Naval Structural Health Monitoring Systems

Structural Health Monitoring allows rapid assessment of a ship’s state of health, with particular reference to the double hull tanks. The data resulting from the monitoring program are used to improve the efficiency of the load and unload operations, the maintenance, the repair and the replacement of the structure based on reliable and objective data. Detection of ongoing damages can be used to discriminate deviations from the design performance and real-time diagnosis onboard means security for passengers and cargos.

 

An important advantage of the fiber optic sensors, compared with traditional ones, is the absence of any electrical signals: Indeed, SMARTEC fiber optic technology uses just optical signals, and this avoids any risk of explosion due to short circuit. Learning how a ship performs in real conditions will help to better design structures for the future. This can lead to cheaper, safer and more durable structures with increased reliability, performance and safety. Structural monitoring using SMARTEC solutions represents a good way to enlarge knowledge and assessment on the structural performance and integrity.

1 - Integrated Solutions Testindo Group provides Integrated Structural Health Monitoring Solutions for ships, based on advanced fiber optic technologies and conventional sensors. We also integrate third party transducers for additional information. All sensing technologies are seamlessly integrated into a single database and user interface.

2 - SHMLive Through the SHMLive service, Testindo Group offers a comprehensive solution for ship monitoring. This includes the design of the system, its delivery and installation, maintenance and operation, web access to the data and data analysis by experienced engineering partners, all for a fixed monthly fee.

3 - Ensure security and reduce insurance costs A SMARTEC structural monitoring system installed on a ship hull, is able to guarantee the security for the structure itself, for the cargos, and for the passengers, as well. For this purpose, thresholds of warning and alert may be set, according to critical deformation values. The presence of a SHMS increases the overall security level of the ship and entitles to an additional class notation, with consequentially decreasing of the insurance costs.

4 - Assessing real conditions of the ships Structural Health Monitoring aims to provide more reliable data on the real conditions of the structure, observe its evolution and detect the appearance of new degradations. Furthermore an SHMS leads to a reduction of the ship docking for the inspection controls. Other important aim of the SHMS is the real-time diagnosis of the ship structural behavior, with particular reference to critical points and sections of the ship frame.

5 - Design parameters confirmed A comparison between the design and real (monitored) behavior confirms or refines the designed performances. Data supplied from the monitoring system are used to validate the ship structural model (typically by Finite Element Method). Data is transferred to a control room and integrated in the global naval diagnostic system.

6 - Quality Assurance A monitoring system provides information on the quality of the material used in the construction as well as on the structural design calculus. In addition, it allows the evaluation of the cycles of fatigue induced by the periodic solicitations of the hydro-dynamic motion (effect wave, oscillations, etc.).

7 - Testindo Group: your dependable partner for instrumentation project management Testindo Smartec Telemac will support you in all phases of the project, from the system design, to installation, commissioning and training. Through our experience and commitment, we guarantee the satisfaction of your monitoring needs.
The Testindo group has been instrumenting critical structures, including dams and nuclear power plants, for more than 60 years. We will be here to support your project for at least the next 60. Our worldwide network of system integrators provides a competent local support for your project.
All our systems come with a 10 year warranty on the availability of spare parts.

Solutions

The following packages are the most widely used for Naval monitoring. However each project has specific requirements and needs that can be addressed by a tailored system. We have developed a 7-step methodology to design and implement a optimal SHM system for your Ship.