Ductile-to-Brittle Transition Fracture Mode and the Occurrence of Inverse Fracture in Pipeline Steels
Ductile-to-brittle transition fracture process commonly occurs at low temperatures under dynamic loading conditions such as Charpy tests and Drop Weight Tear Tests (DWTT). Due to the advent of the new generation of pipeline steels, whose fracture initiation energy is high, tend to develop abnormal fracture behavior during crack propagation. This phenomenon invalids qualification tests of standards and industry protocols for material suitability in engineering applications. This project is focused to gain a further understanding of the underlying physics behind this mechanism and how it relates to the macroscopic response and its likelihood depending on stress state, geometry, and boundary conditions.
Sponsor: Tenaris Dalmine
Status: In Progress
Corrosion Monitoring on Offshore Structures
Corrosion and damage on offshore structures is a critical technical challenge with opportunities in advanced sensing techniques. This is especially the case in structurally critical members and difficult-to-monitor regions such as tanks. The maintenance of assets through regular inspections can be improved and better planned with focused technological uses of sensors and measurements of damage accumulation. To this end, an effort to establish the state-of-the-art for structural inspections including metal loss from general corrosion will be conducted. Existing and emerging passive methodologies for assessing metal loss due to harsh environmental conditions will be investigated such as the possibility of using controlled induced current cathodic protection (ICCP) systems, ultrasonic sensors, electrical resistance probes, electrochemical sensors, and optical fiber sensors.
Sponsor: American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)
Status: In Progress
Design and Manufacturing of Sustainable and Durable Composites for Offshore Grating
Gratings constitute a key structural component for several engineering applications such as panels in decks or footbridges in offshore topside platforms, and other related systems. Gratings in offshore platforms located in the Outer Continental Shelf are subjected to harsh environments as well as extreme loading conditions over their lifetime, which can seriously be compromised in terms of structural integrity and lead to unexpected incidents such as life and equipment losses. New types of materials and structural arrangements for topside gratings are highly sought-after to overcome such challenges, including durability, resiliency, damage tolerance, and integrity. Increasing concerns about environmental sustainability also requests employing sustainable materials to ensure that offshore grating materials are environmentally friendly and do not contribute to marine pollution or depletion of natural resources.
Sponsor: Ocean Energy Safety Institute (OESI)
Status: In Progress