Towards a new horizon in structural integrity: Integrity, information and intelligence

This review article summarizes recent activities within the SAFE Research Center, which aim to open a new horizon in the field of structural integrity. These activities include (i) enhancement of fracture assessment methodologies, (ii) development of sensing technologies and (iii) development of IT (Information Technology) - based intelligent plant management system. The first issue is to describe the more reliable fracture assessment methodology, recently proposed by authors, and its application to non-linear fracture mechanics problems. The second issue is to describe how to implement the current advances in fiber-optic technology to condition monitoring systems. Two fiber-optic sensors for condition monitoring systems are introduced. Finally, an integrated intelligent system for the plant management is introduced by incorporating advances in fracture assessment methodologies and sensing technologies into a currently available IT-based plant management system. The proposed intelligent plant management system is not only flexible to adopt advances in fracture assessment methodologies and sensing technologies, but also easily accessible to field engineers and experts. This system is expected to play a key role in combining advances in structural integrity assessment methodologies and fast-developing information technology in the future, and thus will become a key element in safe and informative plant management.