Systematic implementation path for life-cycle application engineering of marine composites

To meet the requirements of green, intelligent, and high-quality development in the shipbuilding and marine engineering industries, fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have emerged as one of the most critical lightweight structural materials, owing to their high specific strength, excellent corrosion resistance, and superior design flexibility. However, the large-scale and standardized application of marine FRP composites is still constrained by several key challenges, including the lack of unified performance standards, incomplete risk control and verification systems, insufficient long-term durability evaluation, and immature full-life-cycle management mechanisms. This study proposes a systematic engineering implementation framework for the application of marine FRP composites across the full life cycle. First, the development status of marine FRP composites and the latest specifications and guidelines issued by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and leading classification societies (DNV, BV, CCS) are comprehensively reviewed and compared. Second, the key constraints limiting the widespread adoption of FRP materials are analyzed from the perspectives of material performance, industry standardization, risk identification, and engineering validation. Subsequently, with a focus on green application, material inventory management, recyclable design, and intelligent maintenance, novel requirements for full-life-cycle maintenance systems are proposed. Finally, by integrating risk control theory, digital technologies, and artificial intelligence, a systematic engineering implementation pathway is constructed, covering design assessment, collaborative simulation, manufacturing inspection, and full-life-cycle operation and maintenance. The results indicate that FRP composites offer significant advantages in structural lightweighting, energy efficiency, and corrosion resistance. However, unified performance standard system, long-term degradation mechanism, and full-life-cycle verification system still require further development. The proposed framework supports the safe, green, and intelligent application of FRP materials in ship structures and provides a technical foundation for their standardized adoption. Future research should focus on multi-fidelity modeling, multi-objective collaborative optimization, recyclable material development, and digital twin-based intelligent maintenance to further enhance the engineering applicability and robustness of marine FRP technologies.