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

有强有力的证据表明，石油和天然气行业对使用由先进纤维增强复合材料(AFRP)制成的立管(从海底延伸到钻井平台的管道)感兴趣，因为在深水(500-1,499米)应用中使用钢质立管会带来严重挑战。甚至，使用AFRP制造用于超深水勘探(1500米以上)的立管也带来了严重的挑战。此外，由于传统使用的无损检测方法被认为是昂贵和不切实际的，因此在确保其预期使用寿命所必需的在役检查方面存在若干挑战。 近年来，多功能纳米碳的出现彻底改变了设计方法的可能性，这些方法可能被用于生产如此苛刻和复杂的系统。在树脂中加入纳米碳管已被证明在大多数情况下提高了主体树脂的机械性能和韧性，但在层压板层面上，它们实际上可能会降低层压板的机械性能；而且，它们非常昂贵。另一方面，碳纳米颗粒(NCP)，特别是石墨纳米板酸盐比其他纳米碳化物更经济，在战略上和最佳地建立GNP的体积夹杂物可以有效地提高复合材料的力学性能。它们还可以使复合材料变得压阻和/或磁阻，从而使它们能够充当传感器和/或执行器。因此，GNP可用于生产具有优异机械性能的混合AFRP立管，成本效益高，但同时，它们的存在可用于实时监测这种要求苛刻的结构的使用状况。 因此，该项目旨在选择和纳入最有效和负担得起的GNP，目的是生产用于深水的创新、弹性和成本效益高的玻璃钢立管，其状况(健康)也可以通过GNP的固有导电特性进行有效监测。

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.