Standards address structural integrity for offshore assets
ABS has released Guidance Notes on Accidental Load Analysis and Design for Offshore Structures for assessing the structural consequences of accidental loads. While conventional design criteria typically take into account such variables as wind, wave, current, and weather conditions, they do not include guidance on assessing design integrity under the accidental loads of impact from moving vessels, dropped objects, fire or blast hazards.
ABS Guidance Notes on Accidental Load Analysis and Design for Offshore Structures was developed to help identify and assess the effects of the structural loads that arise from these types of accidental events using risk-based assessment techniques.
With this guide, ABS provides guidance on assessing the structural consequences of collision, dropped objects, fire and blast loads on offshore structures using a stepped risk-based approach.
According to ABS Director of Marine Technology Christina Wang, the traditional approach to accident load induced structural assessment is to use prescriptive criteria. “The issue with this approach is that prescriptive criteria can give rise to a ‘one size fits all’ mentality,” she explains. “Over at least the last decade, there has been greater recognition that risk-based procedures can support and in some cases replace prescriptive criteria.”
Click atABS Guidance Notes on Accidental Load Analysis and Design for Offshore Structures for more information