Inspections enable the safe operation of offshore oil & gas platforms. They are necessary to obtain information about the condition of the structure during its lifetime. However, inspections are time-consuming and expensive, and the question arises as to how often and where in the structure inspections must be carried out to ensure safety.

In this project, we developed a 4th generation inspection planning tool that, based on reliability, takes into account the results of previous inspections in order to update inspection plans. The tool allows the SN curve (Wöhler line) to be selected depending on the question, any load spectrum to be taken into account and different inspection methods to be selected. Inspecting one location (hotspot) also provides information about other hotspots in the structure as they are subject to similar loads and environmental factors. These dependencies are explicitly taken into account by us. In this way, information can be obtained about hotspots that are not explicitly inspected or cannot be inspected.

Our method and the implementation in a tool significantly increases the efficiency of inspections and at the same time ensures a sufficient level of security of the structure.

Risk-based inspection planning can also be transferred to other infrastructures and other areas in which regular inspections must be optimally planned.