Introduction

Abstract

This special issue on “Structural Integrity of Offshore Energy Industry“ originated at the 1 International Conference on Structural Integrity of Offshore Energy Industry held in September 2018 in Aberdeen, Scotland. The offshore, marine, and subsea energy industries continue to evolve creating new challenges and risks for the integrity, safety and reliability of its structures and systems. There is a push to expand operations into new locations and environments, such as greater depths, where operational conditions are considerably harsher. Many assets in mature fields are rapidly reaching or have already exceeded their original design life and safe but affordable life extension and decommissioning are becoming major objectives. The recent rapid developments in renewable energy technologies have introduced new challenges for maintaining at minimum cost the reliability and integrity of structures and equipment in remote locations. There are also exciting new opportunities, but also significant challenges and uncertainties, in applying structural health monitoring and non-destructive testing and the novel concepts of data science to safety and structural integrity. This special issue brings papers authored by international researchers that discuss and address the current and emerging issues and challenges, including modelling of deterioration of wind turbines, strengthening composite wind turbine blades with nanotubes, detecting damage in pipelines, calculating stress concentration in armoured flexible pipes, and applying the theory of value of information and data driven approaches to structural integrity management.