European Research in Marine Structures

An overview is presented of the results obtained in Europe by a network with a large number of research groups in the field of Marine Structures during a period of 6 years. The European Union has funded a project aimed at improving the collaboration among European research groups specialized in marine structures, which has led, among other results to a number of benchmark studies organized in 6 main topical areas, namely, Methods and Tools for Loads and Load Effects, Methods and Tools for Strength Assessment, Experimental Analysis of Structures, Materials and Fabrication of Structures, Methods and Tools for Structural Design and Optimization and Structural Reliability, Safety and Environmental Protection. This paper presents an overview of various studies performed, which helps identifying the level of consistency and robustness of different numeric tools used in this field.