Underwater structures are being built everywhere across the world now. What started with the construction of underwater research stations in the 1960s has given rise to a revolution that has engulfed even developing nations now. Countries are now increasingly adopting the initiative to build structures underneath water. This is so the problems relating to land availability and transportation are effectively taken care of.
Industries such as offshore Oil and Gas, Shipping, Ports, Dams & Power plants are seeing an increased number of underwater structures coming up. Over the last decade or so, India has seen thousands of such structures come up in the oceans and near the coastal belts.
These underwater structures with all their pros come with their own challenges too. The structures need to be monitored and maintained so they don’t fail to fulfil their desired objectives.
Underwater Structures and their ongoing woes!
A few major problems these underwater structures face are as follows:
These challenges among the others when ignored have caused catastrophic events in the past. A few prime examples would be the following incident:
In all of the above stated incidents, the losses were huge and they weren’t restricted to monetary losses alone. Human lives were lost, natural habitat in the area disturbed and damage to the equipment or the whole set up in general was irreparable.
To tackle, accidents like the ones mentioned above, companies worldwide started to adopt a process widely known as Asset Integrity Management.
What is Asset Integrity Management?
Asset Integrity Management by definition is the means of ensuring that the people, systems, processes and resources that deliver integrity are in place, in use and will perform when required over the whole lifecycle of the asset.
The risk of a major incident can never be reduced to zero. Significant reductions in the likelihood of occurrence and consequence can be achieved by utilizing a systematic delivery and assurance process. This enhances the asset’s overall reliability and performance. Asset Integrity Management can further be described as the continuous assessment process applied throughout design, construction, installation and operations to assure that the facilities are and remain to be fit for purpose.
The aim of the asset integrity management process is to provide a framework for the following:
Asset Integrity Management in the context of underwater structures plays a highly important role. In general, asset integrity management is a process that is initiated at the very point when the structure is being built. In such cases, adherence to the process becomes easier when compared to situations wherein it is initiated somewhere during the lifecycle of the structure. In the case of the latter, traditional methods such as using scuba divers does not suffice.
Asset Integrity Management & Human Divers? Not the best combination!
The employment of scuba divers during any stage of the Asset Integrity Management process comes with its own set of restrictions which are as follows:
With these limitations, various industries in India like offshore Oil and Gas, Shipping, Ports, Dams and Power Plants are either forced to skip/ delay/ compromise on their Asset Integrity Management Process or simply end up spending more money.
This led to technology experts with the required knowledge of this domain to come up with a solution. A solution that is being readily accepted now by companies world over. Consequently, a few good companies have come up in the area of underwater inspection using ROVs.
This solution is the ROV – Remotely Operated Vehicle.
What is an ROV?
While Dimitri Rebikoff is credited with building the first tethered ROV in 1953, the US military expanded on the technology to retrieve equipment lost at sea. In 1966, the US Navy recovered an atomic bomb lost in a plane crash offshore Spain using an ROV, and in 1973, an ROV was used to save sailors in a sunken submersible offshore Ireland.
The commercial world quickly began manufacturing preliminary versions of ROVs for the offshore oil and gas industry. Although these products were not as successful initially, the technology has come a long way. Now ROVs are regularly used offshore for petroleum developments and drilling, military and science efforts, as well as underwater cable endeavors.
ROVs are unoccupied, highly maneuverable underwater robots. They can be operated by a person sitting on a surface vessel, using a joystick in a similar way that you would play a video game. ROVs allow for the exploration of the ocean without the need for a person to be underwater.
A group of cables, or tether, connects the ROV to the ship, sending electrical signals back and forth between the operator and the vehicle. Most ROVs are equipped with at least a still camera, video camera, and lights, meaning that they can transit images and video back to the ship. Additional equipment, such as a manipulator or cutting arm, water samplers, and instruments that measure parameters like water clarity and temperature, may also be added to vehicles to allow for sample collection.
ROVs range in size from that of a small computer to a small truck. The larger ones are very heavy and need other equipment such as a winch to put them over the side of a ship and into the water.
While using ROVs eliminates the “human presence” in the water, in most cases, ROV operations are simpler and safer to conduct than any type of occupied-submersible or diving operation. This helps the operators stay safe (and dry!) on ship decks.
How are ROVs better than human divers in Asset Integrity Management?
A few reasons as to robotic inspection or ROV inspections are a perfect substitute to diver based inspection, as a means to facilitating the Asset Integrity Management process are as stated below:
All of these advantages justify the choice of leading companies today to choose ROVs as a substitute for human divers when conducting the Asset Integrity Management process.
In addition to the above stated advantages ROVs also come equipped with the following capabilities which make them all the more efficient:
These advantages and capabilities result in the engineers and management having all the necessary information with them at the completion of the Asset Integrity Management process. ROVs enable them to make decisions on the basis of the data gathered. Wise decision making on their part resultantly benefits the company too.