🔍 Key Concepts

• Air gap on a jack-up or elevated platform (distance between water surface and underside of hull) • Purpose of Limits of Elevated Service (design envelope for safe elevation and loading) • Relationship between hull elevation, wave zone, and leg/overturning loads

💭 Think About

• If you raise the hull higher than the approved air gap, what happens to the forces acting on the legs and the stability of the unit? • How does being closer to or within the storm wave zone affect both wave impact and overall moments on the structure? • Think about which choice would be a direct structural or stability consequence of going beyond the designed air gap, not just a side effect.

✅ Before You Answer

• Verify which option clearly ties to stability and structural loading when the unit is elevated higher than designed. • Eliminate any option that suggests a decrease in loads or exposure when you exceed a design limit. • Check which answer best reflects a negative safety implication that operators and designers specifically worry about with excessive air gap.