Uncertainties of Joint Long-Term Probabilistic Modelling of Wind Sea and Swell

In several practical applications joint environmental description is required. In the last years increasing attention has been given to importance of inclusion of wind sea and swell components in a joint environmental model. Presence of wind sea and swell will affect design and operability of fixed and floating offshore structures as well as LNG terminals. In the present study joint environmental description has been established for three locations: Southern North Sea, Northwest Shelf of Australia and off coast of Nigeria. Hindcast data have been used in the analysis. Uncertainties related to the proposed fits are discussed focusing particularly at wind sea and swell modelling. Attention is given to location specific features of the wave climate and adopted partitioning procedure for the wave components. Implication of the uncertainties for design of marine structures is shown. An approach for joint environmental description for marine operations is proposed.Copyright © 2010 by ASME