequency bands. These curves define four
Attenuation of Hsu-Nielsen source
bands of signal amplitude a, b, c, and d, corresponding to
different stages in the fatigue crack growth process, from
initiation through to rapid growth close to failure, see related
Ae bands in Figure 8a. The amplitude grading criteria are as
κ follows:
Ad
X
An 1. Band “a” relates to “insignificant” sources.
0.02 m
2. Band “b” relates to the signal amplitudes expected from
r (m) microfracture events occurring at the crack tip during the
rmax early stages of fatigue crack growth.
3. Band “c” relates to crack growth increments involving
Figure 6. Determination of the maximum sensor spacing “rmax ” for the fracture of several crystal grains simultaneously over
a particular detectability “𝜅” using the attenuation curve, in accor- a significant width element on the crack front, expected
dance with EN14584 (CEN Standard EN14584, 2005). (Repro- when the crack is around 20–30% of the critical depth.
duced from Rogers (2001). © Lloyd’s Register Group Limited, 4. Band “d” relates to “major” events which increase in
2001.)
number as the crack approaches the critical depth, corre-
sponding to ligament failure (yielding), and dominate
fatigue damage. They feature results of laboratory fatigue the emission when the crack breaks through wall thick-
testing (Section 4) and long-term monitoring of offshore steel ness.
towers and floating production units as illustrated in Figure 7.
In the above-mentioned case, the maximum range of
8.1 Database detection of events with amplitude 15 dB less than the
Hsu-Nielsen source using the detection threshold 33 dBae is
Before considering an in-service AE monitoring application, 4.0 m, that is, the boundary between “b” and “c” corresponds
it is necessary to investigate the character of the AE that to detectability 𝜅 = 15 dB. In the same way, the boundary
can be expected from stable fatigue crack growth in the between bands “a” and “b” corresponds to 𝜅 = 30 dB. The
subject material, emulating as near as possible the in-service maximum sensor spacing for 𝜅 = 18 dB, that is, a signal
environmental and loading conditions. These data contribute amplitude 18 dB below the Hsu-Nielsen source, is 3.3 m.
to the material data base. The sensing frequency band should
be the same as that intended for use in service. Figure 8a
8.3 Source location in delta-T space and grading
shows laboratory fatigue test results for a tubular welded
according to signal amplitude
joint of BS4360 grade 50C steel at different stages of crack
growth, measured using 150 kHz resonant sensors (Webborn,
The primary method of filtering used to extract crack growth
1979). Note the general increase in signal amplitudes with
AE data from background noise is based on the “sharpness”
increasing stress intensity factor (crack depth), which is the
of the source location clusters in delta-T space. The raw
basis of the amplitude grading criteria.
data is first “clustered” with respect to sensor hit order and
delta-Ts within 4 μs steps, to identify the dominant order
8.2 Amplitude grading of AE sources in relation in which the sensors are hit by the stress waves “sensor
to crack depth through wall thickness using hit order” and corresponding delta Ts. The results are then
the sound attenuation curve tabulated in order of significance. The top 10 clusters for
major AE events detected during storm conditions in the
The sound attenuation curve for the subject structural detail is above-mentioned application, with first hit sensor signal
determined using the Hsu-Nielsen source, for example, see amplitude >80 dBae and hit order 10:9:12:11, are given in
curve defining the boundary between bands “c” and “d” in Table 3.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
Lon
gitu
r dina
de l gir
der
gir
v.
ns
Tra
Column
Bracing
Pontoon
Location of subject Aker H3

cracking
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Figure 7. (a) Aker H3 floating production platform showing location of subject cracking. (b) Close up of through wall crack at clock position
6 in a similar horizontal brace to column joint. (c) View of starboard aft column from just below deck level during storm conditions. (d)
View along major horizontal brace from close to aft port column, during the installation of AE and strain sensors. (b–d: Reproduced with
permission of the author. © Len Rogers.)
The burst data records were clustered with respect to four the AE source can now be graded according to the appro-
sensor hits and the corresponding three delta Ts to ± 4μs. priate amplitude grading criteria for the test. In this example,
The similarity in the delta T sets should be noted. A delta the signal amplitudes fell predominantly within bands b and c
T space location map is then produced (Obata and Bentley, and also extended marginally into band d. This suggested, by
1978). Figure 9 shows results for all data with the sensor reference to the laboratory test data (Figure 8a), that the crack
hit order 10:9:12:11, plotted using the delta Ts derived for was around 30% of the nominal critical crack depth corre-
the sensor pairs 11–9 for the “X” axis and 10–9 for the “Y” sponding to the fracture toughness of the material, which was
axis taking account of the sign. Once the clusters have been subsequently confirmed by UT inspection of the suspect area.
identified, various method are used to locate the source of
the emission in “real” space, for example, Tobias algorithm 8.4 Cumulative AE activity and correlation with
(Tobias, 1976), Apollonius construction, and Weld Mapping load/stress parameters
in delta T space (Rogers, 1994). The more sensor hits the
more reliable the source location. The relationship between the loading and the cumulative
The next step is to plot the AE source signal amplitudes as AE activity is an important indicator of potential damage
a function of distance from source (Figure 10). This shows if (Figure 11). This shows the cumulative burst count for the
the signal amplitudes and source location are consistent with same data as Figure 9, together with the nominal cyclic strain
the sound attenuation curve(s) for the structure. Importantly, in the brace. Both the sharpness of the primary location
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
12 General
100
90
80
Signal amplitude (dBae)

70
100
60 d
60 −4.1 mm c
50
33 −1.3 mm
Burst count
b
50 21 −0.50 mm
40
a
3/2 )
16 /m −0.31 mm
n 33 dBae Threshhold
(M 30
ΔK
12 −0.10 mm
0 6 −0.05 mm 20
20 40 60 80 100 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
(a) Signal amplitude (dBae) (b) Distance (m)
Figure 8. (a) Amplitude distribution of acoustic emission bursts signals for a fatigue crack in a tubular welded joint of BS4360 grade 50C
steel at different stages of crack growth. (Reproduced from Webborn (1979). © Chris Webborn.) (b) Methodology for grading AE sources
from fatigue crack growth according to signal amplitude, for the sensing frequency band 100–200 kHz.
Table 3. Clustered data records with respect to 4 hits and 3 delta Ts to ±4 μs for major events during storms 1 and 2.
Cluster Burst Count Sensor Hit Order Delta T (μs) Burst Amplitude (dBae ) Average Signal Level (dBae )
1 169 10:9:12:11 532:673:776 78.8:54.1:42.2:51.3 34.1:35.5:34.4:32.9
2 112 10:9:12:11 534:680:774 79.2:54.5:42.0:51.7 34.0:35.7:34.5:32.8
3 83 10:9:12:11 532:673:743 81.2:56.2:43.3:53.2 33.8:35.5:33.9:32.8
4 27 10:9:12:11 532:667:722 81.7:56.8:50.5:54.5 33.0:34.5:33.1:31.5
5 27 10:9:12:11 530:677:723 81.0:56.8:50.3:54.0 33.5:33.7:33.4:32.3
6 22 10:9:12:11 539:673:774 80.0:55.1:42.5:52.6 34.6:36.3:35.0:34.3
7 21 10:9:12:11 532:672:724 81.5:56.9:50.4:55.0 33.5:34.9:33.5:33.0
8 18 10:9:12:11 527:673:777 80.2:54.9:42.9:52.8 34.3:37.2:35.0:33.1
9 16 10:9:12:11 530:664:740 81.9:56.6:49.9:54.2 33.8:34.8:33.7:33.0
10 12 10:9:12:11 508:669:725 82.1:57.6:51.0:55.3 34.3:36.8:35.1:32.8
clusters (twin peaks in Figure 9a) and the correlation of the single cycle pulse close to source (Figure 5a). The shape of
AE activity with stress are strong indicators of a propagating the pulse and hence its bandwidth is defined by the size of the
fatigue crack. crack growth step Δ𝓁 c (Rogers, 2001), given by the threshold
stress intensity factor:
9 CHARACTERISTICS OF CRACK √
ΔKth = 𝜎ut (𝜋Δ𝓁c ) (2)
GROWTH—“TRUE” AE SOURCES
9.1 Spectrum √
= ΓE1 (𝜋d1 ) (3)
The characteristic features of “true” AE sources associ-
ated with stable crack extension result from the nature of where d1 and E1 are the interatomic distance and elastic
the source mechanism, which has certain unique features modulus in the direction of slip, Γ a constant close to unity
compared with the background noise normally encountered depending on the crystal lattice structure and local fracture
in practice. The most important of these is the broadband mode, and 𝜎 ut the true ultimate strength of the crystal grains.
character of the stress-wave packet that resembles a sharp Combining Equations 2 and 3 gives the crack growth step in
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
Delta T space plot for

input file = Storm 1 and 2.bjf
1300
1000 1–99
1200
1000 1100
99–198
198–297
1000 297–396
900 396–494
750 800 494–592
750 700 592–690
690–788
600 788–886
500 886–984
(μs)
500 400
500 300
200
Sensors IDs 10–9

100
0
250 250 −100
−200
−300
−400
0 0 −500
1304. 628. 1304. −600
628. −48. −724. −724. −48. −700
−1400 −1400
Channel IDs 10–9 Channel IDs 11–9 −800
−900
−1000
−1100
−1200
−1300
−1200 −1000 −800 −600 −400 −200 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Sensors IDs 11–9 (μs)
(a) (b)
Figure 9. (a) delta T space histogram and (b) corresponding delta T space scatter location plot for a propagating fatigue crack; the major
peaks correspond to the hit order 10:9:12:11.
familiar mechanical properties of the material. extension. In the case of fatigue, this process is accompa-
( )2 nied by crack face friction events resulting from “sticking
ΓE1 and breaking” of points of contact on the newly created unox-
Δ𝓁c = d1 (4)
𝜎ut idised fracture faces at the crack tip. The occurrence of short
duration wave packets in quick succession from a highly
The velocity of fracture is given by Rogers (2001) localized area on the component (the crack) is an important
√ feature for crack detection in high background noise from
vf = (𝜎ut ∕𝜌) (5) machinery, mechanical impacts, and hydrodynamic sources.
where 𝜌 is the mass density of the metal (= m∕d13 for a simple

9.3 Stress-wave attenuation
cubic lattice) and “m” the atomic mass. These parameters
define the characteristic frequency of the stress wave close
As the sound propagates through the material, it experiences
to source given by
1 high attenuation (energy loss) as a result of geometric
𝜈c = (6) spreading of the wave front (from what is essentially a point
2𝜏
source) and “losses” due to interaction with the propaga-
where 𝜏 = Δlc /vf . The magnitude of the event Mae is defined tion medium and surroundings. The high-frequency end
in Equation 1. Substituting suitable values for the material of the power spectrum is affected most. This high attenu-
properties of structural steel into Equations 4–6 gives a ation however can be useful, in support of source location
characteristic frequency around 3 MHz for the compression verification.
stress waves associated with a crack growth step close to its
source. The associated short duration (wide band) pulses of 9.4 Optimum sensing frequency band for crack
sound (Figure 5a) are an important feature of microfracture detection and location
events accompanying stable crack growth in metals.
By the time, the sound has propagated typically 20× plate
9.2 Burst rate thickness, plate waves (Lamb waves) begin to dominate the
wave spectrum. Plate thickness is therefore an important
Another important characteristic of the AE from stable crack factor in determining the optimum sensing frequency for
extension is that microfracture events tend to occur in rapid crack detection when using as large a sensor spacing as
succession over short periods during the process of crack possible. Background noise within the same frequency band
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
14 General
100 crack growth rate. This is given by the modified Paris law
In air A0 = 98 dBae
In water A0 = 95 dBae (Figure 3b):
In water A0 = 75 dBae Δ𝓁c
90 AE source data = C(ΔKj )s m∕cycle (7)
Δnj
80
where C and s are constants that take the values 6.9 × 10−12
Acoustic emission amplitude (dBae)
and 3, respectively, for a ferrite–pearlite steel (Smith, 1979)

70
and ΔKj is the alternating stress intensity factor which takes
discrete values j given by
60 √
ΔKj = 𝛾Δ𝜎n (𝜋𝓁j ) MNm−3∕2 (8)
50 where 𝓁 j = qj Δ𝓁 c , qj = 1, 2, 3… 𝓁 c /Δ𝓁 c and 𝛾 is a factor

depending on the crack shape relative to the compo-
nent geometry. Initially, 𝛾 is close to unity but increases
40
rapidly as the crack depth approaches the critical value
at ligament failure. The crack growth rate therefore
30
depends strongly on crack depth “𝓁 j ” and the nominal
stress range Δ𝜎 n , for example, see experimental data for
fatigue crack growth in full-scale tubular welded node
20 joints (Figure 3a). The different straight lines in this figure
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 define upper bounds to the crack growth rate in air (full
Distance (m) circles) and sea water (open circles) corresponding to the
standard Paris Law relationships for this steel and class
Figure 10. Attenuation curves for an offshore node joint, including
AE cluster data in Figure 8 with hit order 10:9:12:11.
of weld.
The rate of crack growth steps increases by typically three
orders of magnitude as the crack grows from its threshold
as AE, originating from outside the perimeter of the sensor value for valid FM (around 0.25 mm) to the critical depth
array, will be attenuated similar to AE, and therefore the at ligament failure (depending on the fracture toughness of
final choice of sensing frequency is a compromise between the metal) (Figure 3b). This is reflected in the AE activity.
maximizing the signal amplitude and minimizing the effect The growth rate determing factor is the number of cycles Δnj
of background noise. required to critically embrittle the plastic zone between the
crack growth steps Δ𝓁 c .
9.5 Location cluster
The shape and distribution of “location clusters” of AE 9.7 AE activity beyond ligament failure
events in delta T space, using an appropriate mesh size
(typically 4 μs), provide a powerful way of resolving “true” When a fatigue crack approaches the through thickness crit-
sources of AE in high background noise. The example ical crack depth, AE activity is usually very intense even at
(Figure 12) shows raw AE data from a fluid transmission line low cyclic stress, considerably enhancing the detectability.
analyzed using (a) course and (b) fine mesh filters. The fine This condition usually equates to the first visible indication
mesh filter clearly resolves crack growth-related AE from the of cracking on which crack detection during routine surveil-
background noise, in this case, fluid particles impacting with
lance of ship hull structures is often based. It is justified
the inside surface of the flow line.
on the base of the high damage tolerance of the welds and
implies that the maximum acceptable defect size is the crit-
9.6 AE activity ical crack depth corresponding to ligament yielding (failure).
Detection of such cracks by AE monitoring is relatively
AE activity from a source meeting the above-mentioned straight forward, allowing use of relatively large transducer
criteria for a propagating fatigue crack is a measure of the spacing at corresponding reduced cost.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
Cumulative burst count and strain parameters versus time

file = Storm 1 and 2.bjf
8000 4500.00
4200.00
3900.00
7000
3600.00
3300.00
6000 3000.00
2700.00
Cumulative burst count
2400.00
5000
Strain parameter
2100.00
1800.00
4000 1500.00
1200.00
900.00
3000
600.00
300.00
2000 0.00
−300.00
−600.00
1000
−900.00
−1200.00
0 −1500.00
27/01/2002 21:00:00
27/01/2002 23:00:00
28/01/2002 01:00:00
28/01/2002 03:00:00
28/01/2002 05:00:00
28/01/2002 07:00:00
28/01/2002 09:00:00
28/01/2002 11:00:00
28/01/2002 13:00:00
28/01/2002 15:00:00
28/01/2002 17:00:00
28/01/2002 19:00:00
28/01/2002 21:00:00
28/01/2002 23:00:00
29/01/2002 01:00:00
29/01/2002 03:00:00
29/01/2002 05:00:00
29/01/2002 07:00:00
29/01/2002 09:00:00
29/01/2002 11:00:00
29/01/2002 13:00:00
Time
Figure 11. History of AE records and nominal stress range in brace during storm conditions.
Acoustic emission source location map showing activity from potential anomaly and fluid Acoustic emission source location map showing activity from potential anomaly and fluid
5424 Crack 920

5488 912
5488 912 growth
4746 AE 805
4116 4116 684 684

4068 690
2744 3390 456 575

2744 456
2712 460
1372 228
1372 2034 228 345
0 0 199.
121 1356 230
119.
57. 39.
−7. 199.
s
121. −40.
D
119.
D
−72. 57. 678 115

lI
39.
lI
−7.
ne
−120. −40.
e
−136. −72. −120.

nn
n
−136. 1 63–6 1
63–6
ha
−200.−200. −200.−200. nel IDs

ha
0 0
IDs Chan
C
nnel
Cha
(a) (b)
Figure 12. Delta-T space representations of data using (a) course and (b) fine mesh filters, showing how crack growth AE is resolved from
(in this case) fluid noise using a fine mesh filter.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
16 General
10 CHARACTERISTICS OF and test procedure, background noise is generally not prob-

INTERFERENCE NOISE—“FALSE” lematic, as illustrated by the ASL values in Table 2. These
AE SOURCES data were obtained on a column brace node joint in the
wave splash zone during storm force 10 conditions in the
The most frequently encountered “false alarms” in AE moni- Northern North Sea. Real time cluster and filter algorithms
toring result from sources that exhibit one or more of have become a standard feature of multichannel AE data
the characteristics of growing cracks. These include the acquisition systems for fatigue crack detection in varying
following: background noise conditions (Rogers, 2001).
1. Welds of poor quality with innocuous nonmetallic

inclusions that can fracture/disbond under cyclic stress
11 APPLICATION ON A NAVY CUTTER
without developing a crack.
2. Localized fretting/abrasion/friction at contact point(s)
11.1 Background
between components within the perimeter of the sensor
array.
As part of the USCG Ship Fatigue Validation Project
3. Friction between two components as a result of relative
“VALID,” the gas turbine intake structural segment of a
movement due to vibration or differential thermal expan-
new (first of class) platform was selected for AE and strain
sion, for example, at pipe support saddles.
monitoring. The subject segment, between the 01 and 02
4. Repetitive impacts of loose parts or from particles/liquid
levels (Figure 13), extended from Frames 44 to 46. Regions
droplets impacting at the same point/area on a structure.
of this segment had been identified as potentially fatigue
5. Occasional use of mechanical tools or localized abrasion
sensitive. The objective of the AE monitoring was to provide
of the metal surface during maintenance work; however,
global surveillance of the subject segment to detect evidence
such work is not usually undertaken when the structure
of fatigue damage. The AE sensors were located at the
or vessel is in operational service and the loading is most
corners of the three bulkheads making up the segment. In
severe, for example, storm conditions at sea.
addition, strain transducers LC1–LC6 were positioned at the
6. Disbonding and fracture of brittle coating and corrosion
02 level symmetrically about the major axis of the hull to
products.
measure axial strains (Figure 14).
7. Opening and closing of metal latches associated with
water tight bulkhead doors.
8. High-pressure leaks and certain low-pressure leaks 11.2 Preliminary results
depending on size.
Monitoring was continuous from 16 January to 17 August
Background noise sources can usually be identified and 2009. It included the VALID test program of ship maneuvers
rejected on the basis of their location cluster characteris- in the Bering Sea.
tics in delta T space, as described earlier. Such filtering,
to a degree, is usually incorporated into the data acquisi-
tion system. If the AE source is outside the perimeter of 11.2.1 AE measurements
the sensor array, the noise may be rejected directly by allo-
cating a “guard” sensor to the source and invalidating the Three sources of AE were detected, identified by the sensor
sound on the basis of sensor hit order. By the careful place- hit orders 1:2:4:3, 3:4:2:1, and 10:11:9:2. The burst emis-
ment of sensors on the component, guard sensors may still sion rate and signal amplitudes were consistent with possible
be used for the detection and location of “true” sources of microcracking associated with incipient fatigue, but being
AE, provided that they always appear further down the hit a new Platform, the results could also be explained by
order in the burst record descriptor. However, if the back- the natural stress relieving (shake-down) of innocuous weld
ground noise is continuous as monitored by the ASL, see defect. The AE sources did not warrant investigation by NDT
final column of figures in the cluster data listing (Table 3), at the time. Source 10:11:9:2 located close to strain gauge
and exceeds the detection threshold, then leading edge burst LC4, which was approximately 300 mm directly FWD of a
(LEB) detection and timing is no longer possible. If the peak fatigue damage sensor (Nihei et al., 2010) on the same inside
AE signal still exceeds the background noise then peak detec- surface at the 02 level, see black rectangular patch behind
tion and timing may still be possible. This feature is usually strain gauge LC4 on the left-hand side of Figure 13b, the
incorporated as backup in the event of fluctuating extreme latter being directly below a strain gauge FS13 located on
background noise. Using appropriate monitoring equipment the outside surface at the 02 level.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
5
4 FWD
3 6
13
8
7
14
02
9
16
15
10
12 01
11
(a) (b)
Figure 13. (a) Isometric of subject gas turbine intakes showing the acoustic emission sensor positions 1–16 and (b) view from inside the
Stbd segment looking AFT (strain gauges LC4 and LC3 on the underside of the 02 level are visible to the left and right of the center of the
picture). (Reproduced with permission of the author. © Len Rogers.)
S2
S1
S10
S9
LC1
LC2
LC5
LC3
LC4
(a) LC6 (b)
Figure 14. (a) Detail at 02 level showing positions and orientation of strain gauges LC1–LC6 and (b) strain transducer LC5 and AE sensor
S5 viewed from inside the gas turbine intake, Port. (Reproduced with permission of the author. © Len Rogers.)
11.2.2 Strain 11.2.3 Fracture mechanics analysis

The measured dynamic strains at Level 02 on gauges LC5 LEFM crack growth predictions (Rogers, 2001) for the
and LC6, located close to predicted stress hot spots, were period July 2009 to December 2012 were made for other
consistent with the peak principal stresses calculated as strain gauge data in the same general area, identified FS1,
part of the original SDA, assuming a linear relationship FS2, and FS13 (Figure 15). The input data comprised
between the measured nominal dynamic strain and the wave monthly stress amplitude/cycles rain flow count histograms
height. using 1 MPa bins. The results were compared with the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
18 General
Increase in crack size from initial crack size lith

0.000278
0.000276
0.000274
0.000272
F36S13
0.00027 F47S1
F47S2
0.000268
0.000266
0.000264
7
2
_0
_0
_0
_1
_0
_1
_1
_1
_0
_0
_0
_0
_0
_0
_0
_0
_1
_1
_1
_0
_0
_0
_0
_0
_1
_1
_1
09
09
09
09
10
10
10
10
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
Figure 15. Calculated monthly crack growth (units in meter) associated with each strain gauge FS1, FS2, and FS13 for the period July
2009 to December 2012, using the CLADAS v2-2.
When the loading cycles experienced by the platform is

statistically representative of the operating profile, a crack
life prediction can be made based on the number of repeating
blocks of such cycles to failure, defined by crack depth
𝓁 = 𝓁 c (see Figure 4). The figure shows predicted crack
life for strain gauge FS1 as a function of block number,
where one block comprises the stress history for the period
August 2009 to December 2012. Table 4 gives the calcu-
lated cumulative damage at different strain gauge position
for this period, together with the corresponding crack life
(number of blocks to failure). For the case of repeating
blocks of loading cycles, the LEFM analysis with the stan-
dard default parameters (Figure 16) predicts the same fatigue
Figure 16. LEFM default parameters used in the crack growth
life as the corresponding design S–N curve, as illustrated in
prediction for gauge FS1.
Figure 4.
The LEFM analysis, assuming an initial crack depth of
corresponding fatigue damage predictions using appropriate 2.64E−04 m, predicted that around 5% of the fatigue life
design S–N curve. Standard CLADAS LEFM default param- of the subject structural detail at strain gauge positions LC5
eters for the hull steel were used in the crack life predictions and LC6 was used up between August 2009 and July 2011.
(Figure 16), with the appropriate stress concentration factor This equated to crack growth of 0.025 mm from an initial
Kt and plate thickness “t” parameters. This gives an “effec- depth of 0.264 mm, which is less than one crack growth
tive” crack growth, proportional to the plastic deformation
step. If the initial crack depth was 1.36 mm (representative
damage. The “true” crack growth corresponds to crack
of the minimum detectable defect size using industrial NDT
growth step occurring at the points of local fracture insta-
bility, defined by the threshold alternating stress intensity practice), then around 14% of the fatigue life would have
factor. Use of the modified Paris Law (Figure 3b) is therefore been used up, corresponding to crack growth of 0.30 mm
required to reflect more closely the true crack growth and or eight crack growth steps. Such growth should be readily
progressive damage process in the LEFM analysis. detected by AE monitoring.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
Table 4. Calculated cumulative damage for the period August 2009 to December 2012 (taken to represent one block of loading cycles)
and predicted crack life (number of blocks to failure).
Stain Gauge Weld Class SCF Kt Plate Υ(𝓁 c /T) lc (m) Crack Cumulated Blocks to
Thickness Growth Damage Failure
T (m) Δl (mm) (Δl + li )/lc
FS1 F 1.45 0.008 2.122 0.00321 0.013 0.0863 27
FS2 F 1.45 0.008 2.122 0.00321 0.007 0.0844 50
FS13 D 1.10 0.016 1.703 0.00500 0.001 0.0530 305
12 MACHINERY CONDITION the high-strength steel used in large azipod thrust bearings
MONITORING—AZIPOD THRUST (around 1500 MPa) gives a threshold crack size of just 5 μm.
BEARINGS The characteristic frequency of stress waves generated by
microcracks of this size is high. Detection therefore requires
12.1 Background an array of high-frequency resonant sensors, band width typi-
cally 0.5–1 MHz, positioned around the bearing perimeter, as
One of the earliest industrial applications of resonant piezo- close to the outer raceway as possible (Figure 17b). It is usual
electric transducers, similar to those used in AE testing, was to position “guard” sensors outside the perimeter of the array
for bearing condition monitoring. Demand for higher sensi- to identify other sources of AE in the body of the bearing
tivity to incipient fatigue damage in large heavily loaded housing, such as fretting at contact faces with securing pins
and dowels and from hydrodynamic turbulence. When the
rolling element bearings has lead to the development of AE
guard sensors are the first hit sensors of the array, the stress
monitoring for the detection of incipient fatigue (microc-
waves may be associated with less significant events and
racks) in large marine engine azipod propulsors (Figure 17a).
prevented from interfering with the AE data and diagnosis of
An incipient fault in a rolling element bearing will create
bearing condition. Combining AE source location and spec-
a series of sharp pulses of sound with amplitude depen-
trum analysis of the associated time-domain waveform has
dant on the size of the fault and its rate of development. allowed detection of incipient microdamage to the various
The rolling elements of azipod thrust bearings are manufac- working faces of the bearing. This has been achieved under
tured from zone-refined high-strength steel, where inclusions variable ship speed and loading conditions, before metal
of size greater than a few micrometers are rarely tolerated. loss was evident in the bearing lubricant. However, the time
For example, the threshold size for such inclusions should domain waveform sampling must be done when the source
not be greater than Δ𝓁 c given by Equation 4 and is deter- is active. Spectrum analysis of the envelope signal will then
mined primarily by the true ultimate strength of the steel reveal which of the characteristic frequencies of the bearing
𝜎 ut . The same equation gives the threshold crack size and is being excited and hence the component parts of the bearing
growth step for fatigue. Substituting appropriate values for that are damaged.
6 1
5
2
4 3
(a) (b)
Figure 17. (a) One ring of a twin tapered rolling element bearing from a propulsion pod (Reproduced with permission of the author. ©
Len Rogers) and (b) plan of bearing housing showing AE sensor positions, numbered 1–8.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
20 General
12.2 Results body of the thrust bearing. Similar results were produced for
the radial bearing, in this case associated with fretting at four
The following results relate to azipod thrust bearings with alignment dowels. In the latter case, the activity switching
different types of damage. The bearings were of the spher- between dowels depending on the loading and azipod angle.
ical rolling element type, see one ring of rollers from a thrust The periodicity of such signals coincided precisely with
bearing (Figure 17a). Six sensors, numbered 1–6, were posi- the rolling element to outer raceway passing frequency, see
tioned symmetrically around the perimeter of the bearing envelope function and corresponding spectrum (Figures 19a
as close to the outer ring as possible (Figure 17b). Two and 20a). In all cases, the sources were subsequently traced
further “control” sensors, numbered 7 and 8, were positioned to fretting damage to components in the bearing housing and
diametrically opposite each other, on the pod casing. not the working faces of the bearings.
12.2.1 Source location in delta T space

12.2.3 Fatigue damage on inner raceway
AE source location normally implies the determination of
The delta T space source location plot (Figure 18b) shows
the source coordinates on a 2D representation of the object
results for a seriously damaged thrust bearing inner raceway,
under investigation. A less familiar method is to locate the
obtained with the engine shutdown and the shaft rotating
AE sources in “time space” or more correctly “delta T space”
freely at −28.5 rpm. At the time, the ship was sailing dead
by the method described earlier. The latter has the advantage
that clustering of AE events in a complex 3D solid geometry ahead on the one working engine, at around 15 knots. In this
object can be displayed without recourse to mathematical case, the AE activity was confined to the load zone between
modeling and assumptions regarding wave type and velocity. sensor positions 3 and 4, with the epicenter just beyond
A coordinate system is used where the “X” and “Y” axes sensor 4. The corresponding spectrum of the time domain
correspond to delta Ts for specified sensor pairs, for example, waveform (Figure 20b) shows a strong line at precisely the
time to sensor “i” minus time to sensor “j” on the X axis inner raceway to rolling element passing frequency and its
versus time to sensor “k” minus time to sensor “l” on the harmonics. The side bands around these lines, spaced at the
“Y” axis, with due consideration to the arithmetical “sign” of rotational speed of the shaft, reflected the modulation of
the results. signal amplitude produced when the damage is on the inner
raceway as it passes through the load zone.
The time domain signal (Figure 19b) is a result obtained
12.2.2 Undamaged bearing with metal fretting
source in the housing on a similar bearing at a much earlier stage in the damage
process, before the appearance of metal particles in the
Figure 18a shows the clustering of AE events in delta T bearing lubrication system. The modulation at 1 × rpm, indi-
space, coincident with an outer raceway securing pin in the cated a discontinuity on the inner raceway, revealed at each
Input file = POD2_LEB_arr1_01.flt. Chart DT2D_POD2_arr1_flt01

1000 144–215 215–286 286–357
357–428 428–499 499–570
900 570–641 641–712
400
800
Clock Pos. 2
700
300 1
600
500 2
200
400 6
300
1 100
200 6
100
0 3
0 5 2
−100
−200 −100
4
−300
3
−400 −200
4 1–170
−500 170–339 5
8 339–508
−600 508–677 −300
677–846
−700 846–1015
1015–1184
−800 1184–1353 −400
1353–1522
−900 1522–1691
−1000
−1000 −800 −600 −400 −200 0 200 400 600 800 1000 −400 −300 −200 −100 0 100 200 300 400
(a) Sensors IDs 4–2 (μs) (b) Sensors IDs 5–3 (μs)
Figure 18. Location of AE activity in delta T space (a) for a source in the housing outside the perimeter of sensors 1–6, near the “control”
sensor 7, and (b) a bearing with damaged inner raceway. The numbers correspond to the sensor positions.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
(a) (b)
Figure 19. Predicted (Angelo, 1987) and observed waveforms for (a) fretting source in the bearing housing and (b) incipient fatigue damage
to the inner raceway. (Reproduced with permission from Angelo (1987). © Brüel & Kjær Sound & Vibration Measurement A/S, 1987.)
2.5 7
6
2
5
Sensor 5 Sensor 4
1.5 4
File: T3_P4_11_S5.xls
dB
File: Mil2_Prt_04_S4_xls
dB
1 3
2
0.5
1
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
(a) Hz (b) Hz
Figure 20. Signal waveform spectra showing (a) resonance at 17.6 Hz corresponding to the rolling element to outer raceway passing
frequency at a shaft speed of 13.2 rpm and (b) resonance plus harmonics with side bands at 5.2 Hz corresponding to the rolling element to
inner raceway passing frequency at a shaft speed 10.95 rpm.
revolution as the inner race entered and left the “load zone.” 13 OTHER MARINE APPLICATIONS
A small but distinct resonance was observed in the spec-
trum at 10.97 × rpm, the roller to inner raceway passing 13.1 Cavitation erosion
frequency. This was the only line to coincide with any
of the characteristic rotational frequencies of the bearing, Propeller-tip-vortex cavities, imploding on the ship’s rudder
suggesting minor damage to the inner raceway. Approxi- and other appendages including the propeller blades, are
mately 7 weeks after this result, the first indication of metal intense source of AE. They lead to metal surface fatigue
particles in the bearing’s lubrication was detected by the damage under certain conditions and can result in instanta-
ship’s metal-scan system. When the bearing was eventually neous fragmentation of the metal crystal lattice, with rapid
replaced, the damage was confined to a small localized area erosion consequences. This is due to the power of the
on the inner raceway. imploding cavity, given by (water jet pressure) × (contact
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
22 General
area) × (particle velocity). For example, a cavity of diam- located at the top of the rudder stock could indicate the onset
eter 100 μm imploding on a metal surface at the velocity of of cavitation damage and provide a historical record of the
sound in water (a possible upper limit corresponding to the associated engine operational profile for the platform.
enthalpy of a water molecule) equates to a 2.2-GPa pressure
pulse and power 2.6 kW. Instantaneous fragmentation of the
lattice occurs if the water particle velocity exceeds a critical 13.2 LNG cargo tank secondary barrier leak
threshold value given by Fitzgerald (1966) detection and location
( )1∕2
𝜎u mt Of the various types of LNG cargo tank containment,
v′f = × (9) Moss, Membrane and SPB, the following application
𝜌t mw
applies to Membrane Mk III or CS1 types, with bonded
where 𝜎 ut , 𝜌t , and mt are the ultimate strength, mass density, (glued) secondary barriers of metal/fiber-composite layered
and atomic mass of the target, respectively, and mw the construction. Instances have arisen where the secondary
mass of a water molecule. In the case of a medium-strength barrier leak tightness has been compromised in service as
steel 𝜎 u = 680 MPa, Equation 9 gives a threshold velocity of a consequence of, for example, thermal loading. The fluid
910 m/s, corresponding to a water pressure of 830 MPa. A leaks of practical interest are usually turbulent such that the
cavity of diameter 100 μm imploding at this pressure has an pressure difference across the leak communicates kinetic
associated characteristic time 𝜏 = 0.110 μs and characteristic energy to the fluid and structure. This is true of the efflux
frequency 𝜈 c = 1/2𝜏 = 4.55 MHz. The resulting force on the of gas from a small orifice, even at low-pressure difference
metal surface over the contact area is 10.6 N. If the same (<100 mbar).
pressure was exerted over a circular area of diameter 500 μm, The AE method for locating secondary barrier damage
the resulting force would be 265 N or 48 dB greater than that (leakage paths) in LNG membrane containment tanks is
produced by the standard 0.5 mm in diameter Hsu-Nielsen standard industry practice. Global surveillance is performed
calibration source (≅1 N). using multichannel AE source location instrumentation
AE burst signals from rudder cavitation, of amplitude during a standard leak tightness test of the secondary barrier
130–140 dBae , have been measured at the top of a spade containment. This test involves creating a partial vacuum,
rudder stock (Figure 21). These signals are around 30 dB typically 500 mbar absolute, on one side of the secondary
greater than the 0.5 mm Hsu-Nielsen source and, after barrier while maintaining the pressure at atmospheric on
allowing for sound attenuation in the rudder, correspond the opposite side. The AE sensors are attached temporarily
to around 160 dBae . It was concluded that a single sensor to either the inside or the outside faces of the containment
Port sensors, 2 s sample, 5 min into 1st FO8, File 90B-8_04Apr13 20:50:20 AE1
140 AE2
AE3
AE4
120
AE signal amplitude (dBae)
100
80
60
40
20
1 21 41 61 81 101 121 141 161 181 201 221 241
Time (in units of 8.2 ms)
Figure 21. AE peak signal waveforms measured at the top of a spade rudder using different frequency response sensors from 100 kHz to
1 MHz; the signal periodicity corresponds to the propeller blade passing frequency.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
RMS signal level

18–20
S11
16–18
14–16 S9
12–14
S7
10–12
8–10 S5
6–8
S3
4–6
2–4 S1
0–2 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25
Horizontal distance half element steps
Figure 22. Acoustic field in area with either possibly three leaks or a complex leakage path.
depending on accessibility and the AE monitored as the 6. The through life inspection and maintenance strategy for
pressure increases naturally due to the leak. Significant the Platform can be optimized by:
leakage sources can be located within ± 1.0 m in this way. (a) Focusing NDT resources on the areas of most signif-
Once located, the method of acoustic field mapping provides icant AE activity for damage verification and crack
a high-resolution contour map of the sound amplitude sizing purposes.
over the surface, giving the epicenter of the source(s) and (b) Scheduling maintenance according to the AE activity
information on the leakage path (Figure 22). These measure- and operational stressing of the platform to minimize
ments are made manually at regular spaced points over the maintenance costs.
surface, using an AE sensor operating in the frequency band (c) Improving platform availability by avoiding unex-
20–40 kHz. pected structural failures and unnecessary long shut-
downs.
14 CONCLUSIONS
14.2 Machinery condition monitoring
14.1 Structural condition monitoring
1. Combining AE source location and spectrum anal-

1. AE monitoring can provide global surveillance of major ysis of the associated time-domain waveform has
structural detail for early detection of active cracks and allowed detection of incipient microdamage to the
monitoring damage evolution through life. rolling elements and raceways of marine azipod thrust
2. Sources of AE activity are located and graded in terms of bearings.
related crack growth rate and hence approximate crack 2. Spectrum analysis of the time domain envelope signal
depth through the thickness of the plate, by reference to at the time of the AE activity reveals the characteristic
an experimental fatigue test data base for the steel. frequencies of the damaged component part(s) of the
3. The method sheds new light on the fatigue endurance bearing, for example, inner and outer raceways, rolling
of fatigue-sensitive detail by signaling active cracks and elements, securing pins, and dowels.
other damage before they are revealed by current inspec- 3. Damage has been detected before metal loss is evident in
tion practice. the bearing lubricant. However, the time domain wave-
4. When combined with strain monitoring at suitable loca- form sampling must be done when the AE source is
tions in the structure, the crack growth can be modeled active, that is, during associated ship manoeuvers and
as a function of the strain energy input to the platform speeds.
(cumulative cyclic loading) to predict the crack propa- 4. An array of six 600 kHz resonant AE sensors with
gation life for the weld detail under consideration. 0.5–1 MHz band pass filtering has provided good reso-
5. The fatigue life prediction is updated through life from lution of AE sources from bearing damage in high
the platform structural response profile, obtained from background noise from propeller cavitation and other
the strain data. sources.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
24 General
GLOSSARY CEN Standard EN14584. (2005) Non-Destructive Testing—Acoustic

Emission—Examination of metallic pressure equipment during
proof test—Planar location of AE sources.
Acoustic Phenomenon whereby transient elastic
Davidson, D.L. and Lankford, J. (1992) Fatigue crack growth in
emission (AE) waves are generated by e.g. plastic
alloys and metals—mechanics and micromechanisms. Interna-
deformation, crack propagation, tional Materials Review, 37, 45–76.
corrosion, erosion, leakage. Fitzgerald, E.R. (1966) Particle Waves and Deformation in Crys-
Metal fatigue Steady embrittlement (plastic talline Solids, Interscience Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, New
deformation) of crystalline grains York and London.
within a metal under the action of an Griffith, A.A. (1920) The phenomenon of rupture and flow in solids.
applied nominal cyclic stress less than Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series
the yield strength of the metal. A, 221, 163–198.
Crack life Fracture mechanics modelling of plastic Nihei, K., Muragishi, O., Kobayashi, T., Ohgaki, K., and Umeda,
prediction deformation and the accompanying A. (2010) Remaining life estimation by fatigue damage sensor.
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers—Bridge Engi-
discrete crack growth steps from
neering, 163 (Issue BE1), 3–11.
initiation to ligament failure.
Obata, Y. and Bentley, P.G. (1978) Acoustic Emission Test on a
Hull structure In-service crack location in structural 1Metre Diameter Pressure Vessel with a 60% Artifical Defect, 4th
integrity segments of floating production International Meeting on Acoustic Emission Testing, Tokyo.
platforms and naval ships. Paris, P. and Erdogan, F. (1963) A critical analysis of crack prop-
Azipod bearing In-service detection of incipient fatigue agation laws Journal of Basic Engineering. Transactions of the
condition damage in the radial and thrust American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 85, 528–534.
bearings. Rogers L.M. (1987) Monitoring Fatigue in Offshore Structures, 4th
Leak detection Leak location during leak tightness European Conference on NDT, London, pp. 2961–2977.
testing of LNG cargo tank secondary Rogers, L.M. (1994) Sizing fatigue cracks in offshore struc-
barrier containment using bonded tures by the acoustic emission method. The British Institute of
Non-Destructive Testing INSIGHT Journal, 36 (9), 661–665.
metal/fibre composite layered
construction. Rogers L.M. (1998) Acoustic Emission from Cleavage Fracture
Events and Fluid Leakage, 23rd European Conference on Acoustic
Emission Testing, Austrian TUV, Vienna, May 1998.
Rogers, L.M. (2001) Structural and Engineering Monitoring by
RELATED ARTICLES Acoustic Emission Methods—Fundamentals and Applications,
Lloyd’s Register Technical Investigations Department, London.
Modes of Fracture Rogers L.M. (2001) Consolidation of Classical Fracture Mechanics
NDT Methods and Particle Wave Mechanics as a Basis for the Interpretation of
Ship Board CM AE Monitoring Results Assent Engineering Ltd, Technical Article
Detailed Structural Design Ref. AE249.
Fatigue and Fracture of Ship Structures Rogers, L.M. and Carlton, J.S. (2010) The Acoustic Emission Tech-
Measurements and Structural Monitoring nique: Applications to Marine Structures and Machinery, Proceed-
A Brief Review of Structural Health Monitoring with Special ings Lloyd’s Register Technology Days 2010, Lecture, pp. 85–108.
Focus on Damage Detection and Sensor Optimization Sharp, J.V., Stacey, A., and King R.N. (1995), Fatigue crack growth
rates, Offshore Research Focus, ISSN 0309-4189, No. 107.
Fracture Mechanics Modelling for the Integrity Assessment
of Jack Up Tubular Members Stacey, A., Sharp, J. V., and Nichols N. W. (1996) Static Strength
of Cracked Tubular Joints, Proceedings of the 15th International
Fatigue Conference on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, Vol.
Fatigue Life Extension 3, Materials Engineering, pp. 211–224.
Inspection Strategies Tobias, A. (1976) Acoustic emission source location in two dimen-
Inspection, Monitoring, Maintenance and Repair sions by an array of three sensors. Non-Destructive Testing, 9 (1),
Riser Fatigue 9–12.
Smith, R.A. (1979) An introduction to fracture mechanics for engi-
neers Part II: using the stress intensity factor to characterise frac-
ture and fatigue crack growth. International Journal of Materials
REFERENCES in Engineering Applications, 1 (4), 227–235.
Webborn, T.J.C. (1979) Stress Wave Emission from Structural Steels
with Particular Reference to Offshore Structures, Department of
Angelo, M. (1987) Vibration Monitoring of Machines, Technical Metallurgy 7 Materials Science, Imperial College, London.
Review No. 1, Bruel & Kjaer, Denmark.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe161
Vibration Analysis in Marine Applications
Gerald Rolfe1 and Svetoslav Staykov2
1 SKF (UK) Limited, Luton, UK
2 SKF Bulgaria, Sofia, Bulgaria
maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) interventions in

1 The Trend Toward Use of CBM in Marine 1 service, in order to maximize the availability and utilization
2 Challenges for Use of Vibration Analysis of their fleets.
in the Marine Industry 2 For the marine industry this is creating a trend toward
3 Main Benefits of Using CBM in Marine 3 the use of condition monitoring (CM) techniques and
condition-based maintenance (CBM) practices, to enhance
4 Vibration Analysis—A Brief Introduction 3
the effectiveness of planned maintenance system (PMS)
5 Vibration Analysis Equipment and Processes 7 approach and, where required, to gain Class Approval of
6 Vibration Analysis—Diagnostic of Machine the Fleet CM program, allowing more flexible maintenance
Condition 13 scheduling, and a more evidence-based approach to assess-
7 Vibration Analysis Reports 17 ment of machinery condition, to reduce the need for invasive
Glossary 19 open-up inspections during Class surveys.
Related Articles 19 CM of Marine equipment is an area where significant
knowledge and experience exists, using a range of estab-
lished techniques and processes, but where there remains
a general need to improve the basic understanding of CM
technology and its limitations, define better standards for the
1 THE TREND TOWARD USE OF CBM
specification and practical implementation of CM systems
IN MARINE onboard, and share best practices in the delivery of consis-
tent high quality CBM programs, which can deliver value to
Traditionally, the majority of ship owners and operators have
daily fleet operations, and are able to meet the requirements
adopted a planned and preventative maintenance approach,
for future approval by leading class agencies.
with scheduled equipment overhauls and component replace-
This requires the CM program to be fully understood by
ment in accordance with makers’ recommendations, based
all engineering staff involved in the design, implementation,
on equipment running hours or calendar time intervals, used
and operation of the CM systems on the vessel, to ensure that
as the primary way to reduce the risks associated with critical
consistent good quality data is captured and used to achieve
equipment failures in service.
high quality outcomes.
The constant need for higher fleet and business efficiency
CBM is today well established in most industry sectors,
is driving ship owners and operators to use proactive main-
and vibration analysis has become widely recognized as one
tenance strategies that maximize equipment reliability, mini-
of the most powerful and flexible CM tools to help deliver an
mize unplanned maintenance, and reduce the need for major
effective maintenance strategy to support efficient equipment
operations, reduce financial and technical risks, and deliver
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. bottom line results for the business.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
The most important lessons in how to implement an effi-
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 cient and effective vibration analysis program have been
2 General
learned in other industries and are now being applied to the Another important challenge for the Marine Industry is the
marine industry. need for better specifications for supply and implementation
of VMS during the ship new build phase, where there is often
too little consideration given toward the business goals of the
CM program and practices applied onboard, to ensure the
2 CHALLENGES FOR USE OF
effectiveness of the maintenance program in the longer term.
VIBRATION ANALYSIS The issues with new build specification usually arise from
IN THE MARINE INDUSTRY a lack of alignment between the short term production and
commercial needs of the shipyard and the long term needs
One of the main challenges for the use of vibration analysis
of the ship operator or manager, wishing to apply more
in the marine industry is related to the operational need for
proactive strategies based on the PMS and CBM processes
regular crew changes, which restricts the capability to retain
to be used onboard.
specialist knowledge onboard each vessel and sustains the
During new build phase, the main focus of the shipyard is
quality of the program in the longer term.
often simply to supply basic portable and online monitoring
In addition, there are specific issues in applying vibra-
systems that meet minimum class guidelines but with limited
tion analysis technology, where the lack of a cost-effective
integration with other systems for intelligent monitoring of
IT network and communications infrastructure has restricted
critical equipment.
both the use of more complex data analysis procedures
During sea trials, the main focus is usually on a single
onboard and the ability to export data from the ship to
survey to collect overall vibration levels, to check OEM
a remote support center to gain support of external CM
equipment vibration against ISO standards, often only
specialists.
covering the drive motors on auxiliary equipment. Some
Historically, this has led to the use of fairly simple vibration
monitoring systems (VMS), typically using just one or two basic training for CM system users is also provided to allow
measurement parameters, supported by basic trending and the collection of basic vibration data but not covering the
traffic light alarms to signal change in machine condition. interpretation of the data or results to diagnose machinery
While more easily understood by the crew, this style of faults.
system only provides limited information on the root cause During normal operations, the main focus of the ship oper-
of the problem or severity of any defects identified. ator is usually toward routine collection of vibration data
Another popular solution for fleet operators wishing using the portable or fixed systems, with minimum user skill
to utilize the CBM approach has been a planned vibra- required, to provide early warning of equipment faults and
tion survey onboard, performed by an internal or external allow time to plan the required maintenance intervention,
specialist trained to carry out all the required data collection, with minimum cost and disruption to daily ship operations.
analysis, and reporting procedures. It has also been recognized that the maturity and behavior
This approach overcomes the issues with crew skills and of ship owners has a strong influence on the specification,
experience and allows the use of more advanced techniques, adoption, and sustained use of CM methods onboard. Owners
giving deeper diagnostic information, but is often limited by and operators may have a short or long term view regarding
specialist engineer availability, ship logistics, and relatively any investments required in a more proactive maintenance
high cost, which practically limits the service to one or two regime.
ship surveys per year, especially for ocean going vessels. The return on investment from CM may take time, which is
Today, the continuous improvement in technology and IT not so attractive to owners who are active on the S&P market
communication infrastructure allows more advanced CM and may only retain a specific ship for a short period.
technology to be used onboard, often supported by remote Vibration monitoring is more commonly used in fleets
external specialists, supporting more proactive maintenance where the owners take a long term view toward the efficient
strategies generally. operation of the vessels and to protect their business and
As part of this general trend, major marine original equip- return on investment, especially where higher technical and
ment manufacturer (OEM) and other external service compa- operating risk factors may apply.
nies are also entering the marine market as Specialist Marine This is most common in marine sectors such as oil and gas
CM Service Suppliers, driving a need for consistent CM stan- industry, using special purpose offshore and support vessels
dards, to allow the capability of CM service suppliers to with advanced technical equipment onboard, such as seismic
be assessed, and ensure best practice in CM data collection survey ships, drilling, FPSO, O&G carrier fleets, dredging,
quality, analysis, and reporting, and CBM advice on correc- pipe laying and construction vessels, platform supply, and
tive actions provided to fleet operation staff. anchor handling vessels.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
Vibration Analysis in Marine Applications 3
Vibration monitoring is also becoming the norm for the 4 VIBRATION ANALYSIS—A BRIEF
passenger and cruise sector, where reliable operations and INTRODUCTION
public image of the brand are vitally important.
CM and vibration monitoring are also increasingly being Condition monitoring uses a range of proved methods for the
used within Port operations by tug and towing operators. assessment of machinery condition. The most popular CM
Finally, an important footnote is that much of the orig- techniques include the following:
inal development of vibration analysis technology for the
marine sector has occurred within the defense sector, where
• Vibration analysis
the need to mobilize on demand with high system relia-
• Infrared thermography
bility is required. A natural advantage for this sector is the
• Lubricating oil and grease analysis
higher number of crew available for a longer term, which
• Electrical machinery health monitoring
greatly assists the training and retention of the specialist
• Analysis of process data (control and automation
skills required onboard.
systems)
Each of these CM techniques has certain advantages when

used for specific applications, especially when we consider
3 MAIN BENEFITS OF USING CBM IN the equipment failure mode to be detected.
MARINE A set of different CM techniques is often applied to the
same equipment to identify different types of machinery
Despite many challenges, the use of an effective CBM faults. However, to avoid incorrect or excessive use of CM
program has already been proven to yield significant benefits technology, new users should seek advice from specialist CM
to daily fleet operations. vendors at an early stage of CM program development.
These are summarized as follows: The guidelines to CM and diagnoses of the machines
are well defined in ISO 13379 “CM and diagnostics of
1. Increased equipment and system reliability machines—general guidelines on data interpretation and
(a) Reduced financial and HSE risks for critical equip- diagnostics techniques.”
ment operation In general, the CM and vibration analysis (VA) are well
(b) Availability to fulfill contract with critical equip- developed and documented as standards (requirements and
ment fully operational guidelines) from leading organizations: ISO, BS, DIN, API,
(c) Reduced risk of consequential damages to associ- DNV, LRS, and ABS.
ated components To guarantee the proper implementation and servicing of
(d) Maximum revenue and profit from daily technical the CM program, ISO has established ISO 18436 “CM
operations and diagnostics of machines—requirements for training and
2. Improved planning of maintenance and cost control certification of personnel.” The standard defines the training
(a) Ability to operate and plan for maintenance inter- requirements to CM specialists and qualification categories
vention in advance for different CM techniques.
(b) Reduced risk of consequential damages, time, and Marine class societies have also developed their require-
material costs ments based on ISO and adapted to marine industry. In addi-
3. An integrated CM solution that meets or exceeds class tion, they have established, as class notations, requirements
requirements for the Approval of Offshore CM Service Suppliers.
(a) Full alignment of CM program with CMMS and This article is limited to the practical use of vibration
maintenance procedures analysis, so the other techniques mentioned earlier are not
(b) Quality information that allows the root cause of examined in detail.
equipment failures to be identified and eliminated, The basic principle of VA is as follows:
improving reliability and availability
4. Extended class survey interval and reduced costs for dry • Collect data using sensors and data collectors
docking • Identify the source of vibration
(a) Opportunity to avoid or defer invasive open-up • Evaluate the severity of the fault (problem)
inspections using an effective CM program, • Analyze the changes from previous status (trend
supported by good MPMS maintenance history. analysis)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
4 General
The leading standard for VA is ISO 13373 “CM and diag-

nostics of machines—vibration CM” and it details:
• Vibration CM 3
• Measurements 2
• Transducers (sensors) Force

1
• Data presentation format
×
0
• Data analysis and communication 1
• Signal conditioning 0.1
• Data processing and diagnostic Mobility 0.01
0.001
Before continuing, we should understand 10
=
1
1. What is vibration? 0.1
2. Why is it so useful to define machine condition? Vibration 0.01
0.001
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
According ISO 2041, “vibration and shock—vocabulary”
vibration is defined as follows: Figure 1. Simple pump model. (Source Unknown.)
The variation with time of the magnitude of a quantity which is
descriptive of the motion or position of a mechanical system,
when the magnitude is alternately greater and smaller than
some average value or reference. k
y = A sin ωt = A sin t
The most important aspects to know are the following: m
1
T=
1. what causes the vibration? f
ω
2. to understand that vibration is a result of events that we A f=
y 2π
measure and analyze? t Time
k
ω=
m
Every mechanical system (ship hull, machinery, etc.) has
some level of mobility, and in the real world, some external
forces are applied to the system. Figure 2. Time plot for a mass spring system. (Source Unknown.)
Vibration is a function of mobility and force, or simply:
vibration = force × mobility.
Figure 1 shows a simple pump model diagram. • Periodic forces—repetitive loads caused by unbalance or
This model gives the general guidelines of understanding misalignment of a rotating system, and so on.
the vibrations of rotating equipment and static structures and • Random forces, which vary with time—caused by effects
explains why the VA is so useful. such as turbulence in piping and pump cavitation.
By the measurement of vibrations, we can evaluate the
forces acting within the machine or structure and mobility
The time plot of vibration signal for system with a single
of the system. From the model, we can observe that
degree of freedom (e.g., mass-spring system) is observed as
1. if the stiffness of the system is increased and there are a sinusoidal plot (Figure 2).
no changes in the applied forces, then the vibration will This helps us to define the main characteristics of vibration:
decrease
2. if the stiffness (mobility) remains constant, increasing • Period (T)
the applied force will cause an increase in the level of • Amplitude (A)
vibration.
The period is measured in
There are three basic types of forces as follows:
• Impact forces—caused by loose components, • Frequency (f ) per second = Hz or cycles per minute
hammering within a piping system, a rolling element (CPM)
within a bearing hitting a spall, and so on. • where f = CPM/60
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
Vibration frequency
Each and every rotating component

will produce forces and vibration that
corresponds with the frequency at
Peak
which they operate
Average
RMS
R090, V
R000, H
Peak-to-Peak
Axial, A
2V
3H
1H
2H 3A
Figure 4. Different machine components will vibrate at different

frequencies. (Source Unknown.)
Scale factors on a sinusoidal vibration waveform
Peak = 1.0
Average = 0.637 ∗ Peak
RMS = 0.707 ∗ Peak The value of the amplitude measurement is not enough
Peak-to-Peak = 2 ∗ Peak
to allow a VA specialist to draw a conclusion on machine
condition, without the type of amplitude value also being
Figure 3. The relationship between types of amplitude
measurement. (Source Unknown.) known.
For example: 5 mm/s RMS = 7.07 mm/s Pk = 14.14 mm/s
Pk–Pk
• Time (ms or s) Typical vibration measurement units are as follows:
• Where T = 1/f
ISO SI Imperial
The amplitude measured depends on the parameter that we
are looking for. Acceleration g m/s2 g
The vibration parameters normally used for amplitude are Velocity mm/s mm/s in/s
the following: Displacement μm μm thou (mils)
• d—displacement In the real world, the vibration signal is not a simple sine
• v—velocity wave and comprises a more complex time waveform.
• a—acceleration Modern vibration data collectors and analyzer instruments
use a signal processing method called FFT (fast Fourier
It is very important to define how the amplitude is measured transformation) to break down a complex time waveform
(quantified). The amplitude can be measured in several signal into its constituent sine waves.
different ways, as follows: The result is displayed as a “frequency spectrum” where
vibration amplitude is displayed on the Y axis and vibration
• Peak (Pk) frequency is displayed on the X-axis.
• Peak to peak (Pk–Pk) Armed with the knowledge of the components that make
• Root mean square (RMS)—often known as overall up a rotating machine and knowing their relative rotational
vibration speed, tells us where to look within the frequency spectrum
• True peak for an increase in vibration due to a developing fault in a
• True peak to peak component (Figure 4).
The forces acting on the components within a rotating
Figure 3 shows the link between different types of ampli- machine will produce vibrations that correspond to the
tude measurement. frequency at which they operate, so information on the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
6 General
Figure 5. A typical complex time waveform signal recorded via an accelerometer. (Source Unknown.)
Figure 6. The vibration spectrum signal after FFT processing. (Source Unknown.)
rotating speed of each component is very important to know we can observe high amplitude or a significant increase in
(Figures 5 and 6). See the following example: previous amplitude levels at a certain frequency, then we
The VA specialist is able to analyze the vibration spectrum know that the forces have increased and can diagnose which
to determine faults in specific components and to monitor component inside the machine has a new or developing
the development (rate of change) in the fault condition. If fault.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
5 VIBRATION ANALYSIS EQUIPMENT

Vibration frequency – provides a diagnosis
AND PROCESSES
If we observe an amplitude increase
at a frequency then we know that the It is very important to understand that the success of a vibra-
forces have increased and we can
diagnose which component inside the tion analysis program is a combination of the VA equipment
machine is at fault
(technology) used and the organizational aspects.
R090, V
R000, H The technology part of VA process details the tools or
Frequency Axial, A hardware and software.
2V The organizational part of the VA process details the work-
flow and integration with ship MMS (maintenance manage-
3H ment system).
1H
2H 3A
5.1 Vibration monitoring system equipment
The vibration monitoring technology includes the following

modules (Figure 8):
Figure 7. Vibration frequency indicates change in condition of a
machine component. (Source Unknown.) Sensors: Accelerometers, eddy current probe, or process
sensors permanent or temporarily installed. Also observa-
tions using Human senses—for inspections.
This is what makes vibration analysis one of the most
Basic inspection instruments: Simple portable instru-
powerful CM techniques (Figure 7).
ments or transmitters that collect vibration data and calcu-
In summary:
late an overall value in predefined static band.
• Vibration frequency indicates the potential source of the Watchkeeping and inspection tools: Portable data
problem, also supported by multiple harmonics of the collector, used for regular measurement of dynamic,
source frequency. process, or inspection data. Some models have capability
• Vibration amplitude indicates the severity of the to collect vibration data, calculate overall values, and store
problem, also supported by rate of change. FFT spectrum, normally used with external supporting
software.
Typical techniques used within the vibration analysis Portable data collector/FFT analyzer: Portable, multi-
process are as follows: channel data collector, used for both routine data collec-
tion purposes and deeper analysis of vibration data at site,
• Trend analysis normally used with external supporting software.
• Time waveform analysis Online VMS: Permanently installed multichannel data
• Phase analysis acquisition device that is able to collect simultaneous data
• Correlation between operating and vibration parameters from each channel. Usually, these devises have a configu-
• Comparison between identical machines ration of 4, 8, 16, or 32 analog channels, plus digital and
• ODS – operation deflection shape (displacement) other data input methods.
• Frequency response (resonances) Vibration monitoring software: Condition monitoring
software (CM SW) that can collect, store, and analyze
Vibration analysis is also used onboard ships for the vibration and other data from portable and the abovemen-
following: tioned online systems ( , , ). This is an SW applica-
tion that can store all collected data within a database, with
• Evaluating structural vibrations (hull, pipes, supporting all data linked to a logical equipment hierarchy similar to
frames, etc.) the MMS. The CM SW displays the trend, spectrum, and
• Discovering resonance issues time waveform plots of the measured parameters.
• Evaluating vibration condition of rotating machinery Remote diagnostic centre: A group of vibration analysis
applications specialists, with Marine experience and externally certified
• Evaluating vibration condition of reciprocating to ISO 18436 VA Category II, III, or IV, who are able
machinery applications to perform analysis of the collected data and generate
• Evaluating vibration condition of low speed and oscil- machinery condition reports and recommended corrective
lating applications actions to be performed.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
8 General
SKF Marine: CM system Overview
Ship automation 6 7
system
DB
OLE for process control
Modbus or
analogue
CM specialist
5 SKF CM software and database SKF marine RDC
SKF Multilog On-line System IMx-S 16.
IMx Machine status and

recommended
SKF CM on line system 4 actions
On board Microlog Explorer

Fleet PMS
Portable SKF CM tools for periodic
(CMMS)
1 Sensors data collection and troubleshooting
Auxiliary blower
3
Purifier
Ship
engineer
engiineer
n
On board
Microlog
Reefer CFW pumps inspector 2
SKF CM watch keeping
Bilge, fire and GS pump
Ballast pump
Drive
Driven
Ship machinery
SKF CM basic tools for
inspections
Figure 8. Typical ship vibration monitoring system scheme. (Source Unknown.)
Each machine will be monitored using either permanently host PC/server network saves the signals to a database and
installed accelerometers (e.g., used within an online VA allows viewing of alarms, trends, component frequency
system) or a portable accelerometer (e.g., for periodic moni- markers, and FFT.
toring) where the VA system operator/engineer installs a Based on the vibration data trends and analysis, it is
temporary accelerometer with quick connect adapter to fixed then possible to decide and plan the next maintenance
quick connect studs on each machine. activities.
For each machine, it is possible to monitor the following: Nowadays, there are many manufacturers of VMS, so it is
very important to define the key requirements to be taken into
• Overall vibration velocity and evaluate overall machine consideration for procurement and implementation.
condition according to ISO 10816 and/or Class societies The key requirements depend on the business goals but, in
rules. general, should include the following:
• FFT velocity spectrum to evaluate general machine
condition (unbalance, misalignment, mechanical loose- • The VMS will provide CM measurements according to
ness, impeller, etc.), bearing condition, aerodynamic or Class Society and ISO guidelines.
cavitation processes, and so on. • The VMS will provide early warning of machinery
faults—to allow a stronger focus on planned maintenance
The data acquisition device powers the accelerom- intervention, in place of a more reactive/firefighting
eter/sensor to acquire a raw (analogue) vibration signal from approach.
the sensor. The data acquisition device digitizes and sends • The ability to provide earlier fault detection and inter-
the signal data to a host computer. CM SW installed on the vention will avoid consequential damage to components
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
and machinery, with a reduced consumption of critical

spares.
• The VMS will be able to store and trend equipment fault
signatures, including fault frequencies, bands and new
derived parameters including equipment with fixed or
variable operating conditions—that is, the system will
allow variable parameters to be managed for effective
trending and diagnostic analysis purposes.
• The system will be easy for the staff onboard to
use—both efficiently and effectively.
• The system will allow local and remote access to the data
for effective ship support.
• The VMS onboard will be capable of approval by class
in future, if desired by the customer.
Figure 9. Typical accelerometer designs. (Source Unknown.)
The most common types of sensors that are used onboard
to measure vibrations are as follows:
The mounting configuration depends on the dynamic
• Accelerometer—measure acceleration parameter of the measurement requirements, such as frequency and ampli-
vibration tude range. Other factors to be considered are mounting
• Displacement sensors—eddy current probes—measure location, prohibitions, accessibility, and temperature. In
relative displacement general, there are four mounting configurations:
Velocity sensors are seldom installed onboard ships. • Handheld probe tips
• Magnets
• Adhesives
5.1.1 Accelerometers • Threaded studs
The acceleration sensor is versatile, reliable, and the most
It is very important to use the right accelerometer and right
popular vibration sensor for machinery monitoring.
mounting method; otherwise, some frequencies of interest
The basic acceleration sensor has a good signal-to-noise
will not be measured and analyzed correctly.
ratio over a wide dynamic range. For a given mechan-
Figure 10 shows the effect on signal frequency response for
ical acceleration level, piezoelectric accelerometers have a
different sensor connection methods.
constant signal over a wide frequency range, typically up
It is strongly recommended to use universal quick connect
to 20 kHz, and are very useful for all types of vibration
adaptors to attach the accelerometer to the machine measure-
measurements.
ment point to ensure the correct collection of important vibra-
Accelerometers are useful for measuring low to very high
tion data across the frequency range.
frequencies (HFs) and are available in a wide variety of
This is mandatory when looking for HF events triggered
general purpose and application specific designs.
from rolling bearing fault, gear mesh, and so on (Figure 11).
When combined with vibration monitors capable of inte-
grating from acceleration to velocity, accelerometers can be
useful components in a multiparameter monitoring program. 5.1.2 Displacement sensors
Acceleration integrated to velocity can be used for low
frequency measurements. Eddy current probes are noncontact sensors primarily used
Acceleration signals in the high frequency (HF) range, used to measure displacement that reflects shaft radial vibration,
together with signal processing techniques such as acceler- shaft/rotor position and clearance, and rotational speed.
ation enveloping (gE), are very useful for measurement of Also referred to as “proximity probes” or “displace-
bearing and gear condition. ment probes,” eddy current probes are typically applied
The ISO 5348 “Mechanical vibration and shock— on machines utilizing sleeve/journal bearings. They have
Mechanical mounting of accelerometers” gives recommen- excellent frequency response with no lower frequency
dations on the selection and installation of these sensors limit and can also be used to provide a trigger input for
(Figure 9). phase-related measurements.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
10 General
Eddy current probe systems are the best solution for shaft
position measurements in sleeve bearing equipment.
Frequency range based on mounting techniques
The displacement sensors have a driver and fixed length of
cables. The driver is calibrated for the shaft material, and it is
1
very important to take this in consideration in design phase
and when it is necessary to replace the sensor.
2 To find the shaft position relatively to the bearing
3
4 5 6
housing, two displacement sensors at 90∘ must be installed
(Figure 12).
For safety reasons, it is recommended to install fixed
sensors in hazardous and difficult to access areas that will
be connected to the junction boxes with bayonet connector
Probe Two-pole Flat Adhesive Adhesive Stud (BNC) output. The junction box is mounted in a safe area
tip magnet magnet mounting and at convenient location for data collection.
pad
For hazardous on tankers, liquid natural gas (LNG), liquid
petroleum gas (LPG), and chemical carriers that are marked
Relative sensitivity (dB) as Zone 0, 1, and 2, special approved intrinsically sensors and
4 5 6 cables must be used and the data acquisition device must be
30
connected through barriers to the sensor.
20 3
2
10 1
5.1.3 Vibration data collectors and data analysis
0 process
−10 The principle of process signal from the sensor to the soft-
ware using portable data collectors and online system is the
−20
same. The alternating current (AC) signal from the sensor
1 10 100 1k 10 k 100 k
goes to analogue to digital converter (ADC) where it is digi-
Frequency (Hz)
talized. Afterward, the data collector transforms the time
waveform to an FFT spectrum and sends the data to the
Figure 10. Effect on frequency response for different attachment software.
methods. (Source Unknown.)
Depending on the complexity of the data collector, the
vibration monitoring specialist can also use it as real time
vibration analyzer.
The major differences between portable and online data
collection devices are as follows:
• Ability to collect data continuously and evaluation of

current values against alarm triggers.
• Online systems usually have some limitations in
maximum frequency and lines of resolution (LOR)
available due to volume of data generated.
• Portable instruments often have additional software
modules and functions able to perform other vibration
tests such as FRF (frequency response function), bump
test (resonance), and balancing.
Portable instruments:
Level 1: The simplest portable data collectors are a hand-

Figure 11. Typical quick connect stud fitted to machine frame (also held “pen” that has a built-in sensor and small display to
correctly labeled). (Source Unknown.) measure one to two parameters from a point. The frequency
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
Driver
Signal out
Eddy
probes Driver
Figure 12. Typical use of eddy current probes. (Source Unknown.)
range is fixed, and the device has a small display and • RUCD (run up coast down): measuring the transition
may have some predefined alarm levels. These devices processes during start up and stopping of the machine
are very convenient for express spot checks of vibration or during changes of rotational speed.
level. Usually, the device does not have a built-in memory • Balancing: to perform one or two plane balancing
function. • Vibration analyzer: to perform real-time vibration anal-
Level 2: This uses a more sophisticated data collector and ysis onboard
real-time analyzer instrument, with the option to evaluate
machine conditions based on the predefined models. This 5.1.4 Fixed sensor systems
type of device is ideal for new users and as an entry
level of ship CM program. The device stores evaluation The simplest form of online data collector is a vibration
criteria and vibration levels as overall values and spec- transmitter, usually measuring only one vibration parameter
trum. The evaluation criteria normally usually are based in a fixed frequency range; the transmitter will convert this to
on ISO 10816 or Class acceptance levels, Unbalance, an overall value (e.g., 0–10 VDC, 4–20 mA, etc.) and send it
Misalignment, Bearing defect, and so on, depending on the to the automation system.
machine model used. This device can be used by ship engi- Some transmitters have buffered output from the sensor to
neers for spot checks on machine condition and to send allow a portable data collector to be used to collect additional
collected data for further analysis by vibration monitoring data spectrum data from the sensor. Additional alarm relay
specialists. modules may also be used with the transmitter to trigger a
Level 3: Based on the same hardware as level 2, these fault alarm condition.
are route-based data collectors. This type of instrument
is used for periodic data collection following predefined 5.1.5 Intelligent online data acquisition devices
routes onboard the ship. The collected data is then trans-
ferred to the vibration monitoring software for further anal- This level of online system is a multichannel data collection
ysis, and any required changes or updating of the route is device able to collect data simultaneously from each channel.
performed using the vibration monitoring software. This The principle is to provide continuous surveillance of the
type of instrument is commonly used by both ship engi- machinery parameters for each channel and store data based
neers and external service suppliers. on a predefined schedule or in case of alarm condition. The
Level 4: The highest level of vibration analyzer instrument. online system device has a memory buffer that can retain data
Users of this type of instrument should be experienced for a period of time if communications with the vibration
in vibration diagnostics and Certified to ISO 18436 VA monitoring software are lost. This type of online system
Category II minimum. These instruments usually have device will usually have some form of programmable logic to
multiple (2–4) channels and have the ability to perform allow it to accept or reject data based on predefined criteria,
both route-based data collection and other specialized and alarm relays that can be triggered based on a combination
vibration tests such as the following: of alarm conditions from different channels.
Transmitters and online systems can also be designed to
• FRF communicate via different protocols, using hard wired or
• Bump test wireless technology.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
12 General
5.1.6 Vibration monitoring software – Number of blades/vanes

– Kinematic scheme of the gearbox and number of gear
The vibration monitoring software is a computer application teeth
that is used for the following: • Setup the program onboard the ship (must be done by
certified VA specialist)
• Store collected data form portable and online devices into
– Define machine naming convention in vibration moni-
database
toring software and mapping to the ship MMS master
• Organize the data structure—fleet and ship hierarchy
equipment list
• Represent the data in convenient format for analysis as
– Define location of the points on the machine
different plots such as Trend, Spectrum, Time, Waterfall,
– Install quick connect studs, mark points, and docu-
Cascade, Inspection, Orbit and Shaft centre line, and
ment
Bode and Nyquist
– Define setup of vibration parameters such as accel-
• Represent data in a dashboard—HMI (human–machine
eration, velocity, displacement, and acceleration
interface) or process view
enveloping
• Perform post processing calculations of the collected
data to extract additional parameters related to the – Define Fmin, Fmax, and LOR
machine condition (e.g., derived values) – Define routes
– Prepare a ship VA handbook with clear instructions
The software and database can be located onboard or in the how to perform data collection and work the soft-
cloud. ware: navigate through hierarchy, view trends and
The advantage of the cloud installation is the accessibility spectrum, generate reports, acknowledge alarms, and
from everywhere in the world and gives availability to use import/export data
remote diagnostic support and have more or less real-time – Collect the reference (baseline data)
information about machine condition. • Regular data collection
The biggest challenges for the cloud installation are the – The ship MMS controls the periodical data collection
Internet link to the ship, with only a low bandwidth in most – It is a good practice to have a signal generator (sensor
cases, and the potential cost of data transmission. simulator) to check integrity of sensor cable and
data acquisition device. For OLS, the BOV parameter
checks sensor and cable status
5.2 Vibration monitoring program workflow
• Analysis of the collected data (must be done by certified
The main steps in vibration monitoring program are as VA specialist)
follows: – The analyst has to have access to maintenance history
and additional process data to perform a quality anal-
• VM program initialization: this should be a part of CM ysis
program initialization phase. At this stage, it is important – The result from analysis should be defining the
to agree about the convention for fault codes and recom- machine condition and for machines in highest risk
mended actions (work notifications) that will be sent to of breakdown to recommend and actions that have to
the ship MMS. be performed
• Defining the VM strategy for the equipment based on – The VA specialist has to use agreed machine condition
the criticality of the machine: At this stage, it has to be grades, fault, and recommended action codes
defining what type of monitoring will be used: periodic or • Issue a report of machine status and recommended
online and data collection schedules. Typical intervals for actions
periodic data collection are 1, 2, 3, or 4 monthly, and for – The report must be reviewed and approved from
some low criticality equipment, this can be extended to another certified VA specialist
6 or 12 months. For online systems, the data collection is – The recommended actions should be reviewed and
continuous, but typical intervals for external data storage approved by ship superintendent and work order in
are every 4 or 6 h. fleet MMS should be generated
• Collecting necessary machinery data to perform a proper • Cost-benefit analysis of the vibration monitoring
vibration analysis. The mandatory information is about program
– Shafts/rotor speed – The cost-benefit analysis is important because it
– Power shows how well the vibration monitoring program is
– Bearings type, designation, and manufacturer implemented and running
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
– The cost benefits of VA is the avoidable cost of conse- 6 VIBRATION ANALYSIS—DIAGNOSTIC

quences, if the machine filed unexpected OF MACHINE CONDITION
• Root cause analysis (RCA)
– If the VA discovers repetitive problems of the same The ISO and Class requirements define the alarm level for
type of machines, the RCA is recommended to find vibration parameter. The most common standardize vibration
how to improve the reliability of the machine—for parameter is vibration velocity, measured in millimeter per
example: if the misalignment is the highest rate, the second RMS.
RCA should be performed to find the reasons For most rotating machinery onboard, the frequency range
– If the fault is missed and the machine failed unpre- to calculate the velocity is 10–1000 Hz. In most of the cases,
dictable, the RCA should be performed to find reason the Class has accepted ISO 10816-3 recommended values
and suggest improvements in vibration monitoring and condition grades.
program LRS is well aligned to ISO 10816-3, and DNV and ABS
• Adjustment of the vibration monitoring program have defined vibration parameters status slightly different
– Based on the feedback form, the ship MMS, RCA, (Figure 13).
vibration monitoring program analysis, changes in the Each machine will have multiple points to collect vibration
Class, and certification organization guidelines, the data (Figure 14).
following periodical adjustment should be performed: The vibration monitoring software reports the vibration
Collecting schedule point status for each monitoring parameter against setup alert
Setup of measuring points (in amber colour) and Alarm (in red colour) levels.
Routes The status of the machine is defined by the vibration param-
Diagnostic rules eters, so if a single point is shown in alert then the overall
Alarm levels machine status is also visualized in alert (Figure 15).
mm/s RMS mm/s RMS

DNV 10–1000 Hz (>15 kW) ≥ <
A Good 1.8
B Acceptable 1.8 4.5
C Still acceptable 4.5 11.2
D Risk of breakdown 11.2
mm/s RMS mm/s RMS

LRS class I 10–1000 Hz (<15 kW)
Good 0.7
Satisfactory 0.7 1.8
Unsatisfactory 1.8 4.5
Excessive 4.5
LRS class II 10–1000 Hz (≥15, <75 kW)
Good 1.1
Excessive 7.1
LRS class III 10–1000 Hz (≥75 kW, rigid foundation)
Good 1.8
Excessive 11.2
LRS class IV 10–1000 Hz (≥75 kW, flexible foundation)
Good 2.8
Unsatisfactory 7.1 18
Excessive 18
Figure 13. Typical class acceptance limits for overall vibration (RMS) millimeter per second. (Source Unknown.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
14 General
Axial, A R090, V
1V 1H R000, H
R090, V
Drive
R000, H Axial, A
2V Drive Driven
2A 2H
1V 2V
3V 4V
Driven 3A 3V
3H
1H 2H
4V 4H 3H 4H
2A
Figure 14. Typical machine data collection points. (Source Unknown.)
Figure 15. Typical CM SW display showing machine in alert. (Source Unknown.)
In this case, the AUX CSW Pump 2 status is visualized in conditions and ship and sea state to be able to compare the
alert because there is one vibration parameter in alert, with a vibration behavior.
value slightly above setup alert level.
The most reasonable questions from the chief engineer
6.1 Trend analysis
or the superintendent are “What is the machine condition
(risk of failure) and what should we do about it”. The The analysis of the trend graph is one of the most easy and
role of VA specialist is to give an exact answer of this understandable techniques.
question. To evaluate the trend, the VA specialist uses alarm levels
To do this, the VA specialist uses different techniques and changes from the previous values.
to analyze the vibration data. The VA specialist will also It is important always to trend data collected in a similar
need information about the machine system/process/running load condition. It is not recommended to make conclusions
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
for significant changes when you trend data collected in wide It is very important to know the machine/shaft speed and
ranges of operating parameters, such as trying to compare components in the machine.
vibration parameters at 20–80% load, where one can expect Once this information is available, the vibration specialist
to observe different vibration levels. can identify the peaks in the spectrum and their severity.
Another useful technique is a statistical analysis and Usually, the running speed frequency is defined as the
looking for changes above 2𝜎, but again the operating first-order (1×) frequency.
condition should be similar. The vibration specialist analyzes the following information
Example: from the spectrum:
If the vibration parameter over a long period of time has a
relatively stable trend but is above alarm level setup for this
• Sub synchronous (below 1×)
parameter, then in this case the risk of unexpected failure is
• Synchronous (1×, 2×)
reduced.
• Nonsynchronous (noninteger, e.g., 0.5×, 4.3×)
If the last measured value for this parameter is in good
• Harmonics of component frequencies (1 × GMF,
condition (below alarm levels) but the change from the
2 × GMF, 3 × GMF)
previous value is >100% or doubled, this represents a signif-
• Sidebands of peaks
icant change that should trigger further analysis to find the
root cause behind the change. • Bands
• Comparing current spectrum with previous
• Comparing spectrum between similar machine and
6.2 Spectrum analysis conditions
• Trending of frequencies of interest
Analysis of the spectrum is performed by certified vibration • Extracting (calculating) new diagnostic parameters
specialist. In the spectrum, they are looking for fault patterns. (Figure 16).
Figure 16. Spectrum of vibration acceleration and trend of harmonic indicator of 120 Hz (2× line frequency) helps to identify potential
electric problem—loose rotor bars. (Source Unknown.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
16 General
6.3 Time wave form analysis The comparison between time waveform crest factor shows
that some of the cylinders of the engine have crest factor
The analysis of the time wave form is very useful for the above 1.5× average value, and this is indicator for additional
following: survey to find the root cause (Figure 18).
• Analysis of gear conditions in the gearbox 6.4 Phase analysis

• Reciprocating machineries, diesel engines, and compres-
sors The phase analysis is very useful to confirm the following
• Low speed equipment: winches and slewing bearings of faults:
pedestal cranes
• Unbalance
• Misalignment
The VA specialist looks to identify repetitive events and • Bent shaft
knowing the cycle to find the source that triggers the event. • Cocked bearing
The analysis of the time waveform also explains the • Looseness
process and impact of the vibrations—what happened first
and what was the response. The diagnostic parameters of Phase analysis should only be performed by qualified
time wave form are Crest factor, Kurtosis, and Skewness. vibration specialist, and the VA equipment needs to use an
Example: additional speed reference kit for determination of absolute
The analysis of the measured overall value and trend of phase measurements or use two sensors with a dual channel
the vibration velocity taken from the top of diesel engine simultaneous data collection instrument for relative phase
cylinder head does not show any potential problems. measurements.
The analysis of the time waveform shows clear repetitive
impacts (Figure 17). 6.5 Operation deflection shape
The distance between impacts in time is equal of two
cycles of the crankshaft, or this is the working cycle of the ODS is a useful technique to identify structural deflections
four-stroke diesel engine. and movements of machines. ODS requires individual data
Figure 17. Vibration velocity taken from the top of diesel engine cylinder head. (Source Unknown.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
Average
Crest factor (peak/overall) in 1.4 s 8.84 5.69 5.40 9.09 5.38 7.69 6.93 5.17 6.77
Horizontal frame vibrations in mm/s 14.27 15.10 17.15 18.95 18.67 18.25 18.01 14.04 16.80
Vertical frame vibrations in mm/s 11.40 12.20 14.19 15.74 14.93 12.96 11.73 13.90 13.38
Overall vibrations CYL head in mm/s 11.06 10.26 12.59 14.92 15.43 13.33 10.77 12.06 12.55
HT pump: 10.8 mm/s

TCA B
LT pump: 11.15 mm/s B8 B7 B6 B5 B4 B3 B2 B1
Air cooler V: 18.5 mm/s 2.353 g
DG1: Mak 16 M 43 C: 514 rpm, 12.5 MW
Air cooler V: 19.03 mm/s TCA A

A8 A7 A6 A5 A4 A3 A2 A1
Oil pump: 23.13 mm/s 1.556 g
Overall vibrations CYL head in mm/s 12.68 10.48 13.78 14.93 16.19 13.67 11.15 10.45 12.92
Vertical frame vibrations in mm/s 10.71 12.05 14.37 15.70 15.36 13.95 12.53 13.45 13.52
Horizontal frame vibrations in mm/s 14.27 14.68 17.22 18.81 17.81 17.73 16.98 13.84 16.42
Crest factor (peak/overall) in 1.4 s 13.76 5.90 10.91 11.47 4.67 9.59 5.97 5.15 8.43
Figure 18. Comparison between time waveform crest factors. (Source Unknown.)
collection from many points on the machinery frame, using Another very useful and proven HF technique is enveloping
one point as a common reference, or for all points to be demodulation, which is used to present the HF domain
collected simultaneously. signals within the time waveform, as a low frequency spec-
The data is entered into specialized ODS software, where trum (by filtering out the actual low frequencies). This tech-
a model of the machine is built, with links to each measure- nique has proven particularly useful for analysis of rolling
ment point. The software will then visualize the movement bearings and gears as well as very low speed applications
of the machine in time. such as slewing bearings in cranes.
6.6 Analysis of the high frequency (HF) signals

7 VIBRATION ANALYSIS REPORTS
Analysis of HF signals is used in the following applications:
The vibration analysis report has to deliver useful informa-
• Defining the condition of rolling bearings tion to support decision for further maintenance activities.
• Defining the condition of slewing bearings All analysis reports for marine applications will be in
• High speed machinery applications—gas turbines and accordance to the class requirements.
turbochargers It is strongly recommended that the report will contain the
following:
HF signals usually have relatively low amplitude, which
attenuates (reduces) very fast traveling from the source to the 1. The IMO number for the vessel
sensor. 2. The machine ID in VMS and MMS if they are different
There are a lot of different VA techniques currently avail- 3. The machine class code if applicable
able and used to identify and evaluate the energy of HF 4. The criticality ranking of the machinery (if available)
vibrations. Some of these methods also used specific sensor 5. Name of the CM engineer/analyst and certification
designs tuned to pickup HFs only. 6. Description of the CM techniques used, machinery
Most available HF techniques calculate overall values only monitoring points, and so on
and represent them as a specific machine fault/health indi- 7. Description of the CM equipment used, calibration
cator, such as a value for “bearing condition” status. dates, and so son
It is important to remember that there can be a lot of other 8. Description of the method for classification of severity
sources of HFs, not only rolling bearings, so in practice, of faults: satisfactory, requires attention, unacceptable,
this should only be used as a very early warning, to trigger and so on
more frequently data collection, rather than actual bearing 9. An executive summary with key recommendations
replacement. 10. A detailed report of findings and recommendations
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
18 General
View: 3D View [Normal] View: 3D View [Normal]

BLK: Starboard BLK: Starboard
Freq: 10 Hz Freq: 30 Hz
2.6 3.22
Ungrouped
Ungrouped
1.51
1.3
0
0
Figure 19. ODS of shaft generator—movements in one cycle. (Source Unknown.)
Figure 20. Typical HMI showing machine status. (Source Unknown.)
In the report, the VA specialist has to report machine It is a good practice to sort machines into an order,
condition against agreed machine condition or risk grades. starting with machines in a worst condition to machines
(Note: this is not the same grades for vibration parameters.) in a good condition and present in a table format in the
For machines classified as highest risk, the VA specialist report.
will define recommended actions and report faults that have As attachment to the report can be added information:
been discovered.
The report will be reviewed and approved by another VA • About last measured data
certified specialist. • Detailed vibration analysis of the machine
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
• Schemes/photos of measuring points on the machine Time waveform The process of analysis of a raw signal for
• Other information that will be required if the specific analysis vibration waveforms over a given
vibration analysis is performed timeframe.
Trend analysis The process for checking the rate of
It is also possible to use facilities within the vibration moni- change of a specific vibration parameter
toring software to present the machine status as a graphic against predetermined alert and alarm
HMI view (Figure 19). levels.
This is especially convenient for online systems and Vibration The analysis of the vibration signals from
cloud-based database and software used in combination with analysis a machine or physical structure.
remote diagnostic services (Figure 20). Vibration The capture of vibration signals from a
monitoring machine or physical structure.
GLOSSARY
RELATED ARTICLES
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of developing fault condition, rather Machinery Noise and Vibration Sources
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analysis using amplitude and frequency
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range.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe165
Dry Ports and Logistics Platforms
Violeta Roso and Dan Andersson
Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
examples of dry ports in most regions, such as China (Beres-

1 Introduction 1 ford et al., 2012), Australia (Roso, Woxenius, and Lumsden,
2 Logistics Platforms and Inland Terminals 1 2009), India (Ng and Gujar, 2009), South America (Padilha
3 Dry Port Concept 3 and Ng, 2012), the United States (Roso, Woxenius, and
Lumsden, 2009), Asia (Hanaoka and Regmi, 2011; Regmi
4 Concluding Remarks 8
and Hanaoka, 2012), Russia (Korovyakovsky and Panova,
Glossary 8 2011), and Europe (Flämig and Hesse, 2011; Henttu and
References 9 Hilmola, 2011; Monios, 2011).
No matter the type or the region, all these dry ports have
one thing in common, which is that they are logistics plat-
forms whose infrastructure and services facilitate the linking
of different modes of transport, adding value to the products
1 INTRODUCTION being transported.
The environmental effects of transport and how these can

be reduced by the use of different logistics concepts have 2 LOGISTICS PLATFORMS AND INLAND
been studied extensively recently. One of the concepts that
TERMINALS
has gained substantial attention is the dry port concept.
With its environmental perspective, the concept has received
A dry port is a special kind of an inland terminal, sometimes
increasing attention from both practitioners and researchers
called an advanced inland intermodal terminal, which could
around the world. However, the term dry port is not new, be described as a kind of logistics platform (Figure 1). The
Hanappe had as early as 1986 mentioned dry ports but only as dry port concept and the different types of dry ports will be
multifunctional logistics centers (Roso and Lumsden, 2010). discussed later, but first, the two concepts of inland terminals
However, dry ports’ benefits and role in reducing environ- and logistics platforms will be presented.
mental impacts were first elaborated in the literature by
Roso (2007). As defined by Roso, Woxenius, and Lumsden
(2009), “A dry port is an inland intermodal terminal directly 2.1 Logistics platforms
connected to seaport with high capacity transport means,
where customers can leave/pick up their standardized units, The European Association of Freight Villages offers the
as if directly at/from a seaport.” following definition of a logistics platform: “a defined area
Various types of dry ports have been developed in order to within which all activities relating to transport, logistics,
accommodate different needs in different contexts. There are and distribution of goods, both for national and international
transits, are carried out by various operators […] it is run by
a single body, either public or private, and is equipped with
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. all the public facilities to carry out the above-mentioned
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe201
operations” (Almotairi, 2012). This definition emphasizes
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 the activities, infrastructure, and control by a single entity.
2 General
In many cases, the definitions of logistics platforms present

them as a specific physical location, forming the platform.
Logistics platforms However, logistics platforms have also been defined with
a management focus, such as in Abrahamsson, Aldin, and
Stahre (2003), who relate them to a business dynamic
Inland terminals capability and how they can be used to improve strategic
flexibility. From this perspective, the increased interaction
Dry ports between marketing and logistics channels and the need for
high-dynamic effectiveness were considered to be the logic
behind the platform development. Abrahamsson, Aldin,
and Stahre (2003) define a logistics platform as follows: “A
homogenous part of the logistics system, which a logistics
Figure 1. Illustration of logistics platforms, inland terminals, and organization centrally manages and controls, and has the
dry ports concepts interpretations. power to design in a way that it is a resource base for
new market positions. This includes concepts for logistics
operations, a physical structure, processes, and its activi-
Leal and Salas (2009) give a similar definition that focuses ties as well as the information systems needed for design,
on the following: (i) unimodal distribution centers, (ii)
operations, and reporting.”
the logistics area, and (iii) multimodal platforms. It is
Although there is no consensus on the logistics platform
clear that it is important to coordinate different agents
in order to link both logistics and transport activities, as definition, one thing is common to all the above-mentioned
indicated in Table 1, and Almotairi (2012) has identified definitions, and that is the facilitation of logistics flows.
six different definitions of logistics platforms that adhere Moreover, the same is also the purpose of inland terminals
to the concepts of intermodality, information visibility, that, as depicted in Figure 1, form a subgroup of logistics
and the interfaces and interactions between logistics and platforms, which will be further described in the following
marketing. section.
Table 1. Terms used in relation to logistics platforms.

Source Term Definition
Cambra-Fierro and Intermodal logistics Where different agents of the supply chain can be integrated in the same physical
Ruiz-Benitez (2009) platform place […] assisting logistics flows and acting as strategic interfaces between
networks of global and regional dimensions […] with an aim to improve
supply chain efficiency
Aldin and Stahre (2003) Logistics platform A homogenous part of the logistics system in the supply chain […] that is
centrally controlled and designed by focal organizations […] in a way that it is
a resource base for new marketing channel positions
EAFV for Europlatforms Logistics platform A defined area with which all activities relating to transport, logistics, and the
distribution of goods, both for national and international transits, are carried
out by various operators. It is run by a single body, either public or private, and
is equipped with all the public facilities to carry out the above-mentioned
operations
Leal and Salas (2009) Logistics platform A specialized area with the infrastructure and services required for comodal
transportation and added value of the products making use of the infrastructure
Váncza et al. (2010) Logistics platform The provision of a complex service for communicating and evaluating all
relevant information that may affect the operation of supply channels
Abrahamsson, Aldin, and Logistics platform A homogenous part of the logistics system, which a logistics organization
Stahre (2003) centrally manages and controls, and has the power to design in a way that it is
a resource base for new market positions. This includes concepts for:
(1) Logistics operations;
(2) Physical structure, processes, activities; and
(3) Information systems for design, operations, and reporting
Reproduced with permission from Almotairi (2012). © Badi Almotairi.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe201
Dry Ports and Logistics Platforms 3
Table 2. Terms used in relation to inland terminal facilities, value-added services underlined.
Source Term Definition
UN ECE (1998) Inland Clearance A common-user inland facility, with public authority status, equipped with fixed
Depot installation and offering services for the handling and temporary storage of
any kind of goods (including containers) carried under customs transit by any
applicable mode of inland surface transport, placed under customs control to
clear goods for home use, warehousing, temporary admission, re-export,
temporary storage for onward transit, and outright export
Indian Customs (2007) Inland Container A common-user facility with public authority status equipped with fixed
Depot installations and offering services for the handling and temporary storage of
import/export laden and empty containers carried under customs transit by any
applicable mode of transport placed under customs control. All the activities
related to the clearance of goods for home use, warehousing, temporary
admissions, re-export, temporary storage for onward transit and outright
export, and transshipment take place from such stations
Cardebring and Warnecke Intermodal Freight A concentration of economically independent companies working in freight
(1995) Centre transport and supplementing services in a designated area where a change of
transport units between traffic modes can take place
EC (2001) Logistics Centre, Geographical grouping of independent companies and bodies that are dealing
Freight Village with freight transport (for example, freight forwarders, shippers, transport
operators, and customs) and with accompanying services (for example,
storage, maintenance, and repair), including at least a terminal
Harrison et al. (2002) Inland Port Located inland and generally far from seaport terminals, they supply regions
with an intermodal terminal offering value-added services or a merging point
for the different traffic modes involved in distributing merchandise that comes
from ports
EC for Europe (2001) Dry Port An inland terminal, which is directly linked to a maritime port
Leveque and Roso (2002) Dry Port An inland intermodal terminal that has direct rail connection to a seaport, where
and Roso, Woxenius, customers can leave and/or collect their goods in intermodal loading units, as
and Lumsden (2009) if directly at/from the seaport. Value-added services such as storage,
consolidation, depot, track and trace, maintenance of containers, and customs
clearance should be available at dry ports
Adapted from Roso and Rosa (2012).
2.2 Inland terminals regional attractiveness in terms of environmental sustain-

ability, cost-efficiency, and transport quality (Bergqvist,
An inland terminal is a kind of logistics platform facilitating 2008). Moreover, Höltgen (1995) argues that inland inter-
logistics flows but with specification regarding the location, modal terminals can be classified according to some basic
which is inland—in other words, not on the shore and thus functional criteria, such as traffic modes, transshipment
not being a port. The transport industry operates different techniques, network position, and/or geographical location.
kinds of terminals under different names, depending on their However, an intermodal road-rail terminal can simply be
role and the services offered, with the goal of facilitating described as a place equipped for the transshipment and
the transport flow. An inland freight terminal is, according storage of intermodal loading units (ILUs) between road and
to UN ECE (1998): “any facility, other than a port or an rail. Depending on the role and the services available, the
airport, operated on a common-user basis, at which cargo in transport industry operates these kinds of terminals under
international trade is received or dispatched.” different names—see Table 2.
The basic problem of differentiating between conven-
tional transshipment terminals and the various types of
intermodal logistics centers has been discussed by Höltgen
(1995). The definition of the concept of intermodal logistics 3 DRY PORT CONCEPT
centers varies between countries, although there is common
ground: It contributes to intermodal transport, promotes A special type of inland terminal that has been gaining
regional economic activity, and improves land use and local increasing attention in the research community over the past
goods distribution. However, intermodal road-rail terminals decade is the dry port. According to the European Commis-
may also be established with the objective of increasing sion (2001, p. 59) (Table 2), a dry port is “an inland terminal
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe201
4 General
which is directly linked to a maritime port.” This defini- the seaport’s container terminal capacity and consequently
tion of dry port is rather broad, and there is no specification increase productivity, since bigger container ships will be
regarding type of link or services offered, and all the terminal able to call at the seaport. This may result in the seaport’s
facilities defined in Table 2 might therefore take the term dry throughput increase without physical expansion at the site
port. Various interpretations of dry ports can be found in the (Roso, Woxenius, and Lumsden, 2009). A dry port extends
literature, and no real consensus on terminology has yet been the gates of the seaport inland, with shippers viewing the dry
achieved. However, the first definition specifying transport port as an interface with the seaport and shipping lines, and
modes and services used as well as emphasizing the connec- therefore, dry ports are sometimes referred to as advanced
tion to a seaport is that by Leveque and Roso (2002), which is intermodal terminals or extended gates (Rodrigue and Notte-
similar to that by Roso, Woxenius, and Lumsden (2009) and
boom, 2009). The basic idea behind the concept of a dry port
which will be used in this book chapter: “A dry port is an
is illustrated in Figure 2.
inland intermodal terminal directly connected to seaport(s)
The full implementation of a dry port can also create a
by rail, where customers can leave/pick up their standard-
ized units, as if directly at/from the seaport.” A dry port also smooth transport flow with one interface at the dry port
offers transshipment services, as any conventional inland instead of two interfaces, one at the seaport and the other
intermodal terminal does, and the value-added services such at the inland destination (Roso and Rosa, 2012). The dry
as storage, consolidation, depot, track and trace, maintenance ports are supported by a higher level of integration with
of containers, and customs clearance that are usually avail- the seaports than conventional inland terminals. With the
able at seaports (Roso, Woxenius, and Lumsden, 2009). problems seaports face today, such as limited land and
access capacity (Rahimi, Asef-Vaziri, and Harrison, 2008),
the implementation of dry ports—that is, the duplication
3.1 Dry ports’ benefits for the actors in the
of some facilities from traditional seaports to an inland
transport system
location—would help solve capacity issues (Roso, Woxe-
nius, and Lumsden, 2009), thus promoting economic devel-
The primary benefits of dry ports derive from the modal
shift from road to rail that results in reduced congestion opment and logistics integration (Bergqvist, 2005; Rahimi,
at the seaport gates and city roads (Roso, Woxenius, and Asef-Vaziri, and Harrison, 2008). However, if the seaport is
Lumsden, 2009; Rahimi, Asef-Vaziri, and Harrison, 2008) not facing capacity issues, then, for example, moving storage
as well as reduced external environmental effects along the to an inland terminal could be interpreted as a loss of profit
route (Roso, 2007). In Europe, one train can substitute about for the seaport (Bask et al., 2014). Using a dry port as storage
35 trucks, and therefore, the implementation of a dry port for a seaport that is not facing capacity issues is viable if
will reduce the number of trucks, local pollution, and the the seaport is the owner of the dry port (Roso and Rosa,
seaport’s congestion (Roso, 2007, 2013). The implemen- 2012). However, that should not hinder an inland terminal in
tation of a dry port in a seaport’s hinterland can increase functioning as storage for the local shippers who are in need
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 4
5 5
i i
1 i 1 i
Shippers Seaport Road City Dry port Shippers Seaport Road Rail City
(a) (b)
Figure 2. A seaport transport system (a) without and (b) with a dry port. (Reproduced with permission from Roso (2009). © Inderscience
Enterprises Ltd.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe201
of it. However, the quality of inland access and other bene- The benefits of a midrange dry port are comparable to
fits of dry ports depend on the behavior of many different those of a distant dry port (Table 3), since it serves as a
actors involved in the transport, such as terminal operators, consolidation point for different rail services, implying that
freight forwarders, transport operators, and port authorities the administration and equipment specific to sea transport are
(de Langen and Chouly, 2004). Cullinane, Bergqvist, and needed at only one terminal away from the seaport (Roso,
Wilmsmeier (2012) conclude that depending on the objec- Woxenius, and Lumsden, 2009). This type of dry port is
tives of the actor that is driving the initiative, the justification situated at a distance from a seaport, which is usually covered
for dry port development may be purely financial (profit by road; however, the high frequency and high volumes
maximization) or economic (social welfare maximization),
achieved by consolidating flows makes the use of rail viable.
but in both cases, environmental considerations are showing
The Virginia Inland Port, situated 330 km from the Port of
increasing influence.
Virginia, USA, is a good example of a midrange dry port,
consciously implemented by the seaport to expand hinterland
3.2 Types of dry ports (Roso, Woxenius, and Lumsden, 2009).
A close dry port should be situated at the rim of the seaport
On the basis of the function and the location of dry ports, city and consolidate road transport from shippers located
they can be categorized as distant, midrange, and close dry outside the city area. The closer the dry port to the seaport, the
ports (Roso, Woxenius, and Lumsden, 2009). The benefits of higher is the degree of synchronization between the seaport
distant dry ports are derived simply from the modal shift from and the dry port (Rodrigue and Notteboom, 2009). From the
road to rail, which results in reduced congestion at the seaport seaport’s perspective, a close dry port might help in over-
gates and the surrounding area as well as reduced external coming seaport terminal congestion and improving inland
environmental effects along the route (Roso, Woxenius, and
access and also serve as a depot or empty container storage
Lumsden, 2009). The distant dry port extends the gates
(Roso, Woxenius, and Lumsden, 2009) (Table 3). Although
of the seaport inland, with shippers viewing the dry port
there are numerous benefits that might result from dry ports,
as an interface with the seaport, emphasizing their dyadic
relationship (Bask et al., 2014). Compared to conventional road carriers would lose some market share. However, in
rail shuttles to and from ports, the difference refers mainly countries like Australia, where long trailers are not allowed
to the functions offered at the distant dry port and the move to pass through cities, a dry port is a good solution from
of the interface with shippers (Table 3). A distant dry port is their perspective as well (Roso, 2013). The Enfield inter-
the most conventional of the three types and has the longest modal facility is a good example of a close dry port, with
history, such as Dry Port Osaka in Tanzania, whose benefits the purpose of relieving the congested roads by moving more
are recognized by land-locked neighboring countries as well containers by rail to/from Botany Port, which is 18 km away
(Roso and Lumsden, 2010). (Roso, 2013).
Table 3. Effects of different types of dry ports on various actors in the transport system.
Distant Midrange Close
Seaports Less congestion Less congestion Less congestion
Expanded hinterland Dedicated trains Increased capacity
Interface with hinterland Depot Depot
Interface with hinterland Direct loading ship–train
Seaport cities Less road congestion Less road congestion Less road congestion
Land use opportunities Land use opportunities Land use opportunities
Rail operators Economies of scale Day trains Day trains
Gain market share Gain market share Gain market share
Road operators Less time in congested roads and Less time in congested roads and Less time in congested roads and
terminals terminals terminals
Avoiding environmental zones
Shippers Improved seaport access Improved seaport access Improved seaport access
“Environment marketing” “Environment marketing”
Society Lower environmental impact Lower environmental impact Lower environmental impact
Job opportunities Job opportunities Job opportunities
Regional development Regional development
Reproduced with permission from Roso (2009). © Inderscience Publishing.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe201
6 General
3.3 Seaport–dry port dyads’ development (2013) study on the implementation of a dry port in Myanmar
summarizes the factors that influence dry ports’ operations
There are a number of factors that influence the implementa- and, consequently, their success (Table 4).
tion process of a dry port. The distance between the seaport Wilmsmeier, Monios, and Lambert (2011) distinguish
and the dry port, the volume of goods, and the frequency between two concepts of the vertical control of the
of the service provided influence the success of intermodal development process of inland terminal facilities: inside-out
transport (Roso, 2013). However, according to Frémont and and outside-in. In an inside-out arrangement, inland inter-
Franc (2010) and Roso (2013), even cooperation between modal terminals seek greater integration with their seaports,
the actors of the transport system is the prerequisite for often driven by public body intervention (Wilmsmeier,
success. It is noted that the road lobby often impede railway Monios, and Lambert, 2011). The Eskilstuna dry port in
development (Roso, 2008) and that cooperation among all Sweden is a good example of an inside-out development,
key stakeholders in the seaport–dry port transport system since the facility has been initiated, financed, and realized
is required (Roso, 2013)—of which the regulatory environ- through cooperation between Eskilstuna municipality and
ment is important. As the cases of the Falköping dry port two rail operators who later on approached the seaport
in Sweden (Roso and Lumsden, 2009) or Nepal’s dry port (Roso and Lumsden, 2010). The outside-in model of devel-
at Birgunj (Hanaoka and Regmi, 2011) demonstrate, it is opment is driven from the seaport side, by public or private
relatively easy to develop a dry port facility, but it is a consid- entities, such as by port authorities, operators in port, or
erable challenge to put it into operation. Dry ports that have ocean carriers (Wilmsmeier, Monios, and Lambert, 2011).
a higher level of integration with the seaport have a higher The authors further claim that it is the conscious use of an
chance of success, simply because of integration or lack inland intermodal facility as a tool for the seaport actors
of competition between them (Roso, 2013). Black et al.’s to improve their inland access and expand their hinterland
Table 4. Success factors in the operations of dry ports.

