Statistical analysis of HDPE fatigue lifetime

Fatigue lifetime of HDPE structures such as pipes is recognized to show a large scatter. This study aims to compare different statistical methods and distributions, in order to give convenient modeling of tensile and fatigue test results of commercially available polyethylene compression molded sheets. The median rank, the maximum likelihood and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov fitting are compared for the estimation of Weibull parameters. The choice of the best distribution to fit fatigue lifetime is discussed on the basis of the goodness-of-fit results. It is found that whether the three-parameter distributions of Weibull and lognormal types are suitable for lifetime prediction, the two-parameter Weibull is more conservative for probabilistic fatigue design.