Wave climate & terminal operability for Lihir

Aktis Hydraulics has carried out a detailed wave and wind climate assessment and wave penetration study for upgrading the main servicing terminal of Lihir in order to accommodate larger ships calling at the island. The terminal is located in a natural bay with waves entering from the East and North-East after diffracting around the main headlands.

Firstly, a wave propagation study considered the varous swells systems of the Pacific and accounts for main diffracting obstacles.

Subsequently, a terminal mooring layout optimisation has been undertaken making use of Optimoor to evaluate the operability and critical conditions for mooring the desired larger vessels at the existing terminal arrangement. Following our analysis the mooring layout has been optimised and recommendations were made on hatch use on when servicing the island using larger geared vessels than the original terminal design vessel.

The study has been supported by manoeuvring simulations carried out by BMT SCD Ltd.

The ocean swells arriving at the site are in particular important as they have a big impact on large vessels impeding safe and efficient operations. Swells at the berth are the main factor of operational down-time. It’s therefore crucial to accurately address the ocean swells diffracting and propagating into the bay and onto the moored ship.