Preliminary Design for Wave Run-Up in Offshore Wind Farms: Comparison between Theoretical Models and Physical Model Tests

Estimation of wave run-up has been of increasing concern for offshore wind structures and a critical aspect for designers. The highly nonlinear phenomenon makes the study difficult. That is the reason for the very few design rules and experimental data available to estimate it. Actual wave run-up is greater than commonly predicted. The goal of this research is to benchmark the theoretical formulations with the results of the physical model tests performed by Deltares in the field of crest elevation, run-up, forces and pressures. The laboratory reproduced in a wave tank (75 m length; 8.7 m width; 1 m depth; and a 1:60 scale, with Froude similarity) an offshore power converter platform located at intermediate water depths (25–43.80 m) in the Southern North Sea, designed by the Norwegian company Aibel. The purpose of this research is to offer a preliminary design guide for wave run–up using theoretical expressions both for cylinders and gravity based structures (GBS), leaning on the cited laboratory tests to validate the results obtained by such theoretical models.