Structural response of French offshore heritage lighthouses

Abstract

Offshore lighthouses are a remarkable historical heritage often over 100 years old. The management of their ageing is a challenge and requires a thorough understanding of their structural response under wave loading. With this aim in view, the dynamic response of the 'La Jument' lighthouse in the French Iroise Sea was characterized in situ, with accelerometers, under the action of a breaking wave, during a winter storm in January 2018. Detailed exploitation of the measurement data complemented by photographic documentation of the same wave event helped determine eigenfrequencies and damping coefficients of the structure as well as the likely orientation of the wave and the position of its crest with respect to the lighthouse tower. The results of these analyses were put into perspective with those of literature and more specifically from three-dimensional finite element modelling of the structural response of the lighthouse under the action effects of breaking waves.