An Analytical Solution for Predicting the Vibration-Fatigue-Life in Bimodal Random Processes

Abstract

Predicting the vibration-fatigue-life of engineering structures subjected to random loading is a critical issue for. Frequency methods are generally adopted to deal with this problem. This paper focuses on bimodal spectra methods, including Jiao-Moan method, Fu-Cebon method, and Modified Fu-Cebon method. It has been proven that these three methods can give acceptable fatigue damage results. However, these three bimodal methods do not have analytical solutions. Jiao-Moan method uses an approximate solution, Fu-Cebon method, and Modified Fu-Cebon method needed to be calculated by numerical integration which is obviously not convenient in engineering application. Thus, an analytical solution for predicting the vibration-fatigue-life in bimodal spectra is developed. The accuracy of the analytical solution is compared with numerical integration. The results show that a very good agreement between an analytical solution and numerical integration can be obtained. Finally, case study in offshore structures is conducted and a bandwidth correction factor is computed through using the proposed analytical solution.