Narrow Results

This paper deals with the development of scour holes in time and space around individual offshore monopiles. It is based on physical flume tests of a model-scale pile subjected to current and/or irregular water waves. The main focus is on backfilling, i.e. the wave-induced or current-wave-induced deposition of sediment into holes that have been previously scoured. The development of the scour depth, scour volume and a so-called scour shape factor is quantified which may be useful to understand and benchmark the development of scour holes.

Kazakhstan has shown an increase in its offshore oil and gas (O&G) prospection and operation activities in the Caspian Sea since 1998, so far with a limited number of operators, but which is about to increase significantly. This is of concern, considering that the environmental and industrial safety regulatory framework is still inadequate for the prevention of pollution from a large number of operators in a very sensitive aquatic ecosystem. This paper reports on the results of a study undertaken for the European Commission Tacis programme aimed at enhancing the environmental and industrial safety regulatory framework in order to align it with EU and international best practice. Based on a comprehensive analysis of applicable international standards and regulations, as well as those of Kazakhstan, ten issues are identified which require urgent attention. These issues are discussed and recommendations made on how to address them in order to improve the regulatory system.

During this rapid development of wind energy aiming to combat climate change worldwide, there is greater need to avoid, reduce, and compensate for impacts on wildlife: Through the effective use of mitigation, wind energy can continue to expand while reducing impacts. This is a first broad step into discussing and understanding mitigation strategies collectively, identifying the current state of knowledge and be a beneficial resource for practitioners and conservationists. We review the current state of published knowledge, both land-based and offshore, with a focus on wind energy–wildlife mitigation measures. We state measures and highlight their objective and discuss at which project stage it is most effective (e.g. planning, construction, and operation). Thereafter, we discuss key findings within current wind energy mitigation research, needing improved understanding into the efficacy of wildlife mitigation as well as research into the cost aspects of mitigation implementation. This paper is divided into two articles; Part 1 focuses on mitigation measures during planning, siting, and construction, while Part 2 focuses on measures during operation and decommissioning.

During this rapid development of wind energy aiming to combat climate change worldwide, there is greater need to avoid, reduce, and compensate for impacts on wildlife: Through the effective use of mitigation, wind energy can continue to expand while reducing impacts. This is a first broad step into discussing and understanding mitigation strategies collectively, identifying the current state of knowledge and be a beneficial resource for practitioners and conservationists.

We review the current state of published knowledge, both land-based and offshore, with a focus on wind energy–wildlife mitigation measures. We state measures and highlight their objective and discuss at which project stage it is most effective (e.g. planning, construction, operation). Thereafter, we discuss key findings within current wind energy mitigation research, needing improved understanding into the efficacy of wildlife mitigation as well as research into the cost aspects of mitigation implementation. This review is divided into two articles; Part 1 focuses on mitigation measures during planning, siting, and construction, while Part 2 focuses on measures during operation and decommissioning.

The primary aim of this paper is to determine penetration and uplift resistances of two interfering pipelines buried in clay with a linear increase in strength. The advanced finite element limit analysis of upper and lower bound theorems is used to perform new limit analysis solutions for both penetration and uplift resistances of two interfering pipelines. The strength profiles of cohesive soils are the cases of normally consolidated clays in deep water by setting the shear strength at the ground surface to be zero and linearly increased with the depth. The twin pipelines have the same geometries and are simultaneously failed at the same magnitude of the failure uplift or bearing loads. There are three considered input parameters including the spacing between the pipes, the embedded depth of the pipes, and the unit weight of soils. All input parameters have significant influences on the penetration and uplift resistances of two interfering pipelines. Failure mechanisms of the problems are also investigated, and stability charts of the penetration and uplift resistances of two interfering pipelines are produced for practical uses in offshore geotechnical engineering.

Software outsourcing has become more and more popular in recent years, and shows a non-reversible trend in the IT area. At the very beginning, the main purpose of software outsourcing is targeted in cost saving. But now it has turned into quality improvement and competence focus where software process will have crucial influence. This paper will analyze some experience of Indian software outsourcing industry, and present a new process for software outsourcing in China. The process is based on SITO Model and involves the Software Process Improvement (SPI). It has already been adopted in State Street Zhejiang University Technology Center (SSZUTC) as a proven record in process improvement.

Organizations must define the scope of their prospective sourcing initiative in terms of the process or function (e.g., finance and accounting), the sub-process (e.g., accounts receivable), the business units that will participate, and the location or geography of vendor. After having decided the function to outsource, it is critical to choose a country for sourcing — onshore, nearshore, middleshore or farshore. The advantages of onshore are similarity in all country factors except for differences in regulations of individual states or provinces. The benefits of nearshoring are cultural similarities, geographic proximity, and a closer time zone. Middleshoring offers somewhat lower costs, quicker time to market, and cultural proximity. Farshoring (again from the vantage point of U.S. and western Europe) IT and ITES offers the advantages of significant cost arbitrage, acceptable quality standards, and access to the vast resources of a developed, populous marketplace that enables economies of scale. Two other related options to be considered are multi-shoring and right-shoring. Multi-shoring, as the name implies, provides not only a hedge against risk, but also the opportunity to accelerate the development of new processes and products by dividing work among locations. Spreading one’s application portfolio globally avoids excessive dependency on a particular region to deal with the issues of sovereign risk. Force Majeure, natural disasters, sabotage, etc., are all real issues, which require a more nuanced global sourcing strategy. Right-shoring refers to allocating work strategically between locations near, middle, and far: for example, shifting simple customer inquiries to offshore call centers while keeping complex inquiries on the caller’s shore. We recommend proper evaluation of the following factors to select a country or multiple countries in case of multi-shoring: (a) political system; (b) ICT infrastructure; (c) regulatory regime; (d) workforce quality and quantity; (e) judicial and legal system; and (f) language/culture. The next stage should be to drill down to a company within a country. In this second stage to select a company, factors of (a) fit between client needs and potential vendor capabilities; (b) financial/cost considerations; (c) speed/agility of the vendor; and (d) quality considerations — need to be evaluated.

In the paper, large offshore wind turbine key system is firstly modeled for analyzing large offshore wind turbine geographical variable pitch control strategy. Single-neuron self-adaptive PID independent variable pitch control is proposed aiming at characteristics of large offshore wind turbine. United simulation is implemented on FAST, Turbsim, IEWind and Mcrunch software as well as MATLAB/Simulink. ITI-5MW fan developed by renewable energy lab is adopted for large offshore floating wind turbine as simulation model. Simulation experiment is implemented on control algorithm proposed in the paper. Experiment result shows that single-neuron self-adaptive PID independent variable pitch control is adopted in the paper, which is better than coordination variable pitch controller in the aspects of blade root load reduction, output power stability, smaller platform displacement, etc. with wider realistic significance.