During the interaction of waves and currents with objects established in the shallow offshore areas, scour of their base may occur. At the same time, it is always necessary to exclude the appearance of significant seabed scour near supporting parts of gravity-type platforms during the process of their design. The article presents the results of experimental studies of processes occurring under the impact of flows of various types on gravity-type structures and their foundations. The model of Prirazlomnaya platform and the model of drilling barge, which were performed on a scale of 1:60, were used as typical models of offshore structures of gravitational type. Analogies between ship and sand waves are revealed, conditions of appearance of soil waves interference from the rear face of platforms are analyzed.