5. Conclusion

As emphasized throughout this article, knowledge of fatigue loading necessarily involves experience and anticipation of possible life situations. Data collection is therefore a crucial step for anyone wishing to design a structure to withstand fatigue, and the current proliferation of information sources and their processing represents a major challenge for the future. For the transport industry, for example, satellite observations and measurements, the widespread use of GPS systems, the miniaturization of sensors and the widespread use of connected telephones are three fundamental points that will enable a fundamental paradigm shift from extrapolated load estimates to actual, real-time measurements, enabling a live assessment of the risk of failure. More precise, almost real-time knowledge of weather, sea and road conditions, their condition and daily traffic patterns, coupled with increasingly...