Author(s): Ana Margarida Bento; Tiago Fazeres-Ferradosa; Joao Chambel; Filipe Miranda; Tomas Cabral; Paulo; Rosa-Santos; Francisco Taveira-Pinto
Linked Author(s): Francisco Taveira Pinto, Tiago Joao Fazeres Ferradosa, Joao Paulo Ferreira, Ana Margarida Lopes Saraiva Alves Bento, Paulo Rosa-Santos
Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: Scour phenomena have been recognized over decades as a serious threat to the stability of foundations in both the fluvial and the maritime environments. Due to the intervention of various complex mechanisms, mainly of hydraulic nature, the scouring process remains a challenging engineering problem. Thus, the management of its severity and damage is crucial to ensure the serviceability and operability of infrastructures. The harsh environmental conditions at offshore foundations, as well as the associated high costs, dictate the purpose of studying better methods to characterize the scour effects of two different types of foundation. Physical modelling tests were performed at the Hydraulics Laboratory of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) for a monopile foundation and a Gravity-Based Foundation (GBF), at a scale of 1:50. To address such challenges, innovative technologies, based on advanced image-based approaches, were investigated and employed for comprehensive scour hole and deposition zones measurements at their vicinities, by means of a 3D laser scanner (FARO FocusS 70) and the close-range photogrammetric technique. The photogrammetry application allowed a more reliable and accurate characterization of the topographic representation of the scour hole and inherent features for the studied cases. By highlighting these key issues, and by describing good practice in managing the challenges of dealing with the adverse and complex offshore environment, as well as the implicit experimental uncertainties, the present research explains how an efficient, flexible and responsive approach can help reduce risks and deliver appropriate and resilient approaches for studying the scour phenomena around offshore foundations with complex geometries.
Year: 2024