Damage identity in fatigue assessment of structures

The modified strain criterion-based method for fatigue assessment of structures is discussed. The damage is estimated based on the specified parameters of the criterion and the damage summation procedure by employing the finite-element method. With a reasonably fine mesh of the finiteelement model of the ‘critical location’ structure, the condition of the identity of damage in the material of the test specimen and the structure is provided and, respectively, the effect of uncertainty on the fatigue life assessment of the structure is reduced. The implementation of this version of the method is using the example of the fatigue life evaluation of a ship hull and superstructure detail at expansion joint. For comparison, the fatigue life of the detail is estimated using the standard S-N approach. The results are in approximate agreement; however, reducing the computational uncertainties with the help of the deformation criterion shows more physically reasonable fatigue properties of the detail.