February 27, 2018
Yankun Gong is one of the PhD students in the Project 1: Metocean Hazards from Solitons project stream. Yankun’s research is looking at how to more accurately predict non-linear internal waves in order to quantify their intensity and hence their impact on the behaviour of offshore floating systems. He is working with our industry partners to characterise the generation, propagation, and dissipation of internal tides and solitons. This will lead to improved predictions of internal wave dynamics in the offshore Pilbara region, including the North West Shelf.
“I’ve used the 3D MITgcm model to predict internal tide dynamics and discover how remote waves contribute to locally generated internal tides. I am validating the accuracy of the model against 30 moorings deployed on the continental shelf. 2D idealised simulations will then simplify and explain the effect of remote waves.”
The ability to more accurately predict internal waves will impact the future design of offshore floating facilities in this region, leading to structures which are better able to cope with extreme weather conditions. Existing facilities may also benefit from improved prediction models via enhanced operability and safety measures.
Yankun is an active participant in the OFFshore ITRH mentoring program. For further details, please refer to Yankun’s profile page.
