Author(s)

S. Dharmavasan

Abstract

Fatigue crack growth is one of the main deterioration processes in offshore structures. The fatigue life of welded connections in offshore structures is therefore an important design criterion as well as a governing factor for the planning of inspection and maintenance actions. Due to the considerable costs associated with inspection and maintenance of offshore structures it is necessary to optimise the inspection and maintenance plans such that the costs are minimised and at the same time the risk kept within acceptable limits. This implies that the estimation of fatigue crack growth as well as the effect of inspection and maintenance actions must be modelled accurately. This paper will describe the development of a reliability based structural integrity assessment tool based on fracture mechanics models.

Keywords