Damage Detection in Offshore Structures by the Random Decrement Technique

Abstract

The Random Decrement Technique has shown promise as an inspection technique for offshore structures. The major advantage of this technique is that it requires only measurements of the dynamic response of the structure and not the input excitation causing the response. On offshore platforms, such random input forces occur from wind, waves, and currents. The Random Decrement Technique was evaluated together with a number of other NDE techniques under the NDE round robin testing program sponsored by the United States Geological Survey and the Office of Naval Research. A series of tests, damage scenarios, were conducted on a model of an offshore structure in a blind-mode by an independent neutral agent. Test data were given to the corresponding advocates to be analyzed and interpreted to predict the damages. Initial results indicated that the Random Decrement Technique was able to identify all the damage and non-damage situations with the usage of only four accelerometers mounted on each of the legs of the structure.