CRITICAL CONCERNS AND CHALLENGES IN FRACTURE AND FATIGUE ASSESSMENTS OF CORROSION RESISTANT ALLOY (CRA) PIPES WITH DISSIMILAR WELDMENTS: SUBSEA APPLICATIONS AND BEYOND [Plenary Lecture]

The presentation will provide an overview of recent progress and challenges in fracture and fatigue assessments of corrosion resistant alloy (CRA) pipes having dissimilar weldments, with a particular focus on marine risers and subsea infrastructure. Despite advances in existing technology, there are still restrictions imposed by the use of new materials, more hostile environment and extreme loading conditions to obtain lighter and more cost-effective structures without compromising operation safety and environment protection. Clearly, there is a need of developing improved technological capabilities in connection with innovative and advanced procedures for fracture and fatigue assessments of critical components for subsea applications to ensure more reliable and fail-safe operations of the infrastructure for production and transportation of oil and gas in deep water offshore hydrocarbon reservoirs.
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