Reliability assessment of the ship structures under the uncertainty using structural health monitoring

In the present study, the assessment process of the reliability of the ship structure under the two factors of fatigue failure and corrosion has been expressed using structural health monitoring data. In order to use the structural health monitoring data for assessing the reliability, Bayesian inference method has been used to update the distribution of loads over the structure. The distribution and magnitude of these loads have been updated according to the results of structural health monitoring using Bayesian approach and the results have been presented. By using the reliability criterion in the design stage, the better understanding of the structure's performance during the life of the structure can be obtained according to environmental conditions. The reliability analysis of corrosion defects and fatigue shows the decrement of reliability of the structure during its life. The use of structural health monitoring method increases the reliability index and confidence for estimating the real life of the structure obtained from the analysis.