Experimental study on wave forces to offshore support structures

In this study, wave force tests were carried out for the four types of offshore support structures with scale factor 1:25 and wave forces to the support structure shapes were investigated. As the results of this study, it was found that, as the wave period increased at the normal wave condition, wave force decreased for the most cases. Extreme wave force was affected by the impact wave force. Impact wave force of this study significantly effect on Monopile and slightly on GBS and Hybrid type. Accordingly, Hybrid type indicated even lower wave force at the extreme and irregular wave conditions than the Monopile although Hybrid type indicated higher wave force at the normal wave condition of the regular wave because of the larger wave area of wave body. In respects of the structural design, since critical loading is extreme wave force, it should be contributed to improve structural safety of offshore support structure. However, since the impact wave force has nonlinearity and complication dependent on the support structure shape, wave height, wave period, and etc., more research is needed to access the impact wave force for other support structure shapes and wave conditions.