Space–Time Extremes of Random Fields

The initial motivation for developing the methods presented in this chapter was the search for a practical solution to the air gap problem for offshore structures. Over the years several reports had been filed detailing damage of the deck structure of offshore platforms due to wave impacts. In fact, such damage seemed to occur more frequently than could be expected from predictions based on standard theory. These wave impacts are highly undesirable events as they may, in the worst case, compromise the structural integrity of the platform deck. Hence, considerable attention was being paid to this problem over some time, and now reasonably good predictive tools have become available, as will be demonstrated in this chapter.