FATIGUE RELIABILITY AND INSPECTION OF TLP TENDON SYSTEM

The collapse of a tension leg platform (TLP) tendon system due to progressive fatigue of several joints is investigated. Two solution methods for the system reliability problem are proposed. The first method is based on the failure path approach and the second on the order statistics approach. The effects of redundancy and uncertainties involved in the problem are analyzed. Inspection of selected joints is also included in order to evaluate its impact on system reliability