Summary

This volume contains the results of the third phase (1981 - 1987) of a research programme on the in-service behaviour of welded marine structures under fatigue and corrosion fatigue loading. The programme was undertaken in six EEC countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Kingdom) in close association with similar work being undertaken in Norway and Canada. In all, more than 40 research laboratories have been involved in an overall collaboration aimed at generating information relevant to the performance of offshore steel structures and fostering a precise degree of common technical understanding that will encourage the increased use of structural steel fabrications for the exploitation of offshore hydrocarbon reserves throughout the world. The programme has already produced tangible benefits for both the steel and oil industries through the contribution it has made to a better understanding of the behaviour of steel structures in marine environments as well as by providing the data necessary for the revision of codes of practice relating to the fabrication of these structures.