Safety Assessment of a Steel Frame Using LRFD and SBRA Methods
Publication: Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
Volume 15, Issue 1
Abstract
Powerful computers on each designer’s desk, improvements in simulation technique, and advances in the reliability assessment theory make it possible to consider a transition from prescriptive concepts, such as partial factor design (PFD), to fully probabilistic concepts applicable in design practice, such as the feasible simulation-based reliability assessment (SBRA) method. Using a pilot example, the main differences between the PFD assessment procedure and SBRA procedure are demonstrated and described. Attention is focused on the substance of individual steps starting with the assignment (including a representation of loading, mechanical, and geometrical properties of the structure and characteristics of imperfections) and concluding the comparison with safety limits expressed vis-à-vis PFD by a ratio of demand and capacity (to be less than 1.0) and regarding SBRA by comparing the probability of failure and design (target) probability , i.e., . The potential, efficiency, and advantages of the proposed SBRA method are elucidated.
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Acknowledgments
Support for this project has been provided by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (Project Nos. UNSPECIFIED103/07/0557 and UNSPECIFIED103/05/H036), by the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ITAM), Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and by VŠB Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic. Dr. I.-Hong Chen and both cowriters would like to express deepest gratitude to Professor Wai-Fah Chen, dean, University of Hawaii. Without this professor’s involvement, this international cooperation could not have come about.
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Information
Published In
Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
Volume 15 • Issue 1 • February 2010
Pages: 63 - 72
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 17, 2008
Accepted: Apr 14, 2009
Published online: Apr 16, 2009
Published in print: Feb 2010
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