Offshore Mechanics applied to ocean systems is fundamental to technology development aiming sustainability in ultra-deep underwater oil and gas exploitation activities. The term ‘ocean systems’ encompasses not only platforms, such as the Floating Production Storage Offloading – FPSO, but also subsea equipment, as mooring lines, umbilical cables, flexible pipes, pipelines and their fittings. The mechanics of such systems are non-linear in nature, which makes modeling their response to environmental loads a rather complex procedure. An interdisciplinary approach is then needed, merging analytical, numerical and experimental techniques.

The Offshore Mechanic Laboratory was founded in 1994. Since then, it has been in the leadership of numerous R&D projects, in close collaboration with several laboratories and research groups, such as the Numerical Offshore Tank (TPN-USP), the Research Nucleus of Dynamics and Fluids (NDF-USP), the Oceanographic Institute (IO – USP), the Technological Research Institute (IPT) and, more recently, the Research Centre for Gas Innovation (RCGI-USP). Cooperative research and academic activities with the most prestigious Engineering Schools in Brazil, such as those in UFRJ, UFSC, UFSCar, UNICAMP, URGS, PUC-Rio, UFMG, UFU, form a solid basis for LMO’s team development.

A broad and gratifying cooperative research work with international institutions has been also undertaken, as those with the University of Michigan, USA, the Johannes Kepler University, Austria, the Leibniz University Hannover, Germany, the Università Politenica Delle Marche, Italy, the University of Tokyo, Japan, the Polytechnique Montreal and the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada.

LMO’s research programs have been funded by Brazilian research agencies, such as FINEP, ANP, CNPq and FAPESP, through projects and scholarships. Such programs are stimulated by real problems in the offshore engineering field, faced through R&D projects supported by PETROBRAS and various other partners, such as SHELL, Prysmian, Repsol, Bureau Veritas, Chevron North America and BG E&P.

At LMO, PhD and MSc candidates may enroll in three major Graduate Programs at Escola Politécnica in the fields of Mechanical Engineering, Ocean Engineering or Civil Engineering. Post-docs will also find a challenging and friendly research environment.