Improved structural reliability assessment using non-linear regression techniques to process raw fatigue crack growth test dataImproved structural reliability assessment using non-linear regression techniques to process raw fatigue crack growth test data Peer-Reviewed Journal Publication Δημοσίευση σε Περιοδικό με Κριτές 2015-10-141992enA new method is proposed to process raw fatigue crack growth (FCG) test data for estimating the parameters of any crack propagation (FCG) model. This method is based on iterative minimization techniques for non-linear regression, extensively available in the literature. The method presented here permits a significantly reduced contribution of the variability inherent in the usual raw FCG data processing techniques to the predictions of the crack length distributions derived by any analytical FCG model and, consequently, improved structural reliability assessment is achieved.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Quality and Reliability Engineering International48341–347 Stavrakakis Georgios Σταυρακακης Γεωργιος John Wiley and Sons Applied mechanics Engineering, Mechanical mechanics applied applied mechanics engineering mechanical