ABSTRACT
Fatigue crack propagation is a crucial matter for structures subjected to variable-amplitude loads; it conditions the design phase of structural components in many fields as civil, nuclear, mechanics and above all aeronautics. Therefore, a large number of studies concerning the Fatigue Crack Growth problem are available. In spite of the existence of many consolidated Fatigue Crack Growth models, the processing of noisy crack measures provided by automated systems remains an open issue. The applicability of Monte Carlo methods for parameter identification on cracks subjected to different load ratios is investigated. The load ratios become random variables inside the algorithm together with the empirical parameters of the material. A Markov chain Monte Carlo method is examined with a simulated crack propagation affecting aluminum alloy. The applicability of this methodology into a real-time Structural Health Monitoring system is discussed at the end of the paper.
