INVESTIGATION ON THE EFFECT OF TSUNAMI WAVES ON INTEGRITY OF TARPON MONOPOD IN MALAYSIAN WATERS

This paper presents the structural sensitivity analysis of tarpon monopod structure
subjected to tsunami waves benchmarked against storm metocean conditions. Malaysia's
geographical location situated on a seismically stable, partially protected from risks of
tsunami, thus, general practice in the design of fixed offshore platforms in Malaysia are
governed primarily by the wave forces at the sea without taking into consideration of
tsunami loading. However, 9.3Mw seaquakes occurred off Northwest Coast of Aceh on
December 2004 had led to generated tsunami waves which caused dozens of fatalities and
billions to restructure the damages. Hence, it has brought the attention to the needs of
examining the integrity of offshore structures scattered throughout Malaysian waters as
these platforms are being exposed to tsunami threat coming from Manila Trench.