Fracture mechanics based fatigue reliability under variable amplitude loading

How to efficiently and accurately evaluate the fatigue reliability under variable-amplitude loading?

When assessing the reliability of mechanical components subjected to fatigue deterioration, many uncertain parameters have to be considered: mechanical properties of the material, the size and the density of initial flaws, as well as the random loading. The aim of this project is to implement smart and efficient methods to evaluate the reliability based on advanced fracture mechanics approaches. Special focus is set on the influence of the charactersitics of the variable-amplitude loading on the reliability. We have found that these assmputions may change the resulting probability of failure by several orders of magnitude.