A SMART approach to shifting seabeds
ABP Marine Environmental Research Ltd (ABPmer) has developed an integrated approach to manage sediment mobility risk and has now made it available.
The Sediment Mobility and Risk Tool (SMART) is designed to meet the needs of a wide range of offshore developers and operators by providing solutions to the various seabed mobility issues that currently impact on efficient project design and execution and pose additional risks to operations and assets.
Underpinned by advanced numerical modelling and a deep understanding of the physical processes that can give rise to mobilisation of the seabed, SMART offers a range of standard and bespoke approaches to predict the present and future behaviour of the seabed based on ABPmer’s expertise and experience.
Professor Jon Williams, head of modelling at ABPmer said, “The assessment of sediment mobility at different spatial and temporal scales and the risk this might pose to marine assets are important considerations to project developers and asset owners. Until now, approaches used across the scientific community have been limited by the availability, accuracy and interpretation of disparate geological, geophysical, bathymetric and metocean information. Existing methodologies can make project design and site selection problematic and add further risks and costs to activities and assets once operational.
“SMART uses a range of modelling tools combined with ABPmer’s expertise in sediment mobility risk. The tool can be used to assess the likely impacts on operations and assets caused by physical changes in local and far-field seabed conditions, and to identify and advise on ways to minimise and control the risks. SMART can also advise on the monitoring of seabed levels required to manage the risk and to monitor the performance of the asset.”
A range of activities and assets potentially at risk from seabed mobility include structures, cables and pipelines which are affected by scour, abrasion, liquefaction and spanning. Quantification of these consequences using SMART has wide application in the offshore industry, regulation, legislation and licensing, coastal developments and for the insurance industry.
SMART is a flexible tool designed to meet the needs of a wide range of offshore developers and operators exposed to risks posed by mobile sediments and bedforms such as sand waves and sand banks on the seabed.
