Development of a robust and cost-effective graphite nanoplatelate-reinforced composite riser and its simultaneous condition monitoring.

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There is strong evidence that oil and gas industry is interested in using risers (the pipe that extends up from the seafloor to a drilling platform) made of advanced fiber-reinforced composites (AFRP), because steel risers pose serious challenges when used in deep water (500-1,499 m) applications. Even, the use of AFRP for fabricating risers for use in ultra-deep water exploration (1,500 m and more) has been posing serious challenges. In addition, there are several challenges with respect to their in-service inspection necessary for assuring their intended service lives, since the conventionally used non-destructive testing methods are deemed expensive and impractical. The emergence of multifunctional nano-carbons in recent years has revolutionized the possibilities of design methodologies that could be potentially used in producing such demanding and complex systems. The inclusion of nanocarbon tubes in resins have been demonstrated, in most cases, to have increased the mechanical properties and toughness of the host resin, but at the laminate level, their inclusion could actually degrade the laminates mechanical properties; and, they are very expensive. Carbon nanoparticles (NCP), specifically, graphite nano-platelates, on the other hand, are more economical than other nanocarbons and a strategically and optimally established volume inclusion of GNP could produce useful enhancement in the mechanical properties of the composite. They can also make the composite peizoresistive and/or magnetoresistive, thus enabling them to act as sensors and/or actuators. GNP can therefore be used to produce hybrid AFRP risers with outstanding mechanical properties, cost-effectively, but at the same time, their presence can be exploited for monitoring the in-service condition of such demanding structures, in real-time. This project, therefore aims at selecting and incorporating the most effective and affordable GNP with the purpose of producing innovative, resilient and cost-effective FRP risers for use in deep waters, whose condition (health) could also be effectively monitored via the inherent conductive properties of the GNP.