A global procedure for the time-dependent reliability assessment of crane structural members

•A procedure is proposed for the fatigue reliability assessment of steel structures.•The approach is based on the stress–strength interference method.•A parametric strength law is calibrated using experimental data and FE results.•Construction site recordings are used to assess parametric stress distributions.•The procedure effectiveness is demonstrated on a jib member case study.

This paper aims at developing a probabilistic fatigue assessment procedure for crane structural members, using a structural reliability method, namely the stress–strength interference method. A crane member strength law is found by fitting fatigue life distribution parameters using finite element results and experimental data. The stress model is developed by using on-site data to determine probabilistic parametric distributions defining crane member loading. The efficiency of the proposed stress–strength interference method for tower crane member reliability assessment in fatigue is demonstrated on a jib chord member connection.