SBIR-STTR Award

The objective of Phase I is to develop a practical methodology and procedure for implementing risk in the decision-making process for structural maintenance and repair. The specific tasks needed to achieve these objectives of the proposed effort can be enumerated as follows: 1. Assessment of Existing Maintenance Strategies for Ship Structures that includes · Assessment of inspection and maintenance strategies in ship structures · Assessment of risk methods · Assessment of total ownership costs 2. Development of Risk-Based Maintenance Strategies for Ship Structures that includes · Development of a plan to utilize experience, engineering judgment, historical data and expert opinion in identification of critical damage modes and sites for selected ship categories · Development of methods for estimating qualitative risk measures at critical locations using event trees · Development of methods for screening and ranking of critical locations · Development of methods for estimating quantitative risk measures at selected critical locations using probabilistic reliability methods and event trees 3. Development of a plan to Utilize Risk Measures for Optimal Planning of Inspections and Maintenance Schedules that includes · Development of models for updating inspection and maintenance plans · Development of a plan for a risk-based maintenance software tool 4. Definition of Software Requirements that includes · Preliminary design of software tool · Demonstration of proposed methodology 5. Demonstration of Methodology for Typical Ship Details that includes · Demonstration of software plan 6. Optional Effort: Definition of Software Requirements, and Prototype Risk Based Management Tool. 7. Development of a plan for Phase II that includes refinement of methodology for software architecture, development of software tool, incorporation of existing guidelines, and demonstration on ship structures.

Benefits:
The marine industry needs assistance in managing inspection and maintenance activities in a manner to reduce total ownership cost. There is a need to efficiently identify critical maintenance locations and perform appropriate repairs and fixes. The anticipated products from this SBIR effort are in the form of risk-based maintenance strategies to reduce total ownership costs, and software that would help in meeting the needs of the industry.

Keywords:
Consequences, Inspection, Maintenance, Risk or reliability, Failure, Lifecycle, Repair, Structure

The main objective of the Phase II work is (1) to further develop and refine the risk-based methodology for developing maintenance management strategies, (2) to develop, implement and test the software tool based on the methodology proposed, and (3) develop a guide on the use of the methodology and software with a case study. The primary products of Phase II are software and guidelines for developing risk-based maintenance management strategies. The main activities to be performed in this task to achieve the objectives of Phase II include the following: 1. Further development and refinement of the risk-based methodology for developing maintenance management strategies for ship structures; 2. Refinement of the software design, and development of the software requirements document including databases needed for collecting, archiving and retrieving information; 3. Implementation/development and testing of the software system; 4. Applications of the software tool for risk-based maintenance management; 5. Development and specification of guidelines; and 6. Development of a commercialization plan. Also, a project-reporting task will be included to document the work done, and also to deal with the management of the proposed work. A final report will be prepared to describe the theoretical foundation and the software developed in the second phase. Guidelines and system demonstrations will be included in the report. The software and guidelines will be developed in close coordination, consultation, and input from potential users, such as COMNAVSURFLANT and SURFLANT of the U. S. Navy. The products of Phase II will build on products and practices already used in the field by current users. The marine industry needs assistance in managing inspection and maintenance activities in a manner to reduce total ownership cost. There is a need to efficiently identify critical maintenance locations and perform appropriate repairs and fixes. The anticipated products from this SBIR effort are in the form of risk-based maintenance strategies to reduce total ownership costs, and software that would help in meeting the needs of the industry.

Keywords:
Structure, Inspection, Maintenance, Risk, Failure, Lifecycle, Repair, Reliability