PREDICTING 3D INTERACTIONS BETWEEN OFFSHORE ACTIVITIES AND SAND WAVE RECOVERY

The pressure on the offshore area is increasing rapidly, especially due to a need for green energy sources. These offshore developments, such as windfarms, require detailed predictions of future bed levels. However, dynamic bed forms, such as sand waves, complicate these predictions and threaten offshore constructions. Sand waves can grow up to 25percent of the water depth, have wavelengths in the order of hundreds of meters and can migrate up to tens of meters per year. Extensive sand wave fields are found in among others the North Sea, Taiwan Strait, Irish Sea and Mediterranean Sea, and are especially present in shallow regions which are attractive for offshore developments. Understanding has been gained about the dynamics of these sand wave fields mainly through data analyses. However, data is often scarce, especially for cases where human interventions have taken place. Numerical models can give insight into the natural dynamics of the system as well as the interactions with our offshore activities. In this way we can improve our future bed level predictions and quantify uncertainties, due to, for example, extreme events. This will lead to more sustainable, cost-effective and safer designs of human interventions in sand wave fields.