Success factor References
Discuss operational agreements in advance Hanaoka and Regmi (2011)
Emission reductions Roso and Rosa (2012), Hanaoka and Regmi (2011)
Government logistics policies/support Hanaoka and Regmi (2011)
Public-private ownership or government Hanaoka and Regmi (2011)
Railway connection Roso, Woxenius, and Lumsden (2009), Roso and Lumsden (2010),
Hanaoka and Regmi (2010)
Modal shift from road to rail Roso, Woxenius, and Lumsden (2009), Hanaoka and Regmi (2011),
Cullinane and Wilmsmeier (2011)
Stimulating economic development Roso, Woxenius, and Lumsden (2009), Hanaoka and Regmi (2011)
Facilitating international trade Hanaoka and Regmi (2011)
Development of supporting infrastructure Hanaoka and Regmi (2011)
Streamlining of institutional and regulatory frameworks Hanaoka and Regmi (2011)
Double-stack trains Hanaoka and Regmi (2011)
Advanced information systems Roso (2013), Hanaoka and Regmi (2011)
Container tracking Hanaoka and Regmi (2011), Roso (2013)
Market driven development Hanaoka and Regmi (2011)
Cooperation between the actors of the transport system Roso (2013), Hanaoka and Regmi (2011)
Coordination among various government agencies Hanaoka and Regmi (2011)
Temporary warehousing facility Rodrigue and Notteboom (2012), Cullinane and Wilmsmeier (2011)
Capacity problems in seaport reduced Roso, Woxenius, and Lumsden (2009), Roso (2008), Rodrigue and
Notteboom (2012), Cullinane and Wilmsmeier (2011)
Development of value added services Bask et al. (2014),
Lower distribution cost Rodrigue and Notteboom (2012), Roso, Woxenius, and Lumsden
(2009), Cullinane and Wilmsmeier (2011)
Good intermediary location Rodrigue and Notteboom (2012)
Better usage of regional transport infrastructure Rodrigue and Notteboom (2012)
Expanding or reinforcing hinterland Cullinane and Wilmsmeier (2011), Roso (2013), Roso and Rosa
(2012)
Marketing support by local economic agencies and state Cullinane and Wilmsmeier (2011)
Lower land cost and taxes Cullinane and Wilmsmeier (2011)
Lower cost of living to attract distributions centers into area Cullinane and Wilmsmeier (2011)
Adapted from Black et al. (2013).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe201
and capture discretionary cargo. For instance, the Port of realization of the dry port plans in which the interested
Tauranga in New Zealand has had great success with its parties/actors start negotiation. The growth phase is as an
MetroPort 220 km away, which was initiated and financed operational development phase, with the introduction of
by the seaport Tauranga following the outside-in model and variety in the value-adding services and a strengthening of
brought a competitive advantage to the seaport compared to the relationships between the actors involved as well as the
the Auckland seaport (Roso, 2013). development of the infrastructure. Bidirectional development
As illustrated in Figure 3, Bask et al. (2014) suggest an (outside-and-inside) is proposed as an additional alternative
extended directional development model where the devel- in the growth phase (Figure 3).
opment of port–dry port dyads includes three development It is assumed that the development of dry ports is influ-
phases: the prephase, the start-up phase, and the growth enced by the services offered. As early as 1990, Beres-
phase. ford and Dubey (1990) described dry ports through one
The prephase is the situation with some of the major important value added service: “an inland terminal to and
prerequisites for dry port implementation into the trans- from which shipping lines could issue their bills of lading.”
port system. The start-up phase is the first step in the A potentially important part of the development of a dry
Pre-phase Start-up phase Growth phase
Dryport
Dyad
Dryport
Dyad Seaport
Sea
Seaport
Inside - out
Dryport Sea
Dryport
Inside - out
Dyad
Seaport
Seaport
Sea Dryport Sea
Dyad
Outside - in
Seaport
Dryport
Sea Dyad
Outside - in Seaport
Sea
(outside and inside)

Bidirectional
Actors Actors Collaboration mode to Service offered

Type of dry
Government Government support development Customs clearance
port
Region Region Customs warehousing
Support to overall Distant
City City development Wagon/container
Midrange
Municipality Municipality maintenance/repair
Mutual understanding of Close
Port Port the development Goods transit
Terminal Terminal Warehousing
Marketing
LSPs LSPs Cross docking/
Service offering
Rail Rail packaging
Ownership
Sub-assembly, etc
Figure 3. Extended directional development framework. (Reproduced with permission from Bask et al. (2014). © Elsevier, 2014.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe201
8 General
port is the inclusion of a variety of value-added services. 4 CONCLUDING REMARKS

A value-added service could be defined as an activity that
adds value to a product or service and which the customer Considering the challenges the actors in the transport system
is willing to pay for (Carbone and De Martino, 2003). are facing today, it is not surprising that dry ports have
Bowersox, Closs, and Cooper (2007) define a value-added gained increasing interest from different stakeholders in the
service as a specific activity that firms jointly can develop transport system. A dry port is a very good example of a
concept that truly is sustainable, since it may affect all three
to increase their efficiency and effectiveness. Consequently,
elements in the triple bottom line: economic, social, and
Ng and Gujar (2008), in their study on dry ports in India,
environmental. There is no doubt that, with globally growing
indicate that the solution where shippers often choose dry container flows and increasing environmental concerns, the
ports located closest to their production base is not neces- dry port is a valuable concept for the future. Dry ports will
sarily the optimal solution in terms of the minimization of be important in handling the lack of capacity as sea transport
transport cost, mainly due to government policies and dry volumes increase but also as a part of the solution to how to
ports’ inability to provide needed value-added services to tackle the environmental challenges we are facing.
the shippers. Carbone and De Martino (2003) have analyzed A dry port can be viewed not only as a transshipment point
the integration of an automotive supply chain and a port, and a physical platform facilitating multimodal transport but
and, based on this, they argue that there is a need for a also as an entity with resources and value-added services that
wider supply chain analysis in order to create value adding can support the dynamic capability of a business and new
for customers. Seaports today compete not only in terms of market positions. These may vary with the different types
of dry ports, which also may operate under different owner-
transshipment efficiency and tariffs but also in terms of the
ships but in essence have similar characteristics and bene-
quality of the services offered (Mourão, Pato, and Paixão,
fits. Although there are various interpretations of dry ports,
2002; Saeed, 2009). there is a common understanding that the successful imple-
The definitions of transport terminals are compiled in mentation of the dry port concept can lower congestion and
Table 2 with an emphasis on their mentions of value-added environmental impact through modal shift, increase seaports’
services. Podevins (2007) notes that inland terminals are terminal capacity and productivity, and also contribute to
growing in importance not only as consolidation hubs for regional development and increased customer service.
continental freight but also as providers of value-added It may be easy to build a dry port facility, but it can be rather
services for seaports. Paixão and Marlow (2003) suggest difficult to put it into operation. Several different phases
that dry ports should become seaports’ new customers, have to be passed, and this may take a long time; moreover,
which would enable the seaports to move from a cost mini- several different actors have to be involved, adding to the
mization perspective to that of a value-added maximization complexity. The state of the infrastructure, the cooperation
among stakeholders, and policy and regulations are the main
of the entire transport network. If there is a high level of
factors influencing dry port operations and as such are the
integration in the seaport–dry port dyad, extra services are
main attributes for the success or failure of a dry port. This
easily moved and performed at the inland destination. The requires a wider supply chain perspective when a dry port is
services available at dry ports might vary, depending on the to be implemented.
needs of the customers; the aim is to provide services that
best match the customers’ supply chain strategies (Bask,
2001). Naturally, the types of services offered at dry ports
may change over time according to customer needs, as GLOSSARY
in the example of the Hallsberg dry port in Sweden. The
Hallsberg dry port has chosen to focus on value-adding Dry port An inland intermodal terminal
services, since there has been a large demand for different directly connected to seaport by
services, mostly at the main customer’s request (Bask rail, where customers can
leave/pick up their standardized
et al., 2014). The services provided are cross docking and
units, as if directly at/from a
packaging, stuffing, goods reception, warehousing, material
seaport
control, repacking/relabeling, subassembly, kitting and Inland terminal Any facility situated inland where
sequencing, goods transit, the handling of dangerous goods, freight either originates,
customs warehousing, customs declaration, and wagon terminates, or is handled in the
maintenance/repair (Bask et al., 2014). transportation process
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe201
Logistics A defined area within which all Flämig, H. and Hesse, M. (2011) Placing dry ports. Port regional-
ization as a planning challenge—the case of Hamburg, Germany
platform transport and logistics related
and the Süderelbe. Research in Transportation Economics, 33 (1),
activities are carried out by various 35–41.
operators
Frémont, A. and Franc, P. (2010) Hinterland transportation in Europe:
Seaport–dry port Collaboration between two actors of combined transport versus road transport. Journal of Transport
dyad the transport system; a seaport and Geography, 18 (4), 548–556.
a dry port Hanaoka, S. and Regmi, M.B. (2011) Promoting intermodal freight
Value-added An activity that adds value to a transport through the development of dry ports in Asia: an environ-
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe201
Historical Development of the Offshore Industry
Victor A. Schmidt, Bruce Crager, and George Rodenbusch
Endeavor Management, Houston, TX, USA
design grew by applying fundamental principles to overcome

1 Introduction 1 increased current, wave, and storm activity, by developing
2 Exploration 1 new materials and standards, and by continuously improving
3 Drilling RIGS 3 safety systems. What follows is an overview of the major
fixed and floating systems that enable the industry to find and
4 Production 7
develop hydrocarbon resources in some of the most remote
5 Specialty Vessels 12 and inhospitable regions of the earth’s oceans.
6 Conclusion 14
Acknowledgments 15
Glossary 15 2 EXPLORATION
Related Articles 16
To explore areas covered with water, geophysicists first
References 16
adapted onshore geophysical equipment, sensor cables
Further Reading 16 (streamers), and recording equipment, so that streamers
could be towed behind a vessel of opportunity, giving
birth to marine seismic acquisition. The industry devel-
oped air guns to hold and released high-pressure pulses of
1 INTRODUCTION compressed air to “shoot” waves of sonic energy into the
water and “illuminate” the rock formations below the seabed.
The process for finding and developing oil and gas fields Vessels of opportunity, used to tow the equipment, were
is sequential comprising three major stages: exploration, eventually replaced with purpose-built vessels, designed for
drilling, and production. Offshore engineering is required the special needs of marine seismic acquisition.
and has been applied throughout each of these stages,
resulting in the industry’s steady advance into deeper water
and more challenging environments over the past 120 plus
2.1 Paradigm shift: 2D to 3D datasets
years.
From the late 1940s to 1980s, marine seismic was collected
Oil and natural gas was in high demand in the late 1800s
as two-dimensional (2D) data. A single vessel, towing a
due to heavy industries, such as railroads and the construc-
single streamer, produced an image similar to a geologic
tion of homes, buildings, and chemical plants that used oil
cross section, a “slice” through the water column and earth
for fuel and lubrication. Construction techniques used on
beneath. In the 1990s, advances in computer technology and
land and near-shore marine provided the initial step into
vessel design increased towing capacity allowing marine
shallow water. At each step into deeper water, engineering
seismic contactors to tow more than one streamer and
to begin collecting “swaths” of data (Figure 1). Initially,
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. this practice was used to improve the standard 2D image.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe113
However, competition quickly led to contractors towing
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 four or more streamers and shooting surveys with multiple
2 General
Figure 1. Seismic vessels tow air guns and multi-streamer arrays to collect seismic data. (Reproduced with permission. © Petroleum
Geo-Services, Inc, 2016.)
vessels. By spreading the streamers more widely behind industry wanted more, so new larger vessels were designed
the vessel, a three-dimensional (3D) volume of data was by naval architects with innovative designs to accommodate
produced. towing up to 24 streamers.
Seismic streamer control and vessel design improvements A radical “delta-shaped” vessel was built by Petroleum
allowed surveys of different sizes and density to be gath- Geo-Services (PGS) ASA in 1995 to provide a wide
ered. Surveys could be tailored to the needs of regional back deck for the large number of streamers it would tow
exploration, as well as detailed field development. The reso- (Figure 2). The Ramform™ design revolutionized seismic
lution and detail of the survey is controlled by changing data collection, since the wide beam of the vessel provided
the shooting density (relative sensor spacing) and the lateral more than double the internal space of a traditional 2D
separation of the streamers during data collection. vessel. PGS added supercomputers and onboard processing
These 3D datasets could be analyzed and viewed from of navigational data, as well as additional recording capacity,
any angle using specialized computer graphics and soft- to capture the data stream from the sensor array. Onboard
ware, greatly enhancing an interpreter’s understanding of processing of the data allowed interpreters to view and
the rock systems imaged. Now, the world beneath the seas work a dataset more quickly than ever before. The addition
was open and understandable as never before. Oil companies of satellite communication permitted data streaming to
quickly invested in interpretation equipment (computers, computing centers for final processing and distribution,
software, and special display technology) and developed reducing delivery times.
more prospects in deeper waters. Intense completion to gather 3D seismic data led to the
development of another vessel design advance in 1999, this
2.2 Seismic vessels time by WesternGeco (now part of Schlumberger). The new
design created greater efficiency by adding a wide “wing”
The shift from 2D to 3D seismic in the mid-1980s to early deck above a larger, efficient, trawler-style hull, thereby
1990s required increased towing capacity to pull multiple gaining the advantages of both traditional ship hulls and the
streamers. Streamers are deployed behind the vessel from wide sensor array deployment needed for 3D data collection.
large onboard reels and then spread (separated) from each Larger engines and onboard electric generator sets allowed
other by vertical wings (hydrofoils) on either side of the the vessel to be all-electric, eliminating traditional hydraulic
streamer array. The existing 2D vessels of the day could tow fluid systems to operate streamer deployment and collec-
up to 6 streamers with some limits on streamer length. But the tion machinery. This saved weight, reduced complexity, and
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe113
Historical Development of the Offshore Industry 3
(a) (b)
Figure 2. PGS developed the delta-shaped RamformTM seismic vessel (left) to tow multiple streamers for 3D seismic surveys, followed by
Schlumberger’s building of the Geco Eagle seismic vessel (right), which combined trawler ship design with improved wide seismic array
deployment. (Reproduced with permission. © Petroleum Geo-Services, Inc/Western Geco, 2016.)
created a very wide, open back deck for hydrofoils, steamers, 1938, opening Creole field over a salt dome just offshore
and air gun operations. Louisiana (Dobie, 1973).
Offshore drilling continued using similar methods to drill
in shallow water. In October 1947, Kerr-McGee stepped
3 DRILLING RIGS about 11 miles out into the GOM to drill offshore in 18 feet
of water. Now known as Anadarko Petroleum, Kerr-McGee
3.1 Introduction Oil Industries completed the Ship Shoal Block 32 well on
November 14, 1947, yielding the first producing offshore oil
High demand in the late 1800s led the industry to seek well out of sight of land in the GOM (Figure 4).
new oil fields in the shallow waters off California. The Drilling and developing this well required the use of
first offshore drilling of wells originated in Summerland, unproven techniques, which once proven were then used to
California, in 1887 (Grosbard, 2012; AOGHS (American Oil develop resources further offshore. This evolution of tech-
& Gas Historical Society), 2014). H. L. Williams built piers nology is a process that the industry has used over the
out into the Santa Barbara Channel and drilled wells using intervening years to advance into deeper water by applying
wooden wharves and drilling towers constructed on the piers existing technology and developing new technologies to
to protect workers and house drilling equipment (Figure 3). address new challenges.
The first well drilled at Summerland Field was on a pier
extending 300 feet seaward of the beach. Multiple wells 3.2 Submersibles and inland barges
were drilled after oil was discovered farther from shore; the
most distant well was drilled on a pier built about 1200 feet Offshore drilling rigs come in two fundamental types:
out from land. The first offshore well in California proved bottom-supported and floaters. Most offshore drilling rigs
there were commercially attractive volumes of oil in the used for exploration are known as mobile offshore drilling
seabed offshore, leading to the development of improved units (MODUs). As the industry moved into deeper water, it
technologies that could operate in deeper waters. became uneconomic to build new, nonmoveable structures
The practice of building drilling towers on piers spread for each well, since many wells did not find oil (they were
to Ohio in 1891, where productive wells were drilled in dry). The industry’s engineers developed a solution. First,
Ohio’s Mercer County Reservoir (Grand Lake St. Marys). they used barges (drilling barges or submersibles) secured
Other lakes in the United States (Caddo Lake, Louisiana) and with pilings (posted) at the corners and ballasted onto the
overseas (Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela) were also tested and seabed. These vessels could carry a permanent drilling
produced oil using simple free-standing platforms, based on system including a steel tower (derrick) and were moveable
the same construction techniques used for piers. and suitable for shallow water. Numerous exploratory wells
In 1936 the State of Louisiana sold its first oil and gas could be drilled with these submersible barges, allowing
lease in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to Pure Oil Company companies to reserve platform building for those wells that
in West Cameron Block 2. Pure modified the pier approach produced oil.
by building a wooden platform supported by timber pilings Drilling barges are sufficient for shallow water such as
in 14 feet of water to drill the first oil well in the GOM. lakes, swamps, rivers, and canals. They are typically smaller,
The well was started in 1937 and discovered oil in March floating vessels that are moved from place to place by
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe113
4 General
Figure 3. The first offshore drilling used land drilling techniques staged from wooden piers and towers, built into the Santa Barbara Channel
off California. (Reproduced from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summerland,_California#/media/File:Oil_wells_just_offshore_at_
Summerland,_California,_c.1915.jpg. Public Domain.)
first purpose-built offshore jackup rig. This concept was

developed by R. G. LeTourneau in 1953 when he came up
with an idea to safely drill oil and gas offshore by creating
a drilling vessel that could withstand all weather conditions
(Drilling Contractor, 2005). The key was to build a vessel that
could be quickly moved to the drill site and stabilized before
drilling. A structure of lattice-style support legs lowered to
the sea floor solved the problem (Figure 5).
LeTourneau proposed his idea to George H. W. Bush,
who was head of Zapata Off-Shore Company. The idea was
accepted, and construction on the first jackup rig began in
late 1954 at LeTourneau’s shipyard on the shores of the
Mississippi River at Vicksburg, USA. The completed project
cost about $3 million.
On March 20, 1956, Scorpion was christened, and the
140-foot rig was towed to a location offshore Port Aransas,
Figure 4. Kerr-McGee drilled in 18 feet of water using a drilling Texas where it drilled its first well for Standard Oil Company
tender, Frank Phillips, a converted US Navy barge. (Photo Courtesy
of Kerr-McGee.) of Texas. LeTourneau jackups quickly became very popular,
because they were the only rigs on the Gulf Coast that could
tugboats. Drilling barges are unable to withstand strong tolerate windy and disruptive weather conditions.
currents or waves in large, open-water areas. The industry settled on a three-legged system as the most
efficient and stable for drilling. Jackups are towed to a loca-
3.3 Jackups tion with the legs elevated. While the hull floats, the legs are
lowered to the sea bottom using an electric rack and pinion
There were several hulls modified to be jackup drilling rigs or hydraulic jacking system. The hull is raised on the legs or
in the early 1950s. Zapata Off-Shore’s Scorpion was the “jacked” up high above the water surface to provide a safe air
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe113
(Figure 6). An IC rig’s legs are supported by “spud cans”

at the bottom of each leg. After the legs are jacked down,
seawater is pumped into tanks in the hull, adding weight to
force the legs into the bottom sediment. This loading process
is repeated until the legs stop sinking into the ocean floor and
the jackup is stable.
To cantilever over a platform, the hull has a set of rails over
which the drilling tower and system rests. Once positioned
next to a platform, the legs are jacked down to support the
rig and the drilling system is extended using the rails, away
from the main hull, and over the platform. This allows the IC
jackup to service wells on fixed platforms of any size.
The type of jackup rig used depends on the work to be
done, rig availability, water depth, seafloor conditions, and
metocean and weather conditions expected.
Figure 5. The first jackup rig, Scorpion, was built for Zapata
Offshore Company for use in the Gulf of Mexico. (Reproduced with
permission. © Rowan Companies.) 3.4 Semisubmersibles
Semisubmersible rigs (semis) are floating MODUs that can

gap during stormy weather. This air gap allows large waves drill in deep water up to 12,000 feet or more (Figure 7). This
to pass under the jackup without damaging the hull. rig type is a column-stabilized vessel, which is transparent
Continuous improvements have led to larger deck areas, to much wave energy, minimizing motions due to forces on
longer legs for drilling in deeper water, and multideck hulls the vessel. Semis float on large horizontal pontoons with
for personnel accommodations and storage of drilling equip- large vertical columns (legs) connecting to a hull that is held
ment and consumables. Jackups can now drill in water depths above the water. Over the development history of these rigs,
of over 500-feet deep, reaching across most of the world’s the number of legs has changed with the designs: 3, 4, 5, 6,
continental shelves, and can drill to depths of 40,000 feet or and 8-legged semisubmersibles have been built. The present
more into the seafloor. trend is to build robust 4-legged semis, reserving 6-legged
Advantages of jackup rigs include stable work platforms, semis for harsh environments.
lower capital cost than floating rigs, and the versatility to Semis have ballasting systems in the pontoon hulls to
work over a production platform (fixed structure) in open provide stability when on a drilling location. Moored semi
water. Most jackups can be upgraded with improved drilling designs depend on a set of 6–12 large anchors attached
equipment but are limited by their deck load and seawor- to chains and ropes of wire or polyester to hold the semi
thiness. Early jackups were designed for a service life of in place. Other semi designs use automated dynamic posi-
12–15 years, but with improved technology and proper main- tioning (DP) systems to keep the semi in place. These
tenance, they can remain operable for more than 35 years. systems ensure that the vessel is secure enough to maintain
The two common types of jackup rigs are the mat slot position in heavy seas and storms.
(MS) and independent cantilever (IC). The MS jackup has The first semi, Blue Water Rig No. 1, was developed by
a bottom plate (mat) attached to its legs. Both the hull Shell in 1961 by converting a submersible rig, which was
and mat have a rectangular cutout (slot) on one side. The used for drilling in shallow water, into a floating unit. It was
slot fits around small fixed platforms, so that the drilling built on pontoons with four columns, one at each corner of
system can be positioned over the wellheads on the plat- the vessel, supporting a deck and drilling tower. Originally
form. Once positioned around the platform, the MS rig’s intended to be towed and set on the sea bottom, the vessel
legs are jacked down together, so that the mat supports the was stable under tow with partially ballasted pontoons, so
rig on the seabed. MS jackup rigs are limited to about 250 Shell and the Blue Water Drilling Company decided to drill
feet of water, are particularly useful in areas having uncon- with the vessel while it floated, thus creating a new class of
solidated (soft) seafloor conditions, and tow slower than drilling rig, while extending the water depths in which the
other rigs. rig could operate.
The IC rig has become the standard jackup because of its The first purpose-built semi was the Ocean Driller, a
versatility and is the largest bottom-supported rig type. The “V”-shaped, three-column vessel built in 1963 in New
hull does not have a slot and the legs move independently Orleans, Louisiana, by Ocean Drilling & Exploration
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe113
6 General
Figure 6. The Joe Douglas, an independent leg cantilever jackup built in 2011, can drill in 350 feet of water. (Reproduced with permission.
© Rowan Companies.)
Figure 7. Modern high-specification semisubmersible rigs can drill in 12,000 feet or more of water to depths of 40,000 feet into the earth.
(Reproduced with permission. © Diamond Offshore, 2016.)
Company (ODECO). It was built to operate and drill in up water and more challenging environments. A semi has a
to 600 feet of water and was active until 1992 when it was drilling derrick located at the middle of its deck over a moon
retired. The vessel cost US$3 million to build and had a hull pool, which extends through the vessel to the open sea. This
355 × 210 × 125 feet in size with a 140-foot derrick in the allows the drill pipe to extend through the vessel through
center of the “V”-shaped hull. It was conventionally moored the water and into the seabed. As semis’ water depth ratings
using anchors and chains. increased, a change in positioning systems was needed to
Semis have been built in seven major construction cycles improve station keeping ability. Mooring with anchor and
or generations. With each generation, semis’ size and chain was replaced by DP systems as rigs moved into water
capacity has increased, so that they can work in deeper depths beyond 3500 feet.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe113
DP systems keep the vessel centered over the drill site using 4 PRODUCTION
4–8 electrically driven propellers (thrusters). Computers are
used to monitor the hull’s position, using global satellite 4.1 Introduction
positioning equipment and sensors placed on the seafloor,
and to measure environmental forces impacting the vessel. After exploration locates a prospective area and drilling
Through a complex algorithm, the DP system calculates discovers oil, the production process begins. Production
positional adjustments and actuates individual thrusters to extracts hydrocarbons from the earth and separates the
keep the semi centered directly above the drill site at all mixture of liquid hydrocarbons, gas, water, and solids
times. flowing from the well for delivery to shore. Constituents that
cannot be sold are removed, leaving liquid hydrocarbon and
gas that are sent to shore for processing and sale. Unusable
3.5 Drillships components are disposed in an environmentally correct
manner. Production sites normally include hydrocarbons
A drillship has a drilling derrick over a moon pool similar
flowing from multiple wells.
to a semi but has a ship-shaped hull. Drillships are generally
Producing oil and gas from below the sea has undergone
self-propelled, so they can mobilize more quickly than semis
tremendous change since the first offshore wells were drilled.
and are often used for drilling operations in very remote
Connecting a producing well to land over the top of a pier
locations and in very deep water.
is a relatively simple plumbing task. Once a well is drilled
In 1955, Robert F. Bauer of Global Marine designed the
beyond the reach of land, pipe must be laid on the seabed
first drillship, the CUSS I, named for the partners Conti-
to shore, or the produced oil must be stored and offloaded
nental, Union, Shell, and Superior. This was a conversion of
(lightered) to a tanker vessel for transport to shore. Natural
a surplus Navy YF barge. By 1957, it had drilled in 400 feet
gas cannot be stored at the site of production but must be used
of water. CUSS II or Glomar was Global Marine’s first major
as fuel on the platform, sent to shore by pipeline, reinjected,
drillship. It cost around US$4.5 million and was completed
or burned (flared).
in 1962. Weighing 5500 tons, it was almost twice the size of
Wells completed offshore are controlled by Christmas trees
CUSS I.
(a series of valves) either on top of a surface facility or on
Later that year, The Offshore Company decided to create a
the seabed. Dry trees are accessible on the top of a platform
larger drillship that would feature an anchor mooring system
or on the deck of a floating production system (FPS); each
using a turret system, which allowed the hull to weather vane tree connects to a well at the mudline through production
around the stationary drill floor. Named Discoverer I, it was casing in a fixed riser (pipe that transports the produced
built without engines and was towed to the drill site. Around fluids). Subsea wells require in-water (wet) trees for pressure
1961, Global Marine began a new drillship era by ordering control. These trees are secured on the wellhead at the seabed
self-propelled drillships that could drill wells to 20,000 feet and connect to an FPS or fixed platform by flowlines and
in water depths of 600 feet. Most modern drillships use DP risers.
to maintain their location over the drillsite (Figure 8).
As the industry moved into deeper water and sought new
reserves in more remote ocean depths, the need for drillships 4.2 Offshore Pipelines
has grown. New vessels continue to be added to the fleet and
provide naval engineers with the challenge of creating space Subsea pipelines were created in the early 1940s out of
for additional equipment, workrooms for equipment service necessity as a logistical support for the World War 2 effort
and repair, and additional capacity for drilling in ever deeper to fuel allied troops in France after the D-Day invasion.
water. Some new drillships are being designed to carry two The technology applied by the British in Operation Pipelines
blowout preventers (BOP), so that an immediate replace- Under The Ocean (PLUTO) evolved from that used to lay
ment is available if needed. Along with the extra BOP, addi- underwater communication cables across the Atlantic Ocean.
tional workspace is required to service a failed BOP. Dual Both cable construction techniques and cable-lay vessels
derricks are becoming more common to perform drill pipe were modified to meet the war need.
make-up/break-up operations on one derrick, while drilling The first subsea pipelines laid were formed from 2-in.
is taking place on the other derrick. The most recent designs diameter lead pipe that was wrapped in several protective
have a 20,000-psi well control system and a high crane layers and armored with steel. The pipeline was flexible
capacity and can set back more drill pipe than earlier vessels like telegraph cabling and was spooled onto large 30-foot
for drilling in more than 12,000 feet of water (Offshore, diameter drums for transport. The pipeline was then played
2014). out from the drums during installation. In December 1942,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe113
8 General
Figure 8. New drillships can carry dual towers, two BOPs, and additional workspace as standard equipment. (Reproduced with permission.
© Rowan Companies.)
a trial was conducted by laying a 30-mile pipeline across 4.2.1 Fixed structures
the Bristol Channel to connect Swansea and Ilfracombe. The
trial was a success and the decision was made to expand From the legacy of wooden piers and small fixed wooden
the pipeline to 3-in. diameter (76 mm) for the connection structures in shallow water, the industry has designed ever
across the English Channel. The cost of materials and limited larger bottom-supported steel structures (platforms) to
quantities of lead forced manufacturers to replace lead pipe produce oil and gas from the continental shelves. These
with steel tubing. Much of the steel used in the pipeline came structures (jackets) are generally built of steel with a lattice
from the United States. structure having multiple, cross-braced legs. They are
The subsea pipeline eliminated the need for tanker vessels secured to the seabed by piles, driven through the hollow
and provided a secure fuel delivery capability that was legs into the soft bottom soils. The jacket supports the deck
weather independent. Fuel was pumped from the Isle of (topsides) where wellheads, processing equipment, helipad,
Wight to Cherbourg, France, within 2 months of the invasion. and crew quarters reside. Fixed platforms are suitable for
Twenty subsea pipelines were eventually laid from England installation in water depths to about 1400 feet, but the
to France across the English Channel to deliver fuel to the majority of platforms are in less than 300-feet water depths.
fighting forces. A variant of the fixed platform, the compliant tower, has been
It is generally accepted that early offshore pipelines to used in over 1700-feet water depth in Chevron’s Petronius
deliver oil and gas from offshore wells to shore were first field in the GOM.
deployed in significant quantity along the US GOM coastline Shell Oil Company designed the tallest, pile-supported,
as production moved from onshore to offshore beginning in fixed-steel platform in the world in 1985. The Bullwinkle
the late 1940s. platform is 1736-feet tall from seabed to flare boom and is
Offshore pipelines have since evolved from shallow water set in GOM Green Canyon Block 65 in 1353 feet of water
to deep water and from relatively benign to harsh environ- (Skyscraperpage.com, 2014) (Figure 9).
ments. The following summarizes a number of developments The total cost of the platform was US$500 million. Holding
that have allowed offshore pipelines to be installed (called 60 well slots, the platform’s structural weight is over 77,000
pipelay) in water depths approaching 10,000 feet in most tons. Initial processing capacity of the platform was 59,000
non-Arctic areas worldwide. Beyond 10,000 feet and ice barrels of oil per day and 100 million cubic feet of gas per
prone areas represent today’s frontier challenge to offshore day. Bullwinkle is also the processing hub for a number of
pipelines. other fields in the GOM.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe113
(a) (b)
Figure 9. The Bullwinkle jacket was towed (a) to its location and installed so the topsides (b) could be set on the jacket in 1353 feet of
water in the Gulf of Mexico. (Reproduced with permission. © Shell, 2016.)
Another fixed platform type is the gravity-based structure and also keeping the platform on location. Advantages of
or GBS, developed originally for use in the North Sea. The using TLPs include the ability to support dry tree wells, easy
steel-reinforced concrete structures were constructed in the accessibility for maintaining riser systems, and the ability to
deep fjords of Norway by building consecutive rings on top weather major storms without disconnecting from producing
of one another until the structure reached its designed size wells.
and shape. The structure was then towed to its intended The first TLP was developed for the Hutton field in the
location and ballasted with iron ore, settling it onto the North Sea in 1984. Conoco Company engineered the system
seabed. No piles were needed to secure the structure; the for a water depth of 485 feet. This structure consisted of six
structure’s weight and gravity were sufficient to keep it in columns connected at the bases by rectangular pontoons; the
place. The first GBS was built and installed for Ekofisk field column tops were connected by boxed structures.
in the North Sea and weighed 215,000 tons (Veldman and The hull and deck of the structure were mated in the Moray
Lagers, 1997). It was installed in 1973 in 230 feet of water Firth in 1984 and then towed out to UK Blocks 211/27
and included a large concrete tank for oil storage. and 211/28. Originally designed with a service life of up
to 25 years, the Hutton TLP was decommissioned in 2008.
4.2.2 Floating structures Most TLPs have been installed in the GOM, but they have
also been used in West Africa, the North Sea, Brazil, and
Floating structures come in several forms from rectangular,
Indonesia.
pontoon-supported vessels to large vertical cylinders moored
to the seabed, to ship-shaped vessels for gathering and Spars are FPSs that are cylindrical in form. They come
processing oil and gas. Most FPSs have production modules in many sizes and configurations depending on metocean
that are built onshore or near shore before being towed to conditions and the processing modules needed to produce the
their intended location. The deck and topside modules are field. Early spars were vertical solid-wall cylinders on which
frequently constructed separately and mated to the hull, after a deck and processing modules were mounted. Later versions
it is launched (Figure 10). were a combination of a solid-wall cylinder with a truss
Tension leg platforms (TLPs) are vertically secured section beneath. This design permitted a larger deck, due to
floating systems with buoyancy that exceeds the weight of the structure’s reduced weight, compared to a solid-wall form
the structures (Kak, 2009). They are usually placed in water of the same dimension. The combination design includes
depths between 1000 and 5000 feet. heave plates, which help reduce vertical motions. All spars
TLPs are connected to the seabed by rigid pipes (tendons) are located in the GOM except for Kikeh in the South China
that act as mooring legs. The TLP hull is ballasted down into Sea off Malaysia and another planned for Aasta Hansteen
the water and then the tendons are connected to the hull, in the North Sea off Norway. They have been used in water
which are connected to the seafloor by plies. The hull is depths ranging from 1900 to 7800 feet. The deepest spar was
then deballasted, which puts the tendons in tension, limiting installed in 2010 at Perdido field in the GOM in 7817 feet of
the vertical movement (heave) that the vessel experiences water.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe113
10 General
Offshore facility types
FPSO
Fixed
platform Compliant
tower New generation
Conventional Semi-FPU
TLP Truss
TLP MiniDOC Classic spar Cell Control Subsea
spar
Subsea manifold spar buoy tieback
Figure 10. Modern offshore drilling structures include (from left to right) conventional fixed platform, compliant tower, vertically moored
minimal tension leg platform, conventional tension leg platform, semisubmersible floating production unit, truss spar, MiniDOC spar, classic
spar, cell spar, control buoy, and floating production storage and offloading facility. (Reproduced with permission. © Wood Group Kenny,
2016.)
Semisubmersible drilling rigs have occasionally been allows the FPSO to separate from the production/export
transformed into FPS, but they are also frequently system and move away when extreme weather approaches.
purpose-built for use as floating production platforms. About half of the current FPSO fleet was constructed by
By replacing the drilling equipment with process equipment converting commercial tankers, including very large crude
and pumps, oil and gas from subsea wells can be processed carriers (VLCCs), into production systems. The repurposed
and sent to shore by pipeline. This choice is less expensive tankers are reengineered and reinforced to carry processing
than a new-build TLP or spar, because older semis can be systems and storage, ranging from several hundred thousand
repurposed economically and converted quickly to produc- barrels to over 2 million barrels of crude oil. Natural gas
produced with the oil is sent through a dedicated pipeline to
tion mode. Because semis are easily moved, they are an
shore, reinjected into formations below the seabed, used for
economical choice for producing several smaller fields in
fuel on the FPSO, or flared. FPSOs operate in all the major
sequence. Semi FPSs have been used around the world,
offshore producing areas of the world. The deepest location
including very deep water in the GOM and Brazil. The is in the Cascade–Chinook field in the GOM in 8200 feet of
deepest is Independence Hub in the GOM in 7920 feet of water.
water.
Ship-shaped floating platforms are the most common FPS 4.2.3 Subsea systems
form because of their flexibility. Commonly referred to as
floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels, A subsea system is the array of equipment placed on the
they are secured for station keeping with mooring lines seafloor to facilitate safe hydrocarbon production to a host
or occasionally with DP systems. FPSOs have production facility, which might be a platform, FPS, or a shore base.
systems on the deck, store produced oil in the vessel’s Subsea systems can be traced back to 1943 in Lake Erie,
tanks, and can offload the oil to shuttle tankers, which USA, where the first subsea completion took place in approx-
imately 30 feet of water. That well used a land-type tree that
transport the oil to refineries. The ship-shape vessel can
required diver intervention for installation, maintenance, and
be spread-moored in one heading or pivot (weathervane)
flowline connections.
around a turret, where all the mooring lines, flexible produc-
Cameron built the first subsea Christmas tree in 1961 for
tion risers, and umbilicals come together from wells on the installation on the first GOM subsea producer, a Shell well
seabed and where export pipelines also connect. Where the in about 50 feet of water. The first diverless subsea well was
weather is mild, such as offshore West Africa, an FPSO can completed in 1967. By 1971, subsea wells were completed in
be spread-moored without using a turret. Risers and umbili- 220 feet of water at Ekofisk Field, developing the first North
cals are then connected to the hull of the FPSO. Sea subsea system. By 1978, 140 subsea systems were active
Turrets can either be internal to the FPSO or float as an worldwide and now they number in the thousands.
external buoy that connects to the FPSO by an articulating Subsea wells can often be brought into production faster
boom. A few FPSOs have a disconnectable turret, which to an existing host than by building a new fixed or floating
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe113
platform. Wells on the seafloor can be placed beyond the and excellent communication systems. They are equipped
effective drilling reach of existing platforms and allow addi- with 200–300 horsepower systems to perform installation,
tional production, if the host facility has no spare well slots. maintenance, troubleshooting, and repair of subsea equip-
When tiebacks to existing surface facilities are available, ment in up to 15,000 feet of water.
investment in expensive new facilities such as fixed platforms When the need for templates was no longer a concern and
and FPSs can be bypassed. If the flowlines of a deepwater improved subsea measurement and navigation was available,
well are tied back to a structure in shallower water, less clustered well systems were developed. They were first used
expensive infrastructure can result. Disadvantages of subsea in shallow water in the North Sea in the late 1970s. These
wells include higher installed costs per well and higher inter- system designs were later applied offshore Norway, Brazil,
vention costs, when compared to dry trees on surface facili- and the GOM in the mid-1980s. Because of their flexibility,
ties. Reduced flow rates or expensive interventions in subsea clustered well systems are still used today. The wells can
wells can force early well shut-ins, leaving unproduced oil in be placed in optimal locations to develop the reservoir and
the reservoir, because the well reached its economic limit. can be connected by flowlines to a subsea manifold, so that
Subsea well technology developed from the mid-1950s multiple wells can flow back to the host through a shared
to mid-1970s as companies drilled in deeper waters. As flowline.
wells were being drilled further away from host facilities, Early remote-controlled valves came about from equip-
valves were improved and wet, remote-controlled satellite ment developed for BOPs. However, the size and cost of
trees were developed, as were trees that were housed in remote-controlled valves, along with the discovery that
one-atmosphere systems (dry chambers) at the same pressure stacked valves could not withstand horizontal forces during
as at sea level. Lockheed developed these systems and the installation, became an issue. Block trees overcome this
transfer bells needed to access them in the 1970s. They devel- problem because the valves are machined into a single
oped single-well chambers as well as dry manifold chambers forging. Early trees (termed a vertical tree) were designed
holding production manifolds. Personnel were moved from to use guidelines for installation and had vertical bores for
the surface to the dry chamber by a transfer capsule that was the production to flow through. The well was drilled, casing
lowered from the surface and set on top of the dry chamber, strings were set, and then the tubing string was landed in
where it was sealed and locked. Personnel could then move the wellhead, where plugs were set in the tubing. The BOP
into the chamber and work as required for initial installation was pulled and then the subsea tree was landed. If the well
and ongoing operations. Dry chamber systems were used in required a workover, the tree had to be removed.
the GOM and offshore Brazil but had limited usage because The through-bore tree was developed to overcome compli-
the transfer system was expensive to maintain and the cham- cations with downhole safety valves and other downhole
bers became too expensive for deeper waters due to increased issues. The tubing was landed in the tree below the valves.
hydrostatic pressure. This was a vertical tree that required large master valves.
Initially, subsea wells were installed and maintained by The advantage of this tree design was that the completion
divers. As the industry moved into deeper depths, remotely could be pulled through the bore without removing the tree.
operated vehicles (ROV) were developed in the 1970s Because of the difficulty of designing larger master valves,
to work beyond normal diving depths for humans and to this tree design had little usage. A new design was developed
improve working flexibility with subsea systems. with the valves offset from the main bore. This horizontal
Large maintenance systems were tried in the GOM and the tree replaced the through-bore tree, because it has no valves
North Sea in the 1970s and 1980s, such as the Shell/Exxon in the vertical bore.
Cormorant field that had the Underwater Manifold Centre The key difference between a vertical and horizontal tree is
(UMC). Wells were drilled through a template that supported in the installation process. The vertical tree’s well is drilled
a manifold placed in the center. The maintenance vehicle and completed, including the production tubing, through
moved on a track and could access the wet subsea trees and a drilling riser and BOP. After the well is completed, the
the manifold. Over time, ROVs eliminated the need for these BOP and riser are recovered and the tree is installed on the
larger maintenance vehicles. well. For a horizontal tree, the well is drilled and suspended
ROVs and the tooling they use to work underwater have without tubing, the BOP and riser are recovered, and the tree
become the primary equipment for subsea installation and is run at that time or later. After the subsea tree is landed on
intervention. They serve multiple roles including platform the well, the BOP and riser are installed on top of the tree.
and pipeline inspection, surveys, drilling and construction The well is completed by installing the tubing and downhole
support, debris removal, platform cleaning, subsea instal- hardware, and then the BOP and riser are pulled back to the
lation and maintenance support, and object location and drilling rig. Depending on the project, either tree can be used.
recovery. Today, ROVs have improved gyroscopic controls If the well is expected to need significant workover during
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe113
12 General
its life, the horizontal tree is normally preferred. One other Semis and drillships with anchor and chain mooring
major advance with subsea trees was developed for deeper systems require the services of anchor handling tug supply
water. Guidelines became difficult to install for deepwater (AHTS) vessels. AHTS are larger than port tugs and have
drilling at the time global positioning was being developed. the capacity to transport and set very large anchors used to
This resulted in guidelineless systems for BOPs and subsea secure drilling rigs and FPS units on location. When they
trees, which is now the common method used for rigs in are not setting anchors and chain, AHTS serve as supply
deeper water and with all rigs using DP. vessels.
Umbilicals used today are multiline assemblies that allow Offshore construction requires a number of specialty
complex subsea systems to be controlled and operated. They vessels to install and decommission production facilities
include thermoplastic and steel hydraulic fluid and chemical and structures, both fixed and floating. These include heavy
supply lines, electrical control and communication cables, transport vessels for moving rigs, jackets, topsides, FPSs,
and fiber optic cables. Early umbilicals were comprised of and equipment between continental regions; heavy lift
thermoplastic hydraulic hoses for subsea control systems vessels with massive cranes to place topsides and equip-
over short distances of a few miles. These thermoplastic ment packages on jackets and spars; diving support vessels
hoses worked well in most applications but not in deep- (DSVs) to support and house dive systems and divers to
water situations where the fluids had a lower specific gravity perform underwater work; and pipelay vessels to install steel
than water, such as gas injection lines. If pressure was lost, pipe, flexible pipe, and umbilicals (Figure 11).
the hose collapsed. Other problems occurred with methanol Pipelay vessels are used to install the pipelines that bring
and other chemicals that can migrate through the thermo- produced hydrocarbons to land for processing. Workers in
plastic hose. Steel tubes solve both of these problems and are the vessels weld sections of pipe together, perform X-ray
commonly used today. In addition, high collapse resistance weld inspection, and add various coatings to the pipe before
(HCR) thermoplastic hoses were developed for deepwater. the pipeline leaves the vessel’s “firing line” and goes over the
Flowlines are used to transport produced fluids from the
“stinger,” a suspended support structure on the stern of the
subsea tree to the host facility. These can be made of steel
vessel, as the pipe is lowered to the seabed. Other pipelay
pipe or of a composite of various materials called flexible
vessels carry out “reel lay” operations. For these vessels,
flowlines. Risers are the section of the flowline that transports
steel pipe is welded together onshore and then spooled on
produced fluids from the seafloor to the surface and can be the
to a large reel on the vessel at a shore base. The vessel then
same pipe as the flowline. For an FPS, risers are in a dynamic
transits to the installation site and lowers the pipeline to the
environment due to currents and the motions of the FPS. Steel
seafloor using the large reel. Flexible pipe was developed to
catenary risers (SCR) can also be used in deeper water and
install flowlines in deep water (Figure 12).
accommodate dynamic applications. Flowlines and risers are
Several developments allowed offshore pipelines to move
used intrafield as opposed to pipelines, which are normally
larger in diameter and export oil and gas from a field to the from shallow to deep water and increase pipelay produc-
shore facility. tivity. Pipelay technique evolved from welding individual
Today, subsea well systems are used around the world. pipe joints horizontally (S-lay) to welding pipe joints verti-
They can take less than 2 years to start up and can be designed cally (J-lay), and then to reeling. Reeling pipe onto a large
for most any reservoir configuration. Currently, subsea trees spool aboard the pipelay vessel allowed pipe to be welded
are used to produce oil from over 40 miles from a host facility into a flowline onshore rather than offshore, improving
and gas from up to 90 miles, and subsea wells are producing project efficiency. Reeled pipe has certain diameter and
in almost 10,000 foot water depth with up to 15,000 psi length restrictions.
shut-in pressure. These limits continue to be expanded into Pipelay vessels evolved from anchored mooring to DP to
deeper water and at higher production pressures. keep the vessel on location while welding joints together and
then placing the pipeline on the seabed. Automatic welding
was developed to increase pipelay speed over manual
5 SPECIALTY VESSELS welding. As pipelines were built for deeper water depths,
tensioners grew in load capacity to restrain the pipe onboard
The challenges of offshore construction, logistics, and oper- the pipelay vessel during pipelay in both S-lay mode and
ations have led the industry’s naval architects to develop J-lay mode. Winches also improved increasing in load and
specialty vessels of many types. The seismic vessels wire length capacity for laying down and recovering pipe
explained earlier are but one example of the many vessels during construction.
created to accomplish important tasks on and in the water to Double jointing (welding single 40-feet pipe lengths into
support offshore exploration and production. 80-feet lengths either onshore or onboard the pipelay vessel)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe113
Figure 11. The offshore oil and gas industry uses many specialty vessels, such as this heavy lift vessel, for moving production modules,
rigs, and other major equipment to offshore locations. (Reproduced with permission. © Dockwise, 2016.)
Figure 12. Flowlines and smaller pipelines are lowered to the seabed using reeled pipelay vessels. (Reproduced with permission. © Technip,
2016.)
increased pipelay productivity over single jointing in S-lay Other developments allowed offshore pipelay to move into
mode. Quad jointing has similarly been used in J-lay mode. harsh environments. First generation flat bottom barges were
Shallow water pipelay depended on divers to perform the used to lay smaller diameter pipelines in the GOM. They
underwater work necessary to lay, connect, and test offshore evolved into larger second generation barges, self-propelled
pipelines before they were put into use. ROVs and mechan- ship-shaped vessels, and third generation semisubmersible
ical subsea tie-in connectors were developed to reach beyond vessels to install the larger diameter trunk lines neces-
the depth limitations of divers (600 feet in saturation diving sary to handle high volume oil and gas production in the
and 1000 feet in atmospheric dive suits). North Sea.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe113
14 General
Pipelay Vessel Item First Generation Second Generation Third Generation Fourth Generation
Vessel hull Flat bottom barge Ship shape Ship shape or Ship shape or semi
semisubmersible
Propulsion Towed Self-propelled Self-propelled Self-propelled
Station keeping Anchored Anchored DP DP
Lay mode S-lay S-lay S-lay or J-lay (through S-lay and J-lay (through
vertical tower) vertical tower)
Jointing Single joint Single joint Double joint Quad or reeled
Pipe Rigid Rigid Rigid Rigid or flexible
Pipe diameter (incl. Up to 36′′ Up to 48′′ Up to 60′′ Up to 60′′ /18′′ reeled
coating)
Welding Manual Manual or auto Auto Auto or reeled
Subsea support Divers Divers ROVs ROVs
Water depth (m) 100 200 300 3000
Tension (t) 100 200 Up to 1000 Up to 600 S-lay
Up to 800 reel lay
Up to 2000 J-lay
Jointing Single Single Double Reeled
Developed 1960s 1970s 1980s 2000s
Examples Iroquois — Castoro Sei Aegir
Solitaire Borealis
Deep energy
Lewek Constellation
Delivery of the pipe from shore to the pipelay vessel (called manage platform fires, while others have oil containment and
pipehaul) evolved from using towed barges with transfer of recovery equipment to control and capture oil spills.
individual pipe segments by crane into the pipelay vessel’s A relatively new class of specialty vessel, the multiservice
hold to faster and larger DP vessels with offshore transfer vessel (MSV), has been designed to place equipment on the
of large reels by crane. DP allows the pipehaul vessel to seabed, including the installation of flexible pipe for flow-
maintain position alongside the pipelay vessel during pipe lines and risers, as well as umbilicals. They also house ROVs
transfer to the pipelay vessel and to keep pace with pipelay and provide surface space from which to direct ROV oper-
progress during the transfer operation. ations for subsea installation, maintenance, and decommis-
Fourth generation vessels have now been deployed with sioning work. MSVs have operational flexibility and lower
vertical lay systems and vertical reels or carrousels that cost compared to hiring a drilling rig or large pipelay vessel
allow installation of flowlines, risers, and control umbili- to do the work (Figure 13).
cals from the subsea wellhead to floating production plat-
forms and export risers in deep water. Examples of current
state-of-the-art pipelay vessels are the Solitaire (S-lay), Aegir
(J-lay), and Lewek Constellation (reel lay). 6 CONCLUSION
While offshore construction vessels are primarily used
only when a project is underway during the installation At every stage of the industry’s march into deeper water to
phase, there is another class of specialty vessel that supports find and develop oil and gas reserves, offshore engineers and
ongoing offshore operations. Platform supply vessels (PSVs) naval architects have developed new approaches to solve the
transport goods and personnel to and from offshore oil plat- problems associated with offshore oil and gas operations:
forms and drilling rigs. Their cargo tanks carry needed subsea trees to control wells at the seabed, flowlines, and
supplies such as drilling mud, cement, diesel fuel, water, pipelines to transport hydrocarbons; umbilicals to deliver
and chemicals used for drilling and production processes. power and chemicals to keep the wells flowing; ROVs for
Depending on vessel deck area, they can carry deck cargos installation and servicing of deepwater constellations; and
above and bulk cargo below deck. Most PSVs are built fixed platforms and FPSs on the ocean’s surface to gather
for a particular job. Some have firefighting capabilities to and process the produced fluids.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe113
Figure 13. Multiservice vessels have operational flexibility to perform many subsea service operations. (Reproduced with permission. ©
EMAS, 2016.)
Every new oil or gas field discovered offshore presents FPSO Floating production storage offloading
a unique set of challenges that must be solved to bring vessel, a ship-shaped production
the production to market. Progress is generally incremental system for deepwater
and is illustrated by the industry’s history of development operations.
as it moved first to deeper water on the continental shelf Jackup A MODU supported on legs that
and then to open ocean conditions beyond the shelf. Major extend through the water column
technology leaps like that from bottom-supported structures and rest upon the seabed.
to floating structures have occurred regularly and demon- MODU Mobile offshore drilling unit.
strate the industry’s flexibility and ingenuity in overcoming Platform A fixed or floating structure from
the widening operating sphere as the offshore industry has which hydrocarbons are
moved from shallow to deeper water and from benign to produced.
harsh environments. Production The process of controlled hydrocarbon
extraction from drilled wells.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Seismic The process of imaging the earth’s
subsurface using artificially induced
Endeavor Management gratefully acknowledges the research acoustic waves.
efforts of Kristen Mills, who helped aggregate the history of Semisubmersible A deepwater MODU that floats on
the offshore industry with all of its dynamic elements. pontoons and whose hull is
supported by 4 or more legs.
Submersible A shallow-water MODU whose hull
GLOSSARY rests directly on the seabed.
Subsea system The array of equipment placed on the
seafloor to facilitate safe
Drilling The process of creating an opening into hydrocarbon production to a host
the earth (a well) through which facility.
hydrocarbons can be extracted. Subsea tree A stacked series of high pressure
Drillship A ship-shaped MODU designed for valves used to control the flow of
extended-stay, remote, deep water hydrocarbons from a deepwater
operations. well.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe113
16 General
TLP Tension leg platform, a floating Grosbard, A. (2012) Treadwell Wharf in the Summerland, California
Oil Field: The First Sea Wells in Petroleum Exploration. The
production platform attached to the
History of the Oil Industry Symposium Program, Abstracts, &
seabed by very long steel-tubes Guidebook; Originally Published by the Drake Well Foundation
(tenons). © 2012 Petroleum History Institute, p. 19.
Umbilical A long bundle of electrical and Kak, M. (2009) Tension Leg Platform; India Study Channel,
hydraulic connecting an FPSO and November 15, 2009. http://www.indiastudychannel.com/
subsea system used to operate resources/94855-Tension-Leg-Platform.aspx
complex subsea systems. Offshore Magazine (2014) Drillship Designed for Deeper Waters,
Vessel The general term for any ship or June 16, 2014. http://www.offshore-mag.com/articles/2014/06/
MODU used in offshore oil and gas drillship-designed-for-deeper-waters.html
operations. Skyscraperpage.com (2014) Bullwinkle Platform. http://
skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=23521
Veldman, H. and Lagers, G. (1997) 50 Years Offshore, Foundation for
RELATED ARTICLES Offshore Studies, Delft.
Fabrication Welding Processes

Risk Based Design (not including Limit State Methods —
This Belongs Somewhere Else) FURTHER READING
Ship Types, Duties, General Characteristics
Dynamic Positioning Intermountain Oil and Gas BMP Project (2014) The Development
Ship Acquisition and Construction Process. http://www.oilandgasbmps.org/resources/development
Introduction to Offshore Technology: Background, Defini- .php
tion, Installation Life-Cycle and Role of Technologies, etc. Maritime Activity Reports, Inc. (2014) First Semisubmersible. Ship
Field Development (for Oil & Gas Production): Design Controls, First Semisubmersible Drilling Rig Built On U.S. East
Coast Christened At Bethlehem Steel’s Baltimore, Md. Shipyard.
Considerations and Approaches
http://shipcontrols.com/electronic-charting/semisubmersible-
Construction & Installation christened-bethlehem-baltimore-211137
Submersible Technologies: ROV (Remotely Operated Vehi-
Mason, P. (2006) Evolution of Subsea Well System Technology;
cles) and AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles), etc. Offshore, July 1, 2006. http://www.offshore-mag.com/articles/
Field Layout and Subsea Architecture print/volume-66/issue-7/subsea/evolution-of-subsea-well-
Key Subsystems system-technology.html
Subsea Trees Mehnazd (2011) What are Jack Up Drilling Rigs? Marineinsight,
Risers January 28, 2011. http://www.marineinsight.com/marine/types-
Types of Bottom-Founded Structures of-ships-marine/what-are-jack-up-drilling-rigs/
Jack Up Platform Overview Naturalgas.org (2013) Offshore Drilling, September 22, 2013. http://
Offshore Rig Design naturalgas.org/naturalgas/extraction-offshore/
Floater Introduction Offshore Magazine (1997) Milestones and Influences in US Offshore
History (1947–1997), May 1, 1997. http://www.offshore-mag
FPSO
.com/articles/print/volume-57/issue-5/news/special-report/
Semisubmersibles milestones-and-influences-in-us-offshore-history-1947-1997
Exploration: Seismic Surveys, Drilling, Logging, Cores .html
Offshore Pipeline Construction and Installation Offshore Energy Today (2014) Largest Jack-Up Rig in the World
on a 12.000 Mile Journey, August 29, 2014. http://www
.offshoreenergytoday.com/largest-jack-up-rig-in-the-world-on-
a-12-000-miles-journey/
REFERENCES Offshore Technology.com (2014) Manatee Field, Gulf of Mexico,
United States. http://www.offshore-technology.com/projects/
manatee/
AOGHS (American Oil & Gas Historical Society) (2014) Offshore
Petroleum History. http://aoghs.org/offshore-history/offshore-oil- Oilfield Wiki (2012) Tension-Leg Platform, June 30, 2012. http://
history/ oilfieldwiki.com/wiki/Tension-leg_platform
Dobie, C.W. (1973) Creole Field: Block 2, West Cameron Area, vol. Petrocenter (2014) Offshore Drilling Rigs. http://www.petrocenter
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Drilling Contractor (2005) Rowan Companies Marks 50th Anniver- Rigzone (2014) How Does a Tension Leg Platform (TLP) Work?.
sary of Landmark LeTourneau Jackup, September/October 2005. http://www.rigzone.com/training/insight.asp?insight_id=305&c_
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ROVworld (2014) Rovworld Subsea Information FAQ. http://www Wikipedia (2014a) Drillship, July 31, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/
.rovworld.com/faq-8-About+ROV.html wiki/Drillship
Sharda (2014) Semi-Submersible Ships and Semi-Submersible Rigs: Wikipedia (2014b) Crew Boat, April 10, 2014. http://en.wikipedia
A General Overview, Marineinsight. http://www.marineinsight .org/wiki/Crew_boat
.com/marine/types-of-ships-marine/semi-submersible-ships-and- Wikipedia (2014c) Platform Supply Vessel, April 10, 2014. http://en
semi-submersible-rigs-a-general-overview/ .wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_supply_vessel
Søgård, B. and Husby, A. (2011) Subsea Standards and Rules – ‘What
is Subsea?’, September 2011. http://www.uio.no/studier/emner/
matnat/math/MEK4450/h11/undervisningsmateriale/modul-
2/1%20What%20is%20Subsea%20-%20Standards%20and
%20Rules.pdf
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe113
Turbulence
Michael Shats and Hua Xia
The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
A good starting point is this relatively neutral defini-

1 Introduction 1 tion given in the Encyclopedia of Nonlinear Science (Scott,
2 Incompressible 3D Turbulence 2 2005):
3 Kolmogorov Theory of Turbulence 3
Turbulence is a state of a nonlinear physical system that has
4 Kolmogorov Phenomenology of Turbulence 3 energy distribution over many degrees of freedom strongly
5 Numerical Simulation of Turbulence 4 deviated from equilibrium. Turbulence is irregular both in
time and in space. Turbulence can be maintained by some
6 Two-Dimensional Turbulence 5 external influence or it can decay on the way to relaxation to
7 Lagrangian Statistics of Turbulence 7 equilibrium. The term first appeared in fluid mechanics and
was later generalized to include far-from-equilibrium states in
8 Conclusions 9 solids and plasmas.
Glossary 9
Related Articles 9 A classical example, which illustrates the onset of turbu-
References 9 lence, was described in 1883 by Reynolds (1883) who
Further Reading 10 studied a flow in a narrow circular pipe. By visualizing the
water flow using thin lines of a dye, Reynolds found that
at low velocities the dye streaks represented straight lines,
while at higher velocities the onset of distinct curls marked
a transition to a turbulent motion. This transition occurs
1 INTRODUCTION at sufficiently large values of the Reynolds number Re ≡ V
d/𝜈 > 2 × 103 . Here, V is the mean flow velocity, d the pipe
There is no universal definition of turbulence agreed to by the diameter, and 𝜈 the kinematic viscosity (𝜈 = 10−6 m2 /s in
entire scientific community. The reasons for this are multiple. water). Figure 1 illustrates a flow generated by a fluid moving
Firstly, there is no comprehensive theory of turbulence. It relative to a regular grid.
is recognized as one of the outstanding problems in physics In general, if an obstacle of size L is placed in a fluid of
despite focused efforts for over 100 years. Secondly, because kinematic viscosity 𝜈 that is moving with velocity V, a turbu-
turbulence is important in many disciplines, different aspects lent wake emerges above some critical Reynolds number
of turbulence are of interest for different specialists. As Re ≡ VL/𝜈. If the viscosity is not too high, at large Re, pertur-
such, the question “what is really important” with regard to bations produced at scale L due to the nonlinear effects
turbulence is answered differently by engineers, oceanogra- generate smaller and smaller scales until viscous dissipation
phers, atmospheric scientists, plasma physicists, astrophysi- terminates the process at a scale much smaller than L. This
cists, and so on. is the key process in turbulence: the generation of a wide
range of scales in which there is neither forcing nor dissi-
pation. This range is referred to as the inertial interval. The
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. kinetic energy is transferred from the scale L, at which it is
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe074
injected into the flow, to much smaller scales where viscous
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 dissipation dominates over the nonlinearity. The process of
2 General
(a) where 𝜌 is the fluid density. It is clear that if the x, y, and

z velocity fluctuations are not correlated, Reynolds stress is
zero. The transfer of momentum can be related to the mean
velocity gradient dV∕dz through a so-called eddy viscosity
coefficient, K, as
̃x,y V
⟨𝜌V ̃z ⟩ = KdV∕dz (2)
(b)
2 INCOMPRESSIBLE 3D TURBULENCE
Incompressible fluid flow is described by the Navier–Stokes

equation
dV 𝜕V 1
= + (V ⋅ ∇)V = − ∇p + 𝜈∇2 V (3)
dt 𝜕t 𝜌
(where p is the pressure) and the continuity equation,

Figure 1. Fluid flowing through a grid (a) at low speed and
(b) at high speed. The color-smoke pattern illustrates one of 𝜕𝜌
+ ∇ ⋅ (𝜌V) = 0 (4)
the most important roles played by turbulence, the mixing. The 𝜕t
plots were generated using Wind Tunnel Pro application on iPad
(http://windtunnelapp.com/Wind_tunnel_app/HOME.html), which
which for the incompressible flows gives
simulates incompressible and homogeneous fluid motion with the
Navier–Stokes equations.
∇⋅V =0 (5)
the energy transfer from large to small scales is known as the A system of equations 3 and 5 constitutes Navier–Stokes
direct energy cascade. equations of incompressible fluid.
In the ocean, turbulence promotes the transfer of At large Reynolds numbers the nonlinearity is much
momentum and heat at the rates far greater than it would larger than the viscous dissipation, |(∇ ⋅ V)V| ≫ 𝜈∇2 V.
in laminar flows. It disperses particles and living organisms This is true for large scales. However, since the nonlin-
on the ocean surface and stirs and spreads the chemicals earity increases linearly with the wave number k = 2𝜋/l,
dissolved in the seawater. In other words, turbulence largely |(∇ ⋅ V)V| ∼ kV2 , while the viscous dissipation is propor-
controls both horizontal and vertical transport in the ocean tional to k2 , 𝜈∇2 V ∼ 𝜈k2 , at large k (small scales) the
and in the atmosphere, and it is also responsible for stirring dissipation eventually takes over and terminates the direct
and mixing. energy cascade.
The eddying motions, intrinsic to turbulence, transfer The idea of the energy flow from larger to smaller scales
momentum across fixed surfaces. The rate of such transfer suggested by L.F. Richardson (1922) led to the concept of
is given by the time-averaged product of the transferred the inertial interval and of the energy cascade as a process,
quantity (e.g., horizontal momentum) and the component of which spreads energy from large scales where it cannot be
the turbulent velocity normal to the surface (e.g., vertical dissipated toward small scales where it can be dissipated. In
velocity fluctuations). If we denote the horizontal and the inertial interval of scales l there are no sources or sinks of
vertical velocity fluctuations by Ṽ x,y and V
̃ z , respectively, energy, such that the energy flux in the wave number space
then the vertical flux of the horizontal momentum across stays constant. If energy is injected into a flow at a large
a horizontal surface is given by the Reynolds stress of the scale L, it will then be passed on to smaller scales l until
upper fluid layer on the lower: ultimately it is dissipated at some dissipation scale 𝜂 whose
value depends on viscosity 𝜈. This flux of energy should
̃x,y V
𝜏 = −⟨𝜌V ̃x,y V
̃z ⟩ ≈ −𝜌⟨V ̃z ⟩ (1) naturally be equal to the energy dissipation rate 𝜀.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe074
Turbulence 3
3 KOLMOGOROV THEORY OF Inertial interval
E (k)
TURBULENCE
Dir
ec k −5/3
te
In 1941, A.N. Kolmogorov in three short papers formulated ne
rgy
ca
sc
(Friendlander and Topper, 1961) what is known now as ad
e
Kolmogorov theory of turbulence, or K-41.
To summarize it, we first need to introduce velocity struc-
ture functions of the order n, which are defined as:
Sn (r, t) = ⟨[(V(r, t) − V(0, t)) ⋅ r∕r]n ⟩ = ⟨(𝛿VL )n ⟩ (6) kf η k
Here, the expression in square brackets is the increment (𝛿VL ) Figure 3. Kinetic energy spectrum of three-dimensional turbu-
across the distance r in the flow of the fluctuating velocity lence. Dotted line corresponds to the highest viscosity, while dashed
component parallel to r, and the angular brackets denote line corresponds to lower viscosity.
ensemble averaging over all such pairs in the flow. See also
Figure 2. An nth-order velocity structure function Sn (r, t) is
than the energy injection scale L, the flux is constant for all r
often referred to as the nth velocity moment.
and does not depend on viscosity.
The relationship between S2 and S3 is known as the
For the second-order structure function dimensional anal-
Karman–Howarth relation, and it is given by (Landau and
ysis gives:
Lifshits, 1987)
S2 (r) ∝ C2 ⟨𝜀⟩2∕3 r2∕3 (9)
( )
𝜕S2 1 𝜕 4𝜀 2𝜈 𝜕 4 𝜕S2
= − 4 (r4 S3 ) + + 4 r (7) This expression (sometimes also called a 2/3 law) can be
𝜕t 3r 𝜕r 3 r 𝜕r 𝜕r
rewritten in Fourier space to give a famous Kolmogorov
spectrum of kinetic energy (Figure 3):
Here again, 𝜀 = 𝜈(∇V)2 is the mean energy dissipation
rate. From this relation, in steady state (𝜕S2 /𝜕t = 0), E(k) = CK ⟨𝜀⟩2∕3 k−5∕3 (10)
one can derive for the third-order structure function:
S3 (r) = − 4𝜀r/5 + 6𝜈(dS2 (r)/dr). Kolmogorov considered a where k is the wave number corresponding to a scale l, and
limit of vanishing viscosity 𝜈 and assumed that 𝜀 is nonzero Ck is the Kolmogorov constant. In 3D turbulence, CK ≈ 0.5
to obtain the so-called 4/5 law: (Sreenivasan, 1995).
4
S3 (r) = − 𝜀r (8)
5
4 KOLMOGOROV PHENOMENOLOGY
The 4/5 law is obtained as a direct consequence of the OF TURBULENCE
Navier–Stokes equations. This law relates the third-order
structure function of velocity fluctuations and the energy flux The results of the K-41 theory formed a framework in which
through inertial interval. If the range of scales r is larger than relations between turbulence parameters can be established
the Kolmogorov dissipation scale 𝜂 = 𝜈 3/4 𝜀1/4 and smaller on the basis of exact results (such as 4/5 law), empir-
ical laws (e.g., 2/3 law), and dimensional considerations.
Such phenomenological approach seems very useful in many
Vt1 applications where qualitative relation between flow statis-
V1 tical variables need to be established.
The main parameters in the turbulence phenomenology
are: the scale l, the velocity associated with this scale, Vl ,
Vt2 the r.m.s. velocity fluctuation, VL , and the eddy turnover time
1 V2
VL1 associated with the scale l, 𝜏 l = l/VL . The eddy turnover time
reflects the time of transfer of excitation in incompressible
2 fluid. It can be used to estimate the energy flux from scale l
VL2
to smaller scales. It is defined as the amount of kinetic energy
Figure 2. Computation of the velocity increments for structure per mass, Vl2 , associated with the eddy of scale l, transferred
functions estimations. to smaller scales in the typical time 𝜏 l : Πl = Vl2 ∕𝜏l = Vl3 ∕l.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe074
4 General
This flux in the inertial interval (no energy injection, nor 5 NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF
dissipation) equals to the energy dissipation rate 𝜀: Πl = 𝜀. TURBULENCE
From this, it follows that the velocity of the scale l is the
scale invariant of exponent h = 1/3: Though the Navier–Stokes equations 3 and 5 are the deter-
ministic ones and allow, in principle, computing any turbu-
Vl = 𝜀1∕3 l1∕3 (11) lent flow given the initial and boundary conditions, a very
large number of degrees of freedom (see above) makes this
This gives another expression for the eddy turnover time: task impossible in many practical situations. As mentioned
before, turbulence is characterized by a broad range of scales.
In 3D turbulence, the kinetic energy is contained in scales
𝜏l = 𝜀−1∕3 l2∕3 (12)
that are much larger than the energy-dissipating scales.
DNS. In this computational method all scales are taken
The latter expression can be used in practical applica- into account, including the smallest scales where the kinetic
tions to distinguish between coherent vortices (with long life energy is dissipated. Since the ratio of the integral scale and
time), often present in turbulent flows and turbulence eddies the dissipation scale is proportional to R3/4 , the number of
constituting Kolmogorov spectrum of kinetic energy. grid points needed to simulate a cube whose size equals
Near the top of the inertial interval, where l ∼ L, to the integral scale is Ng ∼ R9/4 . For values of R = 108 ,
Equation 11 gives VL = 𝜀1/3 L1/3 , and typical, for example, for turbulent clouds, one would need
a computational grid of 1018 points! In the boundary layer
𝜀 = VL3 ∕L (13) of a large aircraft R ∼ 6 × 105 , which gives N ∼ 1013 . These
examples illustrate that most of practically important prob-
At the end of the inertial interval, where viscosity becomes lems in turbulence cannot be addressed in DNS, at least
important, the characteristic scales can be obtained as follows in the near future. This highlights the role of alternative
(Frisch, 1995). The typical time to attenuate excitation at the approaches to numerical simulations of turbulence as well
scale l by viscous diffusion is 𝜏ld = l2 ∕𝜈. This diffusive time as the importance of laboratory experiments and new theo-
decreases faster with the decrease in l than the eddy turnover retical approaches in turbulence studies.
time (Equation 12). It means that at any small viscosity there Large-eddy simulations (LES). To reduce the grid size
will be sufficiently small scale 𝜂, at which 𝜏ld will become needed for DNS, another method of turbulence simulation,
shorter than 𝜏 l : LES, is often used in which the equations of motion are space
( 3 )1∕4 averaged. To implement this space averaging, the variables
𝜈
𝜂= (14) are filtered,
𝜀
Vi = Q(x − x′ )Vi (x′ )dx′ (16)
∫
which is the Kolmogorov dissipation scale discussed above.
Using Equations 13 and 14, one can arrive at a very impor- where Q(x) is the smoothing kernel. This kernel can be, for
tant relationship between the forcing scale L, Kolmogorov example, the box filter,
dissipation scale 𝜂, and the Reynolds number, R = (VL L)/𝜈:
1∕𝜎, if |x| < 𝜎∕2
( )−1∕4 Q(x) =
0 , if |x| > 𝜎∕2
L 𝜈3
∼ ∼ R3∕4 (15)
𝜂 VL3 L3 or the Gaussian filter
1 2 2
The ratio L/𝜂, which characterizes the extent of the iner- Q(x) = √ e−x ∕2𝜎
tial interval, grows as R3/4 . This allows estimating the size 𝜎 2π
of the computational grid in numerical simulations of turbu- The main idea of the method is to avoid computing
lence. In three-dimensional (3D) model, the minimal number the dissipation scales and also the scales in the inertial
of grid points should be N ∼ (L/𝜂)3 . The relation 15 suggests interval, which are assumed isotropic and equilibrium. This
that the size of the computational grid grows as N ∼ R9/4 . This is possible if the energy transfer is known. The large scales
highlights the difficulty of achieving high Reynolds numbers are computed directly, while other scales are substituted
in direct numerical simulations (DNS) of turbulence. Some- by a subgrid model. Space-averaged variables are local
times this estimate (R9/4 ) is used as a measure of the number averages, somewhat similar to the representation of the
of degrees of freedom of turbulence. turbulent velocity as a sum of the mean and the fluctuation:
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe074
Turbulence 5
̃i (x, t). In Fourier space, smoothing filters

Vi (x, t) = V i (x) + V where fV is a forcing and 𝛼 characterizes linear fric-
damp higher wave numbers, while lower ones remain almost tional damping. This can be rewritten for the vorticity
unaffected. Effectively, filtering separates large eddies, 𝜔 = ∇ × V = − ∇2 𝜓, which in a 2D flow is a scalar, as
containing the energy from the Reynolds stresses, and d𝜔
subgrid components containing the dissipation. = 𝜈∇2 𝜔 − 𝛼𝜔 + f (21)
dt
Applying filtering of variables to the incompressible
Navier–Stokes equations gives where d𝜔/dt = 𝜕𝜔/𝜕t + V ⋅ ∇𝜔 and f = ∇ × fV . If viscosity is
( ) zero, 𝜈 = 0, vorticity is conserved in the absence of forcing
𝜕V i 𝜕(V i V j ) 1 𝜕p∗ 𝜕 𝜕V i and dissipation, d𝜔/dt = 0. In this case, the flow has two
+ =− + 𝜈 + 𝜏 ij
𝜕t 𝜕xj 𝜌 𝜕xi 𝜕xj 𝜕xj conserved quantities, or two quadratic invariants, the kinetic
energy E = (1/2)⟨V2 ⟩ and enstrophy, or squared vorticity,
𝜕V i Ω = (1/2)⟨𝜔2 ⟩. The existence of these two invariants, as was
=0 (17)
𝜕xj suggested by Kraichnan (1967), leads to the existence of
two turbulent cascades in 2D: the inverse energy cascade
where the Reynolds stress 𝜏 ij = Tij − (Tkk ∕3)𝛿ij , Tij = and the direct enstrophy cascade. In other words, in contrast
V i V j − Vi Vj , and p∗ = p − 𝜌Tkk ∕3 is a modified pressure. to the direct energy cascade in three dimensions, 2D turbu-
The subgrid stresses can be assumed to be proportional to lence supports spectral energy transfer from smaller to larger
the filtered rate-of-strain tensor scales. Kolmogorov’s assumption that the energy spectrum
E(k) depends only on the wave number k and on the energy
𝜏 ij = 2𝜈𝜀 Sij (18) dissipation rate 𝜀 leads to the same spectrum in the energy
cascade range as in 3D turbulence, Figure 4:
where 𝜈 𝜀 is the subgrid eddy viscosity and Sij the
rate-of-strain tensor computed with the filtered velocity. E(k) = C𝜀2∕3 k−5∕3 , k < kf (22)
Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes simulations (RANS).
This method for computing turbulent flows requires solving where E(k) is defined such that the mean kinetic energy per
directly the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations: unit mass is given by
( ) ∞
𝜕V i 𝜕(V i V j ) 1 𝜕p 𝜕 𝜕V i
+ =− + 𝜈 − ⟨Ṽi V
̃j ⟩ E=
∫0
E(k)dk (23)
𝜕t 𝜕xj 𝜌 𝜕xi 𝜕xj 𝜕xj
𝜕V i and C ≈ 6 is a constant. A similar assumption that the squared

=0 (19) vorticity spectrum depends only on the enstrophy dissipation
𝜕xj
rates 𝜀𝜔 and k leads to the spectrum shape in the direct
The main difficulty intrinsic to this method is the presence enstrophy cascade range given by
of unknown Reynolds stresses ⟨V ̃i V
̃j ⟩, which requires finding
an appropriate closure. E(k) = C′ 𝜀𝜔 2∕3 k−3 , k > kf (24)
The exact relation for the third-order structure function

6 TWO-DIMENSIONAL TURBULENCE holds in 2D turbulence, giving an equivalent of Equation 8
of the 3D Kolmogorov 4/5 law (Yakhot, 1999):
If the fluid depth is small, large-scale motions can be approx-
3
imated as two dimensional (2D). For example, intermediate S3L (r) = ⟨[𝛿VL ]3 ⟩ = 𝜀r (25)
range motions in the atmosphere and in the ocean are larger 2
than their corresponding depths. In this section, we will Note that in 2D turbulence, the third-order structure
discuss how realistic such an assumption can be in laboratory function is positive, indicating the direction of the energy
and natural flows. We will show that, surprisingly, properties flux opposite to that in 3D, that is, from smaller to larger
of 2D turbulence are found in a variety of turbulent flows, scales.
which cannot a priori be thought as 2D. The Navier–Stokes
equations for an incompressible 2D flow, whose velocity
6.1 Spectral condensation in 2D turbulence
field is V(r, t) = [Vx (x, y, t), Vy (x, y, t)], are given as
𝜕V 1 The existence of the inverse energy cascade in 2D turbu-

+ V ⋅ ∇V = − ∇p + 𝜈∇2 V − 𝛼V + fV (20) lence gives it an amazing ability to self-organize. This can
𝜕t 𝝆
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe074
6 General
be observed as the transition from highly irregular chaotic

motion dominated by eddies of different scales to the flow
dominated by one or several vortices coherent across the
bounded domain. This phenomenon, referred to as spectral
condensation of energy, was predicted by Kraichnan (1967),
who likened this phenomenon to a Bose–Einstein condensa-
tion in quantum gases.
In the presence of the large-scale or uniform dissipa-
tion (e.g., bottom drag), energy delivered to large scales
will be dissipated. The maximum of the spectrum in this
(a) (b)
case will stabilize at some dissipation wave number given
by k𝛼 ≈ 2𝜋(𝛼 3 /𝜀)1/2 , see Figure 4. If however the flow is Figure 5. Spectral condensation of 2D turbulence in laboratory
bounded, such that the box size is L < 2𝜋/k𝛼 , energy will start experiments (Xia, Shats, and Falkovich, 2009) is observed as the
to accumulate at the scale comparable to L until the energy aggregation of turbulent eddies of different scales (a) into a coherent
input through the inverse energy cascade is balanced by the vortex (b), which dominates the flow and is sustained by the inverse
dissipation. A large coherent vortex will develop and will energy cascade.
exist in steady state, as illustrated in Figure 5. The kinetic
energy spectrum in the presence of a condensate becomes
steep, E(k) ∼ k− 3 ; however, when the coherent vortex is
Recent studies in a surprisingly broad range of turbulent
subtracted out, the spectrum reveals underlying turbulence
flows answer this question positively. Early laboratory exper-
with E(k) ∼ k− 5/3 (Xia, Shats, and Falkovich, 2009).
iments aiming to test main predictions of the 2D turbulence
theory were performed by forcing turbulence electromagnet-
6.2 2D turbulence in 3D flows ically in thin layers of electrolytes (Sommeria, 1986; Paret
and Tabeling, 1997) and using falling soap films (Couder,
From the point of view of the applicability of the 2D turbu- Chomaz, and Rabaud, 1989; Gharib and Derango, 1989).
lence theory to real flows in laboratory and in nature, the The main idea was to constrain motion in one spatial dimen-
question is: can any real flows be 2D? The formal answer sion (depth). Later, it was found that in thick fluid layers
to this question is “no” since physical fluid systems are (depth larger that the turbulence forcing scale) the planarity
intrinsically 3D. However, if we recall that the main differ- of flows could be imposed on smaller scales by large-scale
ence between 2D and 3D turbulence is the direction of coherent flows (Xia et al., 2011). Such large-scale flows
the energy transfer in the inertial range, the question may can either be self-generated by turbulence in the process of
be asked differently: “Can laboratory and natural turbulent spectral condensation, or they can be externally imposed on
flows support the inverse energy cascade?” turbulence.
Such a scenario has been later confirmed in the energy
dynamics of the hurricane boundary layer (Byrne and
Inertial interval Zhang, 2013). The hurricane, representing a large-scale
E (k)
coherent vortex, imposes two dimensionality onto boundary

k −5/3 layer turbulence turning it from 3D into 2D. The direction
of the energy transfer changes with the height from the
Inverse direct cascade (from large to small scales) in 3D to the
energy inverse energy cascade (from small to large scales) in 2D.
cascade As a result, the large vortex may gain energy from small
k −3
scales.
Direct A possibility of the inverse energy cascade in 3D isotropic
enstrophy turbulence has been studied in numerical simulations of the
cascade
Navier–Stokes equations (Biferale, Musacchio, and Toschi,
kα kf k 2012) where it has been shown that the inverse turbulent
spectral transfer may be due to the interactions between
Figure 4. Kinetic energy spectrum of two-dimensional turbulence. velocity components carrying a well-defined helicity. The
kf is the forcing scale wave number, while k𝛼 characterizes inverse energy cascade thus is not necessarily connected to a
large-scale dissipation. two-dimensionalization of the flow.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe074
Turbulence 7
Another example of the 2D turbulence was recently found Lagrangian velocity uE (X(t|X0 , t0 ), t) can be chaotic because
in the motion of the floaters on the surface of liquids the trajectory is chaotic. Thus, a flow can be laminar in the
perturbed by the Faraday waves (von Kameke et al., 2011; Eulerian sense, but chaotic or turbulent in the Lagrangian
Francois et al., 2013). Though the floaters motion is 3D, the sense (Tsinober, 2001).
statistics of their horizontal motion is identical to those of Lagrangian measurements can be obtained from numer-
the 2D turbulence, including the observation of the inverse ical simulations, laboratory experiments, and from measure-
energy cascade and of the direct enstrophy cascade in the ments in the atmosphere and in the ocean.
kinetic energy spectra, Equations 23 and 24, the observation In numerical simulations, a well-resolved instantaneous
of the linear positive third-order structure functions of the velocity field evolving according to the Navier–Stokes
velocity increments, Equation 25, and spectral condensation equations must be available. The interpolation scheme needs
of energy. to be reasonably efficient when large numbers of particles
are tracked. Finally, a sufficient number of particles with
high degree of statistical independence should be tracked
7 LAGRANGIAN STATISTICS OF and included in the ensemble averages.
TURBULENCE In experiments, the essential task is to obtain records
of the particle positions over time using optical or other
7.1 Lagrangian versus Eulerian description particle-detection techniques. Then Equation 26 can be used
in reverse to obtain the particle velocity. The main difficulty
The Lagrangian description of fluid flows, in which the here is to locate a particle while maintaining its identity
observer follows the fluid particles wherever they move, is for a significant period of time. Recent advances in exper-
physically more natural than the Eulerian one in which the imental tools and techniques allow obtaining high-quality
observers are at fixed spatial positions, since it is related Lagrangian data in laboratory (Toschi and Bodenschatz,
to the motion of fluid elements, or matter. Though in the 2009). Alternatively, particle trajectories can be simulated
past technical difficulties hindered the use of the Lagrangian from the measured velocity fields in the flow.
approach in turbulent flows, recent progress in computa-
tional power and in the laboratory imaging tools led to
a focused effort in studying turbulence from Lagrangian
perspective. 7.2 Particle motion in turbulent fluids
In the Eulerian frame, the flow characteristics are functions
of coordinates X and time t. The flow velocity is given by a Classical descriptions of Lagrangian dynamics involve statis-
function uE (X, t) measured at a position X at time t. tical analysis of trajectories of individual particles (N = 1)
In the Lagrangian description, fluid particles’ positions are following the work of Taylor (1921) and of the relative
followed in time. If we define a position of a particle at displacement of two trajectories (N = 2) following the work
some initial time t0 as X0 , the flow is described by a function of Richardson (1926). Later, studies of the particle disper-
X(X0 , t), giving the position of the particle at time t. sion in turbulence extended toward multiparticle dynamics,
The two descriptions are related as follows: which are of interest from the point of view of the evolu-
tion of fluid patches (groups of N fluid elements with N > 2)
𝜕X(t|X0 , t0 ) (Falkovich, Gawedzki, and Vergassola, 2001; Xu, Ouellette,
= uL (t|X0 , t0 )
𝜕t and Bodenschatz, 2008).
uL (t|X0 , t0 ) = uE ((X(t)|X0 , t0 ), t) (26)
where indices “L” and “E” refer to the Lagrangian and 7.3 Single-particle dispersion
Eulerian quantities, respectively.
The relation between Eulerian and Lagrangian fields is a The most basic property of Lagrangian trajectories is a
difficult (if solvable) mathematical problem. The main diffi- single-particle dispersion, or mean squared displacement
culty is that the Lagrangian field X(X0 , t) is a complicated ⟨𝛿r2 ⟩ = ⟨|r(t) − r(t0 )|2 ⟩ of a particle moving along the trajec-
functional of the Eulerian velocity field uE (X, t). If the Eule- tory r(t) from its initial position r(t0 ) over time interval
rian velocity field is known or given, Equation 26 serves 𝛿t = (t − t0 ), Figure 6. It can be shown that
for determination of a trajectory of a fluid particle with the
initial position X0 . This equation is nonlinear even for very t
𝜕
simple fluid flows and is generically nonintegrable. Even ⟨𝛿r2 ⟩ = 2u(t) ⋅ u(s)ds (27)
if the Eulerian velocity uE (X, t) is regular and laminar, the 𝜕t ∫ t0
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe074
8 General
80
t0
20
60
δr (t)
y (mm)
y (mm)
40
10
20
0 e
0 5 10 0 20 40 60 80
(a) x (mm) (b) x (mm)
Figure 6. Particle trajectories in turbulence: (a) particle displacement from its initial position in the flow and (b) tracked particle trajectories
in the wave-driven 2D turbulence.
By performing the ensemble averaging and assuming 1.2 × 10−4

velocities u statistically stationary, one can obtain an
equation for the second moment of the single-particle 1 × 10−4
displacement:
t 8 × 10−5
𝜕
<δr 2> (m2)
⟨𝛿r2 ⟩ = 2 ⟨u(0) ⋅ u(s)⟩ds (28)

𝜕t ∫t0 6 × 10−5 t
Diffusive
The behavior of ⟨(𝛿r)2 ⟩ depends on the range of temporal Ballistic
4 × 10−5
correlation ⟨u(0) ⋅ u(t)⟩ of the Lagrangian velocity u(t). The
t2
Lagrangian velocity correlation time is defined as
2 × 10−5
1
∞ ∞
𝜌(t)
TL = ⟨u(0) ⋅ u(t)⟩dt = dt 2 (29) 0
⟨u ⟩ ∫t0
2 ∫ t0 ⟨u ⟩ 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
t (s)
Here, 𝜌(t) is the Lagrangian velocity autocorrelation func-
tion. The value of TL provides a measure of the Lagrangian Figure 7. Experimental confirmation of the Taylor’s single-particle
velocity memory. For times t ≪ TL , the two-time correlation dispersion, Equation 30, in two-dimensional turbulence. (Repro-
function in Equation 28 approximately equals ⟨u2 ⟩ and the duced with permission from Xia et al., 2013. © Nature publishing,
2013.)
particle transport is ballistic (displacement linearly propor-
tional to time). At longer times, t ≫ TL , when the Lagrangian Equation 30, has been confirmed in laboratory experiments
correlation time is finite, diffusive regime arises, such that in 2D turbulence in both ballistic and diffusive regimes (Xia
the mean displacement scales a square root of time (Taylor, et al., 2013; Figure 7).
1921): The timescale TL corresponds to a distance LL = ⟨u⟩TL ,
the Lagrangian eddy length scale. By analogy with Fickian
⟨(𝛿r)2 ⟩ = ⟨u2 ⟩t2 t ≪ TL diffusion, ⟨(𝛿r)2 ⟩ can be related to an effective eddy diffu-
⟨(𝛿r)2 ⟩ = 2⟨u2 ⟩TL t t ≫ TL (30) sivity 𝜅H = 12 dtd ⟨(𝛿r)2 ⟩, which asymptotes to 𝜅 H = ⟨u⟩LL or
𝜅 H = ⟨u2 ⟩TL in the random walk limit t ≫ TL .
The particle displacements over time segments spaced by To estimate the diffusion coefficient 𝜅 H , one needs to
distances much larger than TL are almost independent. At compute or to measure the Lagrangian velocity autocor-
long times, the displacement 𝛿r behaves as a sum of many relation function 𝜌(t). However, 𝜌(t) and TL cannot be
independent variables and falls into a class of stationary theoretically predicted. In some cases it is possible to rely
processes governed by the Central Limit Theorem. In other on the empirically found relationships, such as the one
words, the displacement for t ≫ TL becomes similar to recently reported for laboratory 2D turbulence (Xia et al.,
a Brownian motion. Taylor’s single-particle dispersion, 2013). If 2D turbulence is fully developed, and the velocity
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe074
Turbulence 9
autocorrelation function is a decaying exponential in time, idea of energy cascade. A brief review of numerical modeling
𝜌(t) ∼ exp{−t/TL }, the mean-squared displacement in 2D of turbulence is given. Recent progress in understanding the
turbulence is determined by the turbulence forcing scale Lf as robustness of 2D turbulence makes it by far more ubiqui-
tous than it was initially thought. In particular, the identi-
Lf2 fication of 2D turbulence in 3D flows, such as thick fluid
⟨𝛿r2 ⟩ = t, t ≫ TL (31) layers, or on the surface of water perturbed by waves,
TL
opens numerous opportunities to apply understanding of 2D
7.4 Particle pair dispersion turbulence to geophysical flows. The role of turbulence in
mixing and dispersion of matter is best characterized using
Along with single-particle dispersion, the dynamics of a Lagrangian statistics. Overall, we just scratched the surface
pair of initially adjacent particles in a flow is of interest in in this fast-developing field of modern science.
such problems as spreading of pollutants. Relative dispersion
in turbulence was considered by Richardson (1926), who,
based on the experimental data in the atmosphere, obtained a
celebrated Richardson law (1926) for the separation distance
GLOSSARY
R(t) between two particles with time as
Energy cascade A multi-step energy transfer process
between scales in turbulent flows.
⟨[R(t)]2 ⟩ ∼ t3 (32)
Enstrophy Integral of the square of the vorticity.
Inertial interval A range of scales or wave numbers in
By applying Kolmogorov’s scaling theory, Obukhov
which energy is transferred from scale
(1941) postulated that in the inertial range of turbulence, the
to scale without forcing or dissipation.
pair dispersion should grow as ⟨[R(t)]2 ⟩ ∼ g𝜀t3 g, where g
Inverse cascade Spectral energy transfer from smaller to
is a universal constant. Batchelor (1952) refined this work,
larger scales in two-dimensional
predicting that the mean-square separation should grow as
3 turbulence.
⟨[R(t)]2 ⟩ ∼ 11 C2 (𝜀r0 )2∕3 t2 for times shorter than a charac-
Kolmogorov A dissipative scale at which turbulent
teristic timescale t0 , which depends on the initial separation
scale cascade in three-dimensional
of the pair r0 .
turbulence is terminated.
The pair dispersion between two fluid particles with trajec-
Pair dispersion A statistical law of separation of two
tories Rn (t) = R(t, rn ) can simplistically be described by the
initially close fluid particles in a flow.
evolution equation for the interparticle distance R12 = r1 − r2
Single particle A law determining how fast a fluid
as:
dR12 dispersion particle in a flow moves away from its
= ΔV || (33) initial position.
dt
Spectral The accumulation of turbulent energy at
where ΔV|| = u1|| − u2|| is the longitudinal velocity difference condensation the scales close to the boundary box
(computed along R12 ). In developed turbulence, ΔV|| can be size in two-dimensional turbulence.
estimated from the Kolmogorov 4/5 law: ⟨ΔV || ⟩3 = − 45 𝜀r.
d⟨R12 ⟩
Then, ΔV|| ∝ R1/3 and ∝ R1∕3 , or in a more general case
dt RELATED ARTICLES
d⟨R12 ⟩
∝ R𝛼 𝛼<1 (34) Characteristics of Viscous, Rotational and Irrotational Flows
dt
Wave Boundary Layer in the Lower Atmosphere
For 𝛼 = 1/3, ⟨R2 ⟩ ∼ t3 , which is the Richardson’s Law
(1926).
REFERENCES
8 CONCLUSIONS
Batchelor, G.K. (1952) Diffusion in a field of homogeneous turbu-
lence. Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 48,
We discussed fundamental concepts, which are used to 345–362.
describe turbulent flows. Particular attention is paid to the Biferale, L., Musacchio, S., and Toschi, F. (2012) Inverse energy
Kolmogorov theory of homogeneous isotropic 3D turbulence cascade in three-dimensional isotropic turbulence. Physical
in incompressible fluid, which is based on the Richardson’s Reviews Letters, 108, 164501.
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Byrne, D. and Zhang, J.A. (2013) Height dependent transition from Richardson, L.F. (1922) Weather prediction by numerical process,
three- to two-dimensional turbulence in the hurricane boundary Cambridge University Press.
layer. Geophysical Research Letters, 40, 1439–1442. Scott, A. (ed) (2005) Encyclopedia of Nonlinear Science, Taylor &
Couder, Y., Chomaz, J., and Rabaud, M. (1989) On the hydrody- Francis Group, New York, pp. 1–947.
namics of soap films. Physica D, 37, 384–405. Sommeria, J. (1986) Experimental study of the two-dimensional
Falkovich, G., Gawedzki, K., and Vergassola, M. (2001) Particles and inverse energy cascade in a square box. Journal of Fluid
fields in fluid turbulence. Reviews of Modern Physics, 73, 913–975. Mechanics, 170, 139–168.
Francois, N., Xia, H., Punzmann, H., and Shats, M. (2013) Inverse Sreenivasan, K.R. (1995) On the universality of the Kolmogorov
energy cascade and emergence of large coherent vortices in turbu- constant. Physics of Fluids, 7, 2778–2784.
lence driven by Faraday waves. Physical Reviews Letters, 110, Taylor, G.I. (1921) Diffusion by continuous movements. Proceedings
194501. of the London Mathematical Society, 20, 196–211.
A.N. Kolmogorov Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 30, 301 (1941); 31, Toschi, F. and Bodenschatz, E. (2009) Lagrangian properties of
538 (1941); 32, 16 (1941); in Friendlander, S.K. and Topper, L. particles in turbulence. Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, 41,
(eds) (1961) Turbulence, Classical Papers on Statistical Theory, 375–404.
Interscience Publishers, London.
Tsinober, A. (2001) An Informal Introduction to Turbulence, Kluwer
Frisch, U. (1995) Turbulence: The Legacy of A.N. Kolmogorov, Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.
Xia, H., Shats, M., and Falkovich, G. (2009) Spectrally condensed
Gharib, M. and Derango, P. (1989) A liquid film (soap film) tunnel to turbulence in thin layers. Physics of Fluids, 21, 125101.
study two-dimensional laminar and turbulent shear flows. Physica
Xia, H., Byrne, D., Falkovich, G., and Shats, M. (2011) Upscale
D, 37, 406–416.
energy transfer in thick turbulent fluid layers. Nature Physics, 7,
von Kameke, A., Huhn, F., Fernández-García, G., Muñuzuri, A.P., 321.
and Pérez-Muñuzuri, V. (2011) Double cascade turbulence and
Xia, H., Francois, N., Punzmann, H., and Shats, M. (2013)
Richardson dispersion in a horizontal fluid flow induced by
Lagrangian scale of particle dispersion in turbulence. Nature
Faraday waves. Physical Reviews Letters, 107, 074502.
Communications, 4, 2013.
Kraichnan, R.H. (1967) Inertial ranges in two-dimensional turbu-
Xu, H., Ouellette, N., and Bodenschatz, E. (2008) Evolution of
lence. Physics of Fluids, 10, 1417–1423.
geometric structures in intense turbulence. New Journal of Physics,
Landau, L. and Lifshits, E. (1987) Fluid Mechanics, Pergamon Press, 10, 013012.
Oxford.
Yakhot, V. (1999) Two-dimensional turbulence in the inverse cascade
Obukhov, A.M. (1941) On the energy distribution in the spectrum range. Physical Review E, 60, 5544–5551.
of a turbulent flow. Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSR, 5, 453–466. (in
Russian)
Paret, J. and Tabeling, P. (1997) Experimental observation of the
two-dimensional inverse energy cascade. Physical Reviews Letters, FURTHER READING
79, 4162–4165.
Reynolds, O. (1883) An experimental investigation of the circum-
Boffetta, G. and Ecke, R.E. (2012) Two-dimensional turbulence.
stances which determine whether the motion of water in parallel
Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, 44, 427–451.
channels shall be direct or sinuous and of the law of resistance in
parallel channels. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Frisch, U. (1995) Turbulence: The Legacy of A. N. Kolmogorov,
174, 935–982. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.
Richardson, L. (1926) Atmospheric diffusion shown on a Monin, A.S. and Yaglom, A.M. (1975) Statistical Fluid Mechanics,
distance-neighbour graph. Proceedings of the Royal Society Vols. 1, 2, MIT, Cambridge.
of London, Series A, 110, 709–737.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe074
Wave–Ice Interactions
Hayley H. Shen
Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, USA
The z-axis is opposite to gravity. The surface profile

1 Introduction 1 𝜂(x, y, t) is related to the velocity potential through the kine-
2 Ice Covers in the Marginal Ice Zone 2 matic condition,
3 Models for the Dispersion Relation 4 𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜂 𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜂 𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜂
− = − − , z = 𝜂(x, y, t) (3)
4 Transmission and Reflection 7 𝜕z 𝜕t 𝜕x 𝜕x 𝜕y 𝜕y
5 Wave Effects on Ice Covers 8
The above is called the kinematic surface boundary condi-
6 Conclusions 12
tion, which means that the water particle on the wave surface
Glossary 13 moves with the surface profile. The “dynamic” surface
Related Articles 13 boundary condition comes from the pressure balance at the
References 13 air–water interface, that is, the Bernoulli equation
[( ) ( )2 ( ) 2 ]
2
𝜕𝜙 p𝜂 1 𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜙
− + + + +
𝜕t 𝜌 2 𝜕x 𝜕y 𝜕z
1 INTRODUCTION + gz = 0, z = 𝜂(x, y, t) (4)
Ocean waves are one of the most fundamental types of math- where p𝜂 is the water pressure at the surface and 𝜌 the water
ematical problems. Stoker (1957) is an excellent reference of density. At a horizontal sea bed, the vertical velocity must
this subject. A schematic of a wave field consisting a moving vanish to satisfy the rigid impervious boundary condition,
water body and the atmosphere is depicted in Figure 1.
The water flow is assumed incompressible and irrotational. 𝜕𝜙
− = 0, z = −H (5)
The fluid viscosity is ignored. The governing equation of 𝜕z
ocean waves is the Laplace equation The nonlinearity in Equations 3 and 4 prevents analyt-
ical solution to the above system of equations. Assuming
∇2 𝜙 = 0 (1) that the amplitude of surface elevation is much smaller
than the wavelength, all nonlinear terms may be ignored in
where 𝜙 is the velocity potential such that the water particles Equations 3 and 4 to yield
under the wave motion are described by
𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜂
𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜙 − = , z=0 (6)
v x = − , v y = − , vz = − (2) 𝜕z 𝜕t
𝜕x 𝜕y 𝜕z
and
𝜕𝜙
− + g𝜂 = 0, z = 0 (7)
𝜕t
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe086
in which the atmosphere pressure is taken as zero. Assuming
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 a sinusoidal solution in time, the Laplace equation is solved
2 General
z terms in Equation 4, we obtain the total pressure at any depth

𝜂 z as
cosh k(h + z) i(kx−𝜔t)
o
x p = −𝜌gz + 𝜌gA e (14)
cosh kh
H
The second term on the right is called the dynamic pressure.
It approaches zero toward the bottom of the sea as z → − h.
In the field, ocean waves are a continuous spectrum of
various frequencies. The energy of each frequency band
may change due to local wind stress, nonlinear interactions
Figure 1. Schematic of a wave field.
between different bands of waves, and dissipations such as
whitecapping and interactions with the sea floor. Many of
using the standard separation of variables technique, which these detailed processes for open-water waves are still under
gives the elemental solutions in terms of the wave number k investigation. The main challenge is to expand the theory so
and the angular frequency 𝜔 that nonlinearities can be dealt with, since many practical
problems are related to these nonlinear terms.
𝜙(x, z, t) = (Cekz + De−kz )ei(kx−𝜔t) (8)
To go from open water to ice-covered seas means more
complicated governing equations and boundary conditions,
in which x is defined as the direction of a propagating
as will be seen below. Here, we provide a brief account of
planar wave, hence the variation in the y-direction
the theoretical aspects. There have been two comprehensive
vanishes. Applying the sea-floor boundary condition,
reviews of this topic (Squire, 1995, 2007), which contain
that is, Equation 5, C and D are related to combine into
much more detailed discussions.
𝜙(x, z, t) = B cosh k(H + z)ei(kx−𝜔t) (9)
Equation 7 serves to relate the wave amplitude A defined 2 ICE COVERS IN THE MARGINAL ICE
by the surface profile ZONE
𝜂 = Aei(kx−𝜔t) (10) Due to the wave-damping capability, far into the ice cover,
only waves with ultra long wavelength survive. Hence,
and the coefficient in the velocity potential
wave–ice interactions are most significant near the interface
igA between open water and the ice cover. This region is called
B= (11) the marginal ice zone. The morphology of the marginal ice
𝜔 cosh kH
zone is a result of the dynamic/thermodynamic process that
Finally, Equation 6 provides the dispersion relation shapes the ice cover. We first survey how varied an ice
between the angular frequency 𝜔 and the wave number k cover in this region can be. Figure 2 shows an example of
the entire Arctic as viewed from space. Even at this great
𝜔2 = gk tanh kH (12) distance, it is apparent that the surface texture is signifi-
cantly heterogeneous. A close-up view of the sea ice may be
Thus, the wavelength L = 2𝜋 and the wave period T = 2𝜋𝜔
k obtained from ships, helicopters, or airplanes. Figure 3 shows
are directly related. The group velocity can be obtained
𝜕𝜔 a collection of some of these observations. The composi-
by cg = 𝜕k . The phase velocity (or celerity) defined as
tion of sea ice covers differs both temporally and spatially.
c = TL = 𝜔k is the apparent speed of the wave crest (or Depending on the time of the year and the history of the
trough). In general, cg < c, and only when the ratio of water dynamic/thermodynamic process, ice covers can be a collec-
depth to wavelength approaches 0 these two speeds approach tion of individual floes scattered in open water, a soupy layer
each other. of frazil ice crystals, or a mélange of all shapes and sizes
For water of depth greater than half the wavelength, one mixed with frazil ice.
may obtain the approximation When newly formed in a quiescent environment, such as in
narrow leads from cracked up large ice sheets, the ice cover
gT 2
L= = 1.56T 2 (13) is smooth. This type of ice is rare in the ocean. Near the
2𝜋
ice edge, waves agitate the water surface, where a different
Because the fluid is assumed irrotational and inviscid, process called the pancake ice cycle takes place (Lange
Equation 4 is valid everywhere. Dropping the nonlinear et al., 1989). Ice crystals that form at the air–water interface
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe086
Wave–Ice Interactions 3
From NSIDC courtesy NASA/GSFC MODIS Rapid Response

Arctic Ocean
Canada
Novaya Zemlya
island
Greenland
Figure 2. An image of the Arctic ocean taken on 25 May 2009 by the MODIS sensor on the NASA Terra Satellite. (Image/photo courtesy
of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, Boulder.)
(a) (b) (c) (d)
Figure 3. (a) New pancake ice a wave field. Photo taken some time in the 1980s near 63∘ s 55∘ e in the Southern ocean. (Courtesy of the
Australian Antarctic Division.) (Reproduced with permiission from Hayley Shen. © Hayley Shen, 2016.) (b) Arctic sea ice from a 2012
Operation IceBridge aerial survey. Varying thicknesses of sea ice are shown here, from thin, nearly transparent layers to thicker, older sea
ice covered with snow. (Image/photo Courtesy of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, Boulder. Credit: NASA.)
(c) A broken ice sheet. Photo taken in 2003 during the ARISE Program from Aurora Australis. (Image Courtesy of the National Snow
and Ice Data Center, Credit: Rachel Marsh.) (d) A photo of ice floes interspersed with pancake ice (from Healy in the Greenland Sea on a
trans-Arctic voyage). (Reproduced with permission from Don Perovich. © Don Perovich.)
agglomerate first into a slurry called grease ice. The accu- colder than the water below. The wave-induced collisions
mulation of grease ice eventually freezes into pancake ice, among neighboring ice floes erode the rough corners of the
which continues to grow in size until waves attenuate suffi- floes to form the strikingly circular shape with nearly uniform
ciently so that a continuously frozen ice sheet may form. size. As the wave energy damps out by the existing pancake
Grease ice obtained its name due to its ability to damp ice field, these circular floes freeze together. The formed
out high-frequency waves, hence the surface has a smooth ice sheet keeps growing through both thermodynamic and
appearance. Pancake ice is formed after sufficient accumu- mechanical transformations that change its physical compo-
lation of grease ice that forces the top layer into air much sition: thermal growth from frozen water underneath, melting
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe086
4 General
and refreezing snow from above, sea water flooding and such floating cover, an open-water wave would shorten its
freezing on top, fracturing due to wave bending, and rafting wavelength.
and ridging due to the external stress field. These processes Intuitively, mass loading might be a good model for a
change the physical properties of an ice cover throughout its field of small scattered ice floes, but not so for a continuous
entire life cycle. sheet of ice, nor one with densely populated interacting ice
The mechanical property of an ice cover depends on its floes. Greenhill (1887) and Wadhams (1973) considered a
physical composition as well as the temperature and salinity. continuous ice sheet as a flexible elastic material. Using the
For the same ice cover, in general, the colder it is, the more assumption that an ice cover is very thin compared with the
rigid it is. This rigidity also increases with reduced salinity. wavelength, the depth-averaged displacement of ice cover
Hence, young sea ice covers are less rigid than the multiyear throughout its thickness eliminates the deformation in the
ice covers. A valuable resource for viewing different types of z-direction. The simplified equation considers the elasticity
sea ice covers is the CD-ROM produced by Worby (1999), of the ice cover as a single parameter combining the thickness
which gives examples of all kinds of ice types including those with its Young’s modulus E and Poisson’s ratio 𝜐. Letting h be
commonly found in the marginal ice zone. the ice-layer thickness, the flexural rigidity D is thus defined
as
Eh3
D= (19)
3 MODELS FOR THE DISPERSION 12(1 − 𝜐2 )
RELATION In terms of D the equation of motion for an elemental ice
cover per unit surface area is
Theoretical description of ice covers requires idealization of
such complex material. There are five basic models that will 𝜕2 𝜂 𝜕4𝜂
m = p−D 4, z = 0 (20)
be described below. 𝜕t 2 𝜕x
First is the mass-loading model in which the ice cover
is considered as a collection of disjoint mass points. This In the above, the gravity effect is ignored due to the
model was established by Weitz and Keller (1950) and Peters assumption that it is a minor term compared to the other
(1950). Equation 7, the linearized dynamic surface boundary two forcing terms on the right-hand side of Equation 20.
condition, becomes Combining Equations 6, 15, and 20, we have
( 2 )
𝜕𝜙 p 𝜕3𝜙 𝜕 𝜙 𝜕𝜙 𝜕5𝜙
− + + g𝜂 = 0, z = 0 (15) m + 𝜌 + g +D = 0, z = 0 (21)
𝜕t 𝜌 𝜕z𝜕t 2 𝜕t 2 𝜕z 𝜕z𝜕x4
where p is the water pressure under the floating object. The The resulting dispersion relation is
kinematic surface boundary condition remains the same as
Equation 6. The additional boundary condition at the surface 𝜌gk tanh kH + Dk5 tanh kH
𝜔2 = (22)
is the equation of motion of the floating object 𝜌 + mk tanh kH
𝜕2𝜂 The wavelength upon entering a cover with rigidity

m = −mg + p, z = 0 (16) D may either lengthen or shorten, depending on the
𝜕t2
relative magnitude of (1 + Dk4 /𝜌g) and (1 + mk/𝜌). If
where m is the mass per unit surface area of the floating (1 + Dk4 /𝜌g) > (1 + mk/𝜌), then the wavelength exceeds that
object. Combining Equations 6, 15, and 16, one obtains in open water. Otherwise, the wavelength reduces. For ice
( 2 ) covers of high rigidity, (1 + Dk4 /𝜌g) > (1 + mk/𝜌) is satisfied
𝜕3𝜙 𝜕 𝜙 𝜕𝜙 except when k is very small or very long waves. The resulting
m + 𝜌 + g = 0, z = 0 (17)
𝜕z𝜕t2 𝜕t2 𝜕z reduction of wavelength is minute.
Keller (1998) presented a third fundamental type of ice
Assuming a solution of the sinusoidal form shown in cover, which was modeled as a pure viscous layer. The moti-
Equation 9, which satisfies the sea-floor boundary condition, vation was based on a laboratory observation of wave prop-
Equation 17 yields agation through a grease ice layer (Newyear and Martin,
𝜌g 1997). The data showed an increase of wavelength from
𝜔2 = k tanh kH (18) the open-water value and significant wave damping. Both
𝜌 + mk tanh kH
phenomena could not be explained by the mass-loading
For a given angular frequency 𝜔, Equation 18 predicts a theory. The softness of the ice layer at roughly the melting
greater k than the open-water case. Hence, upon entering point under which the tests were performed also worked
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe086
z (short) waves that satisfy 𝜔2 h/g ≫ 1, the dispersion relation

becomes
h
x ( )
o i𝜔 1∕2
gk = −(2𝜈k2 − i𝜔)2 + 4𝜈 2 k3 k2 − (27)
𝜈
H
In the low-frequency long-wave limit, 𝜔2 h/g ≪ 1. If
𝜔h2 /𝜈 ≪ 1 is also true, then the dispersion relation simplifies
to
( )
𝜌ice −𝜌
Figure 4. Schematic of a floating layer of a continuum above a ⎡ 𝜔2 h𝜌ice k2 gh ⎤ 𝜌
(𝜔2 −4ik2 𝜔𝜈)
water body. ⎢1 − g𝜌
+ ⎥ 𝜔4 +16k4 𝜔2 𝜈 2
𝜔 = gk[tanh kH] ⎢
2
⎥
k2 gh(𝜔2 −4ik2 𝜔𝜈)
⎢ 1 − 𝜔4 +16k4 𝜔2 𝜈 2 ⎥
⎣ ⎦
against the physical concept behind the thin elastic model. In (28)
the viscous layer model, the upper floating layer is consid- Further simplifications are obtainable for various limiting
ered as a separate continuum. As shown in Figure 4, the ice cases such as very thin layer, very deep water, or extremely
layer follows the linearized Navier–Stokes equation viscous materials. The above illustrates the mathematical
complexity involved if the floating layer is considered as a
𝜕⃗vice 1 continuum with its own momentum equation. The predicted
=− ∇p + 𝜈∇2 v⃗ice + g⃗ , 0 ≤ z ≤ h (23) wavelength is either the same or longer than the √ open-water
𝜕t 𝜌ice ice
case, except a very slight shortening around 𝜔 H∕g ≈ 1.
where 𝜈 represents the kinematic viscosity of the ice cover, The main difference of this model from the mass loading
and the convective acceleration is ignored. The water layer and the thin elastic plate models is that wave attenuation is
underneath follows the Euler equation with no convective also observed. An example from solving the full dispersion
acceleration and zero viscosity, relation for the complex wave number k = kr + iki , in which
the real part kr is the physical wave number 2𝜋/L and the
𝜕⃗v 1 imaginary part ki is the attenuation coefficient, is shown in
= − ∇p + g⃗ , −H ≤ z ≤ 0 (24)
𝜕t 𝜌 Figure 5.
The fourth model considers the ice cover as a visco-elastic
The additional viscosity term means that the velocity field material. Many studies have considered a combination of
in the ice layer does not satisfy the potential equation, elasticity and viscosity effects of an ice layer (Squire, 1978;
hence an additional stream function is required to define the Wadhams, 1986). However, not until recently an extension
velocity (Lamb, 1932). of Keller’s viscous layer theory to a visco-elastic layer was
carried out, in which the ice cover was a continuum followed
𝜕𝜙ice 𝜕𝜓ice 𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜓ice by its own momentum equation. The result provided a closed
vice,x = − − , vice,z = − ice + (25)
𝜕x 𝜕z 𝜕z 𝜕x form solution for the dispersion relation (Wang and Shen,
2010). In their analysis, the momentum equation for the ice
where layer, Equation 23 remains the same, except that the viscosity
𝜕𝜓ice 𝜕𝜙ice pice 𝜈 is replaced by the complex viscosity 𝜈 ve , where
∇2 𝜙ice = 0, = 𝜈∇2 𝜓ice , − + gz = 0 (26)
𝜕t 𝜕t 𝜌ice 𝜈ve = 𝜈 + iG∕𝜌1 𝜔 (29)
The water velocity still follows Equation 1. The boundary
in which, 𝜈 is the viscosity parameter and G the elasticity
conditions now include not only the previous free surface
parameter, 𝜌1 = 𝜌ice . Following the same procedure as in the
and sea-floor conditions, but also the interface between the
pure viscous layer theory, the resulting dispersion relation is
floating layer and the water underneath.
obtained as
For the free surface above the viscous ice layer, both 𝜔2 = Fgk tanh kH (30)
shear and normal stresses must vanish. For the interface, in
addition to continuity of the vertical velocity, the normal where
stresses must be equal on both sides, and the shear stress
vanishes due to the inviscid water underneath. The resulting g2 k2 Sk S𝛼 − (N 4 + 16k6 𝛼 2 𝜈ve
4 )S S
k 𝛼
dispersion relation is a long implicit equation. However, 𝜌1 − 8k 𝛼𝜈ve N (Ck C𝛼 − 1)
3 2 2
F =1+ (31)
its asymptotic behaviors are tractable. For high-frequency 𝜌2 gk(4k3 𝛼𝜈ve
2
Sk C𝛼 + N 2 Ck S𝛼 − gkSk S𝛼 )
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe086
6 General
1.2
1
0.4
Re = 100 h/H = 0.1 Re = 100 h/H = 0.1
Re = 1000 h/H = 0.1 Re = 1000 h/H = 0.1
0.8
kr /k0 (m−1)
kr /k0 (m−1)
0.6
0.2
0.4
0.2
0 0
10−1 100 10−1 100 101
(a) ω (Hz) (b) ω (Hz)
Figure 5. Example of dispersion relations

√ of wave propagation under a floating
√ viscous layer. (a) Real and (b) imaginary parts of
k = kr + i ki with 𝜈 = 31.3 m2 /s (Re = gH 3 ∕𝜈 = 100) and 𝜈 = 3.13 m2 /s (Re = gH 3 ∕𝜈 = 1000), 𝜌ice = 917 kg/m3 , 𝜌water = 1000 kg/m3 ,
and H = 100 m, h = 10 m.
In the above, 𝜌2 = 𝜌 = 𝜌water , Sk = sinh kh, S𝛼 = sinh 𝛼h, Note that the above assumes a real angular frequency
Ck = cosh kh, C𝛼 = cosh 𝛼h, and 𝛼 2 = k2 − i𝜔/𝜈 ve . 𝜔 and a complex wave number k, an approach different
The limiting cases of the above, as expected, reduce to from the original work of Liu and Mollo-Christensen, but
the three basic dispersion relations described earlier. For the derivations are interchangeable. Substituting this funda-
example, letting 𝜈 ve = 0, kh ≪ 1, we recover the mass-loading
√ mental mode into Equation 32 yields
case equation 18. Letting 𝜈 = 0, kh ≪ 1, 𝜔k ≪ 𝜌G , we
1
recover the thin elastic case equation 22. Finally, letting n2 = k2 + i𝜔∕𝜈e (35)
G = 0, we recover the viscous layer theory.
The fifth model is built on the thin elastic plate theory Equation 6 now becomes
but also considers the viscosity under the ice cover (Liu 𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜓 𝜕𝜂
and Mollo-Christensen, 1988). The idea of including an vz = − + = , z=0 (36)
𝜕z 𝜕x 𝜕t
eddy viscosity is due to the rough underside of an ice
cover. The water motion in the vicinity of uneven surfaces Substituting Equations 33 and 34 into Equation 36 and
generates turbulence. This process has been modeled as the integrating with time, we have
“eddy viscosity” term similar to the molecular viscosity of
water, but with a much greater value 𝜈 e . To account for this 𝜂=
k
(−A + iB) exp[i(kx + 𝜔t)] (37)
viscosity, Equations 1 and 2 are rewritten as i𝜔
The dynamic boundary condition that includes the
𝜕𝜓
∇2 𝜙 = 0, = 𝜈e ∇2 𝜓 (32) viscosity term is now
𝜕t
[ ]
1 𝜕4 𝜕2 𝜕𝜙 𝜕vz
and D 4 +m 2 𝜂 = − g𝜂 − 2𝜈e (38)
𝜌 𝜕x 𝜕t 𝜕t 𝜕z
𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜓 𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜓
vx = − − , vz = − + (33)
𝜕x 𝜕z 𝜕z 𝜕x In the original work of Liu and Mollo-Christensen (1988),
a compressive stress was also included in the theory; for
In the above, the potential and stream functions are simplicity, this additional mechanism is ignored here.
expressed in their fundamental mode as Because of the inclusion of the viscosity, no-slip condition is
required at the water–ice interface. The vertical components
𝜙 = Aekz exp(ikx + 𝜔t), 𝜓 = Benz exp(ikx + 𝜔t) (34) of these velocities are already forced to be the same by
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe086
the kinematic boundary condition. Additionally, the hori- z

zontal velocities are equal as well. Assuming that the ice
x
cover moves as a thin elastic plate, its horizontal velocity is o h
negligible, hence on the water side vx = 0 implies Domain 1 Domain 2
Incoming wave, I
− ikA − nB = 0 (39) H
Transmission, T
Reflection, R
Substituting Equations 34, 36, 37, and 39 into Equation 38,
the following relationship is obtained
1 𝜔2 Figure 6. Schematic of wave propagating through discontinuous

[Dk4 − m𝜔2 + g]k = (40) surface conditions.
𝜌 1 − nk
The series solutions of 𝜙1 and 𝜙2 may be expressed as
Utilizing Equation 35 to eliminate n from the above, the
dispersion relation can be obtained ∑
∞
[ ( ) ( ) ] 𝜙1 = (Ie−ikx + Reikx ) cosh ky + An ekn x cos kn z (43)
m D 4
𝜈e k 𝜔 𝜔 1 + 2 k − 2 g + k k
2 2 n=1
𝜌 𝜌
[( ) ( )]2
D m
+ i g + k4 k − 𝜔2 1 + k =0 (41) 𝜙2 = Te−i𝜅x cosh ky + T+ e−(𝛼+i𝛽)x cos(𝛼 + i𝛽)y
𝜌 𝜌
∑
∞
+ T− e−(𝛼−i𝛽)x cos(𝛼 − i𝛽)y + Bn e−𝜅n x cos 𝜅n z (44)
The above converges to the thin elastic plate wave number n=1
when k2 𝜈 e ≪ 𝜔. In such case, it is observed that the group
velocity Cg = 𝜕𝜔
𝜕k
is a U-shaped curve that possesses a where I is the amplitude of the incoming velocity potential, R
minimum at some critical value of k. the reflected velocity potential, T the undamped transmitted
potential, T+ , T− the pair of damped traveling wave velocity
potential, and An , Bn the evanescent modes. All of these are
4 TRANSMISSION AND REFLECTION
the roots of Equation 12 for 𝜙1 and Equation 22 for 𝜙2 .
𝜕𝜙
In the previous section, the ice cover is considered to be infi- To precisely satisfy the continuity of 𝜙1,2 and 𝜕x1,2 over the
nite in its horizontal extent. Matching the boundary condi- entire depth of domains 1 and 2 requires infinite number
tions between the ice–water interface along the vertical axis, of eigenfunctions of the velocity potentials. Approximate
we obtain the dispersion relation. In reality, ice cover is finite solutions are obtained by minimizing the error defined as
in its horizontal extent. At this horizontal interface, transmis- 0 0
sion and reflection take place. Transmission and reflection | 𝜕𝜙1 𝜕𝜙2 |2
𝜀rr = 𝛾1 |𝜙1 − 𝜙2 | dz + 𝛾2
2 | − | dz (45)
also occur as the ice cover changes properties along the direc- ∫ ∫ || 𝜕x 𝜕x ||
tion of the wave propagation. Different ice properties also −H −H
cause wave to change its direction.
where the weighting factors 𝛾 1,2 are chosen to optimize the
Figure 6 depicts the case with a wave propagating from the
convergence of solutions. Figure 7 shows the result of wave
open water on the left side of a domain into a thin elastic
transmission and reflection between open water and a thin
cover on the right side of the domain. This problem was
elastic sheet. It is seen that for long waves the transmission
solved in Fox and Squire (1990, 1994). Two velocity poten-
coefficient approaches 1 while the reflection vanishes. For
tials: 𝜙1 in the open-water region and 𝜙2 in the ice-covered
the case shown in Figure 7, as the wave period becomes
region, need to be determined. Both velocity potentials
greater than 10 s, the ice is practically “transparent” with
satisfy Equation 7. In addition, 𝜙1 satisfies Equation 6, and
nearly full transmission and negligible reflection.
𝜙2 Equation 21. At the interface separating the two domains,
In nature, ice covers are never a level sheet of uniform
that is, along x = 0, − H ≤ z ≤ 0, we require the continuity of
𝜕𝜙 properties, thus the above theory needs to be expanded to
𝜙1,2 and 𝜕x1,2 . Furthermore, at the leading edge of the elastic
treat ice covers with different thickness, rigidity, frozen
cover, bending moment and shear stress must vanish, which
together, or separated by crakes. Extensive study of wave
means
propagation between thin elastic floating covers of hetero-
( ) ( )
𝜕 2 𝜕𝜙2 𝜕 3 𝜕𝜙2 geneous properties has been carried out (Wadhams, 1986;
= 3 = 0, x = 0+ , z = 0 (42)
𝜕x2 𝜕z 𝜕x 𝜕z Squire, 2010). Three-dimensional theories that consider ice
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe086
8 General
1.2 For circular geometry, the solution is an infinite series of

Bessel functions. For floes of a general geometry, Green’s
1 function method needs be employed. An example of the
solution is shown in Figure 8, in which the displacements of
0.8 both the flexible ice and the water surfaces are depicted. It is
R
T
clear that wave energy from an incoming direction parallel
0.6
to the x-axis is scattered in all directions with different
R and T
amplitudes from the edge of the ice floe.

