Long-Term Distribution of the Extreme Values of Offshore Structural Response by Finite-Memory Nonlinear System Modelling

Abstract

Offshore structures are exposed to random wave loading in the ocean environment and hence the long-term probability distribution of the extreme values of their response to wave loading is of great value in the design of these structures. Due to nonlinearity of the drag component of Morison wave loading and also due to intermittency of wave loading on members in the splash zone, the response is often non-Gaussian; therefore, simple techniques for derivation of the extreme response probability distributions are not available. However, it has recently been shown that the short-term response of an offshore structure exposed to Morison wave loading can be approximated by the response of an equivalent finite-memory nonlinear system (FMNS). In this paper, the approximate FMNS models are used to determine both the short-term and the long-term probability distribution of the response extreme values with great efficiency.