From preventive to predictive maintenance of ship hulls: The role of SHM

Current maintenance procedures for ship hulls are based around a series of time-fixed on-site surveys. The vision for the future of the maritime industry revolves around condition-based hull structural maintenance. The methods and techniques associated with realizing this vision fall within the field of Structural Health Monitoring. The goal of this article is to present the opportunities offered by the design and implementation of hull SHM systems which will enable the transition towards predictive maintenance. The primary focus will be to discuss the different aspects of such a framework as well as potential challenges associated with its development and implementation.