SUT-US OSIG presents: Seabed Considerations for Subsea Cables in Offshore Wind Development - Session 2 - Society for Underwater Technology in the U.S.

SUT-US OSIG presents: Seabed Considerations for Subsea Cables in Offshore Wind Development - Session 2

Starts: Tue, Apr 15, 2025 8:00 AM CST
Ends: Tue, Apr 15, 2025 11:00 AM CST
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Join Us for an Exciting Virtual Workshop! The Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics Committee (OSIG) is pleased to invite you to the virtual workshop titled "Seabed Considerations for Subsea Cables in Offshore Wind Development". This online webinar comprises two sessions featuring twelve presentations from industry leaders and academic experts, with six speakers at each session. The workshop will provide the audience with broad insights into geophysical and geotechnical site survey strategies, cable routing considerations, scour and cable burial risk assessment methodologies, shore crossings, and cable design and installation. Registrants will have access to video recordings and presentation materials. Additionally, SUT will offer Certificates for Professional Development Hours (PDH) available upon request.

If you are interested in sponsoring this event, see flyer at the bottom of the page and contact Mariana Diaz mdiaz@sut-us.org

Webinar Session 2 Program:

8:00AM- 8:05AM CST	Welcome and introduction Zack Westgate - Associate Professor, UMass Amherst - SUT-US OSIG Chair
8:05AM- 8:25AM CST	Subsea Cable Site Investigation Strategy Nick Izzo, Senior Geotechnical Engineer, Ørsted This presentation provides an overview of the geotechnical site investigation strategy for offshore wind subsea cables from a developer's perspective. It highlights the importance of comprehensive seabed characterization through geotechnical and geophysical surveys, geotechnical testing, and environmental assessments. Key topics include the methodologies employed for soil sampling and testing, sediment analysis, and thermal property evaluation, as well as the integration of these data into a robust ground model for cable routing and burial risk assessment. The presentation also discusses best practices, challenges, and lessons learned from real-world projects to ensure reliable and cost-effective cable installation and operation.
8:25AM- 8:45AM CST	Cables and complex stratigraphies: examples where geoscience can help mitigate risk Dr. Carol Cotterill, NGI Damages and defects in cables account for 75%–80% of all insurance claims in the offshore wind farm industry. Of the cable failures reported, typically 8% are due to external damage and 46% through installation. So, what are the common pitfalls that lead to these failures and how can we, as geoscientists, help mitigate the risks? Using examples from a number of different European windfarm projects, this presentation will look at how we identify and manage potential risk through analysis of environmental conditions, both seafloor and sub-seafloor.
8:45AM- 9:05AM CST	Georisk and considerations for Horizontal Directional Drills Andy Barwise, RWE Topic Description
9:05AM- 9:25AM CST	Q&A Session Dr. Xiaoyan Long, Fugro
9:25AM- 9:40AM CST	Break
9:40AM- 10:00AM CST	Geotechnical Considerations for Offshore Power Cable Design and Reliability Yusuf Arikan, 2H Offshore The design and performance of submarine power cables are heavily influenced by geotechnical factors, including seabed composition, sediment mobility, and scour processes. Understanding these interactions is crucial for ensuring cable integrity, minimizing failure risks, and optimizing installation strategies. This talk will explore the key geotechnical parameters that impact power cable design, such as soil stiffness, thermal conductivity, and cyclic loading effects. It will also address challenges posed by dynamic seabed conditions, including sediment transport and scour, and their implications for cable burial depth, protection strategies, and long-term operational resilience. By bridging geotechnical and electrical engineering considerations, this presentation aims to provide practical insights for offshore wind developers, engineers, and researchers working to improve the robustness of subsea power transmission systems.
10:00AM- 10:20AM CST	Scour and Burial Cable Risk Assessment Ed Clukey, GeoMaxED To assess the risk of a buried cable (or pipeline) a burial depth must be determined below which the cable will not encounter unacceptable deformations or stresses from environmental loads such as wave or currents. In addition, this burial depth must be sufficient so that the cable is not negatively impacted from human activities such as fishing. The presentation will primarily focus on impacts from wave and currents. Both will create a bottom boundary layer that results in a bottom shear stress that can erode sediment and compromise the required burial depth and integrity of the cable. Recent advancements in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) can be used to estimate the bottom boundary layer and resulting scour. However, the scour will also be accompanied by deposition, so field data is required to estimate the combined effect. This data is particularly important for estimating the seasonal changes in scour potential and the impact on burial depth for various return events. Waves will also impart stresses below the seabed which can result in two types of seabed liquefaction. The first type results in the cumulative rise in pore pressure that will cause seabed movements until the pore pressures from the wave action dissipate and the soil regains strength. The other type of liquefaction is more temporary and is caused by the oscillatory wave action resulting in vertical or horizontal effective stresses approaching zero. Both the effects of scour from the bottom boundary layer and wave-induced liquefaction will be discussed. Similarities between the methods used for estimating the required burial depth for wind and waves vs the burial requirements for arctic pipelines expose to ice gouging will be made.
10:20AM- 10:40AM CST	Practical application of subsea cable engineering José Antonio Reyna Gutiérrez, Ørsted The presentation will focus on the practical application of subsea cable design principles within recent Ørsted offshore wind farm projects. Different study cases will be presented focusing on burial depth design, thermal design, and installation methodologies to demonstrate how theoretical concepts can translate into real-world solutions on our projects. Optimal burial depth, crucial for cable protection and stability is explored through case studies showcasing the importance of an integrated ground model and cable burial risk assessments to mitigate natural and anthropogenic hazards. The presentation will further look at thermal design considerations, highlighting the importance of accurately modelling heat dissipation to ensure long-term cable performance. Finally, the presentation addresses mitigation of cable installation challenges by means of proper tool selection based on site specific seabed conditions and project requirements.
10:40AM- 11:00AM CST	Q&A Session Dr. Xiaoyan Long, Fugro

