Corrosion fatigue in offshore structures

Offshore wind energy industry around globe is expanding rapidly in the recent decade to face challenges on the tremendous demand of eco-friendly electricity. Steel welded substructures for supporting wind turbines are usually subjected to a complex dynamic spectrum of fatigue loads due to wind, wave and current. Fatigue failure can happen when external load that is much lower than material yield strength is applied for a long period of time. At the same time, they are immerged in or exposed to corrosive seawater. The corrosive environment plays an important role during the metal fatigue process, as corrosion accelerates aging rate of material and local high stress concentration at fatigue crack tip reinforce chemical reaction, the interaction of fatigue and environmental degradation significantly reduce life span of the structure and increase cost of installation and maintenance. Therefore, the investigation of combined damage from fatigue and corrosion mechanism is needed for improving understanding of corrosion fatigue phenomenon in offshore structures and advanced numerical tool of simulation and life prediction of corrosion fatigue is required to help engineers design more durable and lightweight structures, so to decrease the cost.

Publication year:2018

Accessibility:Open