Aversion to Epistemic Uncertainties in Rational Decision Making: Effects on Engineering Risk Management
When faced with epistemic uncertainties in a decision problem, subjective expected-utility theory (SEU) implies that the only relevant characteristic of these uncertainties is the mean...
On Deciding Between the Use of Engineering Standards and Risk Analysis
Risk analysis offers advantages for the optimal design and maintenance of infrastructure, but it is not always practical to apply due to the nature of certain types of infrastructure....
Optimal Allocation of Resources in Repair and Maintenance of Bridge Structures
The structural design process, examined in its entirety (and taking into account the uncertainty and randomness that characterize the governing parameters) is a decisional process, involving...
Probabilistic Analysis of Post-Tensioned Steel Girder Bridges
External post-tensioning is used as a means of strengthening existing steel girder bridges. Since absolute safety of structures is impossible to attain due to uncertainty in load and resistance,...
Asymptotic Importance Sampling
One of the main issues in reliability analysis is the accurate and efficient calculation of the multivariate reliability integral. The Asymptotic Importance Sampling Technique (AIS) selects...
Comparison of Some Importance Sampling Techniques in Structural Reliability
The approximate calculation of structural reliabilities by FORM/SORM is well known. Nevertheless, alternatives or at least methods with which the error by these methods can be quantified...
Vibration of a Bridge Under a Random Train of Moving Loads
The vibration of a beam resulting from the passage of moving loads is a problem of great importance in structural dynamics. A consistent model for the description of the loads acting on...
Probabilistic Evaluation of Redundancy of Bridge Structures
Redundancy of bridge structures and methods to evaluate redundancy are reviewed in this paper. A method to measure redundancy based on the existing theories of probability as related to...
Incorporating Corrosion in Reliability-Based Design of Anchored Bulkheads
Corrosion of steel is an important factor in the design of marine structures. A reliability analysis of anchored bulkheads showed that corrosion changes the critical failure mode from...
Development of a Limit-State Seismic Code for Bridges
The catastrophic collapse of the Cypress Street Viaduct during the Loma Prieta earthquake of October 17, 1989 and the loss of spans in both the Struve Slough Bridge and the San Francisco-Oakland...
Reliability Model for Bridge Columns under Seismic Loads
This paper develops a model for the analysis of the reliability of bridge columns under earthquake loads. Probability of failure is defined as the probability that the displacement ductility...
Spatial Variability Effects on the Seismic Response of Models of Bridges
The significance of the spatial variability (spatial incoherence and apparent propagation) of the seismic ground motions on the response of bridges, modeled as three-span symmetric beams,...
Vibration Control of Highway Bridge Under Earthquakes
Seismic base isolation for highway bridges may increase relative displacement, while reducing the acceleration and base force. Elastomeric bearings with lead plug for base isolation may...
Experimental Study of the Transient Temperature Distributions in Concrete
A small scale, preliminary experimental effort to quantify the randomness of the thermal diffusivity of concrete has been undertaken. Two sets of cylinders have been instrumented with...
Sensitivity Evaluation of Simulation Methods for Reliability Assessment
Commonly used reliability assessment methods include the first-order methods, second-order methods, and Monte Carlo simulation methods with or without variance reduction techniques. The...
High Order Statistics in Structural Reliability
The new simulation technique described in this paper attempts to avoid the significant amount of arbitrariness involved in the choice of the sampling distribution in the increasingly popular...
A Mathematical Tool Set for SORM Reliability Methods
FORM and SORM methods are used for approximating failure probabilities. Here an overview of the main mathematical results of SORM methods is given: Classification of asymptotic behavior,...
Experiences with Experimental Design Schemes for Failure Surface Estimation and Reliability
When using FORM and SORM to predict the probability of failure for a structural component a model for the failure function has to exist. For certain structural components a mechanical...
Response of Suspension and Deck Arch Bridges to Spatially Varying Ground Motion
Recent awareness of the spatial variation of earthquake ground motion has caused concern about the safety of large engineered structures under seismic excitation. The effects of spatially...
Comparison of Wind Cross-Spectral Data with Models
Existing analysis procedures for the prediction of long-span bridge response to wind have until recently neglected the horizontal-vertical cross-spectral components of the wind under the...
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