Fuzzy Fatigue Reliability Design Considering Model Uncertainty

Abstract

In engineering, fatigue failure is one of the main failure modes of actual structures. It is very important in theory and practice to analyze the structural reliability under fatigue loading. The fatigue failure is considered as a fuzzy event in view of the objective law and the actual process of fatigue failure. The transformation of components from serviceable state to failure state is not accomplished in an action. There is a gradual transition stage from serviceable state to failure state. Fuzzy theory is firstly used to describe the model uncertainty quantitatively, which can not be disposed by general fatigue reliability design. The example analysis shows that prediction result by the new method of fuzzy fatigue reliability design is more proper to the data of fatigue experiment than the other methods, and it works with a wider range of adaptability and flexibility in engineering.