Using the above results, one may then study an assembly
0.4
of ice floes dispersed in a wave field. To rigorously solve
such multiple-boundary problems is extremely complicated.
0.2
An iterative method was developed to obtain solutions for
regular arrays of periodic-floe arrangements (Bennetts and
0
Squire, 2009). Adopting a wide-spacing assumption, so
that effects of evanescent modes from neighboring floes
−0.2 are ignored, the transmission of wave energy from such
5 10 15 20
T (s)
assembly can be calculated (Bennetts et al., 2010).
In this section we only considered the ice cover as a thin
Figure 7. Example of the transmission T and reflection R of wave elastic material. The transmission and reflection may also be
propagating from open water into an ice cover. E = 1 GPa, h = 0.5 m, affected by the viscous processes. Such considerations await
𝜌ice = 917 kg/m3 , 𝜌water = 1000 kg/m3 , and H = 100 m. (Reproduced further research.
using the theory in Kohout et al., 2007.)
covers as a finite object have also been developed. The most

noteworthy of this development is the ability to quantify 5 WAVE EFFECTS ON ICE COVERS
directional scattering of wave energy as a function of the
ice-floe properties (Meylan and Squire, 1996). Wave scat- So far we have focused on how ice affects waves. We next
tering is a consequence of reflection. If the ice cover is not consider the effect of waves on ice covers. We will discuss
uniform in the y-direction as Figures 4 and 6 suggest, but is three processes: drift, rafting, and fracturing.
more representative of a true ice field, as depicted in Figure 3, Floating objects drift in a wave field, even water molecules
then at this three-dimensional ice edge, the incoming wave themselves do so as described by the Stokes drift (Stokes,
energy would propagate in all directions with different 1847). Although the wave motion is periodic, there is net
intensity. The mathematical framework for this problem is mass transport as a result of the weak nonlinearity of the
similar to what is described for the two-dimensional cases finite-amplitude waves. The instantaneous velocity of a water
shown in Figure 6, except that the boundary conditions are particle, which has a mean position of (x1 , z1 ), is
now applied around the three-dimensional circumference of
the floe. For a circular shape floe of radius a, this boundary
𝜕vx 𝜕v
condition becomes: vxL (x1 + 𝜁, z1 + 𝜉) = vx (x1 , z1 ) + 𝜁 + x𝜉 (49)
𝜕x 𝜕z
( )
𝜕2𝜂 1 𝜕𝜂 1 𝜕2𝜂
+ 𝜐 + = 0, r = a (46)
𝜕r2 a 𝜕r a2 𝜕𝜃 2 In the above, the subscript L signifies the Lagrangian view,
that is, the observation is fixed on a moving water particle.
( )
𝜕 2 1−𝜐 𝜕 1 𝜕2𝜂 The actual location of the particle is on an ellipse with major
(∇ 𝜂) + = 0, r = a (47) and minor axes equal to the trajectory of the particle (𝜁 , 𝜉).
𝜕r a 𝜕r r 𝜕𝜃 2
From Equations 2, 9, and 12, one may obtain
At the same time, the boundary condition under the ice floe,
that is, Equation 21 becomes: 𝜕𝜙
𝜁 (x1 , z1 , t) = − (x + 𝜁 , z1 + 𝜉)dt ≈
( ) ∫ 𝜕x 1 ∫
𝜕𝜙 𝜕 2 𝜙 𝜕 2 𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜙
−𝜌 g + 2 =m 2 + D∇4 , z = 0, 0 < r < a 𝜕𝜙 cosh k(H + z1 ) i(kx −𝜔t)
𝜕z 𝜕t 𝜕t 𝜕z 𝜕z − (x1 , z1 )dt = iA e 1 (50)
(48) 𝜕x sinh kH
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe086
5
2
0
w
w 0
−5
−2 200
200
200 0 200
0 0
0 y −200 −200
y x
(a) −200 −200 x (b) −400 −400
Figure 8. Surface displacement of (a) the ice floe and (b) the surrounding water. Water depth is infinite and wave height is 1 m;
the surface displacement is in meters. The floe has diameter of 400 m, L = 100 m, E = 6 GPa, 𝜐 = 0.3, h = 1 m, 𝜌ice = 922.5 kg/m3 , and
𝜌water = 1025 kg/m3 . (Reproduced with permission from Meylan and Squire, 1996. © John Wiley and Sons, 1996.)
and ice floe was modeled as

𝜕𝜙 d2 x 𝜕𝜂
𝜉(x1 , z1 , t) = (x + 𝜁, z1 + 𝜉)dt ≈
− mi (1 + Cm ) = −mi g
∫ 𝜕z 1 ∫ dt2 𝜕t
𝜕𝜙 sinh k(H + z1 ) i(kx −𝜔t) + 𝜌Cw Ai |Vwsx − vice,x |(Vwsx − vice,x ) (53)
− (x1 , z1 )dt = A e 1 (51)
𝜕z sinh kH
As illustrated in Figure 9, there are three types of forces

Substituting Equations 50, 51 into Equation 49 and aver-
acting on the ice floe. The above equation represents the
aging over one wave period, the mean value of vxL can be
motion equation in the x or the drift direction, where mi
obtained as
is the mass of the ice floe, Cm the added mass coefficient,
gA2 k2 cosh 2k(H + z) Cw the drag coefficient, Ai the ice floe surface area, and Vwsx
vxL = (52) the horizontal velocity of the water just under the ice floe,
𝜔 sinh 2kH
which is approximated by the open-water surface velocity.
This drift is O(A2 k2 ), hence much smaller than the The first term on the right-hand side of Equation 53 repre-
wave-phase speed 𝜔/k. The Stokes drift at free surface sents the gravity effect due to the sloping surface created
approaches A g𝜔 as the water depth increases (i.e., as
2 3
by the wave, upon which the ice floe tends to slide. The
H → ∞). sliding motion is opposed by the added mass effect associ-
For ice floes, because of their own inertia, their motion ated with the Cm term and the drag force represented by the
differs from that of the water particles. A model derived from second term on the right-hand side. The above equation has
the Morison equation (Morison et al., 1950) was proposed by been shown by Grotmaack and Meylan (2006) to reduce to
Rumer, Crissman, and Wake (1979), in which the force on an the following nonlinear ordinary differential equations when
𝜂 = A sin[k(x − ct)] is used:
dV
= −𝜏𝜛 2 cos Θ + Σ𝜏|𝜛 sin Θ − V|(𝜛 sin Θ − V)
dt
x dΘ
Drag and θ
= 𝜛2V − 𝜛 (54)
added mass dt
where the dimensionless parameters are defined as x = Ax ,
Gravity
√ √ √
𝜌C A A
Buoyancy t = Ag t, V = gA 1 1
v, 𝜏 = 1+C , Σ = mw i , 𝜛 = kA,
m i
and Θ = k(x − ct). From this formulation, the mean drift
Figure 9. The slope-sliding model. Three types of forces act on an
ice floe. The gravity is balanced by the buoyancy in the direction of the floe depends on three parameters: 𝜏, Σ, and 𝜛.
normal to the inclined water surface. The component of gravity Equation 54 cannot be solved analytically. To solve this
tangent to the water surface drives the floe to slide. The drag and system of equations, extra care has to be taken to ensure
added mass forces oppose the sliding force. the proper convergence of the solution. For a given Cm ,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe086
10 General
the steady-state drift velocity was shown to increase n

with increasing frequency and only mildly increase with
increasing drag. In order to compare with the Stokes drift, t
we take a special case where H → ∞, Cm = 0.08, Cw = 0.01, hs
𝜌 li
𝜌ice
= 1.11, and an ice floe with a 0.1 m thickness. For a
wave of frequency of 0.3 Hz, if the amplitude is at 0.17 m,
the resulting drift √ from the above theory is found to be
roughly 5.7 × 10−3 gA or 0.0074 m/s. At this frequency
and amplitude, the Stokes drift at the free surface from
Equation 52 is 0.02 m/s. In general, the predicted drift
velocity is less than the Stokes drift. Figure 10. A schematic of a free-floating object in a wave field.
The above theory was reexamined by Huang (2009), in
which both the tangential and normal directions of the floe
to the wave surface were solved simultaneously. The idea is drift velocities greater than the Stokes drift. Validation of
illustrated in Figure 10. The equation of motion for the two these drift theories is still under research.
directions, t for tangential and n for normal, are: The slope-sliding mechanism is physically reasonable only
( ) when the ice-floe size is much shorter than the wavelength.
dvt When the floe’s size and wavelength are comparable, the
mi (1 + Cm ) + 𝜔𝛽n vn = Ft
dt wavy surface cannot generate an incline for the floe. At this
( ) scale, wave reflection as discussed in Section 3 is responsible
dvn
mi (1 + Cm ) + 𝜔𝛽t vt = Fn (55) for floe drift.
dt
Perrie and Hu (1997) develop a theory for large ice floes
The terms drifting in a wave field. Their equation of motion for an
isolated ice floe is
d2 𝜂
𝜔𝛽n = − dx2
( )2 = − 𝜔𝛽t 𝜕⃗v
(56) + mi ⃗f × v⃗ = Ai (⃗
𝜏air + 𝜏⃗water + 𝜏⃗rad ) − mg∇Ξ (58)
1+ d𝜂 𝜕t
dx
are introduced because the t, n coordinate system is not where ⃗f × v⃗ is the Coriolis force, 𝜏⃗air and 𝜏⃗water the stress
inertial. Thus, in this model, two governing equations must from the air and water, 𝜏⃗rad the radiation stress, and Ξ the
be solved simultaneously to obtain the drift. In addition, the sea surface elevation (such as produced by tides). The radia-
two forces Ft and Fn , although essentially from the same tion stress is caused by the net momentum transfer at the floe
mechanism as before, included more detailed considerations edge due to the wave reflection. Since the net momentum
of the floe submergence so that transfer is equivalent to a force, whenever there is an imper-
fect wave transmission from open water to an ice floe,
𝜕𝜂 the net momentum flux at the edge of ice floe is Mi c⃗gi −
𝜕x
Ft = −mi g √ Mr c⃗gr − Mt c⃗gt , in which M is the mass flux, c⃗g represents the
( )2
𝜕𝜂 group velocity, and subscripts i, r, t represent the incoming,
1+ 𝜕x reflected, and transmitted components, respectively. This net
𝜌 li + hs momentum flux has the same effect as an external force
+ mi Cwx |Vwst − vice,t |(Vwst − vice, t ) applied at this edge. For example, for a perfectly reflected
𝜌ice li hi
h
wave, c⃗gt = 0 and c⃗gr = −⃗cgi , the radiation stress becomes
s
𝜌 h
+1 1
𝜌gA2 . For an ice floe of diameter li , the force due to this
Fn = −mi g √ ( )2
2
𝜌ice mechanism is
1 + 𝜕𝜂
𝜕x
1
Frad = 𝜌gA2 li (59)
2
𝜌 hs
+ mi Cwz |V − vice,n |(Vwsn − vice,n ) (57) The wave amplitude is estimated using the fetch length
𝜌ice li hi wsn
defined as the average linear distance between ice floes. This
In the above, Cwx and Cwz are the drag coefficients in the x open-water area is subject to wind forcing, thus can produce
and z directions, respectively. The new formulation must be waves. The possibility of having swell-produced drift was
solved numerically. In general, this modified theory predicts not considered by Perrie and Hu. The wave amplitude is
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe086
obtained using the empirical relation then rafting can make the existing pancakes ride on top of
( )( ) their neighboring floes to instantly double the ice cover thick-
𝜏 lf ness. Even at later stages when the ice cover is consolidated
A2 = 3.2 × 10−4 (60)
𝜌air g into a continuous sheet, under stormy weather, the ice sheet
can fracture into pieces, as will be discussed later in this
where 𝜏 = 𝜌air CD U10
2
is the wind stress over water, U10 section. The fragmented ice cover, such as in Figure 3c, may
the wind speed at 10 m above the water surface, and lf also exhibit rafting if the waves are high and the floes are rela-
the fetch length that can be parameterized by a function tively thin and small. Rafting of large floes is more difficult
of√the ice concentration, c. In Perrie and Hu (1997), lf = due to the surface friction.
( )
Evidence of rafting has been documented in the Sea of
li 𝜋4 1c − 1 was suggested. Using the above formulation,
Okhotsk and the Southern Ocean. Coring of ice covers
they studied several scenarios with and without the wave revealed layers of ice formation as shown in Figure 11.
effects to determine the ice-floe trajectories. Their model Rafting is also possible in the interior of consolidated ice
concludes that thick floes move slower than thin ones. Larger covers. In this case, the process is called ridging and is due
diameter floes move faster than smaller ones. Not surpris- to the compressive stress from accumulated wind forcing.
ingly, floe speed increases with wind speed. For a give floe, Ridging produces localized large structures from fractured
radiation stress created by waves roughly increases the floe ice sheet. The broken ice cover can form floes of size on
velocity by 25%. The contribution of radiation stress is more the order of meters, and the final ridge can be many meters
important in regions with low ice concentration, thus greater tall above the surface and even larger under water. The
fetch length. wave-produced rafting is at the ice edge where the floe sizes
Next, we discuss the rafting phenomenon. In a field of are much smaller and the rafting also distributes much more
discrete ice floes, agitation causes each floe to tilt and roll in evenly across the ice cover.
addition to drift. When the floe concentration is high, these Wave rafting has been analyzed theoretically in Dai et al.
relative motions create different kinds of floe–floe interac- (2004). Two opposing mechanisms were considered to
tion. They may simply collide and bounce away from each produce an equilibrium thickness from wave rafting. The
other if the tilt is insignificant. When the tilt is significant, thickening action comes from the compressive stress caused
particularly when the ice concentration is high, collisions by floe collisions. The resisting action is produced by the
between misaligned ice floes can easily cause one floe to internal friction of the ice pile formed by the rafting action.
slide over the other, which is the rafting process. Rafting is Wave agitation causes neighboring ice floes to collide with
a very fast way to thicken the ice cover. Imagine a field of each other. Each collision produced a certain momentum
pancake ice as shown in Figure 3a. The initial production transfer. Since the rate of momentum transfer over a surface
from open water to grease ice is a thermal growth, enhanced area is equivalent to the force over that area, the problem of
by the waves because of the elevated turbulence on the water estimating the wave-induced compressive stress becomes a
surface. If at this point the wave intensity suddenly increases, problem of estimating the number of floes per vertical area
10 cm
10 cm
(a) (b)
Figure 11. (a) Vertical thin section of a pancake ice cover. A floe from the Weddell Sea that consists of three layers of individual pancakes
rafted together. (Reproduced with permission by Stephen Ackley. © Stephen Ackley.) (b) Vertical thin section of a pancake ice cover. A
floe from the Sea of Okhotsk having five layers. (Reproduced with permission by Takenobu Toyota. © Takenobu Toyota.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe086
12 General
in the water body times the collision frequency of each floe The dimensionless form of the above shows that
times the momentum transferred at each collision. It was
h ′ A ′ li
reasoned that the collision rate must be proportional to the h′ ∼ A′2 li′2 , h′ = , A = , li = (66)
relative floe velocity in the order of 𝜔A ekz k and inversely L L L
proportional to floe–floe separation, which was a fraction Waves can also create ice floes from fracturing a contin-
of the floe size li . During a floe–floe collision, the exchange uous ice cover as shown in Figure 3c. In situ observations of
of momentum must be a portion of the relative momentum the process of wave fracturing a continuous ice cover have
between two floes, hence proportional to 𝜌ice li3 hi 𝜔Aekz k. The been reported (Prinsenberg and Peterson, 2011).
number of ice floes per unit length on the water surface was In the interior of a consolidated ice cover, fracturing is
estimated as C/li hi , where C denotes the concentration of caused by shearing and buckling. At the ice edge, bending is
ice in an area perpendicular to the free surface. Multiplying the major mechanism. Theoretical study of this mechanism
these three terms together, the compressive stress in the began in the 1980s. In these studies, the wave transmission
x-direction was expressed as and reflection at the open water and ice cover interface were
determined. Using this information, the strain distribution of
𝜎x = Kc C𝜔2 A2 k2 e2kz 𝜌ice li2 (61) the ice cover could be determined as
where Kc is a proportionality constant. Integrating this stress h 𝜕2𝜂
over the ice pile thickness h, the total compressive force was 𝜀= (67)
2 𝜕x2
obtained as
The distance between the maximum strain location and the
Kc C𝜔2 A2 k𝜌ice li2 ice edge indicated the size of the floe that could be broken up
F= (1 − e −2kh 2 2 2
) ∼ Kc C𝜔 A k
− kh) 𝜌ice li2 h(1
2 by the wave action. The actual breaking is believed to come
(62)
from the material fatigue process. That is, repeated flexing
As the floes raft due to the compression, the pile creates
from wave action eventually causes the ice sheet to break
a granular assembly, which resists further thickening. This
off near the edge where the strain is at its maximum. The
type of resistance is exactly the same as one experiences
monochromatic mathematical formulation of strain distri-
from pushing a rock pile to form a retention wall. From soil
bution inside an ice cover due to waves approaching from
mechanics, this resistance was estimated as
different directions may be found in Fox and Squire (1994),
( ) ( )
1 1 + sin 𝜑 𝜌ice although really the solution should be done in the time
Fr = (1 − n)𝜌ice g 1 − h2 (63) domain to account for the common occurrence of wave
2 1 − sin 𝜑 𝜌
grouping. Adopting this concept, for a continuous ice sheet
where n is the porosity of the rafted ice pile and 𝜑 the internal far from the ice edge, the distance between two maximum
friction angle of the granular pile. Equating F and Fr so strain locations, that is, half wavelength, is now believed to
that the compressive stress is completely counteracted by be the most probable ice-floe size from this bending failure
the resisting force, the final equilibrium ice pile thickness is mechanism. This idea has been incorporated in a model
reached. Hence, the equilibrium thickness is that integrates wave-created floe size distribution into the
ice cover evolution coupled with wave propagation model
Kc C𝜔2 A2 k2 𝜌ice li2 (Dumont, Kohout, and Bertino, 2011).
h= ( ) ( )
1 1+sin 𝜑 𝜌ice
2 1−sin 𝜑
(1 − n)𝜌ice g 1 + 𝜌
+ Kc C𝜔2 A2 k3 𝜌ice li2
(64)
Wave rafting is most effective when ice floes are densely 6 CONCLUSIONS
populated. Thus, the equilibrium thickness is only relevant
We summarize some basic mathematical theories for
when C → 1. The porosity of the ice pile is an order 1
wave–ice interactions. These theories provided predictions
parameter. Moreover, in the field, wavelengths are much
of wavelength change and its energy attenuation under ice
greater than the wave amplitude and the floe size, hence
covers. They also demonstrated possibilities of wave trans-
comparing the two terms in the denominator of the above
port, rafting, and fracture of ice covers. These interactive
equation, the second term may be neglected. Thus, the final
mechanisms participate in shaping the ice covers throughout
equilibrium rafting thickness was obtained as
its lifespan. They also contribute to the wave climate in
Kc tanh kHA2 k3 li2 the polar and subpolar regions. Different theories make
h∼ ( )( ) (65) different predictions of the ice effect on wave propagation.
1 1+sin 𝜑 𝜌ice
2 1−sin 𝜑
1 + 𝜌 It is hypothesized that ice covers of different morphology
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe086
and mechanical properties will affect waves differently. RELATED ARTICLES

Extensive data are required to validate and calibrate these
theories. Field, remotely sensed, and laboratory studies need Description of Ice Types and Ice Conditions
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consequence in thermodynamic models for the polar regions. Mega-Float
In the spring/summer season, melting is enhanced due to Mobile Offshore Base
the broken ice sheet resulting from the wave action. In the Hydroelastic Response of Very Large Floating Structures
fall/winter season, leads and ridges form under wave actions. Resource Development in Arctic Regions
Formation of leads directly increases heat transfer between
air and water. The refrozen leads and ridges add to the
roughness of air–ice and air–water interface, thus modify the
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe086
Strategic Maintenance Management
Daniel C. Shorten
OPTIMAIN, Bath, UK
cargos where loss of function is unacceptable, for example,

1 The Business of Maintenance 1 LNG ships or offshore cable/pipe laying vessels where no
2 Strategic Alignment of Maintenance 2 conformity or unplanned off-hire can result in very signifi-
3 Maintenance Strategies 3 cant penalties. A similar ship (in that it has a similar engine
4 Implementing Change 7 configuration and machinery compliment) may be trading
based on spot market low value commodity trading, where
5 Considerations for Maintenance Management
off-hire is normal and delays part of the strategic opera-
Software 9
tional profile. You might imagine a very different mainte-
6 Human Factors in Maintenance Strategy 10 nance strategy here. Yet, the handbooks will not reflect this
Glossary 10 as the machinery handbooks were not realigned to the trading
Related Articles 10 contact of the ship. This is where the misalignment and
References 11 potentially significant benefits may lie.
Vessels have to be maintained to a particular standard
to remain “in class,” which is defined as a minimum stan-
dard below which vessels may not be allowed to trade by
1 THE BUSINESS OF MAINTENANCE being detained, or having a condition of class applied, thus
preventing compliance until substandard conditions have
For a shipping company to perform for its investors, it must been eliminated. Ultimately, the classification society can
consistently achieve revenue levels above its expenditure. chose to remove vessels that are considered as substan-
After capital costs, the biggest annual consideration will be dard. While this is not common, the majority of the main
the operational expenditure of which, after fuel, the most classification societies, Lloyd’s Register, Det Norske
significant item will be the cost of ensuring that the assets Veritas-Germanischer Lloyd, American Bureau of Shipping,
at their disposal provide the value they seek for the required Bureau Veritas, and Class Nippon Kaiji Kyokai, have this
period; put more simply, physically maintaining the fabric option at their disposal and will use it when necessary to
of the asset itself. maintain standards.
Of course, a given asset, say a ship, can operate in many Classification rules are not internationally standardized;
contexts and under many different business and market struc- however, there are unifying aspects as agreed by the Inter-
tures; therefore, the value and investment return models national Association of Classification Societies (IACS) and
can be quite different, meaning that it is likely that the thus its member organizations. In the main, as rules are
process of maintenance will be different. We see this in stark based on engineering best practice, the general content of the
reality when we see high value assets trading on high value rules will be set at a similar level by each society. However,
there are interpretive differences between societies in specific
areas such as in regard to maintenance practices, and what
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. may or may not be allowable can differ between societies.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe169
This lack of standardization leads to confusion in the industry
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 as it is based on an interpretive approach that varies not
2 General
The fully self-sustained 2,490-TEU cellular container ship, the m/v Antwerp Trader (© Image courtesy of Lomar Shipping.)
only from society to society but also between geographical incorporating through-life support packages to take account
regions of each society. That said, in ALL cases, the shipping of the emerging commercial opportunity.
company must set out the basis for its CM strategy and As we would seem to have some degree of stability control
the extent that they believe that it delivers a sufficiently over the fleet via the existing classification and maintenance
high standard of confidence to allow invasive surveys to be regimes, then it must be the case that we are overmaintaining
managed in a different and significantly less onerous manner. and thus overspending on maintenance. It also infers that
Traditionally, the majority of ship owners and operators the industry is likely to be experiencing machinery failures
have adopted a planned and preventative maintenance that are wholly preventable, which is the case made by
the insurance underwriters where they are increasingly less
approach. Choosing scheduled equipment overhauls and
likely to support a claim for any failures that they might argue
component replacement in accordance with makers’ recom-
are entirely preventable.
mendations is based on equipment running hours or calendar
As a result of this belief and the advancement in machinery
time intervals. Work is then carried out to reduce the risks condition monitoring, data acquisition and diagnostic
associated with critical equipment failures in service. Main- capabilities, many shipping companies are taking a new
tenance practice for machinery has for many years relied on stance in regard to maintenance by considering compli-
the actions and activities referred to by the original equip- ance as a minimum standard and cost management as the
ment manufacturers (OEMs) handbooks. These activities focus for optimizing maintenance done. Therefore, mini-
range from major overhaul activities to daily checks and mizing the operational costs via the structured avoidance
housekeeping. The current belief is that employing a main- of unnecessary maintenance, increasing profitability, and
tenance regime based on this fixed prescriptive schedule also engaging the engineering crew in truly meaningful
makes a rather large assumption that, apart from running machinery interventions.
hours, every similar asset will behave in a similar way
in respect of wear out and deterioration. This is simply 2 STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT OF
not always the case. Consequently, it must follow that MAINTENANCE
the overwhelming majority of machines will be either
over or undermaintained; put simply, not optimal. The Maintenance of assets is not a singularly focused activity.
OEMs have also come to a similar conclusion and are now There are some organizations that chose to run their
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe169
Strategic Maintenance Management 3
operations based on a very low level of maintenance activity 3 MAINTENANCE STRATEGIES

as they perceive the risk to their organization as relatively
small. They may have no onward external clients and large The four basic elements of a maintenance strategy are shown
periods where the vessels are not required; therefore, they in the following sections.
can operate predominantly upon a run to failure strategy.
As routine classification and compliance is based on the
3.1 Run to failure (breakdown maintenance)
state of the equipment and not on the regime of care that
supports it, as long as a vessel can be taken out of service
This may be a completely acceptable strategy for any equip-
and cost-effective repairs undertaken, this may well be an
ment that is of minimal importance to operations or whose
appropriate approach. On the other hand, if the vessel must
failure to operate will place no significant risk upon the oper-
be fully operational at all times, and if the consequences of
ation of the business. Take, for example, a $2000 water pump
failing to be operational impact on the current and future
with an expected lifetime of 10 years or 36,000 h, whose life-
trading opportunities of the company, then the tendency will
time can be extended by 10% by performing routine mainte-
be to meet and exceed compliance needs by ensuring that
nance every 3 months. The cost to perform the maintenance
there are sufficient layers of assurance to protect the asset
may be well more than the cost benefit unless the cost of
and hence the business from damage as a result of asset
the downtime and associated losses are high enough; then,
unreliability. The main goal is to meet the reliability needs
a “run-to-fail” strategy may be the best option. Additional
of the business and to raise the reliability of the fleet as a
strategies such as having a spare pump in store on the ship,
whole.
and ensuring that the skills and tools necessary to refit the
What is of interest is that there are often many companies
pump at the time of need, should also be considered.
who experience the same market drivers as their competitors;
Such equipment may therefore be required to be subjected
they are subjected to the same pressures to perform and
to a complete replacement or restoration once its primary
subject to the same risks. Thus, in the cases above where
function has been lost. It will not be subject to routine
(i) little maintenance is done or (ii) intensive maintenance
non-invasive maintenance, and there may be no condition
is done routinely, how does the smart owner ensure that the
monitoring activities performed.
risks are dealt with at the lowest cost, thus leading to the
development of market advantages and a greater ability to
trade? This is a question that has to be answered in specific 3.2 Preventative (time-based/scheduled)
relation to the individual company in question and the risk maintenance (PM)
profile that is being managed. What is clear, however, is that
paying attention to and continually optimizing maintenance This strategy is employed by most companies, and almost
strategies, whether at the leaner end of the spectrum or where all small to mid-sized companies make exclusive use of it. It
absolute reliability is more critical, is a valuable and an consists of assets being taken offline, inspected at periodic,
ongoing activity. predetermined intervals, and repaired if necessary. What is
Maintenance and its management must be performed in clear is that to use this as a blanket strategy across an asset
direct line of sight to the business mission and goals. Engi- base, the company must accept that there will be efficiency
neers will often feel the need to perform additional and poten- cost penalties due to the fact that there will be a significant
tially unnecessary maintenance work as it offers additional amount of unnecessary work performed.
assurances that unforeseen issue will not occur. Alterna- The reason it is suboptimal is that all machines behave
tively, essential maintenance may be cut by senior manage- differently and they experience differing rates of degradation
ment to reduce budgetary expenditure. Both scenarios are dependent on the operational activity and attention to asset
unacceptable and could potentially lead to reduced relia- care. The time interval between activities is defined by the
bility, safety related issues, and increased risks to business manufacturer of the asset and incorporated into the operation
performance. It may seem less of an issue to overmain- manuals. This blanket advice will have been defined based
tain, but if in doing so you add new risks, these risks on the historical evidence of earlier issues and is often a
must be taken in to consideration as it may negate any very good starting point, but without refinement, it must by
benefit. definition be imperfect.
For modern businesses with complex asset structures such When applying the principles of reliability-centered
as shipping companies, to perform well, it is now seen that a maintenance (RCM), preventative or time-based/scheduled
“whole-life costing” approach should be taken when consid- maintenance activities (Nowlan and Heap, 1978) are best
ering alternative strategies such that the agreed approach is applied when there is a very clear relationship between
not only the lowest risk but also the most optimal. time or hours in operation and the onset of functional
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe169
4 General
deterioration. For example, the ideal time at which to 3.4 Predictive analytics (PdA)
change an automotive vehicle tire would be to measure
the tread depth routinely and then schedule a change Predictive analytics (PdA) is the natural successor to CBM
when the tread depth was near to the legal limit. However, where the collected data is assessed to identify the likely
there will be a close relationship between mileage and source of future deterioration. That is to say that this branch
tire wear, so for a fleet of vehicles, it could be more cost of asset management seeks to predict where the next failure
effective to align tire changes with mileage readings, will occur based on historical and near real-time data relating
the trade-off to consider being the additional mileage to a large population of assets. PdA can also be used to
covered by the fleet when each tire is changed at the abso- assess the future risks of a specific asset or indeed a large
lute point stipulated by the regulation and the costs to population of assets. Interestingly, it can also be used to
manage such a system; a simple economic through life make predictions about assets that have no historical data.
equation. What separates PdA from CBM, however, is that PdA is not
As PM is a relatively easy strategy to set up and execute, it restricted to CM data, and its ability to learn and grow its
can prove quite attractive an option; however, performing an capability is based on data that initially may seem unrelated
annual review of a schedule’s effectiveness in raising overall such as data supplied in multiple and unstructured formats.
equipment effectiveness (OEE), by reducing the incidence of Simple predictive analytics can be based on conventional
failures, should be undertaken to ensure that PM inefficiency condition monitoring data using statistical data processes
costs do not exceed the benefit. such as regression analysis. This can be used to make very
robust decisions about the rate of deterioration of a known
3.3 Condition-based maintenance (CBM) and in- progress fault mechanism, but real predictive anal-
ysis must be able to identify assets that reveal no current
Condition-based maintenance (CBM) is an approach to evidence of deterioration but, by means of the balance of
machinery health, which seeks to only perform invasive probability based on the available data, are likely to expe-
maintenance when measurable variables associated with the rience deterioration and/or failure within a specified period
deterioration of parts and functional failure have reached of time.
a level or rate of change that indicates that the benefits of
performing maintenance outweigh the risks of continuing
further operation. CBM can only be beneficial where there 3.5 The strategic mix
are measurable indicators or precursors of failure. The cost
to perform CBM over the life of the asset and the degree to For all companies, shipping based or otherwise, the real
which multiple techniques must be employed to fully control maintenance plan is generally a blend of the specific
risks will determine whether CBM is an attractive option. strategies outlined earlier. As no single strategy provides
Typically, monitoring equipment can be permanently an optimal solution, even for those who might consider
linked to a computer-based maintenance management themselves operating on the tightest budgets, the regulatory
system (CMMS) for 24-h online monitoring, or routine data framework demands that certain maintenance tasks are
collections performed by staff or external service providers, performed and documented; therefore, to minimize cost,
which can be uploaded. Results that exhibit higher than there will be additional considerations that will point to a
expected levels or rates of change would then instigate a risk multistranded maintenance strategy.
analysis to determine the benefit of invasive maintenance. Most companies do at this time rely very heavily on the
The results of any inspections and maintenance are also information in the handbook. This will be predominantly
loaded into history and further readings taken to confirm a planned preventative maintenance, and for the best part,
return to normal operation. it will be based on a calendar interval or hours run. For
Typical CM techniques deployed are vibration analysis the largest and most complex assets onboard, this is gener-
(VA), thermographic analysis (TA; ISO/TC 108/SC), lubri- ally an effective means of avoiding heavy losses associated
cant analysis (LA), and ultrasonic analysis (UA). In addition, with inadequate maintenance. The main engine OEMs, for
local data and process variables can be used (Shorten) to instance, have a very close knowledge of the performance
understand a deviation from normal behavior. Engineers have characteristics of their assets own use and can advise the
been deploying this technique, for instance, when comparing responsible person in such a way that the risk of failure
piston pressure curves with the shop and sea trial test data is minimized. That said, this may still not be the most
for large two-stroke engines. Deviations from the expected cost-effective way to operate through life. Recently, many
performance can indicate specific faults and combustion OEMs are developing through life maintenance and service
issues. agreements based on a range of support activities and the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe169
acquisition of condition monitoring data to enable effective asset management and asset health care in such a way as
decision support. to discern correlations between variables which hence hith-
The right mix for any organization will be based on the erto could not be determined. The significant increase in the
business goals. Most, if not all companies, spend a signifi- use of internet based data transfer systems and intelligent
cant amount of time developing their branding, their unique data gathering tools means that the maintenance commu-
position in the market place and their values upon which nity has a significant opportunity to build a knowledge base
the company is founded. In reality, however, the practicing that can be used to further optimize the through life value of
engineering management professional will have his/her aspi- machinery assets. The interconnectedness of these systems
rations for reliability ring fenced by two inflexible tenants: (i) via the World Wide Web and the Industrial Internet of
the existing maintenance budget and (ii) the existing culture Things (IIOT), enables the collection of previously unavail-
of the organization. Often, but not always, there may not be able historical machinery data on which to build a thor-
a maintenance engineering professional at the center of the ough understanding of how machines behave. The ability to
decision-making process; in fact, more often, there will be control and to articulate behavior remotely has significant
a naval architect, accountant, or market savvy individual or benefits for engineers and users alike, for example, control-
committee who holds the power. What this means is that to ling swarms of unmanned drone vessels that protect naval
review and amend the strategic mix for improving mainte- ships or potentially valuable cargo. These devices present
nance has to be done by putting the needs of the business first operational data and failure statistics that can be the pull for
and not necessarily being slaves to engineering excellence in future strategy optimization. They also represent a signif-
areas which are not delivering value. icant threat to asset security as with all automated plant
One way to demonstrate this is to consider overmainte- the stimulus for decision-making must be absolutely corrup-
nance, where assets are subject to more maintenance than tion free. For example, if a vessel was navigating automat-
they need. It is very difficult to determine the exact degree of ically using global positioning satellite (GPS) data, then by
invasive maintenance that is optimal, that is, where and how corrupting the GPS signal, it would be relatively simple to
often the machine is taken out of service and subject to strip navigate the ship remotely to a destination elected not by the
down and nominated parts replaced for new. The ideal time ship but by another party whose interests may be less than
to perform this is at the moment before the machine ceases to honorable.
function. This can be determined, but it is unlikely that such
flexibility to respond would be cost effective, therefore how
much flexibility is a given organization prepared to build in? 3.7 Reliability-centered maintenance (RCM)
RCM, which will be mentioned in more detail shortly,
seeks to identify where loss of function of a machine can Emerging from the realization that equipment failure prob-
be tolerated and when it cannot. It makes it clear that ability is not linear, RCM is an in-depth, highly involved
reliability for the sake of reliability is not good practice. process that seeks to analyze all the possible failure modes
Assets/machines only need to be as reliable as it is necessary for each piece of equipment and customize a maintenance
for them to be within the constraints of the business within strategy for each individual machine. This method has been
which they are operating. This then eludes to the emerging used extensively in the aircraft and other high risk areas
practice of Asset Management (ISO 55000:2013) and Asset such as nuclear power where additional layers of assur-
Health Care where the company seeks only to achieve the ance are mandated due to the potential consequences of any
lowest through life cost for the machine. This then brings failure. However, for many, the process appears too onerous
in non-direct costs such as additional training, spare parts to warrant the investment. This position is hard to resolve
holding and logistics, the cost of functional loss, reputa- because it is almost impossible to determine the return on
tion, repair, redesign, downtime, and so on, depending on investment that will result; however, the process is gener-
the nature of the business. This is in many ways a better ally agreed by all to be a sound one, and thus, it can be
place to start that pure RCM as the extent to which machinery judicially applied based on a risk-based approach, where
management is considered starts form the needs of the busi- only the systems that are adjudged to be most likely to
ness as opposed to a blanket approach to the maintenance benefit from this approach are targeted. This ensures that
tasks based on a prescriptive process. costs are minimized upfront, and the organization can take
small but meaningful steps to eliminate unnecessary main-
3.6 Big data and the Internet of things tenance and increase value. For detailed reading on RCM,
see RCM II by John Mowbray as it is widely regarded as the
The opportunity to assess very large sets of unstructured definitive source for RCM practitioners and interested parties
data from multiple and disparate sources can be applied to alike.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe169
6 General
3.8 RCM in the shipping industry to make good business sense simply to prevent failures that
may never be experienced. This is what insurance is for. What
The general consensus seems to be that RCM is too sophis- he can do, however, is to use the principles of RCM to reduce
ticated a technique to be of practical use when looking the significant business risks while ensuring that stakeholders
across a disparate asset-rich organization like a shipping interests such as port state control and his insurers can be
company. RCM in its perfect form is therefore reserved for shown that he is taking reasonable care to mitigate known
organizations that have already achieved a certain degree of risks, as required under the International Safety Management
maintenance management maturity via established behaviors ISM code Clause 10.3.
around maintenance prevention, inspections, and predictive
maintenance. 10 Maintenance of the Ship and Equipment
It is true that RCM has been shown to be effective
in managing highly valuable assets such as commercial 10.1 The Company should establish procedures to
aircraft. This industry is populated by a relatively similar ensure that the ship is maintained in conformity
asset types from a small number of expert manufacturers with the provisions of the relevant rules and regu-
who have a wealth of reliability knowledge about their assets lations and with any additional requirements that
down to a component level. In fact, so true is this that it is the may be established by the Company.
current strategy, as has been for some years, that all primary 10.2 In meeting these requirements, the Company
systems are maintained on a condition basis. The fact is that should ensure that
routine spare parts exchanges are simply not done unless the 1. inspections are held at appropriate intervals;
performance and condition data indicates that it is necessary. 2. any nonconformity is reported, with its possible
Furthermore, due to the wealth of sensors deployed and cause, if known;
in-flight monitoring that is performed, spares can be called 3. appropriate corrective action is taken; and
off while the aircraft is on the wing and prepared for installa- 4. records of these activities are maintained.
tion as soon as the aircraft is back on the ground. Moreover, 10.3 The Company should identify equipment and
this can often be done during the routine turnaround of technical systems the sudden operational failure
aircraft at the gate. Where the time to install does not allow, of which may result in hazardous situations.
then other aircraft can be redeployed to ensure that scheduled The safety management system should provide
flight plans are not unnecessarily disrupted. for specific measures aimed at promoting the
The case for the deep sea marine industry at the time of reliability of such equipment or systems. These
writing could not be farther from this. Every ship is effec- measures should include the regular testing of
tively a unique asset, and there is a distinct lack of reliability stand-by arrangements and equipment or technical
data in most places apart from the area of primary propul- systems that are not in continuous use.
sion. There are many regulators with subtle differences in 10.4 The inspections mentioned in 10.2 as well as the
focus, and there is no worldwide legislature (though IMO measures referred to in 10.3 should be integrated
and classification have a role that it is not complete). In addi- into the ship’s operational maintenance routine.
tion, many shipping companies do not expect to own/operate
any given ship for long enough to warrant any large-scale Extract from ISM Code
investment that may not provide a return in the time available. What can be done is to use the existing criticality docu-
Asset life may not be from build to scrapping but from acqui- mentation and apply additional business-centered risk judg-
sition to disposal, and where there are a significantly diverse ments. This may result in more items being classed as critical,
number of machinery types and components with little or no
depending on what is defined a critical business risk.
reliability data, RCM is not a commercially attractive propo-
Such an assessment can be performed scientifically or
sition. That said, the essence of what the thought process of
subjectively, as the intention is not to start again but to
RCM involves can be targeted and benefit derived.
Consider the medium sized technical manager. He does not identify ways to improve what we are doing, for example,
own the ship. He may have no historical performance and to improve by assurance, eliminating unnecessary work, and
condition data to hand when we acquire the ship. He has balancing the needs of the OEM, who has written the initial
no long-term investment perspective and thus maintains in maintenance instructions of the ship; in short, to identify
order to meet regulation and avoid failures. He would like those known failure types that are intolerable, tolerable, or of
to invest in condition monitoring because it will provide an no consequence. The only rule being that the consequences
added layer of assurance that there are fewer surprises that of failure must be considered for each ship in the context of
may become costly, but the investment costs do not appear the business within which they are trading.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe169
Safety Environmental Compliance Unplanned Business Impact Maintenance History
100 100 100 75 75

>$5,000,000
Massive Environmental Effect Unplanned / planned
≥ 1 Fatality Vessel Detention > 14 days
Total Loss of Cargo job ratio >5%
Loss of charterer / potential litigation
80 80 80 60 60
$500,000–$5,000,000
Major environmental effect
Permanent / partial Loss of operation 3–14 days Unplanned / planned
partial loss of cargo Condition of class
disability Charterer experiences significant job ratio 4–5%
(>100 Brls / gas release)
operational loss
60 60 60 45 45
$100,000–$500,000
Major injury or health Localised environmental effect Unplanned / planned
Class memo Loss of operation 1–3 days
effect (>1 Brl / gas release) job ratio 3–4%
Charterer experiences minor operational loss
40 40 40 30 30
$100,000
Minor environmental effect SIRE / Port state control Loss of operation 4–24 h Unplanned / planned
Medical treatment case
(<1 Brl / gas release) observation Charterer Experiences Issues without Incurring job ratio 2–3%
Additional Costs
20 20 20 15 15
<$10,000
No environmental effect Unplanned / planned
First aid case No impact Loss of operation up to 4 h
(<1 Brl not released to sea) job ratio <2%
No charterer impact
1 1 1 0.75 0.75
(Reproduced from ISM code. © International Maritime Organization.)
4 IMPLEMENTING CHANGE It makes very good sense to use a universal address system so
that all engines, pumps, compressors, and so on use the same
The maintenance management information must first be held references. This can be a bespoke numbering system as may
within a software-based maintenance management system. be required for alignment with an existing business system,
Paper systems can be used, but as the expectation will be or you may wish to adopt a protocol like the SFI coding
to (TMSA3) perform changes continually as part of a living system as used within a great many of the worlds fleets.
optimization cycle, it is clear that e-systems can be managed Having a coding system has many benefits from a data
more effectively and kept up to date more easily this way. analytic perspective as well as when used proactively to
It does not matter whether maintenance is a part of a larger update a machinery group on mass.
enterprise asset management system such as SAP or whether
it remains stand alone, as long as the core data can be edited 4.2 Defining criticality for a given fleet
easily and vessels updated without delay.
It is of key importance to recognize that without the accep- When we say criticality, we are not referring to the ISM
tance of persons involved at all stages of the maintenance code though it is linked. Criticality in maintenance terms
process, any systemic improvements will be flawed. The is a specific device to allow us to assign different assets to
system has to live and be brought into the culture of mainte- different maintenance strategies. Thus, while much of the
nance. As much attention should be afforded to the manage- content may well be similar from company to company,
ment of change for persons affected, as the elements of the criticality of physical assets needs to be considered in
change themselves, even though change in this regard is not the light of what drives the company that will benefit from
revolution but a simple evolution of the existing and in the its outcome.
main, functioning systems. Thus, it is likely that we need to consider criticality from a
number of perspectives. Safety, environmental, and compli-
4.1 Create the asset register ance are likely to be permanent features of such an anal-
ysis; however, when it comes to the business critical features
If using a proprietary maintenance management system soft- such as reputation and off-hire costs, missed docking, and
ware, the machinery items will be held in an address system. penalties, these may well be very different from say a box
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe169
8 General
ship to a cruise liner to an LNG transporter or a cable-laying non-critical assets and we do not undermaintain critical ones.
vessel. Equally for similar ship type operating in different The process of ranking allows us to create points at which
markets, there may be subtle but meaning fun differences. alternate maintenance strategies will be invoked.
For example, compare a small low budget cruise company In the abovementioned example, we have created four
with a 5* bespoke holiday operator. levels of criticality. Depending on where we set the bound-
The abovementioned example ranks from a number of aries, each strategy will apply. The most critical assets are
perspectives scoring in five groups from 20 to 100 or in the subject to OEM + CBM + hidden failure analysis, followed
case of lower significance from 15 to 75. The ranking works by OEM + CBM and purely CBM, and the last group is
by adding up all the perspective outcomes and ordering run to failure with targeted CM for additional assurances as
the assets accordingly. A further protective device has been necessary.
added for consequences in the first three headings to ensure
that any system scoring 100 in ANY category is automati-
cally considered for high criticality status irrespective of the 4.4 The application of the criticality assessment
low consequence in any other category. to the optimization process
Setting the points at which certain strategies are invoked need

4.3 The assessment of criticality not be a one-time only process as in most cases it will not be
refined from the first attempt, and equipment may also move
The aim of the criticality assessment in the context of mainte- from group to group as criticality changes, that is, when fuel
nance management is to ensure that we do not overmaintain price is high/low.
Critical high Critical medium Medium Low

Equipment is subject to OEM plus to CM CBM applied as CBM and run to failure
OEM maintenance plus without further FMECA appropriate basic CM + watch
added assurances via CM. keeping
FMECA done to find single

point failure modes and
devise mitigating tasks
Condition monitoring review
FMECA for single point Medium Low

failures Review all “check, Review all “check,
clean, general clean, general
maintenance, maintenance,
lubrication, oil change, lubrication, oil change,
overhaul and renew/ overhaul and renew/
replace” jobs – with a replace” jobs – with a
view to extending view to replacing all
frequencies and using jobs and applying CM
CM to drive the task assurances as
necessary
(Source Unknown.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe169
4.5 Defining the strategic mix of maintenance replacement timed in accordance with the original makers’
strategies based on criticality recommendations. This might be based on equipment
running hours or calendar time intervals or indeed based
The main maintenance strategies we can use as stated earlier on a stated number related to the work done such as using
are as follows: metrics such as kilowatts or mileage. This approach being
the primary means by which the company attempts to reduce
1. Run to failure the risks and outcomes associated with in-service failures. It
2. Planned maintenance assumes that the maintenance schedule is fixed and that the
3. Condition base maintenance jobs are correct.
4. Predictive maintenance Therefore, the PMS is a device to perform two main func-
tions: (i) to record the inventory of assets on the ship and (ii)
Condition monitoring techniques can be applied to all of
to schedule when each job needs to be performed. Secondary
these also giving another dimension to the strategic mixture
functions may include, for instance, the identification and
as knowledge of condition/performance can be used to
work management associated with a particular trade skill, to
multiple effect. For example, to improve operational perfor-
inform the spare parts inventory system that certain spares
mance; to add additional layers of assurance that early seeded
will be required, to flag stores purchasing requirements, to
faults are not failures in progress; to inform when the condi-
record the completion of the job, and perhaps to enable some
tion of a specific asset has fallen below a predetermined
periodic reporting to take place, in respect of predefined key
threshold and now indicates that a physical intervention is performance indicators.
required; to inform the maintenance optimization process In reality, however, the value does not come solely from the
that a group of assets have indicated that the current main- registration of assets and scheduling but from the retrospec-
tenance strategy is suboptimal; and of course to feed into a tive analysis of the performance of maintenance to minimize
data analytic tool to develop a predictive indication of when the cost to the business of maintaining the asset. In so much
and where the next failure may occur. as to be useful in determining the profitability of mainte-
nance, its net return.
4.6 Implementation and review With experience, the added value of using software-based
systems is that they offer the user the ability to perform
At some point, physical maintenance will be required. In the significant cross-asset revisions with minimal effort, such
main, it should occur before there has been any unexpected that where new knowledge is acquired it is possible to make
deterioration in operation; however, it is normal in the early edits across the whole fleet with a single line entry or indeed
days of change to occasionally get it wrong, experience some to make a single change at a specific machine level. That
unplanned events, and knowingly overmaintain an asset. If said, it is hypercritical to ensure that the structure and the
we remember that our goal is to meet the reliability needs of terminology used is consistent such that this “slicing and
the business and to raise the reliability of the fleet or asset dicing” of data can be performed. As a result, there are at least
register as a whole, then we should expect to be continually four aspects of PMS operation that should be very carefully
identifying unexpected events, or outliers, then to invoke an assessed as listed in the following sections.
assessment to allow us to understand why it happened and to
define what would be required to protect against it happening 5.1 Mass editing of existing data
again. Then, amending the strategy and alerting the fleet to
the modification of the plan or simply amending an alarm Can the database be updated at the right levels to limit
characteristic. What is clearly critical in an optimizing envi- multiple entries to a minimum. Can the important parts of
ronment is the need to continually revisit, review, and update a job be edited and amended according to say, make, model,
the plan. location, role, service environment, primary functional status
(A or B role for redundant plant)? Can every single piece of
plant be edited separately or by groups according to the needs
5 CONSIDERATIONS FOR of the business?
MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT
SOFTWARE 5.2 Changing job types
Traditionally, the majority of ship owners and operators Can jobs be changed easily? Can they be made multilevel so
have tended to adopt a planned maintenance schedule as to be able to manage by condition but then invoke invasive
(PMS) approach, with equipment overhauls and component jobs when certain conditions are met?
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe169
10 General
5.3 Creation of new jobs immensely valuable intelligence regarding the ability of the
system to meet its stated goal. Therefore, there must be
Can new jobs be created as the combined knowledge a given reason to do so and the personnel must become
improves? Not only for repairs but where equipment intelli- central to the evolution of the “living” world of reliability
gence had revealed that a current job or task may not be the management.
most optimal. It has been said that in certain cases the superintendents
become reluctant advocates of new practices, and this is in
no small way a reflection upon the knife edge that exists
5.4 Control of data entry
between a fully integrated and successful implementation
and a failed one.
With any management data, the tendency for updates to
be performed without control will ultimately corrupt the
systems effectiveness. Therefore, any maintenance manage-
ment system must be kept up to date by a very small number GLOSSARY
of key database operatives who work to a very clear set of
naming procedures and protocols. This is essential as if, for Condition-based Maintenance that is scheduled and
instance, in a fleet of 10 ships all but one use the term auxil- maintenance performed as a direct consequence of
iary engine but one used the description generator engine, (CBM) the intelligence gained from condition
then where a global update is required, it is possible that one monitoring output.
of the engines would not be updated. There may be a valid Condition The acquisition and processing of
need to use localized terminology; however, machinery types monitoring information and data that indicate the
and suchlike must have nomenclature controlled across the (CM) state of a machine over time.
whole asset register. Failure modes An analytical method which is used to
effects determine which failure modes need to
criticality be protected as a result of their
6 HUMAN FACTORS IN MAINTENANCE analysis probability of occurrence and the
STRATEGY (FMECA) severity of their consequences. This
allows resources to be directed where it
The human element within the maintenance function is a will be of greatest value.
very significant one. Whether it being in the consideration of Non-destructive A wide group of analysis techniques used
the ergonomics of each specific task or the potential issues testing to evaluate the properties of a material,
surrounding building the necessary motivation to accurately (NDT) component or system without causing
and routinely record seemingly trivial pieces of data, the damage.
human role should not be underestimated. Predictive A technique that relies upon a broad
The depth and breadth of human interactions in the mainte- analytics source of existing failure data to predict
nance process is large. From its design and process develop- (PdA) when the next likely event will take
ment, through to an individual’s competence in task perfor- place. Mitigations can then be applied
mance and willingness to accept cultural change, all aspects and the risk re-evaluated accordingly.
must be given serious consideration if they are to succeed. It Reliability A specific process used to determine what
is useful to imagine the points at which the human element centred must be done to ensure that physical
interacts with an otherwise “perfect” process, as the oppor- maintenance assets continue to do what its users
tunity for failure. This is not to say that the people involved (RCM) want in its present operating context.
are unskilled; far from it, it is simply that every individual
will exhibit a slightly different response to a given instruc-
tion, and it is our responsibility to ensure that all interactions RELATED ARTICLES
are met with a positive response and a repeatable outcome.
It is therefore of great benefit when modifying maintenance Ship Performance Prediction
practices to fully involve and consult with the maintenance Main Propulsion Arrangement and Power Generation
team at every level and to ensure that the competences, skills, Concepts
and attitudes are fully aligned with the needs of the system. In Lubricant Types and Performance in Marine Propulsion
addition, these valuable human elements can be used to alert Systems
the system controllers to anomalies and outliers and provide Slow-Speed Two-Stroke Engines
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe169
Medium Speed Diesel Engines for Maritime Applications IMO International Safety Management Code (ISM), ISBN:
Lubrication Requirements for Two- and Four-Stroke Marine 9789280115901.
Reciprocating Engines Moubray, J. RCMII, ISBN: 978-0750633581.
Nowlan, F.S. and Heap, H.F. (1978) Reliability Centred Maintenance,
AD-A066579, United Airlines.
Shorten, D. A Guide to Condition Monitoring of Marine Machinery,
REFERENCES ISBN: 9781900839273.
Tanker Management and Self Assessment 3 (TMSA3) A Best Prac-
tice Guide, ISBN: 9781856097383.
Asset Management ISO 55000 series.
Condition Monitoring ISO/TC 108/SC 5 various standards apply.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe169
Introduction to Nondestructive Testing and
Condition Monitoring
Daniel C. Shorten
OPTIMAIN, Bath, UK
is generally a qualitative assessment about the state of the

1 Introduction 1 subject, while CM is a cumulative intelligence gathering
2 A Brief History of Nondestructive Testing and process that lives with the subject and informs operational
Condition Monitoring 1 and reliability-related decisions such as those surrounding
3 A Brief History of Reliability Centered maintenance and component exchange strategies.
Maintenance (RCM) 3 Clearly, there are shared attributes between these two
tenets, but the intended outcomes of the activity are nearly
4 NDT and CM—Compared 4
always very different. While not mutually exclusive, NDT
5 Maintenance Strategies 4 techniques are predominantly focused on component testing
6 Considerations for Maintenance Management for quality control and in-service spot checks, while condi-
Software 5 tion monitoring is almost exclusively focused on in-service
7 The “Internet of Things” and the Data Lead reliability and failure avoidance.
Revolution 6
8 Human Factors in Maintenance Strategy 6
9 Concluding Comments 7 2 A BRIEF HISTORY OF
Glossary 7 NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING AND
Related Articles 7 CONDITION MONITORING
Further Reading 7
Historical references to NDT and CM are rarely found as the
subjects were not described in the modern form until well
into the twentieth century. That said, nondestructive testing
has been carried out for as long as man has existed and been
1 INTRODUCTION
able to control his environment.
Since early tools were manufactured, the visual inspection
Nondestructive testing and condition monitoring have much
method was used to determine which flints were best for
in common but are very different in outlook and context. As
arrow heads, which iron or bronze aged tools were suitable
such, they can be defined from very different perspectives.
to be made into axe heads and swords, and so on;. even later,
On one hand, both NDT and CM use techniques that enable
when blacksmiths were using their hammers to listen to the
better decision making and seek knowledge about condition
“ring” of the metal, a technique that would be refined by bell
without disassembly or destruction. On the other hand, NDT
makers to tune their bells and one that is still being used to
this day. Our human ability to detect subtle differences in
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. our environment has been used to great effect to understand
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe155
condition as our five primary senses are quite sensitive to
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 light, sound, texture, smell and changes in smell, and so
2 General
Figure 1. Egyptian transportation of the statue of Djehutihotep, ca. 1880 BC, clearly showing the application of a fluid at the leading edge
of the sled to facilitate reduced friction. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Colosse-dj%C3%A9houtih%C3%A9tep2.jpg)
on, and thus, they were used for both qualitative checks into three distinct generations spanning from the 1930s
and operational changes. For example where an engineer through the 1980s and up to current times. During the first
senses that the machinery behaviour under his/her control generation of evolution, most machinery was relatively basic
has changed say by a shift in the frequency of the audible and there was not as much focus on downtime. In addi-
tone emanating from a motor, pump, or gearbox. This could tion, because these tools were less complex, repairs were
be described as both NDT and CM. comparatively simple and carried out much faster than fixes
In Egyptian antiquity, we find evidence of the use of fluids taking place in establishments today. In addition, the avail-
to facilitate a reduction in friction when moving large objects able workforce was much less stretched in terms of utiliza-
(Figure 1). It is likely that some basic monitoring of the tion, and as such, downtime did not represent as great a
condition of the sled/floor interface would be necessary to significance to the success of a business.
ensure that the lubricant was applied effectively, as to do it As factories, machinery systems, and assets such as ships
poorly could result in punishment. became more intricate and complicated, companies became
There is anecdotal evidence to show that flour and oil were increasingly dependent on their equipment. This signaled the
used in Roman times to find cracks in marble. This is another beginning of the second generation of equipment monitoring,
technique with early origins that has been significantly devel- from the 1950s to the 1970s. During this time, companies
oped and is still in use today within the field of dye penetrants introduced the notion of a preventive maintenance approach
for crack testing. where activities were performed to ensure greater reliability
The detailed history of NDT and CM could provide and prevent failures. Keeping more detailed records about
sufficient text to warrant its own publication; however, machinery condition via daily logs and noon reports intro-
when viewed from the modern context, NDT and CM have duced a basic concept of condition monitoring at that time
only really come into their own because of the demand although the term itself was not popularized until the 1980s;
for improvements in manufacturing techniques and the thus, efforts to reduce downtime became more important.
exploitation of machines to maximize value and minimize Then, during the third generation that spans from the
unforeseen costs. 1980s until today, equipment reliability became a vital focus
As organizations rely more heavily on a relatively small within any organization that relied on the availability of its
number of technically advanced key machines, equipment machinery and systems. As such, when systems nowadays
condition monitoring has become an increasingly vital way suffer breakdowns and lose function, it can affect the overall
to gather pertinent data to target optimal uptime. However, operation of a facility.
this was not always the case. According to maintenance Lifetime reliability stated that equipment monitoring
resources, the history of condition monitoring can be split currently fulfills a variety of purposes within organizations,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe155
Introduction to Nondestructive Testing and Condition Monitoring 3
including acting to detect changes in machinery condition, as

well as providing opportunities for preventive maintenance. 2%
In addition, managers today utilize these practices to detect A
impending failures and determine ways to mitigate these 11% probability of

4%
breakdowns. However, it is important to note that condition B failure connected to
operating age
monitoring does not by itself prevent failures, as the practice
only detects and predicts them. Managers and employees 5%
C
must act based on to information leveraged from equipment
condition monitoring systems to avoid downtime. 7%
D
14% 89% probability of

3 A BRIEF HISTORY OF RELIABILITY E failure not connected
CENTERED MAINTENANCE (RCM) to operating age
68%
Reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) is a formal method- F
ology that has gained a great reputation as it has allowed
the adopting industries to significantly reduce maintenance Figure 2. When considering the rate of failure versus time, the
clear majority of failures are not age-related, contrary to expectation
activities while improving reliability in a measurable manner. and widely held beliefs. (Source Unknown.)
RCM originated in the airline industry in the 1960s following
a significant period of research to identify the sources of
reliability-related issues. The motivation was clear; if the
industry wanted to grow to become the mass transport standard maintenance programs of the day—required more
industry it envisaged, then it would have to demonstrate high than 4 million labor hours before reaching 20,000 operating
levels of safety, reliability, and airworthiness. RCM and its hours.
derivatives became how to achieve this. In 1974, the US Department of Defense commissioned
By the late 1950s, the cost of maintenance activities in United Airlines to write a report on the processes used in
this industry had become high enough to warrant a special the civil aviation industry for the development of mainte-
investigation into the effectiveness of those activities. nance programs for aircraft. This report, written by Stan
Accordingly, in 1960, a task force was formed consisting of Nowlan and Howard Heap and published in 1978, was enti-
representatives of both the airlines and the FAA to investigate tled Reliability Centered Maintenance and has become the
the capabilities of preventive maintenance. The establish- report on which all subsequent Reliability Centered Mainte-
ment of this task force subsequently led to the development nance approaches have been based. What Nowlan and Heap
of a series of guidelines for airlines and aircraft manufac- found was that many types of failures could not be prevented
turers to use, when establishing maintenance schedules for no matter how intensive the maintenance activities were. In
their aircraft. addition, it was discovered that for many items, the proba-
This led to the 747 Maintenance Steering Group (MSG) bility of failure did not increase with age.
document MSG-1; Handbook: Maintenance Evaluation and The major finding was, contrary to long held beliefs, that
Program Development from the Air Transport Association in a maintenance program based on age will have little, if any,
1968. MSG-1 was used to develop the maintenance program effect on the failure rate (Figure 2).
for the Boeing 747 aircraft, the first maintenance program The basic concept of RCM is that there are items that are
to apply RCM concepts. MSG-2, the next revision, was critical and which lead to very bad and even catastrophic
used to develop the maintenance programs for the Lockheed outcomes, and there are failures which have minimal or
L-1011 and the Douglas DC-10. The success of this program inconsequential effects. There are also many ways that a
is demonstrated by comparing maintenance requirements component can fail and many potential consequences of that
of a DC-8 aircraft, maintained using standard maintenance failure. RCM details via a failure modes effects and criticality
techniques, and the DC-10 aircraft, maintained using MSG-2 analysis (FMECA) in which failures can be avoided by
guidelines. The DC-8 aircraft has 339 items that require asking whether the failure mode can be monitored in such
an overhaul, verses only seven items on a DC-10. Using a way that is economic and timely to allow sufficient time
another example, the original Boeing 747 required 66,000 for the situation to be rectified without unnecessary risk.
labor hours on major structural inspections before a major We do this by performance of condition monitoring, or
heavy inspection at 20,000 operating hours. In comparison, initiating a preventative task, a scheduled part replacement
the DC-8—a smaller and less sophisticated aircraft using or by component/system redesign.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe155
4 General
RCM II by Moubray develops the RCM methodology for cylinder frame, and the upper and navigational decks are
a wider context of industries and is broadly regarded as the within specification; perhaps also that the LT and HT elec-
mother text for the marine industry, although the costs to trical connections are sound via the use of thermal imaging.
perform RCM, in the way that the airlines have, are not Classic NDT.
regarded as acceptable in all but a military context. That In service, machinery may be subject to vibration anal-
said, the principles of RCM can be used and applied to a ysis, oil analysis, thermography, motor current and resistance
subset of critical machinery in a more useful way via an testing, ultrasonic testing, and so on to inform the crew about
RCM-based criticality study and alignment with the latest potential issues that require rectification such as water in oil,
asset management practices such as indicated within the ISO imbalance of motor shafts, or looseness of electrical connec-
55000 series. tions. These would all be considered classic CM techniques;
however, there is cross-over depending on the basic purpose
of the testing and analysis.
4 NDT AND CM—COMPARED Thus, there is a significantly blurred relationship between
NDT and CM as some techniques can be used for both.
Nondestructive testing has both qualitative and quantita- However, beyond a need to satisfy the regulator of seaworthi-
tive aspects. It is both used to ensure material integrity ness, techniques that deliver greater knowledge and insight
during manufacturing as in the case of checking forgings for decision-making, which do not require a system or
and castings for inclusions and metallurgical conformance component to be fundamentally altered by disassembly,
with a known standard and for in-service checks to ensure are not only becoming the norm but also considered to
that the original integrity is being maintained. NDT is a be best practice. Moreover, those companies that devote
method for checking the condition of an asset, machine, more time to looking at how to improve maintenance as
or component. CM is also clearly a condition checking opposed to performing routine calendar-based activities are
activity; however, what tends to differentiate these activi- tending to be considered quite rightly as leaders in their
ties is the tendency for CM activities to be used both as a chosen sectors and often achieve a lower maintenance cost
trending (prognostic) tool and also via the comparison with through life.
other similar systems a statistical (predictive) tool, which is
looking to suggest where the next reliability issue is likely
to fall. 5 MAINTENANCE STRATEGIES
NDT methods are only really concerned with the item in
question, though clearly population performance can be eval- There are several strategies that can be employed in the
uated if enough instances of NDT events can be collected. modern maintenance context.
There are many areas where NDT and CM can be consid-
ered to overlap. The Venn diagram is easy to imagine. NDT 1. Run to failure: This is where no maintenance is
can be performed on literally anything, from concrete to plas- performed and the item can fail, whereupon it is
tics, steel components, CD drives, and so on, where CM is duly replaced. Clearly, it must have minimal impact and
limited to the ability of the technology deployed to confi- be economic to perform.
dently trend emerging failure mode indicators. 2. Preventative tasks: Preventative tasks are deemed
Persons engaged in condition monitoring tend to be preferred when failure cannot be tolerated and failure
primarily focused on the maintenance of asset function or is a result if component deterioration or lack of house-
the extension of asset life. They are targeting and seeking keeping.
to prevent deteriorations from the “as new” condition, this 3. Scheduled discard: Components are subject to sched-
performance capability being a requirement for as long as uled replacement if no preventative task is available and
the business case supports it. replacement is economic and can be performed without
When looking at the roles of NDT and CM for an asset, you issue.
can envisage a scenario where there are several significant 4. Condition-based intervention: Where relevant failure
NDT methods deployed during the manufacturing, build, mode indications can be monitored and other methods
and commission of a ship and then several CM techniques are not possible due to increased risk (safety, cost, loss
deployed in service. In the early phases of operation, NDT of revenue, etc.), condition monitoring can be deployed
may be deployed to confirm that, for instance, crankshafts and maintenance instigated at a point where condition
are metallurgically sound; the deflection and slope angles and risk dictate that it is necessary.
are correct when installing the engine; and the vibrations on 5. Risk-based maintenance: Nominally maintenance
longitudinal and transverse sections of the radar mast, the performed because of an increase in known risk is a
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe155
predictive method. Certain predictive methods used 6 CONSIDERATIONS FOR

historical data to project a deterioration to a point in MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT
the future where failure is likely, and this can be used SOFTWARE
to drive maintenance. However, modern predictive
analytics can be used to look at a population and calcu- Up until very recently, maintenance management often
late the machines likely to experience deterioration. consisted of a simple card index system where all the activ-
This can often be for machines that do not yet exhibit
ities were indexed according to the date and frequency of
any evidence of failing conditions and is currently
task. This meant that every day the latest card would be with-
not widely adopted. However, as the data volume and
drawn and the day’s tasks revealed. This is a maintenance
experience increases such algorithms will be built at the
management system and when built well such a system can
maintenance management software level in the busi-
ness. From this, there will be a natural development to be effective in at least ensuring that you do everything you
link with enterprise asset management systems (EAMs) set out to do.
to inform the business decision-makers in respect of What it is useful for is managing continual change or
strategic decision support. reacting to changes in the operational context like slow
steaming or vessels changing operational status. As a result,
5.1 The strategic mix the use of a more flexible planning system is now considered
essential. In fact, the tanker management self-assessment
For all companies, shipping based or otherwise, the real (TMSA) score card, used by the tanker sector specifically,
maintenance plan is generally a blend of the specific identifies the use of a computer-based maintenance manage-
strategies outlined earlier. As no single strategy provides ment system as a means of achieving a higher score, thus
an optimal solution, even for those who might consider leveraging a better reputation and charter rate for your vessel,
themselves operating on the tightest budgets, the regulatory though it does not go so far as to offer a qualitative assess-
framework demands that certain maintenance tasks are ment of the capability of such a system.
performed and documented; therefore, to minimize cost, Of course, a computer-based scheduling system has a
there will be additional considerations that will point to a significant range of advantages over a manual system in that
multistranded maintenance strategy. you can create many multiple assets by copy/paste. You can
The most effective strategy mix will be different for every assign subsets to machinery types to allow you to search in
company as every company has a different business mix of an endlessly editable manner to extract useful insight from
goals and incentives above being profitable and working for the data.
the benefit of the share or stakeholders. That said, the clear majority of the industry operates
It is true that in the main there are core elements of a significant underutilization of its existing data by not
every maintenance strategy that will prevail, there are adopting an optimizing culture within their maintenance
minimal requirements to meet safety and regulatory needs departments. Take an example of the case of a small fleet of
but what specific business needs should be considered and tankers utilizing a well-known type of pump to move ballast
what environmental aspects must be included in the risk water around, it has the same pump on all its ships but does
matrices?
not know that on two of the ships there is an issue that results
It is likely that companies will have a safety policy
in the pumps having a 33% shorter operational life between
and a quality policy, but very few companies publish
failures. The time between failures for any given pump does
a maintenance policy, yet you could easily conclude
not register with the chief engineer as this is what his/her
that the very assets that a company need to exist do so
only when they are available and functioning; therefore, experience is with normal behavior.
should any company have weaknesses in this area, then By running a simple database extract and producing a
it will feed through to the overall business performance summary report every quarter, the fleet technical manager
outcomes such as being less competitive, less attractive, could look out for ships that present mean time between fail-
getting fewer business opportunities, and experiencing ures for given assets that do not fall statistically within the
lower rates. Therefore, it is becoming a recommended expected range. He/she could then request a more thorough
practice to consider and publish a maintenance policy investigation to establish whether there are specific condi-
that links to the headline business policies and objec- tions aboard the ship with the outlying pump behavior and
tives and allows all strategic maintenance activities to whether they could perform some minor adjustments, say to
be built with a clear line of sight to the overall business the stiffness of a bed plate and bring the asset under control,
objectives. thus extending the life to the expected value.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe155
6 General
Another area where improvements could yield benefit is performance. Many of these data sources will be relevant
in controlling the taxonomy of assets to the extent that for machinery maintenance and reliability planning but
all similar items can be searched consistently. In addition, clearly represent a longer term investment; hence, they
updates and interval extensions can be globally applied will be further enhancements to the performance models
saving hugely and improving the performance of the fleet. offered now.
Maintenance is a living and evolving activity. After basic
primary asset and fuel costs, the next biggest annual expen-
diture for any ship yet is the maintenance budget. Yet, it is
rarely seen as an investment and more often an unwanted cost 8 HUMAN FACTORS IN MAINTENANCE
of doing business. This could not be further from the truth. STRATEGY
Well-managed and implemented maintenance strategies can
be the very factor that differentiates a successful company One thing that must not be overlooked is the role of the
from an unsuccessful one. The diligent use and management human in the maintenance activity. As with all endeavors,
of the maintenance management software, the development where there are human roles within a system model, there are
of a maintenance strategy that links into the overall business opportunities for variations in performance and output. It has
strategy and is layered with meaningful KPIs, and assurance been shown countless times that the majority but not all the
checks will significantly enhance the business performance unexpected outcomes from assets can be traced back to some
of the company. error or omission by those tasked to perform the job. Not all
these issues would necessarily be down to the failings of an
individual but more likely because of a poor culture of main-
7 THE “INTERNET OF THINGS” AND tenance rooted in the poor consideration, many companies
THE DATA LEAD REVOLUTION afford to maintaining their assets. The maxim of the “Right
Job,” done at the “Right Time,” in the “Right Way,” and by
Earlier we talked of the three stages of CM and CBM evolu- the “Right People” is key.
tion. The fourth stage, which is developing at a significant In addition, defining and supporting clear responsibility
rate, is resulting from an exponential rise in the proliferation and roles and delegating the authority to perform those roles
of sensor data capability built-in to new machinery and the and responsibilities without criticism or risk from those
low-cost ability to access to the Internet allowing such data around or above is also critical, especially when the safe and
to be ported and analyzed as required. technically correct way to move forward may incur costs for
This development offers the machine reliability commu- the business. Many significant events such as the challenger
nity the ability to do many things that had hitherto been space explosion and the Piper Alpha disaster, which lead to
unavailable. This capability is especially valuable to the loss of life, were both preventable, and as in the Piper Alpha
marine community as it effectively brings the vessels back case, the scale of the disaster was significantly avoidable, but
to shore in terms of near real-time alert and response decisions were delayed due to commercial pressures to keep
capabilities. producing.
As we move into this new era of machinery management, Thankfully, most maintenance-induced failures can be
we do face the issue of needing accelerated machine learning avoided by understanding how to minimize unnecessary
skills to understand what the data is saying about the parent interventions, training and motivating staff to continually
plant. We face indecision due to having too much informa- strive for improvements, and building a culture where opti-
tion, and this is not a good thing, so we need to work out what mization activities are encouraged and slavish adherence to
are the key data fields relating to reliability. schedules designed without consideration of the actual instal-
What we are seeing is that there is a push toward perfor- lation or its operational context are excluded where possible.
mance management because that yields measurable and The human factors argument is made to highlight that if
immediate return on investment. Therefore, companies things can go wrong they will. In addition, the most likely
are engaging such activities as weather routing, trim opti- cause of error is likely to be human. Therefore, we always
mization, engine operational behavior management and need to ensure we know and understand the role the human
fuel consumption optimization. These activities and many plays in the systems that we are building to optimize the
more are performed by aggregating existing multiple data maintenance and reliability of a given asset. Once to do this,
sources from vessels, shore-based weather stations, global we can afford the necessary time and effort to identify the
positioning satellites, and so on and by devising simple risks and eliminate the sources of the risk and to continually
algorithms to create measurable indicators or measur- review this and to ensure that the risk of issue rooted in the
ands against which to compare and thus optimize ship human element is minimized.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe155
9 CONCLUDING COMMENTS Reliability- Specific process used to determine

centered what must be done to ensure that
The following chapter on Nondestructive Testing and Condi- maintenance physical assets continue to do what
tion Monitoring will give real insight into the breadth and (RCM) its users want in its present operating
depth of the two complimentary subject areas, but no ency- context.
clopedia can be truly complete in this way as the subject itself
is in its relative infancy and undergoing continual evolution. RELATED ARTICLES
Developments in data communications and the changing face
of industry and commerce are having a significant impact Ship Performance Prediction
on the way we trade and on the critical questions we ask Main Propulsion Arrangement and Power Generation
of ourselves when looking to maximize asset efficiency and Concepts
through life costs. Therefore, while there is certainly a lot of Lubricant Types and Performance in Marine Propulsion
information herein, the reader can use this as a launchpad for Systems
further investigation and enlightenment. Slow-Speed Two-Stroke Engines
Medium Speed Diesel Engines for Maritime Applications
Lubrication Requirements for Two- and Four-Stroke Marine
GLOSSARY Reciprocating Engines
Condition-based Maintenance that is scheduled and FURTHER READING

maintenance performed as a direct consequence
(CBM) of the intelligence gained from
A look back at the origins of NDT and BINDT. http://www.bindt.org/
condition monitoring about-us/
output.
Asset Management ISO 55000 series.
Condition Acquisition and processing of
Basic Metallurgy for Non-Destructive Testing. ISBN: 903 132 222.
monitoring information and data that indicate
(CM) the state of a machine over time. Condition Monitoring ISO/TC 108/SC 5 various standards apply.
Failure modes Analytical method that is used to Dowson, D. (1998) History of Tribology, 2nd edn. ISBN: 978-1-
86058-070-3.
effects determine which failure modes need
criticality to be protected as a result of their Maintenance Evaluation and Program Development referred to as
“MSG-1”, Developed in 1968 for the 747 by the Air Transport
analysis probability of occurrence and the Association (ATA) Maintenance Steering Group (MSG). (See also
(FMECA) severity of their consequences. This MSG-2 1970 and MSG-3 1978.)
allows resources to be directed RCMII by Moubray ISBN: 978-0750633581.
where it will be of greatest Reliability Centred Maintenance—AD-A066579 United Airlines F.
value. Stanley Nowlan and Howard F. Heap December 1978.
Nondestructive Wide group of analysis techniques used Tanker Management and Self-Assessment 3 (TMSA3) A Best Prac-
testing (NDT) to evaluate the properties of a tice Guide. ISBN: 9781856097383.
material, component, or system
without causing damage.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe155
Victor Shrira and Sergei Annenkov
Keele University, Keele, UK
no and cannot be a single mathematical model describing

1 Basics. the Euler Equations 1 the dynamics of wave fields in all their complexity although
2 Potential Description–Potential Waves 2 the Navier–Stokes equations provide a comprehensive math-
3 Numerical Approaches 3 ematical framework upon which various models aimed at
describing various specific aspects of wave dynamics can be
4 Linear Waves 3
built. In reality, the processes involved are so complex that
5 Nonlinear Effects 6 only models based on various sets of simplifying assump-
Glossary 10 tions and aimed only at particular aspects of wave motions
Related Articles 10 have a chance to be useful. Here, we focus on the basics
References 11 of the surface wave theory and thus exclude dynamical
coupling between atmosphere and ocean, certain aspects of
wave–wave nonlinear interactions, wave breaking, interac-
tion with irregular, muddy or sandy bottom, or interaction
with the fluid and air turbulence. We also neglect the effects
1 BASICS. THE EULER EQUATIONS due to Coriolis force, the Earth sphericity, density stratifica-
tion, water compressibility and surface films. Even with these
Water waves are disturbances of the free surface of a fluid
approximations, to study the evolution of surface waves, one
generated by wind, moving objects, underwater earthquakes,
has to solve the Navier–Stokes equations for a two-layer
or other factors. They evolve under the action of two primary
fluid with boundary conditions at the free surface interface
restoring forces: gravity and surface tension, these forces act
between the fluids, the position of which is unknown. For
to return a vertically displaced fluid parcel to its equilibrium
cases of practical interest, this problem is far too compli-
state, invariably the parcel overshoots its equilibrium posi-
cated to be solved directly, analytically, or numerically.
tion and then the same forces act in the opposite direction
Fortunately, further radical simplifications capturing many
giving rise to an oscillatory motion. The oscillations of a
aspects of reality can be made. First, except for the study
continuum of such parcels manifest themselves as surface
of wave generation by wind, it is usually not necessary to
waves. The waves are referred to as surface waves not only
invoke dynamical coupling with the air above the waves,
because the water surface gets visibly distorted but primarily
due to the huge difference of water and air densities, and
because the fluid velocities associated with the waves are
thus, waves can be described to a good approximation by
exponentially decaying with the distance from the interface
Navier–Stokes equations for a single-layer fluid, completely
both in the water and in the air above. In nature, the surface
or partially neglecting the atmospheric pressure. In this case,
wave fields involve simultaneously a wide range of temporal
the governing equations are the Euler equations for the
and spatial scales and can be extremely complex; there is
three-component vector u(u, v, w) of the fluid velocity
Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering, online © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Du
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 𝜌 + ∇p − 𝜌gn = 𝜇∇2 u, n = (0, 0, 1) (1a)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe072 Dt
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2
∇ ⋅ u = ux + vy + wz = 0 (1b)
2 General
where the vertical axis z is oriented upward, 𝜌 is the water statement is known as Helmholtz’s theorem), which
density, p the pressure, g the acceleration due to gravity, makes the description self-consistent.
Du∕Dt = 𝜕u∕𝜕t + u𝜕u∕𝜕x + v𝜕u∕𝜕y + w𝜕u∕𝜕z the acceler- 2. The three-component velocity vector u(u, v, w) can be
ation of a fluid parcel, and 𝜇 the fluid dynamic viscosity. expressed in terms of a single scalar function u = ∇𝜙;
In an incompressible fluid, we consider 𝜌 ≈ 1000 kg/m3 is the scalar function 𝜙 is called the velocity potential.
constant and the Euler equations are completed by the conti- Such fluid flows are called potential and the solutions
nuity (or mass conservation) equation (1b). The neglected describing wave motions are referred to as potential
compressibility might be important and even crucial in waves. From the continuity equation, it follows that 𝜙
other contexts, for example, in relation to acoustics of the is a harmonic function, that is, it satisfies the Laplace
ocean. The equations are complemented by the kinematic equation
and dynamic boundary conditions on the moving free surface ∇2 𝜙 = 0 (4)
z = 𝜂(x, y, t)
D𝜂 The Laplace equation is an extensively studied linear
= 0, p|z=𝜂 = pa + ps (2)
Dt differential equation.
3. Because of the two-order difference in the value of
where pa is the atmospheric pressure and ps the pressure
dynamic viscosity in the air and water, the momentum
due surface tension which will specify below. The kinematic
in the air flow is not effectively transferred to the water.
condition states that the elements of the fluid initially at the
This allows as a first approximation to neglect the
surface remain at the surface at all times; the dynamic condi-
transfer and treat the wind-induced wave motions in
tion states that the pressure difference across the air/water
water as potential. The wave motions in natural basins
interface is entirely due to surface tension and vanishes if we
are certainly not irrotational but assuming them to be
neglect the capillary forces. The boundary condition at the
potential leads to a dramatic simplification of their math-
bottom (assumed to be rigid)–“the no slip condition” requires
ematical modeling and, crucially, the predictions based
vanishing of the velocity at the bottom
on such a modeling overall agree well with the available
observations.
u|z=−h(x,y) = 0 (3)
The linearity of the Laplace equation does not allow us to
Usually, the effects of viscosity in a homogeneous fluid are escape completely the difficulties of dealing with the nonlin-
confined to thin boundary layers adjacent to bottom and earity of the equations of motion, since the boundary condi-
the water surface, while the fluid interior can be consid- tions at the free surface z = 𝜂(x, y, t), the position of which
ered inviscid. In nature, these boundary layers are as a rule is unknown, remain nonlinear. Utilizing the potentiality of
turbulent which makes their modeling quite challenging; the motions, the kinematic condition in Equation 2 takes the
often, a crude modeling of their effect is employed using form
the same Navier–Stokes equations with a different, several
orders magnitude larger, value of viscosity, 𝜇eddy . We focus 𝜂t + ∇𝜙 ⋅ 𝜂 ≡ 𝜂t + 𝜙x 𝜂x + 𝜙y 𝜂y = 𝜙z at z = 𝜂(x, y, t) (5)
on the aspects of wave dynamics that can be adequately
described with viscous effects and turbulence neglected. For potential flows, the dynamical condition in Equation 2
can be explicitly expressed in terms of 𝜙, 𝜂
{ }
2 POTENTIAL 1 2 𝜎 ∇𝜂
𝜙t + ∇𝜙 + g𝜂 = ∇ ⋅ √ at z = 𝜂(x, y, t)
DESCRIPTION–POTENTIAL WAVES 2 𝜌 1 + |∇𝜂|2
(6)
The Euler equations with the free boundary are still too where 𝜎 is the surface tension coefficient; its characteristic
difficult to tackle, and further rational simplifications have value is 72.8 × 10−3 N/m at temperature 20∘ C. Condition
to be pursued whenever possible. A dramatic simplification (6) is often referred to as the Bernoulli condition. The free
is achieved by assuming the flow to be irrotational, that is, surface evolves under the action of two restoring forces:
assume the flow vorticity 𝜁 to be zero, where 𝜁 ≡ curl u ≡ gravity, which acts to bring the surface back to undisturbed
∇ × u. The rationale underpinning this assumption is position, and capillarity, which tends to reduce the surface
threefold: curvature. With viscous effects neglected, the condition at
the bottom requires no flow through the boundary
1. An initially irrotational flow of an incompressible
inviscid fluid remains irrotational during evolution (this 𝜙z + ∇𝜙 ⋅ ∇h = 0 at z = −h(x, y) (7)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe072
Potential Wave Theory, Instability of Wave Trains 3
The key property of potential motions is that at any instant domain with a free boundary into a fixed domain of simple
velocity field in the entire domain is determined by the geometry, for example, half-plane or a strip.
position of the boundary and the potential and its normal
derivative at the surface.
With all the simplifications outlined earlier, the problem
4 LINEAR WAVES
still remains quite challenging due to the nonlinearity of
the surface boundary condition, specified at the surface
A further truly radical simplification of the governing
whose position has to be determined as part of the solu-
equations for potential waves is achieved by linearization of
tion. Approximate analytical solutions are available only for
the boundary conditions, which makes the problem linear. In
some strongly idealized situations but provide an invalu-
this approximation, the expansion in powers of nonlinearity
able insight into the wave field evolution. Theoretical studies
is truncated at the leading-order term. Upon linearizaton
aimed at prediction of the evolution of surface waves, as well
about z = 0, the boundary conditions at the surface become
as practical applications, largely depend on combination of
analytical insights and numerical techniques. Crucially, for 𝜕𝜂 }
= w,
potential waves, there is a plethora of effective numerical 𝜕t ( ) at z = 0
𝜕𝜙 𝜎 𝜕2 𝜂 𝜕2 𝜂
techniques we briefly outline in the following section. 𝜕t
+ g𝜂 = 𝜌 𝜕x2
+ 𝜕y2
This step can be partly justified by the observation that

3 NUMERICAL APPROACHES waves in natural basins often have small steepness. The
greatest advantage of the linearization is not in the ease
The numerical head-on treatments of the potential waves of getting particular solutions but in the legitimacy of the
problem are often based on boundary-discretization superposition, any combination of solutions is a solution.
approaches, due to their efficiency and higher resolution. Thus, by combining a complete set of elementary solutions, it
These methods are usually preferred to volume discretiza- is possible to satisfy any given initial conditions and describe
tion methods, due to the reduction in dimension. When a huge diversity of wave motions.
waves are very steep and close to breaking, an approach The most illuminating set of elementary solutions is
capable of simulating fully nonlinear unsteady waves is provided for unbounded water surface by the extra assump-
necessary. Such simulations are usually performed with tion that the bottom is flat. Then, the problem becomes
mixed Eulerian–Lagrangian method, based on a boundary homogeneous in space and admits Fourier transform with
integral equation formulation. This fully nonlinear method respect to horizontal coordinates x = (x, y), the set of
takes advantage of the potential flow properties, since the equations allows Fourier transform with respect to time
time evolution involves only boundary values, and the spatial as well. It is helpful to consider the elementary solution
problem is linear and can be efficiently solved and coupled corresponding to a single Fourier harmonics in detail.
with the temporal one via a boundary integral equation. For a monochromatic wave described by a single Fourier
When the wave steepness is relatively small, a numer- harmonics characterized by wave vector k, the surface
ical method can utilize expansion in powers of nonlinearity, displacement takes the form
so that the evolution of each wave component is linked
to nonlinear interactions up to a certain specified order. 𝜂 = a cos(k ⋅ x − 𝜔t) (8)
Then, the velocity potential can be approximately written
in terms of two free surface variables: the surface elevation
where a is the wave amplitude, 𝜔 = 2𝜋∕T the frequency,
and the surface velocity potential. Then, the kinematic and
and T the wave period. The slope of the waves ak, where
dynamic surface boundary conditions can be reduced to a
k = |k| measures nonlinearity; the use of linear description
pair of coupled evolution equations for the two surface vari-
implies ak ≪ 1. Choose for the sake of certainty the wave
ables. These nonlinear boundary conditions are treated using
propagating in the x direction. Then, the Laplace equation
fast Fourier transform techniques. This approach is usually
and the boundary conditions at z = 0 and z = −h lead to the
referred to as the high-order spectral method (HOSM), and
solution
its efficiency and accuracy have made it popular for simula-
tions of surface waves, including interactions with current, ag(1 + B) cosh k(z + h)
bottom, and submerged bodies. For strictly two-dimensional 𝜙= sin(kx − 𝜔t)
𝜔 cosh kh
flows, there are also specialized approaches utilizing the
theory of analytic functions for complex variables. The most where
popular method is based on conformal mapping of the 𝜔2 = g(1 + B)k tanh kh (9)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe072
4 General
and B(k) = 𝜎k2 ∕(g𝜌) is the Bond number, characterizing the

relative importance of surface tension and gravity restoring a(z)
a(z) a(z) h
forces. These forces are equal at B = 1, which corresponds
to the scale kB = 0.36 ⋅ 10−3 rad/m or, in terms of wave- z
length, 𝜆B = 2𝜋∕kB ≈ 1.7 cm. Equation 9 provides a relation (a) (b) (c)
between wave frequency and wavenumber and is called a
dispersion relation. Lines of constant phase, such as wave Figure 2. Orbital motion, and the dependence of wave amplitude a
crests, move with the phase speed on depth for (a) deep water, (b) intermediate water, and (c) shallow
water.
( )1∕2
g(1 + B)
c = 𝜔∕k = tanh kh
k
behave essentially as ekz . Then
The phase velocity has a single minimum at k ≈ kB , its
ag(1 + B) kz
minimal value in the deep water limit is cmin = (4𝜎g∕𝜌)1∕4 𝜙= e sin(kx − 𝜔t)
𝜔
(Figure 1). The velocity field is
so short waves do not “feel” the presence of the bottom,
𝜕𝜙 ag(1 + B)k cosh k(z + h)
u= = cos(kx − 𝜔t) with exponential attenuation away from the surface. At depth
𝜕x 𝜔 cosh kh equal to half of wavelength (z = −𝜋∕k), the velocities fall
to 4% of their surface values. In deep water, the particle
v = 0, orbits are circular and vanish with depth. In addition, in this
approximation
√
𝜕𝜙 ag(1 + B)k sinh k(z + h) g(1 + B)
w= = sin(kx − 𝜔t) 𝜔 = g(1 + B)k, c =
2
𝜕z 𝜔 cosh kh k
With depth, the velocity field decays away from the Thus, the phase speed c depends on k, that is, waves are
surface, and water particles move along elliptical orbits dispersive: with time a localized initial perturbation of water
that shrink and flatten with depth, becoming horizontal surface spreads, it turns into a long oscillating wave packet,
at the bottom (Figure 2). The amplitude of pressure which is called a wavetrain. The type of dispersion depends
fluctuations also decays with depth, at the bottom on wavenumber range: if waves are short enough, k > kB ,
p(x, −h, t)∕p(x, 0, t) = 1∕ cosh kh. surface tension dominates over gravity and short waves are
If the water is deep, that is, kh ≫ 1, then tanh(kh) ≈ 1 traveling faster than the long ones. Waves shorter than 4 mm
and both cosh k(z + h)∕cosh kh and sinh k(z + h)∕cosh kh can be considered as purely capillary, since gravity effects in
the dispersion relation can be omitted with relative error less
100
than 3%. For wavelengths exceeding approximately 1.7 cm
gravity dominates, the phase speed increases with wave-
length. For wavelength exceeding 7 cm, capillarity effects in
the dispersion relation are negligible (Figure 1).
If waves are long compared to the fluid depth
Capillary waves
10
Gravity- Gravity kh ≪ 1 (shallow water), then tanh(kh) ≈ kh, cosh k(z +
capillary waves
c (m/s)
h)∕cosh kh ≈ 1∕(kh), sinh k(z + h)∕cosh kh ≈ 0, and in

waves
many practical applications, capillarity effects can also be
neglected. Then
1 𝜔 = (gh)1∕2 k
Then, the phase speed c = 𝜔∕k does not depend on

wavenumber, and long waves propagate without dispersion.
0.1 The general solution of the initial problem is an integral
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000
over all Fourier harmonics. For example, the expression for
𝜆 (m)
the surface elevation reads
Figure 1. Phase speed c as a function of wavelength 𝜆, with a ∞ ∞
minimum value 23 cm/s occurring for 𝜆 = 1.7 cm. 𝜂(x, y, t) = Re a(k)e(k⋅x−𝜔(k)t) dk (10)
∫−∞ ∫−∞
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe072
where the Fourier amplitudes a(k) are specified by the initial 4.2 Wave energy and momentum
conditions and 𝜔(k) is the dispersion relation.
Waves have kinetic and potential energy. While the kinetic
energy results from the movement of water particles, the
4.1 Envelopes and group velocity potential energy results from the displacement of the surface
from its equilibrium position (in the case of gravity waves),
An important characteristic of wave propagation is the group or the stretching of the surface against surface tension (for
velocity cg = d𝜔∕dk. If an initial one-dimensional distur- capillary waves). The total energy density per unit area is
bance of the surface is confined to wavenumbers in the
1
neighborhood of certain k0 , then on expanding 𝜔(k) in E= 𝜌g(1 + B)a2 (11)
Equation 10 around k0 in K = k − k0 and assuming 𝜔(k) ≈ 2
𝜔(k0 ) + d𝜔∕dk|k=k0 K, it follows from Equation 10 so the energy of deep and shallow water waves is given by
the same expression. Other important integral characteristics
[ ∞ ] of wave field are wave action
𝜂(x, y, t) = Re a(K)e K[x− d𝜔∕dk|k=k0 t]
dK e(k0 x−𝜔(k0 )t)
∫∞ E
N=
= ReA(x − cg t)e (k0 x−𝜔(k0 )t) 𝜔
and wave momentum
that solution describes wave field with central wavenumber P = kN
and frequency k0 , 𝜔(k0 ) modulated by a slow envelope func-
tion A(x − cg t) given by the integral in the brackets. The 4.3 Slow inhomogeneity: refraction, shoaling,
envelope propagates with the group velocity and diffraction
d𝜔 || When waves propagate in a spatially nonuniform environ-

cg =
dk ||k=k0 ment, often the characteristic spatial scale of inhomogeneity
far exceeds the characteristic wavelength. Then, to leading
This is also the speed at which the wave energy propagates. order in small wavelength parameter, the evolution of a linear
Differentiating Equation 9, wave field can be described in the geometric optics approxi-
mation. In spatially homogeneous environment, wave veloc-
[ ] ities and elevation variables depend on r and t only via a
c 2kh 1 + 3B
cg = + combination 𝜃 = kx − 𝜔t. It is assumed that in a spatially
2 sinh 2kh 1+B
nonuniform environment these variables depend on r and
For deep-water gravity waves, t primarily via a combination 𝜃, while the explicit depen-
dence on r and t is much more slow. The local frequency
( ) and wavevector which are no longer constant are defined as
c 1 g 1∕2
cg = =
2 2 k 𝜕𝜃
𝜔(r, t) = , k = −∇𝜃,
so that a wave group propagates at half the phase speed, and 𝜕t
an observer traveling with it will see wave crests appearing which implies obvious constraints: 𝜕k𝜕t
+ ∇𝜔 = 0, ∇ × k =
at the rear of the group and disappearing at the leading edge. −∇ × ∇𝜃 = 0. The explicit form of the last equation is
For deep-water capillary waves, 𝜕k ∕𝜕y − 𝜕ky ∕𝜕x = 0. The dispersion relation 𝜔(k) =
√x
g(1 + B)|k|tanh|k|h holds locally and at each point r
3c
cg = at every instant t. Then the slow amplitude dependence is
2 found by solving the conservation of wave action equation
( ) { ( )}
and wave crests in a group appear at the front and disappear 𝜕 E E
at the trailing edge. At B = 0.155 (corresponding to wave- + ∇ ⋅ cg =0 (12)
𝜕t 𝜔 𝜔
length 4.4 cm), the group velocity has minimum, so that two
different waves, one dominated by gravity and the other one If the environment is steady, for example, only bathymetry is
by capillarity, may propagate with the same group velocity. varying, then Equation 12 reduces to the energy conservation
For shallow water gravity waves, kh ≪ 1 and cg → 0 as equation
𝜕E
kh → 0. + ∇ ⋅ (cg E) = 0
𝜕t
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe072
6 General
Recall that the above formulae were derived for single 5 NONLINEAR EFFECTS
harmonic component, for a field initially described by many
components, the superposition principle applies and summa- The behavior of all solutions of linearized equations does not
tion/integration should be carried over all the components. depend on the amplitude, all nonlinear effects are amplitude
Consider in more detail gravity wave shoaling, that is, the dependent. For a linearized solution of the wave problem
transformation a gravity wave experiences when entering to be valid, the slope of the waves ak must be small, the
shallower water. Let the bathymetry be one dimensional, wave amplitude must also be small compared to depth, and,
that is, consider h = h(x). For any time-independent inhomo- crucially, the timescales of wave processes we are interested
geneity, the wave period remains constant, that is, 𝜔(k(x)) = in must be relatively short; even waves of small steepness
const. If a wave approaches shallow water at an angle to with time accumulate nonlinear effects. Although in nature
the isobaths, the phase speed will vary along the crest: at the typical wave slope is usually of the order of 10−1 , there
larger depth, the crest will advance faster than in the shallow are many aspects of wave motion where the account of
part. This means that a wave crest will turn to decrease its nonlinearity is necessary. Here, we focus on just a few of the
angle with respect to the isobaths. The equation 𝜕kx ∕𝜕y − most fundamental ones. An accessible but comprehensive
𝜕ky ∕𝜕x = 0 for one-dimensional bathymetry yields gives the review of nonlinear effects for potential water waves can
conservation of the longshore component of wavevector ky = be found in e.g. C.C. Mei, Stiassnie, M., and Yue, D.K.-P.
|k(x)| sin 𝛼(x) = const, where 𝛼 is the angle between the (2005).
wavevector and x axis or the wave crest and the isobaths.
This is an example of wave refraction governed by the Snell’s
5.1 Shape and speed. Stokes wave
law. The dependence of the cross-shore component kx (x) is
specified by the constraint 𝜔(kx , ky ) = const:
The shape and speed of nonlinear waves differ from those of
√ √ √ their linear counterparts. Nonlinear effects for waves of small
𝜔 = g kx (x) + ky tanh kx2 (x) + ky2 h(x)
2 2 and moderate steepness can be studied using a perturbation
expansion in powers of ak. This approach, pioneered by
The relationship becomes very simple Stokes in the mid nineteenth century, when applied to a
√ for the important steady monochromatic wave, leads to the expressions for
case of shallow water, then sin 𝛼(x)∕ h = const. As waves
approach the shore, 𝛼 → 0. The transformation of the ampli- wave frequency 𝜔, surface displacement 𝜂, and velocities in
tude is given by the conservation of energy equation that the form
reduces to 𝜔2 = gk(1 + a2 k2 + · · · ) (13)
cg cos 𝛼E = const
1 3
In the vicinity of the shore in shallow water cg → 𝜂 = a cos 𝜃 + a2 k cos 2𝜃 + a3 k2 cos 3𝜃 · · · (14)
√ 2 8
gh, cos 𝛼 → 1, which determines the wave amplitude
growth with respect to the initial amplitude a0 at depth
h = h0 as √ [ 1
]
a∕a0 = (h∕h0 )−1∕4 u = a gk 1 − a2 k2 ekz cos 𝜃 + · · ·
8
√ [ 1
]
often called the Green’s law. The wave steepness increases w = a gk 1 + a2 k2 ekz sin 𝜃 + · · · (15)
8
until the linearized description ceases to be applicable. The
fully nonlinear theory also predicts a monotonous growth of where 𝜃 = kx − 𝜔t is the wave phase, and water is assumed
shoaling wave amplitude capped by wave breaking. to be deep. Expressions at higher orders quickly become
If a wavetrain encounters an obstacle (e.g., an island), a very cumbersome. The infinite series is slowly converging.
shadow zone behind an obstacle is created, with a large varia- The resulting wave profile differs from the strictly sinu-
tion of amplitude across the shadow zone; wave energy leaks soidal shape of a linear wave by the presence of multiple
into the shadow zone due to diffraction. This phenomenon harmonics of amplitudes decreasing in amplitude with the
occurs irrespective of water depth variations and, in partic- number and phase locked with the phase of the linear wave.
ular, enables wave energy to penetrate into narrowly confined These harmonics are an example of bound waves, each such
harbors. In reality, wave diffraction and refraction, although harmonics in itself is not a solution of the equations of hydro-
being fundamentally different phenomena, often act together, dynamics. Their presence makes the wave crests steeper and
creating complicated patterns of wave amplitude and direc- the troughs more shallow. In contrast to the linear solutions,
tion in coastal zones. which formally have no upper limit, the amplitude of the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe072
Stokes’ wave is bounded from above: the upper limit in terms of the initial distribution leads to a single equation describing
of ak is ≈0.446 or in terms of a∕𝜆 is ≈ 0.07. The maximal the evolution of A, called nonlinear Schrödinger equation,
Stokes wave has a sharp-cornered crest with an angle of ( ) 𝜔 2
120∘ . Even for the highest wave the amplitude of the second 𝜕A 𝜕A 𝜕 A 1
i + cg + 02 2 + 𝜔0 k02 |A2 |A = 0 (16)
harmonics in the elevation series is less than 1∕4. The series 𝜕t 𝜕x 8k0 𝜕x 2
for velocities are less nonlinear, expressions (15) do not
contain second harmonics. The Its solution corresponding to the steady uniform Stokes
√ phase velocity correction Δc wave is A = a0 exp (i𝜔0 k02 a20 t). The uniform wave trains
due to nonlinearity is Δc ≈ gka2 k2 , the higher waves prop-
agate faster but the increase is modest; even for the highest are unstable with respect to sufficiently long perturbations
√
wave, Δc ≈ 10%. with wavenumbers K below the threshold, |K| < 8k02 a0 .
There was a truly massive effort to get as accurate as The most unstable are the perturbations with |K| = 2k02 a0 ,
possible description of the Stokes wave with full account of their growth rate is 𝜔0 k02 a20 ∕2. The instability is called the
nonlinearity in a naive hope that the complete understanding Benjamin–Feir instability in the context of water waves or
of the Stokes wave will provide a basis for computing forces the modulational instability. A physical explanation of the
exerted by incomparably more complex real sea waves on instability due to Lighthill can be gained by considering
ships and structures. For example, often in this context, the a bulge of the envelope in a modulated Stokes wavetrain.
maximal height of the Stokes wave is misinterpreted as the Since the wave velocity increases with amplitude, the crests
maximal possible wave height. Indeed, a steeper wave would near the peak of the bulge are faster than those on either
have particle speed exceeding the phase speed of the wave, side of the peak and, therefore, tend to shorten the waves
and hence, the particles at the crest would leave the crest ahead and lengthen the waves behind. At the same time, the
and fall on the forward face, initiating wave breaking. In linear group velocity is larger for longer waves. Thus, the
reality, wave breaking occurs at much smaller values of rate of energy transport is lower at the front of the bulge
steepness than predicted by this idealized model. Although and lower behind, which results in accumulation of energy
the Stokes expansion converges, this does not imply stability in the bulge and hence the height of the peak increases
of the Stokes solution. In fact, uniform wave trains are further. The nonlinear Schrödinger equation is one of the
unstable to sideband perturbations even at low slopes, so exactly solvable equations, hence it is possible not only to
that the limiting form of steep waves can never be achieved. describe the instability of plane wave trains but to predict
On the other hand, solutions for steady short-crested waves the outcome of its nonlinear evolution. Any localized initial
found by summation of similar series can exhibit consid- pulse eventually evolves into a sequence of wave groups
erably higher steepness and amplitude. However, crucially, with the envelopes in the form
the real sea waves are not steady and even have no special 1
reason to be close to stationary configuration. There are no a A = a0i [√ ]
priori limits on the height of surface elevations of essentially cosh 2a0i k0 (x − cg t + x0i )
unsteady wave motions. To get an insight into the nature of
unsteady motions consider instabilities of steady solution in where amplitudes of the solitary waves a0i , their number
the form of the Stokes wave. The Stokes’ solution proved to and phases x0i are specified by the initial conditions. Note
be unstable with respect to two types of instabilities often that the width of the pulse is inversely proportional to its
referred to as the Benjamin–Feir and crest instabilities. amplitude. If the initial conditions are not localized, a rich
variety of nonlinear envelope patterns emerge.
The results obtained on the basis of the nonlinear
5.2 Benjamin–Feir instability and nonlinear Schrödinger equation have been verified within the
Schrödinger equation framework of the exact Euler equations. The instability
characteristics proved to be well captured quantitatively,
Consider one-dimensional evolution of a weakly nonlinear although there are other classes of instabilities that become
narrowband wave train in deep water. For simplicity, we important at higher wave steepness. At the nonlinear stage
consider one-dimensional propagation and neglect capil- of instability, there are quantitative and qualitative discrep-
larity. It is convenient to characterize the train by its carrier ancies: as a result of evolution, the narrowband assumption
wavenumber and frequency, k0 , 𝜔0 = 𝜔(k0 ) and complex does not hold; the envelope solitary waves are unstable with
amplitude of the envelope A varying on the scales far respect to transverse perturbations. It has long been believed
exceeding the characteristic wavelength and period. A that the nonlinear Schrödinger equation is important in
plethora of asymptotic derivations based on the smallness of explaining the formation of wave groups observed in the
nonlinearity (a0 k0 ≪ 1) and the narrowness of the spectrum ocean and, in particular, waves of anomalous amplitude
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe072
8 General
(rogue waves). It is to a large extent true for wave tanks solutions are quite robust, they are close to the solutions of
(Figure 3), however, it is still unclear to what extent this the Euler equations and work reasonably well beyond the
model applies to the real ocean. One can expect a quali- domain of their applicability, for the highest possible soli-
tative agreement at best and only for a selected classes of tary wave ai ≈ 0.83 h; in contrast to the deep water envelope
situations, the main limitations are that the key assumptions solitary waves, these solitary waves are stable with respect to
of narrowband frequency spectra and very narrow angular transverse perturbations.
distributions are very restrictive.
5.5 Resonant interactions and nonlinear
5.3 Crest instability and breaking evolution of random waves
The most visible manifestation of nonlinear effects for In the linear limit, wave field is made of harmonic compo-
deep water waves is wave breaking. The triggering mech- nents propagating according to their dispersion relation,
anism of breaking is the crest instability. In contrast to and waves of different wavevectors and frequencies do not
the Benjamin–Feir instability, it occurs only for the waves interact by virtue of the principle of linear superposition. In
of sufficiently high steepness locally close to the highest reality, since the governing equations are nonlinear, interac-
wave, it is confined to a very small region near the crest. tions between different waves do occur and lead to the gener-
The instability is very fast and results in quick overturning ation of wavevectors and frequencies not present in the initial
of the crest. It is the nonlinear evolution of wave trains disturbance. For example, as a consequence of quadratic
which creates local conditions favorable for the onset of nonlinearity, a pair of interacting waves with wavevectors,
the crest instability. For a more detailed discussion of the for example, k1 and k2 generates motions with wavevectors
crest instability and especially its links to breaking see, e.g. k3 and frequencies equal to sum and difference of wavevec-
Babanin (2011). tors and frequencies of the original waves,
k3 = k1 ± k2 , 𝜔 3 = 𝜔 1 ± 𝜔2
5.4 Nonlinear waves in shallow water
If k3 and 𝜔3 satisfy the dispersion relation, the interac-
To the leading order in nonlinearity characterized by wave tion is resonant. Then, these waves can interact nonlin-
amplitude scaled with respect to depth, a∕h and shallow- early and exchange energy and momentum, the amplitudes
ness of the water specified by (kh)2 nonlinear evolution of at (k3 , 𝜔3 ) can increase to become of the same order as
waves in shallow water of constant depth is governed by the the original waves. However, for water waves over flat
Korteweg–de Vries (KdV) equation bottom, such resonant triads are only possible for capillary
( ) and gravity-capillary waves and, approximately, for gravity
𝜕𝜂 √ 3𝜂 𝜕𝜂 1 2 √ 𝜕 3 𝜂 waves in shallow water. The motions caused by the quadratic
+ gh 1 + + h gh 3 = 0 (17)
𝜕t 2h 𝜕x 6 𝜕x nonlinearity not satisfying the dispersion relation are called
nonresonant, and the corresponding Fourier components are
The equation is exactly solvable. In contrast to the deep
called bound or forced harmonics. They propagate with a
water waves, the solutions can differ dramatically from the
speed far from that of the free wave with the same wavevector
predictions of the linear theory. The most important class
k3 , and, importantly, their amplitudes remain small. For deep
of solutions are the solitary waves. An arbitrary localized
gravity waves, it can be shown that a triad is always nonres-
initial elevation produces a sequence of localized pulses and a
onant, and only a quartet of waves can become resonant:
dispersive tail of sinusoidal waves; a solitary wave represents
just a lump elevation described by a simple expression k1 ± k2 ± k3 ± k4 = 0
(√ )
3ai x − ct + x0i √ ( a )
𝜂 = ai cos h−2 ,c = gh 1 + i 𝜔 1 ± 𝜔 2 ± 𝜔3 ± 𝜔 4 = 0
4h h 2h
The equations governing the evolution of envelope ampli-
where ai is the amplitude of the solitary wave representing tudes of four interacting wave packets can be integrated
the maximal elevation, x0i is a constant which is referred to in terms of elliptic functions. These quartet interactions
as the phase, both ai and x0i are specified by the initial condi- are responsible for significant energy, wave action, and
tions. Note that the width of the solitary wave is inversely momentum transfers among gravity waves. The resonance
proportional to the square root of√its amplitude, the width does not need to be exact: a small detuning makes little
defined at the level ai ∕2 is 2h3∕2 ∕ ai . These solitary wave difference. However, in nature, we have a continuum of
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe072
(a)
(b)
Figure 3. First laboratory demonstration of the Benjamin–Feir instability. (a) In a 7.6-m deep tank, a wavemaker generates longitudinally
uniform Stokes wave of length 2.3 m. The photograph shows wave train traveling away from the observer located close to the wavemaker.
(b) The same wave train shown 60 m or 28 wavelengths further along the tank; the wave train exhibits pronounced longitudinal modulation.
In this experiment, the instability was triggered by a slight modulation of the wave maker. (Reproduced with permission from Brooke
Benjamin and Feir 1967. ©Cambrdige University Press, 1967.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe072
10 General
wave vectors interacting with each other. Each harmonic GLOSSARY

component is participating in infinite number of such quartet
interactions. The corresponding infinite system of interacting Dispersion The relation between the wavelength or
harmonics of course cannot be integrated analytically. Its relation wavenumber of a wave and its
numerical integration, although technically possible upon frequency.
appropriate discretization, has a limited sense since the initial Hasselmann An equation describing slow nonlinear
conditions cannot be prescribed exactly. Correspondingly, equation spectral evolution of random gravity
the initially small errors would grow after a few hundred surface waves.
periods, and the system largely forgets the details of the Korteweg-de An exactly solvable nonlinear partial
initial conditions. Vries (KdV) differential equation, describing
Waves in the ocean are inherently random and therefore, equation unidirectional evolution of surface
over large times only the models concerned with statistical waves in shallow water.
characteristics of random wave field make sense. The situ- Potential motions Irrotational (vorticity free) fluid motions,
ation is similar to gas kinetics where we cannot trace the which can be described in terms of a
trajectories of individual molecules, and do not need to. single scalar function (potential).
Instead we are interested in macroscopic, that is, ensemble Resonant Interactions between waves which obey
averaged, parameters of gas dynamics. The most widely used interactions certain synchronism conditions and
ensemble averaged statistical characteristics of wave fields can cause significant energy transfer
is the field energy spectrum E(k), which represents energy among wave trains of different
density in the interval [k, k + dk] in the wavevector space. frequencies.
The The instability of a uniform wavetrain of
The equations governing the quartet nonlinear resonant inter-
Benjamin-Feir the Stokes waves in which an initially
actions involving all harmonics of a random wave field can be
instability (the uniform train develops strong
subjected to a rigorous asymptotic procedure exploiting the
modulational spatio-temporal modulation of wave
assumed weakness of nonlinearity to produce a closed inte-
instability) amplitude.
gral equation for n(k) = gE(k)∕𝜔(k) called the Hasselmann
The Euler A set of equations governing generic
or the kinetic equation,
equations inviscid gas or fluid flows in fluid
dynamics.
𝜕n0 The nonlinear A partial differential equation,
= 4𝜋 T 2 [n n (n + n1 ) − n0 n1 (n2 + n3 )] Schrödinger describing the envelope dynamics of a
𝜕t ∫ 0123 2 3 0
equation quasi-monocromatic plane wave
× 𝛿(k0 + k1 − k2 − k3 )𝛿(𝜔0 + 𝜔1 − 𝜔2 − 𝜔3 )dk123 + Sf propagating in a weakly nonlinear
(18) dispersive medium.
The Stokes wave A steady nonlinear potential wave on the
where ni = n(ki ), T0123 is the interaction coefficient for the surface of heavy inviscid fluid of
harmonic components with wavevectors k0 , k1 , k2 , k3 , constant depth.
and Sf is the forcing/dissipation term. This equation Wave-action A partial differential equation stipulating
being complemented by linear terms Sf describing wind equation conservation of a certain integral
quantity-wave action (wave energy
input and dissipation is the basis of all modern wave
divided by wave frequency) for linear
forecasting. Despite the lack of consensus regarding the
waves propagating in a slowly varying
forcing/dissipation term, the forecasts and hindcasts agree
environment.
well with the observations. This shows that the solutions of
this equation are robust and that nonlinear interactions play
the dominant role in shaping the long-term evolution of wave
fields. Although the waves in the ocean are indeed weakly RELATED ARTICLES
nonlinear in average and the integral term in the Hassel-
mann equation is 𝜀6 small, which implies 𝜀−4 timescales of Finite-Depth and Shallow Water Waves
evolution. These slow processes are responsible for the main Inviscid Hydrodynamics
features of observed wave spectra, their shape, and the rate Regular, Irregular Waves and the Wave Spectrum
of frequency downshift. For more details see, e.g. Komen Types of Ocean Surface Waves, Wave Classification
et al. (1994), Janssen .M. (2004). Wind, Wave and Current Modeling and Prediction
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe072
REFERENCES Komen, G.J., Cavaleri, L., Donelan, M., Hasselmann, K.,

Hasselmann, S., and Janssen, P.A.E.M. (1994) Dynamics
and Modelling of Ocean Waves, Cambridge University Press,
Babanin, A.V. (2011) Breaking and Dissipation of Ocean Surface Cambridge.
Waves, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Mei, C.C., Stiassnie, M., and Yue, D.K.-P. (2005) Theory and
Brooke Benjamin, T. and Feir, J.E. (1967) The disintegration of Applications of Ocean Surface Waves, Part 2, World Scientific,
wave trains on deep water Part 1. Theory. J. Fluid Mech., 27 (3), Singapore.
417–430.
Janssen, P.A.E.M. (2004) The Interaction of Ocean Waves and Wind,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe072
Mechanical Testing of Metals
Ramesh Singh1,2,3
1 BritishEngineering Council, London, UK
2 The Welding Institute, Cambridge, UK
3 Gulf Interstate Engineering, Houston, TX, USA
The subject is a combination of several disciplines and

