-_ ‘Siidhand, Vol. 20, Parts 2-4, April-August 1995, pp. 501-512. © Printed in India. Nonlinear dynamics of offshore structures under sea wave and earthquake forces K VENKATARAMANA and KENJI KAWANO Department of Ocean Civil Engineering, Kagoshima University, Korimoto 1-21-40, Kagoshima City 890, Japan Abstract. A study of dynamic response of offshore structures in random seas to inputs of earthquake ground motions is presented. Emphasis is placed on the evaluation of nonlinear hydrodynamic damping effects due to sea waves for the earthquake response. The structure is discretized using the finite clement method, Sea waves are represented by Bretschneider’s power spectrum and the Morison equation defines the wave forcing function. Tajimi-Kanai's power spectrum is used for the horizontal ground acceler- ation due to earthquakes, The governing equations of motion are obtained by the substructure method. Response analysis is carried out using the frequency-domain random-vibration approach. Ttis found that the hydrodynamic damping forces are higher in random seas than in still water and sea waves generally reduce the seismic response of offshore structures, Studies on the first passage probabilities of response indicate that small sea waves enhance the reliability of offshore structures against earthquakes forces. Keywords, Offshore structure, dynamic response, nonlinear hydrodynamic damping, first passage probability. 1, Introduction ‘The analysis and design of offshore structures is a complicated process and requires several assumptions and approximations. The structures have to resist hostile environ- ‘ment and must stand on soils whose properties may be predicted only to an approxi- mate degree of accuracy. The loads acting on offshore structures in a typical ocean environment are many such as wind, waves, tides, currents, ice, earthquakes, tempera~ ture loads, operational loads and so on. It is necessary to design an offshore structure such that it can respond to moderate environmental loads without damage and is capable of resisting severe environmental loads without seriously endangering the occupants. The various offshore structures presently in use are jacket-type fixed platforms, submersible or semisubmersible type floating platforms, steel or concrete ‘gravity platforms, guyed towers, tension leg platforms, storage tanks, submersible pipe lines ete. The choice of a particular type of offshore structure depends on environmental 501