Protection of topside against the arctic environment

• Main Author: Hoteit, Jade
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.48730/cwft-t849; https://stax.strath.ac.uk/concern/theses/2227mp69j

The integrity of the floating platform represents the main research topic of offshore engineering. As offshore engineering is moving to the Arctic, new issues and challenges will be raised, mostly related to the unusual Arctic environment. To maintain a high level of safety, the topside of the floating platform should be protected against the Arctic environment. This protection must present a low maintenance and a high efficiency. The past investigations in the field of integrity in arctic offshore engineering are generally related to the structural integrity, fracture mechanics and fatigue analysis. The icing maintenance has been recently studied for the shipping industry in order to simulate the icing on a structure and to determine the most appropriate method to remove it. However, the prevention against cold temperature effects and icing on the floating platform deck has not been extensively studied. Polymer engineering represents one of the most active research fields in material engineering. Polymers have been extensively studied during the last 40 years. They are currently used for various applications in a lot of industries. The polymer material could present very different properties, depending on its molecular structures, and therefore could be used in different situations. The protection against cold temperature and icing has been recently studied for curative maintenance. However, an efficient preventive protection against cold temperature and icing still has to be determined. As it is not always possible to increase the thickness of metal parts, an appropriate polymer may represent an efficient and reliable solution. The purpose of this project is to determine the feasibility of using one or more polymers to protect an engineering active system against the Arctic environment by reducing the heat transfer and the risk of icing and increasing the hydrophobic property. As there is not any accurate model to simulate the behaviour of a polymer for a large range of temperatures, two serials of experiments will be realised. After producing small sized samples, a differential scanning calorimetric test will be carried, followed by a dynamic mechanical analysis. Then, the properties related to the extreme cold temperature will be studied to determine the efficiency of a polymer coating against the arctic environment.