Offshore Structure Maintenance Techniques

One of the priority development areas of the offshore industry world-wide is the efficient offshore structures maintenance. A particular problem is being represented by the maintenance of the installations in a hostile environment. The integrity is subject to progressive degradation under fatigue crack growth, owing to the large number of wave-induced stress cycles experienced by the structures. The operators of the structures will need to decide on the appropriate course of action, if cracks are discovered in service. For cracks of various sizes found in different locations of the structures, the priorities for actions will also need to be determined.

An important aspect which has to be taken into consideration is being represented by the fact that, over the last few years, when it came to offshore structures maintenance, the up-mentioned decisions have been depending very much on engineering judgment. Also, there has to be kept in mind that an objective criterion for this type of decision making has been provided for the first time by the latest developments in reliability fracture mechanics analysis. With the established structural design criteria based on reliability analysis of strength, this criterion is consistent. This practically means that, in order to incorporate structural integrity considerations by design, it has become a real possibility. Studies on the uncertainties of load history, materials crack growth behavior, fracture mechanics modeling, non-destructive inspection and other environmental factors, are being included within the reliability-fracture-mechanics-based fatigue analysis. Offshore structures maintenance techniques are constantly being reviewed and improved. It is important as well to be considered that offshore structure maintenance techniques are essential for the proper functioning of the industry. Offshore structures maintenance techniques are usually being performed by professionals and they are proven to increase the efficiency of the business, as well as the productivity line.

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