Reliability Analysis and Life Prediction of Aging LNG Unloading Arms Based on Non-Destructive Test Data

Duc-Vu Ngo, Jong-Kwon Lim and Dong-Hyawn Kim ()
Additional contact information
Duc-Vu Ngo: Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Kunsan National University, Gunsan 54150, Republic of Korea
Jong-Kwon Lim: VARM Brain Co., Ltd., Seoul 05634, Republic of Korea
Dong-Hyawn Kim: School of Architecture and Coastal Construction Engineering, Kunsan National University, Gunsan 54150, Republic of Korea

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 24, 1-19

Abstract: Unloading arms (ULAs) among seaport infrastructures are susceptible to deterioration posed by the effects of harsh marine environmental conditions. During infrastructure’s service life, the deterioration of structural integrity may increase the risk of failure of infrastructure, and should be taken into account during structural reliability assessment. In this study, a simple non-destructive test (NDT) was employed to examine the structural deterioration of ULAs which were installed over 30 years ago. Then, these aging ULAs were modeled by the finite-element program, using non-destructive test data to update the thickness dimensions of structural members. Next, a reliability assessment was conducted based on the stress distribution of the main structural components under external loads, which are calculated by their relation to wind speed. Moreover, the time-dependent reliability index curve was also built by considering the deterioration function to predict the failure probability of the particular components during the remaining lifetime. The study revealed that the present condition of the ULA system was satisfactory for current loading conditions. A reliability index predicted with deteriorations factors may be a rational and appropriate approach for the assessment of aging structures needed for efficient infrastructure management.

Keywords: reliability assessment; time-dependent reliability index; aging unloading arm; non-destructive testing; wind speed (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/24/9408/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/24/9408/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:24:p:9408-:d:1001209

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().