Value of Information-based assessment of strain-based thickness loss monitoring in ship hull structures

Recent advances in Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) have attracted industry interest, yet real-world applications, such as in ship structures, remain scarce. Despite SHM’s potential to optimise maintenance, its adoption in ships is limited due to the lack of clearly quantifiable benefits for hull structural maintenance. This study employs a Bayesian pre-posterior decision analysis to quantify the value of information from SHM systems monitoring corrosion-induced thickness loss in ship hulls, in a first-of-its kind analysis for ship structures. We define decision-making consequence cost functions based on exceedance probabilities relative to a target thickness loss threshold, which can be set by the decision-maker. This introduces a practical aspect to our framework, that enables implicitly modelling the decision-maker’s risk perception. We apply this framework to a large-scale, high-fidelity numerical model of a commercial vessel and examine the relative benefits of different thickness loss monitoring strategies, including strain-based SHM and traditional on-site inspections.