Investigation of Methods for Structural System Reliability

Bennett, R.M.; Ang, A.H-S.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/14118 Copy

Description

Title

Investigation of Methods for Structural System Reliability

Author(s)

• Bennett, R.M.
• Ang, A.H-S.

Issue Date

1983-09

Keyword(s)

• System reliability
• Failure Probability

Abstract

The failure mode approach, based on ways in which a structure can fail, and the stable configuration approach, based on ways in which a structure can carry an applied load, were examined and developed for the determination of the reliability of general redundant structural systems including systems with brittle components. For a class of structures, in which the load effects on the surviving elements never decrease with the failures of other elements, simplified formulations are introduced. Such simplifications result from the fact that the reliability of a system becomes independent of the sequence in which the elements may fail. Results of the simplified formulation are generally on the conservative side. The failure graph, which is a directed graph of all possible sequences of component failures that will lead to the prescribed limit state, is introduced to aid in the formulation. Each path from the initial node to the terminal node of a graph represents a failure mode. A branch represents a component failure and each node of the graph (except the terminal node) represents a stable configuration of a structure. A cut is defined as a set of branches containing one branch from every path. The failure mode approach leads to the probability of the union of the individual failure modes (paths); each failure mode is the intersection of all the branches in the corresponding path. The stable configuration approach leads to the probability of the intersection of the failures of the cuts; the failure of a cut is the union of the branches comprising the cut.

Publisher

University of Illinois Engineering Experiment Station. College of Engineering. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Series/Report Name or Number

Civil Engineering Studies SRS-510

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/14118

Sponsor(s)/Grant Number(s)

National Science Foundation Grants CEE 80-02584 and CEE 82-13729

Owning Collections