Experimental study of tsunami-type waves impact on soil at foundations of offshore gravity platforms

Scouring, caused by waves, currents and races of ship propellers, has been a subject of theoretical investigations, physical modeling in hydraulic laboratories and full-scale experiments in several countries. The results reported on these tests usually recommend formulas and diagrams to determine water velocities that can be used to estimate the risk of scouring and design the required protection measures. The results of the physical modeling of interaction of long tsunami-type waves with an offshore gravity platform are presented in this article. The reaction of seabed soil to wave impact at the platform foundation has been studied and the obtained results have been analyzed. Conclusions about changes in the seabed profile, density of the top layers of the seabed soil and their influence on the platform stability have been made.