Risk and Safety
Risk and safety research is focused on developing concepts, methods, tests and frameworks for creating safe technological and socio-technological systems and for managing associated risks. These advances in risk analysis and safety science are applied to specific problems in maritime and materials engineering. This serves society by increasing our understanding of how maritime and materials safety is created and maintained and how safety risks can be managed effectively.
Given the rapid developments in marine technologies, with increased automation, digitalisation, and system integration, there is a constant need for ensuring the safety of design and operation of new maritime systems. Scenario-based risk modelling is essential for the safe operation of ships and maritime traffic systems. Advanced ships require new and improved designs and smart situation awareness and decision support systems. In order to achieve this, the research of the Marine Technology research group focuses on the development of innovative ship designs accounting with efficient traffic management systems and navigation safety controls.
In the context of Arctic navigation, the current design regulations for ice-going ships and offshore structures fail to predict the actual safety and required safety level of the operations. Holistic risk analyses typically include the definition of hazard scenarios, their probability of occurrence and the severity of their consequences. Such an assessment is challenging for Arctic operations, as operational data is scarce. In this area, one of the goals is to apply similar methods to those developed for the safety of marine traffic in open waters – particularly the heavy tanker traffic in the Gulf of Finland – to ice-covered waters. In addition, model-scale testing in Aalto Ice Tank represents an important part of this research as it provides new insight into the structure-ice contact problem.
Another aspect of risk and safety is related to the fatigue and fracture of materials. For safety-critical systems like nuclear power plants and airplanes, periodic inspections combined with reliable models of crack growth enable operators to detect flaws before they reach a dangerous state. Risk and safety research addresses the non-destructive testing and the characterisation and modelling of cracks, while also including effects such as hydrogen embrittlement and thermal fatigue.
Personnel: Professor Pentti Kujala, Professor Heikki Remes, Professor Jani Romanoff, Professor Jukka Tuhkuri, Professor Pedro Vilaça