I.1 - Environment

Abstract

This chapter provides an account of the discussions and recommendations received at the 14th International Ship and Offshore Structures Congress (ISSC) and presents the progress achieved in characterizing the environment. This session was observed during the three-year term in a manner useful to those in charge of the design and operation of ships and offshore structures, and to the other ISSC Committees. Time-frequency analysis of wave records is a way to obtain insight into wave and wave groups phenomena. Propagation models from offshore to near shore locations have reached a mature and reliable stage. The definition of ice states is a significant step forward towards practical and detailed characterizations of ice cover and ice actions on ships and platforms. Remote sensing is a promising technique for the description of the environment. Information on non-stationary wind characteristics is needed at the time-scale of gusts, especially for squall winds in low latitude areas, and field measurements and research should be encouraged. Further in this direction, the ISSC initiated comparative studies and reference climate descriptions and aimed at reducing the uncertainties in the design process due to unnoticed differences in design environment specifications and in their interpretation. Design methods need to consider “escape routes” and other uses of on-board real-time information. Some studies to model sea state processes in that intermediate time-scale are also reported in this chapter.