Marine growth stabilises cylinders on rocky seafloor

Description of impact

Two main industries have to make sure that their infrastructure on rocky seafloor is stable. The oil and gas industry and the marine/offshore renewable industry. The current standard applied when calculating stability (RP-F109, DNVGL) does not account specifically for marine growth. Our study shows that when you do account for marine growth growing on pipes or cables that are spanning on rocky seabeds, the risk of vortex shedding is dramatically reduced. This means that vortex-induced vibrations (VIV), which created cylinder movement and fatigue, is much less likely to happen if the spanning cylinder has marine growth on it. This information could save very costly stabilisation measures that those industries currently have to take and make the difference between viable and non-viable projects in offshore and marine renewables.

Category of impact	Economic Impacts, Environmental Impact
Impact level	Adoption