Target safety levels for bridges

摘要

The development of limit state codes and/or load resistance factor design (LRFD) codes for the design of bridges requires the knowledge of the target reliability level. The optimum safety level depends on the consequences of failure and cost of safety. Selection of the target value can be based on consideration of these two parameters. The analysis is performed for ultimate limit states (ULS) and serviceability limit states (SLS). Serviceability limit states have a lower level of consequences of failure. Therefore, lower values of the target reliability index are selected for SLS than ULS.