[2E4] Subsea acoustic emission monitoring of offshore structures
R Marks
Mistras Group Ltd, UK
Offshore structures are used in a wide range of industries, including oil and gas, wind and shipping. There are many benefits to operating offshore, including accessing oil and gas reserves that would otherwise be unreachable and operating unobscured large-scale wind turbines. Offshore operation is a harsh environment that is detrimental to the structural performance. Therefore, to ensure structural integrity, monitoring the health and condition of these structures is advantageous, to guide inspection and maintenance and raise the alarm regarding significant changes in the structure.
Acoustic emission (AE) technology is a passive non-destructive monitoring technique that is well suited to the long-term monitoring of structures. Mistras Group has over 50 years of experience in developing AE technologies for a wide range of industrial applications. This has included the development of purpose-driven instrumentation, sensors, communications and data processing to fulfil the requirements of 24/7/365 monitoring. This has enabled Mistras to deliver a series of AE monitoring solutions for offshore structures and assets.
This work presents a background on AE technologies and the work that has been conducted to enable the technique to be applied in an offshore environment. Case studies on how these developments have been applied to real in-service offshore structures are presented and how the data is analysed to identify the structural degradation and the requirement for intervention.
Acoustic emission (AE) technology is a passive non-destructive monitoring technique that is well suited to the long-term monitoring of structures. Mistras Group has over 50 years of experience in developing AE technologies for a wide range of industrial applications. This has included the development of purpose-driven instrumentation, sensors, communications and data processing to fulfil the requirements of 24/7/365 monitoring. This has enabled Mistras to deliver a series of AE monitoring solutions for offshore structures and assets.
This work presents a background on AE technologies and the work that has been conducted to enable the technique to be applied in an offshore environment. Case studies on how these developments have been applied to real in-service offshore structures are presented and how the data is analysed to identify the structural degradation and the requirement for intervention.
