Pressure data are obtained for a ship from sea trials and/or model tests
conducted under various environmental (e.g., wave height, wave slam rate) and operational
(e.g., ship speed, ship heading) circumstances. The pressure data are grouped into
different "cells," each defined by a unique set of environmental and operational
circumstances. As to each cell, the corresponding pressure data are statistically
approximated into a two-parameter Weibull distribution so as to obtain a shape
parameter and a scale parameter. Additional cells and their corresponding Weibull
distributions can be interpolated or extrapolated from existing cells. All of the
cellular information (Weibull-related and pressure-related) is merged in Weibull
fashion into an all-embracing mathematical function that is holistically informative,
in terms of all of the diverse environmental and operational circumstances that
a ship can be expected to confront over its projected lifetime, about the reliability
of one or more structural elements of the ship.