1 Introduction 1 should be approached through the understanding of a mate-
2 Testing of Metals 3 rial’s response to applied forces.
3 List of International Specifications and Codes 11 The strength of material approach uses the strength of the
Acknowledgment 11 material and the theories of elasticity and plasticity where
a metal is considered to be a homogeneous material whose
Glossary 11
mechanical behavior is described on the basis of only a few
material constants. This concept is the basis for the rational
design of structural members.
However, the theories of strength of materials, elasticity,
1 INTRODUCTION and plasticity lose much of their power when the material’s
structure becomes important and it can no longer be consid-
The subject of testing material for its mechanical properties ered a homogeneous medium. This can happen when the
relates to various ways materials may fail. The knowledge metallurgical structure continuously changes with time, as
of mechanical failure modes is also linked with the subject in high temperature behavior of metals or ductile to brittle
known as the strength of materials. The following introduc- transition as happens with BCC structured materials such as
tion is an essential part of the depth of knowledge that helps carbon steel.
understand why certain tests are required and what informa-
tion the results send to the design desk.
The science of the behavior of metals and alloys subjected 1.1 Strength of materials
to applied forces is known as mechanical metallurgy. The
subject deals with the behavior and response of metals to the The strength of material in respect to metallurgy is the body
applied forces. The subject is very diverse and has different of knowledge, dealing with the relation between internal
meaning to different people as they approach the subject forces, deformation, and external loads.
from specific perspectives of their study. In this section, the A member is assumed to be in equilibrium and the
primary concentration shall be on the behavior of metals to equations of static equilibrium are applied to the forces
the applied force, in testing and failure. acting on some part of the body in order to obtain a rela-
tionship between the external forces and the internal forces
resisting their action.
Although metals are made up of an aggregate of crystal
grains having different properties in different directions, the
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. equations of strength apply since the crystal grains are so
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe144
small that the materials on a macroscopic scale are statis-
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 tically homogeneous and isotropic.
2 General
1.2 Elastic and plastic behavior metal strain hardens as it deforms and an increased stress
is required to produce further deformation. At elevated
All solid materials can be deformed when subjected to temperature, metals no longer exhibit strain hardening
external load. Materials go through both the elastic and and can continuously deform at constant stress—creep.
plastic deformation and this behavior of metals affects their • Fracture: Fracture is the separation of a solid body into
formability. two or more parts under the action of stress.
• The recovery of the original dimensions of a deformed Metals fail by fracture in three general ways:
body when the load is removed is called elastic behavior.
• The limiting load beyond which material no longer
• Sudden brittle fracture
behaves elastically is the elastic limit.
• Fatigue fracture or progressive fracture
• A body that is permanently deformed is said to have
• Delayed fracture
undergone plastic deformation.
For most materials that are loaded below the elastic limit, A change from ductile to brittle behavior can occur when
the deformation is proportional to the load in accordance with the temperature is decreased, the rate of loading is increased,
Hooke’s law, which in simple terms says that strain is directly and a notch forms a complex state of stress.
proportional to stress. Most fractures in machine parts are due to fatigue. A
minute crack starts at a localized spot (notch or stress concen-
tration) and gradually spreads over the section until it breaks.
1.3 Ductile versus brittle behavior
There is no visible sign of yielding at the average stresses,
which are often below the tensile strength of the material.
A completely brittle metal would fracture almost at the
Delayed fracture can occur as stress rupture when fracture
elastic limit and a mostly brittle material such as white
is on a statically loaded material at elevated temperature
cast iron would show some measure of plasticity before
over a long period of time. Static loading in the presence of
fracturing.
hydrogen can also cause delayed fracture.
Adequate ductility is an important consideration since it
allows the material to redistribute localized stresses. If local-
ized stresses at notches and other stress concentration points
do not have to be considered, it is possible to design for static 1.5 Fracture
situations on the basis of average stress.
With brittle materials, localized stresses continue to build Fracture is the separation of a solid body into two or more
up when there is no local yielding. Finally, a crack forms parts under the action of stress. The fracture process has two
at one or more points of stress concentration and it spreads components: crack initiation and crack propagation.
rapidly over the section.
Even without a stress concentration, fracture occurs rapidly • Ductile fracture is characterized by appreciable plastic
in a brittle material since the yield stress and tensile strength deformation prior to and during the crack propagation.
are nearly same. In such conditions, the elastic or plastic • Brittle fracture is characterized by a rapid rate of crack
phase is almost nonexistent, and complete failure occurs at propagation with no gross deformation and very little
maximum applied load. microdeformation.
1.4 Failure For steel, the possibility of brittle fracture is increased with
decreasing temperature, increasing strain rate, and triaxial
Structural members fail in three general ways: stress conditions usually produced by a notch.
Different terms are used to characterize fractures:
• Excessive elastic deformation: Failure in this mode due
to excessive elastic deformation is controlled by the Behavior Described Terms Used
modulus of elasticity rather than the strength of the
material. Crystallographic mode Shear, cleavage
• Yielding or excessive plastic deformation: Failure in this Appearance Fibrous, granular
mode occurs when the elastic limit is exceeded. Yielding Strain to fracture Ductile, brittle
rarely results in fracture of a ductile metal since the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe144
Mechanical Testing of Metals 3
1.6 Fracture control 1.7 Crack growth and fracture
Fracture control is a combination of measures to prevent Crack growth occurs slowly during normal service loading.
fracture due to cracks during operation. It includes damage Fracture is the final event and often takes place very rapidly.
tolerance analysis, material selection, design improvement, Crack growth takes place by one of the following five
and maintenance and inspection schedules. mechanisms:
Damage tolerance analysis has two objectives:
• Fatigue, due to cyclic loading
• Stress corrosion due to sustained loading
• To determine the effect of cracks on strength. • Creep
• To determine the crack growth as a function of time. • Hydrogen induced cracking
• Liquid metal induced cracking
Crack size is denoted as a length, and strength is expressed
in terms of the load, P, that the structure can carry before Even at very low loads, there is still plastic deformation at
fracture occurs. the crack tip because of the high stress concentration.
A new structure with no defects (a = 0) will have a strength Crack growth by stress corrosion is a slow process in which
Pu (the ultimate design strength or load). If the maximum the crack extends due to corrosive action (often along grain
boundaries) facilitated by atomic disarray at the crack tip.
anticipated service load is Ps , a safety factor (j) is applied so
Fracture can only occur by one of two mechanisms;
that the structure can actually sustain a load jPs .
cleavage or rupture. Cleavage is the splitting apart of atomic
If cracks are present, the strength is less than Pu . This
planes. There is lack of ductility, and the fracture is brittle.
remaining strength is called the residual strength Pres and
Each grain has a preferred plane and the resultant fracture is
if this is plotted, the diagram is called a residual strength
faceted.
diagram.
Ductile rupture occurs around particles and inclusions,
With a crack of size a, the residual strength is Pres and a
which are always, present in a metal or alloy. First, the large
load greater than Pres will initiate a crack leading to fracture.
particles let loose or break away from the bonding, resulting
The fracture process may be slow and stable at first and
in widely spaced holes close to the crack tip.
the structure can hang together. Eventually, the fracture Eventually, voids are formed at many locations and these
becomes unstable—crack growth—and the structure breaks. voids in due course of time join up to form a fracture. The
The process of stable to unstable fracture may occur in a few resultant fracture surface looks dull in appearance.
seconds. Both cleavage and rupture are fast processes. Cleavage
At loads below Pres , the crack will continue to grow by fractures can travel as fast as 1 mile/s and dimple ruptures
means other than fracture such as fatigue, stress corrosion, as fast as 1500 ft/s.
or creep. Having introduced the materials behavior and basic failure
As crack growth continues, the crack becomes longer, modes, we can move to discuss various mechanical tests that
the residual strength lesser, the safety factor lower, and the establish the properties of materials in various loadings.
probability of fracture higher.
The crack must not be allowed to grow so large that fracture
occurs at the service load or even at Pa . The maximum 2 TESTING OF METALS
permissible crack size follows in terms of the calculated
From the above discussion, it is obvious that several modes
residual strength and the prescribed minimum permissible
of failures can occur, and to address them, various types of
strength Pp .
mechanical testing must be conducted.
If plotted, the residual strength diagram differs for different
Some of these tests are very common and used to determine
components of the structure and for different crack locations.
basic properties of material, while some others are very
A critical crack is one that will cause fracture in service.
specific and are used to determine materials behavior in
The tolerable crack size that will not allow fracture at the
specific conditions and for specific purpose.
design load is established for specific designs.
Crack growth curves are used to determine when a crack 2.1 Tensile test
might reach a critical point. At some crack size, the crack
grows in time and using the crack growth curve allows one The tensile test is used to establish operational load limits
to predict when that critical point (size of crack) would be for metals and alloys. A sample of the material is prepared so
reached. that a force can be applied along its axis. Sometimes a central
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe144
4 General
portion of the specifically machined sample is reduced so that

it will experience the highest stresses.
The tensile test measures the ability of a material to support
a stress (force per unit area).
The response of a tensile sample to the application of an
increasing stress can be described in terms of elastic and
plastic behavior.
Initially, the sample undergoes elastic elongation as it is
pulled. As increasing stress is applied, the sample undergoes
permanent deformation that is plastic strain.
A stress–strain curve is used to determine the point at
which the reversible elastic strain is exceeded and permanent
or plastic deformation occurs.
Yield strength is the stress necessary to cause significant
plastic deformation for engineering applications. Some engi-
neering materials will have clear yield point, however, yield Figure 2. Typical tensile test machine.
strength of higher strength steels will usually be defined by
0.2% offset strain parallel to the modulus line, or in some Young’s modulus or the modulus of elasticity is the
cases, the yield strength is determined by 0.5% strain basis relationship between stress and strain represented by the
(often reported as Rt0.5 Yield Strength). A typical stress and straight-line portion of the stress–strain curve. It reflects the
strain diagram indicating all points is shown in Figure 1. tendency of a material to deflect under a given applied stress.
100 Modulus line
90 Necking starts
UTS extenso meter is removed.
82,353
80
73,890
70
Stress (σ) psi×1000
Rt 0.5
60 Strain hardening
50
ty
40
ali
ion
or t
law
30
rop
′s
fp
ok
20
it o
Ho
Lim
10
5
0.005
0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.010 0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018
Strain (ε) in/in
Figure 1. Typical stress and strain graph.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe144
Figure 3. Typical stress and strain chart. (Reproduced with permission from Ramesh Singh. © Ramesh Singh, 2016.)
Once yielding has begun, there is significant motion of materials are valued for their compression strength, which
dislocations within the metal grains. Grain boundaries, phase is an application of forces opposite to tension direction. In
boundaries, and other dislocations hinder their movement. engineering calculations, the compression forces are shown
As more obstacles are encountered, the stress necessary to as negative (to tension forces) applied forces on a body.
cause continued dislocation movement becomes greater. This The compression tests are conducted on similar machines
phase is referred as strain hardening. as tensile tests and as expected, the force applied is in
The maximum stress that the material can withstand before compression direction, mostly, there is no yield in the mate-
breaking is the ultimate tensile strength. rial; a facture value of the applied force is obtained and
Reduction of area and percent elongation represent the duc- reported as compressive strength of the material.
tile phase of metal, these can be calculated from the broken Typical tensile test applications include standard test for
sample. They are both indicators of a material’s ductility. weld and parent material and also some specific application
A typical tensile testing machine is shown in Figure 2. test such as slow strain rate test shown in Figure 4. In these
The simplest of the tensile testing machine has a hydraulic tests, the main objective is to determine the properties of
operated unit with two clamps in which the test specimen the material in axial loading causing tension. The variations
is fixed between two jaws. The upper clamp and lower are essentially caused to study the properties in various
clamp pull apart stressing the test specimen. The rate of the conditions. The duplex steel test specimen shown in Figure 3
pulling is predetermined. The tensile force thus applied is is tested under slow strain and in sour (H2 S) environment.
indicated on the graduated dial. The test data is recorded
either manually in very old systems or through an attached
computer that calculates the total load to unit area and plots 2.2 Hardness test
on a graph. A typical test chart is shown in Figure 3.
Some engineering materials such as most grades of cast Hardness is defined as the resistance to plastic deformation
iron and cement have no significant tensile properties. These by indentation.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe144
6 General
Rockwell C Brinell 10 mm tungsten Vickers diamond

scale (150 kgf) carbide ball (3000 kgf) pyramid (10 kgf)
67 Not in scale 900
66 Not in scale 865
65 739 832
64 722 800
63 705 772
62 688 746
61 670 720
60 654 697
59 634 674
58 615 653
57 595 633
56 577 613
55 560 595
54 534 577
53 525 560
52 512 544
51 496 528
50 481 513
Figure 4. Typical slow strain rate (tensile) test specimen. (Repro- 49 469 498
duced with permission from Ramesh Singh. © Ramesh Singh, 48 455 484
2016.) 47 443 471
46 432 458
45 421 446
Brinell, Rockwell, and Vickers or Knoop are most common
44 409 434
indentation hardness test methods. The depth or width of the
43 400 423
impression left by the indentation is measured to indicate
42 390 412
hardness.
41 381 402
The Brinell test presses a very hard ball into the surface
40 371 392
under a standard load. Since a large impression is made, it is
39 362 382
suitable only for large sample and surface areas.
38 353 372
The Rockwell test forces a cone or sphere into the surface
37 344 363
under a standard load. Different indenters and different scales
36 336 354
are used for different hardness ranges.
35 327 345
Knoop and Vickers tests are called microhardness tests
34 319 336
because of the very small indentation size they make to
33 311 327
measure the hardness. They are used to measure hardness
32 301 318
on small samples and in small specific areas such as the
31 294 310
heat-affected zone (HOZ) of a weld.
30 286 302
Some portable hardness testing equipment is also available
29 279 294
with limitations. Rebound hardness tests measure the height
28 271 286
to which a ball rebounds after being dropped on the surface.
27 264 279
Equotip is a commercial portable rebound tester.
26 258 272
As sated above, for measuring hardness of metals, various
25 253 266
methods are used and they have different units, also called
24 247 260
scales, often attempts are made to convert reading from one
23 243 254
scale to another. Such conversion is not an accurate but is
22 237 248
used to establish a tool of approximate comparison. A typical
21 231 243
table is given below to indicate one of such comparisons
20 226 238
(Figure 5).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe144
Scale
Starting position
End of
Figure 5. Microhardness specimen. (Reproduced with permission swing Hammer
from Ramesh Singh. © Ramesh Singh, 2016.)
Specimen
Anvil
2.3 Impact test
This test measures the ability of a material to absorb energy

during sudden loading in order to evaluate its tendency to Figure 6. Typical impact test machine and a V-notch specimen
brittle fracture. with graphical showing of impact point and direction.
A heavy mass is positioned as a pendulum and allowed to
strike the sample upon release. The difference between the
potential energy of the mass before and after impact (i.e.,
the energy absorbed by the impact and fracture) is calculated
and is called the impact energy an indicator of materials’
toughness. Figure 6 depicts an impact tests machine where
a Charpy V-notch specimen is shown indicating the point of
impact.
Charpy and Izod samples are used. Both are notched so
that breaking will occur in the controlled area. A Charpy
impact test is used to determine the transition temperature
of behavior of low and medium strength steels. These tests
are not particularly suitable for testing high strength steels,
for example, aluminum and titanium.
In BCC material like steel, the impact energy is reduced as
temperature is lowered. A series of tests is done at progres-
sively lower temperatures to determine the temperature at
which the fracture mode changes from ductile to brittle. Such
point on the chart is called transition temperature, as it relates Figure 7. Typical broken Charpy V-notch impact test specimen
to the change in the ductility of material. ready for evaluation. (Reproduced with permission from Ramesh
Broken Charpy test specimens are evaluated for type of Singh. © Ramesh Singh, 2016.)
fracture and percentage shear to determine the material
ductility and toughness properties at given test temperature.
Figure 7 shows a set of such broken specimen ready for eval- break the artificially notched specimen. In essence, these are
uation. larger versions of Charpy notch impact test except that the
specimens are larger and thicker and often used to deter-
2.4 Dynamic tear test (DTT) mine the fracture behavior of thicker sections, especially of
high strength steel and materials such as aluminum and tita-
Dynamic tear tests (DTTs) and also the drop weight tear nium. The ability of dynamic testing is to provide the high
tests (DWTTs) use kinetic energy of a falling weight to level of energy absorbed in breaking these specimens and
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe144
8 General
Figure 8. CTOD specimen removal location on pipe.
the larger fracture surface examination and plastic deforma-

tion makes it a more useful test. DWTT is a very common Figure 9. Clip gauge attached to the CTOD test sample to measure
test specified special to procure pipe and plate materials used the strain. (Reproduced with permission from Ramesh Singh. ©
in the offshore structural construction. This test provides Ramesh Singh, 2016.)
data on nil ductility temperature (NDT) of the material
being tested. The data helps us understand the transition
of plastic flow at microscale of fibrous fracture and micro as linear elastic; the primary fracture parameter is crack
void-coalescence versus the fracture associated with brittle tip density factor K, which is originally defined by Irwin.
fracture by cleavage. A set of DWTT results is used to The nonlinear parameters that are often used in toughness
develop a low ductility transition curve for the given steel. testing are the J-integral and crack tip opening displacement
(CTOD) identified as 𝛿.
Various types of data can be gathered from this test:
2.5 Fracture toughness test (CTOD)
• 𝛿 c , critical CTOD at the onset of brittle crack extension
Fracture toughness is the resistance to the propagation of when Δa is less than 0.2 mm.
crack. The property is tested through a set of specimen • 𝛿 i , CTOD at the initiation of crack.
prepared to a given specification, and submerged in liquid • 𝛿 m , value of CTOD at the first attainment of a maximum
to bring the specimen to the specified temperature. This test force plateau for fully plastic behavior.
is often used to determine the fracture toughness properties • 𝛿 u value is the critical CTOD at the onset of crack exten-
of steel and welds for fitness for purpose design applications; sion or pop-in when event is preceded by a stable crack
however, the use of the test is not limited to testing for welds. extension often denoted as Δa.
A specimen of length equal to twice the thickness (B × 2B)
is used where the notch and precrack tip-line is oriented A minimum acceptable CTOD value is determined and
toward the thickness of the material. Upon loading the “pop the data collected of the CTOD test is used for engineering
in cracking” is considered the controlling event if any load evaluation and to establish the flaw acceptance criteria for
drop occurs (Figure 8). fatigue-sensitive metals and welds.
A typical specimen in test is shown in Figure 9. The clip
gauge attached is to record the crack extension. 2.6 Creep test
The fracture occurrence could be either stable or unstable;
unstable propagation is often associated with brittle fracture. Creep is time-dependent plastic deformation that occurs at
The stable fracture associated with ductile fracture is an stresses below the yield strength of the material, and in steel,
ongoing process. This fracture process is described by a this property is normally of significance only at elevated
crack growth resistance curve (R-curve), plotted as fracture temperatures.
parameter versus ductile crack propagation parameter (Δa). The test involves a test specimen similar to the round
The deformation process is linear elastic or nonlinear, and tensile bar in much smaller in size that is loaded in tension
the deformation that the test specimen undergoes during the below its yield strength and when heated will elongate with
toughness measurement process is not affected by either the time. The creep strain (or elongation) against the time is
stable or unstable fracture occurrence. All loading begins plotted to generate a creep curve.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe144
If time-to-failure is the parameter of interest, the test is

called a stress rupture test.
2.7 Fatigue stress test
Failure under repeated loads is called fatigue failure. Typi-

cally, fatigue cracks initiate at some defect in the part and
propagate through it as a result of the cyclic stress. Impor-
tance of fatigue testing is associated with the life of the
designed structure. The fatigue properties determine the
fabrication finish and tolerances and the ultimate life of the
structure. This is done through testing and analysis of mate-
rial or weld or both for fatigue behavior assessment.
2.7.1 Method
Fatigue test and its analysis are based on stress and number
of fatigue cycles (S-N data). This data is obtained through
testing for fatigue with consideration of linear damage
hypothesis and also fracture mechanics. For calculations
Figure 10. Test specimen is loaded and ready for testing. (Picture
based on fracture mechanics, it is determined that there courtesy of Stress Engineering Services, Inc. Houston, TX.)
is sufficient time interval between time of crack initiation
during the service and the time of unstable fracture.
All significant stress ranges, which contribute to fatigue tests of parent metal, transverse weld, and weld metal, tests
damage, are determined and considered. In this method, such as nick-break and bend tests are common.
long-term distribution of stress ranges is also identified and
their dynamic effects are also considered as contributing
to failure. Thus, the fatigue analysis may be based on an 2.9 Nick-break test
expected stress history through number of cycles at each
stress range level during the predicted life span. The nick-break test is designed to evaluate the quality of weld
For offshore structures, the fatigue strength assessment is in terms of inclusions and porosity left in the weld. This test
normally associated with high cycle fatigue loading, which is targets a random location of the weld for destructive testing.
normally ≥10,000 cycles. Less than 10,000 cycles is termed Although this randomness of selection is based on some
as low cycle fatigue. field welding experience, its effectiveness in determining the
Iron-based alloys exhibit a fatigue or endurance limit—a quality of weld is very limited at best, especially with the
stress below which the part can theoretically be cycled use of more sensitive nondestructive test of entire weld. This
infinitely without failure. test is specifically used for welders’ qualification test and
Fatigue in weld is an important part of the study in deter- specified in some specifications.
mining the performance and life of a structural member.
Figure 10 shows a typical riser weld specimen loaded for 2.10 Bend test
fatigue testing. They are conducted to a specific frequency
and to a predetermined minimum duration or to the failure. While the ductility of weld can also be gauged from the
The sinusoidal vibration frequencies are recorded as shown tensile test results, through several ways including the elon-
in Figure 11. gation of the tests specimen, fracture type, and relationship
A typical crack is seen as fatigue failure in Figure 12. between the reported yield strength and the ultimate tensile
strength, the bend test is little more generic in its objective,
2.8 Other specific mechanical tests since it is aimed to evaluate the ductility of weld and HAZ of
the weld.
Apart from the abovedescribed tests, there are several other The test specimens are cut to include weld that is bent over
mechanical tests that are conducted for specific purposes. For a specific size of former. This stresses a specific side of the
testing the basic properties of welds in addition to the tensile weld. The test is designed to see if there is required ductility
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe144
10 General
Figure 11. Resonant fatigue test data acquisition. (Picture courtesy of Stress Engineering Services, Inc. Houston, TX.)
or the cap side (called face bend) of the weld. Both tests are
able to stress the toe of the welds.
The test specimens for weld on thicker sections are drawn
from a profile that would stress the side of the weld. These
side-bend specimens stress all areas, the root, face side, and
toe of welds, and additionally can give little more infor-
mation about the middle section of the weld that includes
information about the interpass fusion and weld to parent
metal interfaces.
Figure 13 shows a sample of side-bend tests specimen after
bending. The figure also shows two transverse weld tensile
specimens after testing.
On the side are two transverse weld tensile test specimens.
Note the necking prior to breaking at the ultimate tensile
stress.
Figure 12. A crack occurred during the fatigue stress testing.
(Picture courtesy of Stress Engineering Services, Inc. Houston TX.)
2.11 Specifications
All the tests described in this introductory section are speci-

in the weld, HAZ, and interface of weld to parent metal. The fied by various local and international specification and code
test can be targeted to stress either the root side of the weld books. Some of these published documents have given very
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe144
3.2 Det Norske Veritas (DNV)
Recommended DNV-RP C 203 Fatigue design of

practice offshore steel
structures
Recommended DNV-RP-F108 Fracture control for
practice pipeline
installation
Methods introducing
cyclic plastic strain
Offshore DNV-OS-F101 Submarine pipeline
standards systems
3.3 BS EN ISO
BS/EN 7448. Part 1, Fracture mechanic toughness tests;

Method for Determination of KIC, Critical CTOD and
Critical J values of metallic Materials.
BS/EN 7448 (ISO 15653). Part 2, Fracture mechanic tough-
Figure 13. Eight, side-bend specimen; note the weld in the middle ness tests; Method for Determination of KIC, Critical
of the curve. (Reproduced with permission from Ramesh Singh. © CTOD and Critical J values of Welds in metallic Materials.
Ramesh Singh, 2016.)
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
specific requirements and directions for associated matters
such as size and type of specimen to choose for testing, This section is adapted from the Chapter 11 of Applied
methods of testing, and analysis. Welding Engineering: Process, Codes and Standards;
This introduction has not attempted to include or reference Author: Ramesh Singh. Publishers Butterworth-Heinemann
them to keep the discussion to an generic level. However, of Elsevier ISBN: 978-0-12-391916-8.
a list of most commonly used specifications is included for
reference and for those who wants to know any specific
details of the requirements. GLOSSARY
Brittleness Material’s ability to resist deformation

3 LIST OF INTERNATIONAL and break under load.
SPECIFICATIONS AND CODES Ductility Material’s ability to deform under stress
load.
3.1 American Society for Testing Materials Fracture Is the separation of solid body into two
(ASTM) or more parts under stress.
Plasticity Permanent deformation of solid body
under stress.
ASTM A-370 Standard test method and definition for Tensile Materials ability to withstand under
mechanical testing of steel products tensile loading.
ASTM E 23 Standard test method for notched bar
impact testing of metallic materials
ASTM E 384 Standard test method for Knoop and
Vickers hardness of materials
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe144
Materials for Arctic Environments
Ramesh Singh1,2,3
1 BritishEngineering Council, London, UK
2
The Welding Institute, Cambridge, UK
3 Gulf Interstate Engineering, Houston, TX, USA
In cold conditions, this concern becomes more prominent

1 Introduction 1 due to the extreme challenges of the weather, which affects
2 Material Properties in Low Temperature the performance of both men and material. It is the perfor-
Environment 2 mance of material that is of the focus for this section.
3 Ductility 3 For cold environment conditions, the pipelines and facil-
4 Toughness 3 ities with few exceptions, the material including line pipe,
are required to meet the same industry specifications as
5 Toughness and Loss of Toughness in Low Temperature
Environment 3 normal pipe. The key difference, however, is the demand
on their ability to perform in the cold environment. To
6 Metal Strength at Low Temperature 4
fulfill this demand, the material is required to go through
7 Selecting Material from Specification and Code additional tests and additional quality norms are imposed to
Books 5 meet the challenges of the harsh environment and serious
8 The Metallurgical Considerations for Line Pipe consequences of failures.
Steel 6 In any project, a variety of materials are used, which
9 Ordering a Line Pipe 9 include line pipe, valves, induction bends, fittings, various
10 Pipes from Other Specifications 9 forgings such as flanges, weldolets, anchor forgings, gaskets,
11 Fittings and Forgings 9 and buckle arresters. These materials are subject to signifi-
12 Valves 14 cant mechanical and environmental challenges, in the service
Acknowledgments 18 conditions. These anticipated conditions are imposed during
design phases and the subsequent testing during selection
Further Reading 18
testing and construction stages. These conditions develop
stresses that limit materials’ performance. Some of these
tests are described in the mechanical testing methods (see
Mechanical Testing Methods).
1 INTRODUCTION In this section, we will introduce the materials that are
suitable for use in an arctic environment, their inherent prop-
The challenge of design and construction in any condition is
erties, and how they are affected by the cold environment in
mostly concentrated around the safety of men and material.
which they are used.
The process of selecting material for a pipeline in any
environment has two clear paths; these paths are not mutu-
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ally exclusive but are considered rather simultaneously;
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe152
often an engineering compromise is made in balancing the
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 two objectives:
2 General
• The type and shape of parts. The exposure implies the conditions that the system will
• The physical and mechanical properties of the material encounter in order to enable it to function for optimum
these parts are made from. results.
The mechanical properties of the material would consist
In the larger scale of the picture, a project would have pipe, of tensile strength, yield strength, ductility, and toughness
valves, and pumps for liquid transportation and compressors as determined by impact tests and supporting tests such as
for gas transportation, flanges, fittings, and fabricated equip- hardness and microstructure evaluation. In case the material
ment such as vessels, tanks, boilers, and heat exchangers. is subject to cyclic stress, additional toughness tests, and
Some of these parts may be made of fiber-glass-reinforced determination of K, critical crack tip-opening displacement
plastics, plastics, and nonferrous materials but predomi- (CTOD), and critical J values of material and weld may also
nantly various grades and class of steel is used. These general be specified. These values are the driving force and material
material types may have different composition and may resistance to fracture; the K is stress based and CTOD is
be produced by different production processes. The steel, strain based and J is the energy.
which constitutes the bulk of material used, is available in All these material properties acquire significantly more
various grades, classes, and types. The selection is from importance in an environment that is low in temperature and
various grades of steel, which are produced in different ways. are further complicated if the service fluids are also more
The production process of each grade or group of material corrosive.
varies significantly to produce various desired properties. For
example, pipe in most cases is produced by rolled plates
welded to make welded pipes or may be drawn and extruded 2 MATERIAL PROPERTIES IN LOW
out of steel stock to produce seamless pipes. TEMPERATURE ENVIRONMENT
A valves-body may be made either of cast steel or forged
steel. Their body may be welded or may be of single metal 2.1 Concept of ductility and behavior of steel in
construction or may even be of bolted connection. Flanges low temperature environment
with rare exceptions are almost always made of forged steel.
Fittings are often stamped out of wrought steel or in The selection of material for any specific environment is
some cases forged steel; they may be seamless or welded directly dependent on the material’s properties, especially
construction. those properties that are affected by that special environment.
Pump casings are made of cast steel or in some cases Metal properties are primarily classified in terms of mechan-
of forged steel; however, they are like valves, an assembly ical, physical, and chemical properties. These are further
of various grades of steel and alloy steels produced from subdivided into structure-sensitive or structure-insensitive
cast, forged, and wrought steel materials, which are further properties. Table 1 describes these properties.
processed by machining and other secondary processing In this discussion, we are concerned with only the
processes. structure-sensitive mechanical properties of metal.
In all the above cases, the primary processes may be further Metals offer a combination of mechanical properties that
supported by one or a combination of secondary processes of are unique and not found among nonmetals. Specific metal
rolling, stamping, machining, welding, and so on. The ability that we will discuss for this section is carbon and low alloy
to understand the sequence of these operations, limitations, steels, because a bulk of the material that is used in offshore
and advantages of each process and knowledge of secondary and marine environment come from this generic group.
processes helps understand the material in a better light. Aptly, it is the ductility and toughness of these metals and
The manufacturing of a specific product may have specific how they are affected by the variation of temperature, espe-
sequence of operations; recognition and understanding of cially in lower temperature, that is the subject of this discus-
these processes can help develop full knowledge of the manu- sion. When we talk of arctic conditions, the main subject
facturing process and the material itself. that comes to mind is the bitter cold and freezing all around.
The determining factors in selection of materials for any Thus, the material used in this environment would also face
system are the environment where the candidate material will cold and freezing conditions. The emphasis therefore shifts
be put in service and its design life and the cost of using the to the behavior of metal under low arctic temperature and
selected material. how these materials perform and what properties are essen-
In the first category, the environment of material perfor- tial to prevent their failures.
mance, the factors to consider are the pressure and temper- As we prepare to discuss why metals fail and what mech-
ature of the system, corrosiveness of the fluid carried by anisms come into play to cause fractures, we need to famil-
or exposed to the pipeline, components, and structures. iarize ourselves with some important terminologies used to
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe152
Materials for Arctic Environments 3
Table 1. Material Properties.

Metal Properties Structure-Insensitive Properties Structure-Sensitive Properties
Mechanical Elastic moduli Tensile strength, yield strength, tensile elongation, true
breaking strength, elastic limit, proportional limit,
creep-rupture strength, creep strength, strain-hardening
rate, tensile reduction of area, fracture strength, fatigue
strength, impact strength, hardness, damping capacity
Physical Thermal expansion, thermal conductivity, melting Magnetic properties, electric properties
point, Specific heat, Emissivity, vapor pressure,
density, thermal evaporation, thermoelectric
properties, thermionic emission
Chemical Electrochemical potential, oxidation resistance,
catalytic effects
describe material behavior and their definitions, as they are corresponding lowering of the yield strength. The rupture at
understood in fracture mechanics. elevated temperatures is often intergranular, and little or no
deformation of the fractured surface may occur. As tempera-
ture is lowered below the room temperature, material gradu-
3 DUCTILITY ally loses its ductility and it tends to become brittle. A brittle
fracture would be the primary mode of the failure. ASTM E
Ductility is defined as the amount of plastic deformation that 616 defines some of the terminology associated with fracture
metal undergoes in resisting fracture under stress. This is a mechanics and testing.
structure-sensitive property and chemical composition has
significant impact on ductility of metal. • The term fracture is strictly defined as irregular surface
that forms when metal is broken into separate parts. If the
fracture has propagated to only part way in the metal and
4 TOUGHNESS metal is still in one piece, it is called a crack.
• A crack is defined as two coincident free surfaces in a
Toughness is the ability of the metal to deform plastically metal that join along a common front called the crack
and absorb energy in the process before fracturing. This tip, which is usually very sharp.
mechanical and structure-sensitive property is the indicator • The term fracture is used when the separation in metal
of how the given metal would fail at the application of stress occurs at relatively low temperature and metal ductility
beyond the capacity of the metal and will that failure be and toughness performance is chief topic.
ductile or brittle. Only one assessment of toughness can be • The term rupture is more associated with the discussion
made with some reasonable accuracy from ordinary tensile of metal separation at elevated temperatures. Fracture
test and that is whether the metal displays either ductile or toughness Kc.
brittle behavior. From that, it can be assumed that the metal
As pointed out above, basically there are two types of
displaying little ductility is not likely to display a ductile
fracture that occur in metals:
failure if stressed beyond its limits. The failure in this case
would be brittle.
• Ductile fracture
• Brittle fracture.
5 TOUGHNESS AND LOSS OF These two modes are easily recognized when they occur
TOUGHNESS IN LOW TEMPERATURE in exclusion, but fractures in metal often have mixed
ENVIRONMENT morphology and it is aptly called mixed mode.
The mechanisms that initiate the fracture are shear frac-
The temperature of metal is found to have a profound influ- ture, cleavage fracture, and intergranular fracture. Only shear
ence on the brittle/ductile behavior. The influence of higher mechanism produces ductile fracture.
temperature on metal behavior is considerable. The rise in It may be noted that like modes discussed above, the failure
temperature is often associated with increased ductility and mechanisms also have no exclusivity.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe152
4 General
As defined above, a crack is two coincident free surfaces in properties of metals at very low temperatures are of more
a metal that join along a common front called the crack tip, than of casual interest, because structures, pipeline, welded
which is usually very sharp. pressure equipment, and vessels are expected to operate
Irrespective of the fracture being ductile or brittle, the satisfactorily at levels below room temperatures. The
fracture process is viewed as having two principal steps. pipelines in arctic regions, buried in permafrost or exposed
to elements above ground or in frigid waters, are examples,
1. Crack initiation and other examples are the imposition of moderate subzero
2. Crack propagation temperatures on equipment for dewaxing petroleum, for
storage of nitrogen, liquefied fuel gases, and pipelines.
The knowledge of these two steps is essential as there is Much lower temperatures are involved in cryogenic services
a noticeable difference in the amount of energy required to where metal temperature falls to −100∘ C (−150∘ F) and
execute the two steps. The relative levels of energy required below. The cryogenic service may involve storage of lique-
for initiation and for propagation determine the course of fied industrial gases such as oxygen and nitrogen. Down
events, which will occur when the metal is subjected to stress. near the very bottom of the temperature scale, there is a
There are several aspects to the fracture mechanics that real challenge for metals that are used in the construction
tie-in with the subject of metal ductility and toughness but of equipment for producing and containing liquid hydrogen
this short discussion is not planned for the detailed informa- and liquid helium, because these elements in liquefied form
tion on fracture mechanics, hence these are not discussed in are increasingly important in new technologies. Helium in
detail but some specific related topics are listed below. liquefied form is only slightly above absolute zero, which is
1 K (−273.16∘ C or −459.69∘ F).
• Effects of axiality of stress Absolute zero (1∘ K) is the theoretical temperature at which
• Crack arrest theory matter has no kinetic energy and atoms no longer exhibit
• Stress intensity representation motion. Outside some experimental laboratories, man has
• Stress gradient yet to cool any material to absolute zero, so it is not known
• Rate of Strain how metals would behave when cooled to this boundary
• Effect of cyclic stress condition.
• Fatigue crack √ However, metal components have been brought to the
• Crack propagation (KIc = 𝜎 𝜋a) temperatures very close to absolute zero, hence it presents a
• Griffith’s theory
√ of fracture mechanics special challenge to metals and welded components as they
• Irwin’s K = E × G would be required to serve in this extremely low temperature.
• Crack surface displacement mode On cooling below room temperature, every metal will reach
• CTOD (BS 5762-1979 and BS 7448 Part-I and II) a temperature where its kinetic energy will be reduced to nil.
• R-curve test methods The atoms of the element will move closer and the lattice
• J-integral test method parameters would become smaller. All these changes would
• Linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) (ASTM E affect the mechanical properties of the metal.
399)
• Elastic–plastic fracture mechanics (EPFM)
• Nil ductility temperature (NDT)
6 METAL STRENGTH AT LOW
The above are commonly taken into consideration when TEMPERATURE
selecting suitable material for structures in an arctic environ-
ment, especially when fatigue strain is associated with other As the temperature of metal is lowered from room tempera-
strains, for example, in subsea pipeline and riser technology. ture 75∘ F (24∘ C or 297∘ K) to absolute zero (1∘ K) the atoms
In fact, some of the specifications (e.g., American Pipe of an element move closer together by dimensions easily
Association (API) 1104 and DNV-OS F101) suggest the use compounded from the coefficient of thermal expansion. A
of fracture mechanics to determine the failure behavior of number of changes occur as a result of this smaller lattice
metal in these services. parameter. For example, the elastic module increases. In
Lowering the temperature of metal profoundly affects general, the tensile strength and yield strength of all materials
fracture behavior, particularly of metals that have bcc increase as the temperature is lowered to the extent that at
(body-centered crystal) structure. Strength, ductility, tough- metal’s NDT, the yield and tensile strength approach equality
ness, and other properties are changed in all metals when (𝜎 o ≈ 𝜎 u ). This change in property is variable to a degree for
they are exposed to temperature near absolute zero. The different metals but change does occur.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe152
When the temperature of low carbon or low alloy steel is as ASME B 31.8 for gas transmission pipelines or ASME B
lowered, the corresponding increase in strength of metals 31.4 for liquid hydrocarbon and other liquids.
is attributed to an increase in resistance to plastic flow. For selection of pipe and related material, the guidance
Since plastic flow is strongly dependent on the nature of given in API 5L/ISO 3183 is followed; additional condi-
the crystalline structure, it would be logical to assume that tions are imposed for arctic conditions that focus on PSL2
metals with the same kind of structure would react in similar pipes with CVN tested and pipe body ductile fracture
manner. propagation-resistant properties of steel. A combination of
Because toughness tends to decrease as temperatures are sufficient shear fracture area and sufficient CVN absorbed
lowered, especially for bcc-structured material such as steel, energy is required for the pipe material to ensure the avoid-
testing is often carried out to measure and monitor this ance of brittle fracture propagation and the control of ductile
property of steel. The most frequently used test specimen fracture propagation in pipelines.
is a notched-bar impact specimen, discussed in Mechanical Engineering design should take all necessary precautions
Testing Methods. Despite the shortcomings of this test, to ensure that the operating parameters are comparable to the
the popularity of impact test is due to its long-established test conditions as established.
position in standards and relatively easy procedure available Commonly, the specified CVN shear percentage is greater
with laboratories to test standard Charpy V-notch specimen. than 85% and absorbed energy is determined based on the
Some of the parameters that are recorded for evaluation of NDT concept discussed above. Several acceptable methods
following metal properties are described below. are used as specified in Annex G of API 5L, ASME B 31.8
section 841.1 or as given in ASME B 31.4 section 401.3 and
6.1 Transition temperature for energy absorption
423.2.3 relating to steel properties.
In Annex G of API 5L, there are five different approaches
Tests are conducted over a range of temperatures from a
given for determining the minimum acceptable absorbed
relatively high temperature where the metal exhibits its best
energy for specific temperature. ASME B 31.8 also uses four
toughness down to a low temperature at which cleavage can
different approaches to establish the absorbed energy level
initiate. The energy levels recorded during the test are then
for steel at given temperature level. The API 5L methods are
plotted against temperature. Metal with bcc crystalline struc-
listed below. The calculation methods and related tables are
tures undergo a precipitous drop in energy over a relatively
part of the Annex G in API 5L.
narrow mid-range span of temperature. The drop in energy
coincides with the occurrence of cleavage during the fracture.
1. European Pipeline Research Group (EPRG) guidelines
6.2 Transition temperature for lateral expansion for fracture arrest of gas transmission pipelines
2. Battelle simplified equation
The extent of plastic deformation that occurs in the Charpy 3. Battelle two-curve method
V-notch (CVN) specimen’s cross-section during testing also 4. AISI approach
is a quantifiable value, and this feature undergoes a marked 5. Full-scale burst testing
transition in the bcc metals with the lowering of test temper-
ature. When a CVN specimen is broken, a small amount of Similarly, ASME B 31.8 has the following four
lateral contraction ordinarily occurs across the width, close approaches:
to and parallel with the root of the notch, conversely expan-
sion should occur across the width opposite the notch. Both 1. Battelle Columbus Laboratories
changes in dimension from original 10 mm (0.394 in.) width 2. American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI)
of the specimen are easily measured, and both dimensional
3. British Gas Council (BGC)
changes are indicators of ductility in the presence of a notch.
4. British Steel Corporation (BSC)
The extent of lateral expansion opposite the notch is the value
presently favored for appraising the capacity of metal flow
plastically during fracture under impact load. It may be noted that there is significant difference in the
number arrived by different calculation approaches, so it is
important for engineers to establish the basis of their calcu-
7 SELECTING MATERIAL FROM lations based on the project requirements and engineering
SPECIFICATION AND CODE BOOKS considerations.
In addition to API 5L, there are other classes of materials
The pipeline material is selected on the basis of API 5L that are used in the pipeline services; the steel selected for
specification and according to the design specification such these components also need to meet the above properties. It
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe152
6 General
may be noted that recognition of various material specifica- temperature, then determine to what extent. If the tempera-
tions and their advantages and limitations to the given envi- ture is ever in the critical low range, it will be prudent to iden-
ronment must be considered in selecting suitable material. tify those conditions and take into account while selecting the
There are several ASME/ASTM specifications specially material.
tailored for low temperature services and it is important to Similar consideration applies to the above ground pipe and
check if the specified test temperatures for the metal in use components such as valves flanges and pipes that are exposed
are in agreement with the design temperature of the system. to the weather and carry similar product so they have more
ASTM-A/ASME-SA105 is not a low temperature material; propensities to face low temperature in their lifetime. The
however, it may be used for low temperature if all other following must be asked:
factors meet the requirements and an additional impact test
on the material is carried out at a temperature that is in tally • If they are insulated.
with the design temperature. Similarly, ASTM A 106 pipes • If they are heated.
(grade A, B, or C) must be checked for the test tempera- • If there is any possibility of depressurization that would
tures because ASTM A 106 is specified as “high tempera- lead to extensive temperature reduction, and so on.
ture” material and rightfully an impact test is not included
There is a multiplicity of factors that affect the under-
even in nonmandatory requirements, same is the case with
standing of the material behavior in extreme stress condi-
ASTM A 105 forged material discussed above. ASTM A
tions. All possibilities must be explored, identified, and
333 grades 1, 3, 4, 6, 9, and 10 pipes are specified for their
addressed.
impact values and their test temperatures, the specification
must be referenced before arbitrarily using them for any
service temperature range. ASTM A 350 LF1 (−20∘ F), LF2 8 THE METALLURGICAL
(−50∘ F), and LF 3 (−150∘ F) are suitable for low temperature
CONSIDERATIONS FOR LINE PIPE
service to the limits set by the specification, but one should
check that the specified energy absorption value CVN is in
STEEL
tally with the system design parameters. The point is that an
We have discussed the mechanical properties that are impor-
informed selection has to be made. There are several boiler
tant for the low temperature service of arctic regions; to
quality plate material specified by the ASTM specifications
achieve those properties, the steel used to make those pipes
and ASME codes but not all are suitable for low temper-
must conform to some important constituents and controls
ature services. Some are metallurgically so designed that
processes.
they are not suitable for low temperature service, plate mate-
The damage to environment and delay in response time
rial conforming to ASTM A 515 specification is one such to contain and repair any failure can be immense. This
example. Most of the metals that are fit for low temperature emphasizes the importance of the material selection of the
are generally tested to 32∘ F (0∘ C) unless specified otherwise. pipeline—the steel—that is used to make these pipelines.
So the general assumption that all ASME material is good It is important that the steel is made to the most stringent
up to −20∘ F will not be correct, unless it is tested and the quality controls. Clean steel-making process is used and the
material test report so declares. consistency of the steels performance in a given environment
API mandates that PSL2 pipes be tested at 32∘ F (0∘ C) is established. And above all, the steel is suitable to provide
or any lower temperature as agreed between the buyer and the necessary strength and ductility for the design conditions.
manufacturer and is expected to have an average value of The requirement for arctic pipeline also coincides with
20 ft-lbf (27 J) absorbed energy. Hence, it is important to demand to transport crude oil and gas by line pipe at
determine what the actual test temperature was and the higher operating pressures to increase the capacity. This
responsibility lies with the engineers to ensure that the test requires steels that are characterized by a combination of
temperature is in agreement with the design temperature of high strength and high toughness.
the system. Increasing the strength of line pipe steels allows taking
On a pipeline, the question is often raised if in designing advantage of strength in design calculations to reduce the
a buried pipeline one needs to consider the low temperature. wall thickness, which reduces the weight of the steel. To
The answer to this question is not metallurgical, since it is not meet these demands, the steel industry has developed high
related to the material property as much as it is geographical strength microalloyed steels for line pipe. Normally with the
and environmental, that is the design conditions. Generally, increase in higher yield strength, a loss in the fracture tough-
a buried pipeline will not be subject to very low tempera- ness is associated leading to low formability, leading to the
tures unless buried in permafrost, if there is a cause for lower possibility of increased stress-induced cracking. Thus, high
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe152
strength in conjunction with high toughness and formability The relationship among microstructure, texture, and
are the primary needs of the line pipe. strength and toughness combination is exceptionally impor-
New alloys are designed and process improvements have tant in spiral welded pipe and has been extensively studied by
been made to associate alloying with thermomechanical steel industries. Research and development laboratories have
processing. This combination plays an important role in the studied these steels, their mechanical property and isotropy
evolution of the final microstructure and associated mechan- phenomena, using a combination of electron microscopy
ical properties. Alloying additions such as manganese (Mn), and crystallographic texture analysis in higher range of API
niobium (Nb), vanadium (V), titanium (Ti), molybdenum grade pipelines steels, which underscores the importance of
(Mo), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), and copper (Cu) are relationship between anisotropy in mechanical properties
commonly employed in line pipe steels to obtain the desired and texture.
microstructure and mechanical properties. This alloying The manufacture, testing, and classification of line pipes
process is very carefully established, a judicious selection
are predominantly controlled by API 5L, a specification
of alloying elements is made to obtain the beneficial effect
that is now also an International Standards Organization
on mechanical properties with reduced cost of the alloy. In
(ISO) specification (ISO 3183). It is strongly advised that
that process, the alloying elements are reduced to obtain
the pipeline engineering obtains the latest edition of this
low carbon equivalent (CE also written as, CEq) to ensure
specification and uses it for design, construction, procure-
good field weldability. On the other hand, alloy additions
such as Cr, Cu, and Ni are added to obtain strength in severe ment, and quality control of their projects. The API pipes
corrosive environment. for pipeline system are primarily classified on the basis of
The controlled thermomechanical process is considered material’s yield strength and the process of making the pipe.
as the primary route for the development of API grade steel In general, according to API 5L, the pipe-manufacturing
for line pipe. The process gives the desirable fine-grained processes are two, the seamless pipes and welded pipes. The
microstructure. The process allows high strength and tough- welded pipes are further classified on the basis of the welding
ness combination achieved by either the alloy design or process. The other basis of classification for all pipes is the
accelerated cooling or a combination of the two processes. physical attributes such as diameter and wall thickness. The
The ultimate microstructure is governed by processing identification is on the basis of alphanumeric system (e.g.,
parameters such as X42, X56, and X70). Some grades such as Grade A and
Grade B are the exceptions, they do not reference to the
• reheating temperature, yield strength but like all other grades, they too have spec-
• percentage reduction, ified minimum yield strength (SMYS). Grade A steel has
• deformation temperature, SMYS of 30,000 psi and Grade B has SMYS of 35,000 psi.
• cooling rate, and They are further classed on the basis of product specifica-
• cooling temperature. tion level (PSL); there are two levels of product qualities,
PSL1 and PSL2. Grade A pipes are not included in the PSL2
This is because fine austenite grains, substructure, and list. Pipes produced to meet PSL2 requirements are different
dislocations in austenite effectively promote the transforma- from PSL1 pipes on the basis of mandatory impact test,
tion to fine ferrite. The primary grain refinement in controlled
imposition of upper limits to tensile, and yield strength and
rolling is achieved through recrystallization of austenite
restrictions on some welding processes. A PSL2 pipe may
during deformation and through the use of microalloying
not be low frequency electric-resistance welded but must be
elements, such as niobium (Nb) that precipitates as fine
welded by high frequency welding (HFW) process, which is
carbides and inhibits grain growth.
different from electric-resistance welding (ERW). This stan-
Thermomechanical processing of line pipe steels can lead
to anisotropy in mechanical properties, especially the yield dard term (ERW) is reclassified in API 5L as EW. Ref. High
strength and toughness. This is, however, also dependent Frequency Welded Pipes Preferred, Better Author; Ramesh
on the chemical composition, microstructure, and crys- Singh Pipeline and Gas Journal October 2013, Vol. 204
tallographic texture. These steels tend to develop strong No. 10 for details on the difference between two welding
fiber textures during the controlled rolling, which involves processes as used in pipe-making process.
processes such as Although ERW pipes have been used for many years in
sour service environments and in North Sea for sweet service
• deformation, applications, there is some resistance to the use of ERW
• recrystallization, and line pipe, particularly in stringent service applications. This
• transformation. lack of confidence generally is based on historical problems
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe152
8 General
related to the reliability of electric-resistance welds, the pres- editions of API 5L as SAWL and SAWH, note the relocation
sure reversals, preferential weld line corrosion, and suscep- of adjective “helical” and “longitudinal” in the new names.
tibility to stress corrosion cracking to name few. Table 2 gives various processes used to produce line pipes.
Table 3 lists the details of various grades of steel according
to API 5L/ISO3183 and the required minimum tensile and
8.1 Submerged Arc welded line pipes yield strength of material and weld.
The API 5L gives tolerances on pipe dimensions, like
Other process may include welding with submerged arc
diameter, the out of roundness, and wall thickness in tables
welding (SAW) process; the welds are made from both inside
of various editions. In the 44th edition, these tables include
as well as outside, and welding from both sides generates
another term DSAW often used in industry. A bulk of line Table-9 (Permissible outside diameter and wall thicknesses),
pipes especially over diameter 24 in. are manufactured using Table-10 (Tolerances for diameter and out of roundness),
this welding process. The weld positioning is also a factor in Table-11 (Tolerances for wall thickness), and Table-12
specifying the type of pipe like straight long weld along the (Tolerances for random length pipe, etc.). It may be noted
length of the pipe, which is called longitudinal submerged that these tolerances are generalized acceptable levels
arc welded (LSAW). If the pipe is made by helically twisting or ranges; in some specific cases, the engineering must
a long steel coil, the weld will be along the abutting faces of consider to either accept the given tolerances or change to
the coil forming the pipe, such weld often by SAW process suite their specific requirements, and this includes changes
from both inside as well as outside seam is called helically in chemical composition of various elements and variations
welded pipe (HSAW). Both these terms are renamed in new of mechanical properties and dimensional tolerances.
Table 2. Pipe Manufacturing Processes.

Type of Pipe Description or Definition
SMLS Seamless, pipe produced by hot forming process, after hot forming cold sizing and finishing is carried out
CW One longitudinal weld produced by continuous welding
LFW Pipe produced with low frequency (<70 kHz) EW process
HFW Pipe produced with high frequency (>70 kHz) welding process
SAWL Submerged arc welding process—longitudinal seam
SAWH Submerged arc welding process—helical seam
COWL Longitudinal seam pipes produced by combination of metal arc and submerged arc welding process
COWH Horizontal seam pipes produced by combination of metal arc and submerged arc welding process
Double-seam SAWL Pipe made in two halves and both longitudinal welds are made by SAW process
Double-seam COWL Pipe made in two halves and both longitudinal welds are made by combined metal arc and SAW process
Table 3. Properties of line pipe.

Pipe Grades Pipe Body Seamless or Welded Pies SAW, EW, and COW Weld
Minimum Yield Strength, MPa (psi) Minimum Tensile Strength, MPa (psi) Min. Tensile Strength, MPa (psi)
A 25 (L175) 175 25,400 310 45,000 310 (45,000)
A 25P (L175P) 175 25,400 310 45,000 310 (45,000)
A (L210) 210 30,500 335 48,600 335 (48,600)
Above grades are available in PSL1 only
Grades below are available in both PSL1 and PSL2
B (L 245) 245 35,500 415 60,200 415 (60,200)
X 42 (L290) 290 42,100 415 60,200 415 (60,200)
X 46 (L320) 320 46,400 435 63,100 435 (63,100)
X 52 (L360) 360 52,200 460 66,700 460 (66,700)
X 56 (L390) 390 56,600 490 71,100 490 (71,100)
X 60 (L415) 415 60,200 520 75,400 520 (75,400)
X 65 (L450) 450 65,300 535 77,600 535 (77,600)
X 70 (L485) 485 70,300 570 82,700 570 (82,700)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe152
8.2 Determination of percentage shear through in manufacturing the pipe. In such situation, not much is in
DWT test for PSL 2 welded pipes control of the purchaser, except to keep looking for whatever
is available in market and try to best match their need with the
The pipe material is expected to be sufficiently ductile to availability. However, that is not the best practice although
resist brittle fracture and establish that the material has ability most frequently followed.
to resist fracture propagation in gas pipelines. To establish
these properties, drop weight tear test (DWTT) is carried out.
The average of two shear tests is specified to be ≥85%, at 10 PIPES FROM OTHER
given test temperature. The good shear value in combination
SPECIFICATIONS
with acceptable CVN values gives confidence in materials
ability to resist fracture. Pipes from other specifications, especially ASTM or ASME,
More detail of the ductile fracture is discussed in Annex G
are commonly used for piping system, especially small diam-
of API 5L. Readers are advised to refer current versions of
eter and some larger diameter above ground piping in plants
API5L/ISO 3183 for more updated properties of line pipes.
and facilities. These are often ASTM A-106, A-53, or ASTM
API 5L has added specific normative annexes to address
A-333 pipes, pipes and equipment made from ASTM A 516
additional requirements for line pipes. They address the
various grades, ASTM A 537 Cl I, II, and III plates, so on.
requirements for
Where a substitution is made from API 5L pipes to ASTM
A. jointers, pipes, engineering must evaluate substituted material based
B. manufacturing procedure qualification for PSL2 pipes, on the SMYS, heat treatment conditions, required impact
C. treatment of surface imperfections, test—both temperature and energy abortion CVN values. For
D. repair welding procedure, low temperature service as is the conditions in arctic regions,
E. nondestructive inspection for other than sour service or the importance of Charpy impact test temperature and values
offshore service, cannot be over-stated about the selection of materials, it must
F. requirements for couplings (PSL1 pipes only), be kept in mind that proven low temperature grades of mate-
G. PSL2 pipe with resistance to ductile fracture propaga- rial are specified. It may be noted that some of the ASTM
tion, pipes and materials are not mandated to be impact tested, and
H. PSL2 pipe ordered for sour service, when required, the impact energy CVN absorbed values for
I. PSL2 pipe ordered as “through the flowline” (TFL) several ASTM/ASME materials are significantly lower than
pipe, the minimum average 20 ft-lbs specified for API 5L pipes.
J. PSL2 pipe ordered for offshore service,
K. nondestructive inspection for pipe ordered for sour
service and/or offshore service.
11 FITTINGS AND FORGINGS
As their name suggest these normative annexes are specif-
ically added to address special requirements. There are four Fittings are very essential part of any engineering construc-
more annexes as informative detailing information on: tion; pipelines and piping are no exception. The term may
L. steel designations as used in Europe, cover elbows, tees, reducers both eccentric and concentric,
M. correspondence of terminology between ISO 3183 and segmentable bends, induction bends, field bends, flanges,
its source documents, weldolets, anchor forgings, forged fittings, and so on. These
N. identification and explanation of deviations, materials cover a large list of shapes and sizes and they also
O. API monogram use and importance. come in different material strength levels to match pipe mate-
rial and service conditions. Various grades within ASTM A
234 specification are specified for number of wrought carbon
9 ORDERING A LINE PIPE and alloy steel fittings for piping. For reference, only the
general properties of various grades are given in Tables 4
Section 7 of API 5L 44th edition has extensive 55-point and 5. It is strongly recommended that engineers and profes-
checklist of information that the purchaser should provide to sionals procure the latest version of the referenced codes and
the supplier. The purchaser can use this list to prepare their specifications for more current and accurate information on
project-specific specification and base the purchase order on materials.
the information. A number of ASME and Manufacturers Standard Society
In context with the above, it is known that most of the pipes (MSS) specifications that are commonly used in pipeline
are not bought from mill but from suppliers who have no part construction are discussed, with general information on
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10 General
Table 4. The carbon steel grades.

Grade C Mn P S Si Cr Mo Tensile, X 1000 psi Yield, X 1000 psi
WPB 0.30 max 0.29–1.06 0.050 max 0.058 max 0.10 min — — 60–85 35
WPC 0.35 max 0.29–1.06 0.050 max 0.058 max 0.10 min — — 70–95 40
Table 5. The alloy steel grades.

Grade C Mn P S Si Cr Mo Ni Cu Tensile Yield,
X 1000 X 1000
psi psi
WP1 0.28 0.30–0.90 0.045 0.045 0.10–0.50 0.44–0.65 — — 55–80 30
WP12 Cl 1 and Cl 2 0.050–0.20 0.30–0.80 0.045 0.045 0.60 0.80–1.25 0.44–065 — — 70–95 40
WP11 Cl 1 0.05–0.15 0.30–0.60 0.030 0.030 0.50–1.00 1.00–1.50 0.44–0.65 — — 60–85 30
WP11 Cl 2 0.05–0.20 0.30–0.80 0.04 0.04 0.50–1.00 1.00–1.50 0.44–0.65 — — 70–95 40
WP11 Cl 3 0.05–0.20 0.30–0.80 0.04 0.04 0.50–1.00 1.00–1.50 0.44–0.65 — — 75–100 45
WP22, Cl 1 0.05–0.15 0.30–0.60 0.04 0.04 0.50 1.90–2.60 0.87–1.13 — — 60–85 30
WP22, Cl 3 0.05–0.15 0.30–0.60 0.04 0.04 0.50 1.90–2.60 0.87–1.13 — — 75–100 45
WP 5 0.15 0.30–0.60 0.40 0.30 0.50 4.0–6.0 0.44–0.65 — — 60–85 30
WP 9 0.15 0.30–0.60 0.03 0.03 0.25–1.00 8.0–10.00 0.90–1.10 — — 60–85 30
WPR 0.20 0.40–1.06 0.045 0.050 1.60–2.24 0.75–1.25 63–88 46
WP 91 0.08–0.12 0.30–0.60 0.20 0.10 0.20–0.50 8.0–9.5 0.85–1.05 0.40 V, Co, N, Al 85–110 60
Single numbers are maximum values unless stated otherwise.
material, that are useful in making correct decision in selec- The term forgings for this discussion include flanges,
tion of material for project-specific needs. MSS specifica- forged fittings, anchor forgings, weld-o-lets, and so on. These
tions, and MSS SP 75 for high test, wrought, and butt welding are heavy section of material with different microstructure;
fittings, and MSS SP 44 for steel pipeline flanges, are design they behave much differently in their cooling and heating
and material specifications; that have their own standards cycle, and this assumes complex relationship when they are
and chemical and mechanical properties of material but they welded with other wrought material. Specifically in welding,
also reference several of ASTM specification such as ASTM the bulk of material works as a heat sink affecting the direc-
A-105, A-106, A-53, A-234, A-420, and A-694 for material. tional heat flow during welding. Due to the thickness of
Some of the specified grades are suitable for low temperature the material, the heat flow is often three directional, raising
service, as is the environment in arctic regions. Both include the relative thickness values. This gives rise to the situa-
material with higher yield strength as given in Table 6; it tion where simple and uniform cooling cannot be predicted,
details the properties of fittings and forgings used in pipeline and the carbon equivalent (written as CE or CEq) value of
construction. forgings is often higher than the CE values specified for
It may be noted that ASME A 234 described above is essen- pipes they are welded. This demands that when welding
tially a material specification and specific fitting dimension pipe to forging a suitable welding procedure is developed to
and tolerances are governed by one of the ASME B 16 spec- control cooling rates to avoid formation of harmful marten-
ifications discussed below. site and subsequent cracking. The higher alloyed forging
Flanges and fittings up to 24 in. are commonly covered specifications such as ASTM A-694 and MSS SP 44 specify
under ASME B16.5 or 16.9, when the diameter exceeds the maximum CE, these are often higher than most of the
24 in., it may be necessary to reference MSS SP 75 for wrought materials they are welded with. Engineers have
fittings and MSS SP 44 for flanges, MSS specifications also responsibility to assess and determine if they would specify
have alloy steel high yield strength material. Some of these some lower values as their acceptable maximum CE to the
materials are not ASME material and care must be taken to level is suitable to meet the requirements of the work, this
ensure that such material meet the necessary calculations. is especially more important in pipeline construction, where
The materials specified also differ in some grades of MSS WPS are qualified with limited preheating and without post-
SP products, and they also address the low temperature and weld heat treatment. As a general guidance, a CE exceeding
impact energy absorption requirements. These fittings are 0.39 should be avoided if proper preheat or PWHT or
often quenched and temper heat-treated. both cannot be included in the welding procedure. It may
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Table 6. Properties of fittings and forgings.

Class Symbol-MSS Minimum Yield Minimum Tensile Minimum Maximum Carbon
SP 75 Strength (psi) Strength (psi) for all Elongation in 2 in % Equivalent (CE)IIW
Thickness
WPHY-42 42,000 60,000 25 0.45
WPHY-46 46,000 63,000 25 0.45
WPHY-52 52,000 66,000 25 0.45
WPHY-56 56,000 71,000 20 0.45
WPHY-60 60,000 75,000 20 0.45
WPHY-65 65,000 77,000 20 0.45
WPHY-70 70,000 82,000 18 0.45
MSS SP 44
Grade, MSS SP 44 Minimum Yield Minimum Tensile Minimum Maximum Carbon
Strength (psi) Strength (psi) for all Elongation in 2 in. % Equivalent (CE)IIW
Thickness
F36 36,000 60,000 20 0.48
F42 42,000 60,000 20 0.48
F46 46,000 60,000 20 0.48
F48 48,000 62,000 20 0.48
F50 50,000 64,000 20 0.48
F52 52,000 66,000 20 0.48
F56 56,000 68,000 20 0.48
F60 60,000 75,000 20 0.48
F65 65,000 77,000 18 0.48
F70 70,000 80,000 18 0.48
be added that CE is a relative number (a ratio), not a Flanges have temperature and pressure class rating
percentage, although many specifications including some assigned to them. Table 7 gives for reference only the
specification referenced above and books erroneously report maximum nonshock pressure (psig) for pressure class rating
CE as percentage. 150–2500 is given. The dimensions of various classes range
In the following paragraphs, some related specifications are from Class 150 to Class 2500 ASME B 16.5, and the readers
introduced and discussed briefly. For detailed information, are advised to refer these specifications for up-to-date correct
the specific specification must be reviewed prior to making a information.
decision.
11.2 ASME/ANSI B16.9—factory-made wrought
steel butt-welding fittings
11.1 ASME/ANSI B16.5—pipe flanges and
flanged fittings This standard covers overall dimensions, tolerances, ratings,
testing, and markings for wrought factory-made butt-welding
This standard for flanges and flanged fittings covers fittings in sizes NPS 1/2 through 48 (DN 15 through 1200).
pressure–temperature ratings, materials, dimensions, Various shapes and sizes of fittings are manufactured to meet
tolerances, marking, testing, and methods of designating all possible engineering requirements and they are available
openings for pipe flanges and flanged fittings. in different class ratings or by wall thickness classifications.
The standard includes flanges with rating class designa- The dimensions of various types of fittings listed below
tions 150, 300, 400, 600, 900, 1500, and 2500 in sizes NPS are given in ASME B 16.9 and readers are encouraged to
1/2 through NPS 24. The requirements are given in both reference these tables for various critical dimensions for each
metric and U.S units. The standard is limited to flanges and of these fittings.
flanged fittings made from cast or forged materials, and blind
flanges and certain reducing flanges made from cast, forged, • Long radius elbows
or plate materials. Also included in this standard are require- • Long radius reducing elbows
ments and recommendations regarding flange bolting, flange • Long radius returns (U-bends)
gaskets, and flange joints. • Short radius elbows
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12 General
Table 7. Maximum allowable nonshock pressure (psig).

Temperature (∘ F) Pressure Class (lb)
150 300 400 600 900 1500 2500
Hydrostatic Test Pressure (psig)
450 1125 1500 2225 3350 5575 9275
−20 to 100 285 740 990 1480 2220 3705 6170
200 260 675 900 1350 2025 3375 5625
300 230 655 875 1315 1970 3280 5470
400 200 635 845 1270 1900 3170 5280
500 170 600 800 1200 1795 2995 4990
600 140 550 730 1095 1640 2735 4560
650 125 535 715 1075 1610 2685 4475
700 110 535 710 1065 1600 2665 4440
750 95 505 670 1010 1510 2520 4200
800 80 410 550 825 1235 2060 3430
850 65 270 355 535 805 1340 2230
900 50 170 230 345 515 860 1430
950 35 105 140 205 310 515 860
1000 20 50 70 105 155 260 430
• Long radius returns 11.5 ASME/ANSI B16.20—metallic gaskets for

• 3D-90o and 45o elbows pipe flanges-ring-joint, spiral wound, and
• Tees and crosses jacketed
• Lap joint stub ends
• Caps This standard covers materials, dimensions, tolerances,
• Eccentric and concentric reducers and markings for metal ring-joint gaskets, spiral wound
metal gaskets, and metal-jacketed gaskets and filler material.
The tolerance on the dimensions of the abovelisted fittings These gaskets are dimensionally suitable for use with flanges
is detailed in a table in ASME B 16.9. described in the reference flange standards ASME/ANSI
B16.5, ASME B16.47, and API-6A. This standard covers
spiral wound metal gaskets and metal-jacketed gaskets for
11.3 ASME/ANSI B16.11—forged steel fittings, use with raised face and flat face flanges.
socket welding, and threaded
11.6 ASME/ANSI B16.21—nonmetallic flat
This standard covers ratings, dimensions, tolerances, gaskets for pipe flanges
marking, and material requirements for forged fittings, both
socket welding and threaded connections. This standard for nonmetallic flat gaskets for bolted flanged
joints in piping and it includes the following.
11.4 ASME/ANSI B16.14—ferrous pipe plugs, 1. Types and sizes;

bushings, and locknuts with pipe threads 2. Materials;
3. Dimensions and allowable tolerances.
This standard for ferrous pipe plugs, bushings, and locknuts
with pipe threads addresses: 11.7 ASME/ANSI B16.25—butt-welding ends
1. Pressure–temperature ratings This standard covers the preparation of butt-welding ends

2. Size of piping components to be joined into a piping system by
3. Marking welding. It includes requirements for welding bevels, for
4. Materials external and internal shaping of heavy-wall components, and
5. Dimensions and tolerances for preparation of internal ends (including dimensions and
6. Threading tolerances). Coverage includes preparation for joints with the
7. Pattern taper. following:
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1. No backing rings; 11.11 ASME/ANSI B16.42—ductile iron pipe

2. Split or noncontinuous backing rings; flanges and flanged fittings, classes 150 and
3. Solid or continuous backing rings; 300
4. Consumable insert rings;
5. Gas tungsten are welding (GTAW) of the root pass. This standard covers minimum requirements for Classes 150
Details of preparation for any backing ring must be and 300 cast ductile iron pipe flanges and flanged fittings.
specified in ordering the component. The requirements covered are as follows:
1. Pressure–temperature ratings
11.8 ASME/ANSI B16.28—wrought steel 2. Sizes and method of designating openings
butt-welding short radius elbows and returns 3. Marking
4. Materials
This standard covers ratings, overall dimensions, testing, 5. Dimensions and tolerances
tolerances, and markings for wrought carbon and alloy steel 6. Blots, nuts, and gaskets
butt welding short radius elbows and returns. The term 7. Tests
wrought denotes fittings made of pipe, tubing, plate, or
forgings. 11.12 ASME/ANSI B16.47—large diameter steel
flanges: NPS 26 through NPS 60
11.9 ASME/ANSI B16.36—orifice flanges This standard covers pressure–temperature ratings, mate-
rials, dimensions, tolerances, marking, and testing for pipe
This standard covers flanges (similar to those covered in flanges in sizes NPS 26 through NPS 60 and in ratings
ASME B16.5) that have orifice pressure differential connec- Classes 75, 150, 300, 400, 600, and 900. Flanges may be cast,
tions. Coverage is limited to the following: forged, or plate (for blind flanges only) materials. Require-
ments and recommendations regarding bolting and gaskets
1. Welding neck flanges Classes 300, 400, 600, 900, 1500, are also included.
and 2500.
2. Slip-on and threaded Class 300. 11.13 ASME/ANSI B16.48—steel line blanks
3. Orifice, nozzle, and venturi flow rate meters.
The standard covers pressure–temperature ratings, materials,
dimensions, tolerances, marking, and testing for operating
11.10 ASME/ANSI B16.39—malleable line blanks in sizes NPS 1/2 through NPS 24 for installation
iron-threaded pipe unions between ASME B16.5 flanges in the 150, 300, 600, 900,
1500, and 2500 pressure classes.
This standard for threaded malleable iron unions, Classes
150, 250, and 300, provides requirements for the following: 11.14 ASME/ANSI B16.49—factory-made
wrought steel butt-welding induction bends
1. Design for transportation and distribution systems
2. Pressure–temperature ratings
3. Size This standard covers design, material, manufacturing,
4. Marking testing, marking, and inspection requirements for
5. Materials factory-made pipeline bends of carbon steel materials
6. Joints and seats having controlled chemistry and mechanical properties,
7. Threads produced by the induction bending process, with or without
8. Hydrostatic strength tangents. This standard covers induction bends for trans-
9. Tensile strength portation and distribution piping applications (e.g., ASME
10. Air pressure test B31.4, B31.8, and B31.11). Process and power piping have
11. Sampling differing requirements and materials that may not be appro-
12. Coatings priate for the restrictions and examinations described herein
13. Dimensions and therefore are not included in this standard.
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14 General
12 VALVES 12.3 API 602: compact steel gate valves—flanged,

threaded, welding and extended body ends
Valves in oil and gas installations are governed by several
standards and specifications that are issued by many orga- This specification addresses Gate valve sizes 4-in. and
nizations. They are dynamic documents that reflect sound smaller. Valves starting from Class 150 through Class
engineering and change to the needs of the industry based 1500 are covered by API 602. This specification covers
on engineering practice, changes in market demands, and the same details for small forged gate valves that API 600
changes in technology and manufacturing procedures. does for larger valves. API 602 further gives dimensions
The valve standards focus on important aspects that include for extended body valves, which are used extensively in
type of valves, such as Gate, Globe, or Check valves and industrial facilities.
materials. Similar to API 600 above, API 602 also requires a heavier
All aspects of valve design, functionality, inspection, and wall for Classes 150, 300, and 600 as compared with
testing are covered in dozens of ASME, API, and MSS ASME/ANSI B16.34 requirements.
documents and various other international standards. The
number of codes, standards, and specifications can make the
procurement of valve products a job for experts only. 12.4 API 603 Class 150 cast, corrosion-resistant
A good understanding of the primary standards affecting flanged end gate valves
these products is very necessary. It is recommended that
current copies of all the valve standards that apply to the This standard covers corrosion-resistant bolted bonnet gate
project are referenced. valves with flanged or butt welded ends in sizes NPS 1∕2 to
A brief introduction to some of the specification common 24 in., corresponding to nominal pipe sizes ASME B 31.10M
in use is given in the following sections. and Classes 150, 300, and 600 as specified in ASME B 16.34.
12.1 API 598 valve inspection and testing 12.5 API 608 metal ball valves—flanged and
butt-welded ends
This specification covers testing and inspection requirements
of Gate, Globe, Ball, Check, Plug, and Butterfly valves. The This specification covers Classes 150 and 300 metal ball
test pressure for each valve must be determined on the basis valves that have either butt-weld or flanged ends and are for
of the tables given in ASME/ANSI 16.34. use in on–off service. It addresses the design and construction
criteria. The important feature to note is that the working
pressure for ball valves must be based on the seat material
and not on the class of the valve.
12.2 API 600 steel valves—flanged and These valves are commonly available in cast steel meeting
butt-welded ends ASTM A 351 grade CF8M and CF8; however, other
corrosion-resistant alloys meeting other specifications and
API 600 and ISO 10434 are the primary steel gate valve grades are also used to manufacture these valves.
specifications. They address design construction and testing
criteria. An appendix in API 600 specification addresses
pressure seal valves. API 600 also lists important dimen- 12.6 API 609: butterfly valves: double flanged,
sions such as stem diameter minimums, wall thickness, and lug- and wafer-type
stuffing box size.
Another important gate valve specification is ASME/ANSI These valves are designed to meet up to Class 600 rating
B16.34. This document gives extensive details on valves and intended to be fitted between flanges. The stan-
built to meet ASME boiler code pressure–temperature dard covers design, materials, face-to-face dimensions,
ratings. One important point of difference from API 600 to pressure–temperature ratings, and examination, inspection,
ASME/ANSI B 16.34 is the wall thickness requirement. API and test requirements for gray iron, ductile iron, bronze,
600 requires a heavier wall for a given pressure rating than steel, nickel-base alloy, or special alloy butterfly valves that
does ASME/ANSI B16.34. This difference must be kept in provide tight shutoff in the closed position and are suitable
mind when working with two different codes. for flow regulation.
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12.7 Testing of valves Table 8. Common valve testing standards.

Specification Valve Types
As described above, the test specification for most valves
API 598 All
is API 598 “Valve Inspection & Test.” Most metallic-seated API 6D Pipeline
valves larger than ANSI size 2-in. have an allowable leakage ANSI B16.34 All
rate that is listed in API 598. Some valve types such as bronze MSS SP 61 All
gate, globe, and check valves are usually not tested as per MSS SP 67 Butterfly
MSS SP 68 Butterfly
API 598. These are normally tested per MSS SP-61 “Pressure MSS SP 70 Iron
Testing of Steel Valves.” MSS SP 80 Bronze
Pipeline valves are often specified to meet API MSS SP 81 Stainless steel Knife Gate valves
6D/ISO14313 requirements. This document covers the
design, materials, and dimensions of valves for pipeline
service. The testing requirements of API 6D differ from API
598. The primary difference being API 6D’s zero allowable Canadian Standards Association (CSA), and so on. Some of
leakage on closure tests. Since most of the valves built to the relevant valve standards are BS 1873 and BS 5352 for
API 6D are resilient seated, this is easily achieved. However, Globe Valves, BS 6364 for Cryogenic service valves, and BS
when the test standard is applied to metallic-seated wedge 1868 and BS 5352 for steel check valves. These documents
gate, globe, or check valves, compliance can be difficult. are excellent starting points for persons needing guidance in
these particular areas (Table 8).
12.8 NACE trim and NACE material
NACE MR0175/ISO 15156 Standard Material Requirements 12.10 Valve materials

for Sulfide Stress Cracking-Resistant Metallic Materials for
Oilfield Equipment. 12.10.1 Trim material
This NACE MR 0175/ISO 15156 standard is now an ANSI
specification; it is no longer a recommended practice as in The internal metal parts of the valve, such as the ball, stem,
the recent past. MR0175 is in three parts and helps determine and metal seats or seat retainers, shall be of the same nominal
the severity level of sour environment to various materials. chemical composition as the shell and have mechanical and
The specification does not lists materials but guides on how corrosion-resistance properties similar to those of the shell.
to assess and if required to qualify materials for specific The purchaser may specify a higher quality trim material.
service conditions. Most of the materials are identified by Common pipeline material for specific parts is given in
their UNS numbers and fabrication techniques. Table 9.
Designed to lessen the likelihood of H2 S-induced cracking, There are several other valve specifications that address
in valve industry often the term NACE trim is used, this specific needs (Tables 10–15).
simply means that the trim material shall be compliant
with NACE/ANSI MR 0175/ISO 15156 and meet the given
service conditions as specified. 12.11 API 6D specification for pipeline valves
12.9 ASME codes and other specifications This API specification is possibly the most referenced Valve
specification in the pipeline industry. API Specification 6D is
Although ASME Section IX Welding and Brazing, ASME an adaption of ISO14313: 1999, Petroleum and Natural Gas
section VII Div 1 Pressure Vessels Design and ASME B Industries-Pipeline Transportation Systems-Pipeline Valves.
31.8 Gas Transmission and Distribution Piping Systems, and This International Standard specifies requirements and gives
ASME B 31.4 Pipeline Transportation System for Liquid recommendations for the design, manufacturing, testing, and
Hydrocarbon and Other Liquids are not valve standards, documentation of ball, check, gate, and plug valves for appli-
they have strong influence on valve design, manufacturing, cation in pipeline systems.
testing, and application. In pipeline, these specifications are Types of valves covered under this specification are gate
regularly specified for welding, design, manufacture, and valves, lubricated and nonlubricated plug valves, ball valves,
application. and check valves with full or reduced opening configurations.
Several international organizations have also issued valve The valves covered are from class range starting from 150
standards, including the British Standards (BS), ISO, The (PN20) to 2500 (PN 420).
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16 General
Table 9. Ball valve material-body and tailpiece material.

Material Specification Material Service Conditions
ASTM A105 Carbon steel Good for normal working condition for pipeline. However, although the pipelines will
not see temperatures at about 427∘ C, it may be noted that upon prolonged exposure
to temperatures above 427∘ C, the carbide phase of carbon steel may be converted to
graphite
ASTM A 352 LF2 Low alloy steel for For service from −46 to 340∘ C. This material must be quenched and tempered to obtain
low temperature tensile and impact properties needed at subzero temperatures
ASTM A182 F304 18Cr-8Ni Good creep strength, corrosion, and oxidation resistance when exposed to temperatures
above 427∘ C
ASTM A182 F316 18Cr-10Ni-2Mo Good creep strength, corrosion, and oxidation resistance when exposed to temperatures
above 427∘ C, and it is resistant to formulation of Σ phase
Table 10. Fasteners material.

Normal Service NACE Compliant Low Temperature Corrosion Resistant Others
Stud Al93 Gr. B7 Al 93 Gr. B7M A320 Gr. L7 A193 Gr. B8(M) Monel
Nut Al94 Gr. 2H Al94 Gr. 2HM A1 94 Gr. L4 Al94 Gr. 8(M) Monel
Table 11. Stem materials.

ASTM Specification Service Condition
A276 420/410 Good for service up to 425∘ C where corrosion and oxidation are not factors
A105 ENP Good for service up to 425∘ C where corrosion and oxidation are not factors
A747 17-4 PH Very high tensile material. Often used when differential hardness is required due to its resistance to galling.
Material has higher corrosion resistance as compared to straight chromium alloy steels
A182 F316 Good creep resistance, corrosion and oxidation resistance when exposed to temperatures above 427∘ C and it is
resistant to formulation of Σ phase
Table 12. Ball materials.

ASTM Specification Material Service Conditions
A105(N) ENP Carbon steel For service up to 538∘ C where corrosion and oxidation are not a factor
A182 F304(L), A351 CF8(3) 18Cr-8Ni Good creep resistance properties, corrosion, and oxidation resistance when exposed
to temperatures above 427∘ C
A182 F316, A351 CF8M 18Cr-10Ni-2Mo Good creep resistance properties, corrosion and oxidation resistance when exposed
to temperatures above 427∘ C and it is resistant to formation of Σ phase
A182 F316, A351 CF3M 18Cr-10Ni-2Mo 18Cr-10Ni-2Mo Good creep resistance properties, corrosion and oxidation
resistance when exposed to temperatures above 427∘ C and it is resistant to
formation of Σ Phase
Component Materials for NACE standards.
Table 13. NACE compliance body and tailpiece materials.

Material Specification Type of Material Application
ASTM A 105 Forged carbon steel with ENP coating For valve sizes 2 in. and above for all NACE compliant valves. ENP
(electro less nickel plated) thickness of ENP is often limited to
0.003 in.
A182 F304/F316 Stainless steel forging For valve sizes 2 in. and above for all NACE compliant valves
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe152
Table 14. NACE compliance ball materials.

Material Specification Type of Material Application
ASTM A 105 Forged carbon steel with ENP For valve sizes 2 in. and above for all NACE compliant valves. ENP (electro
coating less nickel plated) thickness of ENP is often limited to 0.003 in.
A182 F304/F316 Stainless steel forging For valve sizes 2 in. and above for all NACE compliant valves
Table 15. NACE compliance stem materials.

Material Type Properties Application
Carbon steel bar Maximum hardness not to exceed 22 HRC For all classes valve size 2–4 in. some larger sizes, above 6 in. in size
Stainless steel bar 17-4 PH For all corrosive service or low temperature service requirements
12.12 API 6FA It also specifies the associated tooling necessary to handle,
test, and install the equipment, the areas of design, material,
This specification is to establish the requirements for testing welding, quality control, factory acceptance testing (FAT),
and evaluating the pressure containing performance of API marking, storing, and shipping for either the individual
6D valves and also wellhead Christmas-tree equipment subassemblies to build complete subsea tree assemblies or
according to API 6A. The performance requirements are a complete subsea tree assembly.
established regardless of the pressure rating or size. Specification defines equipment and explains its use and
The test covers the requirements of leakage through the function. It also explains various service conditions and PSLs
valve and also the external leakage after exposure to fire that and provides the description of critical components.
has temperature between 1400 and 1800∘ F (761–980∘ C) for
30 min. 12.16 ANSI/API STD 594 check valves: flanged,
lug, wafer, and butt welding
12.13 API 526 flanged steel pressure relief valves
API Standard 594 covers design, material, face-to-face
The standard addresses the basic requirements for direct dimensions, pressure–temperature ratings, and examination,
spring-loaded pressure relief valves and pilot-operated pres- inspection, and test requirements for two types of check
sure relief valves. This includes the orifice designation and valves.
area; valve size and pressure rating, inlet and outlet; mate-
rials; pressure–temperature limits; and center-to-face dimen- 12.17 ANSI/API 599: metal plug valves—flanged,
sions, inlet and outlet. threaded, and welding ends
A purchase specification covers requirements for metal plug

12.14 API 527 seat tightness of pressure relief valves with flanged or butt welding ends, and ductile iron
valves (2002) plug valves with flanged ends, in sizes NPS 1 through NPS
24, which correspond to nominal pipe sizes in ASME B
This API specification describes methods of determining the 36.10 M. Valve bodies conforming to ASME B 16.34 may
seat tightness of metal- and soft-seated pressure relief valves, have flanged end and one butt-welding end. It also covers
including those of conventional, bellows, and pilot-operated both lubricated and nonlubricated valves that have two-way
designs. coaxial ports and include requirements for valves fitted with
internal body, plug, or port linings or applied hard facings on
12.15 API spec 17D/identical to ISO 13628-4 the body, body ports, plug, or plug port.
design and operation of subsea production
systems-subsea wellhead and tree 12.18 ASME/ANSI B16.38—large metallic valves
equipment for gas distribution
This API specification provides technical requirements for This standard covers only manually operated metallic valves
subsea wellheads, mud line wellheads, drill-through mud in nominal pipe sizes 2.5–12 in. that have the inlet and
line wellheads, and both vertical and horizontal subsea trees. outlet on a common centerline. These valves are suitable for
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe152
18 General
controlling the flow of gas from open to fully closed. These dimensions of angle valves. Its purpose is to assure
valves are often used in the distribution service lines, where installation interchangeability for valves of a given material,
the maximum gage pressure at which such distribution type size, rating class, and end connection.
piping systems may be operated is directed by the regulatory
bodies, such as the US Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), 12.22 ASME/ANSI B16.34—valves—flanged,
title 49, Part 192, Transportation of Natural and Other Gas threaded, and welding end
by Pipeline. The regulated maximum pressure in the United
States is 125 psi (8.6 bar). Valve seats, seals, and stem
This standard applies to new valve construction and covers
packing may be nonmetallic.
pressure–temperature ratings, dimensions, tolerances, and
materials, nondestructive examination requirements, testing,
12.19 ASME/ANSI B16.33—manually operated and marking. The specification covers cast, forged, and fabri-
metallic gas valves for use in gas piping cated material with flanged, threaded, and weld ends, and
systems up to 125 psig wafer or flangeless valves of steel, nickel-base, and other
alloys. Wafer or flangeless valves, bolted or through-bolt
This standard covers requirements for manually operated types, that are installed between flanges or against a flange
metallic valves sizes NPS 1.2 through NPS 2, for outdoor are treated as flanged end valves.
installation as gas shutoff valves at the end of the gas service
line and before the gas regulator and meter where the desig-
nated gauge pressure of the gas piping system does not ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
exceed 125 psi (8.6 bar). The standard applies to valves oper-
ated in a temperature environment between −20 and 150∘ F This section is adapted from the Part 3 Chapter 6 and 7 of
(−29 and 66∘ C). Arctic Pipeline Planning Design, Construction, and Equip-
This standard sets forth the minimum capabilities, charac- ment; Author: Ramesh Singh. Publishers Gulf Professional
teristics, and properties, which a valve at the time of manu- Publishing an imprint of Elsevier ISBN: 978-0-12-416584-7.
facture must possess, in order to be considered suitable for
use in gas piping systems.
12.20 ASME/ANSI B16.40—manually operated FURTHER READING

thermoplastic gas valves
API Specification 5LD (2015) CRA Clad or Lined Steel Pipe, Amer-
The standard covers manually operated thermoplastic valves
ican Petroleum Institution.
in nominal sizes 1.2–6. These valves are suitable for use
API Standard 1104 (2013) Welding of Pipelines and Related Facili-
below ground in thermoplastic distribution mains and service ties, American Petroleum Institute.
lines. In the United States, the maximum pressure at which
ASME B 31.8 (2004) Gas Transmission and Distribution Piping
such distribution piping systems may be operated is in accor- Systems, American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
dance with the CFR Title 49, Part 192, Transportation of
ASME B31.4, ‘Pipeline Transportation Systems for Liquid Hydro-
Natural and Other Gas by Pipeline; Minimum Safety Stan- carbons and Other Liquids,’ American Society of Mechanical
dards, for temperature ranges of −20 to 100∘ F (−29 to Engineers (2002)
38∘ C). This standard sets qualification requirements for each BS 7448-1:1991 (1991) Fracture Mechanics Toughness Tests.
nominal valve size for each valve design as a necessary Method for Determination of KIc, Critical CTOD and Critical J
condition for demonstrating conformance to this standard. Values of Metallic Materials, British Standards Institute.
This standard sets requirements for newly manufactured BS 7448-2:1997, ‘Fracture Mechanics Toughness Tests. Method for
valves for use in below ground piping systems for natural Determination of KIc, Critical CTOD and Critical J Values of
gas, including synthetic natural gas (SNG) and liquefied Metallic Materials’, British Standards Institute (1997).
petroleum (LP) gases distributed as a vapor, with or without DNV-OS-F101 (2013) Submarine Pipeline Systems, Det Norske
Veritas—Germanischer Lloyd.
the admixture of air or as a mixture of gases.
ISO 3183:2012 (2012) Petroleum and Natural Gas Industries—Steel
Pipe for Pipeline Transportation Systems, International Standards
12.21 ASME/ANSI B16.10—face-to-face and Organisation.
end-to-end dimensions of valves Singh, R. (2013) Arctic Pipeline Planning: Design, Construction, and
Equipment, S.l.: Gulf Professional. Print
This standard covers face-to-face and end-to-end dimensions
of straightway valves and center-to face and center-to-end
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe152
Optical Fiber Sensors for Marine Structural
Condition Monitoring
Tong Sun and Kenneth T. V. Grattan
City University of London, London, UK
limestones, carbon/aluminum, and metals (Scott et al., 2013;

1 Introduction 1 Sun et al., 2012; Nguyen et al., 2014; Kerrouche et al.,
2 Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG)-Based Temperature and 2009a), and the key parameters that have been measured
Strain Sensor 2 include temperature, strain, vibration, relative humidity, pH,
3 Fiber Optic Vibration Sensors 3 and chlorides, and so on.
4 Fiber Optic Moisture Ingress Sensor 4 For some marine structures, especially propellers, vibra-
tion measurement is important both for the reduction of the
5 Fiber Optic pH Sensor 6
vibration of the elastic components of a structure and for the
6 Summary 8 enhanced commercial acceptability of the propeller designed
Glossary 8 and manufactured. The direct measurement of displacement
References 8 is often highly complicated or indeed impossible to do in situ
due to the operating condition of a structure, for example,
making measurements on marine propellers when they are
fully operational at sea and underwater. Therefore, indirect
1 INTRODUCTION displacement measurements are widely used, for example,
using conventional strain gauges or accelerometers. Config-
Effective structural condition monitoring, and the action uring such sensors for use in water is nontrivial and adds cost
from it, is likely to result in significant economic savings and complexity.
from a better determination of structural integrity and use Optical fiber sensors have been reported for vibration
of the structure itself. It is also essential for the enhanced measurements, particularly using intensity-based sensors
prediction of structural service lifetimes based on real-time (IBS), fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs), and Fabry–Perot inter-
measurement data obtained. Fiber optic-based sensors have ferometer (FPI) (Davis et al., 1996; Garcia, Corres, and
shown real promise for structural condition monitoring, due Goicoechea, 2010). In this article, the FBG-based method
to the attractive features they possess, such as small size, is emphasized as being the most appropriate as it is able to
geometric versatility, multiplexing capability, and resistance provide a full mapping of the structural vibrational modes
to corrosive and hazardous environments. As a result, these within a very short time frame. This is achieved through
sensors have been explored widely for monitoring a wide the instrumentation of a full optical fiber sensor network
range of structural materials, including composites, concrete, into the blades of a propeller, with each fiber being written
into a number of sensors (FBGs) to allow for the simulta-
neous measurement of vibrations of the blades at different
locations.
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Concrete structures in the marine context are usually
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe162
exposed to an extremely aggressive environment, and thus
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 their structural degradation often results from a combined
2 General
chemical, biological, and physical impact. Seawater contains 2 FIBER BRAGG GRATING (FBG)-BASED
a wide variety of dissolved inorganic material, of which the TEMPERATURE AND STRAIN SENSOR
chloride ion in particular significantly influences the corro-
sion of marine structures. Optical FBGs are used in this project as a basis for simulta-
The pH change of a concrete matrix when exposed to neous temperature and strain measurement (Pal et al., 2005).
seawater gives a clear indication of the progression of the An FBG is a structure with the fiber core being periodically
carbonation front or the ingress of chloride ions in concrete. modulated and that reflects the light at a wavelength termed
Carbonation results in the reduction of the alkalinity of the Bragg wavelength (𝜆B ) that satisfies the Bragg condition,
the concrete and the loss of passivity of the reinforcement, given in Equation 1:
while chloride ions, on the other hand, lead to the direct
destruction of the passivating film on the steel surface and 𝜆B = 2neff Λ (1)
the rise of pitting corrosion (Basheer et al., 2004). This
effect, however, is often due to the ingress of water that where neff is the effective refractive index of the fiber core
acts as a transport medium for aggressive ions, such as and Λ is the grating period, where both are affected by strain
chloride, sulfate, carbonate, and ammonium (Grahn et al., and temperature variations, a feature that is reflected in the
2001), and the level of moisture ingress in concrete is sensor design.
closely related to its temperature. Conventional techniques The shift in Bragg wavelength due to the change in strain
used in regular structural inspections are often expensive, or thermal effect is thus given by
time consuming, and in many cases destructive, and there-
fore it is important to consider the development of alterna- Δ𝜆B
tive monitoring systems, which are nondestructive and cost = (1 − Pe )𝜀 + [(1 − Pe )𝛼 + 𝜁 ]ΔT (2)
𝜆B
effective.
An intensive review of the use of fiber optics to detect where Pe is the photoelastic constant of the fiber, 𝜀 is the
strain in concrete, in particular distributed strain, has been strain induced on the fiber, 𝛼 is the fiber thermal expansion
undertaken (Merzbacher, Kersey, and Friebele, 1999) and coefficient, and 𝜁 is the fiber thermal-optic coefficient. The
a range of techniques reported, among which the most first term of Equation 2 represents the longitudinal strain
widely used are FBG-based techniques (Kerrouche et al., effect on the FBG, and the second term represents the thermal
2009b). FBGs produce wavelength-encoded signals that are effect, which comprises a convolution of thermal expansion
not susceptible to instrumental drift and often offer the capa- of the material and the thermal-optic effect.
bility of multiplexing multiple sensors on a single fiber, The key attraction of using FBG-based technique for
sharing the same source and detector. The influence of large-scale structural condition monitoring is the multi-
humidity on a polymer-coated FBG was first reported by plexing capability of FBGs, allowing for a quasi-distributed
Giaccari, Limberger, and Kronenberg (2001) and the tech- measurement. As indicated in Equation 2, each Bragg wave-
nique described for humidity detection has been further length shift, induced either by the strain or temperature
explored by several research groups (Laylor et al., 2002; variation, is associated with the specific Bragg wavelength,
Yeo, Sun, and Grattan, 2008) including those at City, Univer- which is location dependent. From Figure 1 it can be seen
sity of London. Most of the fiber optic pH sensors can that compared to the use of conventional strain gauge tech-
be fabricated by attaching a pH-sensitive element such as niques, optical FBG-based distributed strain sensors reveal
a membrane to the end face of a light-guiding optical considerable advantages in terms of ease of handling and
fiber or fiber bundle (Dantan, Habel, and Wolfbeis, 2005). the capability of multiplexing a series of such FBGs (i.e.,
pH-sensitive membranes are usually made up of a pH indi- strain sensors) within a single length of fiber, coupled to
cator immobilized on or in a solid substrate (polymer, a single source and interrogated by a single detector. As
copolymer, or glass), and the indicators applied are typi- illustrated in Figure 1, a wavelength division multiplexing
cally characterized by an absorption (Lin, 2000; Werner (WDM) scheme (Othonos and Kalli, 1999) can be used very
and Wolfbeis, 1993) or fluorescence (Lin, 2000; Kermis, effectively to address the gratings and yield both the strain
Kostov, and Rao, 2003) difference associated with the pH values of multiple sensors and, through prior calibration,
change. their physical locations on the target structure.
In this work, a suite of optical fiber sensors has been Equation 2 also indicates clearly the cross-sensitivity of
developed to monitor changes in concrete, providing data FBGs to strain and to temperature; therefore when strain
to determine the “health” conditions of several concrete measurement is required using a FBG, its temperature
structures subjected to test and evaluation and data on design compensation is required to be taken into account through
and performance reported. optimizing the sensor design and sensor packaging.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe162
Optical Fiber Sensors for Marine Structural Condition Monitoring 3
Plain fiber Plain fiber

Reference
FBG FBG1 FBG2 FBGn
2 × 1 coupler
ASE source
λb ε1,λn ε2,λ2 εn,λn

λc: 1540 nm
BW: ∼40 nm (10 dB) λ1,λ2...λn
Probe
F-P tunable
filter
Photo Interface
DSP card
detector
PC
Amplifier
Data acquisition
Wavelength detection system
Figure 1. Distributed optical fiber Bragg grating-based strain sensor system.
35 28 21 14
49 42 34 27 20 13 7
55 48 41 33 26 19 12 6
60 54 47 40 32 25 18 11 5
64 59 53 46 39 31 24 17 10 4
67 63 58 52 45 38 30 23 16 9 3
66 62 57 51 44 37 29 22 15 8 2
65 61 56 50 43 36 1
(a) (b)
Figure 2. (a) A propeller with all the blades instrumented with a FBG-based sensor network (Reproduced with permission from City
University of London. © 2015); (b) Layout of FBG sensors on each propeller blade.
3 FIBER OPTIC VIBRATION SENSORS to obtain the natural frequencies of the propeller using a
fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis approach. Figure 2a
FBGs are ideally suited to vibration monitoring, as discussed shows a propeller instrumented with a total of 335 FBGs
below. As indicated in Equation 1, the Bragg wavelength glued onto the surface of the blades. Each blade, as illus-
shift is linearly proportional to the grating period, the vari- trated in Figure 2b, is mapped with 67 sensors with their
ation of which is determined by the vibration of the object respective locations being chosen based on the theoretical
to which the FBG is attached. Therefore the modal shapes modeling data given. Figure 3 shows a Bragg wavelength
of the vibration of the blades can be determined by moni- shift as a function of time of a typical FBG, responding
toring the vibration signal, that is, the wavelength shifts of to the vibration of the blades when they are excited by a
the FBG-based sensor network in the time domain in order hammer with a fixed frequency. A comparison has been made
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe162
4 General
0.03
Wavelength shift (nm) 0.02
0.01
0.00
−0.01
−0.02
−0.03
0 500 1000 1500 2000

Time (ms)
Figure 3. Dynamic Bragg wavelength shift as a function of time.
Table 1. Cross-comparison of the frequency elements derived from experimental data and from simulation of a propeller.
Left-Handed Propeller (K39047) Frequency Range (Hz)
Mode No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Experiment (air)
Blade 1 93 214 222 374 403 501 568 585 632 757 831 862
Blade 2 94 214 223 383 405 503 577 584 636 772 849 909
Blade 3 94 213 231 378 403 501 576 587 637 768 830 897
Blade 4 93 215 231 380 403 501 576 586 632 788 817 887
Blade 5 93 214 222 375 399 501 568 585 632 757 807 867
Simulation (air)
Blade 1 91.2 206.4 222.3 355.9 394.3 511.1 561.9 571.3 629.2 772.4 827.2 868.8
Blade 2 90.7 208 220.4 370 388.8 513.9 566.6 569.4 639.1 778.7 830.3 890.2
Blade 3 90.2 205.6 224.2 365.3 394 505.8 565 572.1 630.7 768.1 834.6 885.8
Blade 4 88.5 209.2 225.4 367.4 402.2 508.2 573.4 585.1 629.6 771.5 842.7 887.2
Blade 5 90 209.7 224.9 368.1 396.8 497.8 563.4 570.5 624.8 752.3 818.1 867.9
between the experimental data obtained from the 335 FBGs concept used in this sensor exploits the strain effect induced
and those obtained from the theoretical modeling using the in a FBG through the swelling of a thin layer of applied
finite element analysis of the structure. Table 1 shows a polymer coating. The swelling of the polymer coating,
detailed cross-comparison of a series of vibrational modes arising from the absorption of moisture, changes the Bragg
of the propeller obtained from the experimental data using wavelength of the FBG, where this can be calibrated to give
FFT analysis of the Bragg wavelength shifts of all the FBGs a direct indication of the humidity level. Thus the shift in the
and from the finite element model created using the ANSYS Bragg wavelength in Equation 2 for the polymer-coated FBG
software. A close agreement has been obtained, and the can be modified as follows:
small deviation that has been observed in the results is due
to the fact that there is a small discrepancy between the Δ𝜆B
= (1 − Pe )𝛼RH ⋅ΔRH + [(1 − Pe )𝛼T + 𝜁]ΔT (3)
geometric profile of the blades tested and those in the simu- 𝜆B
lation model used.
where 𝛼 RH and 𝛼 T are the moisture expansion coefficient and
the thermal expansion coefficient of the coated FBG.
4 FIBER OPTIC MOISTURE INGRESS The detailed discussions of the fabrication of the FBGs
SENSOR used, the coating material chosen, the coating thickness,
and the resulting humidity sensor response time have
The fiber grating can be made to act as the basis of the rela- been reported by the authors elsewhere (Yeo et al., 2005,
tive humidity (RH) sensor design and the humidity sensing 2006).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe162
FO connectors RH and
Glue
temperature
FOS
FBG humidity sensor
Polypropylene
filter
FBG temperature sensor
(a) (b)
Figure 4. (a) Schematic diagram of the sensor design, showing a coated grating as a relative humidity sensor and a bare grating as a
temperature sensor; (b) picture of a packaged RH sensor probe. (Reproduced with permission from City University of London. © 2015.)
1.10
1.00
0.90
Normalised wavelength change
0.80
0.70
0.60
Sensor A
Sensor B
0.50
0.40
0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400
(a) (b) Time (min)
Figure 5. (a) Concrete samples of water/cement ratio of 0.7 (Reproduced with permission from City University of London. © 2015); (b)
RH response of the optical sensors.
Achieving temperature compensation is important as such concrete cubes. Samples with different concrete character-
grating-based devices are temperature sensitive and thus a istics were prepared, and a bitumen layer was coated on
second “temperature-only” grating element is used to create the surface of the sample cubes, except for the one face
the complete sensor system. To do so, a bare FBG is also that allowed moisture to permeate. As shown in Figure 5a,
included in the sensor design. Figure 4a and b shows, respec- samples with a water-to-cement (w/c) ratio of 0.7 had sensors
tively, the schematic diagram and a picture of the humidity positioned at 25 and 75 mm away from the uncoated face.
sensor probe design, in which both grating elements can Figure 5b shows typical results illustrating, as expected,
be seen—a bare FBG without coating is used for tempera- the longer time for the moisture ingress to be detected at
ture measurement and for temperature compensation of the sensor B, this being manifested as a change in the charac-
coated humidity sensor. teristic wavelength of the sensor. The time difference of the
In order to investigate moisture migration in structures, water to reach sensors A and B is a function of both the
specialized concrete samples were evaluated where using the mix type and the sensor position for the moisture ingress
optical fiber sensors developed and holes with a diameter of propagating through the sample. Thus by creating samples
4 mm drilled to a depth of 80 mm were cast in the 150 mm with varying concrete mix propositions, the data recorded on
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe162
6 General
moisture ingress could give a clear and quantitative indica- measurements as fluorescent sensors are usually more
tion of the permeability to water in different samples with precise, having less interference from the light source, and
different porosity values. This work is designed to lead to offer higher sensitivity than their colorimetric counterparts
a better understanding of the design of concrete structures (Staneva and Betcheva, 2007; Vasylevska et al., 2007).
exposed to moisture ingress, especially where it is desirable Significantly, attention in the development process was also
to minimize the migration of waterborne corrosive molecules paid to the mechanical design of the sensor to ensure safe
and applies to a wide range of structures both on land and in embedment in harsh and corrosive environments.
the marine environment. The development of an optical fiber high pH sensor is
basically based on the fluorometric determination of pH. In
this work, the coumarin dye as fluorescent indicator, HA,
5 FIBER OPTIC pH SENSOR is used to induce pH-sensitive changes in the measured
fluorescence intensity. In aqueous solution, the following
Only a few “optrodes”—optical analogue of electrodes— equilibrium can be reached:
have been reported for use in either the low or high pH
region where the pH response of most glass pH electrodes is HA ↔ H+ + A− (4)
imperfect (Werner and Wolfbeis, 1993; Gotou et al., 2006).
The reasons for limited success with many previous designs The relationship between the protonation state of the indi-
are quite varied, but the use of appropriate pH indicators, the cator and the pH is governed by the Henderson–Hasselbalch
choice of solid substrates, and the effective immobilization of equation:
the indicators to the substrates are probably the key factors [A− ]
pH = pKa + log (5)
in the development of an optimum optical pH sensor, as [HA]
they govern the lifetime and signal stability of the sensor where [A− ] and [HA] are the concentrations of the disso-
and often have not been achieved in previous designs. It is ciated and undissociated forms of the indicator and pKa is
even more challenging to develop optrodes for monitoring the acid–base constant. [A− ] and [HA] are related to fluo-
pH changes in concrete as in addition to the requirement for rescence intensities by [A− ] = F − Fmax and [HA] = Fmin − F
the sensor to be able to measure pH values in the range of where F is a measured fluorescence intensity of the system,
10–13 with a resolution of at least 0.5 pH units; the following Fmax is the fluorescence intensity of the fully protonated
requirements have to be fulfilled: (i) the sensor has to show system, and Fmin is the fluorescence intensity of the depro-
long-term stability under strongly alkaline conditions, (ii) the tonated system. The expressions are then substituted into
sensor design has to sustain embedment procedure under Equation 5 to provide Equation 6:
harsh working conditions, and (iii) the sensing element has to
be allowed for an intimate contact with the concrete matrix to F − Fmax
pH = pKa + log (6)
see pH changes. Several attempts have been made to produce Fmin − F
fiber optic pH sensor systems for concrete monitoring, but
most of them suffer from certain drawbacks in light of their Equation 6 can be rewritten in terms of F to give
potential practical applications in the field such as poor and
inconsistent response (Xie et al., 2004), drifting of the signal Fmax + Fmin × 10(pH−pKa )
F= (7)
resulting from dye leaching (Basheer et al., 2004), short 10(pH−pKa ) + 1
life-span (Basheer et al., 2004), or simply not being able
This results in an “S-shaped” relation of the fluores-
to operate effectively at pH above 12 (Dantan, Habel, and
cence intensity versus pH graph, centered on the pKa value.
Wolfbeis, 2005).
Equation 7 is used as a model for a nonlinear fitting method
A new approach has been taken by the authors to the
to calculate the pKa values for the free dyes, which is the pH
development of a pH sensing system in an attempt to
where 50% of the dye population in solution is protonated.
overcome the limitations of previous sensors, thus creating
The pKa value calculation for the polymer-bound dye was
more stable, robust, and durable and therefore more useful
performed using the Boltzmann model—Equation 8 where
devices. A novel pH-sensitive fluorescent polymer bearing
dpH is the slope of the curve within its linear zone:
imidazolyl groups was designed, synthesized, and used
as the sensing element. The protonation/deprotonation of Fmax + Fmin × e(pH−pKa )∕dpH
the nitrogen on the imidazolyl groups allows for the deter- F= (8)
e(pH−pKa )dpH + 1
mination of pH in the alkaline region of the pH scale. A
fluorescence detection method was employed rather than To meet the desired requirements discussed above, the
the simpler commonly used method based on colorimetric fluorescent dye used in this work was designed to include a
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe162
Cl
(a) O (b) O
H2N OH O N OH O N O O
H H
1 2
(c)
NO2 NO2
N N
N N Cl
(e) (d)
N O O H2N O O H2N O O
H
5 4 3
Scheme 1. Preparation of fluorescent monomers. (a) ClCOOEt, EtOAc, 100∘ C, 93%; (b) ethyl 4-chloroacetoacetate, H2 SO4 , H2 O, r.t,
19 h, 71%: (c) conc. H2 SO4 , glacial AcOH, 125∘ C, 2 h, 87%; (d) NaH (60%), 2-methyl-4-nitroimidazole, DMF, 100–60∘ C, 18 h, 87%; (e)
vinylbenzylchloride, K2 CO3 , KI, MeCN, 80∘ C, 2 days, 10%.
Mini-spectrometer
Focusing lens
1 × 2 optical Collimating lens

fiber coupler
pH probe
LED light
source
Quartz disc
SMA
Polymer connector
powder
Nylon membrane Sensing tablet Sensing tablet Sealed holder

in holder
Figure 6. Experimental setup used in the evaluation of the performance of the high pH probe designed.
polymerizable group and the coumarin core structure with commercially available phenolic compound as outlined in
an imidazole substituent. The linkage between the poly- Scheme 1 (Nguyen et al., 2014).
merizable group and the coumarin should be stable enough After the successful synthesis of the fluorescent dye using
to sustain strongly alkaline media. A novel polymerizable Scheme 1 indicated above, it was necessary to calibrate the
coumarin, vinylbenzylamino imidazolylmethyl coumarin sensor prior to its use. The setup used for the measurements
(VIC, 5), was prepared in multiple steps starting from a undertaken to calibrate the probe is shown in Figure 6, where
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe162
8 General
4000 3600
Intensity at 495 nm (counts)

3400
3200
3500 pKa = 11.9 ± 0.2
Light source 3000
2800
3000 2600
Intensity (counts) 2400
2200
2500 Increasing pH 2000
9 10 11 12 13 14
2000 pH
1500
1000
500
0
200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Wavelength (nm)
Figure 7. The evolution of fluorescence spectra of the sensor probe with pH in the range from 9.0 to 13.2. Inset shows the titration plots at
495 nm. Error bars represent standard deviations in the calculated values.
light from a 3 mW LED (Roithner Lasertechnik), emitting at 6 SUMMARY

a center wavelength of 375 nm, is coupled through a multi-
mode UV/visible fiber (with hard polymer cladding, 1000 μm A range of optical fiber sensor systems have been developed
silica core, and numerical aperture NA of 0.37 (Thorlabs)), and evaluated to monitor structural conditions that either
using collimation and focusing lenses (Comar), into one have been applied or shown the potential for being applied in
branch of a 2 × 1 multimode fiber coupler (Ocean Optics). the marine environment. These sensors have been designed
The other end of the fiber coupler is connected, through an to provide access to a suite of key parameters to help marine
SMA connector, to the sensor probe with the sensing tablet and civil engineers to diagnose the properties of marine struc-
(incorporated with the sensing fluorescent dye) being located tures created and to understand better the effects of vibration
at the bottom. Following pH interaction with the active on propellers, carbonation, and corrosion progression inside
region, a portion of the total light emitted from the sensing the concrete. Research is still “ongoing” both to expand
element is collected and guided through the other branch of the portfolio of marine instrumentation incorporating optical
the fiber coupler to an Ocean Optics USB2000 spectrometer, fibers and to widen the functionalities and scope of optical
with the output being displayed on a computer screen. fibers from static to dynamic domain.
The calibration measurements of the sensor characteristics
were performed in 50 mM phosphate buffer at different pH.
They were carried out in duplicate and the data presented GLOSSARY
were average values. The titration curve is shown in Figure 7.
The sensor probe exhibited a decrease in fluorescence inten- FBG Fiber Bragg grating.
sity with increasing pH in the range from 10 to 13.2, which NDT Non-destructive testing.
conveniently is wider than the dynamic response range of OFS Optical fiber sensors.
the free dye. Measurements could not be carried out at pH SHM Structural health monitoring.
higher than 13.2 as some leaking of the dye was observed
at pH 13.5. The pKa value calculated using Equation 8 for
the probe is 11.9 ± 0.2. This value for the immobilized form
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe162
Supply Chain Risk and Vulnerability in Maritime
Ports and Terminals
Risto Talas1 , David Menachof1 , and Kelvin Harris2
1 Hull University, Hull, UK
2
Port Authority of Trinidad & Tobago, Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago
port-centric logistics (Mangan, Lalwani, and Fynes, 2008).

1 Introduction 1 While ports and terminals maintain such a significant role
2 Risk and Vulnerability 1 in a nation’s economy and contribute so much to its success,
3 Supply Chain Risk 2 they largely do not feature in the lives of ordinary citizens
despite handling the import (and export) of the majority
4 Failure Modes and Effects Analysis 2
of electronic devices and white goods to be found in most
5 Identified Threats to Port Operations 3 global households. Furthermore, ports and terminals do
6 Discussion 4 not feature in the general public psyche owing to their
Endnotes 5 remoteness in terms of location and the public’s ignorance
Glossary 5 of their role.
Related Articles 6 Considering ports and terminals as nodes in global trans-
References 6 port systems, they are the very same nodes in global supply
chains. After Christopher (1998) and Peck (2006), supply
chains are not two-dimensional chains but a complex “net-
work of organisations that are linked through upstream
and downstream relationships in the different processes and
1 INTRODUCTION activities that produce value in terms of products and services
in the hands of the ultimate consumer.” These complex
Ports and terminals are the essential nodes in all global
networks of organizations are in turn serviced where neces-
transport systems. They are the interfaces between different
sary across national maritime borders by ports and terminals
transport modes, be it shipping, trucking, rail, or pipeline.
with value-adding activities where appropriate. However, as
They are situated in geographically strategic locations in
with any complex network such as a supply chain, risk is
different countries, typically for historic trade or defense
inherent in its operations and stability and has an impact
purposes. They are expensive and expansive. Without
on its resilience. In this chapter we will examine supply
them, there would be no international maritime trade and
chain risk and vulnerability in ports and terminals through
without trade there would be no economic growth. It is well
the prism of risk management.
known that ports and terminals maintain a variety of roles,
not only for the import and export of bulk and non-bulk
cargoes but for their value-adding activities as well, such as
2 RISK AND VULNERABILITY
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. As risk is present in all walks of daily life, it is logical that
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe550
an extensive literature exists on the subject. Whether consid-
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 ering individuals’ attitudes to risk and decision making under
2 Marine
uncertainty (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979), or risk as a drivers to outweigh risk mitigating strategies, thus causing
factor in decision making (March and Shapira, 1987), the adverse supply chain consequences.”
interpretation of risk varies from person to person. Defi-
nitions of risk also vary according to the discipline in
which the discussion is framed, be it operations manage-
3 SUPPLY CHAIN RISK
ment (Lewis, Erera, and White, 2003); supply chain (Rao
Khan and Burnes (2007, p. 204) highlight various risks
and Goldsby, 2009; Christopher, 2005; Juttner, Peck, and
to organizations for failing to manage supply chain risks
Christopher, 2003; Zsidisin et al., 2004; Chopra and Sodhi,
effectively. They are in terms of financial loss; reduction in
2004), supply chain security (Williams, Lueg, and LeMay,
shareholder value; reduction in product quality; and loss of
2008), port security (Bichou, 2004; Talas and Menachof,
reputation in the eyes of customers. The authors also describe
2009), terrorism (Sheffi, 2001; Woo, 2003; Raymond, 2006;
the various approaches to managing supply chain risk found
Price, 2004; Willis et al., 2005; Greenberg et al., 2006),
in the academic literature:
sociology and psychology, or more established disciplines
such as economics, finance, or management (Juttner, Peck,
• Closer working relationships with suppliers
and Christopher, 2003). Rao and Goldsby (2009) present
• Purchasing partnerships
selected definitions of risk from the literature including from
• Supplier quality/auditing/certification programs
Lowrance (1980), “risk is a measure of the probability and
• Multiple sources of supply versus single sourcing
severity of adverse effects,” and Yates and Stone (1992) “risk
• Inventory management
is an inherently subjective construct that deals with the possi-
• Communication and early involvement of suppliers in
bility of loss.”
strategic decisions
Definitions of risk relevant to this chapter can be found in
• Buffers
Robinson (2008), March and Shapira (1987), Bedford and
• Strategic alliances
Cooke (2001), Markowitz (1952), Broder (2006), Green-
• Risk sharing/knowledge transfer
berg et al. (2006), Price (2004), and Willis et al. (2005).
• Focus on core competence
Robinson (2008, p. 182) describes risk from a security
• Product differentiation
perspective as “the probability that harm may result from
• Entrepreneurial/risk taking
a given threat.” March and Shapira (1987, p. 1404) review
• Proactive supply management
managerial perspectives on risk and risk taking and define
risk as “reflecting variation in the distribution of possible
Of the approaches described above, none specifically
outcomes, their likelihoods and their subjective values.”
singles out the effective management of the transport supply
analysis of probabilistic risk analysis describes risk as having
chain or ports in particular as a means of managing supply
two particular elements: hazard and uncertainty. Markowitz
chain risk. The focus instead appears to be relationships
(1952, p. 89) describes risk as “variance of return.” Broder
with suppliers and strategies to increase buffer stocks and
(2006, p. 3) describes risk as “the uncertainty of financial
redundancy. Therefore, in order to address specifically the
loss, the variations between actual and expected results or
issues of supply chain risk and vulnerabilities in ports and
the probability that a loss has occurred or will occur.”
terminals, it is necessary to use a suitable tool to assess the
Willis et al. (2005) and Talas and Menachof (2014) also
risks and vulnerabilities inherent from the port or terminal.
define risk as the product of threat, vulnerability, and conse-
quence. Risks are dynamic and are constantly changing
according to changes in threat, vulnerability, and conse- 4 FAILURE MODES AND EFFECTS
quence. Therefore, in a theoretical discussion on risk, it may ANALYSIS
not be necessary to discuss vulnerability separately from
risk, given that vulnerability is one of the components of Frosdick (1997) argues that Failure modes and effects anal-
risk. However, as Svensson (2000) and Peck (2006) high- ysis (FMEA) is an effective risk and vulnerability assessment
light, vulnerability should be placed in the wider concept of tool. FMEA is a systematic procedure of focusing on what
contingency planning with Svensson (2000) defining vulner- can go wrong, what possibly could cause it, and what are the
ability as “a condition that is caused by time and relation- potential effects.1 FMEA follows a 10-step process:
ship dependencies in a company’s activities in a supply
chain.” However, this somewhat narrow definition stems 1. Review the process.
from Svensson’s work specifically on the automotive supply 2. Brainstorm potential failure modes.
chain. Juttner, Peck, and Christopher (2003) define supply 3. List potential effect of each failure mode.
chain vulnerability as “the propensity of risk sources and risk 4. Assign a severity rating for each failure.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe550
Supply Chain Risk and Vulnerability in Maritime Ports and Terminals 3
5. Assign an occurrence rating for each failure mode. • STS mobile harbor crane mechanical failure : Crane
6. Assign a detection rating for each failure mode and/or breakdown RTG(s) breakdown due to mechanical
effect. failure
7. Calculate the risk priority number (RPN) for each
effect. Acts of malevolence
8. Prioritize the failures mode for action.
9. Take action to eliminate or reduce the high-risk failures • Terrorist attacks/other incidents of malevolence
modes. • Bomb attacks that immobilize STS crane (s) bomb
10. Calculate the resulting RPN as the failure modes are attacks that immobilize RTG crane(s)
reduced or eliminated. • Bomb attacks that immobilize tractors/ECH(s)/reach
stackers
For each process, the ways that failure could possibly occur • Political instability/revolution/coup or attempted
and the consequences for the organization were identified coup/mass protestations/destruction of crane(s) by
and recorded for each analysis. The risks and vulnerabili- airborne missiles, for example, helicopter(s), airplane(s)
ties associated with each failure mode were quantified by
taking the product of three composite variables, namely, (1) Infrastructure-specific risks—accidents
the possibility of occurrence, (2) an estimation of severity,
and (3) the likelihood of the mode being detected. Each • Loss of use of quay as a result of collision into quay by
of these variables was expressed as a number between 1 ship
and 5. The possibility of occurrence and the severity were
expressed in ascending terms, meaning that, the greater the Structural failure(s)
possibility of occurrence, the larger the number assigned on
the 1–5 scale. The likelihood of detection was expressed in • Failure that results from depression(s) in terminal
the opposite manner (in inverse proportional terms), meaning • Failure that results from depression(s) in roadway(s)
that the greater the likelihood of detection, the smaller the or travel path used by equipment during servicing of
number assigned on the 1–5 scale. The calculated result for vessels
each process was indicated on the sheet as the “RPN”, with • Failure that results from depression(s) in roadway(s)
relatively high numbers reflecting higher vulnerabilities than or travel path used by equipment during servicing of
their lower counterparts. delivery vehicles
For the FMEAs, the authors first conducted a series of • Failure that results from natural disasters (earthquakes,
semi-structured interviews with representatives from the hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, storms)
port. They included: Deputy C.E.O; Divisional Manager • Failure that results from man-made disasters, for
(Operations); Manager, Container Operations; Port Superin- example, chemical spills, oil spills
tendents; Manager, Logistics; Stevedore Foremen; Container
Vessel Planners; Container Yard Planners; Port Engineer; Business-related issues
Port Electrician; Divisional Manager, Equipment; Mechan-
ical Engineer; Security Superintendent; H.S.E. Manger; • Sabotage that leads to massive loss of business to
Research Analysts; Claims Manager; Executive Manager, competitors
Finance; Chief Internal Auditor; Head of I.T.; Head of • Massive loss of business because of “transshipment
Marketing; Executive Manager H.R.; Management Analyst. re-location” by major customer(s)
The purpose of the interviews was to identify all possible • Massive loss of business because of national/global
sources of threat to port operations. The results from the economic shrinkage
interviews are summarized below: • Massive loss of business because of failure of the port to
prepare to take advantage of possible business opportu-
nities that are expected to emerge
5 IDENTIFIED THREATS TO PORT
OPERATIONS Business loss due to unsatisfactory performance
Equipment-specific risks—mechanical • Persistently low productivity that threatens business and

therefore can lead to business loss
• STS (rail-mounted) mechanical failure: Crane break- • Inappropriate communication that results in loss of busi-
down ness because of customer dissatisfaction
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe550
4 Marine
• Loss of business that results from customers’ perception A sample of the results of the FMEA analysis which the
that service(s) is (are) overpriced authors conducted is summarized in Table 1.
• Sudden “illicit drug” reputation that brands the organiza-
tion in such a negative way that business loss results
• Misappropriation/Ill-use of funds by senior manager(s),
resulting in depleted funds for doing day-to-day business 6 DISCUSSION
operations in the equipment division
From the results of the FMEA it is clear that a hazardous
spill and a blockage in the harbor carry the highest RPNs
Operations/IT
for the process of vessel berthing. These failure modes
could also potentially lead to the greatest delays in vessel
• Failure of terminal operating system (TOS)—multi-
berthing, thus impacting on the myriad of supply chains that
faceted, for example, omission re bill payment resulting
rely on the container terminal as a key node. This form
in internet service being severed by provider, attack on
of nodal analysis of supply chain interruption is scarcely
firewall, and introduction of a virus.
addressed in the supply chain risk literature. The rest of
the failure modes are a variety of man-made and natural
Human resource issues events including wind storm, flood, and industrial action.
It is interesting to note that terrorism scores lowest in
• Mass resignations terms of RPN. This may be because the container terminal
• Mass exit/mass death which cripples the division in question is situated in a country with a low risk of
(epidemic, plane crash, attrition) succession planning terrorism.
failures so that after retirement(s) there is(are) no From the perspective of the process of container discharge,
replacement(s)or not suitable replacement(s) hazardous spill again has the highest RPN, followed by
wind storm and flood. This may reflect the vulnerability
Strikes, industrial unrest, demonstrations of the container terminal to such natural weather-related
events. However, it is interesting to note that the fourth
• Inability of persons to reach their point of work because highest RPN is external attack on the IT system. This may
of natural disasters (earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, be reflective of the cyber attacks on the port of Antwerp
storms, epidemic, insect/pest attacks) over a 2-year period from June 2011 as reported by the
• Inability of persons to reach their point of work BBC on 16 October 2013.2 The majority of the remaining
because of man-made disasters (chemical spills, process failures are related to IT and power outages, both
mass fire(s), bridge failure(s), road blockages, food national and local, and industrial action and mechanical
poisoning(s), environmental destruction (air pollution), failure. These all point to a general lack of investment in
fuel shortage(s)) port and national infrastructure in the country in question.
For a more sophisticated container terminal in a first world
The majority of the threats identified above have an effect country, these process failures may not feature so highly,
on port operations and thus shippers and other interest but nevertheless for supply chains reliant on the container
parties, but some also affect the port itself from a future terminal in the analysis, these potential failures should be
business perspective. The next step is the conduct of the factored in by supply chain risk managers given that they are
FMEA analysis on a limited number of port processes. likely to occur and do so from time to time.
The ones included in this chapter include berthing of a While the FMEA tool is a useful tool for analyzing a
vessel and container discharge from a vessel. The analysis port’s or terminal’s risk profile and identifying vulnerabilities
was conducted in a series of round table meetings with a that can inform better a supply chain’s risk and vulnera-
cross section of port representatives with a maximum of bility profile, FMEA does have its limitations. It is a highly
five personnel at each meeting to consider the processes subjective tool in terms of the estimation of the RPNs but
involved; the failure modes and their effects on the port when carried out well, with table-top discussions including
facility; an estimation of occurrence, severity, and detec- the appropriate subject matter experts, the results can be
tion resulting in the calculation of the risk priority number; valuable.
and finally an assessment of the stakeholders who were Finally, it would be useful to extend the current research
affected. These stakeholders are also typically those whose to include estimates of the financial impacts on the supply
supply chains have been affected by the interruptions to port chains that would have been affected in the overall failure
operations. modes and effects analyses.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe550
Supply Chain Risk and Vulnerability in Maritime Ports and Terminals 5
Table 1. Results of the FMEA analysis.

