ABSTRACT
The terms Fracture and Fatigue evoke strong images of failed and tired components. The image is one where a structure or component loses its integrity and fails to do its job. The consequences of such an event can be felt in a myriad of trivial everyday events which annoy us all at a domestic level, and in major one-off disasters. When these involve large scale pollution or loss of live, they capture the headlines of the world press. Fortunately disasters with these consequences happen infrequently. Less fortunately, those failures which don't end in such dire consequences often go unreported as if they are of less significance. This leads to a level of complacency in the design, construction and operation of large scale structures which is not merited. Again, failures are often put down to operational factors, when even if true, a design modification could effectively either eliminate the potential for such a failure, or significantly reduce the consequences. A good example of this is in the vulnerability of Ro-Ro ferries to loss of stability when the front doors are breached.
