3. Semi-probabilistic formulation in shipbuilding

Marine structures, such as ships and offshore platforms, are subject to time-varying wave and swell loads, and their fatigue strength needs to be checked against the probabilistic aspect of loading.

It soon became apparent that the probabilistic approach, which provides an acceptability criterion in terms of reliability index or probability of ruin [BM 5 004] , does not allow for explicit design formulas and is therefore not applicable for design office calculations. This led to the development of a semi-probabilistic formulation based on partial safety coefficients,...