Sensing

Offshore structures are currently monitored for a range of conditions to inform on operational performance, intervention, maintenance or repair (IMR), life-extension and more recently on the state of a structure or system following decommissioning. The challenge is the volume of data collected and the extent to which this can be synthesised to form a clear picture of a structure’s system health, to enable either a human or autonomous system to act on the information. Smart sensing systems can self-certify system health, addressing the burden and risk of monitoring ocean structures, and enabling optimization of whole of life performance. Smart sensing systems also open up opportunities for end-of-life options for offshore structures to enable minimum life-cycle environmental impact and inform on design of future structures.

Activities within Research Goal 3 ‘Sensing’ focus on development of a living design approach to address the need for live assessment of system health, minimizing the need for and enabling targeting of additional inspection.