Marine Growth Colonisation Process and Profile in Guinea Gulf: From Inspection Data to Load Computing

Abstract

Reassessment of existing offshore structures needs rational aid tools to update new information (metocean data, new regulations, ...). This paper focuses on marine growth management on Jacket offshore structures. After years of exploitation, marine growth thickness reaches up to the initial beam diameter. Inspection and cleaning are actions to be optimized, keeping in mind that safety must be preserved according to cost reduction. The paper first presents the building of an exhaustive data base in view to use the whole available information. An illustration is given for structures placed in Gulf of Guinea: main species, colonization process as well as modeling of thickness increasing are discussed. A modeling of hydrodynamic coefficient is then suggested according to kinematics field and physical response surface.