Process Process Failure—Total Potential Cause of Failure RPN Customers Affected
Berthing of vessel Unable to berth Hazardous spill 64 Shipping lines/agents/importers/
exporters/transhipment
importers
Berthing of vessel Unable to berth Blockage of harbour 30
Berthing of vessel Unable to berth No tugs available 30
Berthing of vessel Unable to berth Wind storm 40
Berthing of vessel Unable to berth Navigational aid failure 24
Berthing of vessel Unable to berth Industrial action 20
Berthing of vessel Unable to berth No pilots available 16
Berthing of vessel Unable to berth Management failure 16
Berthing of vessel Unable to berth Oil spill 12
Berthing of vessel Unable to berth Terrorism 8
Container discharge Unable to discharge Hazardous spill 64 Shipping lines/agents/importers
container
Container discharge Unable to discharge Wind storm 40
container
Container discharge Unable to discharge Flood 40
container
Container discharge Unable to discharge IT failure—external attack 40
container
Container discharge Unable to discharge Industrial action 25
container
Container discharge Unable to discharge RTG out of service 24
container
Container discharge Unable to discharge National power failure 20
container
Container discharge Unable to discharge IT failure—hard drive 20
container
Container discharge Unable to discharge IT failure—internal sabotage 20
container
Container discharge Unable to discharge IT system failure 18
container
Container discharge Unable to discharge STS Crane out of service 16
container
Container discharge Unable to discharge Local power failure 16
container
Container discharge Unable to discharge Oil spill 12
container
Container discharge Unable to discharge Earthquake 10
container
Container discharge Unable to discharge Terrorism 8
container
Container discharge Unable to discharge Customs action 6
container
ENDNOTES Port a node in maritime supply chains,

which handles import and
1. www.fmea.co.uk export of cargo
2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24539417 Port operations the day-to-day value-adding
(accessed 30 July 2015). activities of a port
Risk the product of threat,
GLOSSARY vulnerability, and
consequence
Failure nodes an effective risk and vulnerability Supply chain risk forms of risk that specifically
and effects assessment tool originally developed affects an organization’s
analysis in the engineering discipline supply chains
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe550
6 Marine
RELATED ARTICLES Mangan, J., Lalwani, C., and Fynes, B. (2008) Port-centric logis-
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29–41.
Risk Analysis
March, J.G. and Shapira, Z. (1987) Managerial perspectives on risk
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Markowitz, H. (1952) Portfolio selection. The Journal of Finance, 7
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Peck, H. (2006) Reconciling supply chain vulnerability, risk and
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Enough? (eds R.C. Schwing and W.A. Albers), Plenum Press,
New York.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe550
Alessandro Toffoli1 and Elzbieta M. Bitner-Gregersen2
1 Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
2 DNV GL Strategic Research and Innovation, DNV GL, Høvik, Norway
also induce stresses on the sea floor, contributing to erosion,

1 Surface Waves 1 transport, and deposition of sediment and more generally to
2 Types of Ocean Waves and Wave Classification 2 coastal morphodynamics (Nielsen, 2009), affecting all types
3 Other Distinctive Characteristics of Ocean of human activities near shore.
Waves 6 Generally speaking, waves are oscillations (or distur-
bances) of the water surface that can be observed in any
4 Conclusions 7
water basin like rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans. For a
Glossary 7 wave to exist there must be an initial equilibrium state,
Related Articles 7 which is perturbed by an initial disturbance and compen-
References 7 sated by a restoring force. Generating mechanisms are
primarily originated by local wind, seismic oscillations of
the Earth during earthquakes, atmospheric pressure gradi-
ents, and gravitational attraction between the Earth, Sun,
1 SURFACE WAVES and Moon. Normally, these forces are compensated by
gravity. However, surface tension plays a more substantial
Waves affect a large number of marine activities and role for very short (capillary) waves, while very long pertur-
biochemical processes that take place on and below the bations such as the ones produced by gravitational attraction
ocean surface. The widespread wind-generated waves are, (i.e., tides) tend to be restored primarily by the Coriolis
for example, responsible for inducing considerable loads force.
on marine structures such as ships and offshore platforms, The different origin and nature of surface oscillations affect
pipelines, mooring systems, renewable energy installations, the waveform in terms of height and period (and associ-
and port activities among many others (Faltinsen, 1990; ated wavelength), generating a large variety of waves. In
Tsinker, 2004; Nerzic and Mazé, 2012). Further, waves and this regard, it is worth mentioning that the water surface
wave breaking induce motion and turbulence through the acts as an interface separating two fluids of different density:
water column (until a depth comparable with the wavelength, the air with density of 1 kg/m3 and water with density of
Babanin, 2011). This plays a fundamental role in expanding 1000 kg/m3 . As the former is negligible with respect to the
or contracting the mixed layer depth, regulating biological latter, any disturbance propagating on the water surface (i.e.,
processes in the upper ocean, exchanging heat and gasses at the air–sea interface) is defined as surface wave. This
at the air–sea interface, and controlling the global climate opposes the concept of internal wave (Sutherland, 2010),
(Csanady, 2001; Babanin, 2011). In coastal regions, waves which refers to oscillations traveling within layers of a strati-
fied fluid such as, for example, layers of different temperature
and/or salinity in the ocean.
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. The present article focuses on surface waves. It discusses
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe077
the different types of oscillations that can be encountered in
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 the ocean and their basic features.
2 Marine
2 TYPES OF OCEAN WAVES AND WAVE wavy structure is generally forced by a light breeze of speeds
CLASSIFICATION of about 3 m/s (taken at a reference height of 10 m from the
water level) and assumes a fine structure of small ripples
Ocean waves can be classified in several ways (Kinsman, with a wavelength of less than 1.5 cm and period less than
1965; Massel, 2013; Holthuijsen, 2007, among others). The 0.1 s (an example of capillary waves is shown in Figure 2).
most intuitive and commonly used classification is based on
The dynamics of capillary waves is dominated primarily by
the wave period or the associated wavelength. In Table 1, a
summary of the different types of surface waves is presented surface tension (Lamb, 1994), which forces group velocity
with respect to wave period. The associated originating (the speed at which energy propagates) to be 1.5 times
forcing and restoring mechanisms are also reported. A graph- greater than the phase velocity. As waves keep growing
ical representation is provided in Figure 1 (Holthuijsen, under the influence of wind, however, the initially small
2007), where an idealized wave energy spectrum shows the ripples evolve into longer waves. For wavelength of approx-
full range of ocean wave components. imately 1.7 cm (or wave period of about 0.33 s), gravity
cancels capillary effects, suppressing dispersion (Lamb,
2.1 Capillary Waves 1994). At this stage of wave growth, wave groups and wave
phases propagate at the same speed. Immediately above this
The shortest-period waves, and the first to be noticed
on the ocean surface when wind starts blowing, are the threshold, gravity effects dominate wave dynamics, while
capillary waves, which resemble cat’s paws ripping the surface tension only plays a secondary role. The resulting
otherwise smooth surface (Kinsman, 1965). This peculiar oscillations are normally classified as an ultragravity wave.
Table 1. Ocean wave classification

Classification Period band Generating forces Restoring forces
Capillary waves <0.1 s Wind Surface tension
Ultragravity waves 0.1–1 s Wind Surface tension and gravity
Gravity waves 1–20 s Wind Gravity
Infragravity waves 20 s to 5 min Wind and atmospheric pressure gradients Gravity
Long-period waves 5 min to 12 h Atmospheric pressure gradients and earthquake Gravity
Ordinary tidal waves 12–24 h Gravitational attraction Gravity and Coriolis force
Transtidal waves >24 h Storms and gravitational attraction Gravity and Coriolis force
Arbitrary energy scale
Tides
Seiches Wind-generated waves
Trans-tidal waves Surges Tsunamis Infra-gravity waves
Capillary
Swell Wind sea waves
10−6 10−5 10−4 10−3 10−2 10−1 100 Frequency (Hz) 10+1
24 h 3h 15 min 100 s 10 s 1s Period 0.1 s
Figure 1. Frequency and period of ocean waves. (Reproduced from Holthuijsen, 2007. © Cambridge University Press, 2007.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe077
Types of Ocean Surface Waves, Wave Classification 3
growth of wave amplitude at the expense of the surrounding

waves, leading to the formation of extremely large waves
(Osborne, 2010, for a detailed review on the underlying
mechanisms). When the wave height of such events exceeds
twice the significant wave height (i.e., the average of the
highest 1/3 of the waves in a 20-min wave record), a
freak or rogue wave is normally identified (Kharif, Peli-
novsky, and Slunyaev, 2009; Osborne, 2010). In this regard,
a well-documented example of a rogue wave is the “New
Year” wave. This event was recorded at the Draupner oil
field (North Sea) on 1 January 1995, and consisted of a
25.6 m high wave in a background sea state of about 12 m
Figure 2. Example of capillary waves. (Photo reproduced with significant wave height (i.e., the wave height exceeded 2.1
permission © Authors.) times the significant wave height). Despite their low prob-
ability of occurrence, these extraordinary wave events may
sometime represent a severe sea hazard for all types of
2.2 Gravity Waves: Wind Sea and Swell engineering activities (Kharif, Pelinovsky, and Slunyaev,
2009), especially during an already severe storm condi-
A consistent blowing of wind over a substantial fetch (i.e., the tion.
distance over which the wind blows) forces waves to become When waves propagate over a depth that is much larger
much longer than the threshold wavelength of 1.7 cm. As than the wavelength (i.e., the water depth can be considered
the wavelength grows longer than 1.5 m (i.e., wave period as of infinite depth), longer waves travel faster than shorter
becomes larger than 1 s), surface tension becomes negligible ones, dispersing from one another (Holthuijsen, 2007). As
and gravity remains the sole restoring mechanism. Under a consequence, long waves rapidly move outside the gener-
these circumstances, waves are classified as gravity waves. ating area (Figure 3) and become known as swells. Swells
It is worth mentioning, in this regard, that gravity acts on have a typical wavelength that is greater than 260 m (i.e.,
wave dispersion by inducing wave phases to propagate faster period larger than 13 s) up to maximum of approximately
than wave groups and thus reversing the effect of surface 900 m (period of 24 s, Hanafin et al., 2012). As their height is
tension. Generally speaking, gravity waves assume periods normally small, dissipation is less intense if compared with
ranging from a minimum of about 1 s up to maximum of wind sea. As an example, a long wave with period larger than
approximately 25 s (i.e., wavelength varies roughly between 13 s and small amplitude loses about half of its energy over
1.5 and 900 m). a distance of about 20,000 km. It is not uncommon, there-
Under the direct effect of the local wind, a large number fore, that a swell that generates in the Antarctic Ocean travels
of components with different wave periods, direction of all the way to the Alaska with very little energy dissipa-
propagations and phases are generated. The resulting wave tion (Ardhuin, Collard, and Chapron, 2009). However, like
field is an interaction of all these components, which gener- all gravity waves, swell grows in amplitude and decreases
ates an erratic (irregular) pattern normally known as wind
sea. Despite the wide period band of wind-generated waves,
the dominant components of wind sea remain relatively
Capillary to Fully developed
short. During severe storm conditions, for example, the Swell
wind sea wind sea
wave period increases up to maximum of approximately
10–12 s (or associated wavelengths of 150–220 m). The
wave height, however, grows substantially, steepening the
wave profile. This increases wave-induced velocities on and
below the water surface, enhancing loads on marine struc- Wind
tures (Faltinsen, 1990) and contributing to the mixing of
the upper ocean by injecting turbulence directly throughout
a depth comparable with the wavelength (Babanin, 2006;
Babanin, Ganopolski, and Phillips, 2009). If waves become
Fetch
sufficiently steep and wave components propagate over a
narrow range of directions, the instability of wave groups
to side-band perturbations can cause a rapid and substantial Figure 3. Schematic representation of wind sea and swell.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe077
4 Marine
in wavelength over rapidly shoaling regions before it breaks 2.4 Long-Period Waves (Tsunamis, Seiches, and
nearby the shore, quickly losing energy. Storm Surges)
2.3 Infragravity Waves Well-defined waves with periods longer than 5 min are
routinely recorded in the ocean (Nielsen, 2009). Although
Nonlinear interactions between wave components convert different originating mechanisms can be responsible for such
part of the energy associated to wind-generated gravity waves, meteorological conditions and earthquakes remain
waves into subharmonics with periods ranging from about 20 the primary cause. Normally, long oscillations generated
to 30 s up to a maximum of approximately 5 min (Herbers, by atmospheric conditions are known as seiches and storm
Elgar, and Guza, 1995a). These long oscillations, which are surges, while tsunamis identify waves originated from
driven primarily by swell (Tucker, 1950), are bound to the earthquakes. Despite the long wavelength, the restoring
generating wave trains and are normally known as infra- mechanism is still dominated by gravity.
gravity waves. An example of measured infragravity waves Tsunamis are long waves with period varying between 1
is presented in Figure 4, where the infragravity component and 20 min (wavelength from a few kilometers up to a few
was extracted from an original time series (solid line in the hundreds of kilometers) that are generated by sudden tectonic
figure) by filtering period lower than 30 s. changes to the sea bed or landslides that are usually attributed
In coastal areas, incident wind sea and swells dissipate to earthquakes and submarine volcanic activity (Voit, 1987;
their energy in the form of depth-induced breaking, releasing Haugen et al., 2005; Margaritondo, 2005; Bernard et al.,
the less-energetic infragravity components. Note that as the 2006; Nielsen, 2009 among others). In the open ocean,
waves are no longer bounded to the originating wave packets, tsunamis have very small amplitude (only rarely wave height
they are thus defined as free waves. Due to their small exceeds 1 m) and generally pass completely unnoticed. Prop-
amplitude, infragravity waves do not reach the breaking limit agation into shallower waters, however, makes wave shoal,
and hence propagate toward the shore until they are reflected. compressing the shape of the oscillation. As a result, its
The resulting seaward-propagating free infragravity waves speed diminishes of about one order of magnitude (from
may be further reflected backward from a turning point on about 800 to <80 km/h), while its wavelength reduces to less
the sloping beach or radiate into the deep ocean. than 20 km with a consequent substantial growth of wave
Generally, infragravity motion observed on the continental height (a comprehensive record of historical events can be
shelf in depths ranging from 8 to 200 m is a mixture of found in Bryant, 2008). Except for the largest tsunamis,
subharmonics bounded to the incident waves (Herbers et al., the approaching wave does not break, but rather appears
1994) and free waves radiated from the shore (Herbers et al., like a fast-moving tidal bore. It is interesting to note that
1995b), which are normally more energetic than the former. tsunamis may also feature multiple waves with significant
Infragravity waves may affect substantially sediment trans- time (normally hours) between arrivals of subsequent wave
port and other coastal processes and activities, including port crests. The first wave reaching the shore may not necessarily
operations and moorings due to induced harbor oscillations have the highest run up, though.
(Masterton and Ewans, 2008). It is not uncommon for seismic activities and tsunamis
to generate additional long-waves components (seiches)
due to local geographical peculiarities. The primary causes
5 of seiches, nonetheless, remains related to meteorological
disturbances such as wind gusts or atmospheric pressure
variations, which induce a resonance effect on an enclosed
or partially enclosed water basins (e.g., closed seas such
as the Adriatic Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the North Sea) and
η/σ
0
originate very long oscillation (see a schematic in Figure 5).
The range of natural periods for seiches is rather large and
strongly depends on the fundamental resonance period of
the water basin. In most of the seiches that occur in nature,
−5
the period T can be estimated as T = 2 L/(gh)0.5 , where g is the
3300 3350 3400 3450 acceleration due to gravity, L the length of the basin, and h the
Time (s) average depth of the basin (Proudman, 1953; Nielsen, 2009).
Normally, seiches induced by wind gusts have wavelength
Figure 4. Example of bound infragravity waves: recorded time of a few kilometers with an associated wave period of the
series (solid line) and filtered infragravity waves (dashed line). order of undress seconds. Variations in atmospheric pressure
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe077
High Tide
Wind
vel
ater le
High w Low Tide
Still water level Moon
Equator
Earth
Figure 5. A schematic representation of seiches in a closed water Tidal bulges

basin.
Figure 6. Schematic representation of the tidal bulges generated by

the gravitational attraction of the Moon.
or mean wind direction due to moving weather systems, on
the other hand, are responsible for oscillation of much larger
scales with associated period of the order of hours (Nielsen,
3
2009).
Large atmospheric low-pressure systems (e.g., tropical
cyclones or extra-tropical storms) cause much longer oscil-
Water level (m)
lations, namely storm surges, by raising the water level in 2
regions of low pressure and dropping it in regions of high

pressure. For a stationary system, for example, an increase
of sea level of about 1 cm corresponds to a variation of atmo- 1
spheric pressure of approximately 1 hPa (Nielsen, 2009). The
wave period of storm surges is normally of the same order
of magnitude of the meteorological disturbance, that is, it 0
0 200 400 600
varies from a few hours to a few days (Nielsen, 2009; Massel,
Time (h)
2013).
Due to the large wavelength, long waves and especially
Figure 7. Time history of high and low tides at Carlo Island (Coral
storm surges are normally perceived as a change in the water Sea, Australia).
level rather than a surface water wave, especially near shore.
In the most extreme cases, this can cause flooding of coastal
areas and disruptions to all coastal activities.
Semidiurnal tides are observed at the equator at all times.
However, most locations north or south of the equator are
2.5 Tides subjected to two uneven high tides and two uneven low
tides each day (see an example of sea water level oscil-
The combined effect of the Earth’s rotation and the gravita- lation presented in Figure 7). This particular tidal condi-
tional attraction from the Moon and the Sun generates two tion is known as mixed tide, and the difference in height
bulges in the ocean surface (Pugh, 2004; Nielsen, 2009): one between successive high (or low) is normally called the
points toward the Moon/Sun and one away from them (see a diurnal inequality. When the Moon is above one of the
schematic in Figure 6). The resulting disturbance is compen- tropics, the diurnal inequality is at its maximum, while it
sated by the Coriolis force and gives rise to an extremely long reaches a minimum when the Moon is above or nearly above
oscillation normally known as tide. Depending on the loca- the equator. Diurnal tides occur mostly at high latitudes,
tion among many other factors, tides can assume a period of when the Moon and its associated tidal bulges are either north
12.25 h, when two almost equal high tides and two low tides or south of the equator (Pugh, 2004).
occur each day (semidiurnal tide), and/or 24.5 h, when one The amplitude of the tidal oscillation at a specific location
high tide and one low tide is expected each day (diurnal tide). is influenced by the particular alignment of the Sun and
Due to the extreme large wavelength, tides are perceived as the Moon; the orbit of the Earth, Moon, and the Sun; and
quasi-periodical changes to the sea water level. the shape of the coastline and near-shore bathymetry among
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe077
6 Marine
Time
Figure 8. Low tide at St Ives Harbor (United Kingdom). (Photo
reproduced with permission © Authors.) x
Progressive wave Standing wave
Figure 9. A schematic representation of a progressive wave (left

other factors. The maximum tidal elevation occurs a few days panel) and a standing wave (right panel).
after the full and new Moon as the Sun and the Moon act
together (i.e., the Sun, Moon, and the Earth are aligned).
This particular condition is known as spring tide. When the In particular circumstances, the wave profile remains in a
Moon is at the first or third quarter, the Sun and the Moon are constant position, only inducing a vertical oscillation of the
misaligned by 90∘ and the solar gravitational force partially water surface without horizontal propagation. Such a wave is
cancels the one exerted by the Moon. At these stages of the normally defined as a standing wave (Dean and Dalrymple,
lunar cycle, the tidal range is at its minimum and the tide is 1991; Nielsen, 2009). A typical example of a standing wave
called neap tide. is a seiche in a bay or a close water basin. Often infragravity
It is worth mentioning that the maximum elevation of the waves trapped inside a harbor also originates a standing
spring tide can range from a few centimeters to about 14 m wave. A schematic representation of a progressive and a
in some peculiar geographical locations (e.g., funnel-shaped standing wave is presented in Figure 9.
estuaries), where the local topography enhances the tide. Another important characteristic of ocean waves is related
Although this may induce a strong wave orbital motion to the water depth over which the oscillation propagates.
throughout the water column (i.e., tidal currents) that can fuel In particular, when the depth is much larger than the wave-
renewable energy installations, wide ranges of tidal elevation length (i.e., h/Lw > 1/2, where h is the water depth and Lw
may become hazards for navigation and port activities if is the wavelength), the wave-induced water particle motion
the minimum sea water level is too shallow. In extreme weakens with depth and eventually vanishes at a depth
cases, harbor can completely dry out during the low tide equivalent to half the wavelength (Dean and Dalrymple,
(Figure 8). Note also that extreme variations of the sea 1991; Holthuijsen, 2007). Under these circumstances, waves
water level can be further emphasized (both in terms on are unaffected by the sea floor and are defined as deep
high and low) by the simultaneous occurrence of storm water waves. Capillary waves, for example, are normally
surges. of this type as well as wind-generated waves propagating
in the open ocean. On the other hand, if the water depth
is much smaller than the wavelength (i.e., h/Lw < 1/20),
the water column is not enough to allow the complete
3 OTHER DISTINCTIVE development of the wave motion, affecting the properties
CHARACTERISTICS OF OCEAN of the surface oscillation (Holthuijsen, 2007). Waves are
WAVES thus defined as shallow water waves. Typical examples
are tides, which can be considered as shallow water waves
Apart from the period or wavelength, there are a few other even at the deepest location in the ocean. For water depth
distinctive properties that can identify different types of in between these two conditions (i.e., 1/20 < h/Lw < 1.2),
waves. In its simplest form, for example, a wave is an expres- waves are only partly affected by the bottom topography and
sion of movement or progression of energy through a fluid waves are defined as intermediate water waves (Holthuijsen,
(though there is no transport of mass). The fact that the profile 2007). Note that wind-generated waves and long waves
of the oscillation moves relative to the fluid identifies what is such as tsunamis, seiches, and storm surges normally
normally known as a progressive wave (Dean and Dalrymple, transform into intermediate water wave and eventu-
1991). Most of the waves that can be encountered on the ally into shallow water waves when propagating toward
ocean surface are of this type. shore.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe077
4 CONCLUSIONS Standing wave A wave in a medium in which each point

on the axis of the wave has an
The overall oscillatory motion on the ocean surface is a associated constant amplitude. The
combination of a large variety of waves. All these waves locations at which the amplitude is
are primarily classified according to the generation and minimum are called nodes, and the
restoring mechanisms, which induce oscillations within a locations where the amplitude is
wide band of periods and associated wavelengths. The prin- maximum are called antinodes.
cipal generation forces are driven by the wind, atmospheric Storm surge A long wave resulting from strong
pressure gradients, and gravitational attraction. Restoring onshore winds and/or reduced
forces are normally driven by surface tension, gravity, and atmospheric pressure.
Coriolis force. From the smallest to the largest, waves can Swell Wind waves that have traveled out of the
be classified as capillary, ultragravity, gravity, infragravity, generating area. Swell has longer
long-period, and tidal waves. periods and a smoother appearance
than wind sea.
Tide The rise and fall of sea levels caused by
the combined effects of gravitational
GLOSSARY forces exerted by the Moon, Sun, and
rotation of the Earth.
Capillary wave A wave in which the velocity of Tsunami A wave (or a series of waves) in a water
propagation is a function of the body caused by the displacement of a
surface tension of the water. Wind large volume of water. Earthquakes,
waves of wavelength less than about eruptions, landslides, and other
0.025 m are considered capillary disturbances above or below the ocean
waves. surface have the potential to generate
Deep water wave A wave for which water depth is greater a tsunami.
than one half the wave length. Ocean Wind sea Waves formed due to the direct action of
wind waves are negligibly affected by local winds.
the bottom in deep water.
Gravity wave A wave in which the velocity of
propagation is a function of gravity. RELATED ARTICLES
Infragravity A surface gravity wave with frequency
wave lower than the frequencies directly Tides and Water Levels
generated by forcing through the Wind, Wave and Current Modeling and Prediction
wind. MetOcean Parameters and Processes
Intermediate A term used to describe waves that are Regular, Irregular Waves and the Wave Spectrum
water waves neither deep water nor shallow water Generation of Waves by Wind
waves. Finite-Depth and Shallow Water Waves
Progressive wave A wave in which the ratio of an
instantaneous value at one point to
that at any other point does not vary
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Wave Boundary Layer in the Lower Atmosphere
Yuliya I. Troitskaya
Institute of Applied Physics, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
where z0 is the roughness height approximately corre-

1 Introduction 1 sponding to the physical height of the elements of the
2 Basic Fluid Mechanics Formulation and surface.
Equations 1 Equivalent definition of the surface roughness can be done
3 Models of Wave-Induced Disturbances in Marine through the surface drag coefficient in atmospheric applica-
Atmospheric Boundary Layer 3 tions usually referred to the height H10 = 10 m.
4 Effect of Waves on Density Stratification in Marine
u2∗ 𝜅2
Atmospheric Boundary Layer 6 CD10 = =( )2
U(H10 ) H
References 7 ln z10
0
The peculiarity of the atmospheric boundary layer over the

sea surface is its extremely low effective roughness: far
enough from the water surface, the air flow velocity obeys
1 INTRODUCTION Equation 1 with z0 much less than the physical roughness
of the water surface characterized by the significant wave
Wave boundary layer (WBL) is a lower part of the atmo- heights Hs (defined as the mean wave height (trough to crest)
sphere adjusted to the water surface, which is influenced by of the highest third of the waves), and in this context the
waves at the water surface, a constituent of marine atmo- surface drag coefficient of the sea surface is anomalously
spheric boundary layer (MABL). The conventional model low. According to Drennan, Taylor, and Yelland (2005), in
of MABL similarly to the turbulent boundary layers at flat wide range of wind speeds in MABL the ratio z0 /Hs < 10−4 .
solid surface consists of free atmosphere (or free flow), tran- Thus, for the sea surface the roughness height is an effective
sition layer (or a “wake” of the turbulent boundary layer), parameter not related directly to the physical roughness; it is
and the layer of constant fluxes, where the average tangen- determined by tangential stresses acting in WBL.
tial mechanical stress 𝜏(z) = 𝜌a u2∗ is conserved, where 𝜌a is
the air density and u* the wind friction velocity. The velocity
profile in the layer of constant fluxes at the flat solid surface 2 BASIC FLUID MECHANICS
follows the logarithmic function FORMULATION AND EQUATIONS
u∗ z Turbulent flow in MABL can be described within the
U(z) = ln (1)
𝜅 z0 Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations (or RANS
equations) formulated above the sea surface undulated by
Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering, online © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. waves:
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe087 𝜕vi 𝜕v 𝜕v 1 𝜕p 𝜕𝜎ij 𝜕𝜎i3
Also published in the Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering (print edition) + vj i + w i + = + ; i = 1, 2 (2)
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 𝜕t 𝜕xj 𝜕z 𝜌 𝜕xi 𝜕xj 𝜕z
2 General
with the kinematic and no-slip boundary conditions at the case of air flow around a wave breaker is difficult; it has
air–sea interface z = 𝜂(x, y, t): not met the analytical description yet and is considered
( )| phenomenological.
𝜕𝜂 𝜕𝜂 | Integrating Equation 5 over z* gives conservation of total
+ vj −w | = 0; u|z=𝜂(xi ,t) = uwater |z=𝜂(xi ,t)
𝜕t 𝜕xj | tangential momentum in turbulent boundary layer:
|z=𝜂(xi ,t)
(3)
In Equation 2, 𝜎 ij are the sums of viscous and turbulent ⟨𝜎i3 ⟩ + [𝜏wave (z∗ )]i = T0i , i = 1, 2 (6)
stresses; according to Monin and Yaglom (1992)
Here, T0i is a constant of integration equal to the
( ) i-projection of turbulent stress above the WBL, but within
𝜕vi 𝜕vj
𝜎ij = −u′2 𝛿 + 𝜈eff + the layer of constant fluxes. If the axis x1 is chosen parallel
i ij 𝜕xj 𝜕xi
to the horizontal component of the total turbulent stress
outside the WBL, then T01 = u2∗ , T02 = 0.
where 𝜈 eff is the superposition of kinematic molecular
At the water surface, it follows from Equation 6, that
viscosity 𝜈 a and turbulent viscosity 𝜈 tur : 𝜈 eff = 𝜈 a + 𝜈 tur .
Outside the WBL, but within the layer of constant fluxes, ⟨ ⟩|
p 𝜕𝜂 𝜕𝜂 ||
𝜈 tur = 𝜅zu* . − 𝜎1j ∗ | + ⟨𝜎13 ⟩|z∗ =0 = u2∗
Using surface-following mapping from the Cartesian coor- 𝜌 𝜕x1∗ 𝜕xj |
|z∗ =0
dinates (xi , z) to curvilinear system xi∗ , z* suggested by Hsu, ⟨ ⟩|
Hsu, and Street (1981) enables to avoid strong geometrical p 𝜕𝜂 𝜕𝜂 ||
nonlinearity by the following − 𝜎2j ∗ | + ⟨𝜎23 ⟩|z∗ =0 = 0
𝜌 𝜕x2∗ 𝜕xj |
|z =0
∗
z = z∗ + f (z∗ )𝜂(xi , t), xi = xi∗ , t = t∗ (4) The first terms in angle brackets, Fi = ⟨(p∕𝜌)(𝜕𝜂∕𝜕xi∗ )⟩|z∗ =0 ,
are two components of the form drag of the wave profile
Here, f(z*) is a function equal to 1 at z* = 0. For a plain determined by the horizontal projection of the pressure force
harmonic wave in a laboratory tank 𝜂 = a cos(𝜔t − kx), Hsu, exerting normal to the curved surface. This part of the total
Hsu, and Street (1981) used the function vanished at the stress is mostly spent to the excitation of surface waves
upper lid of the channel. (see below). Depending on the properties of the waves, the
direction of the form drag can differ from the direction of
sin hk(y∗ + H)
f (z∗ ) = total stress. Usually for wind waves and stable wind these
sin hkH directions coincide, but they do not in the case of swell or
The simplest version of the mapping is f(z*) = 1. changing wind. The second term is the skin friction defined
Averaging over wave disturbances (i.e., over t* and xi∗ ) of by the tangential viscous stress at the water surface, where
the horizontal projection of the RANS equations expressed the dominating term is Si = 𝜈 a (𝜕U1 /𝜕z *)|z * = 0 . Measuring
in coordinates 4 with f(z*) = 1: the velocity gradient in the water near the surface and
assuming conservation of surface stress at the air–water
⟨ ( )
d[𝜏wave (z∗ )]i d 𝜕𝜂 𝜕𝜂 interface enabled Okuda et al. (1976) and Banner and
− = − ∗ vi + vj ∗ − w Pierson (1998) to estimate the skin friction as one half of the
dz∗ dz 𝜕t∗ 𝜕xj
total stress u2∗ in the laboratory facility at moderate wind.
⟩
p 𝜕𝜂 𝜕𝜂 d⟨𝜎i3 ⟩ Direct measurements of velocity field with extremely high
+ ∗ − ∗ 𝜎ij = , i = 1, 2 resolution (154 μm) by particle image velocimetry (PIV)
𝜌 𝜕xj 𝜕xj dz∗
technique by Veron, Saxena, and Misra (2007) showed that
(5) under low to moderate wind the average viscous stress at the
water surface is about one-third of the total stress.
Here, the angle brackets denote averaging over wave distur- Integrating Equation 6 enables one to quantify contribution
bances. [𝜏 wave (z *)]i is the ith horizontal projection of the of wave momentum flux to the roughness parameter and
wave momentum flux, that is, flux of momentum supported surface drag coefficient:
by velocity and pressure disturbances induced in the air flow
by waves at the water surface; it decreases with the distance z
dz′
z
𝜏wave (z′ )dz′
U1 (z) = u2∗ −
from the water surface at the scale of the WBL. ⟨𝜎 i3 ⟩ is the ∫0 𝜈eff (z′ ) ∫0 𝜈eff (z′ )
ith component of the average turbulent stress.
This formulation is valid only for nonbreaking wave, when z
𝜏wave (z′ )dz′
𝜂(x1 , x2 , t) is a single-valued function of coordinates. The U2 (z) = −
∫0 𝜈eff (z′ )
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe087
Wave Boundary Layer in the Lower Atmosphere 3
The wave disturbances induced in the air flow by waves S is defined as y* = 0. The wave growth rate can be found
at the water surface can influence the average wind velocity from the energy balance equation:
both directly through wave momentum flux 𝜏 wave (z′ ) and
indirectly through the influence on turbulent viscosity. It dE
= Π|y∗ =0 (10)
was demonstrated by Reutov and Troitskaya (1995) and dt
Troitskaya et al. (2011) that the water surface can locally Usually, the dominant term in the right-hand side of
be treated as aerodynamically smooth, which yields the Equation 10 is the pressure in the phase with a water slope,
following asymptotic solution to Equation 24 at z ≪ L: the simplified expression for the wave energy flux is valid
and the wave growth rate
u∗ z
u(z) = ln − Δu (7)
𝜅 z00 𝜔 𝜌a ⟨Pa 𝜂x ⟩
𝛾=
c2 𝜌w (ka)2
where z00 = 0.11𝜈 a /u* , 𝜈 a the molecular viscosity of the air,
and Introducing a wind wave interaction parameter
𝛽 = (2∕u2∗ )(⟨Pa 𝜂x ⟩)∕((ka)2 ) gives:
𝜏wave (z)
∞ ∞ 2
u∗ (Kmwave (z) − Km (z))
Δu = dz + dz 1 u2∗ 𝜌a
∫0 Kmwave (z) ∫0 Km (z)Kmwave (z) 𝛾= 𝛽 (11)
(8) 2 c2 𝜌 w
where 𝜏 wave (z) is specified by the wave spectrum.
Then, the roughness parameter z0 in Equation 1 becomes In general, 𝛽 is the function of the wave number (Miles,
1957, 1959), but according to Plant (1982), 𝛽 is usually
( ) assumed constant equal to 32 ± 16.
𝜅Δu
z0 = z00 exp
u∗
3 MODELS OF WAVE-INDUCED
and the drag coefficient becomes
DISTURBANCES IN MARINE
𝜅2 ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER
CD10N = ( ( ) )2 (9)
H10 u∗ 𝜅Δu
ln 0.11𝜈 − u∗ 3.1 Theoretical models
a
It has been demonstrated experimentally that Δu strongly There are several theoretical models describing wind
increases with increasing u* . As follows from Equation 9, turbulent boundary layer over waved water surface.
this implies that CD10N also increases with increasing u* . This Wind-over-waves coupling (WOWC) model is a
effect can be parameterized, in particular, using Charnock’s phenomenological semiempirical model developed in
formula for z0 , which yields: the papers by Makin, Kudryavtsev, and Mastenbroek
(1995), Makin and Mastenbroek (1996), and Makin and
𝜅2 Kudryavtsev (1999). It is based on the conservation for the
CD10N = integral momentum flux
(ln(H10 g∕mu2∗ ))2
⟨( ) ⟩|
p 𝜕𝜂 |
where m is the Charnock constant. u2∗ = − 𝜎11 | + ⟨𝜎13 ⟩|z∗ =0
𝜌 𝜕x |∗
One of the most important dynamic characteristics of the |z =0
airflow over waves is distribution of air pressure at the wavy
water surface, which determines the energy flux from wind The WOWC model splits the contribution to the form drag
in
to waves and the rate of their growth. By definition, the
mechanical energy flux from the wind to a harmonic wave
• wave-induced stress due to nonseparated sheltering
with the frequency 𝜔, wave number k, and amplitude a:
mechanism (Belcher, Newley, and Hunt, 1993; Belcher,
Harris, and Street, 1994)
Π = −𝜌a ⟨(Pa − Σ22 )v − Σ12 u⟩ • wave-induced stress due to airflow separation
where Pa = p/𝜌a is the normalized pressure and Σij = 𝜎 ij /𝜌a ⟨( ) ⟩|

the normalized turbulent stresses at the water surface S. In the p 𝜕𝜂 |
− 𝜎11 | = 𝜏wf + 𝜏ws
wave-following curvilinear coordinates (x*, y*), the surface 𝜌 𝜕x |∗
|z =0
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe087
4 General
Wave-induced stress due to nonseparated sheltering e.g. Janssen (2004) and references therein). Its applicability
mechanism is confirmed by laboratory experiments and direct numer-
ical simulation (DNS) of turbulent boundary layer over steep
𝜏wf = 2𝛾 cos2 Θc2 B(k, Θ) cos Θd ln kdΘ surface waves (Troitskaya et al., 2014).
∫∫
is determined by the wind grows rate 𝛾 (Equation 11).

3.2 Direct numerical simulation and large eddy
The contribution to the form drag by airflow separation
consists of two parts
simulation of turbulent boundary layer over
steep surface waves
• the stress supported by the airflow separation from the
equilibrium range of short gravity waves, The numerical experiment can be regarded as an advanced
• the stress supported by the airflow separation according alternative to the laboratory and field measurements. In
to dominant wind waves. particular, in advantage to the most sophisticated experi-
mental PIV technique, DNS provide statistical ensembles of
The models are based on semiempirical expressions for the instant 3-D vector velocity fields suitable for further statis-
pressure drop due to airflow separation ahead of the wave tical analysis. DNS provides full description of the wind
crest (see details in Kukulka and Hara, 2008). flow properties on all physically significant scales, up to the
Another approach is based on using RANS equations, molecular dissipation scale.
where wind–wave coupling is considered in quasi-linear In their pioneering study, Sullivan, McWilliams, and
approximation (Janssen, 1991; Jenkins, 1992; Reutov and Moeng (2000) first employed DNS to study the turbu-
Troitskaya, 1995; Troitskaya and Rybushkina, 2008). The lent wind flow over surface waves for Reynolds number
model is based on the system of Reynolds equations with (based on the bulk wind flow velocity, surface wavelength,
the first-order closing hypothesis. The wind–wave interac- and air molecular viscosity) Re = 8800 and wave steep-
tion is considered within the quasi-linear approximation, that ness ka = 0.1. Later, Yang and Shen (2010) employed
is, wave-induced disturbances in the air flow are considered DNS to study the turbulent wind flow over waves with
in the linear approximation, but the resistive effect of the maximum steepness ka = 0.25 and Re ≈ 10,000, in the DNS
wave momentum flux on the mean flow velocity profile is by Druzhinin, Troitskaya, and Zilitinkevich (2012) the
taken into account, that is, within the model, the mean airflow maximum steepness ka = 0.2 and Re = 15,000. The latter
over waves is treated as nonseparated. This approach is appli- case corresponds to centimeter wavelength waves under
cable for small Reynolds numbers (Batchelor, 1967). In the 3 m/s wind.
turbulent regime of the flow, the Reynolds number as defined The instantaneous realizations of the velocity field in
by the molecular viscosity is huge, but the average flow DNS showed the flow separation at the crests of the waves.
dynamics described within the RANS equations is deter- However, the ensemble averaged velocity fields had typical
mined by the effective Reynolds number, defined by the structures similar to those excising in the shear flows near
eddy viscosity coefficient. The quasi-linear approximation critical levels, where the phase velocity of the disturbance
is already successively used in wind wave forecasting (see coincides with the flow velocity (Figure 1). Generally,
0.05
0
−0.05
(a) 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5 5.2 5.4 5.6 5.8 6
0.2
−0.2
(b) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Figure 1. A longitudinal cross-section of the instantaneous (a) and average (b) velocity vector fields for ka = 0.2 and c = 0.1. (Reproduced
with permission from Troitskaya et al., 2014. © Springer, 2014.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe087
DNS runs support the approximations in the proposed fields after averaging along the front (Figure 3). Figure 1
model when profiles of the mean wind velocity, the turbu- clearly shows a 𝜆—vortex separating from the wave crest
lent stress, amplitude and phase of the main harmonics at x = 2. Here, the instantaneous flow has a separation zone.
of the wave-induced velocity components, wave-induced However, the y-averaged vorticity and velocity fields are
pressure fluctuations, and wind wave growth rate are smooth, nonseparating, and characterized by the well-known
considered (Druzhinin, Troitskaya, and Zilitinkevich, Kelvin’s “cat eye” pattern.
2012). While DNS is adopted for modeling small-scale waves,
Moreover, DNS results suggest that the nonseparating large eddy simulation (LES) models with no explicit
quasi-linear theory is applicable because of the develop- Reynolds number and with a model representation of surface
ment of strong heterogeneity of the separation zone in the roughness can be used to model the energy-containing range
transverse direction (i.e., along the wave front). Vorticity of waves in field conditions. LES technique developed by
in the airflow over a steep wave appears to be concen- Sullivan et al. (2008) and Sullivan, McWilliams, and Patton
trated in thread-like vortex structures, which have a horse- (2014) allows, in particular, to examine the impact of the
shoe shape and resemble well-known 𝜆-vortices extensively swell on the atmospheric boundary layer in light winds. LES
studied in the case of a “classical” boundary layer over a by Sullivan et al. cited by Edson et al. (2007) clearly shows
solid plane boundary. The instantaneous flow velocity and that fast-moving swell in light winds can have a significant
vorticity fields averaged only along the wave front (and not in effect on the wind field up to heights of O(100 m). The
time) are nonseparating. Figures 2 and 3 compare the distri- LES results indicate that the wave-driven winds produce a
butions of the instantaneous velocity and vorticity modulus low-level jet and a rapid decay of the momentum flux with
fields obtained in DNS (Figure 2) and the same instantaneous height (Edson et al., 2007).
0.4
z 0.2
(a) 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3
0.4
z 0.2 ω
20
0 18
16
1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3 14
12
(b) x
10
0.4 8
6
4
z 0.2 2
0
−1 −0.8 −0.6 −0.4 −0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

(c) y
Figure 2. An example of longitudinal cross-section of the instantaneous velocity (a) and vorticity modulus (b, c) fields obtained in DNS
for ka = 0.2 and c = 0.1. (Reproduced with permission from Troitskaya et al., 2014. © Springer, 2014.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe087
6 General
0.4
z 0.2
(a) 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3
0.4
z 0.2
1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3

(b) x
Figure 3. (a, b) The same instantaneous fields as in Figures 1 and 2, but averaged along the wave front.(Reproduced with permission from
Troitskaya et al., 2014. © Springer, 2014.)
4 EFFECT OF WAVES ON DENSITY moisture transfer coefficients are usually considered equal
STRATIFICATION IN MARINE (Fairall et al., 2003). This makes it possible to describe the
ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER effects of stratification in MABL using one equation for the
air density accounting for contributions from both heat and
Turbulent fluxes of sensible heat H = 𝜌a Cp T* u* and latent moisture. Then, the mass flux becomes
heat Λ = 𝜌a lq* u* (where 𝜌a is the air density, u* the friction
velocity, Cp the air heat capacity, T* , q* the constants, P = 𝜌∗ u∗ = C𝜌 U10 Δ𝜌10
characterizing the fluxes of moisture and heat in the air,
and l the specific heat of evaporation) are expressed via where 𝜌* is the turbulent scale of density, characterizing the
bulk formulas through the following meteorological param- mass flux.
eters measured at a reference level (usually h10 = 10 m One of the important but still insufficiently explored ques-
above the water surface): wind speed U10 , temperature tions is how the mass transfer coefficient C𝜌 depends on
difference ΔT10 = T10 − T0 , and relative humidity difference the wind speed. Experiments in field (Fairall et al., 2003)
Δq10 = q10 − q0 : and in laboratory (Ocampo-Torres et al., 1994; Jeong, Haus,
and Donelan, 2012) revealed generally weaker wind-speed
H = 𝜌a Cp CH U10 ΔT10 dependence for C𝜌 than for the drag coefficient CD . The
COARE 3.0 algorithm by Fairall et al. (2003) states a weak
Λ = 𝜌a lCl U10 Δq10 increase of C𝜌 with the wind speed. Similar result was
obtained by Brut et al. (2005). At the same time, data of
The heat/mass transfer coefficients CH (Stanton number) Drennan et al. (2007) show no dependence at all.
and Cl (Dalton number) generally depend on the state The problem of exchange coefficients in MABL is closely
of the water surface. For stationary and homogeneous related to the influence of surface waves on the air–sea
processes in the atmosphere, these fluxes do not depend mass transfer. In the presence of surface waves, the mass
on the vertical coordinate within the lower 10% of the flux consists of two parts: the turbulent parts: ⟨𝜌′ w′ ⟩ (where
atmospheric boundary layer over water. This, a few dozen w′ is the vertical velocity fluctuations and 𝜌′ the density
meter layer, is thereafter referred as MABL. The heat and fluctuation) and the part Pwave caused by the wave-induced
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe087
perturbations in the air: Edson, J., Crawford, T., Crescenti, J., Farrar, T., Frew, N., Gerbi, G.,
Helmis, C., Hristov, T., Khelif, D., Jessup, A., Jonsson, H., Li, M.,
⟨𝜌′ w′ ⟩(𝜂) + Pwave (𝜂) = 𝜌∗ u∗ Mahrt, L., McGillis, W., Plueddemann, A., Shen, L., Skyllingstad,
E., Stanton, T., Sullivan, P., Sun, J., Trowbridge, J., Vickers, D.,
Wang, S., Wang, Q., Weller, R., Wilkin, J., Williams, A.J., Yue,
See, for example, Makin, Kudryavtsev, and Masten- D.K.P., and Zappa, C. (2007) The coupled boundary layers and
broek (1995), Makin and Mastenbroek (1996), Makin and air–sea transfer experiment in low winds. Bulletin of the American
Kudryavtsev (1999), Janssen (1989), Janssen (1997), and Meteorological Society, 88, 341–356.
references therein. Fairall, C.W., Bradley, E.F., Hare, J.E., Grachev, A.A., and Edson,
The wave-induced mechanism of the mass transfer is J.B. (2003) Bulk parameterization of air–sea fluxes: updates and
usually neglected, so that the mass flux is fully attributed verification for the COARE algorithm. Journal of Climate, 16,
571–591.
to the turbulent transfer (Makin and Mastenbroek, 1996;
Makin and Kudryavtsev, 1999). Alternatively, Janssen Hsu, C.T., Hsu, E.Y., and Street, R.L. (1981) On the structure of turbu-
lent flow over a progressive water wave: theory and experiment in a
(1997) analyzed wave-induced perturbations in air flow and transformed, wave-following co-ordinate system. Journal of Fluid
concluded that their impact dramatically depends on the Mechanics, 105, 87–117.
nature of the above perturbations. Mass exchange coeffi- Hwang, P.A. (2005) Wave number spectrum and mean square slope
cients are calculated in Troitskaya, Ezhova, and Zilitinkevich of intermediate-scale ocean surface waves. Journal of Geophysical
(2013a) and Troitskaya et al. (2013b) within a self-consistent Research, 110, C10029.
problem for the wave-induced air perturbations and mean Janssen, P.A.E.M. (1989) Wave-induced stress and the drag of air flow
velocity and density fields using a quasi-linear model based over sea waves. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 19, 745–754.
on the Reynolds equations with down-gradient turbulence Janssen, P.A.E.M. (1991) Quasi-linear theory of wind wave gener-
closure. The theory agrees with TOGA/COARE data well ation applied to wave forecasting. Journal of Physical Oceanog-
for empirically based wind-wave spectra (Hwang, 2005; raphy, 21, 1631–1642.
Romeiser, Alpers, and Wismann, 1997). Janssen, P.A.E.M. (1997) Effect of surface gravity waves on heat flux.
Tech. Rep. ECMWF, 1–13.
Janssen, P.A.E.M. (2004) The Interaction of Ocean Waves and Wind,
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe087
8 General
Okuda, K., Kawai, S., Tokuda, M., and Toba, Y. (1976) Detailed Troitskaya, Y.I., Sergeev, D., Ermakova, O., and Balandina, G. (2011)
observation of the wind-exerted surface flow by use of flow visual- Statistical parameters of the air turbulent boundary layer over steep
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Plant, W.J. (1982) A relationship between wind stress and wave slope. Troitskaya, Y.I., Ezhova, E.V., and Zilitinkevich, S.S. (2013a)
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water wave interaction with turbulent wind. Izvestiya Atmospheric Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics, 20 (5), 825–839.
and Oceanic Physics, 31, 825–834. Troitskaya, Y.I., Ezhova, E.V., Sergeev, D.A., Kandaurov, A.A.,
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of the ocean surface. Journal of Geophysical Research, 102 (C11), layer over a wavy water surface. Part 2. Wind wave spectra.
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe087
Acceptability of Risk
Bharat Tulsyan
Oil and Gas Industry, Houston, TX, USA
2 RISK, HAZARDS, CONSEQUENCE,

1 Introduction 1 AND LIKELIHOOD
2 Risk, Hazards, Consequence, and Likelihood 1
3 Risk Assessment, Management, and Perception 2 The terms risk, hazards, consequence, and likelihood
4 Risk in Marine and Offshore Engineering 2 are commonly used for describing various effects and
5 Summary 6 phenomena. Sometimes we intend to express the same thing
Related Articles 7 while using these terms, but there are subtle differences in
Glossary 7 the underlying meaning of these terms.
In the “chopping-vegetable” example above, the “hazard”
References 7
lies in using the knife or any sharp object, as it can cause
physical injuries. The physical injury that can be caused by
the knife (minor cut in the example above) is the adverse
effect or “consequence” from the hazard. The missing link
1 INTRODUCTION here is the “likelihood” of the event, that is, how often we
can get a physical injury while chopping vegetable. If we
All activities involve certain element of risk. In some, the were to assume that for a trained chef the likelihood of this
consequence of the risks may be small and insignificant, for happening is rare, then we can say that the risk of a physical
example minor cut while chopping vegetables, while in some injury from using a knife [hazard] while chopping vegetables
cases, it can have a significant effect; major accident while is low as it may rarely [likelihood] result in a minor cut
driving. [adverse effect or consequence].
As humans, we take risks in our lives on a daily basis. Thus, we see how the different terminologies are intercon-
The level of risk depends on the choices we make. For nected, and the overall risk arising from a hazard depends on
example, we have all heard about the phrase “speeding kills.” both the likelihood of it happening and the magnitude of the
Overspeeding while driving not only increases the chances adverse effect from the hazard.
of a crash, but also amplifies the damage from a crash. With This is the reason why it is not acceptable for a toddler
these facts in mind, we may still choose to go above the
to play with a knife [hazard], as the toddler may hurt his
posted speed limit, in order to reach the airport on time.
or herself more severely [effect] and may do so more often
Thus, we make decisions in our daily lives, knowing about
[likelihood], resulting in higher overall risk.
the risks involved, and this decision-making process is called
acceptability of risk. The different terms are more formally defined as below:
Hazard A hazard is an object, phenomenon,
Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering, online © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. property, or an activity that can cause
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. adverse effects (ALARP, 1949).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe178
Also published in the Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering (print edition) Consequence Consequence is the adverse effect
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 (measure) of the hazard.
2 General
Likelihood Likelihood is the probability (example one household fuels (wood, paper, and petroleum products),
in thousand times, no units) or frequency which have the chemical properties of emitting the blue or
(once in 5 days, with units) of the event yellow-orange-color flames. Some industrial gases or fuels,
happening. like hydrogen, burn almost invisible with a light blue or
Risk Risk is the occurrence of a hazard, resulting colorless flame, and is not a household item. Thus, an inex-
in an adverse effect along with the perienced person working in a gas plant, and without prior
measure of the effect. knowledge or training about handling hydrogen gas, may not
Thus: take sufficient corrective action in case of a hydrogen fire.
Therefore, perception of risk plays a major role in terms
Risk = Consequence (Effect of a Hazard) × Likelihood of risk management, and cultural, societal, and educational
experiences strongly influence them (Slovic, 1987).
3 RISK ASSESSMENT, MANAGEMENT,

AND PERCEPTION 4 RISK IN MARINE AND OFFSHORE
ENGINEERING
As human beings, we use our knowledge, inputs from our
sensory organs, and general awareness to judge the level of In the preceding paragraphs, we discussed some basic
risk in daily activities. With time, our knowledge about these concepts involving risk and how they affect us in our daily
risks increase. For example, as adults, we understand that lives. In the current context of marine and offshore engi-
we will burn our hands if we touch a hot container from the neering, risk plays a decisive factor in the complete life cycle
oven. Many of us would know this from a prior experience of an offshore or marine facility, starting from conceptual
in our lives. Thus, we are able to assess the risk (burning our design and engineering to operations and decommissioning.
hands while taking out a hot container from oven) based on
In general, it can be perceived that any offshore or marine
past experience. On the basis of this assessment, we tend to
facility will have a higher overall risk, due to its very location
manage the risk by using oven gloves.
of being offshore as compared to a conventional onshore or
Assessment of risk is the formal or informal process of
inland facility. Many factors like limited resources and lack
qualifying or quantifying the risk from an event or activity.
of easy accessibility will govern the overall risk to people,
On the basis of this assessment, a decision or judgment
asset, and environment at an offshore location. As the stakes
may be made to mitigate or to reduce the risk, and this
are generally higher in the marine and offshore environment,
decision-making process is called risk management. Thus,
both risk assessment and management play a pivotal role in
risk assessment and management is a continual process,
terms of investment decisions, engineering design, and so on.
which is advertently or inadvertently a part of our daily lives.
For example, an oil company in their initial investment
Whenever we make decisions in our lives, big or small, such
decision for deep water field development may perform
as driving over the speed limit to reach in time for a meeting,
an initial (concept) risk assessment taking into account
or choose between investing in stocks versus real estate,
safety, performance, and capital costs, in order to evaluate
we are going through this risk assessment and management
one development option against the other, for example a
process.
tension leg platform versus a spar platform. During design,
Sometimes the assessment of risk is closely intertwined
engineering companies may perform safety assessments
with perception. On the basis of individual’s experience
(qualitative or quantitative) to decide the location for an
and knowledge, an activity may be perceived to be more
accommodation building on the facility, fire rating of
dangerous by individual compared to another. A classic
structures, and so on.
example may be nuclear power generation or air travel,
where general public may perceive these as high risk activ-
ities as compared to driving (Slovic, 1987). An expert in 4.1 Consequences and hazards in offshore and
risk assessment may have a completely different opinion of marine
the same.
Another example of perception is associating fire with Risks in offshore and marine environments are generally
blue or yellow-orange-colored flames. On the basis of our evaluated in terms of three major types of consequences.
general experience we know that there is danger if we can These consequences are health of people (H), safety of
visibly spot a fire with these colors, and as a result we people (S), and effect on environment (E). These are termed
respond appropriately by pulling the fire alarm or alerting as HSE (Health Safety and Environment) impacts and have
emergency responders. Our perception is based on handling tangible consequences that can be measured (worker injuries,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe178
Acceptability of Risk 3
fatalities, and barrels of oil spilled). Asset damage and oper- Generally, likelihood is measured as unit of time (e.g., once
ational loss are also important but they are generally priori- per 10 year and once per 1000 year) or probability, which is
tized below HSE consequences. unitless (e.g., one in 10 and one in 1000).
Another important but intangible consequence is reputa- Consequence and the associated severity depend on the
tion, which in the modern world of electronic media has a hazard involved and the type of consequence being evalu-
deeper and more profound impact, with long-term implica- ated. For example, if the consequence from an explosion is
tions on companies. being assessed in terms of structural design, then it is impor-
Plenty of hazards exist in the offshore and marine envi- tant to know the pressure impact from the explosion, and the
ronment that may lead to severe HSE consequences. The units of measurement would be a pressure unit (e.g., Pascal
environmental conditions such as wind, waves, and ocean and Psi). On the other hand, if the consequence from the
currents are one of the key contributing factors that may explosion is being assessed in terms of safety of workers,
directly act as a hazard or may amplify the consequence then the measure would be the fatality count (generally
of other hazards. A hurricane is an environmental hazard, called F).
which may directly lead to structural damage and system fail- In the offshore and marine environments, risk scaling
ures in offshore facilities. This may cause injury and loss of and comparison are generally performed via quantitative (or
life, along with environmental consequences such as release qualitative) risk assessments. Common ways of quantifying
of toxic substances and oil in the sea. In other cases, envi- safety related risk are in terms of individual risk per annum
ronmental conditions may catalyze effect of another hazard, (IRPA) and PLL (potential loss of life) (HSE, 2006).
for example, a supply vessel with failed positioning system IRPA is the probability of an individual on a facility to
may drift due to strong ocean currents and collide with an become a fatality in a given year. Thus, an IRPA value
offshore facility. In this case, the supply vessel with failed of 0.0001 means that in a year, there is a 1 in 10,000
positioning system is the hazard, but the unfavorable environ- chance for an individual to be a fatality. IRPA values can
mental conditions (strong ocean currents) lead to the actual differ for worker groups, for example a person working with
damage. hydrocarbon-processing equipment will have a higher IRPA
Apart from environmental conditions, one of the major value than a worker doing housekeeping work within the
hazards present in offshore and marine environments are workers accommodation.
hydrocarbons, especially in oil and gas facilities. Hydro- PLL is the time frame in which a fatality is expected
carbons, if uncontained, may lead to fire, explosion, and/or on a facility. For example, if there are 100 workers on
release of toxic substances, with adverse HSE impacts. Thus, the facility, all with an IRPA value is 0.0001 and they
for hydrocarbon handling facilities, safety while production, work half time (2 weeks on 2 weeks off), then the PLL is
storage, and transportation is the top priority for engineering 0.0001 × 100/0.5 = 0.02. This means that one life is expected
design and operations. to be lost every 50 years on the facility.
Apart from environmental and hydrocarbon hazards Apart from the quantitative risk estimates (e.g., IRPA
(fire and explosion), other hazards such as collision from and PLL), sometimes a more simplified risk matrix (or a
risk-ranking table) approach may be used for semiquantita-
transportation systems (helicopters and vessels), impact of
tive or qualitative risk assessment. The risk-ranking table is a
hanging and swinging loads, and loss of containment of
two-dimensional matrix with rows and columns representing
toxic chemicals also exist, which have HSE consequences.
severity and likelihood. An example is shown in Table 1 for
risk ranking of safety-related consequences. Similar tables
4.2 Risk comparison can be created to assess environmental consequences or
financial losses. The risk-ranking tables provide a simplistic
With the existence of multiple hazards and the risk from those way to measure the overall risk level. In addition, different
hazards, one of the key challenges is to assess the various hazards can be compared against one another using this
risks and how to manage them. As there are numerous approach. Furthermore, this approach helps in ranking and
hazards, along with multiple ways of managing them, it prioritization of risks in terms of risk management. A risk
becomes difficult to make decisions without having a sound with a rating in the red zone generally requires more attention
basis to compare the various risks. than a risk with rating in the yellow or green zone.
Thus, in order to assess and compare the risk (qualitatively
or quantitatively), it is important to assign some sort of scale 4.3 Inherently safe design and risk reduction
or measure for the risk.
As risk has two components: consequence and likelihood, We have learnt that hazards and risks (from hazards) are
it is necessary to understand and scale them individually. present in most of the activities and we continually manage
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe178
4 General
Table 1. Showing a sample risk-ranking table.
likelihood
1 = never 4= 5 = very
Level heard of
2 = rare 3 = likely
frequent frequent
5 = more
than 5 5 10 15 20 25
fatalities
4 = less
than 5 4 8 12 16 20
consequence
fatalities
3 = long
term 3 6 9 12 15
disability
2 = short
term 2 4 6 8 10
disability
1 = minor
injury 1 2 3 4 5
them with the intent to minimize the risks. This becomes • Reduction of likelihood—Generally, the biggest poten-
especially important for large-scale industrial applications, tial for leakage is through valves and flanges. Can the
as there is always some risk of a major accident or disaster number of valves or flanges be reduced?
occurring. • Detection and controlling the hazard—If there is a leak,
Keeping our focus on offshore and marine applications, the how quickly can it be detected (loss of pressure), and
simplest example is the use of fossil fuels. In order to use oil place some control mechanisms upon detection, for
and petroleum products, we need to explore, drill, produce, example, isolate the fuel inventory to minimize the
process, store, and transport hydrocarbons. In short, we need amount of leaking fuel.
to handle hydrocarbons, and there is always a chance that an • Minimize the after effects of the hazard—Once there
equipment may fail or human error may occur, leading to an is a leak and fire, minimize the after effect on people.
accidental fire or explosion event. Example: Use of fire-suppression systems (active fire
Generally, complete elimination of a hazard is very difficult protection) or passive protection by designing fire- and
to achieve or sometimes practically impossible, but we can blast-resistant structure where the pump and fuel storage
put safeguards in place in order to minimize the likelihood is housed.
of the event (preventive) and/or reduce the severity of the
Thus, if the safety of people is the primary concern due to a
impact (mitigative) in case the adverse event happens. By fire from diesel storage, the above hierarchy for managing the
doing so, we reduce the overall risk as both the likelihood and hazard and associated risk may be followed for developing
the consequence are reduced. One such principle for hazard risk-reduction measures.
management and risk reduction in the offshore engineering The application of the inherently safe design approach
arena is the principle of inherently safe design (HSE, 2006). can be visualized with the aid of risk-ranking tools. Let
The inherently safe design approach has a great impact in us continue with the diesel-storage example as above and
risk reduction, especially for major or large incidents that assume that safety risk to people from this hazard is in the
can potentially happen in an offshore environment (HSE, red zone with a risk rating of 16 (refer to Figure 1), that is,
2006). The principles follow the simple hierarchical order as consequence and likelihood rating of 4 each.
described in example below: Now there are two available measures to reduce the risk
Example—The storage of diesel for use in pumps can pose level. These are:
as a hazard if there is a leak or fire
1. Weld all the connections to minimize the number of
flanges, and thus reduce the likelihood of the leak. Let us
• Elimination or reduction of hazard—Is it possible to assume that this action brings down the likelihood rating
eliminate the hazard by using a pump running on alter- from 4 down to 2, without affecting the consequence
native energy (electric pump)? Or, Can the quantity of rating.
diesel being stored be reduced without hampering oper- 2. Provide personal protective equipment (PPE), for
ations? example, fire-retardant clothing for the workers. Let us
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe178
assume that this action brings down the consequence • All risks should be reduced to the lowest possible level
rating from 4 down to 2, without affecting the likelihood (“As Low As”).
rating. • Using risk-reduction measures or controls that are
“Reasonably Practicable,” that is, the sacrifice (e.g.,
Both the measures provide benefits as they reduce risk, so cost, time, and resources) involved in implementing the
if there is a flexibility to implement both the measures, that measure or control is not grossly disproportionate to the
should be the first choice, as it will bring the overall risk benefit gained (e.g., safety of people and environmental
rating from 16 to 4. damage).
However, if there is a limitation to implement just one
measure, and as both measures individually result in the same Thus, if multiple risk-reduction measures are available to
level of risk reduction (16–8), then preference should be reduce the risk level, and all of the measures are “reasonably
given to the first measure, that is, to reduce the likelihood. practicable,” the measure that results in maximum risk reduc-
tion should be implemented, irrespective of the “sacrifice” or
the “cost.”
4.4 As Low As Reasonably Practicable For example, if there is a hazard with a risk rating of
20 (scale of 0–25, 0 is good and 25 is bad), and there
For large-scale industries (e.g., offshore oil and gas), there exists two risk-reduction measures that would reduce the
are different hazards and risks involved, along with multiple risk rating of the hazard from 20 to 12, and 20 to 10,
ways of reducing them. Risk reduction is beneficial in terms along with an associated monetary “cost” of $5000 and
of safety (or security, environmental benefits, etc.), but there $7000, respectively, the latter risk-reduction measure should
are associated costs while implementing these measures. In be implemented, unless it can be shown that the latter is not
risk management there always are a few unknowns, that is, “reasonably practicable.”
how much risk is acceptable, which hazards to analyze in
detail, and which risk-reduction measure to implement.
The ALARP (as low as reasonably practicable) principle 4.5 ALARP implementation
helps in answering these questions and for developing a
risk-management strategy. The concept of ALARP is general and may be used for risk
ALARP is used in multiple industries in relation to HSE, reduction and management in multiple ways. One of the
and is especially popular in the offshore oil and gas industry common ways of implementing ALARP is by the use of
due to regulations and mandates imposed by certain govern- an ALARP triangle or “carrot” (Figure 1). These diagrams
ments (HSE, 2006; NOPSEMA, 2015). use the concept of residual risk and risk tolerability for
The concept of ALARP has its origin in the English case demonstrating ALARP.
law during a court appeal judgment—“Edwards vs National Residual risk is the risk of an adverse effect from an action
Coal Board, 1949” (ALARP, 1949). A worker named Joseph or an event. For example, the likelihood of a major fire from
Edwards had died in an accident due to collapse of a coal drilling activities at an offshore location may be once every
mine roadway. The defendant National Coal Board had 10,000 years. So when an oil company decides to drill for oil,
argued that it was not “reasonably practicable” to make all they are taking the residual risk of an adverse event, such as
the mine roadways secure from falling rocks. major fire happening once every 10,000 years.
The judgment ruled that the argument of “reasonably prac- The ALARP triangle is divided into three zones, based on
ticable” by the defendant was insufficient for not having tolerable and intolerable residual risk boundaries.
taken any corrective or preventive action. It was not neces- The “red zone” or “intolerable zone” is where the residual
sary for the defendant to repair or reinforce all the mine risk level is deemed to be high and unacceptable. If there
roadways, but the ones that indicated some problems or are hazards with the risk level in the intolerable zone, it is
deficiency should have been assessed. The decision by the mandatory to reduce the risk level such that it is at least below
defendant to not take any action or measure (for risk reduc- the intolerable boundary. For example, it may be illegal or
tion) should have been based on risk assessments (calcula- unacceptable for a drilling company to dump toxic chemicals
tions), by showing that the “sacrifice” or “cost” (e.g., time, in large quantities into the ocean as it may pose high risk to
effort, and money) was grossly disproportionate to the benefit marine life. If the drilling company is unable to reduce this
gained (e.g., safety and security of workers) and the onus to risk by any possible means, their license to operate in the
do so lies with the defendants. This judgment therefore clar- region may be revoked by the government. Thus, in this case,
ified the context and use of the term reasonably practicable. the residual risk of drilling is too high and the activity needs
The concept of ALARP is twofold: to stop.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe178
6 General
In tolerable
Intolerable
boundary
Tolerable
Risk
Tolerable
boundary
Broadly
acceptable
Figure 1. ALARP triangle.
In terms of offshore safety, the boundary for the red zone use of a 15 psi rated structure for workers accommodation is
is often defined by an IRPA value of 10−3 /year. What this ALARP.
means is that, on an offshore facility, if the cumulative risk The final region is the “green” or “broadly acceptable
of fatality to an individual worker from all possible hazards zone,” with risk value below the tolerable boundary. In this
is 1 (or more) in 1000 times per year, then the residual risk region, the risk level is assumed to be minimal or negli-
is too high and unacceptable. gible, and no further risk reduction is generally required
The intolerable IRPA of 10−3 /year is not a universally unless there exists a simple or straightforward solution with
defined value and it may vary depending on the geographical minimal cost implications. For example, there can be signifi-
region, government regulations, and company. cant damage to an offshore facility from a large meteor strike.
The “amber” or “ yellow” zone is called the tolerable zone, As this is an extremely rare event with no practical measure
which lies between the intolerable and tolerable boundaries. to prevent or mitigate it, the risk may be considered broadly
The tolerable boundary (in terms of offshore safety) is often acceptable.
defined by an IRPA value of 10−5 /year. Similar to the intoler-
able boundary value, this number may vary depending on the
geographical region, government regulations, and company.
The tolerable region is where the idea of ALARP imple- 5 SUMMARY
mentation has more meaning. Therefore, if there are hazards
with risk levels within the tolerable zone, it has to be demon- This article introduces some basic concepts about risks and
strated that the risk from the hazard has been reduced to the acceptability of risk, and how risk plays an important role
lowest possible level, unless it is not “reasonably practicable” in offshore and marine engineering. The subtle differences
to go any further below. among hazard, consequence, likelihood, and risks and how
For example, during the design of an offshore floating perception of risk influences judgment of people in terms of
structure, it is estimated based on risk assessment that managing risks are explained.
workers accommodation with a blast rating of 15 psi will Qualitative and quantitative risk comparison methods
result in a tolerable risk level within the tolerable zone. The along with the idea of inherently safe design for risk
calculations further show that increasing the rating of the management, and how risk comparison tools can be used to
structure to values >15 psi will result in marginal reduction in management and reduction of risks are discussed.
risk levels as compared to 15 psi, but will start having signif- Finally, the principle of ALARP is discussed along with its
icant impacts in terms of weight and stability of the floating applicability and its use in safety and risk management for
structure. Thus, in this example it can be demonstrated that offshore oil and gas industry.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe178
RELATED ARTICLES REFERENCES

Risk Analysis NOPSEMA (2015) Guidance Note ALARP N-04300-GN0166 Revi-
sion 6.
Slovic, P. (1987) Perception of risk, Science, 236, 281.
GLOSSARY UK HSE (1949) ALARP at a Glance [Online] (Accessed 23 July
2016).
Acceptability of The act of performing an action (or UK HSE (2006) Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations
risk inaction) and accepting the risk 2005 Regulation 12 Demonstrating compliance with the relevant
resulting from that act. Statuatory Provisions.
ALARP Is an acronym for as low as reasonably UK HSE (2006) Assessment Principles for Offshore Safety Cases
practicable. It is a principle used for (APOSC).
risk management and risk reduction. UK HSE (2006) Offshore Information Sheet No. 2/2006—Offshore
Risk It is defined as the product of severity of Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 2005—Regulation 12
Demonstrating compliance with the relevant statutory provisions.
an event (adverse effect) and the
likelihood of occurrence of that event.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe178
Wave–Current Interaction
André J. van der Westhuysen
IMSG at NOAA/NWS/NCEP/EMC/Marine Modeling and Analysis Branch, College Park, MD, USA
reference frame of the earth, the current motion is at an

1 Introduction: Ocean Currents and Their angle to the wind, as described by the Ekman Spiral (Ekman,
Interaction with Surface Waves 1 1905). Furthermore, considering the zonal distribution of
2 Impact of Currents on Waves 2 global winds, the wind stress patterns set up large-scale
3 Effect of Waves on the Mean Flow: Depth-Integrated water surface displacements, which, due to the Coriolis
Description 4 force, result in basin-wide gyres on geostrophic flow. In the
4 Effect of Waves on the Mean Flow: Depth-Varying Northern Hemisphere, these gyres in the Atlantic and Pacific
Description 9 Oceans flow in a clockwise direction, while in the Southern
5 Effect of Waves on the Bottom Stress 12 Hemisphere these flows are directed counter-clockwise.
Furthermore, due to the Coriolis force, this flow is intensi-
6 Conclusions and Outlook 16
fied along the western boundary of oceanic basins, known
Acknowledgments 16
as western intensification currents. Well-known examples of
Related Articles 16 these include the Gulf Stream, the Kuroshio, and the Agulhas
References 17 Currents (Cheney and Marsh, 1981). Due to turbulent insta-
bilities, these western intensification currents typically have
a meandering structure, which can split off in either cold- or
warm-core eddies, depending on the temperature difference
1 INTRODUCTION: OCEAN CURRENTS with the surrounding water (Cheney and Richardson, 1976;
AND THEIR INTERACTION WITH Lee, Atkinson, and Legecki, 1981). Along the edges of these
SURFACE WAVES western intensification currents and eddies, strong horizontal
flow shear conditions can be found (Zhang et al., 2009).
Ocean currents are driven by a number of processes, In coastal regions, wind shear over the ocean surface, in
including winds, waves, temperature, and salinity differ- combination with decreasing water depths, results in strong
ences and tides. Two types of currents are distinguished, current flow and related wind-driven set-up (storm surge),
namely deep ocean currents and surface currents. Deep balanced locally by bed friction (Dietrich et al., 2011).
ocean currents are forced by temperature and salinity effects Tidal motion is caused by the attractive forces of the sun,
and result in a slow-moving global circulation of tempera- moon, and planets on the global oceans. Interaction with
ture and dissolved gasses and materials, known as the global the continents and the Coriolis force results in a complex
conveyor belt (Pedlosky, 1996). global pattern of amphidromic points around which tidal
The large-scale surface currents are primarily forced by waves rotate either clockwise or anticlockwise, depending
winds blowing over the ocean surface. Due to the rotating
on the hemisphere (Egbert and Erofeeva, 2002). Constriction
of flow in narrow passages or embayments can result in
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. significant tidal level variations and strong tidal currents,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe085
such as in the English Channel and the Bay of Fundy, Canada
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 (Greenberg, 1979).
2 General
Density currents develop in estuaries and inlets due to the and shortening, blocking, refraction, and dissipation, which
interaction of freshwater from riverine run-off with more are discussed in the sections below. The linear wave disper-
dense saline water from the surrounding coastal environ- sion equation, in the absence of currents, is given by
ment. As lighter freshwater flows out on top of the heavier
salt water entering the estuary, strong vertical shear condi- 𝜎 2 = gk tan h(kh) (1)
tions can develop (Chao and Paluszkiewicz, 1991).
Wind-generated waves on the ocean surface are affected where 𝜎 is the intrinsic radian frequency of the waves, k is the
by these various types of currents in a number of ways, wavenumber, and the mean water depth is approximated by
and, in turn, also affect the mean flow. Wind waves propa- h (valid for a linearized description where |𝜁| ≪ h, where
gating over western intensification currents and associated 𝜁 is the free surface displacement). In the presence of a
warm- and cold-core eddies can be trapped, experience current field, the waves are Doppler shifted, resulting in the
steepening or elongation depending on their orientation following modification to the linear dispersion equation:
relative to the current (Lavrenov, 1998; Holthuijsen and
Tolman, 1991; Kudryavtsev et al., 1995), or can be refracted 𝜔=𝜎+k⋅U (2)
over horizontal current shears (Zhang et al., 2009). Due
to steepness-induced (whitecapping) dissipation, waves where 𝜔 is the absolute radian frequency, measured relative
enhance the turbulent mixing in the upper ocean, signifi- to the fixed seabed, k the wavenumber vector, and U the
cantly affecting global ocean circulation (Terray et al., 1996; mean horizontal velocity vector (see definition in Section 3).
Craig and Banner, 1994). In shallow coastal waters, waves The intrinsic radian frequency 𝜎 is now interpreted as the
are similarly affected by tidal and wind-forced currents, frequency in a frame of reference moving with the current
resulting in changes in wave steepness, height, and direction U. We will first consider the impact of currents on wave
(Tolman, 1991b; Van der Westhuysen, 2012). In estuarine kinematics in one dimension and subsequently on wave kine-
systems, density currents and the associated vertical shear matics and dynamics in two dimensions.
can result in complex, three-dimensional interaction between
the waves and the mean flow (Kirby and Chen, 1989; Swan, 2.1 One-dimensional stationary case
Cummins, and James, 2001; Elias, Gelfenbaum, and van der
Westhuysen, 2012). In these shallow water environments, Considering the case where a long-crested wave field meets
waves can, in turn, strongly affect the mean flow and water a collinear following or opposing current field, Equation 2
levels through transferring their momentum by means of reduces to: √ +∕−
radiation stresses (Longuet-Higgins and Stewart, 1964; 𝜔 − kU = gk tan h(kh) (3)
Longuet-Higgins, 1970a, b), add to the mass flux via Stokes
drift, and enhance the bed friction experienced by the mean Figure 1 presents a diagram of the solutions of Equation 3,
flow (Grant and Madsen, 1979). given by Peregrine (1976). The abscissa represents the
This article aims to provide an overview of the mecha- wavenumber k, while the ordinate represents the intrinsic
nisms involved in the various interactions between waves frequency 𝜎. The intrinsic phase velocity is given by c = 𝜎∕k
and the mean flow mentioned above. Section 2 reviews and the intrinsic group velocity by cg = d𝜎∕dk. Suastika
the impact of currents on wave kinematics and dynamics, (2004) discusses solutions to Equation 3 for various current
first under the one-dimensional stationary conditions and magnitudes and orientations. In the absence of current
then for the two-dimensional nonstationary case. Section 3 (U = 0), the intrinsic frequency 𝜎 is equal to the absolute
focuses on the effect of waves on the mean flow, considering frequency 𝜔, and the solution r0 is found on the dispersion
a two-dimensional depth-integrated description, followed curve in Figure 1. For a following current (U > 0), one
by the three-dimensional case with depth-varying currents solution, r1 , is found along the dispersion curve, where both
(Section 4). Finally, Section 5 presents the influence of waves the wavenumber and intrinsic frequency are lower than in
on the bed stress experienced by the mean flow. Section 6 the case without current. This implies a situation where
closes this article with conclusions and an outlook. elongated wave crests are riding on the following current.
Note that the absolute current, relative to the seabed, remains
unchanged.
2 IMPACT OF CURRENTS ON WAVES With an opposing current (U < 0), two solutions are found
along the dispersion curve, namely r2 and r3 . The solution r2
The influence of the mean flow on a wave field is typi- represents the case in which both the net phase velocity and
cally divided into effects on the wave kinematics and wave the net energy transport velocity are directed upstream (c +
dynamics (Jonsson, 1990). These include wave elongation U > 0; cg + U > 0). Here, both intrinsic radian frequency
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe085
Wave–Current Interaction 3
U = UB
U<0
Intrinsic radian frequency (σ)
r3
σ = [gk tan h(kh)]0.5
rB
r2 U=0
r0
ω
r1
U>0
0
0 Wavenumber (k)
Figure 1. Solutions of the dispersion relation (3), after Peregrine (1976). (Reproduced from Peregrine (1976) © D.H Peregrine, 1976.)
[ ]
and wavenumber increase, implying shortening wave crests. d𝜎 𝜕𝜎 𝜕h 𝜕U
= c𝜎 = + U ⋅ ∇h − cg k ⋅ (5)
The absolute radian frequency is again unchanged. Solu- dt 𝜕h 𝜕t 𝜕s
tion r3 represents the case where the net phase velocity
is directed upstream (c + U > 0), but the energy transport
and [ ]
d𝜃 1 𝜕𝜎 𝜕h 𝜕U
= c𝜃 = − +k⋅ (6)
velocity is directed downstream (cg + U < 0). Real solutions dt k 𝜕h 𝜕m 𝜕m
of Equation 3 are found for opposing currents with magni-
tudes of up to UB , the tangent to the dispersion curve. At which are commonly combined with the wave action balance
this point, the opposing current becomes equal to the intrinsic equation:
group velocity cg (d𝜎∕dk = cg = −UB ), so that wave energy 𝜕N 𝜕c N 𝜕c N S
cannot travel upstream. This is known as the blocking condi- + ∇ ⋅ [(cg + U)] + 𝜎 + 𝜃 = tot (7)
𝜕t 𝜕𝜎 𝜕𝜃 𝜎
tion, given by the point rB on the dispersion curve. When
incoming waves encounter adverse currents increasing in in which the wave action is given by N = E∕𝜎, where
the downwave direction up to the blocking condition, they E(x, f , 𝜃, t) is the variation density of the waves, obtained
are dissipated there and reflected back to a region of lower from stochastic averaging of the wave field. The source term
opposing current velocity, along the solution path of r3 Stot is given by
(Chawla and Kirby, 2002).
Stot = Satm + Swc + Snl4 + Sbot + Sbrk + Snl3 (8)
2.2 Two-dimensional nonstationary case which describes the various processes of wave growth and
decay, including the energy flux from the wind to the waves
Generalizing to two horizontal spatial dimensions, the (Satm ), steepness-induced (whitecapping) dissipation (Swc ),
nonstationary wave kinematics are given by the following and four-wave nonlinear interaction (Snl4 ). In intermediate
linear expressions (Mei, 1983): to shallow water, these are supplemented by bottom friction
[ ] dissipation (Sbot ), depth-induced breaking dissipation (Sbrk ),
dx 1 2kh 𝜎k
= (cg + U) = 1+ +U (4) and three-wave nonlinear interaction (Snl4 ).
dt 2 sin h 2kh k2
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe085
4 General
Equation 4 represents the propagation of wave action in a shifting of the (wave-induced) wind stress direction away
geographical space (with x the two-dimensional horizontal from the mean wind direction.
vector and cg the intrinsic group velocity vector); Equation 5
describes the shifting of the relative radian frequency 𝜎 due
to variations in mean current and depth (with the propa- 3 EFFECT OF WAVES ON THE MEAN
gation velocity cσ ); and Equation 6 represents depth- and FLOW: DEPTH-INTEGRATED
current-induced refraction (with propagation velocity cθ in DESCRIPTION
directional space 𝜃). Here s is the spatial coordinate in the
propagation direction 𝜃 and m a spatial coordinate perpen- We first consider the effect of waves on the mean flow in
dicular to s. a depth-integrated description. These equations have been
As described by Equations 1–6, the influence of currents given by Mei (1983). Here we follow the derivation of Dinge-
on linear wave kinematics in two spatial dimensions includes mans (1997). We define the mean current as that part of
effects on the intrinsic frequency 𝜎, wavenumber k, phase the total motion obtained after time averaging over a wave
velocity c, and direction 𝜃. According to Equation 5, period. We therefore define the depth-averaged mean hori-
waves propagating into an opposing current gradient with zontal velocity Ui (x, t), with i = 1, 2, such that Ui times the
increasing strength (a negative current gradient) will expe- mean water depth h+ < 𝜁 > equals the mean volume flux:
rience an increase in the intrinsic frequency 𝜎 (reduction ⟨ ⟩
𝜁
in wave length), which, together with an increase in wave 1
Ui (x, t) = ui (x, z, t)dz (9)
height due to Equation 7, may cause steepness-induced h+ < 𝜁 > ∫−h
breaking. As discussed above, when the wave field meets an
opposing current with a velocity that approaches the wave in which < ⋅ > denotes the time-averaging over several wave
group velocity, waves are blocked. Conversely, an acceler- periods. The vertical coordinate z is measured positively
ating following current (positive current gradient) results in upward from the still water level, with the free surface
a reduction in 𝜎, increased wave lengths, and a reduction elevation given by 𝜁 and the seabed located at z = −h. The
in wave height. Note in this regard that a following current velocity vector is defined as v = (v1 , v2 , v3 )T = (u, v, w)T =
that decelerates also constitutes a negative gradient. Exper- (u1 , u2 , w)T and x = (x1 , x2 , x3 )T = (x, y, z)T = (x1 , x2 , z)T .
imental evidence of this effect was found by Babanin et al. In order to separate the mean flow from the waves, we write
(2011). Van der Westhuysen (2012) argue that under these the velocity variable as the sum of the mean velocity and the
near-blocking conditions, the conventional whitecapping residual (wave-related) velocity, indicated with a tilde, so that
formulations Swc (Komen, Hasselmann, and Hasselmann, for the horizontal velocity ui (x, z, t) we have:
1984; Van der Westhuysen, Zijlema, and Battjes, 2007),
being calibrated for wind growth conditions, have ineffi- ui (x, z, t) = Ui (x, t) + ũ i (x, z, t) (10)
cient magnitude to model the excess dissipation due to the
current-induced steepening. For linear waves, Equations 9 and 10 then implies that
According to Equation 6, waves traveling at an angle over ⟨ 𝜁 ⟩
gradients in an inhomogeneous current field experiences ũ i (x, z, t)dz =0 (11)
refraction. This can express itself in wave focusing and ∫−h
trapping, as described by, for example, Lavrenov (1998)
so that, as will be shown below, in this depth-averaged
and Holthuijsen and Tolman (1991), or in strong directional
description the wave part drops out, leaving only the mean
change over horizontally sheared currents (Zhang et al.,
motion. Note, however, that the mean motion of waves in
2009).
second order becomes part of the mean current field.
When currents interact with waves that are actively forced
For the vertical velocity we have, similar to Equation 9,
by wind, additional effects are found (Haus, 2007). Wind
moving over a wave field in ambient opposing current will ⟨ 𝜁 ⟩
1
have a higher speed relative to the waves (a lower effective W(x, t) = w(x, z, t)dz (12)
h+ < 𝜁 > ∫−h
wave age) than without it, and a lower relative speed in the
case of following current, even if the current field is spatially with
uniform. The result is a respective increase or decrease in ̃ z, t)
w(x, z, t) = W(x, t) + w(x, (13)
the growth rate of the waves Satm . In addition, Haus (2007)
and Zhang et al. (2009) show that wind-driven waves that and for the free surface elevation
experience current refraction over a horizontally sheared
current can experience a reduction in their growth rate due to ̄ t) + 𝜁(x,
𝜁 (x, t) = 𝜁(x, ̃ t) (14)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe085
where 𝜁̄ is the mean free surface and The free surface stress 𝜏ks is composed of the external stress
in the air exerted on the free surface, including meteorolog-
̃ t)⟩ = 0
⟨𝜁(x, (15) ical effects, and surface tension. The free surface slope in
Equation 22 is given by grad Σ = [−𝜕𝜁∕𝜕x, −𝜕𝜁∕𝜕y, 1]T .
We start the derivation with the continuity and momentum The dynamic boundary condition at the bottom Ξ(x, z) =
equations, including viscous stresses, in which the density 𝜌 z + h(x) = 0 is given by
is assumed constant:
𝜕uj 𝜕h
𝜕w 𝜏kb |grad Ξ| = 𝜎jk′ + 𝜎3k
′
k = 1, 2, 3;
+ = 0; −h(x) ≤ z ≤ 𝜁(x, t) (16) 𝜕xj
𝜕xj 𝜕z
j = 1, 2 at z = −h(x) (23)
𝜕𝜌ui 𝜕𝜌ui uj 𝜕𝜌wui 𝜕 𝜕𝜎ji′ 𝜕𝜎 ′ where 𝜏kb is the bottom shear stress, acting in a direc-
+ + = − (p𝛿ji ) + + 3i ;
𝜕t 𝜕xj 𝜕z 𝜕xj 𝜕xj 𝜕z tion opposite to the fluid motion, and the bottom slope is
grad Ξ = [−𝜕h∕𝜕x, −𝜕h∕𝜕y, 1]T .
− h(x) ≤ z ≤ 𝜁(x, t) (17)
3.1 Continuity equation

𝜕𝜌w 𝜕𝜌wuj 𝜕𝜌w 2 𝜕p 𝜕𝜎j3′ 𝜕𝜎33
′
+ + = − − 𝜌g + + ; In order to arrive at its depth-integrated, wave-averaged form,
𝜕t 𝜕xj 𝜕z 𝜕z 𝜕xj 𝜕z
the continuity equation (16) is first integrated vertically over
− h(x) ≤ z ≤ 𝜁 (x, t) (18) the instantaneous depth, from z = −h(x) to z = 𝜁 (x, t), giving
where 𝛿ji is the Kronecker delta, with 𝛿ji = 1 for i = j and 𝛿ji 𝜁 𝜕uj
= 0 for i ≠ j, and 𝜎mk′
is the viscous stress tensor (defined dz + w(x, 𝜁, t) − w(x, −h, t) = 0 (24)
∫−h 𝜕xj
below), in which the first subscript (m) denotes the plane
on which the tensor acts and the second subscript (k) the
Reversing the order of integration and differentiation, and
direction of the force. The indices i and j have the values 1
using the kinematic boundary conditions (20) and (21), result
and 2, while the indices k and m run from 1 to 3. Following
Dingemans (1997), the standard summation convention is in
𝜁
𝜕 𝜕𝜁
used, where they are summed over repeated indices. The total uj dz + =0 (25)
stress tensor 𝜎mk is given by ∫
𝜕xj −h 𝜕t
( )
𝜕vm 𝜕vk Now we apply the definition (9–25) and obtain the
𝜎mk = −p𝛿mk + 𝜂 + = −p𝛿mk + 𝜎mk ′
(19)
𝜕xk 𝜕xm depth-integrated continuity equation in its wave-averaged
form:
which is comprised of normal and viscous shear stress 𝜕<𝜁 > 𝜕
+ [(h+ < 𝜁 >)Uj ] = 0 (26)
components, where 𝜂 is the dynamic viscosity coefficient. 𝜕t 𝜕xj
The kinematic boundary conditions for Equation 16–18
at the surface and bottom (no-slip condition) are given by,
respectively: 3.2 Momentum equations
𝜕𝜁 𝜕𝜁
w= + uj at z = 𝜁 (x, t) (20) Next we consider the depth-integrated, wave-averaged forms
𝜕t 𝜕xj of the momentum Equations 17 and 18. Taking first the
horizontal momentum Equation 17, we integrate over the
ui = w = 0 i = 1, 2 at z = h(x) (21) instantaneous depth (changing the order of differentiation
and integration) and apply the boundary conditions 20–23:
The dynamic boundary condition at the free surface
Σ(x, z, t) = z − 𝜁(x, t) = 0 is given by 𝜕
𝜁
𝜕
𝜁
𝜌u dz + [𝜌u u + p𝛿ij − 𝜎ij′ ]dz
𝜕𝜁 𝜕t ∫−h i 𝜕xj ∫−h i j
−𝜎jk + 𝜎3k = 𝜏ks |grad Σ| k = 1, 2, 3;
𝜕xj 𝜕h
= p(x, −h, t)𝛿ij + 𝜏is |grad Σ| − 𝜏ib |grad Ξ| (27)
j = 1, 2 at z = 𝜁 (x, t) (22) 𝜕xj
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe085
6 General
where we define p(x, −h, t) ≡ pb . Using Equation 9 and the Expression (33) is typically simplified for practical appli-
decompositions (10) and (14), the time-average of the hori- cation: (i) it is recognized that |grad Ξ| and |grad Σ| have
zontal momentum equation becomes contributions that are of the second order in, respectively,
the bed slope and surface slope, so that |grad Ξ| ≈ 1 and
[ ] ⟨ 𝜁[ ] ⟩
𝜕Ui 𝜕U 𝜕 |grad Σ| ≈ 1, (ii) the viscous stress tensors in ⟨pb ⟩ and the
̄
𝜌(h + 𝜁) + Uj i + 𝜌̃ui ũ j + p𝛿ji − 𝜎ji′ dz
𝜕t 𝜕xj 𝜕xj ∫−h second term on the right-hand side of Equation 33 are rela-
tively small and can be neglected, and (iii) the approxima-
𝜕h tions of a horizontal bed 𝜕h∕𝜕xi = 0 and a constant mean free
= ⟨pb ⟩ + ⟨𝜏is |grad Σ|⟩ − ⟨𝜏ib |grad Ξ|⟩ (28)
𝜕xi ̄ t) = 0 are made (i.e., constant depth), yielding
surface 𝜁(x,
the commonly used form
Similarly, for the vertical momentum equation (18),
[ ]
applying depth integration and subsequently time-averaging
̄
𝜕Ui 𝜕U 𝜕 𝜁̄ 𝜕Sij
with Equations 12–14 yield 𝜌(h + 𝜁) + Uj i + g + = ⟨𝜏is ⟩ − ⟨𝜏ib ⟩ (34)
𝜕t 𝜕xj 𝜕xi 𝜕xj
[ ] ⟨ 𝜁 [ ] ⟩
̄ 𝜕W 𝜕W 𝜕 The same assumptions applied to Equation 29 yield the
𝜌(h + 𝜁 ) + Uj + 𝜌̃uj w̃ − 𝜎j3 dz
′
𝜕t 𝜕xj 𝜕xj ∫−h solution of W = 0 (no mean vertical flow).
̄ + ⟨𝜏 s |grad Σ|⟩ − ⟨𝜏 b |grad Ξ|⟩ (29)
= (⟨pb ⟩ − 𝜌g(h + 𝜁)) 3 3
3.3 Applications: wave-induced set-down and
set-up
Considering Equation 28, the radiation stress tensor Sij(𝜎) ,
including viscous stress, is introduced now: The first application of wave radiation stresses is
wave-induced set-down and set-up, first discussed
⟨ 𝜁 [ ] ⟩ by Longuet-Higgins and Stewart (1964). Consider a
Sij(𝜎) = 𝜌̃ui ũ j + p𝛿ij − 𝜎ij′ dz one-dimensional case of a monochromatic wave train
∫−h
approaching a mild-sloped beach, on which the waves shoal
1 ̄ 2 𝛿ij + 𝜎̄ ′ (h + 𝜁)
̄ and ultimately break. Here the nonuniform cross-shore
− 𝜌g(h + 𝜁) ij (30)
2 distribution of the radiation stress will drive a cross-shore
gradient in the water level, known as wave-induced set-down
where 𝜎ij′ was given in Equation 19. For the case of a constant
and set-up.
dynamic friction coefficient 𝜂 (laminar flow), Equation 30
From Equation 31, we have for the one-dimensional case
reduces to
along the x-axis:
⟨ 𝜁 ⟩
[ ] 1 ⟨ 𝜁 ⟩
Sij = ̄ 2 𝛿ij
𝜌̃ui ũ j + p𝛿ij dz − 𝜌g(h + 𝜁) (31) ( ) 1
∫−h 2 Sxx = 𝜌̃u2x + p dz − 𝜌g(h + 𝜁̄ )2 (35)
∫−h 2
The first term in the integrant represents the amount of Considering then Equation 34 with a zero mean horizontal
momentum transferred by the water particles in the wave flow Ux , no wind stress on the surface, and no bed stress, we
orbital and the second represents the transfer due to normal have the balance
pressure. The last term on the right-hand side represents the
̄
̄ d𝜁 = 0
hydrostatic pressure. Considering that dSxx
+ 𝜌g(h + 𝜁) (36)
dx dx
[ ̄]
𝜌g(h + 𝜁̄ )
𝜕h
=
𝜕 1 ̄ 𝜕𝜁
̄ 2 − 𝜌g(h + 𝜁)
𝜌g(h + 𝜁) (32) This gives the direct relationship between the gradient of
𝜕xi 𝜕xi 2 𝜕xi
the cross-shore radiation stress dSxx ∕dx and the slope of the
̄
mean free surface d𝜁∕dx. Hence, for a given wave field,
the horizontal momentum equation (28) becomes
the local wave set-up can be obtained by integration (36)
[ ]
̄
𝜕Ui 𝜕Ui 𝜕 𝜁̄ 𝜕Sij from the offshore toward the coast. Figure 2 illustrates such
𝜌(h + 𝜁) + Uj +g + wave-induced set-up for a random wave field shoaling and
𝜕t 𝜕xj 𝜕xi 𝜕xj
breaking over a plane beach.
⟨ 𝜁 ⟩
̄ 𝜕h 𝜕 Two zones are distinguished: a first leading from the
= (⟨p ⟩ − 𝜌g(h + 𝜁 ))
b
+ 𝜎 dz
′
𝜕xi 𝜕xj ∫−h ji offshore up to the breaking point (≈500 m from the shore in
Figure 2), where energy gains or losses are typically gradual
+ ⟨𝜏is |grad Σ|⟩ − ⟨𝜏ib |grad Ξ|⟩ (33) (e.g., wind input or bed friction), and a second from the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe085
breaker line to the shore, where the waves rapidly lose their The mean surface 𝜁̄ is thus negative (lowering of the
energy. We first consider the former region. For illustrative mean surface level), with increasingly negative values as
purposes, we will simplify conditions there to have a constant the total depth reduces. This phenomenon is referred to as
wave energy flux F: wave-induced set-down and occurs because the radiation
stress Sxx increases with decreasing depth, in this nondissi-
F = Enc = constant (37) pative approach. Considering the region from the breaking
point shoreward, a simplified description of the wave height
so that Equation 36 can be rewritten as reduction due to breaking is
d𝜁̄ 1 dSxx
=− (38) H(x) = 𝛾d(x),
dd 𝜌gh dd (40)
̄ For a given monochromatic wave period,

where d = h + 𝜁.
with 𝛾 being the breaker index, with values of 0.6–0.8. In
integration of Equation 38 with respect to d, with the
very shallow water, we then have
boundary condition 𝜁̄ = 0, yields
1 kH 2 3 3 2
𝜁̄ = − (39) Sxx = 𝜌gH 2 = 𝛾 𝜌gd2 (41)
8 sin h2kd 16 16
2.5
2
Hm0 (m)
1.5
0.5
0
(a) 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
0.3
Mean water level (m)
0.2
0.1
−0.1
(b) 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
2
Total depth (m)
10
1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
(c) Distance from shore (m)
Figure 2. Wave-induced set-down and set-up over a 1 : 100 slope plane beach, produced using Equation 36 in the wave model SWAN.
Random wave field with a significant wave height Hm0 = 2 m, peak period of Tp = 16 s, and a JONSWAP spectral distribution with a peak
enhancement factor of 3.3, normally incident on the shore. Shown are (a) the significant wave height, (b) mean water level featuring set-down
and set-up, and (c) total water depth. (Created by the author using data from Kirby et. al (1989).)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe085
8 General
Substitution in Equation 38 yields 3.4 Applications: wave-driven longshore current
The second application of wave radiation stresses is the

d𝜁̄ 3 dh phenomenon of longshore current generation, first discussed
= 𝛾2 (42)
dx 8 dd by Longuet-Higgins (1970a, b). We consider waves that
approach a plane beach at an angle, in two horizontal dimen-
sions. The x-axis is oriented perpendicular to the shore
Expressed in terms of the depth slope, we then have
and the y-axis runs alongshore. The incoming wave field is
uniform along the length of the beach (y-axis), and the waves
3∕8 2 refract toward shore normal and ultimately break as the depth
d𝜁̄ 𝛾 dh reduces.
=− 3 2
𝛾2 (43)
dx 1+ 𝛾 dd
8
To describe the generation of the longshore current by the
waves, we start with Equation 34, setting i = y and j = x.
Considering that the flow and water level will be uniform
Therefore, as long as the bed slope is positive, slope of the along the infinitely long coast (𝜕 𝜁̄ ∕𝜕y = 0), and assuming
mean free surface will also be positive, a phenomenon known that the cross-shore flow will be zero (Ux = U = 0) and
as wave-induced set-up. neglecting wind stress at the water surface (⟨𝜏is ⟩ = 0), we
2
Hm0 (m)
0
(a) 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
× 10−3
4
V (m/s)
0
(b) 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
30
Dir (deg. rel. SN)
20
10
0
(c) 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
0
Total depth (m)
10
1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
(d) Distance from shore (m)
Figure 3. Wave-induced longshore current generated over a 1 : 100 slope plane beach. Random wave field with a significant wave height
Hm0 = 2 m, peak period of Tp = 16 s, a JONSWAP spectral distribution (peak enhancement factor of 3.3), and incident at 30∘ relative to
shore normal. Bottom shear stress computed using ⟨𝜏ib ⟩ = 1∕2fw 𝜌V 2 , with fw = 0.005. Shown are (a) the significant wave height, (b) the
wave-driven longshore current, (c) wave direction, and (d) total water depth.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe085
have for the longshore current Uy = V the following balance: in which 𝛏(x, t) is the disturbance displacement of the fluid
parcel. The GLM 𝜙̄ L (x, t) is therefore defined as the mean
𝜕 𝜕Syx of 𝜙 at its disturbed position, that is, following a single fluid
̄
[𝜌(h + 𝜁)V] =− − ⟨𝜏ib ⟩ (44)
𝜕t 𝜕x parcel, in contrast to the Eulerian mean that is evaluated at
Therefore, as waves obliquely approach a beach from deep its original position.
water, the negative cross-shore gradient of the radiation stress The Stokes correction 𝜙S is defined as the difference
term 𝜕Syx ∕𝜕x (mainly due to breaking dissipation) will tend between the Lagrangian and Eulerian means of 𝜙:
to accelerate the longshore current V. This acceleration of
V will in turn increase the bed stress term ⟨𝜏ib ⟩, which can ⟨𝜙(x, t)⟩S ≡ ⟨𝜙(x, t)⟩L − ⟨𝜙(x, t)⟩ (46)
be expressed by a quadratic law such as ⟨𝜏ib ⟩ = 1∕2fw 𝜌V 2 ,
with fw the friction factor. This will continue until a steady The so-called Stokes drift is the Stokes correction to u,
longshore current develops, at which time the left-hand side given by ⟨u(x, t)⟩S .
of Equation 44 goes to zero, and the two terms on the For infinitesimal waves, the disturbance displacement 𝛏 is
right-hand side are in balance. Figure 3 shows an example of posed as a disturbance-associated quantity, such that
such a wave-driven longshore current, generated by a random
wave field approaching a plane beach at an angle of 30∘ . ⟨𝛏(x, t)⟩ = 0 (47)
The Lagrangian disturbance velocity, denoted as ul , is

4 EFFECT OF WAVES ON THE MEAN defined as the difference between the velocity u at the
FLOW: DEPTH-VARYING displaced position x + 𝛏 and the Lagrangian mean velocity
DESCRIPTION ⟨u(x, t)⟩L
In the Eulerian approach presented in Section 3, the mean ul (x, t) ≡ u{x + 𝛏(x, t), t} − ⟨u(x, t)⟩L (48)
current and the wave motion could be easily split because
of the assumption that the current is uniform with depth.
Finally, the temporal derivative of the displacement 𝛏 is
However, in a depth-varying mean current field, the two flow
defined as the rate of change following the mean flow, so that,
components cannot be split through such depth integration.
together with Equation 48, we have
Instead, this is typically accomplished using the generalized
Lagrangian mean (GLM) method of Andrews and McIntyre ( )
̄ L (𝛏) = 𝜕
(1978a), or variations thereof (Jenkins, 1989; Groeneweg and D + ⟨u⟩L ⋅ ∇ 𝛏 = ul (49)
𝜕t
Klopman, 1998; Mellor, 2003; Ardhuin, Rascle, and Belibas-
sakis, 2008; Bennis, Ardhuin, and Dumas, 2011). To this end, Equations 45, 47, 48, and 49 form the basis of the GLM
we will first review the GLM method, following Dingemans theory. These are used below to derive Lagrangian mean
(1997), and then present the related quasi-Eulerian descrip- expressions for the continuity of mass and momentum.
tion of Ardhuin, Rascle, and Belibassakis (2008) and Bennis,
Ardhuin, and Dumas (2011).
4.1.1 Continuity equation in GLM variables
4.1 The generalized Lagrangian mean (GLM)
The mass conservation equation for the velocity field u(x, t),
method
with a density 𝜌, reads
A fundamental choice in the development of wave-averaged 𝜕𝜌
equations is the definition of the control volume in which the + div(𝜌u) = 0 (50)
𝜕t
momentum is averaged. In an Eulerian description, such as
discussed above, the control volume is defined as having a Considering GLM coordinates, Andrews and McIntyre
fixed position. In the GLM approach, by contrast, the control (1978a) define a density 𝜌̃ that can be associated with the
volume is displaced by the disturbance motion, yielding a GLM velocity field ū L :
hybrid Eulerian–Lagrangian description. If we consider the
quantity 𝜙(x, t), then the Eulerian mean at x is given by 𝜕 𝜌̃
+ div(𝜌̃ū L ) = 0 (51)
⟨𝜙(x, t)⟩ = 𝜙(x, t). The corresponding Lagrangian mean is 𝜕t
defined as
in which
𝜙̄ L (x, t) = ⟨𝜙(x, t)⟩L = ⟨𝜙{x + 𝛏(x, t), t}⟩ (45) 𝜌̃ = 𝜌𝜉 J (52)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe085
10 General
where J is the Jacobian of the mapping x → x + 𝛏 ≡ Ξ(x, t): under the assumptions of small surface slope, weak hori-
( ) ( ) zontal gradients of the water depth and mean current,
𝜕Ξi 𝜕𝜉 and weak curvature of the mean current profile. However,
J = det = det 𝛿ij + i (53)
𝜕xj 𝜕xj as discussed in Bennis, Ardhuin, and Dumas (2011), the
GLM description requires the specification of the vertical
4.1.2 Momentum equation in GLM variables wave-pressure-induced momentum flux across the control
volume, for which no general analytical expression in terms
The momentum equation for the velocity field u(x, t) with a of local wave, water depth, and current properties appears
density 𝜌 is available.
To work around this problem, the formulation of Ardhuin,
Du Rascle, and Belibassakis (2008) and Bennis, Ardhuin, and
𝜌0 + grad p − 𝜌g = −𝜌X (54)
Dt Dumas (2011) is stated in terms of the quasi-Eulerian
in which X represents dissipative forces, which will be velocity û j = ū Lj − Pj . In the absence of vertical current
omitted for the moment, but reintroduced below. In its shifted shear, it is given by û j = ū Lj − ū Sj , where ū Sj is the horizontal
form, Equation 54 then becomes Stokes drift (Ardhuin, Rascle, and Belibassakis, 2008,
Equation 24; Bennis, Ardhuin, and Dumas, 2011, Equation
( )𝜉 2). This quasi-Eulerian flow field does not contain wave
Du
𝜌0 + (grad p)𝜉 = 𝜌𝜉 g (55) momentum, thus removing the need to specify the vertical
Dt
fluxes of wave momentum. The influence of waves on the
Using the definition mean quasi-Eulerian current appear only as forcing terms,
( )𝜉 as will be shown below.
̄ L (𝜙𝜉 ) = D𝜙
D (56)
Dt
4.2.1 Conservation of momentum and mass
multiplying with (𝜕Ξi ∕𝜕xj ), taking the Lagrangian mean, For the simplified case where vertical current shear and
and some manipulation yields (Dingemans, 1997, Equation partial standing waves are neglected, the horizontal
2.596) momentum equations of Ardhuin, Rascle, and Belibas-
( ( )) sakis (2008, Equation 42) become (Bennis, Ardhuin, and
𝜕 ū L
̄ L (̄uL − Pj ) + 1 𝜕 p̄ − 𝜌̄ gj = 𝜕 1 ulm ulm + P̄ L k
L L
D Dumas, 2011, Equations 11 and 12):
j
𝜌0 𝜕xj 𝜌0 𝜕xj 2 k
𝜕xj
(57) 𝜕 û 𝜕 û 𝜕 û 𝜕 û 1 𝜕pH
in which the wave pseudomomentum per unit mass, Pj , is + û + v̂ + ŵ − f v̂ +
𝜕t 𝜕x 𝜕y 𝜕z 𝜌 𝜕x
given by ⟨ ⟩ [ ( )]
𝜕𝜉i 𝜉 𝜕 v̂ 𝜕 û
Pj = − u (58) = f+ − v̄ S
𝜕xj i 𝜕x 𝜕y
𝜕 û 𝜕J
− w̄ S − + (F̂ m,x + F̂ d,x + F̂ b,x ) (59)
The wave pseudomomentum describes the part of the 𝜕z 𝜕x
momentum associated with the wave motion and is given
by ki N, with N = E∕𝜎, the wave action and E the wave and
energy density. The conservation of wave pseudomomentum,
𝜕 v̂ 𝜕 v̂ 𝜕 v̂ 𝜕 v̂ 1 𝜕pH
as distinct from the conservation of momentum, is connected + û + v̂ + ŵ − f û +
𝜕t 𝜕x 𝜕y 𝜕z 𝜌 𝜕y
with invariance to a translation of the disturbance pattern [ ( )]
while mean particle positions are kept fixed (Andrews and 𝜕 v̂ 𝜕 û 𝜕 v̂ 𝜕J
=− f + − ū S − w̄ S −
McIntyre, 1978b). 𝜕x 𝜕y 𝜕z 𝜕y
+ (F̂ m,y + F̂ d,y + F̂ b,y ) (60)
4.2 Quasi-Eulerian description
where the left-hand sides are the classical primitive equation
For application in a numerical model, the wave forcing for the quasi-Eulerian velocity û j , pH is the hydrostatic
terms in Equation 57 must be made explicit using approxi- pressure, and (F̂ m,x , F̂ m,y ) the nonwave-related mixing
mate solutions for the wave-induced motions and pressure, effects. The right-hand sides contain the wave forcing terms,
typically provided by a wave model. Ardhuin, Rascle, and including the source of quasi-Eulerian momentum due to
Belibassakis (2008) obtain such an approximate closure wave breaking and wave-turbulence interaction (F̂ d,x , F̂ d,y ),
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe085
the source of quasi-Eulerian momentum due to wave bottom propose imposing the wave dissipation as a surface stress,
friction (F̂ b,x , F̂ b,y ), and J the wave-induced mean pressure. with a vertical profile given by a delta function 𝛿z,𝜂̂ :
The first terms on the right-hand sides contain the wave
vortex force, which is an alternative expression for the (F̂ d,x ,F̂ d,y )(z) = (𝜏oc,x , 𝜏oc,y )𝛿z,𝜂̂
wave radiation stresses (Garrett, 1976; Lane, Restrepo, and k
McWilliams, 2007; Smith, 2006). = (cos 𝜃, sin 𝜃)Soc (f , 𝜃)𝛿z,𝜂̂ df d𝜃 (66)
∫ 𝜎
Mass conservation is given by
where Soc (f , 𝜃) is the spectral density of the energy flux
𝜕 û 𝜕 v̂ 𝜕 ŵ from waves to the ocean. In deep water, this is equal to the
+ + =0 (61)
𝜕x 𝜕y 𝜕z whitecapping breaking dissipation source term Swc (Komen,
Hasselmann, and Hasselmann, 1984; Van der Westhuysen,
from which the vertical quasi-Eulerian velocity ŵ is found. Zijlema, and Battjes, 2007; Ardhuin et al., 2010). In shallow
These equations are valid from the bottom z = −h to the local water, this is supplemented by the depth-induced dissipation
phase-averaged free surface 𝜂,
̂ with some modification to the source term Sbrk (Battjes and Janssen, 1978; Van der West-
surface boundary condition discussed below. huysen, 2009, 2010; Filipot, Ardhuin, and Babanin, 2010;
Filipot and Ardhuin, 2012).
In cases where the bottom boundary layer is resolved in
4.2.2 Wave forcing terms the model, the near-bottom source of momentum (F̂ b,x , F̂ b,y )
is given by
The wave forcing terms in Equations 59 and 60 require
estimates of the three-component Stokes drift (̄uS , v̄ S , w̄ S ), the
(F̂ b,x ,F̂ b,y )(z) = (𝜏wb,x , 𝜏wb,y )G(z)
wave-induced pressure term J, and the momentum sources
(F̂ d,x , F̂ d,y ) and (F̂ b,x , F̂ b,y ). These are all readily computed =
k
(cos 𝜃, sin 𝜃)Sbot (f , 𝜃)G(z)df d𝜃 (67)
from local parameters provided by phase-averaged wave ∫ 𝜎
models.
where G(z) is a function that integrates to 1 across the wave
The horizontal Stokes drift vector (̄uS , v̄ S ) is given by
bottom boundary layer (Walstra, Roelvink, and Groeneweg,
cos h(2kz + 2kh) 2000). The wave bottom stress vector (𝜏wb,x , 𝜏wb,y ) is equal
(̄uS , v̄ S ) = 𝜎k(cos 𝜃, sin 𝜃)E (62) to the momentum lost by the wave field by bed friction,
sin h2 (kD)
computed as the source term Sbot by the wave model (see
At the lowest order, the full Stokes drift flow is nondiver- also Section 5).
gent (Ardhuin, Jenkins, and Belibassakis, 2008), so that
4.2.3 Boundary conditions
𝜕 ū S 𝜕 v̄ S 𝜕 w̄ S
+ + =0 (63) The quasi-Eulerian description requires an adjustment to the
𝜕x 𝜕y 𝜕z
surface kinetic boundary condition such that
from which the vertical Stokes drift component is given by 𝜕 𝜂̂ 𝜕 𝜂̂ 𝜕 𝜂̂
+ (̂u + ū S ) + (̂v + v̄ S ) = ŵ + w̄ S (68)
z 𝜕t 𝜕x 𝜕y
𝜕h 𝜕h 𝜕 ū S 𝜕 v̄ S
w̄ S (z) = −̄uS |z=−h
− v̄ S |z=−h − + dz
𝜕x 𝜕y ∫−h 𝜕x 𝜕y which implies a source of mass at the surface to compensate
(64) the convergence of the Stokes drift. The surface dynamic
The wave-induced mean pressure term is given by boundary condition contains stresses that drive the turbulent
momentum flux;
kE
J=g (65) 𝜕 û
sin h(2kD) Kz = 𝜏a,x − 𝜏aw,x (69)
𝜕z
Next, the momentum sources from the waves are specified.
where 𝜏a,x and 𝜏aw,x are the x-component of the wind stress
Energy lost through wave breaking (in deep or shallow water)
and wave-supported stress, and their difference is taken to
is the source of surface turbulence and is inserted through
avoid double counting of the momentum flux contributed by
the term (F̂ d,x , F̂ d,y ). For this an empirical vertical profile
Equation 66. The wave-supported stress is given by
must be specified, but Bennis, Ardhuin, and Dumas (2011)
argue that in reality the strong vertical mixing due to wave k
(𝜏aw,x , 𝜏aw,y ) = (cos 𝜃, sin 𝜃)Satm (f , 𝜃)df d𝜃 (70)
breaking makes this choice less critical. As a result, they ∫ 𝜎
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe085
12 General
where Satm is the spectral density of the energy flux from the The starting point is the momentum equation similar to
wind to the waves, approximately equal to the wind input Equation 17 where convective accelerations (as well as Cori-
source term in spectral wave models. olis accelerations) are assumed negligible:
In cases where the bottom boundary layer is resolved, the ( )
bottom boundary condition is given by the quasi-Eulerian 𝜕u 1 𝜕 𝜏
= − ∇p + (71)
velocity (̂u, v̂ )|z=−h = (0, 0). 𝜕t 𝜌 𝜕z 𝜌
Finally, the energy lost by waves due to breaking and
where, following Grant and Madsen’s notation, the velocity
wave-turbulence interaction provides the surface boundary
vector u is comprised of a wave and mean current compo-
condition for the flux of turbulent kinetic energy. This is
nent, respectively (u = uw + uc ), as is the pressure (p = pw +
given by Equation 66 without the k∕𝜎 factor. Similarly,
pc ). The turbulent shear stress term 𝜏 is related to the flow
the wave energy lost due to bottom friction is a source of kinematics through the use of a turbulent eddy viscosity
turbulent kinetic energy in the bottom boundary layer, given 𝜖. The assumption is made that the eddy viscosity varies
by Equation 67, again without the k∕𝜎 factor. linearly with distance from the sheared boundary such that
The above set of Equations 59–70 represent a simplified
form of the quasi-Eulerian flow description. For more details, 𝜖 = 𝜅u∗ z (72)
including a derivation for terrain-following coordinates, the
reader is referred to Bennis, Ardhuin, and Dumas (2011). For where 𝜅 is Von Karman’s constant, z the vertical coordi-
a more complete description, including the effects of current nate measured positively from the seabed, and u∗ = (𝜏∕𝜌)1∕2
shear, see Ardhuin, Rascle, and Belibassakis (2008). a characteristic shear velocity representing the flow turbu-
lence. We can therefore set
( ) ( )
𝜕 𝜏 𝜕 𝜕u
= 𝜖 (73)
5 EFFECT OF WAVES ON THE BOTTOM 𝜕z 𝜌 𝜕z 𝜕z
STRESS
In the region above the wave boundary layer, the shear
Waves not only have an impact on the surface layer of the stress associated with the steady current is given by
water column, but also, in shallower waters (<200 m), at the 1
seabed. Under these conditions, the current above the bottom 𝜌−1 |𝛕c | = |u∗c |2 = f V |u |2 (74)
2 cw 2 b
wave boundary layer feels a larger resistance due to the pres-
ence of the waves than it would from the physical bed rough- where |ub | is the maximum near-bottom orbital velocity from
ness alone. Because of the larger vertical gradients in the linear wave theory and fcw the combined wave–current fric-
wave orbital velocities, the boundary shear stress associated tion factor, to be determined below. For small current veloc-
with the wave motion can be an order of magnitude larger ities relative to the wave motion, V2 can be approximated as
than the shear stress associated with a current with compa-
V2 = (2∕𝜋)(|ua |∕|ub |)[4 − 3sin2 𝜙c ]1∕2 (75)
rable magnitude. This is reflected in a higher bed shear stress
𝜏 from the combined wave–current motion. Approaches have
where |ua | is the magnitude of the steady current velocity at
been proposed ranging from simplified empirical expres-
a height a above the bottom and 𝜙c the angle between the
sions (Fredsoe, 1984; Soulsby et al. 1993) to fundamental
steady current and wave propagation directions.
boundary layer descriptions (Grant and Madsen, 1979), The characteristic shear velocity due to the combined
discussed below. current and wave motion inside the wave boundary layer can
Grant and Madsen (1979) presents an analytical theory for be defined as
the bottom friction under combined waves and currents in the
( )1∕2
presence of a rough bottom. The theory considers two flow 1
|u∗cw | = (|𝛕b,max |∕𝜌)1∕2 = fcw 𝛼 |ub | (76)
regions, namely the thin oscillatory wave boundary layer 2
close to the seabed and the essentially steady, fully devel-
where
oped mean current boundary layer above it. Within the wave
boundary layer, the shear stress and turbulent intensities are 𝛼 = 1 + (|ua |∕|ub |)2 + 2(|ua |∕|ub |) cos 𝜙c (77)
due to both the mean flow and the waves, interacting nonlin-
early. As a result, the current in the region above the wave Using Equations 74 and 76, the appropriate forms of the
boundary layer experiences a shear stress that depends not eddy viscosity in each region are
only on the physical bed roughness but also on the character-
istics of the wave boundary layer. 𝜖c = 𝜅|u∗c | z > 𝛿w (78)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe085
and The expression for the steady current motion outside the
wave boundary layer is
𝜖cw = 𝜅|u∗cw | z < 𝛿w (79)
( )
1 𝜕 𝜕uc
− ∇pc + 𝜅|u∗c |z =0 z > 𝛿w (82)
where 𝛿w is the width of the wave boundary layer. This results 𝜌 𝜕z 𝜕z
in the following equation for the wave motion outside the
and inside of the wave boundary layer it is
wave boundary layer
( )
1 𝜕 𝜕uc
( ) − ∇pc + 𝜅|u∗cw |z =0 z < 𝛿w (83)
𝜕uw 1 𝜕 𝜕uw 𝜌 𝜕z 𝜕z
= − ∇pw + 𝜅|u∗c |z z > 𝛿w (80)
𝜕t 𝜌 𝜕z 𝜕z
Since the scale of the wave boundary layer is small, the
pressure term in Equation 83 may be neglected. Integrating
where the characteristic shear velocity is that of the mean the resulting expression, using a suitable no-slip boundary
flow |u∗c |. Omitting small terms, this reduces to the Euler condition, yields the following velocity profile:
equation. The corresponding expression for the wave motion ( )
inside the wave boundary layer is u∗c |u∗c | 30z
|uc | = ln z < 𝛿w (84)
𝜅 |u∗cw | kb
( )
𝜕uw 1 𝜕 𝜕uw
= − ∇pw + 𝜅|u∗cw |z z < 𝛿w (81) where kb is the physical bed roughness parameter. The influ-
𝜕t 𝜌 𝜕z 𝜕z ence of the waves on the current can be seen through the term
|u∗c |∕|u∗cw |, which is less than 1 by definition. As a result,
where the influence of the current flow on the wave motion the presence of the waves retards the steady current relative
is seen through the shear velocity |u∗cw |. to the no-wave situation.
5
kb / |Ab|
2 0.0002
0.0004
0.0006
103
0.0008
0.002
5
0.004
0.006
2 0.008
0.02
0.04
kbc /kb
102 0.06 0.08

