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A quarter of the century has elapsed since I gave my first course in structural reliability to graduate students at the University of Waterloo in Canada. Since that time on I have given many courses and seminars to students, researchers, designers, and site engineers interested in reliability. I also participated in and was responsible for numerous projects where reliability solutions were required. During that period, the scope of structural reliability gradually enlarged to become a substantial part of the general reliability theory. First, it is apparent that bearing structures should not be isolated objectives of interest, and, consequently, that constntCted facilities should be studied. Second, a new engineering branch has emerged -reliability engineering. These two facts have highlighted new aspects and asked for new approaches to the theory and applications. I always state in my lectures that the reliability theory is nothing more than mathematized engineering judgment. In fact, thanks mainly to probability and statistics, and also to computers, the empirical knowledge gained by Humankind's construction experience could have been transposed into a pattern of logic thinking, able to produce conclusions and to forecast the behavior of engineering entities. This manner of thinking has developed into an intricate network linked by certain rules, which, in a way, can be considered a type of reliability grammar. We can discern many grammatical concepts in the general structure of the reliability theory.
List of contents
1 Principal Concepts.- 1.1 Reliability systems S-L-E and CF.- 1.2 Defectologic concepts.- 1.3 States, stages, and situations.- 1.4 Requirements, criteria, and parameters.- 2 Tools.- 2.1 Probability and statistics.- 2.2 Reliability theory.- 2.3 Method of moments.- 2.4 Monte Carlo simulation.- 2.5 Fuzzy logic.- 3 Phenomena, Events and Relations.- 3.1 Phenomena and events.- 3.2 Existential relations.- 3.3 Sequential relations.- 3.4 Physical relations.- 3.5 Statistical relations.- 3.6 Favorable and adverse phenomena.- 3.7 Combinations of events.- 4 Structure.- 4.1 Elementary properties.- 4.2 Resistance.- 4.3 Stiffness.- 5 Load.- 5.1 Load/structure relations.- 5.2 Load/load relations.- 5.3 Random behavior of load.- 5.4 Analysis of load data.- 5.5 One-variable model of load.- 5.6 Loading history.- 5.7 Load combinations.- 6 Environment.- 7 Physical Reliability Requirements.- 7.1 Formative requirement.- 7.2 Global requirement.- 7.3 Elementary requirements.- 8 Probabilistic and Statistical Reliability Requirements.- 8.1 Global probabilistic reliability requirement.- 8.2 Formative probabilistic reliability requirements.- 8.3 Elementary probabilistic reliability requirements.- 8.4 Classification of the probabilistic design methods.- 8.5 Statistical reliability requirements.- 9 Calculation of the Failure Charac leristics.- 9.1 Calculation of the failure probability.- 9.2 Calculation of the Hasofer-Lind reliability index.- 9.3 Estimate of Pf based on ?HL.- 10 Reliability Parameters.- 10.1 Values of constructed facilities.- 10.2 Target life.- 10.3 Target failure probability.- 10.4 Reliability differentiation.- 10.5 Constraints.- 11 Probability-Based Optimization.- 11.1 Problem statement.- 11.2 Maximum distress probability.- 11.3 Minimum distress requirement.- 11.4 Target values of$${dot P_{dt}}$$ and $${bar P_{dt}}$$.- 12 Direct Method.- 12.1 Principles.- 12.2 Proportioning based on the direct method.- 12.3 Codified design format.- 12.4 Merits and drawbacks.- 13 Method of Extreme Functions.- 13.1 Principles.- 13.2 Load and load-effects.- 13.3 Resistance.- 13.4 Differentiation problem.- 13.5 Codified design format.- 13.6 Merits and drawbacks.- 14 Method of Extreme Values.- 14.1 Principles.- 14.2 Combinations of adverse events.- 14.3 Load and load-effects.- 14.4 Resistance variables.- 14.5 Differentiation problem.- 14.6 Codified design format.- 14.7 Partial reliability factors.- 14.8 Merits and drawbacks.- 15 Reliability Engineering.- 15.1 Reliability engineer.- 15.2 Reliability assurance.- 15.3 Structural codes.- 15.4 Quality control and quality assurance.- 15.5 Reliability assessment.- 16 The Future.- 16.1 Position of the structural reliability theory.- 16.2 Limitations.- Appendices.- A Log-Normal Distribution.- Tables.- B Beta-4 Probability Paper.- C Summary of Notations and Abbreviations.- D References.
Summary
A quarter of the century has elapsed since I gave my first course in structural reliability to graduate students at the University of Waterloo in Canada. During that period, the scope of structural reliability gradually enlarged to become a substantial part of the general reliability theory.