Presenters:

	Nick Izzo Mr. Izzo is a senior geotechnical engineer with Ørsted in Providence, Rhode Island. He has 10 years of experience in onshore, nearshore, and offshore geotechnics including site characterization and ground modelling, foundation design and installation, and cable design and installation. He currently leads geotechnical site investigation campaigns and geotechnical site characterization for Ørsted’s US development portfolio. He is a registered professional engineer in New York and Louisiana.
	Dr. Carol Cotterill Dr. Carol Cotterill is a marine geoscientist with over 18 years of experience in understanding the Quaternary processes that have shaped the seafloor. Specializing in developing ground models for offshore infrastructure, Carol has contributed to advancing knowledge of buried landscapes, particularly focusing on previously glaciated areas. Throughout her career, she has worked extensively with the International Ocean Discovery Program as both Expedition Manager for the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling and Assistant Director of Science Communication for the US Science Support Program. She has also worked on numerous offshore windfarm projects across the North Sea Basin. As a respected voice in the marine geoscience community, Carol regularly presents at international conferences and has served on advisory / editorial boards for several organizations and journals.
	Andy Barwise Andy Barwise is the Team Lead at RWE for Geotechnics and Site investigation with responsibility for ground risk management for the global portfolio of projects through development, construction, operation and decommissioning. With nearly 35 years of experience in global onshore, offshore and nearshore site investigation and geotechnical engineering globally, he is well positioning to have an international understanding of the importance of standards and standardisation. As a previous chair of the SUT OSIG group he has contributed to the guidance notes for offshore wind and also been on the committee the update of the ISO standards for Marine soil investigation and also sits on the ISSMGE TC209 committee. Andy has presented and written papers at many internation conferences including OTC, SUT and ISFOG. His key focus is geo risk management – how can we optimise surveys and data acquisition to satisfy all stakeholders needs and engineering needs in the most efficient way to enable safe and efficient design of offshore structures.
	Dr. Xiaoyan Long, Ph.D., P.E., BC.GE Dr. Long is the principal consultant and technical authority for Fugro USA Marine, Inc. in Houston, TX. She has over 18 years' consultancy and management experience specializing in marine site characterization, foundation design, well geotechnical and interdisciplinary geo-hazard assessment. Xiaoyan obtained her master’s degree from Tongji university in China and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree from Texas A& M university in College Station, TX. She is a registered professional engineer in TX and OH states and a board-certified geotechnical engineer by Academy of Geo-Professionals. Xiaoyan has published over 30 technical papers and is serving as the Honorary Secretary of the SUT-US executive branch committee. She is a member of SUT OSIG (Offshore Site Investigation Geotechnics) technical committee and ISSMGE (International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering) TC 209 Offshore Geotechnics technical committee.
	Yusuf Arikan Mr. Arikan is a Senior Project Manager at 2H Offshore. He has over 15 years of structural engineering and project management experience in the design and analysis of various offshore structures including hydrodynamics of various oil & gas and offshore wind foundations. In the recent years, he has been extensively involved in offshore wind projects, specifically the coupled assessment of the foundation & turbine, and design and analysis of mooring and power cable systems. Yusuf holds Bachelor’s degree from Bogazici University in 2003 and Master’s degree from University of Houston in 2006. He is a registered Professional Engineer (PE) in Texas and Project Management Professional (PMP).
	Ed Clukey, Ph. D., P.E., F. ASCE, D. OE (ret.), D. GE (ret.) Mr. Clukey holds a master's and bachelor's degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a doctorate from Cornell University. He is a registered professional engineer in California and Texas, a member of the Society for Underwater Technology, a Fellow in ASCE, and a retired Diplomate in Geotechnical and Ocean Engineering. With nearly 50 years of experience in offshore geotechnical engineering, his career includes roles at BP America, McClelland Engineers, Exxon Production Research, and the U.S. Geological Survey. He has been instrumental in developing suction caisson technology and has chaired API task groups for geotechnical guidelines. Since retiring from BP, he founded GeoMaxEd and has been active in COPRI and the ASCE Geo-Institute. He has lectured at MIT and TAMU and authored 55 technical publications. In 2022, he delivered the fifth McClelland lecture in Austin.
	José Antonio Reyna Gutiérrez José Antonio Reyna Gutiérrez is a Lead Specialist at Ørsted where he has driven subsea cable engineering for the past 8 years. As a project engineer he has supported cable design and installation for multiple Offshore Windfarms in Europe, the US and APAC. As technical lead, he has driven the development of methodologies used by Ørsted for cable burial design, thermal design, and cable installation risk assessment including cable burial optimization, seabed preparation and trenching feasibility. His expertise encompasses mathematical modelling, process design, geoscience, GIS and data management. José's recent work has focused on quantifying uncertainty of ground conditions through stochastic modelling and using this as input for design to assess risks quantitatively and reduce over-conservatism in subsea cable design to reduce CAPEX. José holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geophysics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). He has previously work in the field of hydrogeology and geoscience at COWI Denmark.
	Dr. Zack Westgate Zack is an Associate Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a registered professional civil engineer with 18 years of experience consulting in the offshore energy sector, currently as a Principal Engineer with the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute. He has published on topics relating to site characterization, soil mechanics, offshore foundation engineering, pipeline/riser geotechnics, and most recently on the geotechnical behavior of glauconite sands. He is currently Chair of the SUT-US Offshore Site Investigations and Geotechnics committee, and serves on other industry committees focused on offshore energy.