Chapter XI 

 ENGINEERING IN THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT 



Ocean Engineering 



A strengthened engineering component of marine sciences and 

 technology is one of the objectives set forth in legislation. Engineer- 

 ing, however, is not an end but rather a means — for tools, techniques, 

 facilities, and services must match requirements for research and for 

 applications. By a number of circumstances, some the result of 

 planned marine development, but the most fortuitous contributions 

 from other fields, we find the technologies ripe for meeting new marine 

 requirements. 



Ships and submarines, undersea cables and tunnels, coastal protec- 

 tion, and offshore oil operations are examples of successful ocean engi- 

 neering. These evolve from classical engineering principles, modified 

 to take into account the different environmental factors and forces of 

 the oceans, and oriented to the tasks man wants to accomplish in the 

 sea. Such engineering thus concerns propulsion, materials, sources 

 of energy, structures, communications, etc. Engineering design must 

 accommodate such factors as cost, safety, reliability, availability of 

 components, and ease of maintenance. Implicit, too, is the systems 

 approach to problem solving, taking into account such environmental 

 factors as: 



— sea surface motion; 



— tides and currents; 



— wave impact and wind loading; 



— heavy hydrostatic pressures; 



— large buoyant forces; 



— opacity of sea water to electromagnetic energy; 



— high attenuation and scattering of light energy; 



— high conductivity of sounds; 



— lack of gaseous oxygen for man or chemical combustion; 



— presence of all common elements in sea water; 



— variable two- phase nature of water-bottom interface; 



— severe corrosion and fouling. 



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