Structural Reliability

Abstract

In this chapter component reliability and system reliability assessment methods used in structural engineering are discussed. The first-order reliability method (FORM), which has evolved from the advanced first-order second-moment method (AFOSM) is explained, together with the second-order reliability method (SORM), which takes into account curvature of failure surface at the design point. Application of these methods in cases of correlated variables is also discussed. Unimodal and bimodal bound methods, the first-order multinormal (FOMN) and product of conditional margins (PCM) methods, which are used for system reliability assessment of structures, are also discussed.