The report considers the use of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) as decision support for assessing the condition of structures and preventing adverse incidents that could lead to loss of capacity.
The purpose of SHM is to provide decision support in assessing a structure’s condition. SHM can be used to detect, locate and assess the extent of any structural failures, as well as assist in providing a probability assessment for any future failures.
The report covers the latest SHM methods where these are used as input to maintenance and inspection planning. This can be especially important for offshore structures with a long or extended service life. Furthermore, SHM systems can potentially replace or limit the need for inspections by providing continuous monitoring of the condition of the structures.
Design in accordance with the rules and regulations can be associated with major uncertainties in terms of accurately predicting structures’ offshore capacities, but the size of the uncertainty is difficult to quantify. The use of sensor data with numeric models can reduce the uncertainty associated with structures’ capacities, but sensor data alone cannot capture all safety-critical behaviours.
The report assesses the strengths and weaknesses of different SHM methods with a focus on worldwide structural accidents and how SHM could have helped detect and address such incidents earlier. It also includes a proposal for a framework for the use of SHM through a management system for monitoring the integrity of the structures.