Irish engineering consultancy GDG has wrapped up a sediment dynamics study in the Irish Sea, which will inform future offshore wind projects off the country’s east coast.
The work, which took two years, was funded by the Geological Survey of Ireland and has investigated geomorphology to quantify impacts for project foundations.
“The main drivers affecting seabed mobility are the metocean conditions, the geological/geotechnical properties and the seabed topography including any local obstructions such as shipwrecks or wind farm foundations,” said GDG.
The company also undertook a preliminary assessment of shipwreck scour signatures to highlight “complex variation” in seabed flows that is not captured by tidal models previously produced for the area.
Image: The Arklow Bank wind farm, so far Ireland’s only offshore project (NREL)
Irish study deep sea secrets
By EBS