Updating Fatigue Reliability of Uninspectable Joints using Structurally Correlated Inspection Data

This paper outlines an investigation into the updating of fatigue reliability through inspection data by means of structural correlation. The proposed methodology is based on the random nature of fatigue
fracture growth and the probability of damage detection and introduces a direct link between predicted crack size and inspection results. A distinct focus is applied on opportunities for utilizing inspection information for the updating of both inspected and uninspected (or uninspectable) locations.