[Posted on October 7th by Bill Stewart]
There are many reasons for hydrodynamic analysis. Generally speaking, it helps to provide details about how the water is going to react. Whether you’re boating or going out with an offshore oil rig, you need to understand the behavior of the water as a way of preparing for everything that you could potentially encounter.
Supplies
Once you are on the water, you cannot simply obtain more supplies. What is on the boat or the rig is what you will have to use. This includes anchors, drop lines, and anything else. If you don’t know what the water is going to do in terms of temperature, salinity, depth, waves, and more, it could result in potentially disastrous accidents.
You may need chains of various lengths, risers that are capable of going into deeper waters, and more. It’s best to have these on the rig so you don’t have to cut a project short because of not having the right supplies.
Accidents
Many common accidents aboard a ship could have been avoided through hydrodynamic analysis. Everything from anchoring problems to men overboard accidents have occurred and that’s because everyone who was out on the ship were making assumptions about the behavior of the water instead of going with actual numbers.
Stewart Technology Associates can provide the analysis and even conduct a marine accident investigation. They have up-to-date technology that allows for numbers to be crunched and assumptions to be made. It also helps to establish worst-case scenarios in order to be prepared.
Prep
It’s important to be able to prep your team that’s going to be on the water. They need to know that swells could reach a certain height and that there may be instances where they need to use a different type of anchor or other piece of equipment as a result of the water that they are in. By having more information at your fingertips, you can go through various training modules and help your team to expect the unexpected.
When you know more about how waves work and everyone around you does, too, it works to your advantage. You cannot trust that everything will work itself out. There have been significant waves reported throughout the Pacific and Arctic Oceans. When your projects take you into unchartered waters, you cannot rely on what others have reported – the research has to be done on an as-needed basis.
The hydrodynamic analysis does not take long, so there’s no excuse for skipping it. You don’t even have to rely on your own team to do the analysis because a third party can do it and provide you with more advanced technology to ensure the numbers are accurate. Recommendations can come from the analysis as well, allowing you to get a second opinion on the supplies needed, the best way to avoid marine accidents, and more.