A Multidisciplinary Computational Framework for Topology Optimisation of Offshore Helidecks

Maintaining offshore steel structures is challenging and not environmentally friendly due to the frequent visits for inspection and repairs. Some offshore lighthouses are equipped with carbon steel helidecks fixed onto their lantern galleries in the 1970s to provide easy and safe access to maintenance staff and inspectors. Even though the...

Variations in Monthly Maximum Gust Speed at St Mary's, Isles of Scilly (UK)

Long-term variations in maximum gust speeds have been analyzed using wind measurements recorded at St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, UK, and possible drivers of recent changes have been investigated. A rigorous homogenization procedure has been applied to the wind records to remove discontinuities mainly caused by non-climatic changes. Trends in...

Influence of the Spatial Pressure Distribution of Breaking Wave Loading on the Dynamic Response of Wolf Rock Lighthouse

The survivability analysis of offshore rock lighthouses requires several assumptions of the pressure distribution due to the breaking wave loading (Raby et al. (2019), Antonini et al. (2019). Due to the peculiar bathymetries and topographies of rock pinnacles, there is no dedicated formula to properly quantify the loads induced by the breaking...

Rocking of offshore lighthouses under extreme wave impacts: Limit analysis, analytic formulations and distinct element method

This study describes the structural response of historic lighthouses to extreme wave impacts. Located offshore on exposed rocks, 19th Century lighthouses were built with large interlocked granite blocks and have survived weathering for nearly two centuries. Under extreme wave impacts, lighthouses of this structural typology may uplift and...

A Bayesian inverse dynamic approach for impulsive wave loading reconstruction: Theory, laboratory and field application

The measurement of wave forces acting on marine structures is a complicated task, both during physical experiments and, even more so, in the field. Force transducers adopted in laboratory experiments require a minimum level of structural movement, thus violating the main assumption of fully rigid structure and introducing a dynamic response...

Survivability assessment of fastnet lighthouse

Historic rock lighthouses are unusual structures that are situated in hostile marine environments to provide warning to mariners. Even in an era of satellite navigation their role continues to be an important one, but their survivability into the future is not assured. Out of concern for their ongoing service, the multidisciplinary STORMLAMP...

Environmental loading of heritage structures

This theme issue, featuring Environmental loading of heritage structures, provides a snapshot of current civil engineering approaches to assessing ageing structures under a variety of loads. The publication arose from a serendipitous sequence of interactions. Academics at the University of Plymouth were contacted by Trinity House in 2010 to...

Bayesian operational modal analysis of offshore rock lighthouses: Close modes, alignment, symmetry and uncertainty

Despite use of GPS, lighthouses remain critical infrastructure for preserving safety of mariners and maritime trade, and the most dramatic examples are probably the Victorian era masonry towers located on remote offshore reefs around the British Isles and exposed to extreme weather conditions. Due to their age and likely increasing future...