The technology arm of Subsea UK, the National Subsea Research Initiative (NSRI) has teamed up with Scottish innovation centres CENSIS and Data Lab in an effort to enhance inspection and condition monitoring methods for greater subsea integrity management.
NSRI will be running a workshop in Aberdeen on 25th April, bringing industry and academia together to identify the sensory and digital technologies needed to monitor the deterioration and predict the failure of subsea architecture for both oil and gas applications and offshore wind installations.
The event will explore the range of tools, techniques and methodologies for ensuring existing North Sea subsea assets are fit for purpose, as well as provide practical help and advice on how the developer community can overcome financial challenges and secure funding to get technology to market.
Dr Gordon Drummond, project director of NSRI will provide an insight into the most common subsea system failures based on recent research gathered from UK operators, highlighting the opportunities for developers, academia and the wider industry to work together to provide remote and continuous monitoring instead of periodic inspection activities.
He commented: "We are trying to do something slightly different with this workshop. We have widened the net and reached out to a number of organisations out-with the subsea sector in a bid to stimulate fresh thinking and inject some new ideas. The goal is to identify the opportunities, connect collaborative partners and identify routes to funding, so we can bring those ideas to life.
"As offshore assets mature, operating them becomes increasingly more complex and monitoring their condition is essential to ensure integrity. To achieve this, we must have the right systems and procedures in place so we can monitor deterioration, identify failure mechanisms, understand the root causes, and implement the right maintenance programme, if necessary.
CENSIS and Data Lab help to form new partnerships between industry and academia enabling innovators and researchers to collaborate and develop products and services which will keep the UK industry at the fore.
The event will welcome Dr Rachael Wakefield from CENSIS, Duncan Hart from Data Lab and Mike Reuss-Newland from Wood Group who will look at how sensors coupled with data analytics can enhance subsea integrity management systems.
Sarah Keynes from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) will also take to the stage to discuss the funding opportunities available to projects which are focussed on developing innovative monitoring approaches to the oil and gas and offshore renewables sectors.
Delegates will then work in groups to discuss the possible technological solutions which could help the industry overcome current and future monitoring and maintenance challenges. The ideas generated will be grouped using the adopt, adapt, develop and collaborate principle, setting out the short, medium and long term activities which will help progress the development of subsea technology for improved integrity management in the form of a technology road map.
"Knowing more about the status of equipment and its condition allows us to pre-empt failure by taking some form of preventative action. We hope this event will help steer the developer community in the right direction by identifying new products and services which will help to determine the reliability and performance of existing infrastructure and thereby help schedule preventative actions,” added Dr Drummond.
Following the event, NSRI will issue a report on the findings, with technology roadmaps outlining the route to an improved method for integrity management through condition monitoring and data analytics with industry driven objectives.
As the technology arm of Subsea UK, NSRI explores where the industry is heading in terms of subsea infrastructure and identifies the technologies needed to help it get there, supporting field development and expansion in both deep and shallow waters.
NSRI’s Condition Monitoring and Predictive Failure event will take place on 25 April 2017 at Village Hotel, Prime Four, Kingswells, Aberdeen. Those wishing to attend can book their place online here.