Abstract Probabilistic fatigue models are required to account conveniently for several sources of uncertainty arising in the prediction procedures for structural details, such as the scatter in material behaviour. In this paper, a procedure to derive probabilistic S-N fields for structural details [1] is applied to a notched geometry with elliptic central hole made of puddle iron from the Eiffel bridge, based on the local approaches supported by the probabilistic ɛa–N or Smith–Watson–Topper (SWT)–N fields [1,2]. This procedure suggests an extension of the fatigue crack propagation model proposed by Noroozi et al. [3,4] to structural details, in order to cover both the fatigue crack initiation and fatigue crack propagation, based on local strain approaches to fatigue. Both fatigue crack initiation and fatigue crack propagation mechanisms are accounted for in the proposed approach. The numerical results are compared with available experimental S-N fatigue data for the notched plate under consideration.

In this work we calculate photoionization and X-ray production cross-sections (XPCS) of M-shell vacancies in Hg at incident photon energy of 5.96 keV (low.

In this article, we present a new technique to obtain estimators for parameters of ergodic processes. When a diffusion is ergodic its transition density converges to the invariant density Durett (1996). This convergence enabled us to introduce a sample partitioning technique that gives, in each subsample, observations that can be treated as independent and identically distributed. Within this framework, is possible the construction of estimators like maximum likelihood estimators or others.

AMATLAB/SIMULINK software simulation model (structure and component blocks) has been constructed in order to view and analyze the potential of the PSD (Position Sensitive Detector) array concept technology before it is further expanded or developed. This simulation allows changing most of its parameters, such as the number of elements in the PSD array, the direction of vision, the viewing/scanning angle, the object rotation, translation, sample/scan/simulation time, etc. In addition, results show for the first time the possibility of scanning an object in 3D when using an a-Si:H thin film 128 PSD array sensor and hardware/software system. Moreover, this sensor technology is able to perform these scans and render 3D objects at high speeds and high resolutions when using a sheet-of-light laser within a triangulation platform. As shown by the simulation, a substantial enhancement in 3D object profile image quality and realism can be achieved by increasing the number of elements of the PSD array sensor as well as by achieving an optimal position response from the sensor since clearly the definition of the 3D object profile depends on the correct and accurate position response of each detector as well as on the size of the PSD array. © 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.