State of the art and trends in development of underwater welding

Abstract

Maintenance of underwater structures demands application of appropriate technologies, such as underwater welding. Due to high safety risks, great importance and responsibility in performing these activities is on the highly trained and educated human resources, including divers and the organization team on the surface. In global aspects, investigations for improvement and application of underwater welding have been highly intensified through the recent decade. In Croatia, this field is very important due to the great intensity of oil transport and gas production in the Adriatic Sea. There are several projects about underwater activities that are conducted within the Department of Welded Structures, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (FAMENA) at the University of Zagreb. In this article, the main issues about underwater welding and the alternatives in further development are presented.