09.01.2024
International
Corrosion damage is a major challenge for the maritime industry, especially for offshore wind energy. A new white paper analyses the potential of AI in mitigating maritime corrosion. The paper was written by a consortium from industry and research under the leadership of the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), the Helmholtz Centre Hereon and the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Applied Materials Research. In it, they identify important fields of action in order to pool research resources in Germany in a targeted manner and achieve an optimal impact through AI methods.
The use of AI as a "game changer" has now arrived in many areas, including corrosion research. According to the authors, the digital management of protection systems and the AI-supported assessment of corrosion events enable significant cost savings and considerable value creation potential for the maritime industry while at the same time reducing the ecological impact.
In detail, the following four fields of action are identified as key areas:
- Environmental interactions: The intensity, type and progression of corrosion is dependent on many conditions, e.g. salt content, pH values, humidity and temperature. Detailed modelling of corrosion processes using such environmental information is still a major challenge and requires intensive research efforts. New modelling systems should be developed for this purpose.
- Development and application of coatings: Currently available corrosion protection systems guarantee long-lasting protection in some cases. Nevertheless, the failure of the coating is still the main reason for corrosion problems. AI can help here to make protective systems even better and at the same time more environmentally friendly.
- Maintenance and repair: The introduction of predictive and end-to-end digitalised maintenance methods for corrosion protection systems requires the collection and processing of large amounts of data. AI is indispensable for processing and interpreting this data. An AI-supported forecast of corrosion progression can also be used for the early detection of future damage and enables the need for maintenance to be estimated.
- Software development: To date, there has been a lack of holistic data management tools in the field of maritime corrosion. A systematic approach is required here, which should include a digital passport for systems and quality and assessment management.
The authors of the white paper propose that the funding lines of the German research landscape be adapted or initiated along these four fields of action in order to maximise the leverage effect of the use of AI methods in the German maritime industry.