As an important tool for performance assessment in multi-state systems, the universal generating function approach is introduced and developed aiming at strength reliability analysis of structural systems. Static reliability models of statically determinate and statically indeterminate systems are built by constructing special generating functions, which are used to describe probability distrib...

Recent trends in structural mechanics applications of Finite Element codes show an increasing demand for efficient stochastic analysis tools. While in principle virtually all stochastic problems can be solved by Monte-Carlo simulation, the computational cost may be prohibitively large. Therefore more effective approximations based on e.g. the Response Surface Method become quite popular. Altern...

The paper presents a stochastic gamma process model to account for both sampling and temporal variability associated with a deterioration process that increases risk of failure of an aging structure. The proposed method is more versatile than the random-variable deterioration rate model commonly used in the structural reliability literature. The reason being that the random rate model cannot ca...

Reliability sensitivity analysis is used to find the rate of change in the probability of failure (or reliability) due to the changes in distribution parameters such as the means and standard deviations. Most of the existing reliability sensitivity analysis methods assume that all the probabilities and distribution parameters are precisely known. That is, every statistical parameter involved is...

This paper presents a new and alternative univariate method for predicting component reliability of mechanical systems subject to random loads, material properties, and geometry. The method involves novel function decomposition at a most probable point that facilitates the univariate approximation of a general multivariate function in the rotated Gaussian space and one-dimensional integrations ...

The natural aging, environmental impact, and appropriate design are certainly playing a serious role in safety of the bridges function. The functional safety of bridge constitutes a prime element of the transportation system serving commuters, passengers and freight. According to Federal Highway Administration, the steel bridges share represents a large amount of the United States' bridges. In ...

It is generally accepted that performance-based design has to be reliability-based. Seismic performance evaluation is based on nonlinear dynamics and reliability theory taking into account uncertainties during analysis. Considering the economic importance of jacket type offshore platforms, the present research aims to assess the seismic performance of offshore steel platforms. In this study, th...

The objective of this paper is presenting an approach for reliability sensitivity estimation of linear structural systems subject to dynamical excitation characterized as a Gaussian process. The paper represents an extension of some ideas proposed previously in the context of sensitivity analysis. Novel aspects include the use of the Bootstrap method for assessing the error associated with the ...