Reliability and safety assessment is a challenging task for large and sophisticated maritime engineering systems or processes, and inevitably requires hypotheses, approximations and simplifications based on human judgements and analytical models. The Reliability and Safety Engineering and Technology (RESET) network for large maritime and other Made-To-Order (MTO) engineering systems provides the required dynamic approach for reliability and safety assessment. This is achieved through the integration of a pool of techniques for assisting the decision making process in the various phases of the system’s life cycle. Examples of such techniques include: uncertain data analysis methods, expert knowledge elicitation methods, probabilistic and possibilistic risk estimation methods, reliability assessment methods based on Monte Carlo simulation and finite element analysis, fatigue and fracture modelling of engineering structures, techno-economic analysis and decision making models.
The research contributes to European economic competitiveness by producing a group of highly creative researchers, with the expertise and skills that allow them to become productive and insightful engineers and scientists. It also establishes collaborative mechanisms for long-term partnerships between European and Asian researchers and institutes, with expertise in reliability and safety assessment of large complex maritime engineering systems. Similarly, this shall advance reliability and safety modelling and decision making, in order to address the issues of technology changes and emerging uncertainties in the 21st century.
The overall aim of this exchange programme is to bring together an international team of researchers with a wide variety of skills in reliability and safety research of large maritime engineering systems, and to tackle challenges faced by industry which require specialist knowledge and innovation. The research covers the fundamental study of reliability and safety, as well as applications in different maritime systems such as offshore installations, ships, offshore wind farms, and other MTO systems.
The project has 9 partners (5 EU members and 4 TC members) who have agreed for a program of extensive exchange of both Experienced Researchers (ERs) and Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) during 70 months, in order to fully explore and exploit the complementary strengths and synergies within the consortium. The interdisciplinary nature of the exchange programme offers a link for research and training of the involved ERs and ESRs, in a collaborative academic environment. This serves to support and reinforce the collaborations amongst the participants and helps establish a long-term research collaboration.
