Advanced Strcutural Fire Design of Offshore Strcutures

Resistance against extreme loading has to be documeneted for offshore structures. Fire is a continuous threat as large amounts of oil and gas are passing through the installations. In a conventional design p rocedure the "cold" strcuture is optimised for the different mechanic al loads. The responsibility of the structural design is then transfe rred to the safety department, which normally recommends use of passi ve fire protection as the only way to avoid stuctural failure during fire. Including fire in the design process will result in more fire r esistant structures which means reduced use of passive fire protectio n and thereby reduced initial amd maintanence costs. Better understan ding of the structural behaviour under fire exposure opens also for e xtended use of light alloy structures. Design against accidental fire should be included in the design process conducted by the structural enegineers in close cooperation with the safety department.