Abstract
Steel offshore tubular members corrode over their lifespan. If there is inadequate protection, corrosion might lead to a perforation. The bulk of the time, techniques for repairing perforations in tubular steel structures include welding operations, which raise the risk of accidents when large areas are involved. Alternative repair procedures based on composite materials are gaining popularity since they do not require heat sources. However, there have been few investigations on its mechanical performance, and there are no guidelines for dimensioning strengthening repairs. In this study, a carbon fiber patch is used to strengthen perforated steel tubular members. The mechanical properties of the repair composite material were determined experimentally. A series of experimental tests on 1:3 scale samples of flare-boom structures, with varying perforation levels, are carried out to investigate the strengthening performance. This study also evaluates the effectiveness of a numerical model proposed to predict the performance of perforated steel tubular members reinforced with CFRP laminate and to estimate the suitable patch size. The numerical and experimental results indicated that strengthened tubes retrieved substantially higher compressive force than unrepaired tubes, suggesting the feasibility of this strengthening procedure with lower risk and shorter implementation times.