0.2 0.4
0.6 0.8 1.0
5
101
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4
|Ua|/ |Ub|
Figure 4. Ratio of the apparent bottom roughness to the physical bottom roughness kbc ∕kb in combined wave–current flow. (Reproduced
with permission from Grant and Madsen (1979)) © Wiley, 1979.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe085
14 General
( )
Similarly, integration of Equation 82, with a suitable |u∗c | |ub |
boundary condition in the combined wave–current layer, 𝛽= 1− (87)
|ub | |u∗cw |
yields the following expression for the steady current above
the wave boundary layer: where |Ab | = |ub |∕𝜔. For this result, the wave boundary
( ) layer thickness was set at 𝛿w = 2l (Grant and Madsen, 1979),
u |u∗c | 30z
|uc | = ∗c ln z < 𝛿w (85) using a turbulence length scale inside the wave boundary
𝜅 |u∗cw | kbr layer of l = 𝜅|u∗cw |∕𝜔.
Figure 4 illustrates the ratio of the apparent bottom
where kbr is the apparent roughness felt by the steady current
roughness to the physical bottom roughness kbc ∕kb in
due to the presence of the waves in the wave boundary
Equation 86 as a function of the velocity ratio |ua |∕|ub | for
layer beneath it. Grant and Madsen argue that the larger
co-directional flow, for various magnitudes of the relative
boundary shear stress at the bottom due to the oscillatory
roughness kb ∕|Ab |. It can be seen in Figure 4 that for small
waves increases the resistance felt by the steady flow. This
values of |ua |∕|ub |, in the range < 0.25 typical of many
is similar to form drag, where the flow experiences increased
shelf sea applications, the apparent roughness kbc is much
resistance relative to skin friction, due to mechanical energy
dissipation during turbulent eddie generation in the flow larger than the physical bottom roughness kb .
separation process. Recalling Equation 76, the maximum combined bottom
The apparent roughness kbr is determined by equating (84) shear stress associated with Equation 86 is given by
and (85) at the interface at the top of the wave boundary layer 1
(z = 𝛿w ), yielding: |𝛕b,max |∕𝜌 = |𝛕c + 𝛕w,max |∕𝜌 = |u∗cw |2 = f 𝛼|u |2 (88)
2 cw b
[ ( )]
kbc |u∗cw | |Ab | 𝛽 where 𝛕w,max is the maximum shear stress associated with the
= 24 (86) waves. By substituting Equation 74 and an expression for the
kb |ub | kb
nonlinearly coupled 𝛕w,max into Equation 88, a solution for
where the combined wave–current friction factor fcw can be found
2 kb / |Ab| = 1.0
0.6
10−1 0.4
0.2
5
0.06
2 0.04
fCW
0.02
10−2 0.008
0.006
0.004
5 0.002
0.0008
0.0006
0.0004
0.0002
2
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6

|Ua| / |Ub|
Figure 5. Wave–current friction factor for co-directional flow, 𝜙c = 0∘ , and perpendicular flow 𝜙c = 90∘ . (Reproduced with permission
from Grant and Madsen (1979) © Wiley, 1979.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe085
NWPS significant wave height (ft) and peak wave direction

hour 21 (03Z30JAN2016)
7
27.6°N
6
27.1°N
5
26.6°N
4
26.1°N
25.6°N 3
25.1°N 2
24.6°N 1
24.1°N 0
(a) 83.54°W 82.54°W 81.54°W 80.54°W 79.54°W 78.54°W
NWPS significant wave height (ft) and peak wave direction

hour 21 (03Z30JAN2016)
7
27.6°N
6
27.1°N
5
26.6°N
26.1°N 4
25.6°N 3
25.1°N 2
24.6°N 1
24.1°N 0
(b) 83.54°W 82.54°W 81.54°W 80.54°W 79.54°W 78.54°W
Figure 6. Impact of accounting for surface currents in a shelf-scale implementation of the SWAN spectral wave model in NCEP’s Nearshore
Wave Prediction System. (a) Simulation of a northerly wind-sea condition without the influence of surface currents. (b) Simulation including
surface currents from NCEP’s Real-Time Ocean Forecast System, showing a local increase in wave height, and focusing of wave direction
over the Gulf Stream region.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe085
16 General
iteratively. For more details, see Grant and Madsen (1979). computational performance through massive parallel scaling
Figure 5 shows the variation of fcw with the ratio |ua |∕|ub | and improved numerics (Kerr et al., 2013).
for various magnitudes of the relative roughness kb ∕|Ab | and The depth-varying description of the influence of waves
angles 𝜙c between current and wave motion. on the mean flow (Section 4) is the least established of
the theories reviewed in this contribution. While in the
depth-integrated case the wave effects can be readily be
split from the mean flow by fixed-frame Eulerian aver-
6 CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK aging, this is not possible in the depth-varying case. As a
result, depth-dependent theories have typically applied some
This article reviewed various ways in which waves interact variation of the fluid-parcel-following GLM approach of
with the mean current and vice versa. First, the influence of Andrews and McIntyre (1978a). In their review of existing
the mean current on wave kinematics in one dimension was approaches, Ardhuin, Rascle, and Belibassakis (2008)
considered (Section 2), which includes processes such as and Bennis, Ardhuin, and Dumas (2011) argue that direct
wave straining, shortening, and blocking. In two horizontal application of the GLM approach, including all relevant
dimensions, kinematic effects such as wave refraction across wave forcings (in particular the vertical wave momentum
horizontal current shears are added, which can cause strong flux), yields the difficulty of having to specify nonlocal
directional change, and wave focusing and trapping over wave field characteristics, which can only be provided by
concentrated current flows such as western intensifica- computationally intensive three-dimensional wave models.
tion currents. Dynamic effects on the wave field include By instead applying a quasi-Eulerian approach, which
changes in phase speed relative to wind forcing, causing removes the wave momentum from the description, it
increases or decreases in energy flux from the wind to the was shown above, following Bennis, Ardhuin, and Dumas
waves in growing wind seas. Also, existing source terms
(2011), that the influence of the waves on the mean flow
for wave breaking dissipation require modification to deal
can be described using local parameters from widely used
with the increase in dissipation in the presence of strong
phase-averaged wave models such as WAVEWATCH III
(near-blocking) counter currents. The effects of currents on
(Tolman, 1991a) and SWAN (Booij, Ris, and Holthuijsen,
waves are being accounted for in coastal operational models
1999). Delpey et al. (2014) demonstrate the applica-
such as NOAA/NWS/NCEP’s Nearshore Wave Prediction
tion of such a three-dimensional wave–current model to
System (Van der Westhuysen et al., 2013), which include
wave-induced circulation in a small estuarine bay, including
surface currents from NCEP’s HYCOM-based (Chassignet
freshwater exchanges with the inner shelf related to stratified
et al., 2007), baroclinic Real-Time Ocean Forecast System
river plume dispersion.
(Figure 6). Accounting for such effects greatly improves
Finally, Section 5 reviewed the influence of waves on the
marine forecasts of hazardous steepening waves in the
stresses in the bottom boundary layer following Grant and
presence of current gradients and contributes to safety of life
Madsen (1979), who argue that waves and the mean flow
at sea.
form a coupled system here, and hence cannot be treated
Second, the influence of waves on the mean flow was
separately.
considered in depth-integrated and depth-varying descrip-
tions. The depth-integrated approach (Section 3) describes
the influence of waves on the mean water column through
depth-integrated wave radiation stresses, Stokes drift, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
and enhanced bed friction. The resulting phenomena of
wave-induced set-up and longshore wave-driven currents The author would like to thank Fabrice Ardhuin for discus-
are significant contributors to nearshore total water levels sions regarding the quasi-Eulerian approach for describing
in coupled coastal surge models such as SWAN + ADCIRC wave and current interaction and Alexander Babanin for his
(Dietrich et al., 2010). These are proving invaluable in review of this manuscript.
forecasting surge and inundation during hurricane landfall
events, which is the predominant cause of death during such
calamities in the US Atlantic hurricane basin (Rappaport,
2014). Current efforts in this regard focus on improving RELATED ARTICLES
the description of the wind forcing, which in the highest
impact cases is a cycle vortex, improving the description Wave–Ice Interactions
of nearshore features through increased model resolution Wave Effects in the Upper Ocean
on variable resolution unstructured meshes, and improving Wind, Wave and Current Modeling and Prediction
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe085
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe085
Condition Monitoring of Steerable Thrusters,
An Overview, Practical Considerations
and Example Cases
Frank Velthuis
Wärtsilä, Tilburg, The Netherlands
is carried out by the class surveyor. Other maintenance

1 Introduction 1 tasks carried out on thrusters in between overhauls are
2 Condition Monitoring Approaches on Thrusters 2 relatively simple and are usually carried out by the vessel’s
3 Class Societies 3 crew.
4 Benefits of Monitoring Thrusters 3 What makes the overhaul significant from an economic
point of view is that it traditionally requires the vessel to enter
5 Prognostics 4
dry dock, where the thrusters are removed, overhauled, and
6 Case 1—Stages of a Roller Bearing Fault 4 then reinstalled. These activities cost a significant amount of
7 Case 2—Gear Failure 1 5 time, during which the vessel is unable to operate.
8 Case 3—Gear Failure 2 6 Several attempts have been made in recent years to reduce
9 Case 4—Roller Bearing Outer Race Fault 11 the downtime associated with thruster maintenance. For
Related Articles 13 example, in capital intensive applications, such as drilling
Reference 13 and pipe-laying, the use of spare thrusters has become more
common. Upon removal of the installed thrusters, the spare
thrusters are directly reinstalled, eliminating the “wait” for
the overhaul of the thruster. The removed thrusters are over-
hauled afterward, when the vessel is already operating again,
1 INTRODUCTION and then stored for later use. Storing should be done in accor-
dance with the manufacturer’s recommendations to prevent
1.1 An overview, practical considerations, and damage.
example cases Beyond spare thrusters, underwater-demountable thrusters
have become popular. Especially in the drilling segment,
Steerable thrusters (Figure 1) have only very basic needs
these demountable units have almost completely replaced
when it comes to maintenance. Traditionally, they are
fixed units. With these types of thrusters, the unit can be
overhauled once every 5 years in accordance with class
demounted, while the vessel remains afloat. This operation
requirements. During this overhaul, which is executed by
can be carried out only in calm seas, which usually requires
the original equipment manufacturer, the roller bearings
several days of travel or waiting time to obtain.
and seals are replaced and obligatory visual inspection
Thus, although methods exist to reduce the downtime
associated with thruster maintenance, the downtime remains
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. quite significant. It is therefore more effective to limit the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe544
amount of overhauls itself, which can be done through
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 condition-based maintenance.
2 General
crew, to the high end, with permanently installed systems that

automatically transfer data to remote experts.
As a minimum, vibration monitoring involves fast Fourier
transform (FFT) analysis with low frequent spectra up to
1 kHz. Usually, however, envelope spectra are used in addi-
tion to enable early detection of roller bearing failures. In
some products, high frequency spectra are used as well, for
example, to detect hydrodynamic issues such as cavitation. In
general, the more advanced the vibration analysis techniques
used, the earlier it is possible to detect a potential failure.
While low end solutions may only be able to detect a poten-
tial failure a few days in advance, high end solutions such as
Wärtsilä’s propulsion condition monitoring service (PCMS),
may be able to do this several months in advance. One should
not, however, be careless and select a service provider based
on hardware specifications alone. Automated data analysis
and a proactive data analyst are a prerequisite to detecting
potential failures as early as possible (Figure 2).
In most applications, oil monitoring consists of a review of
lubrication oil sample reports prepared by a certified labora-
tory. Operators are obligated by class to take such samples
on typically a quarterly base. In more high-end applications
an in-line oil monitoring device may be included as well.
Typically, such devices output either a raw particle count
for different particle sizes, or NAS or ISO (4406) cleanli-
Figure 1. Render of the Wärtsilä steerable thruster WST-45-U. ness classes. An in-line device provides a much more accu-
rate trend compared than oil sample analysis. The spread
in oil contamination measured at one particular point varies
It is a common misunderstanding that doing an overhaul greatly throughout operation, which makes oil sample anal-
every 5 years is a requirement from the thruster manufac- ysis unsuitable for accurate trending. Through spectrographs
turers, or from the class societies. In reality, the overhaul is oil sample analysis may, however, provide additional infor-
done simultaneously with the obligatory five yearly inspec- mation on what kinds of contaminations are present in the oil.
tions carried out by a class surveyor. From a technical point Some products use in-line oil monitoring as a stand-alone
of view, many thrusters can reliably operate beyond a 5-year technique, without vibration monitoring. Although in the
period. Whether or not this is advisable depends on the majority of the cases the late stages of failure are accom-
actual condition of the thruster, which can be determined panied by increase in oil contamination levels, there are also
with condition monitoring. Furthermore, the original equip- many failures where this is not the case. Thus, using in-line
ment manufacturer may be able to assess the future reliability oil monitoring without vibration analysis would inevitably
using stochastic models and recorded operational data; this lead to missing failures. These observations are valid for
is normally referred to as prognostics. This article describes full bath and half bath lubricated thrusters; in closed-loop
both the methods as well as several vibration analysis cases systems, more success may be expected with in-line oil
on thrusters. monitoring.
Most operators outsource condition monitoring to a service
provider, which is in many cases the original thruster manu-
2 CONDITION MONITORING facturer. This is not surprising when considering that prior
APPROACHES ON THRUSTERS experience with similar equipment and failures is one of the
main drivers behind service quality in condition monitoring.
The great majority of condition monitoring products for Typically, a report is provided on a monthly base. Service
thrusters makes use of vibration analysis or oil analysis, or levels, however, differ between different parties. Requests for
a combination of the two. Concepts vary from the low end, additional analysis or support may, for example, be free of
with hand-carried measurement devices used monthly by the charge with one provider but costly with another.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe544
Condition Monitoring of Steerable Thrusters, An Overview, Practical Considerations and Example Cases 3
0.45
0.4
0.35
0.3
Amplitude
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Time
Figure 2. Trend of a gear failure (based on spectra) made with Wärtsilä PCMS, used for failure detection.
Further, the frequency of analysis may differ among simplifies the approval process for condition monitoring of
different service providers. Often data is only analyzed in a particular ship. Operators should take care not to select
preparation of the monthly report, and as such the analysis a service provider without class recognition, even if he has
frequency is also monthly. On the other hand, there are prior experience with the class society. The approval proce-
also service providers that analyze data on a daily basis. dure will be long and costly.
Naturally, higher costs are associated with daily analysis. In an approved condition monitoring setup the five yearly
However, by making smart use of automated data analysis, internal inspections are no longer required by class. The
some service providers have created a highly effective yet thruster, however, still needs to be maintained in accordance
affordable setup. This is commonly referred to as automated with the manufacturer’s requirements. To really benefit from
data analysis or advanced decision support, although the condition monitoring, it may therefore be beneficial to select
exact meaning of such phrases should be investigated per the manufacturer as condition monitoring service provider.
provider. The advantage of frequent analysis is that potential Manufacturers may be reluctant to adjust their recommended
failures can be detected at an earlier stage. When considering maintenance intervals based on condition monitoring anal-
analysis frequency, consider that failure development can ysis carried out by third parties that are unknown to them.
take anywhere between a few days to a several months.
Neither of the two is rare.
4 BENEFITS OF MONITORING
3 CLASS SOCIETIES THRUSTERS
The major class societies have recognized condition moni- Condition monitoring is normally applied on capital assets
toring as a valid replacement of visual internal inspection by of which the performance is critical to the business and a
a class surveyor. Hereby, it has become possible to execute failure even more so. Thrusters fall under that category, but
maintenance when it is actually needed instead of every specifically on these machines there are additional benefits to
5 years. This is one of the key benefits of condition moni- be gained. The benefits of condition monitoring on thrusters
toring and a decision driver for many operators. are twofold.
Most class societies award service level recognitions to Firstly, on a class approved condition monitoring setup
those service providers who seek them and provide a condi- thrusters do not need to be opened up every 5 years. Instead
tion monitoring service with good quality. Operators should the overhaul is performed when the condition of the unit
seek service providers with such recognition. This greatly demands it. This ensures that maintenance is only carried out
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe544
4 General
Thruster reliability
1
0.995 40% load, clean oil

40% load, dirty oil
80% load, clean oil
0.99
80% load, dirty oil
80% load, clean oil, high moisture
0.985 80% load, clean oil, low moisture
Reliability
0.98
0.975
0.97
0.965
0.96
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (h) ×104
Figure 3. Reliability of a specific thruster in different conditions.
when needed, thus significantly lowering the maintenance manufacturer to develop and use prognostics as part of their
costs and increasing availability. PCMS offering.
Secondly, a good condition monitoring service is able to With this prognostics model, named Dynamic Lifetime
detect most failures several weeks to months before they Prognosis, Wärtsilä predicts the reliability of the thruster in
occur. This provides operators with a window of opportunity time, based on prior and expected use as well as endured
to respond to failures, and it reduces the risk of consecu- operational conditions. The model is based on bearing
tive damage. Because the chance that a breakdown occurs lifetime calculations (ISO-281:2007) and gear life models
is reduced it is also often said that condition monitoring combined with Weibull expert judgment. The model is
increases reliability. Caution is required when selecting continuously improved based on the experience obtained
a suitable condition monitoring service. There are many with the fleet of monitored equipment (Figure 3).
service providers out there that focus mainly on fulfilling
class requirements, and in reality have only limited capabil-
ities when it comes to detecting potential failures. 6 CASE 1—STAGES OF A ROLLER
BEARING FAULT
5 PROGNOSTICS On a drilling vessel an e-motor is equipped with Wärtsilä’s

condition monitoring product PCMS. The motor is rated at
Condition-based maintenance is advantageous, but it has a 3800 kW and powers a steerable thruster. While analyzing
flaw. As a thruster ages, the likelihood of a failure increases. the frequency spectra, a fault has been detected on one of
Hence in mission critical applications it is sensible to over- the e-motor roller bearings. The customer is immediately
haul the equipment at some point, even though condition informed. Because this type of failure occurs frequently on
monitoring indicates that the equipment is still healthy. The these e-motors, Wärtsilä and the operator have adopted a
big question is when has the reliability of the thruster dropped strategy where the bearing is not replaced until the fault
far enough to justify an overhaul. This question can be progresses through several stages. This case described the
answered with prognostics. stages of the roller bearing failure.
Prognostics is an engineering discipline focused on Figure 4 shows an envelope spectrum of a vibration
predicting the time at which a system or a component measurement taken on the e-motor. The green lines at 7.9
will no longer perform its intended function with certainty and 15.8 orders overlay the BPFI (Ball-Pass Frequency
(Vachtsevanos et al., 2006). Wärtsilä is the first thruster Inner-race) of the bearing with a fault. At this early stage,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe544
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Frequency (orders)
Figure 4. Envelope spectrum taken at 566 rpm on 14-11-2012 (Day 1).
only the forcing frequency and its first harmonic are visible. The operational schedule should be adjusted to make room
Cracks will just start to appear on the race’s surface. The for a bearing replacement. Comparatively, this bearing has
fault is currently in stage 2 of 4. This stage is preceded by progressed from stage 2 to 3 quite fast.
stage 1, which cannot be detected through conventional Several months later, the bearing has arrived at early
vibration analysis. In stage 1, the bearing does generate stage 4. The amplitudes of the ground frequency and the first
high frequency noise energy, but in a thruster, this cannot be harmonic have increased further. Higher amplitudes indi-
attributed only to bearing failures but may also be associated cate greater energy content due to large cracks in the race.
with, for example, cavitation. Now also the second harmonic can be clearly seen. The
In stage 2, the bearing still has significant life left in it. damage on the race has grown to such an extent that symp-
Depending on the operational profile of the equipment and toms of looseness (increased peaks at 1× and harmonics) can
the position of the bearing in it may still operate typically be observed. The amount of operating time left is limited
anywhere between a month to over a year. Some operators and the bearing should be replaced as soon as possible
may choose to keep operating with the bearing until it reaches (Figure 6).
a higher stage. Most operators would replace the bearing at In this case, the bearing was replaced shortly after this
earliest convenience. With a bearing fault in this stage, it is measurement. With further progression, a raised noise floor
not yet necessary to alter the operational schedule. would have been visible.
Figure 5 shows the envelope spectrum during stage 3
of the same failure. Notably different from stage 2 is the
ground frequency, which has increased 5–6 times in height. 7 CASE 2—GEAR FAILURE 1
In addition, the amplitudes of the sidebands around the first
harmonic have significantly increased. On a research vessel, two thrusters are equipped with the
If the bearing would be removed at this point, the damage Wärtsilä PCMS. The vessel operates at full load bollard
on the race would be clearly visible. At this point, the bearing conditions weeks or months at a time while towing large
has only a couple of weeks to several months left of life in it. research equipment through the oceans.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe544
6 General
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Frequency (orders)
In a period of time where also the oil contamination In this case, the gear tooth fell down to the bottom of the
levels were high, a gear failure occurred on one of the pod without causing further harm. In rare cases, however, a
thrusters. This case describes the progression of this tooth will get stuck in the gear set. This destroys bearings and
failure. gears, causing loss of function.
The spectrum as shown in Figure 7 shows the gear mesh In this case, the client was alerted early through condition
frequency (GMF) at 6.85 orders. The purple lines indicate monitoring. Unfortunately, the first slot for maintenance was
too far away to prevent tooth failure. Fortunately, the tooth
where sidebands appear. A healthy gear set in a thruster will
failure did not cause lack of function. Overall, no research
show a peak at the GMF and, in some cases, low sidebands
missions were interrupted and the overhaul was carried out
on the input-shaft frequency and the output-shaft frequency. in between missions.
When the GMF or the sidebands increase in amplitude, this
is an indication of a gear failure. In this picture, the gear is
healthy.
Over a period of 3 months, the amplitudes of the side-
8 CASE 3—GEAR FAILURE 2
bands increase slowly while the GMF stays at a similar
On a heavy lifting vessel, a 4500-kW steerable thrust is
level. Early on in this period, the customer is informed equipped with Wärtsilä’s PCMS. This case describes the
and a period for performing the overhaul is agreed. After progression of a gear failure on this thruster. Figure 9 shows
the period, but before the overhaul, there is a jump in the low frequency spectrum (0–1000 Hz) of the thruster in
the trend and simultaneously the oil contamination levels a healthy state. The gear mesh of the propeller gearbox
increase sharply. At this moment, the gear tooth breaks off can be seen at 10.5 orders. The peaks around 18 orders
(Figure 8). are associated with the upper gearbox. The gear mesh and,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe544
1.4
1.2
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Frequency (orders)
0.25
F
GM
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9
Frequency (orders)
Figure 7. Spectrum of a healthy gear.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe544
8 General
0.25
F
GM
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9
Frequency (orders)
Figure 8. Spectrum of a broken gear.
B B B
-LG -LG -LG
1.8 H0 H1 H2
VIB_Y_SPECTRA LF (m/s2) 10-10-2013 15:19:37
1.6
1.4
1.2
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Frequency (orders)
Figure 9. Gear mesh frequency and its harmonics in y-direction at 724 rpm.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe544
t t
Ou In In In In Ou
GB- B- B- B- B- B-
4-L -LG 1-L
G B 5-L
G
6-L
G
8-L
G
S S2 S -LG S S S
H0 H0 ut H0 H0 H0 H0 t H0
VIB_Y_SPECTRA LF (m/s2) 10-10-2013 15:19:37 - O -Ou
-LGB GB
-L
S3 S7
H0 H0
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
9 9.5 10 10.5 11 11.5
Frequency (orders)
Figure 10. Gear mesh ground frequency and its sidebands in y-direction at 724 rpm.
B B B
-LG -LG -LG
1.8 H0 H1 H2
VIB_Y_SPECTRA LF (m/s2) 15-11-2013 03:29:47
1.6
1.4
1.2
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Frequency (orders)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe544
10 General
ut n n n n ut
GB-O B-I B-I G B-I GB-I B-O
4-L -LG 1-L
G B 5-L 6-L 8-L
G
S S2 S -LG S S S
H0 H0 ut H0 H0 H0 H0 H0
2 O ut
VIB_Y_SPECTRA LF (m/s ) 15-11-2013 03:29:47 B - -O
-LG -LGB
S3 S7
H0 H0
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
9 9.5 10 10.5 11 11.5
Frequency (orders)
B B B
-LG -LG -LG
1.8 H0 H1 H2
2
VIB_Y_SPECTRA LF (m/s ) 07-12-2013 00:40:29
1.6
1.4
1.2
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Frequency (orders)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe544
in some cases, sidebands are normally visible in frequency The increase in amplitude level is clearly visible and indi-
spectra of thrusters. cates the increase in the gear damage. As often with gear
Figure 10 shows a more detailed picture of the gear mesh damage, a period of linear and exponential progress can be
ground frequency. As can be seen currently, the gear mesh distinguished.
has no sidebands. Potentially, a gear mesh has two sets of Approximately 60 days after detection, the gear was
replaced. The trend shown above may have continued
sidebands, one set at a spacing identical to the frequency
further. Thanks to the Wärtsilä PCMS further damage, and
of the input shaft and one set at a spacing identical to the
potentially loss of function has been prevented.
frequency of the output shaft. The two purple lines closest
to the gear mesh are where the input shaft sidebands would
be. The purple lines at 9.8 and 11.2 orders are where those of 9 CASE 4—ROLLER BEARING OUTER
the output shaft would be. Sidebands can help to determine RACE FAULT
at which of the two gear wheels the damage is located.
One month later, sidebands can be clearly seen around the This case describes the progression of a roller bearing failure
first harmonic of the gear mesh. This is depicted by the red in the upper gearbox of a thruster. The following figure shows
circles in Figure 11. an spectrum with a BPO (ball pass frequency outer race)
bearing failure (Figure 15). This fault can be seen at 8.6
Zooming in reveals minor sidebands around the ground
orders and its harmonics.
frequency too (Figure 12).
No spectrum is available of the healthy bearing, as this
Again 1 month later, the amplitude levels have increased fault has been present since the beginning of the measure-
for the ground frequency and its sidebands, which are shown ment period. The following figure spectrum is an envelope
in Figures 13 and 14. spectrum (Figure 16). The fault is not yet visible in the low
Figure 2 is a trend of the amplitude of the gear mesh frequent spectrum. This means that the bearing fault is still
ground frequency. The horizontal axis is in units of days. in an early stage, namely stage 2 of 5.
ut ut
B-O -In -In -In -In -O
-LG GB GB GB GB GB
S4 S2
-L
S1-L -LGB S5-L S 6-L S8-L
H 0 H0 t H0 H0 H0 H0 H0
2
VIB_Y_SPECTRA LF (m/s ) 07-12-2013 00:40:29 O u ut
B- -O
G GB
S3-L S 7-L
H0 H0
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
9 9.5 10 10.5 11 11.5
Frequency (orders)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe544
12 General
0.1
3
-03 3 33
0.09
PO - 03 0 03
3
B PO O- -
e- -B BP PO
s - -B
0.08 Ba H1 H2 H3
0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Frequency (orders)
Figure 15. A spectrum with a ball pass frequency outer race bearing failure.
0.055
0.05
0.045
0.04
0.035
0.03
0.025
0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005
7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10

Frequency (orders)
Figure 16. Another envelope spectrum of the BPO bearing failure.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe544
The situation remained stable for more than a year, and then Ultrasound
a sudden increase in the sidebands was detected. Because Strategic Maintenance Processes CBM/PdM/RCM.
the vessel would soon start a sequence of profitable projects,
the upper gearbox was overhauled preventively prior to that.
Here, the Wärtsilä PCMS has prevented a potential break-
down under contract. REFERENCE
Vachtsevanos, G., Lewis, F.L., Roemer, M., Hess, A., and Wu, B.
RELATED ARTICLES (2006) Intelligent fault Diagnosis and Prognosis for Engineering
Systems, Wiley.ISBN 0-471-72999-X.
Introduction to Non Destructive Testing and Condition
Monitoring
Vibration Analysis
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe544
Ultrasound
Walter Vervloesem, (FNI)
IMCS Group of Companies Ltd, UK
Following various trial-and-error campaigns to make

1 General 1 equipment that was sufficiently performant for field work
2 Case Histories 6 on board of ships, another challenge was to recognize
Endnote 21 the complexity of hatch cover tightness and defining the
fail/pass criteria. This required further research into the
Further Reading 21
behavior of ultrasound on board ships and fine-tuning of
testing techniques.
In 1989, more formal trials were held with MacGREGOR,
Lloyds Register, and SDT on board of a 20,000 DWT
1 GENERAL general cargo vessel, equipped with MacGREGOR 2+2 steel
gasketted folding type hatch covers, equipped for the carriage
of containers.
1.1 History
This trial was carried out with satisfactory results and
proved that ultrasound were indeed a powerful tool for testing
While the use of ultrasound for monitoring the condition of
sealing systems of hatch covers. Following this trial, further
machinery and equipment for the shore based industry was
testing of different hatch cover types and comparative testing
introduced in the 1970s, the advantages of using ultrasound
with hose tests was carried out in cooperation with IMCS
for tightness testing were discovered by coincidence in the
Belgium and MacGREGOR while at the same time more
mid-1980s by a group of marine surveyors during a car show
useful information was obtained about the practical issues
in Belgium, where ultrasonic tightness testing equipment
related to ultrasonic tightness testing on board of ships.
was being used for testing the tightness of windows, booths,
While benefits of ultrasonic testing were being recog-
sunroofs, and so on.
nized by the shippers, charterers, and insurance companies,
Being puzzled by the fact that ultrasound seemed to
and with ultrasonic testing becoming more accepted, ship
be working well for tightness testing of relatively small
owners, became more and more reluctant. This was mainly
spaces/volumes, the challenge was to see if the technique
because hatch covers that passed the ship’s hose test appeared
could also be used for bigger volumes such as the hold of a
to fail the shippers’/charterer’s/insurer’s ultrasonic test. This
commercial vessel. If so, ultrasound tightness testing could
then resulted in the ship being rejected with delays, problems,
be used as an alternative to hose testing of hatch covers.
and claims as a result. More specifically, ship owners were
The idea was discussed with the manufacturers of the
complaining that testing of hatch covers with ultrasound was
equipment (SDT International in Brussels) who accepted the
too strict and unrealistic and that no internationally recog-
challenge to engineer a solution for tightness testing of hatch
nized fail/pass criteria were available.
covers based on ultrasound.
Therefore, and at the request of the industry, further
research was made to ensure that uniform fail/pass criteria
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. could be defined and applied. With the input of class
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
being considerable, also issues linked to the use of service
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 suppliers and calibration of equipment (including on-site
2 General
testing to ensure that measurements have not drifted) as With ships being floating factories that rely very much on
well as operators qualifications were raised. It was clear at the operational status of onboard equipment for the ship’s and
that time that ship owners would only be prepared to accept crew’s safety and satisfactory completion of the commercial
ultrasonic tightness testing of hatch covers on condition that venture (i.e., without cargo claims for wetting damage to
the equipment and technique would be formally recognized cargo as a result form leaking hatch covers), the next logical
and accepted by their classification society and that the step was to introduce the use of ultrasounds in the marine
equipment was used by qualified operators. industry for assessing the health of onboard machinery and
In 1993, DNV produced the tightness testing standard equipment.
under the “DNV 403 approval program for service supplier’s Till recently, condition monitoring on board was mainly
tightness testing procedure,” whereas requirements for class limited to expensive/critical equipment and was done by
service suppliers were laid down in the IACS URZ17. (See using the more traditional techniques such as vibration
Procedural Requirements for Service Suppliers) analysis, thermography, and oil analysis. These techniques
The benefits of using ultrasound were further confirmed mainly focus on rotating/heat generating/oil particle issues,
by a major fertilizer producer who announced that they had whereas the use of ultrasound was considered to be limited
carried out a concentrated tightness testing campaign on for tightness testing of hatch covers only.
numerous ships during a trial period of 3 years between 1997 In the marine industry, it was generally not known that
and 2000 during which, prior to loading at their premises, apart from tightness testing of hatch covers, ultrasound also
hatch covers of ships were systematically tested with ultra- allows for condition assessment of critical (rotating) equip-
sound. Owners of ships with leaking hatch covers were ment, as well as a wide variety of other (secondary) equip-
requested to carry out repairs in order to solve problems ment that is equally important (e.g., ventilators, hatch covers,
prior to loading. Toward the end of this campaign, statistics winches) but never received the attention it deserved with the
proved that the claims for wetting damage as a result from more traditional condition monitoring techniques because
leaking hatch covers had drastically dropped from 75% to of purchase cost, time for analysis, specialists for taking
0.6%, which further convinced the industry that ultrasonic measurements, and so on.
tightness testing, in conjunction with a strict repair and main- Concepts such as Planned Maintenance Systems, Preven-
tenance program, was the way forward. tive, Predictive, and Condition-Based maintenance were
The use of ultrasound for tightness testing was further introduced quite recently in the shipping industry. With their
promoted by insurance companies and P&I clubs, within the proven track record in the shore-based industry, it was clear
scope of their respective loss prevention programs. At the that ultrasounds could complement the range of already
present moment, the maritime industry considers ultrasonic known and accepted monitoring equipment and techniques
tightness testing to be the preferred way of testing hatch used on board such as accelerometers, infrared cameras, and
covers and in many cases passing an ultrasonic tightness test
oil analysis.
is considered as one of the basic requirements for P&I or
Moreover, and in combination with dedicated testing tech-
cargo/transport insurance cover.
niques and procedures, ultrasound offers a broad range of
Following the fact that the use of ultrasound was becoming
possibilities for determining problems related to rotating
more and more accepted in the marine industry, and that
equipment, gears, valves, electric—steam—air—hydraulic
passing ultrasonic hatch cover tightness tests became a
systems, cavitation, and tightness in a stage well before
common requirement, more and more ship owners nowadays
equipment enters its first stages of wear and before other
purchase their own equipment in order to carry out their own
techniques are able to detect a problem. Identification of a
tests, assess the condition of their hatch cover sealing system,
problem with ultrasound in an early or infant stage gener-
and plan maintenance and repair works in a more profes-
ally requires simple, straightforward interventions, which
sional manner.
saves time, spare parts, and costs. Furthermore, identification
before actual wear occurs allows to extend the in-service life
1.2 Ultrasound: a versatile technology of equipment, planning overhauls and repairs, cutting costs,
and so on.
Ultrasound, which allows for checking/measuring friction, Within the scope of PMS, PM, PdM, and CBM, it is
turbulent flow, and impact, had already been widely used not yet widely known that ultrasound equipment that has
in the shore-based industry for assessing the condition and more advanced software on board allows for measuring,
health of machinery and equipment by majors in the oil, collecting data, recording and analyzing signals, setting up
chemical, pharmaceutical, automotive, space and air industry surveys, routes, and alarm levels together with features for
since 1970. documenting checks and tests of onboard equipment. As
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
Ultrasound 3
such, ultrasound not only allows to hear defects but also • Be able to document a theoretical and practical training
allows for making well-considered decisions on basis of on-board in using ultrasonic equipment specified.
facts, figures, and trends. 2.3 Equipment – The ultrasonic equipment to be used shall be
As condition monitoring with ultrasound is relatively type approved by the Society. It shall be demonstrated for the
Surveyor that the equipment is fit for the purpose of detecting
simple, and ultrasound equipment easily accessible and leakages in hatch covers.
affordable, ultrasound is a perfect tool to either start with
2.4 Procedures – The supplier shall have documented work
condition monitoring or to enhance already existing condi- procedures which shall include the manual for the ultrasonic
tion monitoring programs with a novel, versatile, and very equipment specified, its adjustment, its maintenance, its oper-
useful tool. ation and approval criteria.
Ultrasound should not only be used by ship owners,
managers, and shipboard crew. Also surveyors, servicing Apart from the procedural requirements for service
personnel, and ship/repair yards will be enchanted by the suppliers, it was equally important that fail/pass criteria
broad range of equipment that can be checked and tested with were being defined. The fail/pass criteria were first
ultrasound and facilitate their respective tasks or mission. In published by DNV under the DNV N∘ 403 procedure (“Ser-
many cases, a quick scan or test will give useful informa- vice Suppliers Performing Tightness Testing of Hatches
tion about problems and/or help in deciding whether or not with Ultrasonic Equipment on Ships, High Speed and
a piece of equipment is again fit for duty after overhaul or Light Craft and Mobile Offshore Units”). The full text
repair. of the approval program can be found on the following
PM, PdM, and CBM on board ships is, still today, a link: https://exchange.dnv.com/ServiceDocuments/DNV/
novel concept and the manufacturers and OEMs of shipboard DNVApprovalOfServiceSuppliers
equipment can play an important role in promulgating and The most important issues of this approval program, that is,
spreading the use of ultrasounds for testing and maintenance equipment, criteria for approval of the equipment and criteria
of their equipment by setting ultrasound baseline readings for calibration as well as operational procedures have been
after production and/or installation on board. These baseline reproduced as follows:
readings can be used for determining drifting of measure-
ments during the in-service life of equipment and after main- 2.8 Equipment
tenance, so that results of checks and measurements become The ultrasonic equipment to be used shall be type approved
by the Society, satisfying the following minimum criteria of
even more meaningful within the scope of a condition moni- in-service performance and calibration. It shall be demon-
toring program. strated to the surveyor from the Society that the equipment is
fit for the purpose of detecting leakage in hatch covers.
2.8.1
Minimum criteria for the approval of the equipment:
1.3 Service supplier approval
• the transmitter shall provide a uniform open hatch value
(OHV) over the tested area.
In view of the advantages, ultrasonic tightness testing of • the OHV shall be adjustable to a stable value allowing
hatch covers was becoming more and more accepted. As maximum sensitivity without false side effects.
incorrect measurements, interpretations, or conclusions • the receiver shall be provided with an audible signal and
a visual readout, calibrated in decibel.
could have serious consequences, both on statutory, class, • the visual readout shall be able to hold peak values
and commercial level, IACS included ultrasonic hatch tight- encountered during the measurements.
ness testing in their “Procedural Requirements for Service • the equipment shall be demonstrated to achieve the
Suppliers” of which the text is reproduced as follows: fail/pass criterion set by the Society. (See item [2.9.2])
2.8.2
2. Firms engaged in tightness testing of hatches with ultra- Minimum criteria for calibration:
sonic equipment • biannual re-calibration tests shall be carried out by labo-
2.1 Extent of engagement – Ultrasonic tightness testing of ratories authorised by the manufacturer, in accordance
hatches with procedures accepted by the Society.
• procedures for on-site testing of functionality of trans-
2.2 Operators – The operator is to have the following qualifi- mitters/receivers and of accuracy of the equipment shall
cations: be established. This procedure shall guarantee continuing
accuracy during the measurements.
• Have knowledge of different hatch designs, their func-
tioning, and sealing features 2.8.3
• Have experience with operation and maintenance of Record of equipment shall be kept and shall contain a log of
different hatch designs calibration and maintenance.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
4 General
2.9 Operational procedures 1.5 Working principles

2.9.1
The supplier is to have documented work procedures that shall 1.5.1 DBA and dBμV
include the manual for the ultrasonic equipment specified,
its adjustment, maintenance, operation, on-site calibration, Ultrasounds are high-frequency waves and, as such, cannot
initial setting, and the fail/pass criterion. be detected by the human ear and cannot be measured on the
usual audio “dBA” scale.
In order to measure ultrasonic signals, one can use another
The main difference with the IACS UR Z17 procedure is measuring unit, which is the dBμV.
that the DNV procedure also sets forth a detailed fail/pass By using this unit, ultrasonic signals will not be referred
criterion as follows: to an audible/acoustic reference scale, but to an electric
measuring unit—the microvolt (μV) (see also “measuring
2.9.2 ultrasounds”).
Fail/pass criterion: The ultrasonic testing and measuring technique is based
• 0 dB shall mean that the hatch cover is leak tight. on a piezoelectric crystal. These crystals change dimensions
• from 1 dB to 10% of OHV shall mean that the hatch cover when being subject to an electrical voltage. Furthermore,
is considered weather tight, subject to verifying the design they generate an electrical voltage when being squeezed.
and the condition of the hatch cover, the coaming and the When ultrasounds are being received by an ultrasonic
drainage arrangements
• above 10% of the OHV shall mean that the hatch cover sensor, in which a piezoelectric crystal is installed, the crystal
is considered not to be weather tight and that corrective will experience the impact of ultrasounds as a squeeze and
action to gaskets and drains is required. eventually generate an electrical voltage, which allows to
measure the strength of the incoming signal and evaluate the
importance of the phenomenon.
Absorption (attenuation) of ultrasounds:
1.4 Ultrasounds: the basics
Sound, and therefore also ultrasound, needs a physical mate-
Ultrasound detection usually works in frequency ranges of rial to be transmitted (vacuum does not transmit sound). As
all physical materials present some friction, they convert a
36–40 kHz. percentage of the vibration energy into heat: when traveling,
In order to find out whether ultrasounds can be used for sounds are progressively absorbed, attenuated. This effect can
a specific application, it is important to understand some of be called “attenuation”, “thermodynamic attenuation”, “atten-
the basic principles of ultrasounds, which are summarized as uation by friction”, …
The practical consequence being limitation of the sound prop-
follows: agation distance.
An ultrasonic signal requires energy for travelling over a
specific distance. For a certain amount of energy a given
1. Ultrasound does not travel far as their energy is quickly signal will travel over a specific distance. Once the energy
consumed as they are high-frequency waves. is consumed the propagation of the sound wave stops and
2. Ultrasound does not penetrate well (through walls, listeners beyond this point will not be able to hear anything.
barriers, etc.). Therefore, ultrasounds can easily be
“shielded,” which allows to isolate disturbing/parasite
noises from other sources. • Absorption is higher for higher frequencies; thus, ultra-
3. Ultrasound is directional, that is, an ultrasound source sounds propagate on a much shorter distance than
emits most of the energy inside a narrow cone allowing (low-frequency) audio sounds.
operators to easily trace ultrasounds back to the top • Finally, absorption depends strongly on the material
of the cone to locate precisely the source. (By opposi- characteristics, such as density and elasticity. In practice,
tion, low-frequency audio sources are omnidirectional, absorption in air is much higher than in higher density
making it difficult to locate an audio source.) materials such as metals, concrete, glass, or water.
4. Ultrasound can be reflected (echoes/attenuation) by
obstacles. As a consequence, it is customary to distinguish two types
of ultrasound:
(The ultrasonic solution for hatch cover tightness testing as
engineered by SDT lies in the fact that all these characteris- Airborne ultrasounds are high-frequency waves traveling
tics are recognized and used for a specific application). through air, and as such they will not travel far.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
Ultrasound 5
Structure-borne ultrasounds on the contrary (which are also or more, one generally uses a logarithmic scale, and
high-frequency waves such as the above airborne ultra- finally, sound measurements are expressed in decibels
sounds) are traveling through dense substances such as (abbreviated “dB” or “dBSPL ”).
steel (think of, e.g., railways) or water (whales can commu- • For ultrasound, when expressing measurements as an
nicate over large distances by using sounds). electrical voltage at the piezosensor output, one can for
example use 1 μV (one microvolt) as reference point
1.5.1.1 Naturally—and artificially created ultrasound. and then ultrasound measurements are expressed in
Ultrasound created by friction, turbulent flow, or impact “dBμV ” (decibel microvolt).
(such as rubbing fingers) are referred to as naturally created
ultrasound. Measurements in dB are in fact logarithms: A [dB] = 20
While any type of naturally created ultrasounds will have Log10 (A/Aref ) and thus measurements of ultrasound are not
its own typical ultrasound signature (e.g., air leak, electrical linear but logarithmic:
discharge), and can as such be picked up by an ultrasonic
receiver/detector, it is interesting to note that also for applica-
• Multiplying the intensity of a signal by a factor of 2
tions where no friction is involved—for example, in tightness
means adding 20 Log10 (2) = 20 × 0.3 = +6 dB to the
testing of hatch covers, doors, windows—ultrasound solu-
original signal value in dB.
tions are available. Due to the absence of any friction, impact,
• Thus, saying that a measurement of 36 dBμV is twice
or turbulent flow producing phenomena, there are no “nat-
as much as a measurement of 18 dBμV is false. More
ural” ultrasounds that can pass through the sealing system
generally dB values shall never be multiplied or divided
and so there is a need to create ultrasounds. This is done
(due to the use of logarithms, a signal of 36 dBμV is in
by an ultrasonic tone generator (transmitter), which emits
fact 7.9 times higher than one of 18 dBμV—again, the
ultrasound waves. Ultrasounds thus created are referred to
dB ultrasonic scale is not linear but logarithmic).
as artificially created ultrasounds.
Finally, it should be remembered that in a normal
1.5.2 Heterodynage real/working environment, it requires skill and famil-
Although we are not able to hear ultrasounds, a technique iarity with taking measurements with a high degree of
called heterodyning, converts ultrasounds into an audible repeatability.
signal so that they can be heard by the human ear.
±5% in voltage terms corresponds to approximately
Heterodyning is a radio signal processing technique in which 0.4 dBμV.
new frequencies are created by combining or mixing two ±25% in voltage terms corresponds to approximately
frequencies. Heterodyning is useful for frequency shifting
signals into a new frequency range, and is also involved in the 2 dBμV.
processes of modulation and demodulation. The two frequen-
cies are combined in a nonlinear signal-processing device such It means that achieving repeatability in range of 0.5 dBμV
as a vacuum tube, transistor, or diode, usually called a mixer.
These new frequencies are called heterodynes. Typically, only is definitely excellent, and a repeatability of 2 dBμV is
one of the new frequencies is desired, and the other signal is certainly acceptable. On the opposite measuring up to several
filtered out of the output of the mixer. (source: Wikipedia) decimal places is unpractical, almost impossible and not
useful/necessary.
1.6 Measuring ultrasounds
When we want to use ultrasound within the scope of tightness 1.7 Different sensors
testing or for predictive maintenance such as bearing moni-
toring, it is important that ultrasonic signals can be measured. There are a wide range of ultrasonic sensors available, which
When measuring sounds, a “relative” scale is used. It allow to obtain the best results for different applications. The
means that all measurements are expressed as a ratio relative most commonly seen sensors are as follows:
to a reference value.
• Open Sensors. Sensors that work as a super microphone
• For audio sound, the usual reference value is the sensitive mainly to ultrasounds.
“Threshold of Hearing” Sound Pressure Level (expressed • Closed Sensors. Waterproof sensors mainly sensitive to
in micropascal). Also, as the ratio between strong ultra- ultrasound and that can be submerged in a wide variety
sound and weak (ultra)sound is very high: 1 million of liquids (tanks).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
6 General
• Flexible Extension or Wand. Here the ultrasonic sensor cations and case histories based on the basic principles of
is mounted at the end of a flexible metal/GRP exten- ultrasound, that is, friction, turbulent flow, and impact.
sion/pole, which facilitates inspection of areas that can
otherwise not easily be reached (overhead structures, 2.1 Tightness testing
tight access holes, and inside cabinets).
• Contact Probe. Contact sensor generally used to measure 2.1.1 Application: tightness testing of hatch covers
structure-borne ultrasounds. It can be compared to a
super-stethoscope, meant for machine health monitoring Ultrasonic tightness testing of hatch covers on board of
(listening to what is happening inside apparatus with cargo ships was the first application of using ultrasound in
moving parts (bearings, gearboxes, friction, cavitation, the marine industry (apart from thickness testing and crack
etc.)). detection, which are different disciplines) and was pioneered
• Screw Type (threaded) Sensors. Structure-borne ultra- in the mid-1980s by SDT International (Belgium).
sonic sensors, recommended for dynamic measurement Tightness on board ships is, as one can imagine, a very
acquisition or for inaccessible or potentially dangerous important issue. Yet, until the introduction of ultrasound,
measurement locations. Gives good results for low tightness of hatch covers was very often checked by using
speed bearings and the best type of sensor for machine time-consuming methods such as hose or chalk tests,
monitoring. and smoke tests. Furthermore, continuous claims for wet
• Magnetic Sensors. Magnetic mounting pad to which a damaged cargo made it clear that these testing methods were
threaded sensor can be fixed. not always reliable.
• Parabolic Dish. Ultrasonic sensor designed to detect and Ultrasound can make tightness testing easier, quicker,
identify ultrasonic sources at long range (5–100 m). safer, more user–friendly, and reliable when the test is carried
• ATEX and Non-ATEX. Various sensors (as well as ultra- out by experienced and qualified operators. For the last 15
sonic receivers) are nowadays available in intrinsically years, ultrasonic tightness testing of hatch covers has been
safe explosion-proof versions. endorsed by the marine industry as the preferred method for
tightness testing of hatch covers on board ships.
Some manufacturers of ultrasound equipment also provide
nonultrasonic sensors such as tachometers, pyrometers,
humidity meters, and mass flow meters that can be connected Technique
to the ultrasonic receiver to measure and provide supporting With ultrasonic tightness testing of hatch covers, the
data to the ultrasonic measurements, which facilitates the capacity of the hatch cover sealing system to compensate
diagnostic process. for the relative movements between the hatch covers and
the coaming is checked.
1.8 Sophisticated use of ultrasound In order to do so, it is necessary to place an ultra-
sonic transmitter in the ship’s hold and to measure the
More modern ultrasonic equipment offers a very wide strength of the ultrasound signal at coaming level (or
range of measurement possibilities, and often comes with from an access hatch, although in such a case some other
equipment-specific software suites to help operators in issues need to be considered). Depending on the distance
managing and analyzing measurements and data gathered between the transmitter and the coaming, the operator
with their equipment. will measure a value that is referred to as the open hatch
value (OHV), which is the reference value against which
all other measurements taken during the test will be
compared. Obviously, the OHV is the strongest/highest
2 CASE HISTORIES reading for that particular hatch as the ultrasound from
the transmitter are directly impacting on the sensor in
The versatility of ultrasound is widely known in the indus-
the operator’s receiver. If the OHV has been properly
trial world. Ultrasound offers a wide array of applications
taken, all other measurements taken on that particular
related to rotating and non-rotating machinery within the
hatch should be equal or less, but never more than the
atmosphere of preventive, predictive, and condition-based
OHV as no leak can be bigger than an OHV.
maintenance. In this part, we focus on different typical appli-
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
Ultrasound 7
where spots or linear areas with lack of compression

were found.
To understand the ultrasonic tightness testing approach
and the benefits of ultrasonic tightness testing better, it is
important to understand how a hatch cover sealing system
works. A sealing system consists of a packing rubber,
which acts on a compression bar. As hatch covers and
the coaming table do not move in unison (there is relative
(a) Taking OHV with hatch covers in open position
movement between the coaming and hatch covers when
at sea), a flexible packing rubber is needed to ensure
that a tight seal can be maintained when at sea. Packing
rubbers of hatch cover systems are designed to have a
design compression (a predetermined compression by
the manufacturers), which allows the packing rubber to
flex (relax and compress) continuously while on passage.
When the hatch covers are closed, the packing rubber
should be compressed up to its design compression. This
design compression is expressed in millimeters and is
(b) Taking OHV from access hatch (c) Identifying leaky spots
generally in range of 10–20 mm, depending on the type
of packing rubber used, type of hatch, and compensating
(Source: (a–c) Reproduced with permission from SDT.) requirements.
Due to a variety of reasons, the efficiency of the sealing
system can be affected (e.g., loss of flexibility of the
Sherlog packing rubber due to aging, overcompression, imperfec-
tions of the compression bars, corrosion of the compres-
sion bar, damage).
If the test is passed with satisfactory results (i.e., no
readings in excess of 10% of OHV), one can assume that
the integrity of the sealing system is not affected, which
indicates that both the compression bar and packing
rubber are in order.
Illustrating reflection of ultrasounds in a ship’s hold Only a good packing rubber that is compressed within
the tolerance range of the design compression and a good
(Source: Reproduced with permission from SDT.) compression bar (or flat steel mating surface) will allow
for proper sealing.
The pass–fail criterion that is generally used is 10% of It will be appreciated that any loss in compres-
the OHV and therefore, with an OHV of, for example, sion, whether caused by a deficient packing rubber or
40 dBμV, any spots or areas where measurements are damaged/wavy compression bar, will cause the seal to be
exceeding 10% of the OHV or 4 dBμV will be considered less performant/efficient and areas with light compres-
as areas with lack of compression. Whatever is more than sion will open up prematurely while on passage, allowing
4 dBμV indicates that the sealing integrity is compro- water to pass through the seal and infiltrate into the hold.
mised and as such there is an enhanced risk for water If one can conclude, on the basis of ultrasonic testing,
ingress, cargo damage, or free water in the ship. The fact that the sealing system is in order, (while in port), the
that the leaky spot can be pinpointed easily and quickly packing rubber will perform properly (read–compensate
with ultrasound allows the qualified operator to inspect for relative movements) when at sea and provide
the area of concern and consider appropriate corrective enhanced safety. Moreover, the sensitivity of the system
action (to the rubber, compression bar and/or other items will also allow to find small leaks and imperfections that
that support the sealing system). Generally, a hatch test would otherwise not have been found by using more
report is generated at the end of the test, indicating areas traditional methods such as a hose test.1
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
8 General
Advantages of ultrasound for testing hatch cover tight- Furthermore, it is also recommended to carry out a
ness: visual inspection before the test to ensure that the hatch
• Reliable, nondestructive, and repeatable testing covers are properly battened down and ready for testing.
method Another risk related to the above issue, especially when
• Pinpoint accuracy when finding leaky spots/areas (as loading is imminent, is that crew (and also managers and
the leak can be pinpointed local repairs might be superintendents) are focused on passing the ultrasonic test
sufficient and adequate) on basis of “no measurements found in excess of 10%
• Indication about sealing system and compression of OHV.” In case the operator finds leaky spots during the
packing rubber test, hatch covers are often given “first aid” treatment (by
• Quick and easy testing, without assistance from ship’s using silicon, sicaflex, expansion foam or making repairs
crew (except for supervision and safety aspects) with small inserts or improperly applied backing strips,
• Can be used in holds loaded with water susceptible etc.) instead of being properly repaired. Such an approach
cargo is dangerous and gives a false sense of security as in
• Not influenced by weather conditions many cases only the symptom but not the root cause is
• Allows for testing of weather-, air-, gas tightness rectified. Moreover, and in a claims scenario, improper or
testing temporary repairs might be considered as proof that the
• Can identify leaks without the use of a transmitter if ship owner failed to comply with the basic principles of
the compartment tested for leaks is pressurized (air the duty of due diligence and in providing a seaworthy
escaping through small openings, cracks, etc. will and cargoworthy ship.
cause turbulence, which creates ultrasound that can be
detected).
2.1.2 Application: finding air leaks in hose
connections to a steel tank
Comments In a number of cases, it is important to know and check that
In the early days of ultrasonic testing, that is, when hose connections are well made and not leaking. Otherwise,
pass–fail criteria had not yet been properly defined, precious fluid might be lost and lead to problems or cause
there was the perception that passing an ultrasonic test pollution.
was difficult if not impossible. For this reason, and still
today, many shippers and charterers are of the opinion Case history
that, if a vessel has passed an ultrasonic tightness test On a navy shipyard, and in order to demonstrate the
because the operator did not find spots or areas with sensitivity of ultrasound, a hose connection was to be
measurements above the 10% of the OHV during the test, tested for leakage. Before the test, two small leaks had
the hatch covers can be considered as “weathertight.” been made in the connection. The leak was created by
Consequently, they instruct operators of ultrasonic equip- loosening a jubilee clip in the connection.
ment to carry out an ultrasonic tightness test only and The volume of the tank was approximately 1.5 m3 . The
this approach calls for some caution. It is not because tank was pressurized in the region of 0.18–0.20 bar.
a ship was able to pass an ultrasonic tightness test, that A soapy solution was applied over the rubber connec-
the ship’s hatch covers can be considered weathertight tion. No readily apparent bubbles were seen on the surface
and in good condition. Before concluding that hatch of the connection.
covers are weathertight, not only the packing rubber and During the test, there was no loss of pressure on the
compression bar status but also the condition of a number manometer over a 2 min time window, which indicated
of other crucial parts, which ensure that tightness can that the leak involved was minimal.
be maintained during a voyage should be assessed. This The connection was then scanned with an SDT 270
can only be done during a visual inspection of the hatch ultrasonic leak detector with internal sensor. Typically,
covers and their closing appliances. Therefore, operators a dry compressed air leak will produce a hissing sound.
should not only know how to use their ultrasonic tight- This was not detectable even with maximum sensitivity.
ness equipment but also have a thorough understanding However, as soon as a soap solution was applied over the
of hatch covers, their operation, and maintenance in order faulty connection, a clear popping sound of soap bubbles
to conclude that hatch covers are fit for duty. (even when hardly visible) was heard.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
Ultrasound 9
of items to be controlled, kilometers of hydraulic piping with

Comments
multiple connections have to be tested before the pipes are
Ultrasound may assist in detection of air leaks, which are filled with oil. Leaking lines would cause loss of system oil
perhaps not visible with a soap solution or when waiting and require time-consuming cleaning, which is to be avoided.
until a bubble forms takes a lot of time (especially when
small leaks are involved).
Bigger leaks (“needle size”) will give a clear hissing Case history
sound, but smaller leaks may be easier to detect when Before the commissioning date of an off-shore vessel in a
applying water or a soap solution over the connection to shipyard in Norway, all hydraulic lines of the vessel were
be tested. to be tested for leakage before filling the circuits with
hydraulic oil. In total, some 16 km of piping were to be
tested. The shipyard personnel involved were eager to do
2.1.3 Application: pipe repair clamp testing a first-class job, yet they were desperate to test the lines
(often difficult to access) with a soap solution, which was
Pipe clamps are used in the marine industry either for the normal/standard procedure.
joining pipes, or for repairing leaking/corroded pipes By pressurizing the lines with air and using an ultra-
(temporary/emergency repairs). Even if pipe clamps are sound detector in combination with a parabolic dish
used for temporary repairs, it is important that they are (allowing inspection at a distance) the shipyard personnel
properly installed. were able to find poor connections quickly, tag the leaky
Usually, these clamps are certified for a certain working spots for repair, and commission the system in time and
pressure (depending on the use of the pipe), which can be in free of leaks.
range of 30 bar (testing pressure 60 bar). When the clamp
is tightened up to the required torque, the clamp repair or
joint should be efficient, but a quick test by pressurizing the 2.1.5 Application: tightness testing of a watertight
pipe will confirm that a system is safe for further use after door on board of a passenger vessel
repair (sometimes, corrosion, deformations, surface rough- Watertight doors have to withstand significant pressure and
ness or unevenness may affect tightness). The combination as such they often rely on a steel to steel contact between door
of relatively high pressures and small leaks calls for the use and door frame to achieve tightness (as under high pressure a
ultrasound. seal might be blown out). Small imperfections and waviness
on the steel to steel contact surface are difficult to see with
the naked eye but cause the tightness to be impaired and lead
to water infiltration. With ultrasound, lack of tightness can
easily be established.
Case history
A watertight door on board of a passenger vessel was
to be checked for tightness. While the ultrasound sound
level around the contact surface of the door panel was
about 14 dBμV, a particular area on the perimeter of the
Testing of pipe clamp repair
door was found to produce an ultrasound sound level
of 33 dBμV. A visual inspection after opening the door
(Source: Reproduced with permission from SDT.) revealed the presence of some hard metal debris that
was trapped in a fine film of grease on the frame of
the door, preventing proper closure. The defect was easy
2.1.4 Application: finding air leaks in hydraulic to address and after corrective action, a retest revealed
piping systems similar ultrasound sound levels around the whole door,
confirming that the door tightness had been restored and
Many shipboard systems rely on hydraulics for their opera- that the door was fit for duty again.
tion. In view of the size of ships and depending on the number
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
10 General
especially when doors, ports, and so on situated in

smaller spaces have to be tested.
2.1.6 Application: testing of bulkhead penetrations

such as cable transits
In many cases, cables and pipes have to pass through bulk-
heads. Depending on the type of bulkhead, these penetrations
have to be air/water/gas tight and able to resist a certain
pressure. Specific solutions to ensure tightness of these
(a) penetrations have been engineered and if properly installed
they will live up to the requirements. However, and despite
of being approved, the tightness of the transit depends on
proper installation. As this is related to the human factor,
testing of the transit after installation is recommended, but
seldom carried out because it is too time-consuming and too
difficult. Indeed, most of the transits, for critical applica-
tions, are tested with an air pressure decay method, which
requires sealing of all openings in a specific compartment.
Once the pressure is applied, a loss in pressure—as a func-
tion of time—is checked. On board of ships several transits
are installed in the same compartment and if the pressure
drops, it is a question of finding out which transit (one or
(b) more) is failing. Depending on the tightness standard to be
achieved, ultrasound can reduce the time for failure finding
and confirming tightness.
Case history
On a navy vessel, a cable pack (bundle of approximately
20 cables) was not passing through an approved multi-
cable transit but just through an opening, which had been
filled up with polyurethane (expansion foam). The bulk-
head in question was more a division between compart-
ments than a real bulkhead.
The purpose of the test was to compare testing with
(c) Testing of watertight door compressed air (0.05 bar was the highest pressure that
could be obtained) and ultrasonic testing.
(Source: (a–c) Reproduced with permission from SDT.) The test was carried out in a void space through
which a leaking compressed air pipe was passing, which
hampered the detection of air through the cable opening.
In order to shield the disturbing hissing sound of the
Comments
leaking compressed air pipe, the leaky area (faulty
Doors and windows are important items under the Inter- connection) was traced back (easy in view of the typical
national Convention of Load Lines. As such, regular ultrasonic signature of the air leak) and eventually sealed
checks and maintenance is required. Ultrasound allows temporarily with duct tape. Then, and with careful
easy testing and checking of doors, windows, ports, screening of the cable passage, an air leak was found on
and coverlids although it may be beneficial to use the underside of the cable passage.
dedicated/specific testing procedures and equipment,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
Ultrasound 11
ball/float type valves, repeated hammering may cause

Eventually, and instead of using compressed air for damage to the ball/float surface, while on the disk type
pressurizing the compartment, it was suggested to screen system, damage to the rubber gasket may impair tight-
the cable transit area by using ultrasound and check if ness. In both cases, a seal should be achieved between the
ultrasound would be passing through the same spot as float/disk and its mating surface and in case of damage to
identified with the air leak. With a small 200 mW ultra- either the seal or the mating surface (corrosion, indents,
sound transmitter, placed a few meters away from the etc.) tightness will be impaired. Ultrasound can help in
cable passage, ultrasound leaks were found in the same confirming tightness.
area as the air leak.
The example above shows that ultrasound has proven its
worth in finding leaks. While in some cases approval of
cable transits with the air pressure decay method is still
required, it is useful to eliminate and repair the bigger
leaks first (i.e., before air testing). Testing the transits
for leaks with an ultrasound transmitter makes it possible
to find more significant leaks quickly and easily. In a
second stage, the compartment can then be pressurized
(even without sealing as long as a positive pressure can
be maintained) and the ultrasound detector may be used
to identify the passing transits by listening to the hissing
air sound.
Once the compartment has been checked for air leaks (a)
as described above, and only if required, a real pressure
decay test can be carried out after all openings have been
duly sealed as required. Checking with ultrasound will
save time and significantly increase chances for passing
a pressure decay test.
Comments
In view of the fact that testing with the pressure decay
method is time-consuming and cumbersome, smoke tests
are carried out. This means that a small smoke generator
is placed in the compartment and that a check for passing
smoke is carried out. The use of ultrasound is much easier,
more precise, and reliable than the smoke test method. (b)
2.1.7 Application: Air pipe testing

Air vent pipes, installed on tanks are used to allow air to
escape and prevent water from entering into a tank (ballast
tank, fuel tank, etc.). Overpressure of a tank can lead to
serious damage while water ingress can cause contamination
or even capsizing or sinking of the ship. Needless to say that
under the International Convention of Load Lines, air pipes
have been identified as important equipment.
While the overpressure function is important, preventing
ingress of water during heavy weather or in cases of heavy
list is equally important. While tightness of vent pipes is
achieved through balls/float or disk type systems, inspection
is generally limited to a visual inspection, while testing (c) Air pipe testing
would definitely enhance safety and reliability. For the (Source: (a–c) Reproduced with permission from SDT.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
12 General
Case history
A more inspired manufacturer of tank vent systems
decided to embark on a testing system and as such both
a ball/float system and a disk type system were tested.
By placing an ultrasound transmitter under the float or
disk and pressing them against the mating surface, a clear
attenuation in sound was heard. Any imperfection of the
sealing system produces higher amplitude signals, which
allow to pinpoint the area of concern. Here also ultra-
sound is a simple and reliable way of testing tightness
and quality in a couple of minutes after manufacturing,
installation, or maintenance.
(a) Looking for leak spots with ultrasound
2.1.8 Application: container testing

The same technology used for hatch cover testing
on ships can also be used for tightness testing of
containers—especially the water tightness, weatherproof,
and sift-proof properties of containers might be important
before loading specific types of dry bulk cargo. At present,
a qualified person physically inspects the six sides of a
container and also closes the doors while inside to make
sure there are no holes (no daylight shining through). This
person also checks the door seals carefully to ensure they
are in good condition and sealing correctly. (b) Testing with water
Experience has proven that just because a system looks to

be in apparent good condition, it may not actually be tight.
Using ultrasounds has proved worthwhile as it provided
enhanced and reliable results on container tightness.
Case history
On a recently built 20’ container, seams around the floor
and the doors were tested using an ultrasound trans-
mitter. In a number of cases, silicon finishing of the
joints appeared to be in good condition, but with the right
detection technique, it was found that the joints were
leaking. As this was hard to believe, a comparative test
with water was carried out which confirmed that the areas
that were previously identified as leaking with ultrasound
(c) water seeping through seams
were indeed leaking.
(Source: (a–c) Reproduced with permission from SDT.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
Ultrasound 13
2.2 Testing of electrical systems

Comments
Tightness of containers is not only important for certain 2.2.1 Application: switchboards
types of cargo, it is also important when containers have
to be fumigated. With electronics being used more and more on board and
Also flexitanks (huge bags that are placed in containers advantages of electric driven motors and electronic systems
and then filled with liquid) are nowadays tested with being recognized, the importance of electricity on board has
ultrasound instead of a soap solution. increased over the years. Not only switchboards but also
associated equipment such as transformers and insulators
require inspection and testing as well.
It is a well-known fact that switchboard failures are at the
base of more significant shipboard fires and therefore regular
inspection of switchboard and electrical systems (together
with maintenance) is recommended. However, inspection
of electrical systems is not without risk for the inspecting
personnel and needs to be carried out with utmost care.
To understand the possibility and versatility of ultrasound
for electrical applications, it is important to understand the
following basics.
2.2.2 Partial discharge (PD)

(a)
Partial discharge is a localized electrical discharge in an
insulation system that does not completely bridge the
connectors. It is influenced by voltage, shape of the void,
temperature, insulation condition, and environmental factors
such as humidity. On board, electrical cabinets/systems
are very often not well protected from the environment, so
that component parts of an electrical system can easily be
contaminated, and able to collect dirt, grease, and so on
rapidly. In combination with humidity, it should not come
as a surprise that electrical systems in a marine environment
are prone to rapid and catastrophic failures.
Partial discharge phenomena include the following:
(b)
Corona: Surface partial discharge indicating corrosion
and/or deterioration of the system. When air molecules
around a failing system or part of a system (single strand
of wire) become electrically charged or ionized, corona
discharge will take place. Corona does not generate heat
and is not detectable with infrared. Corona will cause
some damage, but not always quickly; it might take years
to develop.
Tracking: An electrical failure type that builds in intensity
until it reaches the point of flashover after which the cycle
begins again. From an ultrasonic point of view, tracking
creates a low buzzing and crackling sound that is intermit-
tent. Due to the fact that it is not a constant process but
(c) Testing of flexitanks rather an event that slowly builds to up a peak moment, that
is, the moment where the flash over takes place, detection
(Source: (a–c) Reproduced with permission from SDT.) with infrared is a lucky shot as the moment when fractional
heat is displayed is just a split of a second.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
14 General
Arcing: Flow of current through the air producing a very

strong, longer duration yet intermittent crackling sound,
which is easily recognizable and detectable in the ultra-
sonic range. Arcing is the only one of these three defects,
which will cause significant thermal buildup.
From a predictive/preventive maintenance point of view,

infrared cameras are finding their way to the chief engineer’s
or ship’s electrician’s toolbox, but as will be seen from the
above, not all electric failures generate heat, or when they do,
catastrophic failures can be expected. In this paragraph, and
by knowing that the frequency range of energy produced by
these defects is within the detection range of most ultrasound
detectors (20–200 kHz), we will see how ultrasound can
enhance safety and reliability of electrical systems.
(b) Built in laser pointer used for pinpointing problem area
(Source: (b) Reproduced with permission from SDT.)

Case history
During the inspection of the ship’s engine room, within
the scope of a condition survey, the main switchboard Case history
in the engine room was checked with ultrasound. As the On a passenger liner, a set of transformers was checked
ship had embarked on an infrared inspection program for with ultrasound. On one of the transformers, a partial
the switchboards, the chief engineer was confident that discharge problem was identified with airborne ultra-
all was in order and was interested to see if ultrasound sound on the insulators. On another unit, loose parts inside
would discover hidden or concealed/upcoming problems. the transformer tank were identified with ultrasound in the
Eventually, the switchboard was scanned with an ultra- contact mode.
sonic detector in the airborne mode. Out of the three
main switches for the generators on the switchboards,
and much to the surprise of the chief engineer, one was Comments
producing a clear buzzing sound that was not detected on Electric failures generally do not become better in time
the two other ones, which justified further investigation. when not attended to, so that aggravation of the situation
(and associated risks) is to be expected. With ultrasound
this can easily be trended and attended to when possible.
Tracking and arcing, which are already more advanced
problems, always produce distinct ultrasound signals.
By using ultrasonic detection for inspection on switch-
boards and cabinets before opening them, the risk for arc
flash and arc blast can be reduced.
Therefore, the use of ultrasound, in combination with
infrared, may be the best approach to identify possible
problems and evaluate their importance.
In cases where the cabinet in question is sealed tight,
electrical failures can be detected by using a contact
magnetic sensor.
As the technique is not yet embedded in the ship’s
normal/day-to-day practice, monitoring of electric
systems on board is not yet well known by H&M and
(a) Testing main switchboard P&I underwriters. However, an easy and quick ultrasonic
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
Ultrasound 15
check could prevent fire, serious claims, injuries, and

system downtime.
While PM, PdM, and CBM focus on rotating
machinery, electric applications prove that ultrasound
are offering good solutions for nonrotating machinery
as well.
2.3 Valve testing
On board ships a wide variety of valves for regulating and

controlling the flow of various fluids and gases, both in the
engine room and on deck, are found. Their importance is
often underestimated and proper inspection and maintenance
overlooked, which then results in failures, improper perfor-
mance, and cross contamination.
Apart from visual monitoring of gauges and flow meters
(and overhaul after things went wrong), not much is done Valve testing by means of a hand held
contact probe
to ensure correct operation of valves. Indeed, and when
problems (e.g., small leakages of valves) become noticeable, (Source: Reproduced with permission from SDT.)
it is often too late to avoid problems and damage has already
been caused.
Another important issue is that fault-finding on more
complicated valve systems, such as in a hydraulic system, Case history
is often complicated and time-consuming.
Many failure modes associated with valves passing, On another vessel, and while inspecting the fireman’s
blocking, cavitating, and flashing along with mechanical outfit, and much to the surprise of the third officer, an air
and pneumatic problems will generate ultrasound. This cylinder of the breathing apparatus was found to be partly
makes ultrasound an extremely useful tool in a predictive empty although it had been fully recharged after the last
maintenance program for valves. drill a couple of days ago. Without touching the valve,
an ultrasonic detector, equipped with a handheld contact
probe confirmed a small leak on the open/close valve of
Case history the SCBA.
During a survey on board, the principle of ultrasonic tight-
ness testing was explained to the ship’s staff. Together
with addressing the principles of the tightness testing of
hatch covers, it was explained that valves could be tested
as well, although the testing principle is different because
now the valve is producing ultrasound itself.
The chief officer told that he was aware that the isolation
valve of the fire main was leaking slightly and wondered
whether this could be detected. A magnetic ultrasound (a) (b)
sensor was connected to the valve body and the line pres- Valve testing by means of a hand held contact probe
surized. A clear and distinct turbulent flow was detected,
even though the surrounding atmosphere was quite noisy. (Source: (a,b) Reproduced with permission from SDT.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
16 General
respectively, are noted, equipment has already entered its first

Comments
stages of wear and this damage is irreversible and will thus
Apart from helping with failure finding, ultrasound can lead to failure at a given moment.
also help in ensuring and proving that valves are properly As friction can be measured with ultrasound in a quick
operating, properly closing, properly segregating and that and easy manner and before damage occurs, the in—service
the system is fit for duty. life of the ship’s equipment can be extended and overhauls
The smaller the leak, and the higher the pressure of the planned well in advance, which are extra benefits.
fluid, the higher the turbulent flow will be and the better
it can be detected.
Ultrasound are not only able to detect leaks in piping
used for liquids, but also for detecting problems with Case history
valves used in gas and air networks. A more inspired Cyprus-based ship owner recognized
the above-mentioned scenario of hands-on approach for
greasing bearings of pumps and the potential of ultra-
sound.
2.4 Friction As such he was prepared to set up a 1 year trial lubri-
cation campaign on board one of the ships in his fleet.
2.4.1 Bearing testing Following an implementation training by the manufac-
turers on board of the ship in question at the port of
From failure mode and effect analysis, we have learned that
Dunkirk, both the attending superintendent and engine
friction is often at the base of failure. This is so for bearings,
staff were made familiar with the equipment and moni-
belts, chains, couplings, and so on.
toring procedure.
In general, the effects of friction are countered by greasing
The main principle of the friction application is that
programs whereby moving parts are lubricated with a
rotating and moving parts have a specific ultrasound
specific amount of grease at specific time intervals, often
signature and as such any change in a lubrication pattern
referred to as time-based maintenance. The intervention
can be heard, measured and trended. With the assistance
time for lubrication is generally strictly followed, which is
of a grease adapter, the reduction or increase in friction
commendable, but seldom the fact whether greasing is really
of a bearing can be seen (measured) and heard allowing
necessary is considered and only the timeline is observed.
to determine whether greasing is required and the exact
Another danger is that of under- or overlubrication, in other
amount of grease needed.
words, is the amount of grease injected correct?
During the trial period, various pump bearings were
While in the shore-based industry the lubrication issue has
monitored, readings trended, and lubrication applied on
already received more consideration, the hands-on approach
the basis of readings instead of time. When the ultra-
of crew in charge of a lubrication program on board of a
sound signal is increased by more than 8 dBμV above
ship generally results in moving parts being lubricated on a
the previous reading, the bearing would be greased
more haphazard basis, with non-calibrated “general purpose”
using the same ultrasound equipment. The lubrication
grease guns charged with grease that is contaminated (during
injected into the bearing should cause the decibel value
its storage without coverlids in the ship’s forepeak store)
to decrease. By applying grease on a shot-by-shot basis
so that often excessive amounts of grease are applied and
and listening and measuring, the last injection of grease
contaminants introduced in the system.
is the one that causes the decibel value to start to increase
Needless to say, such an approach is an ideal recipe for
again—this is the moment that the bearing is starting to be
quick but certain degradation of rotating or moving parts,
overgreased.
often leading to serious damage and costly downtime.
From feedback received from the technical superin-
While there are various techniques available to monitor
tendent, it was learned that this technique had allowed
failure of rotating equipment, such as vibration analysis,
them to identify several bearing problems and helped
thermography, and oil analysis, it will be appreciated that
them save several pumps and thousands of dollars.
when these phenomena of accelerations, heat and particles,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
Ultrasound 17
2.5 Bearings/rotating parts (impact):

They further advised that they had approached Class
to request to transfer most of the pumps on the vessel 2.5.1 Application: monitoring propeller shaft
from the existing Planned Maintenance System to bearing
Condition-Based Maintenance.
Knowing that friction is in many cases at the base of failure,
the next question is if not only friction but also failure of
a bearing can be monitored. The answer is definitely “yes,”
although for a maintenance engineer the focus should be
placed on preventing failure rather than detecting failure.
Without proper remedying action, friction in a rolling
element bearing will further evolve and lead to the bearing
entering into the first stage of failure, which is typically char-
acterized by high-frequency impacts or shocks.
Taking ultrasound up from detection and inspection level
to measurement and analysis level is possible. Failures can
be detected and signals analyzed, but the challenge is to do
this in a proper, efficient, and meaningful way.
While in the past, analysis of rotating equipment was
mainly in the domain of vibration analysis, there are
compelling arguments for using ultrasound that even
Measuring friction on a pump bearing and greasing with hardcore vibration specialists cannot ignore.
grease gun to restore original situation
(Source: Reproduced with permission from SDT.)

Case history
Note that this case was explained in the Marine Mainte-
nance Magazine dd April 2014.
The ship in question was a twin engine propelled

Comments cross-island ferry/ro-ro in France. The measurements were
With more advanced and type-specific software on board, performed on the entire driveline of the port and starboard
surveys can be worked out and historic information and engine. The tests were carried out during a passage with a
collected data (measurements, sounds) can be trended, shaft rotation speed of 1880 RPM.
compared, analyzed, and alarm levels installed. A schematic plan of the ship’s propelling system, with
Identifying or marking the data collection points on the numbered bearings is depicted on the next page.
equipment will add to the reliability of collected data. During the voyage, measurements of bearings on the Port
Equipment that is able to interface with non-ultrasound and Starboard shaft were taken. The readings taken on the
sensors such as temperature and RPM sensors (or has portside shaft are listed as follows (it should be noted that
these sensors on board of the data collector/receiver) will with a built-in pyrometer and laser tachometer, temperatures
enhance reliability further as it will help in checking and RPM of the shaft can be measured as well).
temperature and RPM before starting the friction The ultrasonic signal, temperatures, and RPM can be stored
measurement process. and recorded with a simple push on the button. However,
Also, and instead of the handheld contact probe, in this specific case, neither the operator, nor the ship, had
magnetic or threaded sensors can be used for monitoring historic ultrasonic data of the bearings. With the RMS value
more critical equipment where slight variations could alone, it would have been difficult to identify a problem,
have detrimental consequences. but analysis of the time signal of the port side shaft with
The setting of reliable baseline readings will facilitate the appropriate and equipment-specific software shows the
monitoring throughout the equipment’s in-service life. emergence of peaks on the bearing nine time signal during a
35-s time window.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
18 General
Portside
Starboard
Ship’s propelling system
dB μV dB μV dB μV dB μV Temperature
(RMS) (Max RMS) (Peak) (crest factor) °C
Bearing 1 53 54.3 69 6.31 23.5
Bearing 2 53.5 54.6 67.4 4.95 24.1
Bearing 3 51.1 52 65.1 5.01 30
Bearing 4 55.6 56.8 67 3.72 28.9
Bearing 5 52.8 54.4 67 5.13 33.5
Bearing 6 49.9 50.7 62.4 4.22 30.2
Bearing 7 43.7 45 57.8 5.07 32.6
Bearing 8 48.2 49.1 64.1 6.24 25.1
Bearing 9 51.1 54 65.3 5.13 30
Bearing 10 No Access To this Bearing
Bearing measurements
This is clearly different from the measurements taken on Case history

the other bearings of the port side shaft (which have similar Note that this case was explained in the Marine Mainte-
RMS values) and indicates that the tightness of the ball nance Magazine dd July 2014.
bearing cone on the shaft had to be checked. This was
eventually done and shortly afterward it was confirmed that A survey was conducted on board of a ro-ro vessel while
the problem had been solved. This example shows that, even the vessel was underway on a short passage between two
without historic (trending) data but with the assistance of the nearby NW European ports.
appropriate software, irregularities could be noted and the The equipment to be monitored included the accommo-
problem identified in a quick and easy manner, in an early dation air-conditioning ventilator, auxiliary generators 1&2,
stage, before wear and damage occurred. the incinerator FD fan, the shaft generator, the bow thruster,
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
Ultrasound 19
Time signal analysis
Bearing NDE:
6213 ZZ
Bearing DE:
6315 ZZ
Ultrasound signal analysis
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
20 General
ballast pumps 1&2, fire pumps 1&2, the emergency fire such as on overheads, in tanks, and so on. Most of the time,
pump, M/E lube oil pumps 1&2, steering gear pumps 1&2, more critical connections are tested with a soap solution but
compressors 1&2, sea water pumps 1&2, the emergency generally testing, especially after assembly, is not a common
generator, and the ship’s stabilizers. practice because it is time-consuming, messy, and difficult.
The ballast pumps 1&2 and sea water pumps 1&2 were With ultrasound testing, the tightness integrity of flanged
checked and deviating sounds, followed by measurements couplings is easy and quick.
of the bearings of the electric motors driving the pumps on
the drive end and non-drive end with handheld ultrasonic
equipment gave rise to concern. The ultrasound signal was Case history
recorded and analyzed and results confirmed that the bear- On a Far-East shipyard, ship modules were being made.
ings of the pump were damaged. Being aware of the fact that reworking or repairing
flanged connections once the modules were assembled
Comments and joined together, or finding leaks during trial testing,
Using ultrasound for checking bearings (and other would be time-consuming and difficult, the yard inquired
rotating parts) offers many benefits, such as the following: if it would be possible to test flanged connections with
ultrasound prior to joining the different modules.
• Speed of data collection; a couple of seconds can be While testing with an ultrasonic transmitter (that is
enough. placed inside a piping system) would give a good result
• Immediate failure detection in some cases/situations, artificially created ultrasound
• Powerful on slow-speed bearings (hinges of ramps, might not be so reliable for systems with a lot of bends.
slewing gear of cranes, winches, etc.) However, and by recognizing the fact that air leaks (or
• Quick response time; no lengthy analysis process is vacuum leaks) create clear ultrasound signals, it was
necessary. decided to blank off the open ends of the piping system in
• As both the technique and equipment are easily each module and to pressurize the module with air via a
accessible, there is no need to make a selection of blanking flange onto which an air connection and pressure
critical equipment for which analysis is definitely gauge were mounted.
worthwhile. Ultrasound analysis is cheap and rela- During a first round, more significant air leaks could be
tively easy and can therefore also be applied on identified quite easily and some were eventually quickly
less critical/secondary equipment. As such using eliminated on the spot. However, not only were the “big-
ultrasound means that condition monitoring is no ger” pressure leaks identified, but also the smaller ones
longer limited to expensive and critical machinery (which were much more difficult to detect as the leak rate
only but also allows assessing of the health of less is minimal and turbulent flow captured and dissipated in
critical/secondary equipment on board. the crevice of the flange). By applying a decent type of
duct or sealing tape around the flanged coupling, and in
case of a leak, air pressure will build up under the tape.
If then the sealing tape is punctured with a needle on
2.6 Leak testing of flanged couplings the flanged coupling, the air that was trapped beneath the
tape will escape (with turbulence) through the hole and as
Testing of flanged couplings is important for many systems such create sufficient ultrasound to prove that the flanged
both ashore and in the marine industry. coupling is leaking.
Leaky flanges can cause gases or liquids to escape, be
sprayed on hot surfaces and catch fire, cause loss of product,
pollution and affect the efficiency of a process.
Once in use, leakage of flanged couplings will become Comments
clearly evident; however, consequences as described above If the ultrasound receiver interfaces with mass flow
are not desirable and while realigning and/or tightening up sensors, the flow can be measured across the orifice and
is generally the only recommended action, this may not be the leak rate can be quantified in SFCM or SCCM.
so easy when the pipes are located in more remote locations
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
Ultrasound 21
ENDNOTE
1. In the old days, the tightness of a sealing system was
checked by means of a hose test. This was a test that
could easily be carried out on board by the ship’s crew
and did not require any specific equipment, but had
several drawbacks, for example, no water can be applied
in subzero temperatures or on dirty/oily decks, the test
cannot be carried out when there was cargo in the hold
or when the hold has already been washed and dried
ready for loading. In addition, hose testing was carried
out in different ways (different interpretations of testing
method and test results). Finally, the passage of water
(a)
only depends on whether or not there is a physical
barrier between the packing rubber and compression bar
(regardless of whether there is a thin line of contact or
an overcompression situation). In view of the above, it
will be understood that hose testing has been the best
hands-on method for checking hatch cover tightness but
not always ideal and accurate. From a failure finding
consideration, the point where the water infiltration was
seen in a hold during a hose test was not always the
point where the deficiency was located, which made
identification of the leaky area quite difficult.
FURTHER READING
(b)
T. Murphy & A. Rienstra (2010) “HEAR MORE” — A guide to using
ultrasound for leak detection and condition monitoring.
(c) Testing of flanges in shipyard
(Source: (a–c) Reproduced with permission from SDT.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe545
CFD Modeling of Diesel Combustion
Konstantina Vogiatzaki
City University London, London, UK
notably involving CO2 , soot, particulate matter, and NOx .

1 Introduction 1 According to estimates of the third IMO GHG Study 2014,
2 Numerical Simulations of Diesel Combustion international shipping emitted 796 million tonnes of CO2 ,
Processes 2 that is, about 2.2% of the total global CO2 emissions.
3 Closing Remarks 9 Due to increasingly stringent exhaust gas legislation,
aimed at reducing environmental and health risks, a deeper
Glossary 9
understanding of the physicochemical mechanisms of diesel
Abbreviations 9 combustion processes is needed in order to drive the design
References 9 of the engines of the future. Figure 1 describes schemat-
ically all the important parameters for the operation of a
diesel engine. Understanding their interlink and their effect
on the diesel spray characteristics, the subsequent fuel/air
1 INTRODUCTION mixing, and ignition is mandatory in order to understand
the combustion, soot formation, and exhaust gas emission
Within the past decades, diesel engines (also known as
processes. Optical techniques constitute a useful tool for
compression-ignition engines) have dominated the trans-
in situ diagnostics of these phenomena with high temporal
portation sector since they are characterized by great fuel
and spatial resolution for some parts of the process. The
and thermal efficiency, engine power output, and durability
major difficulty, however, is to acquire experimental data
in comparison to other internal combustion (IC) concepts.
simultaneously of the in-nozzle conditions and the combus-
For example, for civilian ships above 100 gross tons, 96%
tion regime. Currently due to restrictions to the equipment
of installed engine power is produced by diesel engines
that will allow for optical access to both the nozzle and
(Eyring et al., 2005). The high thermal efficiency of diesel
combustion chamber under high pressure, high temperature
engines (highest than any other internal and external combus-
conditions and reasonable resolution, the available data are
tion engine)—even at part load—is mainly due to their
very limited. Only very few experimental studies have been
very high compression ratio and inherent lean burn that
performed focusing on qualitative characterization of the
enables heat dissipation by the excess air. Low speed diesel
process rather than quantitative data acquisition (Payri et al.,
engines (as used in ships and other applications where
2009, Som et al., 2011, Hayashi, Suzuki, and Ikemoto, 2013).
overall engine weight is relatively unimportant) can have a
An alternative (and rather economical) tool is computa-
thermal efficiency that exceeds 50%. Further efficiency gain
tional fluid dynamics (CFD). In reality, the development
is succeeded nowadays with the use of advanced fuel injec-
of CFD methodology for diesel engines calculations dates
tion systems. Their weak aspect, however, is the emissions
back to late 1970s (Syed and Bracco, 1979, Butler et al.,
Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering, online © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 1979, Gosman and Clerides, 1980). The past decade
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. recent modeling studies have been conducted for direct
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe573
injection diesel engines, indirect injection diesel engines,
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 stratified-charge rotary engines, and homogeneous-charge
2 General
EGR Air Fuel

characteristic Characteristics of fuel
of super change (Cetane no. ect.)
Design of inlet port Injection system
Characteristics Injection characteristic

of air motion Design of Injection rate
Swift combustion chamber Injection timing
Squish Injection duration
Turbulence Spray characteristics
Drop distribution
Spray tip penetration
Spray angle
Vaporizing characteristics
Fuel–air-mixture
Characteristics
of ignition delay
lgnition
Flame propagation
Combustion Partially pre-mixed combustion
Partially Diffusion combustion
Diffusion of combustion products
Heat losses
Rate of heat release
NOx
particulate
HC Exhaust
emission
Figure 1. Block diagram of diesel combustion. (Reproduced with permission from Hiroyasu and Miao (2004). © Springer, 2004.)
reciprocating engines. The major challenge in diesel engine 2 NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF

simulations is the wide range of length and time scales DIESEL COMBUSTION PROCESSES
needed to describe engine fluid mechanics and chemistry.
For example, to resolve the flow field around 10 𝜇m diam- 2.1 Challenges
eter drops (typical of the Sauter mean diameter of diesel
spray) in a 10-cm diameter combustion chamber requires The first challenge encountered at the CFD modeling of
about 1012 grid points (Reitz and Rutland, 1995), which even diesel combustion process is the proper selection and imple-
with current computational capabilities is out of reach. Thus, mentation of a simulation framework suitable to represent
robust submodels to capture the interaction of the unresolved the complex physical and chemical phenomena associated
with the resolved scales are required for turbulence, spray with the compression ignition process. In a direct injec-
injection, atomization, breakup, coalescence, vaporization, tion engine system, the liquid fuel is injected directly into
ignition, premixed combustion, diffusion combustion, wall the cylinder when the air is compressed to its hottest in
heat transfer, and emissions. All of these submodels must order to evaporate quicker. Then, the combustible air/fuel
mixture becomes subject to a turbulent flow and, once mixed,
work together in turbulent flow fields. On top of this, detailed
undergoes subsequent elementary reactions that convert the
chemistry needs to be incorporated in order to represent the
fuel vapor to complete and incomplete combustion products
multicomponent diesel fuels.
with the accompanying heat release. The models within a
In this article, the focus is on the recent progress of combus-
CFD framework (for spray atomization, fluid dynamics, and
tion modeling in the field of diesel engines. First, we will chemistry) should be accurate to deliver information related
introduce briefly all the open issues in the diesel engine to the species concentration, their volumetric generation or
combustion modeling and the areas that need attention by the destruction rate, and changes in the parameters of the system
modelers. Then, we will go into details for recent progress like enthalpy, temperature, and mixture density. The compli-
in each of these areas. Special focus will be given to the cation lies to the fact that in reality combustion affects the
most commonly used combustion models by describing their fluid flow through (mostly) heat release and the flow field
advantages as well as their shortcomings. In the end, some affects back combustion through reactants mixing and flame
closing remarks will be presented as guidelines for future propagation. Thus, it is not only necessary to have models
modeling efforts. that describe accurately fluid dynamics (from in-nozzle to
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe573
CFD Modeling of Diesel Combustion 3
the combustor exit) and chemistry (based on detailed chem- combustion (which is essentially a subcategory of premixed
ical mechanisms) separately but their interaction as well. An combustion) has also attracted a lot of attention. While
additional complication for diesel engine modeling arises many engines are designed to have an homogeneous air–fuel
from the multiphase nature of the process since both combus- mixture throughout the combustion chamber, attempts
tion and fluid dynamics affect the conversion of one phase to improve fuel economy in modern two- or four-stroke
(liquid) to the other (gas phase) prior to combustion through engines include direct injection of a mixture with spatially
atomization and evaporation. Currently, the available models nonuniform distribution known as charge stratification.
describing spray dynamics such as primary and secondary The idea is to deliver a mixture that is sufficiently rich for
atomization are rather simplistic and inaccurate. combustion in the immediate vicinity of the spark plug
An additional difficulty—that in reality is a major chal- and lean in the remainder of the cylinder. This process can
lenge in any combustion process modeling effort—is the potentially reduce fuel consumption since lean burn mode is
accurate representation of the mixing and the reacting time a way to reduce throttling losses. A few numerical studies
scale elapsed for the process. Unless direct numerical simu- are available in which existent premixed combustion models
lation (DNS) with a detailed chemical scheme for multicom- have been tested but with rather limited success (Kuenne,
ponent fuels is used, the ’real’ scales are not represented. Ketelheun, and Janicka, 2011, 2013, Trisjono et al., 2014). In
The interaction of the numerical time scales on the other addition, currently experimental data are available only for
hand does not necessarily represent the interaction of the real gaseous fuels (methane) (Seffrin et al., 2010, Böhm, Frank,
scales. Currently, DNS of realistic engine geometries with and Dreizler, 2011) and no experimental data are available
realistic multicomponent fuel chemistry is out of the reach for engine-like conditions. Thus, no further discussion will
of state-of-the-art computations. Alternatively, when approx- be included in this article.
imated models are used, it is critical to resolve in-cylinder The challenge when liquid fuel is present as in the case
flow motions at least at large scales that determine mean flow of diesel engines is that the areas of different combustion
characteristics and account with robust submodels for the modes coexist. Combustion involves a dual burning mode
small scales that determine flame characteristics relevant to with a rich premixed flame near the stabilization region and
transient phenomena. The in-cylinder flows are compressible a diffusion flame around the jet periphery. This combustion
turbulent flows due to the high speed gas exchange processes mode is demonstrated in the recent work of Som et al. (2011)
and the piston compression. Currently, the two dominant as well as the Dec’s conceptual model (Dec, 1997) based
methods for solving turbulent flows are Reynolds-averaged on laser-sheet imaging and optical data (Figure 2). Tradi-
Navier–Stokes (RANS) and large eddy simulation (LES). tional combustion models currently available at the literature
A further important step in the modeling of a diesel although very sophisticated are derived on assumptions rele-
combustion engines is the selection of the chemical mech- vant either of premixed or nonpremixed combustion and are
anism. In terms of chemistry in engine environments, mostly tested to target flames that also represent isolated
combustion modeling mainly deals with two processes: combustion modes.
initially low temperature chemistry, which leads to (auto) In the following sections, we will focus on providing more
ignition and produces intermediate species, and second, insight in each of these challenges described above as well as
these intermediate species trigger high temperature reac- the modeling approaches that are the most commonly used to
tions that contribute the main heat release, as well as further address them.
complete and incomplete combustion products. In order
to capture these phenomena, accurate chemical schemes 2.2 Flow field modeling
are needed. If the scheme is detailed, it might become too
expensive computationally. On the other hand, reduced Two are the most commonly used frameworks for the repre-
schemes with only a few reactions will be inaccurate for the sentation of the flow field scales: RANS and LES. In general,
prediction of intermediate reactions that are important for in the field of turbulent combustion, both frameworks have
the prediction of pollutant formation. been used extensively (Poinsot and Veynante, 2005) and a
An additional issue is the formation of combustion models volume of work exists for the comparison of their perfor-
that are capable of describing multiple combustion modes. mance (Senecal and Pomraning, 2012, Yang et al., 2014).
In the general combustion theory, depending on how fuel and Here, we will focus on the work relevant to engines research.
oxidizer are brought into contact in the combustion system,
two different combustion modes or regimes are commonly 2.2.1 RANS models
identified: the premixed regime and the nonpremixed
regime. More recently, in the context of internal combus- Due to their relatively high efficiency and acceptable accu-
tion engines, another combustion mode namely stratified racy, RANS-based turbulence models still play a dominant
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe573
4 General
NPZ Diffusion flame K = 0, r/R = 0

RPZ Fuel-rich premixed flame
Initial soot formation

Thermal NO production zone y
y Flame index
Soot oxidation zone
Liquid fuel NPZ 1
Vapor-fuel/air mixture x
x RPZ 0
(equivalence ratio 2-4)
(a) (b)
Figure 2. Schematic of the flame structure in terms of nonpremixed zone (NPZ) and rich premixed zone (RPZ). (Reproduced with
permission from Som et al. (2011). © Elsevier, 2011.)
role on engine simulations nowadays, especially for indus- engine flows mostly, because of their computational cost.
trial practices. In RANS models, the Reynolds equations Thanks, however, to the rapid development of computer tech-
are solved for the mean velocity field, that is, all turbulent nology, LES has now found more applications in engine
fluctuations about the local mean are modeled. The closure simulations (Lehtiniemi et al., 2006, De Paola et al., 2008,
terms, the Reynolds stresses, are determined by a turbulence Felsch et al., 2009). The basic idea of LES is to solve for
model. In early studies, the standard k − 𝜖 model (based large-scale eddies (i.e., those that can be resolved on the
on the turbulent viscosity hypothesis) (Jones and Launder, computational mesh) explicitly and to model the effect of
1972) was widely used. In more recent studies, however, smaller scale motions (subgrid scale, SGS) on large meshes
modifications of the original equations were performed to through the use of a SGS model. A comprehensive review of
account for effects that are unique in engines. In order to different LES modeling approaches in general can be found
consider the moving boundary in engines, a source term that in the literature by Pope (2000), and a review on early appli-
accounts for length-scale changes with velocity dilation has cations of LES in engine turbulent flows in specific can be
to be added to the 𝜖 equation. An additional source term found in Celik, Yavuz, and Smirnov (2001). In more recent
can be used to introduce the interaction of a spray with the studies (Jhavar and Rutland, 2006, Yang et al., 2014), many
turbulence in both the k and 𝜖 equations. Moreover, although researchers have shown that LES offers significant advan-
the Mach number of the in-cylinder flow is very low, the tages over RANS in that LES resolves more flow details,
moving piston causes the fluid undergo large density varia- better represents a local mixing field, and is able to reveal
tions and the effects of compressibility have to be accounted engine cycle-to-cycle variations. One of the issues in LES
with further modifications (Han and Reitz, 1995). In general, is that more attention is needed in cases where the same
the global flow characteristics such as spray and vapor pene- submodels, such as wall models, spray models, and turbu-
tration, liquid length, ignition delay, flame lift off length, lent combustion models, have been retained with only the
heat release rates, and pressure traces can be fairly well k − 𝜖-derived turbulence scales being replaced by the scales
predicted by a RANS approach. This methodology, however, from the LES SGS model (Haworth, 2005). This common
fails when transient events are of interest such as extinction practice, however, might limit the performance of LES.
and resignation.
2.3 Injection modeling
2.2.2 Large eddy simulation (LES)
The most notable advances achieved in diesel engines
Although the pioneering work on LES by Smagorinsky resulted directly from superior fuel injection system designs.
(1963) and Lilly (1967) appeared several decades ago, until Unlike its spark-ignited engine counterpart, the diesel fuel
recently LES has not been widely employed in modeling injection system is characterized by fuel delivery under
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe573
extremely high injection pressures of the order of 3000 conditions found in diesel sprays (Hori et al., 2007, Jangi
bar and above. The subsequent spray evolution is strongly et al., 2015). One of the weak points of LES for spray injec-
influenced by the fuel injector characteristics (nozzle geom- tion is that coarse grids are used and thus the results are
etry, injection pressure, etc.) and ambient conditions in the very dependent on the resolution. For example, examining
combustion chamber (temperature, pressure, turbulence different grid sizes (Hori et al., 2007) showed that grids less
intensity, etc.). A brief decryption of the injection process than 0.5 mm may be required in order to capture instan-
follows (Gosman and Clerides, 1980). taneous temperature and composition fields in the case of
The process is initiated by a pump/line system, which diesel spray in constant volume vessel. Other studies showed
supplies fuel to the injectors at the required pressure and that refinement of the grids might compromise the accuracy
rate. Within the injectors, the flow is controlled and shaped of results if spray is modeled using Lagrangian–Eulerian
such that it exits from the holes in the form of individual approach.
jets, which may be two phases as a consequence of cavi-
tation within the hole. The jets then break up into droplets
and ligaments due to the fact that a high speed liquid fuel 2.4 Chemistry modeling
jet is injected into a turbulent high density gaseous environ-
ment (primary break up). These liquid formations further On the basis of the theory of chemical kinetics, the reac-
break up by aerodynamic forces and evaporation of the tion rate of elementary gas- phase reactions can be described
multicomponent fuel. Since the injected angles are relatively in Arrhenius form. However, an Arrhenius expression for a
small (10∘ –25∘ ), droplet interactions occur such as colli- single generic reaction is not able to describe the complex
sions and coalescence. Before the droplets disappear due to flame structure and two-stage ignition phenomena that are
evaporation, they may undergo further dramatic change as observed during the autoignition of diesel fuels, and thus
a consequence of the impact on the combustion chamber multistep reactions are normally required. On the other hand,
walls, which may cause a form of secondary atomization the direct integration of the chemical kinetics that resolves
and formation of liquid film. Moreover, the surrounding gas the species conversion rates by considering detailed chem-
flow is strongly affected by the momentum, heat, and mass istry increases the computational effort considerably when
exchange with the spray. a large number of species is included in the model. A
All of the above processes ideally have to be represented commercial code such as CHEMKIN is nowadays the most
in the same numerical framework, which, however, is not popular chemistry solver for the chemical kinetics prob-
the case up to date. The above phenomena occur in a wide lems for engine CFD codes. However, its performance relies
range of scales and thus it is impossible with the current heavily on its ODE (ordinary differential equations) solver.
computational capabilities to provide a robust framework Due to the nonlinear Arrhenius expression, the direct inte-
for the whole injection process from in-nozzle to preflame gration of chemical kinetics model usually involves solving
region. A wealth of research has been dedicated to simulating a very stiff system of ODEs. A complete list of reactions that
diesel-type sprays and in-nozzle phenomena for parts of the describes the chemical kinetics of even simple hydrocarbon
process (Payri et al., 2006, Tonini, Gavaises, and Theodor- fuels normally involves thousands of species and reactions.
akakos, 2008, Som et al., 2011, Turner et al., 2012). For more To solve a chemical kinetics mechanism of this size for every
info regarding earlier spray modeling in engines, the reader computational cell would make the computational time unac-
is referred to Reitz and Rutland (1995). In most of these ceptable. Thus, skeletal mechanisms (containing of the order
studies, the models used are able to reproduce with accept- of 100 species and reactions) that are derived from their
able accuracy macroscopic phenomena such as cavitation corresponding detailed mechanisms are usually employed
extent, autoignition delays, spray angles, and liftoff lengths. to save computational expense while maintaining prediction
What is harder, however, to predict is microscopic spray accuracy.
characteristics such as Sauter Mean Diameter and pollutant An additional difficulty when dealing with the combus-
concentrations associated with unburnt fuel. It should also tion chemistry of diesel combustion is that practical diesel
be noticed that because of the very high injection pressures, fuels consist of multicomponents with different classes of
the most recent efforts in modeling in-nozzle phenomena chemical structures such as paraffins, olefins, aromatics, and
focus on frameworks that account for compressibility effects. cycloalkanes, with a wide range of molecular weights. The
Most of spray models were formulated in the frame of RANS exact composition of these fuels varies based on the source,
approach (see, for example, Lehtiniemi et al., 2006, De Paola distributor, and intended region and season of use. Because
et al., 2008, Felsch et al., 2009). More recently, LES has of the limitations of computational cost to deal with a large
received increasing interest as it is believed to allow more number of components in modeling the mixture preparation
accurate prediction of the unsteady and highly stratified flow and subsequent combustion processes, most previous studies
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe573
6 General
model the ignition/combustion characteristics of diesel fuels since the filtered reaction rate is highly nonlinear function
by representing them as blends of just two pure hydrocar- of temperature and species, their closure is rather compli-
bons (primary reference fuels), that is, iso-octane (surrogate cated from mathematical standpoint. This approach is also
of iso-alkanes) and n-heptane (surrogate of n-alkanes), as known to be inaccurate for turbulent flames at least in the
a first approximation. These fuels are known as surrogate RANS context. In this section, we will examine in detail the
fuels and usually their choice is based on having a cetane different frameworks available in the literature for modeling
number (characteristic of the ignition quality) close to real ̃ for the different combustion modes (premixed or/and
𝜔(Y)
diesel fuels. For a detailed review on the recent progress nonpremixed). Focus will be given on the models used in
on the development of diesel surrogate fuels, the reader is diesel engine simulations. Their strengths and the potential
referred to Pitz and Mueller (2011). When more detailed deficiencies will be highlighted.
information about the combustion chemistry of the major We will start with one of the simplest models avail-
components of the fuels and their effects on engine emis- able in the literature specifically developed for engine
sions is required for improving engine design, more attention calculations—the Shell/CTC (characteristic time combus-
is being paid to the inclusion of more realistic (in terms of tion) model—that is not derived for a specific combustion
number of components) compositions in simulations using, mode since it is based on the assumption of thermodynamic
however, less reactions (multisurrogate chemistry) (Ra and equilibrium. The model involves two submodels: the Shell
Reitz, 2011). model (Halstead, Kirsch, and Quinn, 1977, Kong and Reitz,
It should be also noted that an important modeling param- 1993), which simulates the autoignition of hydrocarbon
eter associated with chemistry for accurate numerical simu- fuels, and the CTC model, which calculates the species
lations in engines is the ignition delay time. It is defined conversion rate and main heat release of high temperature
as the time interval between the start of injection and the reactions. Turbulence does not affect the reaction rates
start of combustion. In direct injection diesel engines, igni- and is only accounted indirectly through the calculation of
tion delay affects startability, noise, and formation of NOx . local concentrations of the involved species due to turbulent
Early direct injection diesel engines operated at relatively transport. The model’s relative simplicity and acceptable
low compression ratios and low injection pressures with accuracy, combined with high computational efficiency,
very advanced injection timings in commensurate with the have favored its use in engine optimization studies for
large ignition delay. Reduction in ignition delay held the key conventional diesel combustion (e.g., Shi and Reitz, 2008).
to solving emission and noise problems. Higher tempera- However, recent research (Singh, Reitz, and Musculus, 2006)
ture at the beginning of injection by increased compression has shown that the performance of Shell/CTC model deteri-
ratio reduces the delay period substantially. A comprehensive orates when the combustion mode of a diesel engine enters
review on ignition mechanisms and modeling can be found the region of low temperature premixed combustion. The
in Mastorakos (2009). reason is that the effect of chemistry dominates. Shell/CTC
model accounts for oversimplified chemical kinetics and is
2.5 Combustion modeling not able to predict reasonable trends of unburned hydrocar-
bons, carbon monoxide (CO), and other intermediate species
The heart of the combustion modeling problem arises from of interest. Moreover, it is based on a number of tuneable
the fact that in both LES and RANS approaches, the reaction model constants that extend its applicable range but sacrifice
rate in the species equations appears as a mean or filtered its predicative capabilities.
̃ This term can be expressed as a
quantity, that is, 𝜔(Y). In nonpremixed combustion, diffusion of oxidizer and fuel
̃ plus some fluctuations (indi-
“mean” or “filtered” part 𝜔(Y) has to occur simultaneously and the flame is located at the
cated as “Terms” in Equation 1) surface of separation of fuel and oxidant streams. If the
flows of both reactants are well simulated, it is (theoretically)
̃ = 𝜔(Y)
𝜔(Y) ̃ + Terms (1) possible to predict accurately the stoichiometric interface,
and thus, the location of the flame sheet. What is, however,
Although 𝜔(Y)̃ can be closed with Arrhenius Law as a more difficult parameter to predict is the rate at which the
̃
function of Y based on direct integration, the real challenge species (fuel and oxidizer) feed the flame and this will define
̃
is how to model the 𝜔(Y). the flame thickness, the flame intensity, and the areas prone
The most direct approach one can implement is to expand to extinction. This rate (commonly referred at scalar dissipa-
the mean/filtered chemical reaction rate in a Taylor series. tion) depends on the local gradient of the species distribution,
Although in RANS, it is straightforward, in LES context, which cannot be calculated from local mean or filtered quan-
the expansion depends on the filtering process. An addi- tities available in RANS and LES calculations and models
tional disadvantage is that these “terms” need closure and are needed. For this type of flame—since it is dependent
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe573
on how the mixing and chemical time scales compare—it diesel engine combustion. More details regarding specific
is important to use models that account for Damkholer (Da) studies with Flamelet models and CMC follow.
number close to one. If Da≪1 is assumed, the turbulence is Physically, the flamelet regime is identified as a regime
much faster than the chemistry and this regime is described that saves the integrity of the flame structure. Even the
by simplified models based on the “well-stirred reactor” smallest turbulent eddies are considered larger than the
concept, where products and reactants are rapidly mixed. flame thickness and thus do not penetrate the flame struc-
Thus, the problem is assumed to be only controlled by chem- ture. Turbulence only controls the flame at a large scale.
istry. Otherwise, if Da≫1 the problem is controlled by the In the numerical implementation of the flamelet concept,
good prediction of the mixing time scale since chemistry one or several laminar diffusion flames are computed using
is assumed to be infinitely fast. For this region, a range of a dedicated flamelet code coupled to the CFD code. This
simplified models have been introduced named as “Infinitely approach has widely been used for RANS computations
Fast Chemistry Models” such as Eddy Break-Up models of diesel combustion (Felsch et al., 2009) but remains
or Bray-Moss-Libby model. These models although have very time consuming when applied to detailed chemical
been used at the past by some groups for the modeling schemes. A solution to overcome this limitation is to use
of IC engines have the limitation that do not account for a flamelet/progress variable approach (Pierce and Moin,
phenomena controlled by chemistry. In addition, in most 2004). Its principle is to generate a priori a flamelet lookup
practical applications, Da is close to 1 and the Well-stirred table with a reduced number of input parameters (such
reactor models and infinitely fast chemistry models are not as mixture fraction/progress variable). During the compu-
adequate. Moreover, the characteristic scales of turbulent tation, the lookup table is used in the CFD code to esti-
mixing and chemistry may vary greatly within a cycle or mate the species reaction rates. In order to avoid explicit
from one engine type to another, depending on the injection dependence on a flamelet time scale, Ihme, Cha, and Pitsch
(2005) proposed the unsteady flamelet/progress variable
strategy used.
model based on unsteady flamelets. They reported a signifi-
Alternative models initially designed for nonpremixed
cant improvement of autoignition delay time in their LES as
combustion mode (but nowadays are also extended to
compared to a steady flamelet approach.
premixed mode) are flamelet-based models and moment
Most studies using flamelet models for nonpremixed
closure models (conditional moment closure (CMC)
combustion with flamelets are in RANS context and similar
(Klimenko and Bilger, 1999) and its variant multiple
studies in the LES context are very limited. In the study
mapping conditioning (MMC) Klimenko and Pope, 2003).
of Hu, Rutland, and Shethaji (2008), a general model was
Both of these models can account for finite rate chem-
developed to simulate the full range of combustion in conven-
istry effects and have been implemented in diesel engines
tional diesel type and HCCI type. The model consisted of a
modeling as we will see in the following paragraphs. These CHEMKIN submodel and an extended flamelet time-scale
models are also known as conserved scalar models since (EFTS) submodel. Specifically, CHEMKIN was used to
they rely on mixture fraction, a conserved scalar that is simulate autoignition process. In the postignition phase,
introduced as a tracer of the state of the mixture (and the combustion model was switched to EFTS. Although
thus indirectly of the flame). Mixture fraction is usually predictions were found accurate, this ad hoc approach does
taken as unity in the fuel stream and is null in the oxidizer not allow to fully exploit the predictive capability of LES
stream. On the basis of the definition of the mixture fraction, since in a way autoignition process was decoupled from
we can define the scalar dissipation of mixture fraction the following combustion process. This framework can
conditioned on the mixture fraction namely the conditional be considered as an improved version of the Shell/CTC
scalar dissipation that provides the connection between the framework described above. In a more recent study of Tillou
mixing and the combustion modeling. Both the probability et al. (2014), two similar types of combustion models are
density function (PDF) of mixture fraction and the condi- proposed based also on flamelet tabulation for nonpremixed
tional scalar dissipation are the two modeling parameters spray combustion. A first approach assumes that the SGS
that define the success of nonpremixed/conserved scalar structure of the reaction zone corresponds to a homogeneous
combustion models. Although MMC has been only tested reactor (HR), thus neglecting subgrid-scale mixing effects. A
to jet flames as independent combustion model, in a recent second approach is to account for these effects by assuming
study of Vogiatzaki et al. (2009), it has been suggested that the subgrid-scale structure to be that of a strained diffusion
it could be used also in the conditional methods framework flame. LES results indicate that autoignition predictions
to provide accurate and consistent closures for the mixture are remarkably close with all models and exhibit very few
fraction PDF and the conditional scalar dissipation paving variations from one realization to the other. Variations in
the way for creation of a CMC/MMC methodology for global heat release rate, however, become more apparent
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe573
8 General
for different realizations at later instants, in relation to the the flame front. Among these models, two are widespread:
interaction of large flow scales with combustion. the flame surface density (FSD) models and the G-equation
The development of CMC was motivated partially by the models. The general idea of the FSD model is that the volu-
need to remedy the strong assumptions of flamelet methods metric consumption rate of the unburned gases is given by the
regarding “thin” flames providing a more accurate closure for product of the flame surface and the flame propagation speed.
the nonlinear turbulent reactive source term. It was concep- However, this method has never been implemented to diesel
tually derived as a mixture fraction-based approach for engine-relevant conditions to the author’s knowledge. The
nonpremixed turbulent combustion and was initially exten- G-equation model (originally proposed by Williams 1985)
sively tested to rather simple, well-behaved flame config- on the other hand is more popular to engine research. The
urations with great success. Conditioning of the reactive flame-front position is represented by a constant value G0
species on mixture fraction leads to relatively small fluctu- of the level set function G. The value of G away from the
ations around the conditional mean and a simple first-order
front is arbitrary within some limits, but is typically chosen
closure for the chemical source can be found. Nowadays,
to be a signed distance function so that G = 0 at the front,
several research groups are working on CMC for diesel
G < 0 in the unburned mixture, and G > 0 in the burned
engine combustion, autoignition studies, flame stabilization,
gases. The surface represented by the level set function can
and pollutant formation. CMC has also been successfully
used for two-phase flows at conditions relevant for diesel be chosen to be a surface of constant temperature, reaction
engine applications such as the Sandia bomb (Borghesi et al., progress variable, or other similar quantity. The assumption
2011, Bottone et al., 2011, Bolla et al., 2014), the ETH bomb of an infinitely thin flame is not required. In this sense, the
(Wright et al., 2010), the Aachen bomb (Wright et al., 2005, G equation approach is not a model, but merely a numerical
Kim and Huh, 2002), and in diesel engines (De Paola et al., method that is suited to overcome the problem of a thin-flame
2008). resolution on a numerical grid. One modeling challenge that
In contrast to the nonpremixed regime described above, is unique to the G equation is that the flame is only repre-
in premixed mode, the reactants are considered well mixed sented by a surface. Even in the thin-reaction zones regime,
before entering the combustion chamber. Chemical reaction where the flame is broadened by turbulence, the flame struc-
can thus occur everywhere and there is the danger that the ture is not resolved and has to be modeled in the computation
flame can propagate upstream into the feeding system as of density and other quantities of interest. This is less impor-
a subsonic (deflagration regime) chemical wave. There are tant if Da ≥ 1, because the flame is entirely on the subfilter
ways to limit this by making the mixture rich or lean such scale, but becomes important otherwise. The turbulent G
that the flame is close to flammability limits and thus it equation concept has been successfully applied to combus-
cannot easily propagate. In addition, the feeding system and tion simulations for engines by Dekena and Peters (1999),
regions where the flame is not wanted are designed such Tan and Reitz (2003), and Liang and Reitz (2006).
that they impose strong heat loss to the flame in order to An additional model is PDF approach (Pope, 1985), which
quench it. In premixed combustion, although there is no in its derivation does not include any assumption for the
concern for modeling accurately, the mixing time scale of combustion mode. It has been implemented extensively to
oxidizer and fuel what is important is to predict correctly the methane target jet flames (Cao, Wang, and Pope, 2007),
propagation and diffusion scales associates with the flame
hydrogen flames (Merci et al., 2006), and realistic lab-scale
moving toward the fresh gases. Several models have been
aeroengine combustors (Jet A fuel) (Jones, Marquis, and
proposed for premixed turbulent combustion, most of which
Vogiatzaki, 2014), but only in one study to diesel engines.
are variants of the flamelet concept (see for example Hawkes
The reason is that although the PDF framework allows for
and Cant, 2000, 2001, Kim and Menon, 2000, Peters, 1992).
direct closure of the reaction rate (a considerable advan-
Other models that have been proposed include the thickened
flame model (Butler and Rourke, 1977, Colin et al., 2000) tage over other combustion models), the solution method
and the linear eddy model (Chakravarthy and Menon, 2001). commonly followed is with the use of stochastic particles that
A detailed review of all the models is out of the context of increase a lot the computational cost and affect the stability
this article and we will only focus on the ones that have been of the numerical algorithms. Moreover, the weak point of all
currently implemented on diesel engines. PDF approaches is that in the RANS context, they depend
The major group of flamelet models for premixed combus- on the mixing model. A mixing constant is used as a tuning
tion includes the ones that are based on the geometrical parameter, which for simple jet flames is assumed around 2.0
description of the flame. Instead of directly modeling, the based on many different CFD studies; however, it is not clear
mean/filtered reaction rate a separate equation is derived that how this coefficient might need to be changed under different
describes a quantity that essentially tracks the position of conditions (Pei, Hawkes, and Kook, 2013).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe573
3 CLOSING REMARKS GLOSSARY
The simulation of diesel combustion by CFD is a very chal- Combustion Combustion modelling refers to a
lenging task. It requires modeling simultaneously the tran- modelling subdivision of CFD that deals with the
sient liquid fuel injection at very high pressures and the modelling of the reaction rate term
combustion mechanisms of multicomponents fuels. All these when filtering or averaging operation
processes are happening over a wide range of scales (spatial has been considered at the species
and temporal) setting prohibitive computational require- equation.
Computational The term refers to the branch of fluid
ments for the representation of the whole process from
fluid dynamics dynamics that uses numerical
in-nozzle to exhaust combustor region. In an effort to main-
(CFD) algorithms to solve problems of the
tain the computation cost low, first the flow field computa-
dynamics of fluid flows.
tional framework has to be chosen. The bulk of the literature Diesel engine A type of engine that uses diesel fuel.
on diesel combustion is based on RANS; however, LES is Heat produced by the compression of
gaining ground mostly for their success in reproducing tran- air in the cylinder is used to ignite the
sient phenomena. Still tough a limiting factor is that the base fuel.
of many of the LES SGS models stems from RANS closures. Spray A spray is a collection of drops
Further improvements toward more sophisticated models are dispersed commonly in a gas resulting
needed. In addition, representing the complicated nature of from a dynamics process known as
spray injection from in-nozzle to preflame region is a major atomization. In the case of IC engines
task. Currently, although studies have been successful in the droplets consist mostly of diesel or
predicting isolated parts of the process such as primary atom- gasoline fuel.
ization or cavitation, very few studies provide predictions for
the whole process. In addition, the models currently used for
droplet dynamics and droplet interaction with solid surfaces ABBREVIATIONS
(combustor walls) are oversimplified and thus more research
is needed. CFD computational fluid dynamics
Even without having to worry for the spray dynamics CMC conditional moment closure
of the process (that in reality is very important), trying to CTC characteristic time combustion
provide a reasonable model for the combustion part is very DNS direct numerical simulations
hard. None of the available models can perform equally EFTS extended flamelet time scale
well over the entire range of engine conditions of interest. LES large eddy simulations
In simple models that are computationally efficient, it is ODE ordinary differential equations
necessary to tune the model constants and also do not RANS Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes
SGS subgrid scale
capture well the interaction of chemistry and turbulence.
FSD flame surface density
If a more sophisticated model is used, then the computa-
tional cost increases when combined with detailed chemical
schemes. In addition, many of the more advanced combus-
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe573
Nondestructive Testing Methods
Martyn Wright1,2
1 Lloyd’s Register, London, UK
2 Lloyd’s Register Global Technology Centre, Southampton, UK
There are several established NDT methods currently in

