Bridge reliability experiences in Japan

摘要

In Japan, the research on structural safety and reliability began more than forty years ago. Up to the present, many papers have been published and contributed to the development of reliability analysis and reliability--based design. The Task Committee on Structural Safety of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) presented the first technical report on structural safety and reliability in 1977. At the same time, the Japanese Society of Steel Construction (JSSC) completed a survey paper on the safety and reliability of steel structures. After a decade, the Task Committee on Structural Safety and Reliability of JSCE surveyed recent advances in the field of structural reliability and compiled the second technical report. Consequently, it reached a conclusion that the evaluation of lifetime risk is quite important to ensure a satis- factory safety or serviceability level throughout the life of struc- tures.