Concern for crack initiation and growth under cyclic loading and unstable crack propagation and tearing in the ship and offshore structures. Due attention shall be paid to the suitability and uncertainty of physical models and testing. Consideration is to be given to the practical application, statistical description and fracture control methods in design, fabrication, and service.
The advances addressing fatigue and fracture loading, fatigue damage accumulation, and crack growth approaches related to ships and offshore structures are reviewed and discussed by the 21st International Ships and Offshore Structures III.2 Fatigue and Fracture Committee. The rules and standards continued to be updated, accounting for the latest achievements in the field. The current committee report performed an in-depth update of the state of the art in this field with special attention on fatigue material properties, fatigue strength improvement, fatigue strength assessment based on rules (benchmark study A and B) and fatigue crack growth analysis in storm conditions (benchmark study C). The benchmark studies were performed by research groups originating from different Classification Societies, industrial partners, and universities as an essential contribution to the committee report. Fatigue and fracture is a vast developing field, and the committee report should be seen as a continuation of past International Ships and Offshore Structures III.2 Fatigue and Fracture Committee reports.