1 Introduction 1 industrial use. New methods are being constantly researched
2 Magnetic Particle Inspection 4 and developed, and many of the established methods have
3 Eddy Current (or Electromagnetic) Inspection 6 their effectiveness and efficiency enhanced by conversion to
electronic, computerized, or robotic operations.
4 Radiography 8
The subject of NDT has no clearly defined boundaries; it
5 Ultrasonic Testing 9 ranges from simple techniques such as visual examination
Glossary 12 of surfaces, through the well-established methods of radio-
Related Articles 13 graphy, ultrasonic testing, magnetic particle crack detection,
to new and much specialized methods.
The main methods in common use (in no particular ranking
order) are as follows:
1 INTRODUCTION
1. Visual inspection
NDT (nondestructive testing), also referred to as NDE 2. Liquid penetrant inspection
(nondestructive examination), is a family of specialized 3. Magnetic particle inspection
4. Eddy current inspection
technical inspection methods that provide information
5. Radiographic inspection
about the condition of materials and components without
6. Ultrasonic inspection.
destroying them.
NDT examines actual production pieces and reveals the
As with any operation, personnel have to be trained and
presence of flaws that can be evaluated against accept/reject
educated to be competent and effective in applying the tech-
criteria.
nology. NDT is no different, and over a number of decades,
It is one of the major tools of quality control and is
training programs, national and international standards, and
firmly entrenched in quality programs of industries such
personnel certification have firmly established requirements
as aerospace, automotive, defense, pipeline, power gener-
for governing and controlling the whole process.
ation, preventative maintenance, refinery, and the marine
We shall briefly discuss each of the above methods, and
industries.
leave the reader to carry out his/her own research into more
It is a mature technology concept within all of the above
advanced and bespoke methods.
industries, but of course, research and development continu-
ally leads to advancements within the industry.
1.1 Visual inspection
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Visual inspection is an important inspection method, and
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe157
is widely used within any industry where a quality process
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 is in place. It is relatively simple to apply, and many flaws
2 General
1.2.1 Principles
A dye penetrant consisting of a low viscosity penetrating oil
applied to the surface of a component will be drawn into open
discontinuities by capillary action. After a soak (or dwell)
time and removal of surplus penetrant from the surface, the
discontinuities may be detected as the penetrant seeps or
bleeds out onto the component surface. To aid bleed out
and provide a contrasting background, a fine white powder
developer is applied to the surface. The penetrating oil may
be colored red for the visible inspection method or it may be
fluorescent oil that becomes highly visible when irradiated
by ultraviolet light.
Penetrant testing consists of the following sequence of
operations:
Figure 1. Examples of visual inspection measuring devices. • The surface to be inspected is prepared by cleaning and
degreasing.
• Penetrant is applied to the prepared surface and a period
of time (dwell time) is allowed for entry of any disconti-
or dimensional inaccuracies can be detected with this nuity open at the surface.
method. It may or may not involve additional instruments to • The excess penetrant is removed in such a manner as to
enhance detectability. It is an important step in the inspection ensure that penetrant will remain in any discontinuities.
process—even when other NDT methods are applied. It is • A developer is applied in order to draw the penetrant from
a useful method when assessing the level of corrosion or the discontinuities and spread on the surface giving an
coating breakdown where the surface condition may not be enhanced indication of the discontinuities.
suitable for other NDT methods. • The indications are then visually examined and assessed
Simple measuring tools and other optical aids (partic- under appropriate viewing conditions.
ularly where access is restricted) can be used to great • The part is cleaned and, if necessary, a corrosion preven-
effect, enabling quality decisions to be made on an instant tative is applied.
basis—borescopes and endoscopes being particularly useful
in this regard. Many such instruments now have recording Three basic dye penetrant processes are available:
capability, which is particularly useful for long-term data
storage and ongoing monitoring. Solvent process
Remote visual inspection using autonomous vehicles such Water washable process
as undersea ROVs (remote operating vehicles) and aerial Postemulsifiable process
drones can also be classed as visual inspection tools, and
are finding an increasing usage within the inspection industry For each of these processes, the penetrant may be in the
(Figure 1). form of either a visible dye or a fluorescent dye.
The solvent process using a visible dye penetrant is the
most commonly used for site work.
The water washable process is particularly useful for the
1.2 Liquid penetrant (or dye penetrant) examination of rough and irregular surfaces such as found
inspection on welds or castings and for large areas of forgings since
the excess penetrant can be readily removed by rinsing with
Penetrant testing is a method of nondestructive examination water. The penetrant oil contains about 5% of an emulsifying
used for the detection of discontinuities that are open to the agent that makes it water soluble.
surface and may be difficult to see by visual examination. The postemulsifiable process provides the most sensitive
Penetrant techniques can be used on virtually any mate- method of penetrant testing. The dye is a fine penetrating
rial surface independent of its physical properties providing oil that requires the addition of an emulsifier after the dwell
that the surface is nonabsorbent, nonporous, and chemically time to enable excess dye to be removed by water rinse.
compatible with the penetrant process materials. Due to the critical timing of the emulsifying stage, it is
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe157
Nondestructive Testing Methods 3
usually only used in factory situations where the process • It provides a contrasting background to highlight the
can be closely controlled or even automated. The process is indication.
used for testing high integrity components particularly in the
aerospace industries. Color contrast is not required for fluorescent systems and
in some instances the developer stage is omitted. It is impor-
1.2.2 Precleaning tant to remember, however, that fine defects are made more
visible by the spreading of dye in the developer and this effect
This is one of the most important stages of the technique. is of benefit with both visible and fluorescent systems.
Solvent degreasing of the surfaces generally presents no
Developer types:
problem but removal of rust and scale often requires mechan-
ical cleaning. The careful use of a wire brush is suitable,
but grit blasting can cause the peening over of the surface Solvent based
entrances to cracks and consequently should not be used. Water based
Only light grinding should be applied if necessary. In all Dry powder
instances, the minimum possible mechanical cleaning should
be used particularly when softer materials such as aluminum A thin, even coating of developer should be applied to the
are to be tested. surface under test as soon as it is dry after removal of surplus
The cleaning of components that have been operating in penetrant.
grease or oil presents additional problems. It is doubtful
that any solvent applied over a comparatively short cleaning
period will remove oil and grease from inside cracks, where 1.2.6 Inspection
it may have accumulated during many months of operation The surface should be examined immediately the developer
at elevated temperatures. is applied. This will ensure that any area with excess bleed
out is noted before it spreads too extensively and possibly
1.2.3 Application of penetrant masks a finer discontinuity with a slower bleed out rate.
The surface is then reexamined after another predetermined
Prior to penetrant application, the surface to be inspected period.
must be completely dry. Penetrants may be applied by
brushing, swabbing, spraying, or immersion. The penetrant
is then left in contact with the component for the dwell time. 1.2.7 Viewing conditions
This period is typically between 5 and 30 min. In general, the
longer the dwell time, the finer and tighter the discontinuities For visible penetrants, the surface under inspection should be
that will be revealed. viewed with a minimum white light illumination governed
The temperature of the component will also affect the by the standard. For fluorescent penetrants, the component
validity of the test. Manufacturers variously recommend must be viewed in ultraviolet light illumination (black light).
minimum temperatures between 4 and 10∘ C. For this to be effective, several more precautions must be
Whatever maximum temperature is permitted, it is essen- observed. The viewing area must be darkened to a maximum
tial that the penetrant does not dry during the dwell time. of 20 lux background white light intensity. The ultraviolet
light must be filtered to give an inspection wavelength of
300–400 nm (m−10 ). The intensity of the surface illumination
1.2.4 Removal of surplus penetrant is governed by the standard.
Removal of penetrant can be a problem with penetrant
inspection if the correct methods and precautions are not
1.2.8 Interpretation
observed.
Visible method indications will appear red against the white
1.2.5 Application of developer developer. For the fluorescent method, they will be bright
green. Nonrelevant indications may arise from inadequate
Developer does two things as follows: penetrant removal or from penetrant trapped in surface irreg-
ularities such as weld beads. Any indication that cannot be
• It draws dye out of the defect by reverse capillary action definitely ruled out as nonrelevant should be noted and the
to form an indication. test repeated completely from the initial precleaning stage.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe157
4 General
1.2.9 Sulfur and halogen content restrictions Leakage field
With austenitic stainless steel and for titanium alloys, it is

necessary to restrict the chloride content of all the chemicals
used. Specifications should state the maximum permitted
halogen content. In the absence of a stated requirement, the
total chlorine content should be limited to 1%. Similarly, in
the absence of a specific requirement for sulfur content when
using chemicals with nickel-based alloys, a maximum value Figure 2. Magnetized material with a discontinuity causing local
of 1% sulfur is allowed. flux leakage.
1.2.10 General conclusions

Applied field direction
Indication
• If carried out correctly, by qualified personnel working
to a written procedure, penetrant testing provides an
effective method of locating discontinuities that are open
to the surface.
• Its main use is on nonferromagnetic materials.
• If the components to be tested are ferromagnetic, then
magnetic particle inspection (MPI) provides a more reli-
able and faster method of testing and is therefore to be
preferred.
1.2.11 Reference standards

International standards have been produced to govern the use
of this process. Figure 3. Accumulation of particles at the site of discontinuity.
2 MAGNETIC PARTICLE INSPECTION

reduced below the effective level, if the discontinuity is
2.1 Basic principles orientated at an angle of up to 45∘ from the optimum
direction.
MPI is used for the detection of discontinuities at or very Beyond 45∘ , the sensitivity diminishes. Thus, for the
close to the surface in ferromagnetic materials only. complete examination of any surface the material will have
These discontinuities have a different permeability to that to be magnetized in two directions at right angles in two
of the surrounding material. When the material is suitably separate operations.
magnetized, favorably orientated discontinuities distort the Magnetic particle inspection can detect cracks, nonmetallic
magnetic field causing local flux leakage (Figure 2). inclusions, and other discontinuities at, or very close to, the
By applying finely divided ferromagnetic particles in the surface of ferromagnetic materials. The sensitivity of detec-
form of a dry powder or in a liquid suspension (ink), an tion is not generally impaired by the presence of foreign
indication is formed by the particles being attracted to the matter within the discontinuities unless it has magnetic prop-
leakage field (Figure 3). erties similar to those of the surrounding material.
The visual indication produced by the particles, though Discontinuities that do not break the surface will give
often appearing to be a fine line, is in fact many times diffuse indications. The indications become rapidly more
wider than the actual discontinuity. As a result, very fine diffuse as the depth below the surface increases. Except in
fatigue cracks, even those under compressive stresses that special circumstances, magnetic particle inspection should
may be completely invisible to the unaided eye, can be not be used as a primary method for the detection of subsur-
readily detected by MPI methods. face discontinuities. Where diffuse indications of subsurface
The maximum sensitivity is achieved when the disconti- discontinuities are obtained, their depth, size, nature, and
nuity lies at right angles to the magnetic flux and the discon- extent can only be established by volumetric inspection tech-
tinuity breaks the surface. The sensitivity is not, however, niques such as ultrasonics or radiography.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe157
2.2 Methods of magnetization

Longitudinal
A magnetic field can be produced in a ferromagnetic mate- field
rial component either by magnetic induction or by passing
an electric current through the component. The electric
current can be alternating current (AC), direct current (DC),
or a form of rectified current derived from an AC supply
that is usually half wave rectified (half wave direct current
(HWDC)). Whatever method is used will leave some residual
magnetism in the component after testing that may have to be Figure 5. Encircling coil.
removed.
The majority of magnetic particle inspection is normally
carried out using what is known as the continuous method
where testing takes place during the period when the magne-
Central
tizing current is applied. The magnetic field is strongest when conductor
the magnetizing current is flowing.
It is sometimes possible, particularly with small regular
shaped components to first magnetize the component and
then test at a later time. This is known as the residual method Field
of testing and relies on the residual magnetic field remaining Defects
in the component after magnetization. Current
2.3 Magnetic induction Figure 6. Central conductor technique.
Ferromagnetic materials may be magnetized indirectly by

induction. This method does not require direct electrical electrical contact points are at the extremities of a long
contact with the component. There are several MPI tech- uniform section, then the current becomes evenly distributed
niques using induced magnetic fields, examples of which are over the surface and creates a circular field perpendicular
as follows: to the direction of the current flow. This method can be
for testing bolts, bars, shafts, and so on to locate axially
1. Magnetic yokes orientated defects.
2. Coils The technique may also be used to locally magnetize
3. Threading bar or central conductor (Figures 4–6). a region of large components or structures providing a
distorted circular magnetic field in the area to be inspected.
This is achieved by applying handheld metal contacts known
2.4 Direct contact current flow methods as prods to the area to be inspected.
When electrical current is passed through a component under

test, a magnetic field is produced in the component. If the 2.5 Prod technique
Current is passed between two contact points on the surface

under test by means of two handheld prods. Contact is made
Yoke with the prods and a switch, normally located in one of the
prod handles, is operated to pass the current. Current flows
between the contact points creating a flux in the material at
right angles to the current flow direction. The field produced
is a distorted circular field that extends over a roughly
circular area between the prod contact points. Discontinu-
Field ities at right angles to the field are most likely to be detected,
together with those up to 45∘ on either side of this plane
Figure 4. Electromagnet yoke. (Figure 7).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe157
6 General
the energized coil and then slowly withdrawn, axially, at a

Field distance of around 2 m.
For larger components, the demagnetization becomes more
difficult. DC methods have to be used for thick sections, as
the AC method will demagnetize the skin only. A reversing
Defect and reducing DC field can be applied.
indications
Current
2.8 Inspection
Figure 7. Current flow technique.
It is very important that magnetic particles are applied
correctly during testing. Ink should be applied during the
2.6 Detection media period when the magnetic field is switched on and allowed
to drain away before the magnetizing current is switched off.
Magnetic particles may be used in either wet (ink) or dry This allows indications to build up at defects as the ink flows
powder form. These consist of finely divided ferromagnetic across the area being examined. If ink is still flowing when
particles, usually iron oxide that has a higher permeability the current is removed, then indications that have formed
than iron powder. Particles with a high permeability are more may be washed away. When the ink has drained away and
easily magnetized and therefore are more responsive to small current is switched off, the indications will remain clearly
changes in magnetic flux. The particles are specially formu- visible being held in position by the weak residual magnetism
lated to provide optimum performance to weak magnetic present at the defect.
fields. Powders are a mixture of spherical- and rod-shaped Indications should be observed as they are being formed
particles that are typically 1–10 μm in size. while the magnetic field is applied.
Using the color contrast method, it is a usual practice
to coat the component in a thin white layer of specially 2.9 Viewing conditions
formulated white paint, known as contrast paint (usually to
a maximum thickness of 50 μm). The purpose of this is to For visible penetrants, the surface under inspection should be
provide a contrasting background, against which, the black viewed with a minimum white light illumination governed
magnetic particles may be viewed more easily, thus aiding by the standard. For fluorescent penetrants, the component
the detection of discontinuities. must be viewed in ultraviolet light illumination (black light).
For this to be effective, several more precautions must be
2.7 Demagnetization observed. The viewing area must be darkened to a maximum
of 20 lux background white light intensity. The ultraviolet
The majority of components that are subjected to magnetic light must be filtered to give an inspection wavelength of
particle inspection do not require demagnetization. In addi- 300–400 nm (m−10 ). The intensity of the surface illumination
tion, components that are to be stress relieved will have is governed by the standard.
any residual magnetization removed by the heat treatment
process.
Demagnetization may be required as follows: 3 EDDY CURRENT (OR
ELECTROMAGNETIC) INSPECTION
1. Where the component is operating in a lubricated system
such as an engine. If magnetized, it may attract debris 3.1 Principles
from the oil.
2. Power generation equipment. The presence of magnetic If an AC is passed through a probe coil placed near the
fields may affect the power generation characteristics of surface of any electrically conducting material, eddy currents
the equipment. are generated in the material by the changing magnetic
3. With welding processes that have a negative or positive field of the coil. The eddy currents in turn generate an
polarity. A high level of residual magnetization may opposing magnetic field that affects the electrical parameters
cause the welding arc to be deflected. of the coil.
Eddy current test equipment is designed to display changes
The simplest method of demagnetization for small compo- to the eddy current field caused by discontinuities in a mate-
nents is to use an AC coil. The component is placed in rial, as the coil is moved over the surface.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe157
Although eddy current testing is most sensitive to surface

defects in a material, there is some penetration of eddy Coil’s
Coil magnetic field
currents into the material. Penetration depth is dependent
on the material being tested and the frequency at which the
probe is driven.
Eddy current’s
magnetic field
3.2 Equipment and probes
Eddy
currents
Depending on the application, the equipment may consist of
a relatively small handheld device, ranging to larger fixed
Conductive
installation devices positioned within a production line (e.g., material
placed within a tube or pipe mill).
Surface probes can be used to scan a surface for defects.
They can be extremely compact to allow access into sharp Figure 8. Overview of eddy current formed in a conductive
changes of component section. material.
Encircling coils may be used for examination of bar,
tubing, wire, or extrusions during manufacture, where the
component is passed through the coil. 3.3.2 Weld inspection
Bobbin coils may be used to test tubing, by passing the Weld inspection using the eddy current method has become
probe through the bore along the length of the item (e.g., a reasonably common practice in recent years, used partic-
along the bore of tubes within a heat exchanger). ularly for detecting in-service (fatigue) cracks. This method
The eddy current probe is energized and monitored by also has the advantage of being able to detect through coat-
an electronic unit that can process the probe response in a ings (if they are intact, in good condition, and usually up to a
variety of ways. The most common display of eddy current maximum thickness of 2 mm). It may, however, present some
information is the impedance plane display that shows signal interpretation difficulties due to the uneven irregular surface,
amplitude and phase information. preventing reliable probe scan movement. In many cases,
Information is displayed on the screen (traditionally a metallurgical effects may give rise to spurious signals and
cathode ray tube—modern equipment uses a digital display) this is particularly pronounced in a ferritic material where
by means of a bright spot that indicates the eddy current large signals from magnetic effects and irregular surfaces can
probe coil status. interfere with the signals from defects. As always, operator
The equipment is set to zero with the coil in position on training, experience, and correct application are fundamental
a section of material of known condition and the spot is to the successful usage of the method.
positioned at the display center.
Any changes in eddy current flow as the probe is scanned
over the material will cause the spot to be deflected radially 3.3.3 Heat exchanger tube inspection
away from the zero position as the probe moves over a defect
(Figure 8). Bobbin probes are extensively used for heat exchanger
inspections to look for tube damage. In-service inspection
can be carried out on installed tubing with access only to the
open ends of the tubes at the tubesheet area. It is possible
3.3 Applications to detect many forms of tube damage such as internal and
external corrosion and cracking, tube wall denting and thin-
3.3.1 Surface crack detection ning, missing tube supports, and fretting damage.
Surface probes are used for the detection of surface cracking
in materials and components and can be scanned by hand 3.3.4 Defect detection in tube, bar, and wire
or installed in an automatic scanning mechanism. Hand
scanning is normally only used for localized inspection of Encircling coils are used for inspection of tubes, bars, wire,
restricted access areas. Mechanized scanning is necessary and other long regular shaped items during production. The
where large surface areas are to be inspected in order to probe coil is installed in an inspection head through which
ensure inspection coverage. the items are fed by a mechanized handling system.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe157
8 General
It is only possible to detect surface breaking defects in

ferritic materials by eddy currents if the material is magnet- Radiation source
ically saturated. Ferritic tube and bar inspections sometimes
employ a large DC saturating coil that surrounds the eddy
current test coils encircling the component under test.
4 RADIOGRAPHY
The concept of radiography is based on the principle that Object

radiation (usually generated from an X-ray or γ-ray source)
will be absorbed by the material through which it passes.
Variations in thickness or homogeneity will give corre-
sponding variations in the amount of radiation transmitted Object image
through the material.
To produce a radiographic image of an object, it is neces- Film
sary to have a source of radiation on one side of the object
and a recording device on the other. In conventional radiog-
raphy, X-rays or γ rays provide the source while the detector Figure 9. Overview of radiographic setup.
is usually photographic film (digital detectors are being used
increasingly, as technology advances).
Photographic emulsion will be sensitized by incident radi- 4.2 Safety
ation to create a latent image that can be processed chemi-
cally to produce a permanent black/gray shadowgraph of the All forms of ionizing radiation can be harmful to living
object. tissue, and the use of X- and γ-rays must be strictly
Radiography is a well-established and effective volumetric controlled. The intention throughout should be to keep all
inspection tool. Volumetric defects are readily detected and occupational exposures as low as reasonably practicable
the radiograph provides a permanent image record of the (ALARP). Personnel working with radiation are registered
inspection that can be assessed by all interested parties. as Classified Persons and are subject to radiation dose
The method is less suited to planar defects that are not monitoring and regular medical examinations.
aligned with the radiation beam since these may not be
visible in the image. Application of radiography is generally 4.3 Controlled areas
limited by section thickness due to the penetrating ability
of the radiation source (specialist high energy equipment Areas that can be entered and where instantaneous dose rates
such as linear accelerators (which are not readily available) exceed a specified limit (measured in sieverts or microsiev-
may be used for extremely thick sections of several hundred erts per hour) are designated controlled, and must be delin-
millimeters). eated by barriers and warning signs and be cleared of all
Generally, images produced by γ radiation are of personnel during radiography (the actual limits vary and be
marginally less quality than those produced by X-rays specific to a particular country). It is the responsibility of
(Figure 9). the personnel carrying out the work to ensure that the safety
requirements are being met.
4.1 Properties of ionizing radiation—X- and

4.4 Radiation sources
𝛄 rays
4.4.1 X-ray generators
X- and γ radiations form part of the electromagnetic spec-
trum that includes radio waves, infrared, microwaves, visible X-rays are emitted when a beam of high energy electrons
light, and ultraviolet radiation. X- and γ radiations are iden- collides with a dense metal target. A heated filament provides
tical in nature, the only difference being the process by the source of free electrons that are accelerated by a high
which they are produced. X-rays are generated when elec- voltage potential applied between cathode and anode within
trons collide with atoms, whereas γ rays are emitted when an evacuated glass tube. X-rays are emitted in all directions
unstable atoms transform into a more stable state. from a small area of the target that is called the focal spot.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe157
A small percentage of the electron energy is converted to 4.5 Film

X-rays, the remainder appears as heat, and thus the anode
must be cooled to prevent the target material, usually tung- Radiographic film consists of a clear plastic base material
sten, from melting. coated on both surfaces with a thin layer of photographic
The X-rays generated have a broad continuous spectrum, emulsion. Film is manufactured at different quality levels
the peak energy (penetrating power) being determined by largely determined by the average grain size within the emul-
the applied voltage, the intensity (quantity) of radiation sion. Generally, the larger the grain size the shorter is the
being determined by the electron current flow (tube current) exposure required (fast film), but this also leads to a reduc-
between them. tion in radiographic sensitivity because of unsharpness of the
image. The slower the film the better the image sharpness or
definition, but longer exposures are required.
4.4.2 γ-Ray sources
As an alternative to X-ray machines, γ radiation sources are 4.6 Image quality indicators
used particularly where access and portability are the main
requirements. An image quality indicator is a device placed on the
γ-Radiation is emitted from certain isotopes by the radioac- surface of the component prior to radiography. The indi-
tive decay process. cator provides a comparative measure of the definition and
The quantity, rate of decay, and the energy (penetrating contrast achieved on the radiograph. The results of the image
power) of the radiation emitted will be specific to a particular created from these indicators can be assessed against criteria
radioisotope. (usually defined in a published standard) to determine of the
resultant image is acceptable.
4.4.2.1 Penetrating ability. Each type of isotope has a Two types of indicator in common usage are the wire type
fixed energy distribution that determines its ability to pene- and the plate/hole type.
trate materials.
Of these, Iridium 192 and Cobalt 60 are the most widely
used. Ytterbium 169 is used mainly for radiography of small
4.7 Film density
diameter pipework because of its low energy spectrum and
Film density influences the contrast and hence the visibility
availability in compact source dimensions.
of defects on a radiograph. It can be assessed either by
comparison with a calibrated density strip or preferably by
4.4.2.2 Source containers. γ-Radiation is continuously
using a calibrated densitometer. Standards determine the
emitted by the isotope source and cannot be “switched off.”
limits of acceptability (Figure 11).
The gamma source is a piece of radioactive material, typi-
cally 1–3 mm diameter and 2 mm long, sealed in a stainless
steel capsule. The capsule has a short length of steel cable
attached to allow connection of remote handling equipment. 5 ULTRASONIC TESTING
It must be safely stored in a locked and shielded container
when not in use (Figure 10). 5.1 Introduction
Ultrasonic testing is a versatile inspection method widely

applied in many industries. It can be used to measure material
Locking device thickness, to detect the suitability of the bondline in bonded
metals, and to detect surface and buried (volumetric) defects
in a wide range of material shapes and sizes. Modern equip-
Flexible cable
drive mechanism ment is compact and (usually) battery powered, which means
Flexible guide
tube Isotope
it can be taken virtually anywhere that access permits.
It is not usually limited by section thickness or component
configuration as is the case with radiographic methods. The
Source method requires skill in application and in the interpretation
Shielding
connector of results, and as always, training and qualification of ultra-
sonic personnel is essential.
Modern systems (which can also be automated—e.g., in
Figure 10. Cutaway view of a γ-ray source container. pipeline inspections) can provide a permanent inspection
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe157
10 General
Figure 11. Example of a weld radiograph. (Reproduced with permission from Lloyd’s Register Group Services Limited. © Lloyd’s Register
Group Services Limited, 2016.)
record. More advanced systems, such as phased array ultra- Probe

sonic testing (PAUT) can display data in a variety of planes,
and can provide some imaging capabilities (some similarity
to medical ultrasound, although current technology does not
yet enable the same imaging capability).
Other advanced systems are known as time-of-flight
diffraction (TOFD), which use diffracted signals rather than
reflected signals.
All systems have their particular advantages and
disadvantages.
Reflector
5.2 Principles
Most ultrasonic testing is carried out by the pulse echo

technique, whereby short pulses of high frequency sound
emitted by an ultrasonic probe are directed into the mate-
rial. Reflected echoes traveling back to the probe will
be displayed as signals on the calibrated ultrasonic flaw
Display
detector, or as a numerical quantity (as in the case of thick-
ness measurements instruments). Since the sound waves are
Figure 12. A representation of ultrasound being reflected by a
assumed to travel at a known and constant velocity within defect and its subsequent signal on the flaw detector.
a material, the position of a signal on the detector will
represent the range or distance between the probe and the
reflector (Figure 12). 5.4 Velocity
5.3 Wave modes In a homogeneous material, the velocity of sound is constant

for a given wave mode, each material having a specific
Ultrasound can travel through a material in several types velocity usually expressed in meters per second. The velocity
of vibration or mode. In conventional pulse echo testing, of compression waves and shear waves will be different
the probes used will emit either longitudinal or transverse in the same material, compression wave velocities being
waves—which may also be referred to as compression or approximately double those of shear waves.
shear waves. Other modes of vibration such as surface waves,
Lamb waves, and creeping waves can be used for specific 5.5 Sound frequency
applications.
Compression (longitudinal) wave vibrations cause the The frequency of vibration of sound used in ultrasonic
material structure to vibrate in the same direction as the testing ranges from about 0.5 to 10 MHz (1 MHz being one
sound wave travels. Shear wave vibrations are transverse to million cycles per second)—far above the audible range. The
the direction of sound travel. choice of inspection frequency depends on many factors. One
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe157
main factor is the material type—ultrasound is particularly Electrical connectors

affected by the grain structure of the material. In some cases,
the grains may be large and anisotropic preventing any pene-
tration of ultrasound, thus rendering ultrasonic inspection Backing material
impossible.
Generally, lower frequency probes are used on steel cast-
ings (e.g., 1–2 MHz) and higher frequency probes (say Piezo crystals
2–5 MHz) for inspecting forgings and welds.
Plastic case
5.6 Wavelength
The relationship between frequency and velocity determines

the wavelength of the sound.
Short wavelength sound emitted by higher frequency
probes gives better resolution (of the received signal) of Acoustic barrier Perspex delay
small reflectors, but sound (or energy) losses also increase.
This reduces the penetration of sound into the material. For Figure 13. Ultrasonic compression wave probe cutout showing
essential features.
this reason, lower frequency probes that generate the more
penetrating longer wavelengths will be used on coarse grain
materials such as castings.
have a shaped hard plastic wedge to direct the sound into
5.7 Display the material at the required angle (Figure 13).
The ultrasonic flaw detector is a precision oscilloscope that

can display signals on a timebase across the screen of a
cathode ray tube (in older instruments), or digital display 5.9 Angle beam probes
(most ultrasonic instruments now consist of digital displays).
The display, usually known as the A-scan display, shows Angle beam probes have a crystal(s) that is mounted at an
rectified signals on the timebase positioned along the bottom angle on a plastic block or shoe. The compression wave
of the screen. generated in the plastic shoe is refracted at the interface
The flaw detector is calibrated so that position of signals between the probe and the component to produce a shear
along the timebase represents distance traveled by the sound wave in the component, the angle of which is governed by
in the material. The vertical height or amplitude of a signal is a phenomenon known as Snell’s law.
indicative of the amount of sound returning from a reflector Shear wave probes can be of any angle between about
in the material. 35∘ and 80∘ , but the most common angles used for the
The A-scan display has a grid that is usually divided into ultrasonic inspection of steel components are 45∘ , 60∘ , and
a series of regular intervals to allow measurement of the 70∘ . The angle is measured between the vertical to the surface
displayed signals. In most modern instruments, a digital and the center line of the probe beam. The sound emerges
quantitative measurement is also displayed. from the probe shoe at a point known as the index or exit point
that is marked on the side of the probe casing (Figure 14).
5.8 Ultrasonic probes
The ultrasonic probe is a simple device that consists of a thin

crystal which generates sound when activated by an electrical 5.10 Calibration blocks
pulse from the flaw detector. There are electrical connections
to the crystal faces and it is supported by a plastic backing Equipment checks and calibrations of range will generally
material. The crystal and backing material are enclosed in be made against an appropriate calibration block. This block
a metal or plastic case with terminals for connecting to has a set of known and certified values, as dictated by the
electrical leads from the flaw detector. Depending on the appropriate standard. The block will be made using exact
type of probe the crystal face is protected either by a thin quantities and tolerances as defined by the criteria specified
ceramic layer or a rubber diaphragm. Angle beam probes in the standard.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe157
12 General
Single crystal GLOSSARY

Absorber
Perspex Angle probe

Eddy current If an alternating current (AC) is passed
inspection through a probe coil placed near the
surface of any electrically conducting
Beam material, eddy currents are generated
angle
in the material by the changing
Refracted
shear wave magnetic field of the coil. The eddy
currents in turn generate an opposing
magnetic field, which affects the
Figure 14. Ultrasonic shear wave probe cutout showing essential electrical parameters of the coil. Eddy
features. current test equipment is designed to
display changes to the eddy current
field caused by discontinuities in a
material, as the coil is moved over the
surface. Although eddy current testing
is most sensitive to surface defects in
a material there is some penetration of
eddy currents into the material.
Penetration depth is dependent on the
material being tested and the
frequency at which the probe is
driven.
Liquid penetrant Penetrant testing is a method of
Figure 15. Illustration of ultrasound interacting with reflectors of
(or dye nondestructive examination used for
a specified dimension in order to set the sensitivity criteria.
penetrant) the detection of discontinuities, which
inspection are open to the surface, and may be
difficult to see by visual examination.
5.11 Sensitivity/reference reflectors Penetrant techniques can be used on
virtually any material surface
Inspection sensitivity is set by using the signals from known independent of its physical properties
size calibration reflectors in a calibration block as the refer- providing that the surface is
ence level against which any signals from defects found nonabsorbent, nonporous, and
during inspection can be assessed. Defect signal amplitude chemically compatible with the
in decibels (dB) above or below the reference level can thus penetrant process materials.
be specified consistently and accurately (Figure 15). Magnetic particle Magnetic particle inspection is used for
inspection the detection of discontinuities at or
very close to the surface in
5.12 Volumetric inspection of components ferromagnetic materials only. These
discontinuities have a different
Ultrasonic inspection can be used to locate possible defects permeability to that of the surrounding
such as cracks, lack of fusion, slag inclusions, porosity, material. When the material is suitably
and other types of defects that create an interface within a magnetized, favorably orientated
material. It is typical to use combinations of both compres- discontinuities distort the magnetic
sion wave and various angles of shear wave probes, applied field causing local flux leakage. By
in a specific sequence. Because of the large variety of applying finely divided ferromagnetic
thicknesses, geometry and component shapes encountered, particles in the form of a dry powder
each component type must be individually considered, and or in a liquid suspension (ink), an
a procedure document prepared for the component to be indication is formed by the particles
adequately inspected. being attracted to the leakage field.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe157
NDT NDT (nondestructive testing), also Visual inspection Visual inspection is an important
referred to as NDE (nondestructive inspection method, and is widely used
examination), is a family of within any industry where a quality
specialized technical inspection process is in place. It is relatively
methods, which provide information simple to apply, and many flaws or
about the condition of materials and dimensional inaccuracies can be
components without destroying detected with this method. It may or
them. may not involve additional
Radiographic The concept of radiography is based on instruments to enhance detectability.
inspection the principle that radiation (usually
generated from an X-ray or γ-ray
source) will be absorbed by the RELATED ARTICLES
material through which it passes.
Variations in thickness or Properties of Materials
homogeneity will give corresponding Mechanical Testing of Metals
variations in the amount of radiation Common Marine Alloys
transmitted through the material. To Composite Materials
produce a radiographic image of an Offshore Life Cycle Materials Performance
object, it is necessary to have a source Fabrication Welding Processes
of radiation on one side of the object Modes of Fracture
and a recording device on the other. Materials for Arctic Environments
Radiography has been (and still is) a Marine and Subsea External Seawater Side Corrosion
widely used method in industry for Internal Corrosion Considerations for Offshore Oil and Gas
detecting defects within a Production (Downhole and Production)
material. Introduction to Nondestructive Testing and Condition Moni-
Ultrasonic This is a versatile inspection method toring
inspection widely applied in many industries. It Ultrasound
can be used, for example, to measure Strategic Maintenance Management
material thickness, and to detect Propeller Manufacture and Tolerances
surface and buried (volumetric) Service Performance and Operational Issues
defects in a wide range of material Propeller Maintenance and Repair
shapes and sizes. Most ultrasonic Fatigue and Fracture of Ship Structures
testing is carried out by the pulse echo Inspection Strategies
technique where short pulses of high Pipe Manufacture and Fabrication
frequency sound emitted by an Offshore Pipeline Construction and Installation
ultrasonic probe are directed into the Inspection, Monitoring, Maintenance, and Repair
material. Reflected echoes traveling Systems Completion and Commissioning
back to the probe will be displayed as
signals on the calibrated ultrasonic
flaw detector, or as a numerical
quantity (as in the case of thickness
measurements instruments).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe157
Regular, Irregular Waves and the Wave Spectrum
Ian R. Young
Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
2 REGULAR AND IRREGULAR WAVES

1 Introduction 1
2 Regular and Irregular Waves 1 Noting that there appears to be a dominant wave within
3 Spectral Representation of Waves 2 typical ocean wave records, the aim is to use this to represent
4 Conclusions 9 the wave field by a single representative value (or variety of
values). The basic theory to be adopted for the distribution
Glossary 9
of wave heights in any record was originally developed by
Related Articles 9 Rice (1954). It is assumed that the water-surface elevation is
References 9 narrow banded. That is, the energy is confined to a relatively
narrow range of frequencies. For such a case, it can be shown
that the probability density function for wave heights follows
a Rayleigh distribution.
1 INTRODUCTION
H −(H 2 ∕8𝜎 2 )
p(H) = e (1)
Fundamental to any ocean engineering or physical oceanog- 4𝜎 2
raphy consideration is how one describes apparently random
where 𝜎 2 is the variance of the record. Equation 1 must
waves on the water surface. The casual observer will note that
satisfy the requirement that ∫ p(H)dH = 1.
successive waves vary in height, period, and even direction.
Longuet-Higgins (1952) derived relationships between a
Despite this, however, the same observer will generally be
number of characteristic wave heights based on Equation 1.
able to identify clear dominate values for each of these prop-
The mean and root-mean-square (rms) wave heights are,
erties. Thus, in any wave record there does appear to be domi-
respectively
nant wave properties. As a result of this feature, a number
of possibilities exist for the representation of ocean waves, ∞
√
depending on the required sophistication. Three approaches H= Hp(H)dH = 2𝜋𝜎 2 (2)
are commonly adopted: approximation of the wave field by ∫
0
a single sinusoidal component with a given height, period, ∞
and direction (regular waves); the use of a limited number 2
Hrms = H2 = H 2 p(H)dH = 8𝜎 2 (3)
of harmonics of this primary wave to approximate nonsi- ∫
0
nusoidal properties (irregular waves); or the representation
of the water surface by an infinite summation of Fourier The average height of all waves greater than Ĥ, written as
components (wave spectrum). Each of these approaches is ̂ is given by
H(H),
considered below.
∞
2
Encyclopedia of Maritime and Offshore Engineering, online © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. H 2 e−(H∕Hrms ) dH
∫Ĥ
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe078
̂ =
H(H) (4)
∞
2
He−(H∕Hrms ) dH
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 ∫Ĥ
2 General
Table 1. Representative wave heights calculated from the From linear wave theory, the average energy of the wave
Rayleigh distribution. profile can be represented as
N H1/N /𝜎 H1∕N ∕H H1/N /Hrms Comments
𝜌w g ∑ 2
N
100 6.67 2.66 2.36 — E= H (6)
50 6.24 2.49 2.21 — 8 i=1 i
20 5.62 2.24 1.99 —
10 5.09 2.03 1.80 Highest 1/10 wave or
1 ∑ 2
N
5 4.50 1.80 1.59 — E
3 4.00 1.60 1.42 Significant wave = a = 𝜎2 (7)
2 3.55 1.42 1.26 — 𝜌w g 2N i=1 i
1 2.51 1.00 0.87 Mean wave
where 𝜌w is the density of water and 𝜎 2 the variance of the
Created by the author using data from Goda (1985) and Young (1999).
record.
Rather than wishing to know the average height of all Therefore, the amplitude components, a2i , are related to the
waves greater than a particular value, it is more common energy of the record, the distribution of which as a function
to consider the average height of the highest 1/N waves. of frequency could be represented by plotting a2i versus
This can be calculated from the Rayleigh distribution by frequency. This amplitude spectrum is discrete, represented
determining the wave height, which has a probability of only at the frequencies 𝜔i of the summation 5. In the limit as
exceedance given by 1/N. A full analysis is given by Goda N → ∞, the amplitude spectrum can be transformed into the
(1985). Typical results for various values of N appear in continuous spectrum, F(f), where
Table 1 (Young, 1999).
a2i
The significant wave height, Hs , is defined in Table 1 as F(f )Δf = (8)
H1/3 , the average of the highest 1/3 of the waves. The term 2
significant wave height is historical as this value appeared The spectrum, F(f), is called the frequency or omnidirec-
to correlate well with visual estimates of wave height tional, as no direction is associated with the spectrum or
from experienced observers. The significant wave height is variance (as the area under the spectrum is the variance 𝜎 2
commonly used in many engineering design considerations the record) spectrum.
as a representative wave to approximate the otherwise
random wave field. This approach then represents the wave ∞
field as a representative regular wave height. This can be 𝜎 = 2

F(f )df (9)
chosen as Hs or any other appropriate representative value. ∫
0
For instance, in engineering applications where large waves
are important (e.g., defining the deck elevation of an offshore From Table 1, the significant wave height, Hs = 4𝜎, and
structure), H1/10 might commonly be used. hence can be determined as four times the square root of the
area beneath the spectrum.
The use of the variance spectrum has the advantage that
3 SPECTRAL REPRESENTATION OF
complex water surface elevation records can be considered,
WAVES while retaining the compelling simplicity of linear wave
theory.
In many areas of physics, it is common to represent complex
A further extension of the Fourier model is to also include
records such as those typical of ocean waves by the use
the possibility of wave components propagating in different
of a spectral or Fourier model. Under this approximation,
directions. In this case, the directional spectrum, F(f, 𝜃), can
the water surface elevation, 𝜂, is approximated by the linear
be defined, where 𝜃 is the propagation direction, where
superposition of sinusoidal forms as
2𝜋 ∞
∑
N
𝜂(t) = ai sin(𝜔i t + 𝜙i ) (5) 𝜎2 = F(f , 𝜃)df d𝜃 (10)
∫ ∫
i=1 0 0
where ai , 𝜔i = 2𝜋fi , and 𝜙i are the amplitude, frequency,

and phase of the ith component in the summation and fi is 3.1 The one-dimensional spectral form
the frequency (inverse period) of the component. Each of
the sinusoidal components in the summation 5 will satisfy Observations of fetch-limited waves reveal that the spec-
all the properties of linear wave theory. trum generally conforms to a consistent shape with a
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe078
Regular, Irregular Waves and the Wave Spectrum 3
clear peak and a high-frequency face that decays as f− n . 1976; Mitsuyasu et al., 1980) did not explicitly develop a
This reproducible form is believed to be a result of the self-consistent set of relationships. This was addressed by
shape-stabilizing effects of nonlinear interactions within Lewis and Allos (1990) who reanalyzed the available data
the spectrum (Young and Van Vledder, 1993). On the basis sets to develop a self-consistent set of relationships.
of dimensional arguments, two different forms for the
high-frequency tail of the spectrum have been proposed: f− 5 𝜀 = 7.13 × 10−5 𝜈 −3.03 (13)
(Phillips, 1958) and f− 4 (Toba, 1973).
3.2 The JONSWAP form—f− 5 𝜒 = 44.4𝜈 −3.03 (14)
On the basis of the high-frequency formulation of Phillips

(1958), the JONSWAP experiment (Hasselmann et al., 1973) 𝛼 = 0.032𝜈 0.67 (15)
found that the frequency spectrum of fetch-limited waves
could be represented by the form
[ ]
𝛾 = 5.87𝜈 0.86 (16)
[ ( )−4 ] exp −(f −fp )
2
5 f 2 2
F(f ) = 𝛼g2 (2π)−4 f −5 exp − 𝛾
2𝜎c fp
(11)
4 fp 𝜎a = 0.054𝜈 −0.32 (17)
⏟⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏟⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏞⏟
Pierson-Moskowitz spectrum
where { 𝜎b = 0.078𝜈 −0.16 (18)

𝜎a for f ≤ fp
𝜎c = (12) The data upon which these relationships are developed are
𝜎b for f > fp
shown in Figures 1–5. The functional dependence for the
Equation 11 contains five parameters that define the spec- shape parameters 𝛾, 𝜎 a , and 𝜎 b is poor and largely included
tral shape. The parameters fp and 𝛼 are the scale parameters; in this form to ensure a self-consistent set of relationships.
fp represents the frequency at the maximum of the spectrum Equations 13–18 do, however, provide a closed-form set of
and 𝛼 corresponds to the Phillips proportionality “constant” equations, which can completely define the spectrum for
(Phillips, 1958). The remaining three parameters define the fetch-limited conditions
shape of the spectrum: 𝛾, the peak enhancement factor, is the
−4
ratio of the maximum spectral energy to the maximum of the 3.3 The Toba form, f
corresponding Pierson and Moskowitz (1964) spectrum with
the same value of 𝛼, and 𝜎 a and 𝜎 b define the left and right As indicated above Toba (1973), based on theoretical
side widths, respectively, of the spectral-peak region. The arguments developed by Zakharov and Filonenko (1966),
first term of Equation 11, the Pierson–Moskowitz spectrum, proposed an alternative high-frequency form to that of
corresponds to the conditions of full-wave development, with Phillips (1958), upon which the JONSWAP spectrum is
the second term modifying the shape to make it more peaked based. His proposed form was proportional to f− 4 rather
while the waves are still young. This enhancement is only than f− 5 . Subsequent field results supporting this form
significant for f ≈ fp . At large f/fp , the spectrum reverts to an have been presented by Kawai, Okada, and Toba (1977),
f− 5 decay as proposed by Phillips (1958). Mitsuyasu et al. (1980), Kahma (1981), Forristall (1981),
Specification of the five spectral parameters in Equation 11 and Donelan, Hamilton, and Hui (1985). This form has also
completely defines the spectrum. Hasselmann et al. (1973) been supported on theoretical grounds by Kitaigorodskii
attempted to define these parameters in terms of the (1983) and Phillips (1985).
nondimensional variables 𝜒 = gx∕U10 2
, 𝜈 = fp U10 /g, and On the basis of this high-frequency relationship, Donelan,
𝜀 = g 𝜎 ∕U10 , where x is the fetch over which the wind
2 2 4
Hamilton, and Hui (1985) proposed a modification to the
blows. That is, the JONSWAP spectrum could be fully JONSWAP spectral form
defined for the case of fetch-limited growth. Specification of
[ ]
the five parameters in addition to the total energy 𝜎 2 overde- [ ( ) ] −(f −fp )
2
−4 exp
fines the problem as 𝜎 2 is related to the spectrum through F(f ) = 𝛽g2 (2π)−4 fp−1 f −4 exp −
f
𝛾d
2
2𝜎c fp2
the integral in Equation 9. The original JONSWAP study fp

and subsequent fetch limited studies (Hasselmann et al., (19)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe078
4 General
10−1
JONSWAP
Liu (1971)
10−2
Mitsuyasu (1968)
Pierson and Stacy (1973)
Sutherland (1967)
Toba (1971)
10−3 −1
10 100 101
ν = fp U10 /g
Figure 1. JONSWAP data showing the relationship between 𝛼 and nondimensional frequency, 𝜈. Also shown is the power law relationship
15 of Lewis and Allos (1990). (Created by the author using data from Hasselmann et al. (1973) and Lewis and Allos (1990).)
101
γ
100 −1
10 100
ν = fp U10 /g
Figure 2. JONSWAP data showing the relationship between 𝛾 and nondimensional frequency, 𝜈. Also shown is the power law relationship
16 of Lewis and Allos (1990). (Created by the author using data from Hasselmann et al. (1973) and Lewis and Allos (1990).)
Note that the notations 𝛽 and 𝛾 d have been used to The data set of Donelan, Hamilton, and Hui (1985) spans a
distinguish these parameters from their JONSWAP counter- wide range of 𝜈 and shows consistent trends in all spectral
parts, 𝛼 and 𝛾. At first appearances, the differences between parameters with little scatter. As examples, the Donelan,
Equations 11 and 19 may appear insignificant for engineering Hamilton, and Hui (1985) data for 𝛽 and 𝛾 are shown in
applications as it is only the high-frequency portion of the Figures 6 and 7, respectively.
spectrum that is altered. However, for applications such as Donelan, Hamilton, and Hui (1985) represented the param-
floating structures, this can be important. eters as
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe078
100 generally higher than those obtained with Equation 11. In

particular, a value of 1.7 occurs at the Pierson–Moskowitz
limit.
10−1
σa
3.4 Directional spreading
The directional frequency spectrum, F(f, 𝜃), as defined

by Equation 10, is commonly represented in terms of the
10−2 one-dimensional spectrum, F(f), as (Longuet-Higgins et al.,
(a) 10−1 100 1963)
100 F(f , 𝜃) = F(f )D(f , 𝜃) (24)
The directional spreading function, D(f, 𝜃), must satisfy the

condition
10−1 D(f , 𝜃)d𝜃 = 1 (25)
σb
On the basis of the field data, analytical forms for D(f, 𝜃)

have been proposed by Mitsuyasu et al. (1975), Hassel-
10−2 −1 mann, Dunckel, and Ewing (1980) and Donelan, Hamilton,
10 100
(b) ν = fp U10 /g and Hui (1985). Mitsuyasu et al. (1975) considered data
collected with a cloverleaf buoy, which measures six quanti-
Figure 3. JONSWAP data showing relationships between 𝜎 a (a) ties related to the surface wave field. Their analysis procedure
and nondimensional frequency, 𝜈 and 𝜎 b and 𝜈 (b). Also shown are considered only the surface acceleration and slope informa-
the power law relationships 17 and 18 of Lewis and Allos (1990). tion, reducing the data to that which would be collected
(Created by the author using data from Hasselmann et al. (1973)
with a pitch/roll buoy (i.e., three quantities). Following
and Lewis and Allos (1990).)
Longuet-Higgins et al. (1963), they represented D(f, 𝜃) in the
form {| }
𝜃 − 𝜃m (f )||
D(f , 𝜃) = Q(s)cos2s | (26)
𝜀 = 6.365 × 10−6 𝜈 −3.3 (20) 2
where Q(s) is a normalization factor required to satisfy

𝛽 = 0.0165𝜈 0.55 (21) Equation 25 and 𝜃 m is the mean wave direction at frequency
f. On the basis of their data, Mitsuyasu et al. (1975) parame-
{ terized s as
6.489 + 6 log 𝜈; 𝜈 ≥ 0.159
𝛾d = (22) ⎧ ( f )5
1.7; 𝜈 < 0.159 ⎪sp f for f < fp
s = ⎨ ( p )−2.5 (27)
⎪sp f for f ≥ fp
𝜎c = 0.08 + 1.29 × 10−3 𝜈 −3 (23) ⎩ fp
Equations 20–23 are shown in Figure 8. The differences where sp is the value of s at the frequency of the spectral peak
between this formulation and those based on Equation 11 frequency, fp , given by
are now clear. As a result of forcing the high-frequency ( )−2.5
components to conform to an f− 5 form, the resulting 𝛼 U10
sp = 11.5 (28)
is significantly greater than 𝛽. The Donelan, Hamilton, Cp
and Hui (1985) values for 𝜎 c are similar to JONSWAP
for larger values of 𝜈. As the spectrum approaches the Cp = g/𝜔p is the deep-water phase speed of components
Pierson–Moskowitz limit, however, 𝜎 c increases very at the spectral peak and U10 the wind speed at a reference
rapidly. This results in a rapid broadening in the spectral height of 10 m.
shape as full development is reached. As a result of the Hasselmann, Dunckel, and Ewing (1980) considered
relatively low values of 𝛽, the resulting values of 𝛾 d are pitch/roll buoy data, also representing their data in the form
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe078
6 General
10−2
JONSWAP
Burling (1959)
Dobson, Perrie, and Toulany (1989)
10−3 Donelan, Hamilton, and Hui (1985) [field]
Mitsuyasu (1968)
Donelan, Hamilton, and Hui (1985) [lab]
JONSWAP
10−4 Donelan, Hamilton, and Hui (1985)

ε = g 2σ 2/U 410
10−5
10−6
10−7
10−8 −2
10 100 102 104 106
χ= gx/U 210
Figure 4. A composite of data from a variety of studies showing the development of the nondimensional energy, 𝜀, as a function of
nondimensional fetch, 𝜒. The original JONSWAP study used the data marked, JONSWAP, together with that of Burling (1959) and
Mitsuyasu (1968). Also shown are a number of growth curves obtained from the various data sets (Young, 1999). (Created by the author
using data from Hasselmann et al. (1973), Burling (1959), Mitsuyasu (1968), and Lewis and Allos (1990).)
of Equation 26, but with a different parameterization for s represented by Equation 26 did not adequately represent their
data and adopted the alternative form
⎧ ( )4.06
f
⎪6.97 fp for f < 1.05fp
s=⎨ ( )𝜇 (29) D(f , 𝜃) = 0.5𝛽 sech2 𝛽[𝜃 − 𝜃m (f )] (31)
f
⎪9.77 f for f ≥ 1.05fp
⎩ p
They found that 𝛽 varied as a function of nondimen-
where 𝜇 has a weak dependence on wave age sional frequency, f/fp . Their data, however, extended only
to f/fp = 1.6, and beyond this point they assumed that 𝛽
( )
U10 was constant. Banner (1990) reviewed this conclusion in
𝜇 = −2.33 − 1.45 − 1.17 (30)
Cp the context of high-frequency stereo-photography data and
concluded that the assumption that 𝛽 = constant for f/fp > 1.6
On the basis of the data from an array of 14 wave gauges, was unreasonable. He proposed a formulation for 𝛽 beyond
Donelan, Hamilton, and Hui (1985) found that the form 1.6fp , which is combined with the Donelan, Hamilton, and
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe078
101 JONSWAP
Donelan, Hamilton, and Hui (1985)
JONSWAP
Burling (1959)
ν = fpU10 /g
Donelan, Hamilton, and Hui (1985) [field]
100 Kitaigorodskii and Strekalov (1962)
Liu (1971)
Pierson (1960)
Pierson and Moskowitz (1964)
Volkov (1968)
Mitsuyasu (1968)
Donelan, Hamilton, and Hui (1985) [lab]
Hidy and Plate (1966)
Kononkova et al. (1970)
10−1
10−4 10−2 100 102 104 106
χ= g x/U 210
Figure 5. A composite of data from a variety of studies showing the development of the nondimensional peak frequency, 𝜈, as a function
of nondimensional fetch, 𝜒. The original JONSWAP study used the data marked, JONSWAP, together with that of Burling (1959) and
Mitsuyasu (1968). Also shown are a number of growth curves obtained from the various data sets (Young, 1999). (Created by the author
using data from Hasselmann et al. (1973), Burling (1959), Mitsuyasu (1968), and Lewis and Allos (1990).)
Field
Laboratory
10−1
β
10−2
10−3
10−1 100 101
ν = fp U10 /g
Figure 6. The data of Donelan, Hamilton, and Hui (1985) showing the dependence of 𝛽 on 𝜈. The solid line is Equation 21. (Created by
the author using data from Donelan (1985).)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe078
8 General
101
γd
Field
Laboratory
100
10−1 100 101
ν = fp U10 /g
Figure 7. The data of Donelan, Hamilton, and Hui (1985) showing the dependence of 𝛾 d on 𝜈. The solid line is Equation 22. (Created by
the author using data from Donelan (1985).)
10−2 10−1
10−4 10−2
β
ε
10−6 10−3
10−1 100 101 10−1 100 101
101 100
10−1
γd
100 10−2
10−1 100 101 10−1 100 101
ν ν
Figure 8. The dependence of the parameters for the Donelan, Hamilton, and Hui (1985) spectral representation, Equation 19. The
relationships shown are defined by Equations 20–23. (Created by the author using data from Donelan (1985).)
Hui (1985) parameterizations for f < 1.6fp as Using a dataset covering a broader parameter range than
these well-known formulations, Babanin and Soloview
⎧ ( )1.3 (1998) proposed an alternative formulation in terms of the
f
⎪2.61 f for 0.56 < f ∕fp < 0.95
⎪ ( p )−1.3 parameter A, the inverse of integral 25.
𝛽 = ⎨2.28 f for 0.95 < f ∕fp < 1.6
⎪ fp
⎪10{−0.4+0.84 exp[−0.57 ln((f ∕fp )2 )]} ( ) ( )
f ∕fp > 1.6 U10 −0.50 f −0.95
⎩ A = 1.12 + (2π)−1 for f ≥ 0.95fp
(32) Cp fp
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe078
( )exp(1.39−U10 ∕Cp ) REFERENCES

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(33) Babanin, A.V. and Soloview, Y.P. (1998) Variability of directional
( ) spectra of wind-generated waves, studied by means of wave staff
U10 −0.50 arrays. Marine and Freshwater Research, 49, 89–101.
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Cp Banner, M.L. (1990) Equilibrium spectra of wind waves. Journal of
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for many decades to come. D.E., Enke, K., Ewing, J.A., Gienapp, H., Hasselmann, D.E.,
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Spectrum The distribution of energy as a function
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MetOcean Parameters and Processes Kitaigorodskii, S.A. and Strekalov, S.S. (1962) Contribution to an
analysis of the spectra of wind-caused wave action. Izvestiya
Akademii Nauk SSSR Geophysics, 9, 1221–1228.
Frequency-Direction Spectra of Wind-Generated Gravity
Kononkova, G.E., Nikitina, E.A., Poborchaya, L.V., and Speran-
Waves
skaya, A.A. (1970) On the spectra of wind driven waves at small
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Finite-Depth and Shallow Water Waves Royal Aircraft Establishment, No. 1634)
Spectral Wave Modeling Lewis, A.W. and Allos, R.N. (1990) JONSWAP’s parameters: sorting
Offshore Rig Design out inconsistencies. Ocean Engineering, 17, 409–415.
Naval Architecture Liu, P.C. (1971) Normalized and equilibrium spectra of wind waves
Wave Energy Converters in Lake Michigan. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 1, 249.
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waves. Journal of Marine Research, 11 (3), 245–265. fully developed wind seas based on the similarity theory of S.A.
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Observations of the Directional Spectrum of Sea Waves Using the Pierson, W.J. and Stacey, R.A. (1973) On the elevation, slope and
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Mechanics, 156, 505–531.
Zakharov, V.E. and Filonenko, N.N. (1966) The energy spectrum for
Pierson, W.J. (ed.) (1960) The directional spectrum of a
stochastic oscillation of a fluid’s surface. Doklady Academii Nauk
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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe078
Ice Loading on Propulsion
Samuli Hänninen and Torsten Heideman
ABB Oy Marine, Helsinki, Finland
of ships and the highest level correspondingly the smallest

1 Introduction 1 number of ships.
2 Propulsion Ice Loading Scenarios 2 The first hierarchy level is represented by ice going ships.
3 Thruster Ice Load Models 4 In practice, all ships made of steel or another metal, such
4 Ice Class Rules 4 as aluminum, belong to this category. As opposed to ships
made of wood or composite material, steel vessels are able to
5 Full-Scale Experiments 8
penetrate new, very thin ice without damaging the hull, with
6 Model Test Measurements 11 the exception of damage to the paint. Wood or composite
7 Conclusions 12 vessels will be damaged by the slicing action of the very
Glossary 12 sharp thin pieces of ice.
Related Articles 12 The second level, the ice-strengthened ships, is char-
References 12 acterized by different levels of ice strengthening defined
by the classification societies. There is a common under-
standing that ice-strengthened ships in general are escorted
by icebreakers; this is the case in the Baltic, the St Lawrence
Seaway, the far East, and along the Northern Sea Route
1 INTRODUCTION
(=North East Passage) but not in the Canadian and US
Ship propellers are generally designed to sustain the Arctic where independent operation regardless of ice class
hydrodynamic loads that arise from the operation of is anticipated. Ice-strengthened ships generally have hull
the vessel. The scantlings of the propeller are generally forms and propulsion suited for efficient operation in open
governed by fatigue loading criteria. water. In ice, they are expected to be able to follow the
A vessel operating in ice-covered waters experiences ice icebreakers in the channel. The maritime authorities offer
loads on the propeller in addition to the hydrodynamic loads. ice charts and way points, and when the ice conditions are
Depending on the ice class and the operating scenarios of light, ice-strengthened vessels can proceed alone without
the vessel, the ice loads gradually start to govern the strength icebreaker assistance upon the discretion of the captain
design of the propeller. relying on the knowledge that they will get assistance if they
Ice going ship can be divided into the different categories. become stuck in ice. The maritime authorities also regulate
The subdivision presented here reflects the opinion of major the traffic by limitations taking the prevailing ice conditions
Arctic ship operators and classification societies. Ice going into account. When the ice conditions get worse, vessels
ships can generally be divided into five categories or hier- with low ice classes are denied icebreaker assistance, and
archy levels. The lowest level contains the largest number the traffic is managed with vessels better suited for the ice
conditions.
The third hierarchy level consists of icebreaking ships.
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. They are ships that mainly operate without icebreaker
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe013
assistance. Their hull forms and propulsion are biased
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 toward good icebreaking capability. In light and medium
2 Marine
ice conditions, icebreaking ships operate without instant Finland. The main idea behind the milling theory is that
icebreaker assistance but not outside the reach of assistance, the observed additional torque on the propeller shaft during
and in difficult ice conditions, icebreaking ships also rely on propeller–ice interaction is caused by the leading edge of
icebreakers. the propeller crushing and shearing its way through the ice.
The fourth level is the independent icebreaking ships. Ships The Russian scientists identified the ice loads that bent the
belonging to this category are designed to be able to operate blade and acted on the propeller shaft, and they were able to
in a defined area independently without the assistance of ice- formulate requirements that essentially solved the problems.
breakers. Their hull forms and propulsion are optimized for At the same time, the idea of the strength pyramid was
icebreaking. Some independent icebreaking ships have bow launched. The idea is that in the case of an excessive ice load
forms designed for ramming through the ice while others, on the propeller, the blade shall break before the propeller
such as Double Acting Ships have sterns optimized for slow shaft is damaged, and the shaft may yield before the ship
speed stern first icebreaking. These vessels generally have structure is damaged.
state-of-the-art ice surveillance equipment onboard, and one In the beginning, the icegoing vessels were driven by
essential part of the operation is route optimization in order to steam engines connected to fixed-pitch propellers. Running
be able to circumnavigate areas with difficult ice conditions. astern was accomplished by reversing the steam engine. In
The icebreakers belong to the fifth or the highest hierarchy cargo vessels, the slow speed diesels replaced the steam
level. Ships belonging to this group are expected to assist or engines after WWII, and they also run astern by reversing
otherwise serve other vessels or structures. Icebreakers are the diesel. In icebreakers, the advent of the medium speed
designed to cope with all ice conditions up to certain, prede- diesels engines made the diesel-electric propulsion possible.
fined, level. All icebreakers are not expected to cope with the For running astern, the electrical propulsion motors are
worst ice conditions; there are several classes of icebreakers, easily and quickly reversed. A vast majority of the world’s
and they are designed for ice conditions of varying severities. icebreakers are today turbo- or diesel electric.
Within their area of operation, either spatial or time-related or However, in cargo vessels, the medium speed diesels
both, icebreakers must be able to ram and split large ice floes connected to controllable pitch propellers (CPPs or CP
when acting as ice management vessels or penetrate ridges propellers) became a very popular and efficient propulsion
that sometimes are grounded when assisting ships. solution. The CP propellers are necessary since the medium
Recent development in arctic offshore has brought a speed diesels have a quite narrow power band and they
number of ice-strengthened OSVs to the market. Many of cannot be reversed. Vessels run astern by changing the pitch
these vessels follow the abovementioned division, but the ice to reverse.
management (IM) vessels form a separate group. Sometimes, Eventually, CP propellers also found their way into
IM vessels are operated very aggressively; they are used to icebreakers, mainly industry icebreakers working in the
ram and split multiyear ice floes in protection of offshore Beaufort Sea around 1980. In order to control and limit
operations. These vessels often have high icebreaker class ice loads on the blades and the pitch mechanism in the
notations. propellerhub, the vessels were often fitted with nozzles.
One advantage of the CP propeller is its capability of fast
reversal time from ahead to astern and vice versa. The fast
2 PROPULSION ICE LOADING reversal time is achieved by fitting high capacity hydraulic
SCENARIOS pumps to the pitch reversal system.
Flywheels were also fitted to CP propeller icebreakers in
2.1 Propellers in ice order to smooth out torsional transient ice loads on the shaft
line. The flywheels were fitted either to the slow side, the
When ice navigation started back around 1880, the propellers propeller side from the reduction gear, or to the fast side,
were strengthened the same way as the hulls of the vessels, the diesels side from the gear. A flywheel on the slow side
just by simply adding some percentage to the standard needs to be bigger, but it protects the reduction gear from ice
scantlings, based on experience. However, problems with loads. Stronger clutches are required for start up. A flywheel
broken blades and bent or broken propeller shafts mainly on the fast side is smaller, but it adds to the ice loads on the
in the Russian Arctic prompted a more scientific approach reduction gear.
to the issue of ice strengthening of the propulsion system.
Between 1950 and 1960, several Russian scientists, Jagodkin 2.2 Background of double acting principle
V. Ya. and Ignatiev M. A., being the most prominent, studied
propeller–ice interaction and came up with the ice milling The merits of bow propellers have been known since the
theory, a theory that later was refined by Soininen H. from beginning of icebreaker history. In the 1880s, icebreaking
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe013
Ice Loading on Propulsion 3
railway ferries with bow propellers operated across the in an area where there is ice part of the year and the rest is ice
Mackinaw Straits in Lake Michigan. They were utilized free. During the winter season, the vessel is able to perform
as examples when the first European icebreakers with bow stand-by duties stern first.
propeller were designed.
Captains with experience from ice navigation also know 2.6 Moderate ice conditions
that most ships with traditional hull form perform better
running astern in ice conditions than ahead. This is mainly In this case, the ship is fitted with an ice breaking bow that
attributed to the flushing effect on the hull by the slipstream is a reasonable compromise among icebreaking, sea-keeping,
of the propeller. A big part of the ice resistance comprises of and open water requirements. In ice, the vessel proceeds bow
frictional resistance when the ice slides along the hull of the first until the speed drops so low that it is more beneficial
ship. The propeller wash effectively flushes the pieces of ice to turn around and proceed stern first at low speed. In this
away and reduces the frictional resistance. Subsequent tests case, the great gain comes from the fact that in ridge fields or
with Baltic icebreakers have shown that the more power is thick ice the vessel is able to run astern at low speed with an
directed to the bow propellers the more the ice resistance is installed power that is much less than what would have been
reduced and that the optimum would be to have all power on required if the ship was to ram bow first at the same average
the bow propellers. speed of advance.
However, conventional ships are difficult to run astern since
their maneuverability is poor. In ice, it is a common proce- 2.7 Difficult ice conditions
dure to keep the rudder straight in order not to damage it.
The development of the Azipod concept made it possible to This is generally the case with icebreakers. Now the bow is
realize the big ice resistance reduction potential for the first designed for ramming thick ice at high speed. In case multi-
time. The Azipod concept is steerable running astern, and year ice is present, vessels can always proceed bow first.
it has all power in the end running first. The flushing effect Stern first operation is possible in first year ice conditions at
is maximized, and the ice resistance is dramatically reduced. low speed. The greatest DA gains come from better perfor-
Furthermore, the pulling Azipod showed great ridge destruc- mance astern in ridges and compressive ice and, above all,
tion capability when it physically milled the ice with the far better maneuverability and efficiency during assistance
propeller when slowly running astern through ridge fields. of other ships.
2.3 The double-acting concept 2.8 DA operation
The outstanding ice breaking capability of a vessel equipped The superior icebreaking performance of a DAS comes from
with pulling Azipods when slowly running astern made it mainly two facts; in level ice, it is the flushing action of
possible to design a vessel so that it breaks ice stern first the propeller wash, and in ridges, there is the additional
at low speed while the bow can be optimized for another ridge destruction by milling. Both mechanisms need time to
condition. The idea of optimizing the bow and the stem work, which means that vessel speed has to be low enough.
for different conditions is called the double-acting (DA) Ramming stern first is completely out of question. In general,
concept. The ship is called a double-acting ship or DAS. This a DA vessel is supposed to proceed bow first until it almost
other condition that the bow is optimized for can be open stops and then turn around and continue stern first. When the
water. ice conditions change to lighter, the vessel should turn around
again. After some time, the crew learns how to operate in the
most efficient way.
2.4 Open water In Figure 1, there is a schematic presentation of two ships
with different bow forms but similar stern form. The one with
In this case, the bow is generally fitted with a bulb to reduce a bow optimized for open water should turn around when the
resistance in open water. Such a DAS is normally suited for ice thickness exceeds 0.2 m, while the other one, optimized
trades with relatively short legs in ice and long legs in open for icebreaking, should run bow first up to 1.3 m thick ice and
water. then turn.
2.5 Rough sea 2.9 Thruster ice-loading scenarios
In this case, the bow is optimized for sea keeping in waves. A Thrusters experience different loading scenarios depending
typical example of such a DAS is an offshore stand-by vessel on the vessel type, characteristics, and mode of operation.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe013
4 Marine
Example of a speed versus level ice thickness curve

20 Stern first
18
16 Bow first —
bow optimized
14 for open water
Vessel speed (kn)
12
10 Bow first —
bow optimized
8 for icebreaking
6
4
Operation scheme
2 in low ridge density
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 Operation scheme
in high ridge density
Level ice thickness (m)
Figure 1. Example of DA operation with different bow forms.
In bow ahead operation, the loads can be originated from practical design work and they are constantly updated as
broken ice pieces or collision with channel edges. However, more experience is gained.
the thruster loads for bow ahead operation are in general The other more sophisticated methods allow better simu-
lower than stern ahead operation. Therefore, typically the lation of material behavior in ice. Promising development in
bow ahead mode is of less importance when calculating the FEM approach has been gained in some research projects
extreme ice loads on the thruster. such as AHRAVUO (Heinonen et al., 2010). However,
In stern first working ships, the thruster must withstand the often the difficulty lies in interpreting physical reality into
ice loads experienced when the ship penetrates ice ridges a mechanical and mathematical model. Sometimes, the
or thick level ice. Both the submerged keel rubble and the computational models may become excessive large and
thick consolidated ice layer at the waterline may create high complicated.
loads. These two ice load components may act separately or
in different combinations.
In Figure 2 is presented some thruster load scenarios
in stern first operation in ice ridges and thick level ice. 4 ICE CLASS RULES
Depending on the azimuth angle, extreme load may be from
longitudinal or transversal direction. Philosophies in reaching safe operation in ice conditions
differ between classification societies and their ice rules. This
results that all the major classification societies have their
own ice rules, with ice classes for various ice conditions.
3 THRUSTER ICE LOAD MODELS With a few exceptions, the classification societies are using
the Finnish-Swedish Ice Class Rules (FSICR) for lighter ice
As presented in the report Määttänen et al. (2004), there classes in subarctic ice conditions. Generally, the FSICR
are also possibilities to use different calculation methods for notation differs between classification societies, even if the
determination of ice loads on azimuth thrusters such as notation is actually referring to the same FSICR rule. For
higher ice classes, there are various ice rules and interpreta-
1. the traditional simple models based on soil mechanics tions of the rules resulting in diverse ice notations and diverse
2. the finite element method (FEM) and designs for vessels intended for traffic even in the same sea
3. the discrete element method (DEM). areas.
4. Combined models For thrusters, the ice class rules determine some ice load
scenarios and strength criteria for propeller, shaft line, main
The traditional simple design tools are simplistic and have shaft bearings, connection, slewing bearing, and so on. One
certain shortcomings. However, those are widely used in governing rule in all ice rules is the pyramid strength criteria.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe013
Ht
Hk
Stopped
propeller
collects ridge
W
keel penetration Thick sheet ice is crushed
load
against propeller hub
Azipod turned
90 deg. Ht
Hk
W
Thick sheet ice is crushed

against the pod strut
(a) (b)
Hice
w
h
Crushing
sheet ice
at the
bracket top
Hice
w
Fc h
(c)
Figure 2. Thruster ice loading scenarios (Reproduced with permission from E. Ranki, 2011).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe013
6 Marine
will be increased, and new FE analysis will be conducted.

Conversely, if the blade is too thick, it will be decreased to
avoid weaker efficiency and higher loads on shaft line. Thus,
in order to optimize the root section thickness, modeling and
iterative FE analysis are needed. Examples of PC rule loading
Propeller and hub load Motor side load cases are shown in Figure 4.
4.2 Discussion of ice rules
Very often, laymen and also shipping people in general have

a misconception that a certain ice class also guarantees the
Strut longitudinal load Strut side load performance of the ship in ice, for example, icebreaking
capability. Fundamentally, the ice rules of different clas-
Figure 3. Example of DNV classification note ice loading sification societies or authorities aim at safe and reliable
scenarios. operation in the intended operation area with suitable propul-
sion system and sufficient machinery power to match the
increased resistance of the ship. The ice class can be consid-
According to pyramidal strength, all components in thruster ered as a generalized characteristic of a vessel’s ability to
should withstand blade breakage load. operate in ice.
Classification societies do not have explicit rules or guid- The actual performance of the vessel can be determined
ance for calculating podded propulsor ice loads. Some equip- by theoretical calculations or model tests in ice model
ment maker’s and ice research laboratories have their own basins. Understanding the requirements of different ice class
calculation methods developed over the years. rules is fundamental when designing ice going vessels. For
In addition, classification societies are developing their propulsion systems, there are requirements not only for
own methodologies; for example, DNV has published Clas- power but also for propeller, shafting, rudder/pod hull scant-
sification Notes 51.1, which gives simple calculation method lings, steering mechanics, sealing systems, overtorque, and
for podded propulsion hull ice loads for International Associ- so on.
ation of Classification Societies (IACS) Polar classes (PCs). All the major classification societies have their own ice
Examples of DNV classification note loading scenarios are rules, with ice classes for various ice conditions. With a few
shown in Figure 3. exceptions, the classification societies are using the FSICR
for subarctic ice conditions. Generally, the notations differ
4.1 Propeller ice rules between the classification societies, but they actually refer
to the same FSICR rule. For polar or arctic ice classes,
Traditionally, the process of propeller and shaft line design these societies have their own ice rules and interpretations.
according to societies’ own ice rules is straightforward calcu- These rules differ from each other since they are based
lation with a few simple equations. This enables fast review on different scenarios and philosophies resulting in quite
and cost calculation of the project without having final detail different requirements for a vessel intended for a certain area
data of the propeller. Recently, broadly adopted IACS PC of operation depending on which society you choose.
rules, however, have different philosophies with regard to The comparison of different ice classes is difficult,
design process. as different rules emphasize different technical aspects.
The shaft line and propeller design is governed by a blade Several comparison tables have been created, for example,
failure load, which depends heavily on blade root section Appolonov et al. (2005), but one has to remember that
thickness. In traditional ice rules, the root section thick- comparison tables are always an approximation of the
ness and corresponding blade failure load have been calcu- equivalence. On a detailed level, the differences can be
lated with simple equations, but according to PC rules, the significant. For instance, an equivalence table based on
initial value of root section thickness needs to be estimated. hull strengthening looks different from a table based on
The strength of the estimated root section and the corre- machinery.
sponding blade thicknesses are then validated with a sophis- To overcome the confusion that the variety of design rules
ticated FE analysis, which requires detailed blade geometry creates, development work for common ice rules—the “Polar
modeling. Should the initial estimation exceed the maximum Code”—has been going on since 1995 within the IACS. Even
allowed stresses stated in PC rules, the blade thickness though ship owners, shipyards, and equipment suppliers
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe013
Force Loaded area Right-handed propeller

blade seen from behind
Load case 1 Fb Uniform pressure applied on the
back of the blade (suction side) to
0.2
an area from 0.6R to the tip and c
from the leading edge to 0.2 times
the chord length
0.6
R
Load case 2 50% of Fb Uniform pressure applied on the

back of the blade (suction side) on
0.9
the propeller tip area outside 0.9R R
radius
Load case 3 Ff Uniform pressure applied on the

blade face (pressure side) to an
area from 0.6R to the tip and from
the leading edge to 0.2 times the 0.2
c
chord length
0.6
R
Load case 4 50% of Ff Uniform pressure applied on

propeller face (pressure side) on
0.9
the propeller tip area outside 0.9R R
radius
Load case 5 60% of Ff or Uniform pressure applied on

Fb, whichever propeller face (pressure side) to an
is greater area from 0.6R to the tip and from 0.2
c
the trailing edge to 0.2 times the

chord length
6R
0.
Figure 4. Example of PC ice rules propeller loading scenarios.
would welcome one uniform set of ice rules, achieving such a separate appendix along with their own Polar or Arctic
a uniform set is not so straightforward. Different technical rules.
philosophies of the IACS members tend to lead to very For propulsion manufacturers, the PC rules present a
conservative ice rules as all the members have to agree challenge. The rules are descriptive by nature and nothing
on the new rules. Too much conservatism could hinder the specific is said about the dimensioning of appendices to the
development of ice-strengthened vessels. The first version hull, such as rudders, struts, or podded propulsors. As a
of IACS Unified Rules, generally referred to as PC rules, consequence of this most major classification, societies have
has been published, and it is now adopted by all IACS published or started to work on their own rules for podded
member societies. Most societies publish the PC rules as propulsors. For this reason, it is important for propulsion
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe013
8 Marine
equipment manufacturers to cooperate with the classification 5.1 Ice load measurements on AZIPODs
societies in an early phase of a project with a PC class
notation to develop a common understanding of the ice loads Since the early 1990s, extensive full-scale ice load measure-
on the propulsion unit. ments and expeditions have been made onboard four
Over the years, ABB has made several full-scale measure- different types of ice-going and icebreaking vessels. The
ment campaigns onboard Azipod vessels to gain informa- ships have wide power range and different operation
tion about the actual ice loads acting on the Azipod units areas and conditions. Figure 5 shows pictures from these
and to understand the best operational practices with Azipod ships.
vessels, which will be discussed in the following section.
5.1.1 MT Uikku and Lunni (equipped with 11,4 MW

Azipod unit)
5 FULL-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
The ship was tested in most severe Baltic ice conditions,
There exist limited full-scale ice load measurements reported and it has also experience from NSR (e.g., ARCDEV-98
on azimuth thrusters. However, some experience exists both expedition). Azipod long-term ice load measurements
on podded propulsion and mechanical thrusters. The were conducted in Baltic Sea in the mid-1990s. Excellent
following section will explain some experiences from ridge penetration capability was observed while running
AZIPOD type propulsion. astern.
(a) (b) (c) (d)
Figure 5. Azipod ice load measurement platforms: (a) MT Uikku (11.4 MW), (b) MSV Botnica (2 × 5 MW), (c) IB Fesco Sakhalin
(2 × 6.5 MW), and (d) MV Norilskiy Nickel (13 MW). (Reproduced with permission from ABB).
(a) (b)
Figure 6. Layout of 13-MW arctic Azipod unit installed in MV Norilskiy Nickel. (Reproduced with permission from ABB).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe013
5.1.2 MSV Botnica (equipped with 2 × 5 MW Azipod 5.2 Ice load measurements onboard Norilskiy
units) Nickel
Azipod long-term ice load measurements were conducted
MV Norilskiy Nickel, a container vessel equipped with a
in the Northern Baltic during winter 2001. Measurements
13-MW Azipod unit, was delivered from Aker Finnyards
reveal the stochasticity of ice loads. The results verify that
Helsinki in March 2006. It was the first vessel from a series
dimensioning criteria for Azipod units of MSV Botnica have
of five vessels. After the successful testing and well-proven
a clear margin for icebreaking operation in thick Baltic
service experience in ice, five sister vessels were built in
Sea ice.
Nordic Yards, Germany. The vessel layout and the picture
of the ship’s Azipod propulsion unit are shown in Figure 6.
5.1.3 IB Fesco Sakhalin (equipped with 2 × 6.5 MW The vessel and its propulsion system are designed to fulfill
Azipod units) Russian Register high Arctic ice category LU7. The vessel is
capable of operating also stern ahead in the most demanding
The vessel operates in the Okhotsk Sea near the Sakhalin harsh ice conditions in Kara Sea. These characteristics make
Island. The measuring system for ice loads on the propul- this vessel a unique icebreaking container ship for Arctic ice
sion unit for this icebreaker was installed in 2005. Long-term conditions. The vessel is designed for year-round operation
measurements were carried out until 2008. The system between ports of Murmansk and Dudinka in the Gulf of
measures ice loads on the body of the Azipod propulsion unit Yenisey.
and loads on the shaft bearings. During the construction phase, the Azipod propulsion unit
was equipped with measuring system to monitor actual ice
5.1.4 MV Norilskiy Nickel (equipped with 13 MW loads from the Azipod unit. The measuring system was
Azipod unit) installed and calibrated by VTT (Technical Research Centre
of Finland).
The vessel is designed for year-round operation between
Murmansk and Dudinka. Azipod ice loads were measured 5.2.1 Instrumentation
during dedicated ice trial in deep ice ridges and up to
1.5-m-thick level ice in Kara Sea, March 2006. Long-term The loads on the thruster body are measured by strain gauges
measurements were carried out until 2010. attached on the inner structures of the upper part of Azipod.
z z
x x
y y
(a) (b)
Figure 7. Instrumented areas inside Azipod. (a) Azipod steel structure instrumentation. (b) Azipod shaft line instrumentation.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe013
10 Marine
The strain gauges were located in two different cross sections bearing housings. Some accelerometers were also attached
of the upper part of Azipod. The locations of the strain gauges outside the pod in the pod room. The hydraulic pressures of
were defined based on stress distribution on Azipod structure the steering motors are measured in order to determine the
for load cases where longitudinal, transverse, and torsion torque of the steering motors. Ship status and the environ-
loads were applied at potential locations of ice loads. The ment data are read directly from ABB’s and ship’s systems
instrumented areas inside Azipod are shown in Figure 5. in digital format. The measuring signals were transmitted
The propeller bearing loads and the thrust are also from the turning part of the Azipod by a wireless data link.
measured by strains at the lower part of Azipod. The
Schematic diagram of Azipod measuring system is shown
propeller bearing loads were measured with stain gauges
in Figure 8.
attached at the supporting structure near the bearing. Stain
gauges for the thrust were located at the longitudinal stiffener In order to verify the load measuring system, calibrations
near the thrust bearing. The instrumented areas in Azipod were carried out by applying external forces on the propul-
shaft line structure are shown in Figure 7. sion unit in dry dock. Calibration tests were carried out
The relative shaft line movements are measured with in January 2006 at Aker Finnyards, Helsinki, Finland. The
displacement transducers attached close to the bearing calibration results show good repeatability and linearity
housings. The dynamic behavior of the lower body is (Figure 9). The whole system functionality was verified
measured by triaxial accelerometers located in the both during vessel sea trial in the Gulf of Finland.
Navigation
data (NMEA)
PCU Measuring External

Measuring
modbus data PC 2 data saving
PC 1
hard disk
Ethern.
Propulsion room
Acceler– Pressure
Measuring
ometers transducers
device
4 pcs. 2 pcs.
Antennas
Antennas Inside the pod
Strain gauges,
Measuring Strain gauges,
thrust + propeller
devices pod body
bearing forces
9 CH
4 CH
Accelerometers Displacement
O-END + N-END transducers
6 CH O-END + N-END
5 CH
Figure 8. Azipod measuring system setup.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe013
Case 8, tests 2–5

250.00 Case 8, tests 2–5
Linear
200.00
Ftot (kN)
150.00
100.00
50.00
0.00
2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0
QzU (μ strain)
(a) (b)
Figure 9. Picture of Azipod calibration test in longitudinal direction (a) and measured strains as a function of calibration force, showing a
good linearity (b).
5.2.2 Results from ice trial measurements

Norilskiy Nickel ice trials were conducted in late March 2006
Load (kN)
in Kara Sea and Yenisei Bay. The ship was capable to break
independently over 1.5-m-thick ice with constant speed. The
ship was tested with stern ahead and bow ahead mode in thick
level ice, channel ice, and ridged and rafted ice. Measure-
ments from Norilskiy Nickel show that a ship equipped with 0 5 15
Azipod propulsion does not need to use ramming mode when Time (min)
operating in stern ahead mode. Instead, it is capable slowly
but steadily proceeding through ice ridges without getting Figure 10. Azipod longitudinal force component in astern opera-
tion mode in thick level ice.
stuck in ice. Some general conclusions of Azipod propul-
sion ice loading in different operation modes are listed as
follows:
• Observed loads in ice channel were clearly below class
• When ship was proceeding in thick level ice ahead or rule ultimate design loads.
astern mode, the pod and propeller loads are not high • In ridge field operation, propeller ice milling is quite
and ice pieces hits propeller only seldom. In Figure 10, common phenomena.
the thick black line corresponds to the measured Azipod • Highest ice loading events in Azipod propulsion were
thrust force. Small variation (peaks) in signal around the observed when penetrated into deep ice ridges.
thrust force is due to ice impacts. • Azipod ice loads in ridge field operation were below class
• Observed loads in level ice were clearly below class rule rule ultimate design loads with clear safety margin.
ultimate design loads.
• Ship was tested in frozen ice channel (thickness 2–3 m in
center and 4–5 m in edges, surrounding level ice 1.5 m)
(Figure 11). 6 MODEL TEST MEASUREMENTS
• When proceeding astern or ahead in ice channel, Azipod
loads were not high. However, the number of load cycles There have been some attempts on model scale for thruster
was higher than in level ice operation. and propeller load estimations, but the design of a test setup
• In addition, the number of load cycles was higher when is a challenging task.
proceeding astern mode than when proceeding ahead To study the impact force of ice floes hitting propeller
mode in ice channel. blades, the CRS ProPolar working Group ordered in 2010
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe013
12 Marine
(a) (b)
Figure 11. Norilskiy Nickel Operation in brash ice channel and ice field in astern. (Reproduced with permission from ABB).
a series of measurements dedicated to capturing this force Propeller Propels the ship.
on model scale. The measurements were performed in the Propulsion System used to generate thrust to move and
AARC ice facility in Helsinki, Finland. The measurement steer the ship.
equipment was developed and constructed at MARIN,
Wageningen, in the Netherlands, Hagesteijin, 2013.
Such measurements with dedicated instrumentation in pod RELATED ARTICLES
and propeller blades can give a lot of insights into the process
of model ice-propeller impacts and phenomenon like ice Sea Ice Dynamics
fatigue. Description of Ice Types and Ice Conditions Ice Action on
Ship Hull
Propulsion in Ice
7 CONCLUSIONS Ice Loading on Ship Hull
Structural Design in Ice
This article summarizes aspects of azimuth propulsion ice Risks and Damages Caused in Ice Navigation
loading. It gives the authors opinions and views on different Ship Performance in Ice
ice vessels, ships ice operation principles, and propeller and Ice Model Tests
thrusters ice loading scenarios. This article briefly discussed Ship Design for Ice
ice load models and modern ice class rule requirements for Icebreakers
thrusters. In the later part of this article, there was more Ice Class and Ice-Going Merchant Ships
discussion of full-scale ice load measurements and model test Machinery Loading and Protection
experiments. Ice Class Rules and International Regulations
Environmental Impacts from Ships Operating in Polar
Regions
GLOSSARY Winterization
Navigation in Ice Conditions
Azipod Steerable propulsion system where the
electric drive motor is in a submerged
pod outside the ship hull. REFERENCES
Icebreaker Ship designed to cope with all intended ice
conditions. Appolonov, E., Golovkin, A., Nesterov, A., Kuteinikov, M. and
Ice class Classification society notation defining Didkovskiy, A. (2005) A Methodology for Estimating equivalency
requirements that enable a ship to of the Existing Ice Classes. Proceedings of Krylov Shipbuilding
navigate through sea ice. Research Institute.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe013
Heinonen, J., Kolari, K., and Rantala, J. (2010) AHRAVUO–Ridge Ranki, E. (2011) Ice load calculations for VI2300L azimuthing
structure interaction simulation, 88 pp. thruster AARC K–156, 35 pp (confidential).
Määttänen, M., Tuhkuri, J., and Heinonen, J. (2004) Ridge
Loads on an Azipod Propulsion Unit-Preliminary Study, 39 pp
(confidential).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe013
Ice Class Rules and International Regulations
Jorma Kämäräinen1 and Kaj Riska2
1 Finnish Transport Safety Agency (Trafi), Helsinki, Finland
2 Total, Paris, France
the safety of merchant ships, and the MARPOL Convention

1 Introduction 1 is the main international convention covering the prevention
2 Winter Navigation System 1 of pollution of the marine environment by ships from oper-
3 Ice Class Rules 2 ational or accidental causes (IMO web-site, www.imo.org).
In this article, the most important ice class rules are first
4 Energy Efficiency Regulations of IMO 5
briefly described. Then the IMO energy efficiency regula-
5 The Polar Code 7 tions for ships and the manner in which the special needs
6 Summary and Conclusions 8 of ice-going ships are taken into account in these regulations
Endnotes 9 are described. Finally, the development of the Polar Code is
Glossary 9 described, with emphasis on how the special needs of ships
Related Articles 9 designed to sail in ice conditions in polar areas will be taken
into account in the Polar Code.
References 9
Further Reading 10
2 WINTER NAVIGATION SYSTEM
The basic elements of a winter navigation system are
1 INTRODUCTION adequate ice surveillance systems; establishment of safety
requirements for ships sailing in ice conditions, such as
IMO—the International Maritime Organization—is the ice class rules and agreement on equivalence of different
specialized United Nations agency with responsibility for ice class rules; and appropriate guidelines for operational
the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of matters related to winter navigation in the area. The provi-
marine pollution by ships. The most important IMO Conven- sion of icebreaker assistance, as required, for merchant
tions related to the construction of ships are the International ships is also an important issue. For the Baltic Sea area,
Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974, as guidance for establishing a winter navigation system is given
amended, and the International Convention for the Preven- in HELCOM (2004).
tion of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), 1973, as modified
by the Protocol of 1978 relating thereto and by the Protocol 2.1 Navigation modes for navigation in ice
of 1997. The SOLAS Convention is generally regarded as
the most important of all international treaties concerning In principle, two types of navigation modes exist for naviga-
tion in ice:
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 1. Ships sail in ice conditions with icebreaker assistance.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe018
2. Ships sail in ice conditions independently without
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 icebreaker assistance.
2 Marine
In the northern Baltic Sea area, where shipping traffic is are blocked by ice in winter. The most important ice class
busy in winter and the ice conditions may be heavy, it is rules are (ISSC, 2012) the following:
economical to provide icebreaker assistance for merchant
ships. For the same reason, the Russian Federation provides • The Finnish–Swedish Ice Class Rules (FSICR)
icebreaker assistance for ships sailing in its Arctic (and also • The Polar Class Rules of the International Association of
Baltic) areas. It is clear that icebreaker assistance is provided Classification Societies (IACS PC)
only when needed, since ice-strengthened merchant ships • The ice class rules of international classification soci-
may sail independently in moderate ice conditions. eties.1
On the other hand, in sea areas where shipping traffic is
not very busy and/or the ice conditions are not very severe,
Ice class rules specify requirements based on ice conditions
it may not be necessary or economical to provide icebreaker
and operation of vessels. Details of structural requirements
assistance for merchant ships. An example of this kind of
are based on a combination of experience, empirical data, and
transport mode is ship traffic to Greenland, where ice condi-
structural analyses. The FSICR have been adopted widely
tions allow navigation without icebreaker assistance. Ship
and have been incorporated by most classification societies
traffic to the Antarctic area takes place mainly during the
into their regulations as the basis of first-year ice conditions.
austral summer time, when ice conditions allow ships to
The ice class rules of the Russian Maritime Register of
sail in mostly open-water conditions independently without
Shipping (RS) are used for vessels navigating in the Russian
icebreaker assistance.
Arctic waters. Except for the FSICR and RS Ice Class Rules,
However, a small number of existing cargo ships have been
few existing ice class rules have actually been used to design
designed to navigate independently in heavy ice conditions
ice-going ships. The IACS PC Rules are becoming more
in the Arctic, without the assistance of icebreakers. Such
and more accepted, especially for multiyear ice conditions.
ships need a suitable hull form and large propeller thrust to
All these ice class rules contain several ice classes, which
overcome the ice resistance. Depending on the icebreaking
requirement, the necessary propulsion power is two to three enable the designer to choose an appropriate level of ice
times higher than the engine power of ships of similar size strengthening and ice-going capability subject to the design
and type designed for open-water conditions only. ice conditions.
To supplement FSICR and IACS PC Rules, some clas-
sification societies have rules for icebreakers and guidance
2.2 The Finnish winter navigation system on winterization for operation in a cold environment. See
Table 1 for a summary of some existing ice class rules.
The Finnish–Swedish winter navigation system is based on
(i) icebreakers escorting the merchant fleet through the worst
ice conditions; (ii) an ice-strengthened merchant fleet; (iii) 3.1 Evolution of the FSICR
an ice surveillance system; and (iv) actions of maritime
authorities (rules, regulations, and fairway dues). Because, The first Baltic ice class rules for ships were given in 1890.
in the northern Baltic Sea area, the ice season lasts from 3 These rules contained only requirements for ship equipment
to 5 months annually, ships visiting Finland and northern (e.g., how many pairs of skates and skis had to be on board)
Sweden year-round must be ice capable. The merchant ships and some requirements for the general and structural arrange-
sailing in the northern Baltic Sea compete with open-water ment of the ship. The first Finnish ice class rules for ships
ships during a large part of the year, thus the ice strengthening were given in 1920. These rules started the long tradition
and ice-going performance must not have too great an effect of the so-called percentage rules. In these rules, the scant-
on their competitiveness, vis-à-vis the open-water ships. This lings were set as some relative increase in the open water
has led to the present balance between the required ice-going scantlings. If the relative increase in the plate thickness and
capability of merchant ships and the number of icebreakers the frame section modulus is the same, this practice leads
escorting them, and the safety level of winter navigation. to a greater increase in plate strength, as plate thickness is
proportional to the square root of the strength, whereas the
frame section modulus is linearly dependent on strength.
3 ICE CLASS RULES This works against a sound structural strength hierarchy. The
first Finnish ice class rules with three ice classes were given
Ice class rules play a central role in the design of ice-going in 1932, when three ice classes (IA, IB, and IC) were intro-
ships. Traditionally, ice class rules and regulations for ships duced, as well as ice classes II and III, corresponding to
sailing in ice have been developed by nations whose fairways open-water ships and barges. At this time, the ice classes
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe018
Ice Class Rules and International Regulations 3
Table 1. Ice class rules for ships.

Ice Class Rule Multiyear Ice First-Year Ice Ice Strengthening Icebreaking/Ice-Going Notes
of Hull and Machinery Performance
FSICR — × × Ice-going performance in Widely used standard for first-year
brash ice channel ice conditions
IACS PC × × × — PC 6, 7 are partly aligned with
FSICR IAS, IA
RS × × × Icebreaking Used in Russian region
were also coupled with the fairway dues. Only minor correc- height, hc , was made the ice class factor instead of the ice
tions to these rules were made over four decades, and the last pressure. The idea here was that ice is similar, even if the
change was the introduction of ice class IA Super in 1965. thickness is somewhat greater, and thus the ice pressure,
The year-round trade to northern Finnish ports (Kemi, being an ice material constant, is the same for each ice class;
Oulu, and Raahe, as well as the Swedish port of Luleå) but as the ice thickness related to each ice class is different,
increased greatly in the 1960s. Increased trade caused three the load heights are consequently different for each ice class.
major changes to the Finnish winter navigation system. The As the load height changed, the line load determined from
first change was that ships built according to the percentage the ice-damage data remained constant in the rules. This new
rules were found to be too weak, in the sense that the amount idea of the ice load is described in Figure 1.
of ice damage exceeded the economic pain threshold. These A possible future scenario for the ice load height is
led to an ice-damage survey and complete revision of the ice presented in Figure 1. Recent measurements indicate that
class rules; see Johansson (1967). The ice-damage survey the ice edge is failing, in a fashion, to create a very narrow
gave, for the first time, an idea of the magnitude of the ice contact between the structure and the ice edge. This produces
pressure, with the cost of fixing the load height—this was a very small contact height; see, for example, the first obser-
chosen to be the same as the maximum level of ice thickness, vation of this type of contact in Riska, Rantala, and Joensuu
which is 800 mm. The rules based on the ice-damage survey (1990). The problem, for design purposes, of this line-like
were published in 1971 by the Finnish and Swedish maritime contact is that while the local pressures are high [at least
authorities. These rules were the first set of FSICR. 60 MPa has been measured in small areas; see Frederking
The next revision of FSICR occurred in 1985 when the and Sudom (2008)], the measured ice load obtained from
hull rules were changed. The main change was to the ice controlled tests divided by the load length along the contact
load height, based on ice load measurements on ships; see, line, q, is relatively small compared with the measured values
for example, Vuorio, Riska, and Varsta (1979) or Kujala and from ship tests. It has also been observed that when ice
Vuorio (1986). The measurements suggested that the load is relatively warm (close to melting point) or the relative
height compatible with the measured ice load and structural velocity between the ice edge and the structure is low (some
response is much less than the ice thickness. The ice load cm/s), the ice does not fail to produce the line, but rather the
hincl hlc h
hi hi i
hc = hi hc = hincl hc = hlc
1971 rules 1985 rules Possible future rules
Figure 1. Sketch of the concept of load height on a ship frame with different rule sets. In all these cases, the value of the line load q has
been constant, at about q = 2 MN/m (Riska and Kämäräinen, 2012, Figure 1). (Reproduced with permission from Riska and Kämäräinen
2012. © Royal Institution of Naval Architects, 2012.)
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe018
4 Marine
contact is along the whole thickness. In this case, the line torque Q = m ⋅ DP 2 , where m is a class factor and DP the
load q is larger than in the brittle line-like contact case; see propeller diameter. The new rules give just the ice loads on
Sodhi et al. (1998). the propeller and the designer must calculate the propeller
The 1932 ice class rules already contained a requirement scantlings.
for performance in ice; this was given as the required propul- The most recent change in the FSICR has been to stream-
sion power (PD ), as a function of the product of ship length line the hull rules. This was done in 2010. When the rules
and breadth (this was changed to displacement in the 1971 were updated in 1985, several factors were introduced, the
rules), with different constants for each ice class. In the 1985 background to which is somewhat obscure. The aim in 1985
rules, this power requirement was amended so that the class was not to change the strength level for transverse frames
constants included some dependency on ship beam and bow (the new load height had a large impact on longitudinal
shape. The ice performance requirement was changed dras- framing). These factors were put in the context of the new
tically in 1999 (and slightly amended in 2002), when an research results.
ice performance requirement (instead of power requirement) This short elaboration on the evolution of the FSICR shows
was introduced. The requirement states that the ship must be that the strength level included in the rules is under constant
able to make at least 5 knots speed in a brash ice channel for scrutiny. This scrutiny is provided by the approximately
which the thickness is a class factor (1 m for ice class IA). If 12,000 ship visits to Finnish ports every winter. Ice-damage
the designer cannot show compliance with this, the rules give surveys like the one by Hänninen (2005) suggest that some
an equation for the rule channel resistance (RCH) and propul- damage occurs to ship hulls, propellers, and rudders every
sion power. The 1999 rules give quite high propulsion power winter. This indicates that the strength level is not set too
for large ships (Figure 2), and thus the rules contain a provi- high, and as the amount of damage is small, it can be consid-
sion for this kind of case. The rules state that the designer can ered as not being too low either. This validation of the FSICR
show compliance with the ice-going performance require- every winter since the present strength level was first intro-
ment by, for example, conducting ice-model tests. duced for transverse frames (other parts have been updated)
The FSICR were further updated with regard to the ice in 1971 makes the FSICR very robust and reliable.
waterlines (2006): the ship draft must be between the upper
ice waterline (UIWL) and lower ice waterline (LIWL) when 3.2 The Finnish–Swedish ice class rules today
operating in ice. These waterlines may deviate from the
ones given in the draft mark. In 2008, the new machinery The Finnish Transport Safety Agency (Trafi) and the
rules were introduced. This time, the whole structure of Swedish Transport Agency (STA) have developed the
the machinery rules was changed. Since the 1971 rules, FSICR in co-operation with classification societies. Most of
the machinery rules had been based on the concept of ice the members of the IACS have adopted the FSICR and incor-
porated them into their own regulations on the classification
of ships.
40,000 The latest version of FSICR was published in 2010, see
FSICR (2010). The FSICR contain four ice classes:
Required power (kW)
30,000
1. Ice class IA Super: ships with such structure, engine
output, and other properties that they are normally
20,000 capable of navigating in difficult ice conditions without
the assistance of icebreakers.
2. Ice class IA: ships with such structure, engine output,
10,000
IA and other properties that they are capable of navigating in
IA super difficult ice conditions, with the assistance of icebreakers
0 when necessary.
0 50×103 100×103 150×103 200×103 3. Ice class IB: ships with such structure, engine output,
Displacement (t) and other properties that they are capable of navi-
gating in moderate ice conditions, with the assistance of
Figure 2. Some observed cases of propulsion power and channel icebreakers when necessary.
resistance from ice-model tests and full-scale tests in which the
channel thickness is known (left), with the required propulsion 4. Ice class IC: ships with such structure, engine output,
power for AFRAMAX-shaped ships of various sizes (Riska (2006a, and other properties that they are capable of navigating
b)). (Reproduced with permission from Riska 2006a. © Kaj Riska, in light ice conditions, with the assistance of icebreakers
2006.) when necessary.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe018
The FSICR cover hull and machinery strength, and ship Table 2. Definition of the ice classes in PC Rules of IACS (2011,
performance in ice (previously stated as an engine power Table 1).
requirement). The design ship–ice interaction scenarios for Polar Class Ice Description (Based on the Sea Ice Nomenclature
hull and propulsion machinery, as well as for the ice-going of World Meteorological Organization)
performance (propulsion power), are all different for these PC 1 Year-round operation in all polar waters
ice classes. This reflects the fact that different ice conditions PC 2 Year-round operation in moderate multiyear ice
form the critical design situations for ship operations in ice. conditions
PC 3 Year-round operation in second-year ice, which
In principle, ice classes IA and IA Super are intended for may include multiyear ice inclusions
ships sailing year-round in the northern Baltic Sea area, and PC 4 Year-round operation in thick first-year ice, which
ice classes IC and IB for ships sailing year-round in the may include old ice inclusions
southern Baltic Sea area. However, the highest ice classes IA PC 5 Year-round operation in medium first-year ice,
and IA Super can withstand collision with small multiyear which may include old ice inclusions
PC 6 Summer/autumn operation in medium first-year ice,
ice floes as well; see Kolari and Kurkela (2012). which may include old ice inclusions
PC 7 Summer/autumn operation in thin first-year ice,
which may include old ice inclusions
3.3 IACS Polar Class Rules
Reproduced with permission from IACS (2011). © International
Association of Classification Societies Ltd.
In the early 1990s, there were about 30 different ice classes
intended for ships operating in polar areas. Each classifica-
tion society had its own set of polar ice classes. The selec- Table 3. Ice class categories in the RS Ice Class Rules.
tion of a suitable ice class from among these presented a Ice Category Mark Ice Condition, Operation
big problem for ship owners and, thus, in the mid-1990s,
IACS decided to develop unified polar ice classes that all Ice1, Ice2, Ice3 Navigation in freezing
non-Arctic seas
IACS members could then adopt. The process has now been Arc4, Arc5, Arc6, Arc7, Arc8, Arc9 Navigation in Arctic seas
completed, and all the classification societies have adopted Icebreaker6, Icebreaker7, Icebreaking operations
the PC ice classes, even if some have retained their own polar Icebreaker8, Icebreaker9
ice classes as well, see DE 57/11/7 (2013).
The background to ice load calculations is in defining
a so-called glancing scenario between a ship and an ice
edge (be the edge a part of the level ice field or a separate 3.4 The Ice Class Rules of the Russian Maritime
ice floe): in a glancing scenario, the ship bow hits the ice Register of Shipping
asymmetrically. The resulting local loading is calculated by
a modification of a Russian ice load model (Popov et al., The current RS Ice Class Rules (Russian Maritime Register
1967). The load level was set based on a plastic limit state of Shipping, 2015) have a total of 13 ice classes: three for
assuming a certain size of ice floe. The design point is thus non-Arctic ice conditions, six for Arctic operations, and four
basically set by deterministic analysis instead of by applying for icebreakers (Table 3). The rules specify requirements for
some statistical means. permissible operation condition that are based on permissible
The PC Rules also contain a longitudinal strength require- vessel speed and ice conditions, which are contingent upon
ment based on a head-on collision with massive multiyear operation areas, seasons, navigation severity, and availability
ice floes. The massiveness of the floe is relative; it refers to of an escort icebreaker. The basis of ice load in RS Ice Class
the floe not moving or breaking in bending during the colli- Rules is said to be a hydrodynamic model of solid body–ice
sion. The formulation is essentially based on Riska (1987), interaction (ISSC, 2012).
whereas the strength level came from full-scale ramming
trials carried out in the Canadian Arctic.
The PC Rules also contain machinery strength require- 4 ENERGY EFFICIENCY REGULATIONS
ments, which are essentially the same as the corresponding OF IMO
rules in the FSICR. Both these rule sets were developed at the
same time, in collaboration between Finnish and Canadian IMO has been working on the reduction of greenhouse gases
scientists and international classification societies. There is (GHG), mainly CO2 , from international shipping since the
no ice-going performance requirement in the IACS PC Rules 1990s. The Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) was
(Table 2). The IACS PC classes are defined as follows; see made mandatory for new ships and the Ship Energy Effi-
IACS (2011). ciency Management Plan (SEEMP) for all ships at the 62nd
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe018
6 Marine
Meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee EEDI < RL. The reference lines are given in the form
(MEPC) of IMO in July 2011, with the adoption of amend- RL = a⋅DWT−c , where the constants a and c are determined
ments to MARPOL Annex VI, see MEPC.203(62) (2011), by regression for each ship type; see MEPC.215(63) (2012).
by parties to MARPOL Annex VI. These new regulations The reference lines will be brought down in the future (these
entered into force on 1 January 2013. steps are called phases, phases from 0 to 3). The first phase
The EEDI regulations have been drawn up to improve the (phase 0) started on 1 January 2013, phase 1 started on 1
energy efficiency of cargo ships and to stimulate innovation January 2015, phase 2 starts on 1 January 2020, and phase
in energy efficiency. This was the first legally binding climate 3 starts on 1 January 2025. Thus, the requirement for the
change treaty to be adopted since the Kyoto Protocol. The attained EEDI will be
EEDI value for a ship (the “attained EEDI”) is defined as an
efficiency index, meaning that it is the ratio of the amount of Attained EEDI ≤ Required EEDI = (1 − X∕100)
CO2 emitted per unit of work done for society; both these are
per-time units. The work done is defined for normal cargo × reference line
ships as the ship deadweight multiplied by the ship speed.
IMO has developed reference lines for different ship types The values for the reduction factor X for the ship types are
based on regression on existing ship data; the attained EEDI given in Table 1 of the annex to resolution MEPC.203(62).
of all ships must be below the reference line for the ship The EEDI application also has a lower end in ship size
type in question. At the moment, the new regulations cover described by DWT, and this lower end is different for each
the following ship types: bulk carriers, gas carriers, LNG ship type.
carriers, tankers, container ships, general cargo ships, refrig- The purpose of the new regulations is to mitigate the
erated cargo carriers, combination carriers, ro-ro cargo ships increase of CO2 emissions of maritime shipping in the future;
(vehicle carriers), ro-ro cargo ships, ro-ro passenger ships, see Figure 3.
and cruise passenger ships with nonconventional propulsion.
The basic definition of EEDI is the amount of CO2 4.1 The ice class correction factors
produced normalized by the work done (“benefit to soci-
ety”). The calculation of the index takes into account the For ice-classed ships, the propulsion power is usually higher
auxiliary engine power, as well as power reductions from than that of open-water ships of a corresponding size.
“innovative energy efficient technology.” The equation for The cargo-carrying capacity (DWT) is also smaller for
the attained EEDI is, in a simplified form: ice-classed ships than for open-water ships of a similar size,
fj ⋅ PME ⋅ CFME ⋅ SFCME + PAE ⋅ CFAE ⋅ SFCAE due to the extra steel carried in the ice strengthening and due
EEDI = to the icebreaking hull shape. In many cases, the block coef-
fi ⋅ DWT ⋅ vref ficient of an ice-going ship may be smaller than that of a ship
(1)
where fi and fj are the ice class correction factors, PME is designed for open-water conditions, if the bow shape of the
75% of the total rated installed power (MCR) of the ship’s vessel is designed to improve the ice-going capability. IMO
main engines, and PAE is the ship’s auxiliary engine power has accepted correction factors that make an average ship of
calculated as: a Finnish–Swedish ice class comparable to an open-water
ship—these ice class correction factors influence the power
PAE = 0.025 ⋅ MCR + 250; if MCR ≥ 10, 000 kW and the deadweight; see MEPC.245(66) (2014).
PAE = 0.05 ⋅ MCR; if MCR < 10, 000 kW

4.2 The general effect of the ice class correction
The CF factor gives the amount of CO2 emissions in tons factors
per ton of fuel consumed. Its common value for heavy fuel oil
is 3.1144 g CO2 /g fuel. The SFC is the specific fuel consump- The aim of the ice class correction factors is to make the
tion and it is given a default value of SFCME = 190 g/kWh for ice class tonnage comparable to the open-water tonnage
main engines and SFCAE = 215 g/kWh for auxiliary engines. in view of the attained EEDI. The effect of the ice class
DWT means the deadweight of the ship. The reference speed correction factors was analyzed for all the ice class ships in
vref is the speed the ship can reach using PME . Thus, the speed the database used. This study was done by first calculating
and main engine power are not independent of each other. the attained EEDI without the ice class correction factors and
The attained EEDI value is to be compared with a refer- then including these; see EE-WG 2/2/9 (2011). The results of
ence line value (denoted here as RL) and the attained EEDI the calculation of the ice class correction factors for tankers
should be smaller than the reference line value, meaning of ice classes IA and IA Super are shown in Figure 4.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe018
World fleet—Average scenario: A1B-4 and B2-1

