The objective of the proposed project is to assemble historical data on the characteristics and causes of encroachment events on man-made facilities and the natural shoreline in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea. The method involves:
Compiling a database on historical pile-up events.
Performing an extremal analysis to estimate the pile-up height associated with the desired return period.
Estimating the pile-up geometry.
Computing the encroachment distance based on the structure geometry. Such data can be used: (1) to refine the prediction of encroachment distances using the statistical method describe above; (2) to improve operational safety by identifying the environmental conditions most likely to trigger encroachment events. These data also can lead to a better understanding of encroachment processes and provide a basis for improved predictive models for design and operational practices in the future.
Data is being released now by mutual agreement of the JIP Members.