Direct analysis method for probabilistic fracture mechanics Original Research Article

A new method for solving problems of probabilistic fracture mechanics (PFM) is proposed. A process of crack growth is reduced into an iterative integration equation with respect to the probabilistic distribution functions of crack geometry using approximate independence, which we have introduced. The integration equation which has a form of Stieltjes integral is solved by a numerical method. Some PFM problems are solved using the present method, and the results are compared with those by the MC method. Failure probabilities obtained from both calculations agree well. Execution time of the present method is shown to be remarkably short.