Windfarms – The Cost of Coastal Corrosion
Corrosion is known as one of the primary mechanisms degrading the structural integrity and shortening the lifespan of wind turbines. It reduces the structures thickness, sometimes at alarming rates, encouraging cracks and buckling beyond repair.
Offshore, alongside harsh coastal winds, rain, UV radiation and humidity, high levels of salt in seawater and sea air exacerbates severe corrosion, promoting chemical deterioration of exposed surfaces and growth of corrosive organisms. The worst threat to marine structural integrity is amidst alternating wet and dry conditions at the water’s surface – the ‘splash zone’. Constant abrasive wave action, intensified by the seawater’s temperature, chlorinity and salinity, is the perfect recipe for extreme corrosion.
How significant is the impact on the wind power industry? With extensive maintenance checklists, specialist engineers in short supply, high repair rates, and increasing pressure to minimise turbine downtime to meet the huge surge in demand, it’s no wonder managing corrosion can feel like a losing battle. Furthermore, demand has sparked fierce competition for space, sights now being set on floating structures in deeper waters. With no obstructions to hinder its power further offshore, stronger winds are good news for turbines. Ironically, it’s also their downfall. Rougher seas cause corrosion to grow fiercer and faster.
To ease this pressure, Cygnus subsea ultrasonic thickness gauges like Cygnus Dive and Cygnus ROV UTM are intuitive, extremely accurate and simple to use - enabling you to perform quick, inexpensive and reliable maintenance surveys frequently.
The wrist-mountable Cygnus Dive
Designed to be worn on a diver’s wrist, the Cygnus Dive enables an invaluable free hand to perform ultrasonic thickness measurement underwater; it’s easy to see why this is our most popular diver gauge. Its large, bright Live A‑scan display is easily viewable to diver and camera, even in poor visibility. The gauge is built to measure extreme corrosion, a variety of surfaces, materials, and through coatings using Cygnus’ Multiple-Echo mode (as specified by Classification Societies). Other features include data‑logging with Auto‑Log, topside repeater, and HelmetView® – a clever remote display fixed directly to the diver’s helmet, displaying the live measurement in eyeline.
The only ROV UltrasonicThickness Gauge with live A-scan – Cygnus ROV UTM
This ROV mountable, highly intelligent unit is designed to measure metal thickness in the harshest subsea conditions, up to 3,000m deep. Equipped with Cygnus’ Multiple-Echo technology, it achieves accurate measurements through coatings, as specified by Classification Societies – reducing time and costs. What’s more, this intuitive UTM device boasts an Auto ME/EE/SE Mode which decides and selects the optimal measurement mode for the best results. With live A‑Scan for visual verification of measurements at the topside and a high-performance piezo-composite probe on a self- aligning probe handler, the gauge delivers outstanding accuracy and efficiency for Class surveys and subsea Inspection, Repair and Maintenance (IRM).
For more information visit their subsea page at:
+44 (0) 1305 265533
