Uncertainties and Human Errors in the Design and Execution of Steel Structures

摘要

This paper contains a compilation of results from some 50 000 steel specimen tests and close to 5 000rnmeasurements of the cross-sectional properties of rolled steel members. Based on the statisticalrndistribution of these properties the statistical distribution of the sectional capacity of such steel members isrnevaluated using a numerical integration procedure. For standard structural steel members the variations ofrnthe strength properties are reasonably well-known and may be used in reliability assessment methods forrnthe design of structures. However, it has been observed in many actual failures with steel structures thatrnthe cause of such failures normally is one gross human error, rather than a combination of “normal”rnvariations in parameters affecting the actions and response of the structures. Another observation fromrnfailures experienced with steel structures is that gross human errors in execution are more critical thanrngross errors in the design process.