The applicability of static equivalent design criteria for the fatigue design of dynamically loaded structures

In many industries, design codes or less formal design criteria are used where allowance for fatigue is simply made by prescribing higher than limit state design loads and/or incorporating safety factors on the allowable stresses. The origin and applicability of such criteria are often fuzzy. This paper presents a comparison between an equivalent static design and a comprehensive fatigue design based on measured dynamic inputs for transport equipment. From this, a generalized methodology for deriving static equivalent design criteria for fatigue design, is proposed.