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Offshore Structures

Structures which are designed and build in deep waters are known as offshore structures. These structures are much different form conventional buildings/ structures which are constructed in land mass. They are exposed to harsh environmental loads such as wave loads, current loads, ice loads along with other significant forces such as earthquake and wind. Offshore structures could be offshore oil platforms or offshore wind turbines. An offshore oil platform, is a large structure with facilities for drilling of wells to explore, extract, store, and process petroleum and natural gas that lies in rock formations beneath the seabed. With the need for clean energy, offshore wind farms are constructed across the world which consists of large number of offshore wind turbines. One of the most significant failure modes in offshore structures, in both offshore oil platforms and offshore wind turbines is fatigue, which occurs as a result of accumulated damage. In addition to operational and loads from the wind, wave and current, the aggressive environment on offshore structures accelerate damage by corrosion, which is defined as metal wear that results from microbial reaction or by chemical or electrochemical attack. Hence, there is a need to assess these structures for different failure criteria for assuring structural integrity and making life extension related decisions.