Composite materials and adhesives

Composite materials could present a cheaper, more lightweight alternative to steel for shipping – but caution must be taken to ensure they can meet the same safety standards.

At Bureau Veritas, our Research & Development (R&D) team is active in the investigation of new materials and assemblies for the maritime industry. Employing our technical expertise, we are helping to discover new, more efficient ways of building and repairing – while never compromising on structural integrity.

Composite materials and adhesives are relatively unchartered waters in the maritime industry. Currently limited by SOLAS restrictions on ships larger than 500 GTs, composite materials are nonetheless being investigated for ship parts including propellers and rudders. Increasingly, they are being considered for more efficient repairs in the offshore industry – though care must be taken to ensure it shares the same structural properties as the original asset.

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Our Projects

ECOPROP

#OtherCollaborativeProjects #Marine
ECOProp’s research is expected to lead to novel insights and concepts for reducing fuel consumption, vibrations in ships and underwater noise emissions. This will contribute towards a healthier marine ecosystem and a prolonged service lifetime for propulsion systems.

DURABOND

#JIP #Offshore
The Durabond JIP has been established to to explore environmental impacts on the long-term durability of composite patches used in repairing steel structures. It will assess factors such as temperature, seawater and oils.

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STRENGTHBOND

#JIP #Offshore
In StrengthBond, we study design tools to better qualify the strength and fatigue of bonded repairs on large panels on offshore units like FPSOs. At the same time, we will gather data on typical composite material repairs.

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FIBRE4YARDS

#EUProject #Marine
The goal of FIBRE4YARDS is to match end-users’ needs with targeted advanced production technologies, including 3D printing and innovative composite connections, from other competitive industrial sectors.

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COPROPEL

#EUproject #Marine
The CoPropel project aims to harness the benefits of lightweight composite materials to improve propeller design. We will investigate the impacts of blade orientation on the change of flow, and how deformation under different fluid loads might influence hydrodynamic performance.

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MONOCLE

#IRT #Marine
Launched by the IRT Jules Verne, the MONOCLE project aims to develop a methodology for digitally monitoring the infusion process for large parts of composite materials in shipping.

FIBREGY

#EU project #MRE
The overall objective of the FIBREGY project is to enable the extensive use of FRP materials in the structure of the next generation of large Offshore Wind and Tidal Power (OWTP) platforms.
In order to achieve this objective, the project will develop, qualify and audit innovative FRP materials for offshore applications, elaborate new design procedures and guidelines, generate efficient production, inspection and monitoring methodologies, and validate and demonstrate advanced software analysis tools.

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CIRCLES OF LIFE

#CompositeMaterials
The Circles of Life project ambitions to develop a Shipyard Environmental Performance Index (SEPI) and a Craddle-to-Craddle (C2C) passport applicable to all types and sizes of shipyards.

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Sheathflex

#Offshore #JIP #CompositeMaterials
With Sheathflex JIP, BV will bring together flexible pipe manufacturers and operators with the objective to develop a guideline defining the requirements to qualify a polymeric sheath, aligned with expectation from the industry for all unbonded flexible pipe applications. 

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