9
th
Lecture: Structural Systems Reliability Analysis
Aim of the present lecture
The present lecture introduces basic aspects of structural systems reliability analysis. First
general systems reliability analysis is addressed and simple bounds are introduced for the
reliability of systems with correlated failure modes. Thereafter the mechanical modelling
aspects of structural systems are discussed and structural systems reliability analyses such as
the -unzipping method and the fundamental mechanism method are briefly outlined through
an example. Finally, the important issue of structural robustness is introduced and a risk based
approach to robustness assessment is presented taking basis in the general systems risk
assessment framework introduced in Lecture 4.
Based on the introduced material in this lecture the students should acquire knowledge and
skills in regard to:
How may systems be represented using block diagrams?
How may simple bounds be developed for the assessment of the reliability of series and
parallel systems?
How may FORM analysis be applied for structural systems reliability analysis?
How can the mechanical behaviour of failure modes be modelled in structural reliability
analysis?
Which are the ideas behind the -unzipping method and the fundamental mechanism
method?
What is structural robustness?
How may structural robustness be quantified?