Optimal Seismic Design Considering Risk Attitude, Societal Tolerable Risk Level, and Life Quality Criterion
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 12
Abstract
The minimum expected life-cycle cost decision rule leads to an optimal design for a risk-neutral decision maker, but fails to incorporate the magnitude of uncertainty in the life-cycle cost and is incapable of coping with risk attitudes. The maximum expected utility decision rule results in a utility function dependent optimal decision that may not be accepted by a decision maker with a different utility function. This study develops a framework for selecting efficient or optimal seismic designs by considering the decision maker’s risk attitude, societal tolerable risk level, and societal life quality criterion. Analysis results suggest that use of the developed framework can identify different sets of optimal designs for different risk attitudes. The results also show that the societal life quality criterion, for the considered examples, could only lead to a lower bound on the seismic design level for risk-seeking decision makers, whereas a reasonable tolerable risk level could provide a lower bound on the seismic design level for risk-seeking or risk-averse decision makers, or deny any acceptable designs for risk-neutral and risk-seeking decision makers.
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Acknowledgments
The financial supports of the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the University of Western Ontario are gratefully acknowledged.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 12 • December 2006
Pages: 2027 - 2035
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Jun 28, 2005
Accepted: Mar 27, 2006
Published online: Dec 1, 2006
Published in print: Dec 2006
Notes
Note. Associate Editor: Colby C. Swan
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