Fatigue strength assessment of ship structures based on the crack propagation theory

Fatigue damage is one of main forms of ship structures destroyed. Every classification society and shipyard take fatigue assessment rules of ship structures as an instruction to assure fatigue strength of ship structures. Although these rules are based on the method of S-N curve, different fatigue lives of the same node are obtained with the help of different rules, because the disadvantages of S-N curve could not be avoided, such as neglect of initial objection of material. In this paper, fatigue strength assessment methods of ship structures are studied based on the facture propagation theory, and a detailed fatigue assessment method of ship structures is proposed, which is supposed to reference to predict fatigue life and preparation to perfect fatigue strength assessment of ship structures. ©, 2015, China Ship Scientific Research Center. All right reserved.