3500
EEDI reduction
3000 SEEMP reduction
New emission level
2500 BAU
CO2 (mill tonnes)
2000
1500
1000
500
0
2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050
Figure 3. The estimated growth of CO2 emissions of maritime shipping with and without the new regulations (Business as usual, BAU)
(MEPC 63/4/1, 2011, Figure iii). (Reproduced with permission from MEPC 63/4/1 2011. © IMO, 2012.)
Tankers Trends and forecasts indicate that polar shipping will grow
Reference line (ph0) in volume and diversify in nature over the coming years,
30 IA super and these challenges need to be met without compromising
IA
either the safety of life at sea or the sustainability of the polar
25 environments.
Ships operating in the Arctic and Antarctic environments
20
are exposed to a number of unique risks. Poor weather
EEDI
15
conditions and the relative lack of good charts, commu-
nication systems, and other navigational aids pose chal-
10 lenges for mariners. The remoteness of the areas makes
search and rescue or clean-up operations difficult and costly.
5 Cold temperatures may reduce the effectiveness of numerous
components of the ship, ranging from deck machinery and
0
emergency equipment to sea suction. When ice is present, it
0 50×103 100×103 150×103
can impose additional loads on the hull, propulsion system,
DWT
and appendages; see, for example, Deggim (2010).
Figure 4. The effect of the ice class correction factors on the IMO has developed a mandatory International Code
attained EEDI of tankers built in ice classes IA Super and IA for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code)
(white symbols are without the ice class correction factors, black (MEPC.264(68) (2015)), which covers the full range of
symbols with the correction factors, and the solid line is the EEDI design, construction, equipment, operational, training,
reference line for tankers at phase 0) (EE-WG 2/2/9, 2011, Figure
search and rescue, and environmental protection matters
20a). (Reproduced with permission from EE-WG 2/2/9 2011. © Kaj
Riska, 2011.) relevant to ships operating in the inhospitable waters
surrounding the two poles. The Polar Code will enter into
force from 1 January 2017.
In the Polar Code, new ships, built in accordance with the
5 THE POLAR CODE code and existing ships, are divided into three ship categories,
A, B, and C, see MEPC.264(68) (2015). Ships would be ice
The safety of ships operating in the harsh, remote, and
strengthened as follows:
vulnerable polar areas and the protection of the pristine
environments around the two poles have always been a
matter of concern for IMO, and many relevant requirements, • Scantlings of category A ships shall be approved by the
provisions, and recommendations have been developed over Administration, or a recognized organization accepted
the years. by it, taking into account standards acceptable to the
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe018
8 Marine
Organization2 or other standards offering an equivalent decision would not affect the effective implementation of the
level of safety. EEDI regulations.
• Scantlings of category B ships shall be approved by the
Administration, or a recognized organization accepted
by it, taking into account standards acceptable to the 6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Organization3 or other standards offering an equivalent
level of safety. Traditionally, ice class rules and regulations for ships sailing
• Scantlings of ice-strengthened category C ships shall be in ice have been developed by nations whose fairways are
approved by the Administration, or a recognized orga- blocked by ice in winter. Ice class rules specify require-
nization accepted by it, taking into account acceptable ments based on ice conditions and the operation of vessels.
standards adequate for the ice types and concentrations Details of structural requirements are based on a combina-
encountered in the area of operation. tion of experience, empirical data, and structural analyses.
• A category C ship need not be ice-strengthened if, in The FSICR have been adopted widely and have been incor-
the opinion of the Administration, the ship’s structure is porated by most classification societies into their regulations
adequate for its intended operation. as the basis of first-year ice conditions. The ice class rules of
the RS are used for vessels navigating in the Russian Arctic
All polar ships, both new and existing, shall have a Polar waters. Except for the FSICR and RS Ice Class Rules, few
Ship Certificate and a Polar Water Operational Manual. The existing ice class rules have actually been used to design
Polar Water Operational Manual is to provide the master ice-going ships. The IACS PC Rules are becoming more and
and crew with sufficient information on the ship’s design more widely accepted, especially for multiyear ice condi-
parameters and/or operational limitations, in order to support tions. All these ice class rules contain several ice classes,
their decision-making process when sailing in ice conditions which enable the designer to choose an appropriate level
in polar waters. of ice strengthening and ice-going capability, subject to the
design ice conditions.
IMO has developed energy efficiency regulations (EEDI)
5.1 Polar code and EEDI where the need of ice-strengthened ships to have more
engine power and heavier hull structure than ships designed
As mentioned in Section 4, IMO has adopted new regulations for sailing in open water only has been recognized by the
for the EEDI, which entered into force on 1 January 2013. adoption of ice class correction factors. Cargo ships with
In the 2014 Guidelines on the method of calculation of the icebreaking capability, meaning cargo ships designed to sail
attained EEDI for new ships (MEPC.245(66), 2014), correc- independently in ice conditions, have been exempted from
tion factors for power for new ice-classed ships are provided. the EEDI regulations.
These correction factors allow the installation of more engine IMO has developed a mandatory code for ships operating in
power in ice-classed tankers, bulk carriers, and general cargo polar waters. This code contains safety regulations, including
ships than in ships without an ice class. However, although ice strengthening, and regulations covering the prevention of
the correction factors may be reasonable for ships sailing in pollution of the Arctic and Antarctic marine environment by
the Baltic Sea area or similar ice conditions in the polar area, ships. The Polar Code will improve the level of safety and
they may not be sufficient for cargo ships designed to sail the protection of the environment from pollution from ships
independently in heavy ice conditions in the polar area; see sailing in polar waters in the future.
DE 57/11/8 (2013). Finally, four important issues should be noted. Firstly,
For this reason, the MEPC 65 Meeting in July 2013 decided due to economic reasons, over-dimensioning of ice-going
to exempt cargo ships with icebreaking capability from ships should be avoided, because such ships compete with
EEDI regulations. Cargo ships with icebreaking capability open-water ships during the open-water season. For this
are defined as follows: “Cargo ship having icebreaking capa- reason, all ice class rules contain several ice classes, which
bility” in relation to chapter 4 (of Annex VI to the MARPOL enable the designer to choose an appropriate level of ice
Convention) means a cargo ship that is designed to break strengthening and ice-going capability, subject to the design
level ice independently with a speed of at least 2 knot when ice conditions. Secondly, ice class rules should be compatible
the level ice thickness is 1.0 m or more having ice bending with requirements set in international regulations and vice
strength at least 500 kPa. Because the number of cargo ships versa. This means that ice class rules should provide suffi-
with icebreaking capacity is rather small, and because they cient safety for ships, and international regulations should
are expensive to build when compared with ships without allow the use of all ice class rules in the ice conditions
independent ice-going capability, it was considered that this for which they are designed. Thirdly, ice-strengthened ships
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe018
and open-water ships should be treated on an equal basis Ice Loading on Ship Hull
when international regulations are made; see, for example, Ice Loading on Propulsion
the energy efficiency regulations of IMO. Fourthly, interna- Structural Design in Ice
tional regulations should be compatible with each other. For Risks and Damages Caused in Ice Navigation
example, the energy efficiency regulations for ships should Ship Performance in Ice
not prevent the use of independently ice-going ships in polar Ice Model Tests
waters. Ship Design for Ice
Icebreakers
Ice Class and Ice-Going Merchant Ships
ENDNOTES Machinery Loading and Protection
Winterization
1. American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), Bureau Veritas Navigation in Ice Conditions
(BV), China Classification Society (CCS), Det Norske
Veritas (DNV), Germanisher Lloyd (GL), Korean
Register of Shipping (KRS), Lloyd’s Register (LR),
Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (NK), Polski Rejestr Statków REFERENCES
(PRS), Registro Italiano Navale (RINA), and Russian
Maritime Register of Shipping (RS).
DE 57/11/7 (2013) Description and Comparison of the
2. Refer to Polar Class 1–5 of IACS URI Requirements Finnish-Swedish Ice Classes and the Polar Classes, submitted by
concerning Polar Class (latest version). Finland and Sweden.
3. Refer to Polar Class 6–7 of IACS URI Requirements DE 57/11/8 (2013) Propulsion Power for Ice-Strengthened and
concerning Polar Class (latest version). Ice-Going Ships, submitted by Finland and Sweden.
Deggim H. (2010) Ensuring safe, secure and reliable shipping in
the Arctic Ocean. NATO Advanced Research Workshop on “Envi-
ronmental security in the Arctic Ocean” Cambridge, Scott Polar
GLOSSARY Research Institute, 13–15 Oct 2010.
EE-WG 2/2/9 (2011) Proposal for new correction factors for
Energy Defined in the energy efficiency ice-classed ships, submitted by Finland.
efficiency regulations of IMO. Frederking, R. and Sudom, D. (2008) Local Ice Pressure Distri-
design index butions during 1990 Hobson’s Choice Ice Island Multi-Year Ice
(EEDI) Indentation Tests. Proceedings of the 19th IAHR Symposium on
Energy Defined as CO2 emissions of the ship Ice, vol. 2, Vancouver, B.C. Canada, pp. 815–827.
efficiency of (in tonnes) divided by the transport FSICR (2010) Ice class regulations 2010, “Finnish-Swedish Ice Class
ships work done (cargo carried in tonnes Rules 2010”, TRAFI/31298/03.04.01.00/2010, Finnish Transport
Safety Agency, 23.11.2010, available at www.trafi.fi.
multiplied by distance sailed in
nautical miles). Hänninen, S. (2005) Incidents and Accidents in Winter Navigation
in the Baltic Sea, Winter 2002–2003. Winter Navigation Research
Finnish-Swedish Ice class rules administered by the
Board, Research Report no. 54, Edita Prima Oy, Helsinki, 2005.
ice class Finnish and Swedish Maritime ISBN 951-49-2097-X, 39 pp.
rules Authorities. HELCOM (2004) HELCOM Recommendation 25/7, Safety of winter
Ice class rules Rules for design of ship’s hull navigation in the Baltic Sea Area.
structure and propulsion machinery IACS (2011) Requirements Concerning POLAR CLASS, IACS Req.
to withstand ice loads when sailing 2011.
in ice. ISSC (2012) Committee V.6, Arctic Technology. 18th International
Polar code The international code for ships Ship and Offshore Structures Congress, 9–13 September 2012,
operating in polar waters. Rostock, Germany, vol. 2.
Ship design for Design of ships capable of sailing Johansson, B. (1967) On the ice strengthening of ship hulls. Interna-
ice safely in ice conditions. tional Ship Building Progress, 14, 231–245.
Kolari, K. and Kurkela, J. (2012) Simulation of ship-ice interaction.
VTT-R-07666-12.
RELATED ARTICLES Kujala, P. and Vuorio, J. (1986) Results and Statistical Analysis of
Ice Load Measurements on Board Icebreaker Sisu in Winters 1979
Ice Action on Ship Hull to 1985. Winter Navigation Research Board, Research Report No
Propulsion in Ice 43, Helsinki. 52 pp. + app. 73 pp.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe018
10 Marine
MEPC 63/4/1 (2011) Estimated CO2 emissions reduction from intro- Riska, K. and Kämäräinen, J. (2012) Comparison of Finnish-Swedish
duction of mandatory technical and operational energy efficiency and IACS Ice Class Rules, The Royal Institution of Naval Archi-
measures for ships, submitted by the Secretariat. tects. The Ice Class Ships, London, UK.
MEPC.203(62) (2011) Amendments to the Annex of the Protocol of Riska, K., Rantala, H., and Joensuu, A. (1990). Full Scale Observa-
1997 to Amend the International Convention for the Prevention of tions of Ship-Ice Contact. Helsinki University of Technology, Lab.
Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978 of Naval Architecture and Marine Eng., Report M-97, Espoo, 1990,
relating thereto (Inclusion of regulations on energy efficiency for 54 pp. + 293 app.
ships in MARPOL Annex VI). Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (2015) Rules for the
MEPC.215(63) (2012) 2012 Guidelines for calculation of reference Construction and Classification of Sea-going Ships, vol. 1, Russian
lines for use with EEDI. Maritime Register of Shipping, Saint-Petersburg, Edition 2015.
MEPC.245(66) (2014) 2014 Guidelines on the method of calculation Sodhi, D., Takeuchi, T., Nakazawa, N., Akagawa, S., and Saeki, H.
of the attained Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) for new (1998) Medium-scale indentation tests on sea ice at various speeds.
ships. Cold Regions Science and Technology, 28, 161–182.
MEPC.264(68) (2015) International Code for Ships Operating in Vuorio, J., Riska, K., and Varsta, P. (1979) Long-Term Measurements
Polar Waters (Polar Code). of Ice Pressure and Ice-Induced Stresses on the Icebreaker SISU in
Popov, Y.N., Faddeyev, O.V., Kheysin, D.Y., and Yakovlev, Winter 1978. Winter Navigation Research Board, Research Report
A.A. (1967). Strength of Ships Sailing in Ice, Sudostroyeniye no. 28, 50 pp.
Publishing House, Leningrad.
Riska, K. (1987) On the Mechanics of the Ramming Interaction
between a Ship and a Massive Ice Floe, vol. 43, Technical Research
Centre of Finland, Publications, Espoo, Finland, 86 pp. FURTHER READING
Riska, K. (2006a) Factors Influencing the Power Requirement in
the Finnish-Swedish Ice Class Rules. Winter Navigation Research
Board, Research Report no. 67, 63 pp. IACS (2010) IACS Unified Requirements for Polar Ships (UR I1 and
13 (Oct. 2007) and UI I2 (Nov. 2010).
Riska, K. (2006b) Ice Classification of Large Vessels. Conference
on the Winter Navigation on the Baltic Sea, ICEDAY 2006, 9–10 Resolution A.1024(26) (2009) Guidelines for Ships Operating in
February, 2006, Kemi. Polar Waters.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe018
Reliability and Code Calibration
Torfinn Hørte, Liv Hovem, and Jan Mathisen
DNV GL, Høvik, Norway
of such a code, with attention to structural strength. It is

1 Introduction 1 shown how all potential hazards that a ship may encounter
2 Identification of Design Situations and Load during its lifetime need consideration. For strength require-
Scenarios 2 ments, relevant hazards can be defined by a set of load
3 Risk-Based Rule and Consistent Reliability scenarios that may occur when the ship is operating. The
Level 3 load scenarios may then be split into a manageable number
4 Code Calibration 3 of different load cases. Both the local strengths of plates and
stiffeners and the global strength of the hull girder have to be
5 Application to Hull-Girder Ultimate Strength 4
checked. Different failure modes, such as yielding, buckling,
6 Structural Reliability Analysis Results 8 and fatigue, are relevant. Figure 1 indicates how the broad
7 Target-Reliability Level 9 set of design situations and hazards are condensed and trans-
8 Code-Calibration Results 10 formed into a manageable set of rule requirements.
9 Conclusions 11 Code strength criteria are typically specified as design
List of Abbreviations 11 equations or inequalities which require the capacity to be
equal or greater than the load. A design equation includes
Glossary 11
characteristic load effects, representative of the load combi-
Related Articles 12 nation under consideration, and a characteristic capacity,
References 12 relevant for the failure mode under consideration. Further-
more, one or more safety factors or utilization factors are
included, with magnitudes that should ensure an appropriate
reliability level. The required reliability level depends on the
1 INTRODUCTION consequences of failure, and is based on a risk evaluation,
which also takes account of service experience.
The reliability of a structural component or a structural Structural reliability analysis (SRA) is a suitable tool for
system provides a measure of its ability to function during the development of structural codes, and has been available
both normal and unexpected circumstances. The structural for many years; for example, an early practical application
reliability of a ship is basically ensured by compliance with a to offshore code calibration was presented by Fjeld (1977).
design code, traditionally referred to as a design rule. Design However, ship codes are still largely based on empiricism,
codes contain practical recipes that engineers can use in order and modifications to the codes are based on service expe-
to balance structural capacity against loads. The present rience and instigated by failure events. SRA may be used
article describes a systematic process for the development proactively to improve codes. The effect of changes in a
code on the structural reliability of the resulting designs is
assessed, for a range of test cases that span the scope of the
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. code. Uncertainties in input and methodology are accounted
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe023
for by random variables, and the failure probability is
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 calculated.
2 Marine
• operation,
• repair, and
Design situations • scrapping.
The operational phase leads to the most significant struc-

tural hazards. It includes load scenarios both at sea (loaded
Hazards and ballast transits between ports) and in harbor (sheltered
waters, ports, and terminals). The load scenarios cover a wide
Load scenarios range of operations such as transit, loading and unloading,
tank testing, ballast water exchange, and special operations
Load in harbor; for example, propeller replacement afloat. Acci-
combinations dental flooding is also covered. The load scenarios can be
represented by combinations of local and global loads. Local
loads are typically pressure loads, but can also include weight
and inertia. Global loads are usually hull-girder bending
moments and shear forces. Both local and global loads can
include static and dynamic components. Given the broad
range of operations, the total number of possible load combi-
nations can be very large. To reduce the number of combina-
tions that have to be considered in design, the Rules are based
on the principle that the most unfavorable combinations of
static and dynamic loads should be addressed. Furthermore,
Figure 1. From design situations to rule requirements.
these combinations should be sufficiently severe and varied
to encompass all conditions that can reasonably occur during
operation. However, even when this principle is applied, the
The SRA of the hull-girder ultimate strength criterion
number of combinations of static and dynamic loads is still
is described in detail for tankers. This is the most critical
considerable. Hence, further elimination of nongoverning
failure mode for a ship. It is shown how the definitions load scenarios and load combinations is applied to simplify
of characteristic values and the magnitudes of partial the Rules. This elimination process is described by Hovem
safety factors can be adjusted to optimize the code for et al. (2007).
a target-reliability level. This calibration was carried out
during the development of the International Association of
2.2 Ship as a structural system
Classification Societies’ (IACS) common structural rules
for tankers (Hovem et al., 2007; IACS, 2006b; Hørte, Wang,
The ship as a structural system (SAS) stage follows the SIS
and White, 2007). This design code will be referred to as the
stage and evaluates the consequences of structural failure.
Rules in the following.
The purpose is to understand the relative importance of
the various structural elements and focus the Rule require-
ments on the most critical structural elements and failure
2 IDENTIFICATION OF DESIGN modes. Consequences are assessed with respect to safety
SITUATIONS AND LOAD SCENARIOS of life, environmental impact, and economy. This assess-
ment provides the basis for defining the relevant limit states
2.1 Ship in a system and specifying the corresponding acceptance criteria to be
applied to the various structural elements.
A systematic review (hazard identification) should cover the
structural configurations and arrangements that are within the 2.3 Critical hazard management
scope of the Rules, for all phases of the ship’s design life.
This is denoted as the “ship in a system” (SIS) stage. The Finally, the SIS and SAS stages are combined in the
following phases or design situations were identified during risk-evaluation process denoted as the critical hazard
the development of the Rules: management (CHM) stage. The CHM process is illustrated
by the risk matrix in Figure 2. Mitigation strategies can be
• design, applied to both the consequence and the probability of a
• construction, hazard in order to reduce its risk.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe023
Reliability and Code Calibration 3
Consequence should aim for consistent reliability levels across various

structural elements with similar consequences of failure.
The performance of a rule requirement with respect to this
High objective depends on its ability to take account of different
risk
combinations of uncertain variables; for example, failure of
Ship as a system, some elements may be dominated by static loads, others
consequence of
failure, by dynamic loads. The uncertainty in static loads can be
‘‘criticality class’’ significantly less than the uncertainty in dynamic loads. It
Low is impossible to achieve a consistent reliability level over
risk various ratios of dynamic to static load using a single safety
factor in such cases. The uncertainties may also vary from
Probability
case to case within the scope of the rule; for example, wide
or narrow probability distributions and thick or thin distri-
bution tails. In these circumstances, it is more effective to
Ship in a
system, specify the characteristic value of a variable by a suitable
hazard ID, fractile of its distribution (viz. in terms of a probability level)
probability rather than by the mean value. The magnitude of the safety
of failure
factor is obviously dependent on the specification of the char-
acteristic value; for example, a mean value would require
a higher safety factor than a more conservative fractile. In
Figure 2. Risk matrix, critical hazard management. general, a partial safety factor rule format is more flexible
and is more likely to provide a consistent reliability level than
a rule format with only one safety factor or one utilization
3 RISK-BASED RULE AND CONSISTENT factor.
RELIABILITY LEVEL Characteristic static loads are sometimes defined by a mean
value (weight, static pressure) and sometimes by a more
The risk matrix in Figure 2 may be used to discuss risk conservative value (permissible still-water moment). Char-
and consistency in reliability levels. A downward diagonal acteristic dynamic loads (wave loads) are typically defined
represents a constant risk level, and the risk level increases by an upper fractile; for example, by a 25-year return period.
with the distance of the diagonal from the origin. Hence, The yield strength of steel is typically defined by a lower frac-
the risks associated with the various hazards and the corre- tile based on test results; for example, the 5% fractile. In the
sponding structural failures can easily be compared. Higher CSR rules, different checks are specified for statically and
failure probabilities are acceptable for structural elements dynamically dominated load combinations in order to obtain
that fail with relatively mild consequences, while lower a consistent reliability level.
failure probabilities are required for structural elements with
more critical consequences. There are several standards for
risk-acceptance criteria, none as yet universally accepted. 4 CODE CALIBRATION
One may consider three regions or levels of risk:
Code calibration aims to find the optimum combination of
• intolerable, design equation format, characteristic value definitions, and
• as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP), and safety factor magnitudes to ensure a consistent reliability
• negligible. level, avoiding both excessive over-design and inadequate
under-design. SRA is an efficient tool for this purpose.
Formal safety assessment (FSA) is a structured and system- Since a code may specify characteristic values that have
atic methodology, employed to enhance maritime safety. to be obtained by calculation (e.g., wave load analysis or
This methodology uses cost-benefit analysis in order to eval- capacity analysis), these calculation procedures should also
uate risk-control options in the ALARP region. The FSA be unambiguously specified in the code. Sometimes it is
methodology is described by IMO (2002) and has been desirable to allow for different degrees of complexity in these
applied to structural rule requirements as described in the calculation models. For example, the midship wave-bending
submission to IMO by IACS (2006c) and Hørte et al. (2007). moment applied to a ship structure may be obtained from a
A desired reliability level may be expressed in terms of simplified formula or be computed by a wave-load analysis
a target annual probability of failure. Rule development for relevant environmental conditions. Then the simplified
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe023
4 Marine
Reliability
level
Scatter between
cases
Reduced
scatter
Target
reliability
level
1. Simplified 2. Detailed analysis, 3. Structural

analysis, should more accurate, reliability analysis,
be conservative removes conservatism and risk evaluation
Figure 3. Reliability level for different analysis refinement, general principle.
analysis should be at least as conservative as the more More details may be found in the IACS background docu-
detailed analysis, as a general principle. This is illustrated ment for section 9/1, IACS (2006b), and are also described
in Figure 3. Reduced scatter in the reliability level, avoiding by Hørte, Wang, and White (2007).
unnecessary conservatism, is likely when a more detailed Bending failure in the midship region for the sagging
analysis is used. This should motivate designers to pursue mode has been considered. With a single deck and a double
more detailed analyses whenever worthwhile. The set of test bottom, the hogging capacity is usually significantly higher
structures selected for a code calibration should span the than the sagging capacity. A fully loaded tanker has a
scope of the code to ensure that the code performs satisfac- sagging still-water bending moment, whereas ballast and
torily for this range of structures. partly loaded conditions tend to cause hogging moments.
Sometimes it can be difficult to establish a reasonably On the other hand, wave-induced bending moments are rela-
user-friendly code that performs well for all cases without tively similar in magnitude in both sagging and hogging
being overly conservative. This situation typically arises modes. Hence, sagging failure in a ballast condition or
when a conservative choice for one part of the structure is hogging failure in a fully loaded condition are both unlikely.
nonconservative for another part of the structure. It may also The economic and environmental consequences of a sagging
arise when there is a lack of information about input param- failure of a fully loaded tanker are significantly worse than a
eters for the calculation and “worst-case” assumptions are hogging failure in a ballast condition.
unavoidable. Then SRA may be used directly as an alterna-
tive to the code, as also indicated in Figure 3.
5.2 Test ships
In order to span the scope of the Rule, a test set of five

different tankers was established, ranging from a product
5 APPLICATION TO HULL-GIRDER tanker to very large crude carriers (VLCC). The main dimen-
ULTIMATE STRENGTH sions of the ships are included in Table 1.
5.1 Failure mode

5.3 Rule analysis
Bending failure of the hull girder represents the most critical
structural failure mode for a tanker. During the develop- A criterion in a structural code comprises the following three
ment of the IACS common structural rules for double hull main elements:
tankers, SRA was utilized to calibrate the Rule criterion for
this failure mode. This calibration is briefly described below. • Design formula
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe023
Table 1. Test ships, main dimensions. 5.3.2 Characteristic values

Case Ship Type Lpp (m) Breadth (m) Depth (m)
The characteristic values in Equation 1 need unique defini-
1 Suezmax 263 48 22.4 tions which are described in the following.
2 Product 174.5 27.4 17.6
3 VLCC 1 320 58 31 MSW is the characteristic still-water sagging moment for
4 VLCC 2 316 60 29.7 which one of the two alternative definitions may be applied:
5 Aframax 234 42 21 (A) the assigned, permissible, still-water bending moment
and (B) the maximum, sagging still-water bending moment
for the homogenous fully load condition. It should be noted
• Characteristic values that the permissible value was assigned in a somewhat arbi-
• Safety factor(s) trary fashion in the past and does not represent what a ship
actually requires to trade efficiently. Under the CSR Rules,
this value reflects the operational requirement.
5.3.1 Design formula MWV is the characteristic, wave, sagging moment and is
The design formula should preferably be rational and simple calculated according to the formula for wave loads given
to use. The design formula in Equation 1 is used for the by IACS (2010), which is adopted in the common structural
hull-girder ultimate strength. Rules for tankers.
Two options are permitted for calculating the ultimate,
MU hull-girder, bending-moment capacity in sagging MU ; that
𝛾S MSW + 𝛾W MWV ≤ (1)
𝛾R is, a single-step method or an incremental, iterative method,
which are both found to provide similar results. A brief
where MSW is the characteristic sagging still-water bending description of the methods is given here, and more details
moment; MWV the characteristic sagging wave-bending may be found in Appendix A of the CSR, IACS (2006a).
moment; and MU the ultimate hull-girder bending moment The single-step method is based on the assumption that the
capacity in sagging. All the bending moments in the
ultimate capacity is limited by the buckling of the stiffened
design formula are vertical bending moments. The ulti-
deck panels. The hull capacity is determined as follows: the
mate capacity is based on hull-girder net scantlings. The
hull-girder net scantlings are defined as the minimum, sectional properties of the hull girder are calculated using an
allowed, net scantlings (local structure) plus 50% of the effective deck area equal to the deck area reduced by the ratio
corrosion addition applied to all structural members of between the ultimate capacity of the stiffened deck panels
the hull girder. It is considered appropriate to take some and the corresponding yield stress. The ultimate bending
account of the minimum state of the structure before steel capacity is then calculated as the product of the reduced
renewal is required, although gross scantlings or close to section modulus and the yield strength of the deck.
gross scantlings may apply during most of the service life. The incremental, iterative method is based on discretiza-
Shear forces, axial forces, and horizontal bending moments tion of the hull-girder cross-section into individual elements.
will also be present in the hull girder. However, these load The nonlinear load-end shortening curve (stress vs strain)
contributions are small compared to the vertical bending is calculated for each element. The structural elements are
moment and are not included in the design formula. either a stiffener with the attached plate elements or a hard
𝛾 S , 𝛾 W , and 𝛾 R are partial safety factors for the still-water corner element. The stiffened plate elements fail by buckling
moment, the wave moment, and the ultimate capacity, in compression and by yielding in tension. The hard corner
respectively.
elements fail by yielding in compression or in tension.
As mentioned above, the aim is to calibrate the combina-
An incremental bending (curvature) of the hull-girder
tion of the characteristic values and the partial safety factors
cross-section (assumed to remain plane) is applied, and the
to provide the appropriate safety level. It is important to
remember that a different definition of the characteristic axial force within each element is calculated. Iterations are
values would need a recalibration of the partial safety factors. performed in order to find the new location of the neutral
The design formula should always be considered as a whole axis so that force equilibrium is maintained. The bending
because the partial factors are not mutually independent. moment of the entire cross-section is calculated by summing
Discussion of individual characteristic values or of individual up the contributions from all the individual elements. Incre-
partial safety factors can be misleading if this interdepen- ments of curvature are added until the moment reaches its
dency is not kept in mind. maximum value and the ultimate capacity is obtained.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe023
6 Marine
5.3.3 Partial safety factors both favorable and unfavorable combinations of the random
variables are taken into account, thus avoiding conservative
Magnitudes of the partial safety factors are discussed in the assumptions that tend to be necessary in a deterministic
section on the code calibration results. The purpose of the analysis. The main result of the analysis is a prediction
partial safety factors is to ensure that both inherent uncer- of the nominal, annual probability of failure together with
tainties and uncertainties arising from the analysis models are sensitivities to the various input parameters. In addition,
properly taken into account. Furthermore, they are adjusted the so-called design point is provided by the SRA, which
to provide the appropriate safety level, when combined with corresponds to the most likely values of the random variables
the associated characteristic values in the design formula. that would lead to failure. At the target probability, the
individual design point for each case in the test set indicates
5.4 Structural reliability analysis terms (combinations of characteristic value and partial safety
factor) in the design formula that would be effective for
5.4.1 Limit state formulation that case.
SRA is applied to compute the probability of hull-girder
failure, while taking the uncertainties in the wave load, in the 5.4.2 Analysis setup
still-water load and in the structural capacity explicitly into
A flow chart for the SRA is shown in Figure 4, and more
account. A limit state function is defined, representing the
details are described below.
boundary between the safe domain and the failure domain.
In the general form, the limit state function g(X) is given by
Equation 2. 5.4.3 Uncertainty modeling
The assessment of the probability distribution of the random,
⎧> 0 for X in the safe set (no hull-girder collapse)
⎪ still-water bending moment MSW_R is based on consideration
g(X) = ⎨= 0 for X on the limit state surface of all sea-going, loaded conditions in the loading manual.
⎪< 0 for X in the failure set (hull-girder collapse) A mean value and a standard deviation are calculated from
⎩
(2) the identified loading conditions, assuming equal weighting
where X denotes the vector of random variables involved in for each condition. A generic distribution of the midship,
the limit state function. The actual limit state function applied still-water bending moment for the loaded (sagging) condi-
to model hull-girder performance is given by Equation 3, tion has been established from a review of the loading
and contains similar load and strength elements to the design manuals for eight different tankers. A normal distribution has
formula in Equation 1. been fitted to the data, with a mean value of 0.7 and a stan-
dard deviation of 0.2 times the maximum value from any
g(X) = MU_R ⋅ XR − (MWV_R ⋅ Xst ⋅ Xnl + MSW_R ⋅ XSW ) fully loaded condition listed in the loading manual. There
(3) is no upper threshold applied to the distribution. In other
where MU_R is the random ultimate capacity with a model words, there is a chance that MSW_R may attain a value that
uncertainty factor XR ; MWV_R the random wave-bending exceeds the maximum value in the loading manual, with a
moment with model uncertainty factors; Xst for the linear probability of 7%. Furthermore, a model uncertainty factor,
response calculation; and Xnl for nonlinear effects. MSW_R is XSW , has been defined by a normal distribution with a mean
the random still-water bending moment with a model uncer- value of 1.0 and a standard deviation of 0.1. This uncertainty
tainty factor XSW . The various uncertainties are described was included to reflect the uncertainty between the actual
in more detail in Section 5.4.3. The probabilistic analysis still-water bending moment and the corresponding calculated
program PROBAN, DNV (2004), was used for the calcu- value in the loading manual.
lations, and the first-order reliability method (FORM) was MWV_R is the random, vertical, wave bending moment.
applied. The quasi-static, structural response due to waves is based
The effects of constructional errors and design errors are on linear hydrodynamic analysis. Intermediate results in
not usually considered in SRA. A general background on terms of transfer functions (or response amplitude opera-
SRA and guidance in its application may be found in a tors, RAOs) for the midship, vertical, bending moment are
number of references; for example, Madsen et al. (1986) and used. The short- and long-term responses are computed
DNV (1992). within the probabilistic analysis. A narrow-banded Gaus-
SRA is intended to represent the problem as realistically as sian response is assumed in each sea state. This assumption
possible by explicitly including the probability distributions implies Rayleigh distributed maxima in a given sea state,
of the random variables. Hence, probabilities associated with for which a Gumbel-type extreme value distribution can be
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe023
Load analysis Reliability analysis Capacity analysis
Joint probabilistic Geometry and

Wave load
environmental material with
analysis
model uncertainty
Transfer PROBAN
Panel buckling
functions for
analysis
wave moment
Load > capacity
Still water
Prob. of failure
moment Ultimate capacity
importance factors
distribution
sensitivity results
design point
Figure 4. SRA for hull-girder ultimate strength, analysis setup.
derived, capturing the uncertainty in the short-term response. (a) An annual extreme value of the wave-induced moment
Finally, the annual extreme value distribution is obtained together with a random value of the still-water moment.
while assuming independence between sea states. This calcu- (b) An annual extreme value of the still-water moment
lation takes account of the fraction of the year during which together with an extreme value of the wave-induced
the ship is in the fully loaded condition and at sea; assumed moment during one voyage.
to be 42.5% of the year. In heavy weather at sea, the ship is
Depending on the relative magnitudes of the two contribu-
most likely to operate in head seas, or nearly in head seas.
tions, their variabilities and the duration of a voyage, either of
The waves tend to be more long crested in extreme sea states
these combinations may be governing. In the present tanker
than in lower sea states. On the basis of these considera-
study, it appears that the combination (a) is governing for the
tions, the analyses are carried out with the assumption of
probability of failure.
wave spreading corresponding to a cosine to the power 4,
MU_R is the random ultimate capacity, and is calculated
directional, spreading function, and with a triangular distri-
according to the single-step method given in the IACS
bution of ship heading within limits of ±30∘ around head Common Structural Rules for tankers. The panel buckling
seas. The Pierson Moskowitz (PM) wave spectrum is applied program PULS (DNV, 2009) is used to compute the ulti-
in the analyses, and zero-speed is assumed. The model uncer- mate plate field buckling capacity, as an integrated part of the
tainty factor, Xst , is intended to cover uncertainty in the linear SRA. A modified sectional modulus for the deck is calculated
hydrodynamic analysis and the effect of uncertainty in the based on the ultimate strength of the deck panels. The deck
wave spectrum. A normal distribution is assumed with a buckling strength is a function of the geometrical dimensions
mean value of 1.0 and a coefficient of variation (CoV) of 0.1. of the plate and stiffeners, the out-of-straightness of the plate
Nonlinear effects are accounted for with the model uncer- and stiffeners, the Young’s modulus, and the yield stress of
tainty factor, Xnl , also with a mean value of 1.0, a CoV of 0.1, the material. Uncertainty with respect to the yield strength of
and a normal distribution. A joint environmental model for the material is accounted for in the analysis, and is derived
the North Atlantic scatter diagram, corresponding to IACS from its characteristic value which is assumed to represent
(2001), is applied. The significant wave height is modeled a lower 5% fractile. A CoV of 0.08 is used for mild steel
by a Weibull distribution, and the peak wave period with a and 0.06 is used for high strength steel, taken from DNV
conditional log-normal distribution. (1992). A model uncertainty factor, XR , is applied to the
The still-water bending moment is added to the wave capacity, with a normal distribution, a mean value of 1.05,
moment by linear superposition. Two different combinations and a CoV of 0.1. The bias of 1.05 on the mean value is based
are evaluated, according to the combination rule proposed by on a comparison between the single-step method, which is
Turkstra (1970): applied here, and nonlinear finite element analysis results.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe023
8 Marine
5.5 Design parameter behavior is noticeable for the Suezmax and Aframax tankers
at low values of DMF.
It is necessary to quantify the effects of design modifica-
tions during the calibration of the Rule requirement. A design
parameter is defined in order to arrange adjustment of the 6 STRUCTURAL RELIABILITY
ultimate capacity in a realistic way. This is done by changing ANALYSIS RESULTS
the deck structure, which is the most critical component for
the sagging capacity. Scantlings of the sides, bulkheads, and 6.1 Probability of failure
bottom structure are kept constant. Changes in the loads
as a consequence of the design modifications to the deck The probability of failure is calculated for various DMFs for
are neglected. The design parameter, DMF (design modifi- all test ships. The results are included in Figure 6. A DMF
cation factor), is defined as the ratio of the modified deck of unity corresponds to the reference scantlings from the
cross-sectional area to that of the reference scantlings from original drawings and leads to failure probabilities slightly
the drawings. The following assumptions are made for the greater than 10−3 for the Suezmax and the VLCC 2, whereas
changes in the deck cross-sectional area: failure probabilities somewhat greater than 10−4 are obtained
for the remaining ships. The figure shows how the failure
• The change in the stiffener size, following a simple para- probability changes when the deck area (DMF) changes. A
metric equation, is based on typically available profile similar trend is seen for all the ships. It should be noted
sizes. that other requirements besides the hull-girder strength, such
• The change in thickness of the deck plating is propor- as local requirements or fatigue, may well be governing for
tional to the change in thickness of the stiffener flange structural elements. This is likely to be part of the reason for
• It is assumed that the spans, spacing, and the number of the differences between the hull-girder failure probabilities
stiffeners in the deck structure are constant. based on the actual reference scantlings of the test ships.
The variation of the ultimate bending moment capacity in 6.2 Safety level versus partial safety factor for
sagging, relative to the capacity of the reference scantlings individual test ship
of each test ship, is shown as a function of the deck area
ratio (DMF) in Figure 5. It may be seen that a percentage Corresponding design points can be extracted for each result
change in the deck area roughly corresponds to the same in Figure 6. A design point describes the joint outcomes of
percentage change in capacity. However, a little scatter is all the random variables that are most likely to lead to failure.
present in the results, and the effect of nonlinear buckling A design point in the space of physical random variables
also corresponds to the point on the failure surface that is
Characteristic capacity as a
function of DMF Characteristic capacity as a
function of DMF
120% 1.0E–05
Capacity, normalized to capacity
Capacity, normalized to capacity
115%
110%
105%
Suezmax 1.0E–04 Suezmax
for DMF = 1
for DMF = 1
100% Product Product

95% VLCC 1 VLCC 1
90% VLCC 2 VLCC 2
85% Aframax 1.0E–03
Aframax
80%
75%
70% 1.0E–02
0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3
Design modification factor Design modification factor
Figure 5. Characteristic ultimate bending capacity as a function of Figure 6. Annual probability of failure as a function of the DMF
the DMF (design-modification factor = deck area scaling factor). (=deck area-scaling factor).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe023
Calculated safety factor, based on relatively high value of the permissible still-water bending
design point and characteristic moment compared to the homogeneous, fully loaded value.
value in each individual case (comb a)
1.7 It was decided to set the partial safety factor for still-water
1.6 bending moment to unity, although the results indicate
Wave
1.5 that a lower value might be appropriate. This ensures that
Partial safety factor
1.4 tankers with an actual still-water bending moment close to

Suezmax
1.3 the permissible value are not treated leniently, and conforms
Product
1.2
Capacity VLCC 1 with the common expectation that a safety factor is not less
1.1
VLCC 2 than unity.
1
Aframax The case-dependent, partial safety factors (𝛾 R ) for the
0.9
0.8 ultimate bending capacity increase slightly with decreasing
0.7 Still water failure probability and approach 1.1 at a failure probability
0.6 of 10−4 . The scatter between the cases is small, suggesting
0.01 0.001 0.0001 that the results are insensitive to the chosen ultimate strength
Annual Pf
capacity assessment method.
The case-dependent, partial safety factors (𝛾 W ) for the
Figure 7. Case-dependent, partial safety factors for each ship in
wave-bending moment show some scatter between cases and
test set.
increase more strongly with decreasing probability of failure
than the other partial safety factors. This indicates that the
closest to the origin in a transformed, standard-normal space wave-bending moment is an important variable.
(known as u-space). One may compare Equations 1 and 3 and
estimate case-dependent, partial safety factors from a design
point as follows: 7 TARGET-RELIABILITY LEVEL
MSW_dp ⋅ XSW_dp MWV_dp ⋅ Xst_dp ⋅ Xnl_dp
𝛾S = , 𝛾W = , The SRA results for the test ships with reference scantlings
MSW MWV indicate that current design practice corresponds to a target
MU_dp ⋅ XR_dp annual probability of failure around 10−3 ; cf. Figure 6 for
and 𝛾R = (4) DMF = 1.0. DNV CN 30.6 DNV (1992) and other publica-
MU
tions suggest a somewhat stricter target level when the conse-
where the subscript _dp is used to indicate the design quences are serious, and there is no redundancy. However,
point of each random variable. Using the relationship one should remember that the calculated probability of
between the DMF and the failure probability in Figure 6, the failure is a nominal (or notional) value, which is sensitive to
case-dependent, partial safety factors can be calculated from the reliability model and the uncertainties that are applied.
Equation 4, as a function of the failure probability for each Service experience at sea from the existing fleet does not
ship in the test set. The results are illustrated in Figure 7. suggest that the ultimate hull-girder strength of fully loaded,
In this case, the permissible value (definition A) is used for double-hull tankers is inadequate.
MSW . There are several inherent sources of conservatism in the
It is seen that the case-dependent, partial safety factors SRA arising from the input assumptions. The failure prob-
for the still-water bending moment (𝛾 S ) are less than unity abilities are calculated for the hull-girder net scantlings
and show a wide range of scatter between the cases. This (50% corrosion addition for all members). Results using
indicates that the permissible moment is higher than the gross scantlings are found to give approximately an order
still-water bending moment most likely to act at failure, and of magnitude lower failure probabilities. The environmental
that this ratio is ship-dependent. This reflects the somewhat design basis, from North Atlantic conditions, is more severe
arbitrary magnitude of the permissible still-water bending than the actual environmental service conditions for most
moment relative to realistic, fully loaded conditions, and tankers. The probability of failure is significantly lower for
provides motivation for the alternative (B) definition of the tankers sailing in other parts of the world. The benefit of
characteristic still-water bending moment as the maximum weather routing is not considered, beyond what is implicit in
value from the loading manual. The still-water, partial the scatter diagram. Another source of conservatism is that
safety factors increase slightly with decreasing probability the actual steel strength is often higher than the specification.
of failure. The Suezmax and the Aframax cases have the Cost-benefit analysis may be used to derive the
lowest partial safety factors, which can be explained by the target-reliability level. This is done in IACS (2006c),
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe023
10 Marine
and found to correspond reasonably well with the target Table 2. Calibrated partial safety factors.
indicated here. Characteristic still-water 𝛾S 𝛾W 𝛾R
bending moment
(A) Permissible still-water 1.0 1.20 1.10
bending moment
8 CODE-CALIBRATION RESULTS (B) Maximum bending moment 1.0 1.30 1.10
for homogenous full load
8.1 Partial safety factors condition
A more formal optimization procedure than the visual results

in Figure 7 may be applied to obtain the optimum partial
The final safety factors are included in Table 2. Combina-
safety factors across the set of test cases. This optimization
tion (A) implies that the ship operates with the permissible
is carried out by minimizing the deviations of the annual
still-water bending moment, which is rather unlikely, and
failure probability relative to the target value, according to
this leads to the somewhat lower safety factor of 𝛾 W = 1.2
Equation 5.
compared to 𝛾 W = 1.3 for combination (B). Combination (B)
applies a still-water bending moment corresponding to the
∑
N
Δ(PT , →
−
𝛾)= (PT − Pi (→
−
𝛾 ))2 (5) maximum value for a homogenously loaded ship. This situa-
i=1 tion is more likely, and is to be used with 𝛾 W = 1.3. Initially,
the optimization was carried out for a target probability of
where PT is the target annual probability of failure, Pi (→−
𝛾 ) the PT = 1.0 × 10−3 . After rounding off the safety factors, the
annual probability of failure calculated for case i as a function results correspond to the target probability PT = 1.5 × 10−3
of the partial safety factors, →
−𝛾 the vector of partial safety when optimized according to Equation 5.
factors, and N the number of cases included in the calibration
process. This type of objective function provides a higher 8.2 Reliability by code
penalty for under-strength designs than for over-strength
designs. The reliabilities obtained by use of the design Rule, consid-
The calibrated partial safety factors are listed in Table 2. ering both sets of partial safety factors given in Table 2,
The formal optimization has been combined with some judg- are investigated as follows. For a given set of partial safety
ment; that is, as mentioned above, 𝛾 S was set to unity. factors, the design Rule is applied to the set of test ships,
Furthermore, the partial safety factor for the capacity 𝛾 R was and the DMFs are adjusted so that the required strength is
set to 1.1, based on the results in Figure 7. The safety factor obtained in each case. Combination (A) was found to be
for the wave moment 𝛾 W was then calibrated. A somewhat governing for the Product tanker and the Aframax, whereas
lower value than indicated in Figure 7 was obtained due to combination (B) governed the VLCCs. There was little
the conservative choice of 𝛾 S = 1.0. difference between the two combinations for the Suezmax.
Annual probability of failure, before and after

calibration
0.0001
Suezmax
Product
Annual Pf
VLCC 1
0.001
VLCC 2
Aframax
Target
0.01
Reference Rule All safety Detailed load
scantlings factors analysis
optimized
Figure 8. Annual probability of failure before and after calibration.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe023
Ratio: DMF_Rule/DMF_SRA This article is based on work carried out during the devel-
1.1 opment of the common structural Rules for tankers, but the
1.08 principles are considered to be generic. A code should prefer-
DMF_Rule/DMF_SRA
1.06
ably be reasonably simple to use, whereas the development
1.04
1.02
of a code may require a great deal of work. This includes due
1 consideration of all relevant design situations with associated
0.98 hazards. The situations are detailed in terms of load scenarios
0.96 and various load combinations. Judgment and screening can
0.94 be used to eliminate nongoverning load combinations to
0.92 arrive at a manageable number that are finally included as
0.9 part of the code.
ax ct 1 2 ax
zm du CC CC am
SRA is a rational tool for code calibration, in order to
Su
e Pro VL VL Afr provide a consistent and adequate reliability level. Some-
times it may be useful to include separate requirements for
Figure 9. Ratio, DMF from Rule against DMF for target-reliability load combinations dominated by static loads and for load
level.
combinations dominated by dynamic loads.
In general, the use of partial safety factors is advisable
The corresponding failure probability for this DMF is then when several load contributions with different degrees of
obtained from the SRA. Figure 8 shows the probabilities of uncertainty influence the structure. Partial safety factors
failure that are obtained; using the reference scantlings, and are employed in the hull-girder, ultimate, strength check.
from the calibrated Rule with partial safety factors as given Case-dependent, partial safety factors are estimated as a
in Table 2. Two additional sets of results are also included for function of the failure probability for each ship in the test
illustration; the calibration result if all partial safety factors set. An objective function is used to optimize the final partial
were optimized simultaneously without any constraints (e.g., safety factors corresponding to a particular target-reliability
allowing 𝛾 S to be less than 1.0), and the calibration result if level. Consequence assessment shows that the hull-girder
all partial safety factors were optimized simultaneously in ultimate strength criterion might be governing for some
combination with wave loads from detailed, direct calcula- ships, but it is not necessarily governing in general.
tions instead of using the IACS formula. Neither of the latter
two results is applied in the Rules, but they serve to illustrate
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
the principles outlined in Figure 3.
The failure probabilities based on the reference scantlings ALARP as low as reasonably practicable
(DMF = 1.0) are lower than the target for the Product Tanker, CHM critical hazard management
the VLCC 1, and the Aframax. The deck area can therefore be CoV coefficient of variation
reduced for these ships, and still satisfy the target-reliability DMF design modification factor
level. The Suezmax and the VLCC 2 meet the target relia- FORM first order reliability method
bility almost exactly. FSA forma safety assessment
The calibrated Rule is imperfect in the sense that the target IACS International Association of Classification
reliability is not precisely obtained by design to the Rule for Societies
all the ships in the test set. The scatter between the cases may PM Pierson–Moskowitz
be seen in Figure 8. The consequences of this scatter on the SAS ship as a structural system
deck scantlings are illustrated in Figure 9 by the ratio of the SIS ship in a system
DMF from the Rule analysis against the DMF for the target SRA structural reliability analysis
reliability. The Rule provides a slight under-design for the VLCC very large crude carrier
Suezmax and Product tanker compared to the target; 2% and
3%, respectively. Over-design is obtained for the remaining
ships, with a maximum of 7% for the VLCC 1. GLOSSARY
Characteristic load The reference value of a load to be
9 CONCLUSIONS used in the determination of load
effects, normally based on a
Design engineers generally ensure appropriate reliability of defined fractile in the upper end of
their structural designs by applying structural design codes. the distribution function for load.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe023
12 Marine
Code calibration It refers to that particular activity that DNV (2009) PULS 2.0, Panel Ultimare Limit State, Copyright Det
Norske Veritas AS, P.O. Box 300, N-1322 Hovik, Norway.
is exercised when some superior
method is applied to assign values DNV Software (2004) Sesam User Manual, PROBAN, General
Purpose Probabilistic Analysis Program, DNV Software report no.
to the variables of a code format 92-7049, rev. no. 5, November 1st, 2004.
such that a specific design code is
Fjeld, S. (1977) Reliability of Offshore Structures. Proceedings of the
formulated. 9th Offshore Technology Conference, Paper OTC 3027, Houston.
Failure probability The probability that failure occurs in Hovem, L., Thunes, R., Hørte, T., and Bøe, Å. (2007) Common
a specified time interval. Structural Rules for Tankers: From Design Situations to Rule
Hull-girder ultimate The maximum resistance to loads that Requirements. 10th International Symposium on Practical Design
strength the hull girder of a ship is capable of Ships and Other Floating Structures, PRADS 2007, Houston,
of developing before failure occurs. Texas, United States of America.
Structural reliability It is to quantify the reliability of Hørte, T., Skjong, R., Friis-Hansen, P., Teixeira, A.P., and Viejo de
analysis structures under consideration of Francisco, F. (2007) Probabilistic Methods Applied to Structural
Design and Rule Development. For RINA Conference on Devel-
the uncertainties associated with opments in Classification & International Regulations, 24–25
the resistances and loads. January, 2007.
Hørte, T., Wang, G., and White, N. (2007) Calibration of the Hull
Girder Ultimate Capacity Criterion for Double Hull Tankers. 10th
RELATED ARTICLES International Symposium on Practical Design of Ships and Other
Floating Structures, PRADS, Houston, USA, October 1–5, 2007.
Historical Development of the Offshore Industry IACS (2001) Recommendation No. 34, Standard Wave Data, 1992,
Estimation of Extreme Met-Ocean Conditions for Offshore Rev. 1 June 2000, Corr. Nov. 2001.
Engineering Applications IACS (2006a) Common Structural Rules for Double Hull Tankers,
MetOcean Parameters and Processes Rules, January 2006. http://www.iacs.org.uk/document/public/
Publications/Common_rules/PDF/CSR_Double_Hull_Oil_
Regular, Irregular Waves and the Wave Spectrum
Tanker_pdf777.pdf (accessed 03 September 2015).
Frequency-Direction Spectra of Wind-Generated Gravity
IACS (2006b) Common Structural Rules for Double Hull Tankers,
Waves Technical Background Documents, Version, January 2006.
Acceptability of Risk http://www.iacs.org.uk/publications/CommonRulesDoc.aspx?
Probabilistic Methods pageid=4&sectionid=2&linkid=10 (accessed 03 September 2015).
Seakeeping: Waves and Wave Spectra IACS (2006c) Submission to IMO, Goal-Based New Ship Construc-
Sea Loads tion Standards, Linkage between FSA and GBS, IMO MSC
Global Hull-Girder Response (Quasi-Static, Prismatic Beam 81/NF.6, 7 February 2006. http://www.rina.org.uk/rfiles/MSC81/
Models) MSC81-INF-6.pdf (accessed 03 September 2015).
Slamming IACS (2010) Requirements concerning Strength of Ships, Unified
Requirements, UR S11, “Longitudinal Strength Standard”, Rev. 7,
Dynamic Hull-Girder Response to Waves
Nov. 2010. http://www.iacs.org.uk/document/public/Publications/
Ultimate Strength of Ship Structures Unified_requirements/PDF/UR_S_pdf158.PDF (accessed 03
Detailed Structural Design September 2015).
Structural Design Methods and Documentation IMO (2002) Guidelines for the Use of Formal Safety Assessment
Measurements and Structural Monitoring (FSA) in the IMO Rule Making Process, MSC Circ 1023/MEPC
Regulatory and Classification Limits Circ. 392, April 2002.
Ship Vibration, Global, and Local Modes Madsen, H.O., Krenk, S., and Lind, N.C. (1986) Methods of Struc-
Ultimate Strength Analysis tural Safety, Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Turkstra, C.J. (1970) Theory of Structural Safety, SM Study No
2 Solid Mechanics Division, University of Waterloo, Waterloo,
Ontario.
REFERENCES
DNV (1992) Classification Note 30.6, Structural Reliability Analysis

of Marine Structures, July 1992.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe023
Fundamentals of Cavitation
Tuomas P. Sipilä
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Espoo, Finland
The basic cavitation physics are discussed in Section 2.

1 Introduction 1 The phase transition and the bubble dynamics and stability
2 Cavitation Physics 1 are covered in this section. Noise and erosion induced by
3 Noise and Erosion 3 cavitation are discussed in Section 3. The typical cavitation
forms in the maritime field are introduced in Section 4. The
4 Cavitation in Marine Applications 4
conclusions are given in Section 5.
5 Conclusions 10
Glossary 10
2 CAVITATION PHYSICS
References 10
Further Reading 11 2.1 Phase transition
The common phases of pure substances are the solid, liquid,

and gas phases. The gas phase is called vapor if the tempera-
1 INTRODUCTION ture of the fluid is below its critical temperature. Two or more
phases can exist simultaneously in a volume. Then, the fluid
Cavitation incepts in a variety of technical applications is called a mixture.
involving fluid flow. These can be, for example, ship Figure 1 shows a pT (pressure–temperature) diagram, or
propellers, pumps, impellers, injection valves in diesel a phase diagram, for a pure substance. The phase changes
engines, and bearings. The common denominators to cavi- are expected to be quasi-steady. All three phases are in
tation in all of its forms are high flow velocities and high equilibrium at the triple point. The saturated liquid line ends
pressure pulses emitted from collapsing cavitation bubbles. at the critical point. The melting line between the solid and
The intensive dynamics of cavitation cause several liquid phases is also shown in the diagram. At temperatures
well-known, but not necessarily fully understood, below the triple point, the liquid phase does not exist and
phenomena. Large numbers of collapsing cavitation bubbles the solid phase changes directly to the vapor phase and vice
emit broadband noise to the environment. Cavitation can versa.
cause material damage if the bubbles collapse in the vicinity
The phase transition from liquid to vapor is called evapo-
of a material surface. Collapse of large cavitating flow
ration and the phase transition from vapor to liquid conden-
structures can excite vibrations in neighboring structures.
sation. Evaporation is called cavitation if the phenomenon is
Cavitation also alters the main flow field and may reduce
driven by a pressure decrease. If evaporation is driven by a
hydrofoil lift.
temperature increase, the phenomenon is called boiling. The
This article focuses on the cavitation phenomena that are
phase change can delay from the limits of the quasi-steady
common in the marine field, especially in ship propulsion.
processes. Cavitation may incept at lower pressures than
would be suspected from the quasi-steady processes. Then,
This article is © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. the liquid is at a metastable state.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe101
In the marine applications, the temperature change in the
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 bulk flow is very small relative to the created or destructed
2 Marine
Pressure p(r, t)
Critical point
Cavitation
Solid Liquid
Gas
Boiling
R
pi
Vapor
Triple point
Temperature Figure 2. A spherical bubble in a fluid domain.
Figure 1. Phase diagram. The delimitation between boiling and

cavitation is also illustrated. content inside the bubble is expected to be constant and it is
assumed to be ideal gas. No mass or heat transfer is allowed
vapor volume. For that, cavitation can be considered as an over the boundary of the bubble. The medium around the
isothermal process from the main flow point of view. bubble is incompressible and viscid. The vapor inside the
bubble is saturated and its partial pressure is the vapor pres-
2.2 Bubble dynamics sure at the surrounding medium bulk temperature. The reader
is advised to study the text books mentioned earlier for the
Cavitation bubbles grow from cavitation nuclei, that is, tiny full derivation of the Rayleigh–Plesset equation. The formu-
bubbles filled with vapor or gas or a combination of these. lation is in its final form:
Cavitation does not incept in pure liquids having no nuclei,
̇ p − p∞ (t)
and pure water can sustain even tension. However, pure water R(t)R(t) ̇ 2 + 2 S(t) + 4𝜇 R(t) = v
̈ + 3 R(t)
exists in virtually no practical engineering applications. 2 R(t) R(t) 𝜌w
Rayleigh (1917) derived a function for a single spher- ( )3𝛾
pg,0 R0
ical collapsing cavitation bubble motion containing pure + (2)
𝜌w R (t)
vapor in an infinite inviscid medium under uniform pres-
sure in the infinity. Later on, Plesset (1949) generalized the where R is the bubble radius, t the time, 𝜇 the dynamic
case for traveling cavitation bubbles. This equation is called viscosity of water, 𝜌w the water density, and 𝛾 the constant
the Rayleigh–Plesset equation. It is derived in many text of the isentropic process. In isothermal conditions, 𝛾 = 1.0.
books dealing with cavitation, for example, Hammit (1980), The initial equilibrium condition where Ṙ = 0 is denoted by
Brennen (1995), and Franc and Michel (2004). the subscript 0.
A bubble in a liquid medium is shown in Figure 2. The Rayleigh–Plesset equation determines the bubble
The derivation of the Rayleigh–Plesset equation is based radius and the pressure field in a fluid medium when
on the continuity and momentum equations of spherically the external pressure field variation p∞ (t) is known. The
symmetric incompressible flows. The boundary condition growth and collapse of the cavitation bubbles can be deter-
for the problem is formed from the fact that in an equilib- mined using Equation (2). Due to the inertial terms, the
rium condition the force generated by the pressure difference Rayleigh–Plesset equation is highly nonlinear.
between the bubble interior pi and the medium just outside The last term in the left-hand side of Equation 2 vanishes
the bubble pw,surf must be compensated by the bubble’s for inviscid fluids. The role of viscosity is insignificant when
surface tension S. That gives the condition
considering bubble collapse and explosion. In addition, the
2S(t) surface tension has small influence on the bubble growth
pi − pw,surf (t) = (1) and collapse due to the high inertial forces present in the
R(t)
phenomenon. As shown in the text books of cavitation, the
The pressure inside the bubble forms from the vapor pres- pressure near the bubble is hundreds of bars in the final stage
sure pv and the gas pressure pg , that is, pi = pv + pg . The gas of the collapse. The characteristic time of the bubble collapse
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe101
Fundamentals of Cavitation 3
is of order of milliseconds and the bubble wall velocity This pressure is called the Blake threshold pressure. The
reaches hundreds of meters per second during the collapse. critical pressure difference to the vapor pressure decreases
with increasing bubble size. As a consequence, the larger
cavitation nuclei start to cavitate easier than the smaller ones.
2.3 Bubble stability In cavitation tunnels, the lack of sufficient amount of large
cavitation nuclei can delay cavitation inception compared to
The stability of nuclei is investigated using the condition what is observed in the natural waters.
determined in Equation 1. In isothermal conditions, the The cavitation nuclei undergo pressure fluctuations in
ambient pressure due to the change of the bubble volume is turbulent flows. If the mean pressure in a turbulent flow
(4 )3 is close to the critical pressure, the pressure can momen-
3
πR0 2S tarily exceed the critical level and the nuclei start to cavitate
p∞ = pg0 4
+ pv − even if the pressure again rises over the critical pressure.
πR R
3 Thus, cavitation incepts earlier in turbulent flows compared
to laminar ones.
The solution of this function is shown in Figure 3 for two
initial bubble sizes. The minima of the curves form the
critical radii of the bubbles. The stable equilibrium is on
the left from the dividing line and the unstable on the right. 3 NOISE AND EROSION
If the pressure decreases when the bubble is in the stable
equilibrium zone, the bubble growth ceases as the pressure Cavitation induces two types of noise to the surrounding
stabilizes. If the bubble size is near the unstable equilibrium medium. The volume fluctuations of the sheet and tip vortex
and the pressure exceeds the unstable equilibrium line, the cavitation produce low frequency noise. In the ship propeller
bubble grows explosively nevertheless the ambient pressure applications, the noise from this phenomenon produces
still decreases or not. discrete peaks to the noise spectrum at the propeller blade
The critical bubble radius Rc and the critical pressure p∞,c passage frequency and its harmonics. The volume fluctu-
are evaluated as √ ations are mainly induced by the changes in the ambient
3R0 pg0 pressure and inflow conditions. The natural shedding of
Rc = R0 (3) sheet cavitation also alters the size of the vaporized regions
2S
on the hydrofoils.
Cavitation causes also continuous noise band in the noise
4S spectrum at a very wide frequency range up to hundreds of
p∞,c = pv − (4)
3Rc kilohertz. The continuous noise spectrum is caused by the
growth and collapse of a vast amount of cavitation bubbles in
the fluid domain. In the typical marine flows, large amounts
of cavitation bubbles are formed when sheet cavitation is
cutoff by a re-entrant jet and a cloud cavity is formed.
Presure, p
R0 = R1
Bubbles may also tear off at the trailing edge of the sheet
R0 = R2 > R1
cavity. Cavitation bubbles are present on the outer edge of
Critical bubble radius, Rc cavitating vortices even if they would seem glassy.
p = pυ
Matusiak (1992) models the high frequency noise emitted

by a group of collapsing cavitation bubbles. In his model,
the cavity is disintegrated into a group of cavities using a
model for the collapse of individual cavities. The bubbles
tear off from the trailing edge of the sheet cavity. A statis-
tical model is applied to determine the volume of the bubbles.
Stable
equilibrium The volume rate of the forming bubbles is identical to the
reduction in the sheet cavitation volume. Hallander (2002)
Unstable equilibrium included the interaction of the cavitation bubbles in his
high frequency noise model. Underwater noise is discussed
Bubble radius, R more detailed in (Propulsion Model Testing; Propeller-
and Thruster-Induced Noise and Vibration; Underwater
Figure 3. Equilibrium limit of cavitation nuclei. Noise Radiation, Mechanisms, and Control).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe101
4 Marine
Cavitation may be erosive if the bubbles collapse near a

material surface. Van Terwisga et al. (2009) describe in detail
a hypothesis about the link between mechanics in cavitation
dynamics and erosion damages. The authors explain that the
potential energy contained in the sheet and vortex cavities
are highly focused on a material surface both in time and
space. The cavitating bubbles are concentrated into horse-
shoe vortices near a solid surface. Then the shock wave
emitted by the first bubble collapse initiates a synchronized
implosion of all bubbles in the vapor cloud nearby.
If the energy emitted by the shock waves of the bubbles
exceeds the threshold of the material, cavitation erosion
damages are caused to the surface. Since the shedding of
sheet cavitation is usually regular in time and space, the Figure 5. Cavitation erosion damages on the propeller root and the
erosion damage on a material surface can become serious trailing edge near the blade tip. (Reproduced from Sipilä, 2012. ©
over a long period of time. Figure 4 shows a schematic illus- VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, 2012.)
tration of material loss rate over time with varying cavitation
energy. An undamaged material surface can sustain cavita-
tion explosions exceeding the threshold limit over a certain than that of the pressure wave (Franc and Michel, 2004).
period of time with only minor damages. The material loss Figure 5 shows an example of propeller blade erosion caused
rate grows rapidly as the initial damages cumulate over a by cavitation.
specific limit. The time that the surface tolerates high cavita- Another form of cavitation that focuses energy efficiently
tion explosions decreases with increasing cavitation energy. is tip vortex cavitation. If the cavitating tip vortex breaks
At the end of the bubble collapse near a surface, an up near a material surface, the vapor cloud gathers into
impacting jet is formed which can penetrate into the mate- horseshoe vortices and collapses in a similar fashion as in
rial surface. The pressure amplitude of an impacting jet can the case of the shed sheet cavities. The tip vortices usually
be same order of magnitude as that of a shock wave but the hit the material surface in a certain limited region that makes
impact duration of the jet is two orders of magnitude lower the erosion from vortex cavitation potentially severe. It is
generally assumed that stable tip vortex cavitation does not
cause erosion.
To mention few erosion risk models, the ones presented
by Bark, Berchiche, and Grekula (2004) and Fortes-Patella,
Material loss rate
Reboud, and Briançon-Marjollet (2004) are based on the

potential energy transfer from collapsing vapor clouds into
acoustic energy emitted from the collapsing micro bubbles.
The former model identifies the bubble rebound as an indi-
cator of aggressive cavitation that may lead to erosion. The
latter model determines the damage rate based on the flow
rgy
ene aggressiveness potential power and the pressure wave power
t ion
vita induced from macroscopic vapor cloud collapses. The crit-
Ca
ical parameters in the latter model are the distance from the
center of the collapsing vapor cloud to the material surface,
Erosio and the hydrodynamic characteristics such as the reference
n ene
rgy th
resho velocity and the cavitation number.
ld
4 CAVITATION IN MARINE
Time APPLICATIONS
Figure 4. Material loss over time under influence of varying cavita- Cavitation was first observed in the marine field in the
tion energy. (Based on an idea by Prof. J.S. Carlton, City University, famous steam ship Turbinia in 1897. The ship reached over
London, UK.) 30 knots speed being the fastest ship of its time. Cavitation
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe101
has ever since remained a focus of key interest and research If there is a high number of large nuclei present in the water,
in the maritime field. In addition to the propellers, cavitation as is the case in the natural waters, the critical pressure pc is
incepts also on ship appendages such as rudders, fins, and close to the vapor pressure. Then, the following condition can
keels. be established for the cavitation inception condition:
Cavitation causes three detrimental phenomena on ships
and other marine structures. Firstly, cavitation induces vibra- Cp = −𝜎v = −𝜎i (7)
tions to the ship structures, which can be disturbing to people
and machinery on board. In severe cases, the operation of the where the cavitation inception number is defined as
ship can be disturbed. Secondly, cavitation can be erosive and
p∞ − pc
cause damages to the ship propellers and rudders or other hull 𝜎i = 1
appendages. If the dry-docking time must be extended due to 2
𝜌q2
erosion damages, considerable additional costs are incurred
by the ship owner. Thirdly, cavitation causes underwater
noise that disturbs underwater fauna and people on board.
Silent operation can be one of the fundamental requirements 4.2 Cavitation types on marine propellers
for research and naval vessels.
Cavitation cannot usually be avoided in commercial ships Cavitation in the marine context can be divided into five
due to the high propeller loading. For the fast ships, cavita- categories according to the International Towing Tank
tion on propellers is sometimes purposely increased. If sheet Committee ITTC (2002). The cavitation categories are listed
cavitation extents over the trailing edge of the blade, the and briefly described in the following paragraphs.
propeller is supercavitating. The volume of the sheet cavity Sheet cavitation or attached cavitation is usually thin,
on supercavitating propellers stabilizes which decreases the smooth, and transparent. It develops at the blade or hydrofoil
induced pressure pulses, vibration excitations, and erosion leading edge as the local pressure reaches the critical pres-
risk on the blades. Supercavitation is ensured using special sure. If sheet cavitation is isolated from the tip vortex, the
shape blade profiles. Supercavitation is utilized also in other re-entrant jet forming at the cavity closure induces a shed-
high speed underwater objects, such as torpedoes. ding process to the cavity. This is more common in pressure
side sheet cavitation but may also occur on the suction side,
4.1 Cavitation number especially if sheet cavitation incepts at low radii. The shed
cavity structures can be erosive. If the number of the shed-
Vapor pressure is usually representative of the pressure inside ding cycles is low, say <10, during the life time of the
cavities in the marine applications. The gas pressure in the sheet cavity, the erosion risk increases (Bark, Berchiche and
cavitation bubbles is neglected. Thus, the cavitation number Grekula, 2004; Moulijn et al., 2006). The life time of the
𝜎 v can be expressed as follows: cavity can be, for example, the propeller blade endurance in
a wake peak.
p∞ − pv The well-designed modern propellers have skewed leading
𝜎= 1
(5)
2
𝜌q2 edge and the suction side sheet cavitation occurs at high radii.
Then the re-entrant jets reflect upward at the cavity closure
where q is a reference velocity. The reference velocity can be and the vapor escapes through the tip vortex. In these cases,
determined in a number of ways. In propeller applications, the sheet cavity is steady and the erosion risk is low. The
the common reference velocities are the advance velocity dynamics of sheet cavitation is discussed in more detail in
VA and different
√ forms of the rotational velocity such as Section 4.3.
nD, 𝜔R, and VA2 + (𝜔R)2 , where n is the rotational rate A sample of a two-dimensional pressure distribution on a
of the propeller, D the propeller diameter, R the propeller foil or a propeller blade section with a closed sheet cavity is
radius, and 𝜔 = 2πn the angular velocity of the propeller. The shown in Figure 6. The pressure is slightly below the vapor
cavitation number is depicted by the symbol 𝜎 n when the pressure in the laminar separation point in front of the cavity.
rotational velocity is used as the reference velocity. Under the sheet cavity, the pressure is at the vapor pressure. A
The difference between the pressure in an undisturbed flow pressure peak may incept behind the cavity as the streamlines
and the local pressure is nondimensionalized in the same way of the liquid flow hit the skin of the hydrofoil.
as the cavitation number: Cloud cavitation forms as the re-entrant jet cuts of the
sheet cavity, or a part of it, from the blade. The vapor region
p − p∞ convects with the main flow to downstream. Cloud cavitation
Cp = 1
(6)
2
𝜌q2 consists of a very large number of cavitating bubbles and
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe101
6 Marine
Non cavitating Non cavitating

Cavitating Cp Cavitating
Cp
Cp = 0
Cp = 0
Cp = −σν
Cp = −σν
Choordwise distance x/c

Choordwise distance x/c
Figure 7. Pressure distribution on the suction side of a foil section

Figure 6. Pressure distribution on the suction side of a foil section with and without a traveling cavitation bubble.
with and without a closed sheet cavity on the fore part of the foil.
Streak cavitation is a form of bubble cavitation. Bubble

vortical structures. Depending on the size of the cloud cavity cavitation forms at isolated roughness spots at the leading
and the external conditions, the whole macroscopic structure edge of the blade or at imperfections on the blade surface
of the cloud cavity can collapse and rebound several times. and develops then as isolated narrow streaks, parallel to each
If cloud cavitation collapses near a material surface it can be other.
erosive. Root cavitation is a thick three-dimensional cavity that
Bubble cavitation forms on blades working at or close incepts at the blade root. Root cavitation is potentially
to their ideal angle of attack and which are too highly erosive. Controllable pitch propellers (CPPs) are more
loaded, that is, the blade area is too low compared to the sensitive for this, since the phenomenon is related to high
loading of the propeller. The sufficient blade area can be thickness–length ratio of the blade section. In CPPs, the
estimated with the famous Burrill diagram where the cavi- ratio is high at the low radii because the blades must fit to
tation number is plotted against thrust density (Burrill and the blade root but the thickness is adjusted according to the
Emerson, 1962–1963). strength requirements. For fixed pitch propellers (FPPs),
The bubbles appear as small, rapidly growing cavitation one has sufficient freedom to increase the length of the root
nuclei. The ITTC (2002) states that small bubbles are formed section in order to maintain a favorable thickness–length
when the sectional Reynolds number at the radius r/R = 0.7 ratio.
is Re0.7R > 106 . Large bubbles are formed at lower Reynolds Vortex cavitation forms at the low pressure core of vortices.
number. The sectional Reynolds number is defined as Figure 8 shows a pressure distribution in a cross-section of a
√ cavitating vortex. The pressure is cut at the vapor pressure in
VA2 + (0.7πnD)2 c0.7 the cavitating vortex core.
Re0.7R = (8) The ITTC (2002) divides vortex cavitation into the
v
following detailed categories:
where c0.7 is the chord length at the radius r/R = 0.7 and v the
kinematic viscosity of water. Trailing tip vortex cavitation incepts downstream from the
Figure 7 shows the effect of a single traveling bubble on blade tip.
the two-dimensional pressure distribution on a hydrofoil or a Leading edge vortex cavitation incepts along the leading
propeller blade section. Without the presence of the bubble, edge due to high loading conditions at the leading edge.
the pressure is below the vapor pressure over a good portion Leading edge vortex cavitation incepts in propellers with
of the profile. As the bubble travels over the foil, a pressure skewed leading edge.
gradient develops at both sides of the bubble. The pressure is Attached tip vortex cavitation incepts very close to the blade
at the vapor pressure under the bubble. tip and is often attached to the blade.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe101
Non cavitating (a) (b)

Cp
Cavitating
Cp = 0
(c) (d)
Cp = −σν
r=0 Radial distance from Figure 9. Cavitation types on model propellers. (a) Sheet cavita-
vortex core (r) tion, streak cavitation, and tip and hub vortex cavitation. (b) Sheet
cavitation, traveling bubble cavitation, bubbly tip vortex cavitation,
Figure 8. Radial distribution of pressure inside a tip vortex in and hub vortex cavitation. (a,b: Reproduced with permission from
cavitating and noncavitating conditions. CNR-Insean. © 2015.) (c) Pressure side sheet cavitation, leading
edge vortex cavitation, and root cavitation. (d) Trailing tip vortex
cavitation and cavitating vortex bursting (highlighted). (c,d: Repro-
duced with permission from Heinke and Kröger, 2013. © SVA
Propeller-hull vortex (PHV) cavitation forms at high Potsdam GmbH, 2013.)
propeller loading conditions at low vessel speeds. The
collapse of a cavitating PHV can excite severe vibrations
in the ship hull.
4.3 Dynamics of sheet cavitation
Hub vortex cavitation is developed at the trailing edge of a
propeller hub. It can excite vibration and erosion of the
The inception of attached sheet cavitation requires that a
rudder.
laminar separation bubble exists in front of the cavity. The
Ducted propeller tip gap leakage vortex cavitation is present
laminar separation bubble lifts the streamlines of the liquid
at the gap between the blade and the duct inner face.
flow from the body skin, enabling the cavity to remain
Cavitation can induce vibration and erosion to the duct. In
attached to the surface. In the absence of the laminar sepa-
severe cases, a hole can be eroded though the inner surface
ration bubble, the growing cavitation nuclei are washed
of the duct.
away with the liquid flow and cavitation appears as traveling
Shear cavitation incepts in the regions of high shear stress.
bubble cavitation.
The pressure drops below the vapor pressure in the rota-
The laminar separation bubble incepts in adverse pres-
tional structures of the flow field. Shear cavitation can be
sure gradient conditions. With the blade sections traditionally
found in the separated flow regions that develop on blades
used in the ship propellers (e.g., NACA profiles), the low
with a high angle of attack and in the wakes of hydrofoils.
pressure peak is located close to the leading edge of the
CPP blade bolt cavitation incepts on the blade bolts and in
profile. Consequently, the laminar separation point and the
their holes in the CPP applications.
cavitation inception can be assumed to take place very close
to the blade leading edge. At the model scale, laminar sepa-
Different cavitation types on model propellers are shown in ration can be prominent and modify the observed cavitation
Figure 9. The cavitation conditions are constructed in cavi- extension drastically. If the leading edge of the propeller
tation tunnels by lowering the ambient pressure to scale the section is not loaded, the flow may change from laminar to
full-scale conditions to the model scale. More about cavita- turbulent by transition. These kinds of blade sections are the
tion tests are discussed in Propulsion Model Testing. The so-called new blade sections. An example of these are, for
analysis methods to predict cavitation on marine propellers example, Eppler sections (Eppler and Shen, 1979; Shen and
are covered in Hydrodynamics Analysis Methods. Eppler, 1981).
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe101
8 Marine
Depending on the cavity thickness and the angle of attack, The re-entrant jet turns upward as the momentum of the jet is
the cavity closure can be closed or open. The open cavity is exploited. Then the re-entrant jet penetrates the sheet cavity
unstable and seeds vapor bubbles to the wake field from the and the cavity lifts up and forms a cloud cavity.
cavity closure. The wake field of the cavity thus consists of The highly rotational cloud cavity convects downstream
a mixture of bubble cavitation and water. The closed sheet with the main flow and collapses when it reaches a high
cavity is strictly established at its closure. pressure region. Erosion damages may occur if the collapse
A shedding mechanism is present at closed sheet cavities. and possible rebounds occur near a material surface. The
The shedding occurs very fast. The shedding can be studied shedding cycle starts from the beginning when the sheet
experimentally by high speed video recordings (de Lange cavity is cut by the re-entrant jet. It is to be noted that the
and de Bruin, 1998; Bark, Berchiche, and Grekula, 2004). shedding of the sheet cavity incepts also in uniform inflow
The shedding cannot be seen by traditional stroboscopic conditions.
observation technique showing one picture per propeller The oscillations of the closed sheet cavities are periodic
revolution. Bark, Berchiche, and Grekula (2004) recommend with relatively constant shedding frequency when the sheet
that the recording speed should be of order of 10,000 frames cavity is thick and the re-entrant jet propagates considerably
per second to capture the main dynamics of the shedding under the cavity. Regular shedding frequency is represented
processes. by a nondimensional Strouhal number St as
A schematic view of the shedding process is shown in
Figure 10. At the first stage of the shedding cycle, the cavity
starts to grow along the foil skin. As the cavity has reached its f lmax
ultimate length, a re-entrant jet develops at the cavity closure. St = (9)
U∞
A stagnation point is formed behind the cavity closure as the
wetted streamlines traveling over the cavity hit the skin of
the foil. The streamlines between the cavity and the dividing where f is the frequency of shedding, lmax the maximum
streamline bend upstream at the closure due to the adverse length of the cavity, and U∞ the inflow velocity. The Strouhal
pressure gradient in the closure region. These streamlines number is constant at varying inflow speeds within reason-
form a thin re-entrant jet between the foil skin and the cavity. able limits. The Strouhal number for the natural shedding of
the sheet cavities is St = 0.25–0.40 (Kawanami, Kato, and
Yamaguchi, 1998). One of the reasons for the large deviation
in the observed Strouhal numbers is the difficulty in deter-
mining the maximum length of the cavity. The shedding of
the thinner cavities, that is, when the cavitation number is
higher or the angle of attack is lower, is more irregular.
de Lange and de Bruin (1998) studied the
three-dimensional effect of the re-entrant jets. The re-entrant
jet reflects at the normal direction of the cavity closure line.
That is due to the approximation that there is a constant
pressure inside the cavity and no tangential component of
the pressure gradient exists at the closure line. The tangential
velocity component of the incident flow remains the same as
the re-entrant jet reflects at the closure as shown in Figure 11.
If the cavity closure line is convex, the re-entrant jets collide
and an additional complex shedding phenomenon, called
secondary shedding, is introduced into the main shedding
cycle.
The cavity closure line is practically always skewed in
propellers due to the skewed leading edge, varying pitch,
and non-uniform inflow. As discussed earlier, the re-entrant
jets reflect upward at the sheet cavities on the suction side
Figure 10. The shedding mechanism of sheet cavitation on a
two-dimensional hydrofoil. The flow is from left to right. (Repro- at high radii and the vapor escapes through the tip vortex.
duced with permission from de Lange and de Bruin, 1998. © This suppresses or prevents the shedding process of the sheet
Springer, 1998.) cavities.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe101
Vapor Water This equation gives unrealistically high velocities close to

the vortex core and infinity velocity at the origin of the vortex.
In real flows, vorticity and viscosity have major roles in the
Vre-entrant
dynamics in the vortex core.
The vortices can be divided into two zones. In the inner
Vincident zone, the vorticity is approximately uniform and the viscous
forces are dominant. In the outer zone, the vorticity is small
and the fluid can be considered as inviscid and irrotational.
Vapor
The Rankine vortex model (Rankine, 1869) treats the rota-
Water
tional inner vortex core as a solid body. The tangential
V re
velocity inside the rotational core is determined as

-e
nt
ra
nt
Vincident
𝛤
v𝜃 (r) = r (11)
2πa2
where a is the radius of the rotational core of the vortex.
Outside the viscous core, the velocities are calculated using
Equation 10. The tangential velocity has its maximum at the
Figure 11. Reflection of the re-entrant jet at a sheet cavity closure. radius r = a. A famous model for predicting the behavior of
(Reproduced with permission from de Lange and de Bruin, 1998. © turbulent vortices was presented by Burgers (1948). If the
Springer, 1998.)
maximum tangential velocity of the two vortex models is
adjusted at the same radial distance a from the vortex core,
the pressure and velocity distributions coincidence at radii
about r > 2a (Sipilä, 2012).
There is a disagreement in the size of the rotational tip
vortex core predicted by the potential flow theories and
the observations made in the cavitation tests. McCormick
(1962) made the assumption that the rotational boundary
layer on the pressure side of the foil convects into the tip
vortex and thus enlarges the size of the rotational core. The
boundary layer on a hydrofoil depends on the Reynolds
Figure 12. Roll-up of the wake field behind a lifting surface.
number. McCormick found the following scaling law
between the Reynolds number and the cavitation inception
point 𝜎 vi :
4.4 Dynamics of tip vortex cavitation 𝜎vi = KCL2 Re𝜉 (12)
Tip vortices are developed in the slipstream of lifting where K is a constant parameter depending on the foil section
surfaces. Tip vortices develop due to the pressure difference and CL the lift coefficient of the hydrofoil calculated as
between the pressure and suction sides of the foils. At the
2𝛤max
tips of the lifting surfaces, the pressure difference forces the CL = (13)
flow to rotate from the pressure side to the suction side of U∞ cmax
the foil, thus forming tip vortices. where 𝛤 max is the maximum circulation and cmax the
The wake field of the lifting surfaces tends to roll up into maximum chord of the foil.
the tip vortices as shown in Figure 12. Using the potential McCormick determined the value 𝜉 = 0.35 for the param-
flow theory, the wake of the lifting surfaces can be presented eter in the power of the Reynolds number at small and
with horseshoe vortices as shown in the figure. The circula- moderate values of lift coefficients. Later on, slightly
tion in the tip vortices is the same as the circulation 𝛤 of the different scaling factors have also been suggested, for
lifting surface after the roll-up process has completed. example, 𝜉 = 0.40 (Fruman et al., 1992).
The tangential velocity v𝜃 inside a two-dimensional poten- Cavitating tip vortices are subject to changes in length and
tial flow vortex is calculated by the formula ambient pressure. If the ambient pressure is kept constant,
𝛤 vortex stretching increases the rotational velocity in the
v𝜃 (r) = (10) vortex, thus increasing the size of the vaporous core of the
2πr
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe101
10 Marine
vortex. If the vortex length is constant and the ambient pres- the risk of erosion at the blades and rudders. Cavitation on
sure varies, a twofold phenomenon develops. An increase propellers can be controlled by blade geometry parameters
in the ambient pressure decreases the size of the cavitating such as blade area ratio, skew, pitch, camber, and thickness
vortex. This consequently increases the rate of rotation, distributions.
which, in turn, increases the size of the cavitating core
of the vortex. The latter secondary effect raises the natural
oscillations of the isolated vortices (Franc and Michel, 2004).
The strong local increase in the noise spectrum of cavi- GLOSSARY
tating propellers has been suggested to be caused by the
Kelvin waves on the cavitating core surface (Bosschers, Cavitation Evaporation driven by a pressure
2008). The lowest order mode is the breathing mode and the decrease.
following mode is the bending mode, which can be described Cavitation A bubble emerged in cavitation
acoustically as monopoles and dipoles, respectively. The bubble processes.
higher modes are less important from the acoustic emission Cavitation The moment when the cavitation nuclei
efficiency point of view. Under specific conditions, the cavi- inception start growing explosively.
tating tip vortices can emit discrete noise at a very narrow Erosion Loss of material due to external stress.
frequency band. The phenomenon is called vortex singing, Noise Pressure fluctuations at audible
see more for example, Arndt (2002). frequencies.
The distortions in the tip vortices can be caused by a Phase change Transition between phases of a
number of reasons. For example, two close vortices may substance.
influence each other’s, or the local changes in the background Sheet cavitation Thin and smooth cavity that develops at
pressure or velocity field can induce fluctuations to the cavity the leading edge of a hydrofoil.
diameter. The interaction with the sheet cavity also causes Tip vortex A cavity that develops in a tip vortex.
disturbances to the cavitating tip vortex. The perturbations cavitation
in the cavitating vortex structure may cause cavitating vortex
bursting as shown in Figure 9d.
REFERENCES
5 CONCLUSIONS
Arndt, R.E.A. (2002) Cavitation in vortical flows. Annual Review
Cavitation is evaporation driven by a pressure decrease. Fluid Mechanics, 34, 143–175.
Cavitation incepts as the pressure drops below the crit- Bark, G., Berchiche, N., and Grekula, M. (2004) Application of Prin-
ical pressure in a liquid medium and the cavitation nuclei ciples for Observation and Analysis of Eroding Cavitation—The
start growing explosively. The motions of a single spher- EROCAV Observation Handbook, Ed. 3.1, Department of Naval
ical cavitation bubble in a varying external pressure field can Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Chalmers University of
Technology, Göteborg.
be described by the Rayleigh–Plesset equation. Cavitation
Bosschers, J. (2008) Analysis of Inertial Waves on Inviscid Cavitating
bubble collapse is a violent process. The pressure near the
Vortices in Relation to Low Frequency Radiated Noise. Proceed-
bubble can rise up to hundreds of bars in the final stage of ings of WIMRC Cavitation Forum, Warwick, UK.
the collapse. The characteristic time of a bubble collapse is Brennen, C. (1995) Cavitation and Bubble Dynamics, Oxford Univer-
of order of milliseconds. sity Press, Inc, New York.
Cavitation induces broadband noise as a vast amount of Burgers, J. (1948) A mathematical model illustrating the theory of
cavitation bubbles grow and collapse randomly in a medium. turbulence. Advances in Applied Mechanics, 1, 171–199.
Cavitation also causes increase in harmonic noise compo- Burrill, L.C. and Emerson, A. (1962–1963) Propeller cavitation:
nents if the global cavity structures fluctuate in a regular further tests on 16 in propeller models in the King’s College
manner. In case the cavitation bubbles or global cavity struc- cavitation tunnel. Transactions of the North East Coast Institution
tures collapse near a material surface, there is a risk for of Engineers and Ship Builders, 79, 295–320.
erosion. Eppler, R. and Shen, Y. (1979) Wing sections for hydrofoils—part
1: symmetrical profiles. Journal of Ship Research, 32 (3),
In marine applications, cavitation is found most commonly 209–217.
in ship propeller flows. Usually, the propellers are highly
Fortes-Patella, R., Reboud, J.L., and Briancon-Marjollet, L. (2004)
loaded and cavitation cannot be completely avoided. Cavi- A Phenomenological and Numerical Model for Scaling the Flow
tation on propellers increases the vibration levels at the stern Aggressiveness in Cavitation Erosion. Proceedings of EROCAV
of the ship, the level of underwater and onboard noise, and Workshop, Val de Ruil, France.
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Franc, F.-P. and Michel, J.-M. (eds) (2004) Fundamentals of Cavita- tion. Proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium on Cavi-
tion, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. tation CAV2006, paper no. 29, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Fruman, D., Dugué, C., Pauchet, A., Cerrutti, P., and Plesset, M. (1949) The dynamics of cavitation bubbles. Journal of
Briancon-Marjollet, L. (1992) Tip Vortex Roll-Up and Cavi- Applied Mechanics, 16, 277–282.
tation. Proceedings of the 19th International Symposium on Naval Rankine, W. (1869) A Manual of Applied Mechanics, 5th edn, Charles
Hydrodynamics, Seoul, Korea, pp. 633–651. Griffin and Company, Stationers’ Hall Court.
Hallander, J. (2002) Influence of acoustic interaction between cavities Rayleigh, J. (1917) On the pressure developed in a liquid during
that generate cavitation noise. Ph.D. thesis, Chalmers University of the collapse of a spherical cavity. London, Edinburgh and Dublin
Technology. Philosophical Magazine, 34, 94–98.
Hammit, F. (1980) Cavitation and Multiphase Flow Phenomena, Shen, Y. and Eppler, R. (1981) Wing sections for hydrofoils—part
Elsevier B.V., New York. 2: nonsymmetrical profiles. Journal of Ship Research, 25 (3),
Heinke, H.-J. and Kröger, W. (2013) Potsdam Propeller Test 191–200.
Case (PPTC) Measurement of the Cavitation Nuclei in Sipilä, T. (2012) RANS Analyses of Cavitating Propeller Flows, vol.
the Tunnel Water and Cavitation Observations with the 22, VTT Science, Espoo, Finland.
Model Propeller VP1304, SVA Potsdam Report 3890,
van Terwisga, T., Fitzsimmons, P., Ziru, L., and Foeth, E.-J. (2009)
http://www.sva-potsdam.de/assets/files/pptc_waterquality/
Cavitation Erosion – A Review of Physical Mechanisms and
SVA_report_3890.pdf (accessed 19 November 2015).
Erosion Risk Models. Proceedings of the Seventh International
ITTC (2002) ITTC – Recommended Procedures and Guidelines, Symposium on Cavitation CAV2009, paper no. 41, Ann Arbor,
Testing and Extrapolation Methods, Propulsion; Cavitation, USA.
Description of Cavitation Appearances, ITTC Report 7.5-02
03-03.2, Revision 1, Propulsion Committee of 23rd ITTC.
Kawanami Y., Kato H., and Yamaguchi, H. (1998) Three Dimensional
Characteristics of the Cavities Formed on a Two-Dimensional
Hydrofoil. Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on FURTHER READING
Cavitation, Grenoble, France, pp. 191–196.
de Lange, D. and de Bruin, G. (1998) Sheet cavitation and cloud cavi- Knapp, R., Daily, J., and Hammitt, F. (1970) Cavitation,
tation, re-entrant jet and three-dimensionality. Applied Scientific McGraw-Hill, New York.
Research, 58, 91–114.
Li, S. (2000) Cavitation of Hydraulic Machinery, Imperial College
Matusiak, J. (1992) Pressure and noise induced by a cavitating marine Press, London.
screw propeller, Ph.D. thesis, Helsinki University of Technology,
Terentiev, A., Kirschner, I., and Uhlman, J. (2011) The Hydrody-
VTT Publications, vol. 87.
namics of Cavitating Flows, Backbone Publishing Company, Fair
McCormick, B. (1962) On cavitation produced by a vortex trailing Lawn.
from a lifting surface. Journal of Basic Engineering, 84, 369–379.
Young, F. (1989) Cavitation, Imperial College Press, London.
Moulijn, J.C., Friesch, J., van Genderen, M., Junglewitz, A., and
Kuiper, G. (2006) A Criterion for the Erosiveness of Face Cavita-
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe101
Underwater Technology Platforms
Asgeir J. Sørensen and Martin Ludvigsen
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
necessary cutting-edge scientific advancement is underwater

1 Introduction 1 technology including automatic and autonomous systems,
2 Spatial and Temporal Domain 2 essential to address challenges such as the following:
3 Underwater Platforms and Senors 2
4 Control Architecture and Autonomy Aspects 6 • Remotely operated subsea petroleum processing plants
in deep water and Arctic.
5 Field Campaigns 8
• Integrated technology platforms consisting of advanced
Acknowledgment 10 surface vessels and autonomously or remotely controlled
Glossary 10 underwater vehicles for installation, inspection, repair,
Related Articles 10 and environmental mapping and monitoring.
References 10 • Offshore floating wind turbine parks with advanced
control and monitoring functions in addition to under-
water platforms used for inspection, maintenance, and
repair without human operator intervention.
1 INTRODUCTION • Surveillance of coasts and oceans using satellites and
unmanned vehicles for mapping and monitoring of
The oceans are providing an essential part of our wealth fish farms, maritime traffic, marine resources, and
and well-being. Safety at sea, greener maritime transport, environment.
marine monitoring, offshore renewable energy, sea food and
other biological production, and exploitation of hydrocar- Developments in underwater technology such as platforms,
bons and minerals in deep water and Arctic regions are sensors, control methods, autonomy, communication, and
presently research areas of great importance. An overview networked vehicle systems have in many cases been driven
of the different applications is shown in Figure 1. Changes by the needs in marine sciences as described in Ludvigsen
in operational conditions, as well as climate changes, lead to and Sørensen (2016), Nilssen et al. (2015), Sørensen and
more extreme weather conditions with severe waves, strong Ludvigsen (2015), Williams et al. (2012, 2015), Bellingham
currents, and wind, which need to be adequately accounted (2014), Seto (2013), Berge et al. (2012), Bingham et al.
for and represent critical research topics and inputs to the (2010), Moline et al. (2005), Pizarro and Singh (2003), Singh
design of robust marine structures and control systems. A et al. (2001), and the references therein.
paramount shift has to take place in the development of the The recent research on underwater platforms has been
marine operations and systems in the abovementioned indus- directed toward increased level of automation and autonomy.
tries in order to enable such transitions. The core of the A successful concept for autonomy of underwater vehicles
is described in Hagen et al. (2009), making autonomous
underwater vehicles (AUVs) truly autonomous. Here, more
This article is © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. than 15 years of experience on the Hugin AUV concept is
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe323
described. Sotzing and Lane (2010) have during several years
ISBN: 978-1-118-47635-2 been working with a hybrid control architecture addressing
2 Offshore
are shown in Figure 2. The spatial and temporal coverage and

resolution needs will vary depending on the mission purpose
(e.g., processes and organisms of different sizes), and the
different decision-makers such as scientists, authorities, and
industry may have individual needs and requirements. As
suggested by Nilssen et al. (2015), the platforms’ capabilities
and limitations (summarized in Table 1), mission purpose,
and object/area of interest are of importance.
3 UNDERWATER PLATFORMS AND

SENORS
The underwater platforms may be landers, moorings,

remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), AUVs, and gliders.
Figure 1. Ocean space technology, illustration by AMOS/NTNU Sensors for underwater vehicles can be categorized into two
and Stenberg. (Reproduced with permission from NTNU main groups: payload sensors and navigation sensors.
AMOS/Stenberg © 2016.)
3.1 Underwater platforms
autonomy. In addition to the mentioned references, there is a
vast and increasing research activity on AUVs in many other In order to be successful, improvements of the individual
strong research groups around the world, for example, Japan, platforms as well as integration of different platforms in
the United States, Canada, Brazil, India, and Europe. networks are of importance. As indicated in Figures 1 and 2,
We will in this section address various aspects of the this integrated approach does also include unmanned surface
ongoing research on underwater technology and operations. vessels (USVs), ships, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs),
In particular, work by the authors presented in Nilssen et al. air planes, and remote sensing by satellites. Lately, research
(2015) and Sørensen and Ludvigsen (2015) will be summa- on UAVs and autonomy has increased the interest to apply
rized in this article. The section is organized as follows: low cost UAV as sensor platforms and communication hubs
In Section 2 spatial and temporal domains are presented, between sensor platforms in the surface or the air and, for
and integrated technology platforms and sensors will be example, a mother vessel supporting AUV operations with
presented in Section 3. Control architecture and autonomy some distance to the launching vessel. Table 1 summa-
aspects are discussed in Section 4. Examples from field rizes the characteristics, pros, and cons using the various
campaigns are shown in Section 5. platforms.
Landers: For fixed platforms such as landers, moorings,
and ocean observatories, the temporal resolution can be high
2 SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DOMAIN provided sufficient energy supply and data storage capacity.
However, the spatial coverage is limited to the range of the
Nilssen et al. (2015) proposed a concept for integrated mounted sensors. Most sensors are point samplers, while
environmental mapping and monitoring (IEMM) based on others, such as active acoustics, can cover a defined area.
a holistic environmental monitoring approach adjusted to ROVs are mobile sensor platforms operating in the
purpose and object/area of interest. The proposed IEMM water column and the seabed normally deployed from a
concept describes the different steps in such a system from ship/floater. Increased level of automation in the ROV motion
mission of survey to selection of parameters, sensors, sensor control systems (Dukan and Sørensen, 2014; Sørensen et al.,
platforms, data collection, data storage, analysis, and data 2012) provides improved maneuvering capabilities such as
interpretation for reliable decision-making. In addition to station keeping/hovering (dynamic positioning – DP) and
measurements of essential parameters, the quality of the data target and bottom tracking. High resolution data from survey
interpretation is dependent on the spatial and temporal reso- area can be provided with detailed seabed and sampling
lution and coverage. Hence, the dynamics in both space and data with down to millimeter spatial resolution. The umbil-
time have to be considered in the mission planning process. ical gives unlimited electrical power and high bandwidth
The order of magnitudes for temporal and spatial resolution communication; however, it limits the maneuvering capacity
and coverage capabilities of relevant technology platforms and spatial coverage due to drag loading on the umbilical. It
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe323
Underwater Technology Platforms 3
100 years
10 years
Fixed Satellites
platforms
1 year
Gliders
Ships
1 month
Time scales
1 week
1 day
1h
UAVs
1 min AUVs
ROVs
1s
1 mm 1 cm 1 dm 1m 10 m 100 m 1 km10 km 100 km 1000 10,000

km km
Horizontal spatial scales
Figure 2. Spatial and temporal resolution and coverage of different platforms. (Reproduced with permission from Nilssen, I., Ø. Ødegård,
A. J. Sørensen, G. Johnsen, M. A. Moline, J. Berge (2015). Integrated Environmental Mapping and Monitoring, a methodological approach
to optimise knowledge gathering and sampling strategy. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.04.045, Marine Pollution Bulletin, 96
(2015), pp. 374–383, ISSN: 0025-326X. © Elsevier.)
is likely in the near future to see resident ROVs operating Several attempts have been put forward for intervention
from a subsea garage close to, for example, subsea oil and AUVs such as ALIVE (Evans et al., 2003), SWIMMER
gas structures. The goal is to reduce dependence on costly (Evans et al., 2001), AIV (Mair et al., 2010), Girona 500
surface construction vessels and increase the local presence I-AUV (Ribas et al., 2008), and the SAUVIM (Kim and
for improved inspection and light intervention work. Such a Yuh, 2004). There are several thresholds to overcome such
garage may also be combined with AUV docking station for as underwater communication, energy storage, reliable
recharging and communication. navigation close to structures using acoustics, and optical
Gliders’ operational ranges and spatial coverage are high sensors including sensor fusion methods combined with
compared to AUVs and ROVs. The speed is rather low, feature-based recognition, autonomy, and automation of
following ocean current systems at a minimum of energy, intervention tasks. Each of these fields has been addressed
using principles of buoyancy-driven propulsion. Since the by academia and industry and is showing many promising
operation may go on for weeks, the spatial range is high. improvements. Energy autonomy is essential to obtain
For measurements in the water column, the glider is good. increased autonomy for underwater vehicles. The energy
However, the accuracy in navigation and control is limited. storage capacity of the vehicle is strongly dependent on the
The ability for benthic surveys is also limited. volume and weight allowed for the system. The propulsion
AUV: Survey AUVs are mostly used in mapping providing load is dependent on the drag force derived primarily from
good hydrodynamic and maneuvering capabilities for the geometric shape and the projected frontal area of the
tracking and path following. So far, there is limited access vehicle. Energy storage capacity and consumption scale
to AUVs with station keeping/hovering capabilities. This differently to physical dimensions and larger vehicles tend
is at present also the situation for AUVs with manipulator to have higher energy autonomy than smaller vehicles
capabilities doing light intervention and sampling. AUVs (Brighenti, 1990). The most common energy sources are
can provide seabed and water column mapping with high batteries, fuel cells, and buoyancy and solar power. For
spatial resolution data over large areas. The survey area applications of shorter endurance requiring high naviga-
coverage per time is significantly higher compared to ROVs. tion accuracy and maneuvering precision, batteries and
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe323
4 Offshore
Table 1. Underwater platforms.

Platform Characteristics Pros Cons
Landers and
moorings • Instrument platform either standing • Limited risk for collisions when • Samplings limited to location, that is,
on the seabed (lander) or suspended installed low spatial coverage
in the water column moored to the • High payload capacity • Bio fouling and corrosion complicate
seabed or tethered to floating device • High temporal resolution of data calibration and degrade the sensors
at the surface sampling (time series) and data quality over time
• Offline or accessible via cable or • Low cost operation when installed • For online systems high cost for
satellite/radio communication • When online, access to real-time installation of power and communi-
data cation systems
• Possibility for synoptic measure- • Exposed for damage due to, for
ments along vertical profile example, trawling and dredging
Remotely
operated • Main components: vehicle, umbil- • High payload capacity • Limited spatial range and coverage
vehicle ical, and control stations • High temporal and spatial reso- • Umbilical is exposed to current
(ROV) • Delivered in different sizes, depth lution data for targeted area loads/drag forces limiting
and thrust ratings, functionality, providing detailed seabed mapping spatial coverage even more on
manipulator, and sensors and sampling deeper waters
• Power supply and communication • Umbilical gives almost unlimited • Expensive operation due to high day
by umbilical electrical power and high band- rates on ships
• Navigation by means of acoustics, width communication • Data quality could be degraded by
INS, DVL • Manipulator arms for sampling and poor ROV hydrodynamics and forces
• ROV is normally launched from intervention induced by the umbilical
crane on ship with DP system • Collection units (water masses and
seabed)
Autonomous
underwater • Main components: vehicle, control • High payload capacity (however • Risk of operation—loss of data and
vehicle station, acoustic navigation, and for less capacity compared to ROV) vehicle
(AUV) bigger AUVs launch and recovery • 3D (long, lat and depth) mapping • Limited power supply on-board
system capabilities are unique • Today: Need for competence on
• Delivered in different sizes, depth • High spatial resolution data for AUV crew for launch and recovery,
and thrust ratings, functionality, large area providing detailed planning of operation, and trou-
and sensors seabed and water column mapping bleshooting during different opera-
• Carries its own power supply and monitoring tional scenarios
• Operates supervised or • High spatial coverage per time • Possible limitations in operation due
autonomously with limited • New research on autonomy to ship traffic and risk for collision
communication ability improves AUV intelligence and
• Operates untethered ability to operate in an unstructured
environment
• Allows operations in areas that
have limited or no accessibility
with other platforms
Gliders
• Components: vehicle, satellite • Very large water column coverage
• Low payload capacity
communication sender/receiver, over long distances • Slow speed operation—0.4 m/s
and control station • Few personnel involved during
average.
• Delivered in different sizes, depth operation • Due to control concept and design
and power ratings, and sensors • Follow large ocean current systems
as today useless for benthic (seabed)
• Carries its own power supply investigations
• Operates normally autonomously • Limited power, payload, control and
• Operation typical 15–30 days navigation accuracy
covering 600–1500 km range • Risk of operation—loss of data and
• Deployed from boats and quayside vehicle
• Buoyancy-driven propulsion by • Limited on-line control
variable ballasting of water • Possible limitations in operation due
to ship traffic and risk for collision
Ships
• Important components: hull, deck • Very large payload capacity • Ship-based sensors will have limited
space, crane, power, thruster and • Large temporal and spatial resolutions for increasing water
propulsion system, DP system, and coverage and resolution depth
sensors • Conduct and handle samples from • Costly operation
• Control centre for payloads such as any gears and sensor platforms
ROV, AUV, and UAV
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe323
fuel cells are preferred. Buoyancy and solar power do However, to obtain quantitative data from optical imaging
not provide sufficient power output to obtain speed and is challenging. Underwater photogrammetry has experienced
facilitate energy thirsty navigation systems. However, for considerable advancements the past few years, driven by the
long-range missions, buoyancy and solar power dominate development for terrestrial photogrammetry (Nornes et al.
due to their total high energy potential in spite of the low 2015, 2017). Seawater light absorption and backscatter limit
power. Higher energy densities in batteries are likely for the the range for the optical cameras constraining the area
future. Increased attention to electric cars will increase the coverage. The processes measured by optical imaging can
research and development effort in this field. be, for example, geological conditions, archaeological condi-
There has been going on research on docking of AUVs for tions, and biological behavior.
many years (Singh et al., 2001, Evans et al., 2003). However, Underwater Hyperspectral Imaging (UHI): Applying
the technology is not yet implemented for commercial oper- hyperspectral imagers, the color information can be quanti-
ations. When this technology matures, it will open up for fied at all wave lengths of the visible light as presented in
applications such as range extensions, data mules, persis- Johnsen et al. (2013). By measuring the full light spectrum,
tent vehicles, under ice operations, moon pool launches, and the light absorption of the seabed and the seawater can
intervention AUVs. be quantified and characterized. Using knowledge of the
Hybrid AUV-ROV: In some hybrid AUV-ROV projects, spectral distribution of the light applied, many substances
the motivation appears to be a middle step toward advanced can be characterized by their reflection spectrum. The
autonomous operations such as manipulation. While some hyperspectral imager can hence be used to estimate presence
vehicles would work perfectly in AUV mode, but to allow of substances such as chlorophyll or other pigments. The
telepresence, a hybrid configuration is chosen. AUVs are UHI technology opens up for fast processing of data for
not inherently expected to offer telepresence and extended automatic identification of any objects of interest (OOI).
communication bandwidths. The reduced level of commu- CTD sensors measure conductivity, temperature, and pres-
nication is an important motivation for the development of sure. Salinity, speed of sound, and seawater density are
autonomy. However, it is difficult to see that the need to calculated from these fundamental parameters. Salinity and
be present, either physically or by remote connections, will density are key parameters for oceanography, while speed of
disappear completely. sound is essential for all sonar applications such as seabed
mapping and acoustic navigation.
Magnetometers can be used for localizing man-made
3.2 Payload sensors objects such as ship wrecks in archaeology. They are also
used to measure the magnetic characteristics of seabed rocks.
Payload sensors are measurement units that are carried by For ship wrecks, the time constant is of years. However, for
a technology platform for collecting data either by remote geology, the time constant is in millions of years such that
sensing or by direct measurements (in situ). The objective the dynamics of the process is not observable.
of the platform is to position the sensor or instrument at Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) provide veloc-
a specific location. If the process subject to the investiga- ities profiles of the water in front of the instrument. The
tion is dynamic, there may also be temporal constraints that instrument will measure backscatter intensity and Doppler
the platform needs to fulfill. In the future, a development shift of a reflected acoustical signal. Based on these measure-
where underwater vehicles become more autonomous may ments, the instrument provides a profile of three-dimensional
require that these instruments are no longer passive payloads current vectors through the measured water column. The
but that their measurements are forwarded to the mission current profile is a dynamic process influenced by tides, lunar
planning layer and the guidance and optimization system cycles, climatic variations, weather, and many other factors.
in the operations control for mission optimization. In addi- The time constant can be in the orders of hours.
tion for mapping of static processes, systems with increased Active sonars are used to measure reflected acoustic
autonomy will have to consider findings and react on them to signals documenting the objects on the seabed or in the
optimize the survey operation. For dynamical processes, the water column. MultiBeam Echosounders (MBEs) transmit
development of the process must be considered along with an acoustic impulse (ping) by a transmitter. Acoustics
their driving parameters. are formed using directional receiver and transmission
Camera and Video: Optical imaging of the seabed provides beams with known directions and can measure hundreds
high resolution qualitative information about shape, color, of ranges for each ping establishing xyz points on the
and texture of the seabed. To identify objects on the seafloor, seabed surface resulting in a 3D model of the seabed. Side
optical imaging is still the most reliable method due to scan sonars (SSSs) measure the surface reflectance of the
the high resolution of the color and texture information. seabed. Sending out a ping and measuring the intensity of
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe323
6 Offshore
the reflected signal and measuring time of flight for the the disadvantages are the required installations on the
signal, a map of the seabed’s acoustical reflectivity can be seabed (LBL) or on the vessel (USBL). For ROV operation,
produced. Initially, only time and intensity are measured, this might be acceptable. However, for AUVs, one of the
and flat seabed assumption is necessary to provide an prime arguments has been lower dependence on preinstalled
image. Modern interferometric sonar systems also estimate infrastructure and vessels.
the direction of the signal and produce bathymetry data. The Doppler velocity log (DVL) measures Doppler shift
Subbottom profilers (SBPs) produce information about the in the incoming signal reflected off the seabed (bottom track
subseabed structures. The system transits low frequency, mode) or particles in the water (water track mode) column
high power acoustical pulses that are able to penetrate the using the same principles as ADCP. Having several trans-
seabed. Measuring the intensity of the reflected signal, the ducers pointing in different directions—velocities of all three
subseafloor conditions are recorded. axes are observable.
During the past decade, synthetic aperture sonars (SASs) Pressure sensors: Depth is related to pressure through
have been implemented on AUVs. These systems use several knowledge of the density of seawater. Both are easily observ-
pings simultaneously for each seabed point providing better able with high precision.
range and increased seabed resolution compared to conven- The heading sensor will provide a measurement of the
tional SSS. The HiSAS system has also implemented inter- heading of the vehicle. There are three main concepts of
ferometric processing omitting the flat seabed assumption, measuring the orientation of the vehicle around the vertical
see Sæbo et al. (2007). axis; the rotation of the earth, the magnetic field of the earth,
The processes observable with active sonars can be geolog- or the relative position of two or more points. The former is
ical features, archaeological objects, and other man-made the most common and accurate for underwater applications.
structures. Inertial sensors form the basis for most dead-reckoning
Optical backscatter and attenuation measurements can be systems. Integrating the acceleration and rate of changes
used for characterizing the seawater with instruments like of the orientation angles in the time domain, an observer
fluorometers, turbidity sensors, and scattering sensors. Moni- provides state estimates for position, orientation angles,
toring the biological and chemical conditions in the sea, velocities, and accelerations. The error component in the
oxygen concentration and saturation can be measured by an inertial system will cause the position estimates to drift at
in situ optode. These data can be used to distinguish between increasing rates. To limit this drift, the navigation system
water bodies and also to investigate the biochemical devel- uses auxiliary sensors such as DVL, pressure sensors, acous-
opment in the water. tics, or even GPS.
The process accuracy and scale defines both the sensors
precision required and the navigation accuracy necessary.
Processes with time constants more than 10 years can be
considered constant in this context. When the time constant
4 CONTROL ARCHITECTURE AND
is between 10 years and 1 week, it can be documented using
repeated surveys for a time series, and when the time constant AUTONOMY ASPECTS
is lower than 1 week, it can be attempted to be resolved within
The research areas on autonomy are complex and multi-
a single operation. Lower time constants require higher
disciplinary. The methodology will have a solid foundation
temporal resolution, possibly requiring multiple vehicles, or
on theoretical, numerical, and model- and full-scale exper-
may even landers.
imental studies. The core aim is achieving autonomous
operations and systems. The latter is often referred to as
3.3 Navigation sensors intelligent systems owing to their ability to manage unex-
pected events in unstructured and unknown environments.
Acoustic baseline sensors: For several decades, acoustic More than mimicking a human operator, this means inte-
baseline sensors such as long base line (LBL) and ultra- grating mathematical models with real-time data from
short base line (USBL) have been the preferred positioning sensors and instruments and allowing algorithms opti-
sensors for underwater operations. These systems measure mizing responses realized by embedded computer systems.
the time of flight for the signals, and by applying the speed Enabling technologies and sciences essential to realize
of sound, the range is calculated. USBL also measures the autonomy include radio and hydroacoustic communication,
phase of the incoming signal to determine direction. The embedded computer systems, communication networks,
result is a position derived from range and phase angle. Their sensors and instruments, human–machine interaction, and
advantage is that the errors are observable and bounded and cognitive science.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe323
4.1 Autonomy levels • Mission Planner Level. Here, the mission objective is
defined, and the mission is planned. Subject to contin-
There are different definitions of autonomy levels; defining gency handling, any input from payload sensor data anal-
the steps from manual or remote control, teleoperation, ysis and any other input from the autonomy layer, the
semiautonomous to fully autonomous vehicles. The levels mission may be replanned.
of autonomy are characterized subject to the level of • Guidance and Optimization Level. Handles waypoints
human–robot interaction (HRI), mission complexity, and references commands to the controller.
and environmental complexity. For more details, see, • Control Execution Level. At this level, the plant control
for example, NIST (2015) and National Research Council and actuator control take place.
(2005).
Improved autonomy with adaptive sampling with replan-
ning may occur using payload sensor data processed
4.2 Control architecture onboard. If the data collected is not in accordance with
the data request, a new adjusted data request can be made
Sotzing and Lane (2010) addressed the problem of coor- automatically and be a feedback for the controller to adjust
dinating multiple AUV operations. They proposed a the sampling area, sampling frequencies, and range until the
framework for intelligent mission executive that uses request is satisfied. Such a strategy will be pursued by the
multiagent technology to control and coordinate multiple following to enable increased levels of autonomy:
AUVs in communication-deficient environments. Sørensen
and Ludvigsen (2015) proposed a “bottom-up” approach • Mathematical modeling will be achieved through a
toward autonomy as shown in Figure 3. systems perspective integrating models and knowledge
Three control levels (partly renamed compared to the refer- from the different domains. Models at different fidelity
ences above) are defined: will be used for mission design, simulation, real-time
Mission control Autonomy layers

Mission Mission objective Communication
objectives
Mission planning Planning Artificial intelligence

layer
Replanning Learning
Guidance system Payload sensors Optimization

Waypoint Onboard data
Guidance and Contigency management processing SLAM
optimization layer handling
(anti Waypoint
Data interpretation
collision, generation Sensor fusion
depth,etc) Reference
Data analyses
signals
Auxiliary modules
Hybrid and supervisory

Controller Navigation sensors control
Onboard data
Control execution Observers Fault-tolerant control
processing
layer
Plant control Filtering Adaptive control
Robust and optimal

Actuator control Weighting/voting
control
Figure 3. Control architecture for unmanned underwater vehicles.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe323
8 Offshore
monitoring, decision, and control. States and parame- approach the field of artificial intelligence and learning
ters will be estimated using real-time data in order to systems as driven forward in the field of software science. In
adaptively update models in order to detect normal and order to improve capabilities to operate in an unstructured
abnormal changes in the systems or their environment. environment with little or no a priori knowledge, we believe
• Advanced sensor fusion for perception of the environ- it will strengthen the interactions between top-down and
ment and any OOI will include integration of imaging bottom-up approaches toward autonomy.
sensors such as radar, optics, and acoustics with iner-
tial and navigation sensors for accurate detection and
tracking of objects and environmental parameters.
5 FIELD CAMPAIGNS
• Model-based nonlinear optimization and hybrid control
will be realized with coordinated control and robust
To support the cross-disciplinary research in underwater
networked communication in complex environments
operations and robotics, NTNU established the Applied
with simultaneous operations, robotics, and mobile
Underwater Robotics Laboratory (AUR-Lab) in 2009 to
sensor networks. coordinate research and operations in this theme. AUR-Lab
• Integrated guidance and path-planning with high level is a multidisciplinary laboratory employing scientists of
mission planning will be achieved using numerical opti- biology, archeology, geology, and engineering science. In
mization where data, decisions, rules and models are the past 2 years, NTNU has also built up a laboratory for
represented as constraints, as well as discrete search algo- UAVs with several fixed-wing air planes and hexa-copters.
rithms and computational intelligence. In Figure 4, ROVs and AUVs operated by NTNU are shown.
In 2009, NTNU AUR-Lab started the development of a
Intelligent control command and task execution with DP system for ROVs, based on the existing body of knowl-
obstacle avoidance, fault detection, and diagnosis as a edge for DP for ships existing in the group, for references,
basis for reconfigurable control and replanning of path and see Sørensen et al. (2012), Dukan and Sørensen (2014),
missions will be targeted. In the years to come, we will and Fernandes et al. (2015). The main users of our ROV
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Figure 4. (a): ROV Minerva; (b): Deployment AUV REMUS at Svalbard; (c): AUV HUGIN to be deployed from RV Gunnerus; (d): AUV
REMUS and ROV Minerva.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe323
Star Fish: Henricia

7052818N ROV estimated path
Crinoidea
7052816N 10 cm
7052814N
Echinus esculentus
7052812N
7052810N
North (m)
7052808N Sea Urchin
7052806N
Sponges
(Mycale Lingua)
7052804N Fish
(Sebastes Viviparus)
7052802N
Corals
(Lopheila Pertusa)
575230E 575232E 575234E 575236E 575238E 575240E 575242E 575244E 575246E 575248E 575250
East (m)
Figure 5. Photomosaic from Tautra coral reef captured using ROV Minerva with path following capability.
Figure 6. SAS data showing cold-water corals on Tautra reef at ranges from 70 to 130 m. (Reproduced from Ludvigsen, M., Johnsen,
G., Sørensen, A. J. Lågstad, P. A., Ødegård, Ø. (2014). Scientific operations combining ROV and AUV in the Trondheim Fjord. Marine
Technology Society Journal, 48-2, pp. 59–71(13). © Marine Technology Society.)
Minerva came forward with wishes for improved accuracy the Minerva can be optical inspections, intervention, and
for vehicle maneuvering. One example was capability for sampling. In typical operations, the ROV operator currently
flying lawn-mower patterns with 1 m line spacing. In manual uses the video imagery for visual feedback on position,
control, this is in best case challenging and exhausting but site conditions, and task progress. Replacements for video
often impossible. The relevant missions for ROVs such as feedback to the human operator must hence be developed
DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe323
10 Offshore
and implemented. In spite of the challenges for under- REFERENCES

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DOI: 10.1002/9781118476406.emoe323
Marine Waste Heat Recovery System
Santiago Suárez de la Fuente
University College London, London, UK
The first recognized system that produced electrical power

1 History of Waste Heat Recovery Systems 1 and used its waste heat for heating purposes goes back to
2 Areas to Mitigate the Ship’s Carbon Dioxide 2 the beginning of electrical power generation at the end of the
3 Waste Heat Recovery Systems as a Mitigating nineteenth century. Big prime movers were used to generate
Technology on Board Ships 2 electricity; these systems had low efficiency, meaning that a
4 Conclusions 20 great part of the fuel’s energy was dumped into the environ-
Glossary 20 ment. Thomas Edison’s power plants started to use this waste
heat to provide heating to buildings and houses surrounding
Related Articles 21
the power stations. As generating plants became bigger and
Endnotes 21 started to be located outside the cities, the idea of cogenera-
References 21 tion became unfeasible.
Further Reading 24 Probably the first systems that were capable of both
producing power and using the waste heat for heating
purposes are found in the maritime industry with the appear-
ance of the steamship. By the year 1873, the Nautical
Magazine describes in detail how the waste heat of the
1 HISTORY OF WASTE HEAT steamship Montana was used to preheat the boiler’s feed-
RECOVERY SYSTEMS water, being an example of cogeneration since steam was
used for powering (Various Authors, 1873). Marine engineer
It is difficult to establish the beginning of the usage of waste James Howden in 1884 was able to design heat exchangers
heat, but there are some records dating back to the Industrial capable of reusing the available heat on the fire boiler’s flue
Revolution where its main use was heat

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Ice Mechanics and Structures

2 ICEBERGS, SEA ICE, AND PRESSURE

Figure 2. Pressure ridges. (Reproduced from Nansen (1897).)

Figure 1. (a,b) Icebergs versus sea ice. (Reproduced with permis-

Figure 5. A melt pond on Arctic sea ice (http://www.nasa.gov/

to several hundred meters, called ice floes (Figure 7). Sea-ice

90W 90E 90W 90E

EC 50S Feb EC 50S Sep

Northern Hemisphere Sea Ice Area

Southern Hemisphere Sea Ice Area

6 SUMMARY Wave–Ice Interactions

verified by a standard tension test. Although this approach

match the keel block in thickness, it is entirely possible that

Figure 1. Fractured Liberty ship. (Reproduced from

more demanding toughness requirements may prove neces- 4 FATIGUE

The most practical solution, then, is to use materials GLOSSARY

1. See, for instance, API Specification 6A (2010), Para-

both above and below the surface, injection of bubbles in

wave trains with full spectrum, both unidirectional and direc-

Here, d is the water depth, and the last term apparently

In this article, we, first, discuss a close link of effects of

[ ]1∕2 with heavily nonlinear boundary conditions at the free

Small viscous dissipation of the waves described by ⟨vbottom ⟩ = 3∕2⟨u⟩ (25)

3 ROTATIONAL WAVES WITHIN THE

3.1 The Gerstner waves

Sin = 𝛽(k)Nk (40)

Snl [𝜈N(𝜐k)] = 𝜈 3 𝜐19∕2 Snl [N(k)] (43)

This property has been used by Zakharov and Filonenko

10−3 (1966) to get the first Kolmogorov–Zakharov solution for

g4∕3 Q1∕3 E = E0 (t∕t0 )p𝜏 ; 𝜔p = 𝜔0 (t∕t0 )−q𝜏 (48)

5 SUMMARY Zakharov’s The Zakharov reduced equations for

Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) methods for

0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018 0.02

Valid Invalid variant Valid Invalid variant

θ = 120° θ = 240° θ = 120° θ = 240°

(b) θ = 180° (c) θ = 180°

techniques and predictions are most likely necessary

3.2 Advanced propulsion systems and wake

The propulsion system is more sensitive to scale effects than

Looking forward Looking forward

300° 60° 300° 60°

270° 90° 270° 90°

210° 150° 210° 150°

its combination of low cost, availability, high strength, and

2 CHEMICAL COMPOSITION be useful in certain tools, but brittleness is a deleterious

1200 (γFe) 2190

1000 Austenite 1830

500 (αFe) 930

400 Ferrite 750

Figure 3. Phase diagram for Fe-C alloy.

3.1 Yield strength

3.2 Proof stress 3.3 Young’s modulus of elasticity

Strain hardening Necking

Figure 5. Stress–strain curve.

Young’s modulus is the constant component of Hooke’s Law, Shear force

where E is Young’s modulus units lb/sq.in or N/sq.m.

3.4 Tensile strength

Fatigue fracture is caused by the initiation of a crack that

4 HARDNESS Reducing the hardness and thereby increasing the ductility

as essentially constants and therefore the densities of many

Figure 11. Charpy impact test equipment. (Courtesy of TWI.)

Toughness is often confused with strength. Strength is

be suitable for the service conditions of the component. It is

REFERENCES FURTHER READING