Safety, Reliability and Service Life of Structures

摘要

This report is concerned with the integration of various disciplines of engineering science in their approach to the safety and service life (or lifetime) of structures. A general basic philosophy is formulated and attention is focused on the mathematical models that can be applied in connection with it. The computational techniques for the probabilistic approach presented here are discussed, as are also economic aspects and the interpretation of technical uncertainties. A check-list is given in order to enable potentially hazardous factors to be detected at an early stage in a safety/service life analysis. Finally, problems associated with the simultaneous occurrence of several failure mechanisms are considered, and methods of dealing with them are described.