Prioritization of failure risk in subsea flexible pipes via data envelopment analysis

•Subsea pipe failure is modeled employing data envelopment analysis.•The model explains data obtained in inspection testes.•The model incorporates objective and subjective weights.

Risk-based inspection is nowadays the predominant approach to structural integrity assurance in complex engineering systems, such as those designed for and operated in deepwater environments. One of the major tasks in risk-based planning is risk ranking of the components comprising an engineering system. In this paper, a mathematical model based on data envelopment analysis is developed for this purpose, whereby two types of weights are employed: subjective judgmental weights which are provided as input, and objective which constitute the output of the model. The use of the mathematical model is illustrated in a real world system of subsea flexible pipes, which operational in the south Atlantic Shelf off the Southeast Coast of Brazil.