Advanced Marine Structures

Due in part to a growing demand for offshore oil and gas exploration, the development of marine structures that initially started onshore is now moving into deeper offshore areas. Designers are discovering a need to revisit basic concepts as they anticipate the response behavior of marine structures to increased water depths. Providing a simplified approach to the subject, Advanced Marine Structures explains the fundamentals and advanced concepts of marine architecture introduces various types of offshore platforms, and outlines the different stages of marine structure analysis and design. Written from a structural engineering perspective, this book focuses on structures constructed for offshore oil and gas exploration, various environmental loads, ultimate load design, fluid-structure interaction, fatigue, and fracture. It also offers detailed descriptions of different types of structural forms, functions and limitations of offshore platforms and explains how different loads act on each. In addition, the text incorporates examples and application problems to illustrate the use of experimental, numerical, and analytical studies in the design and development of marine structures, and reviews relevant literature on wave interaction and porous cylinders. This book: Focuses on structural reliability Deliberates on fracture and fatigue and examines their application in marine structures Introduces ideas on the retrofit and renovation of marine structures Examines the strength analysis of offshore structures and structural members Advanced Marine Structures examines the design of offshore structures from a structural engineering perspective and explains the design methodologies and guidelines needed for the progressive conceptualization and design of advanced marine structures.