REVIEW PAPER - A SUMMARY OF THE 1985-87 MANAGED FATIGUE PROGRAMME

The paper presents a review of the eighteen projects contained in the 1985-87 programme on fatigue in offshore structures as seen from the industry sponsors' viewpoint. The individual projects are grouped under engineering, simulation testing and materials response headings where points of significance from both a research aspect and for practical applications are highlighted. The major conclusions are firstly that yet more evidence has emerged concerning the effect of cathodic protection on fatigue life of tubular joints and secondly, that there is now sufficient quantitative information and prediction methodology to develop a validated software package for offshore structures. The first is currently being addressed by the Department of Energy, a major sponsor of the programme. The second is a major objective of the 1087-89 Managed Programme.