Reliability block diagram methods for system reliability analysis of spatial structures

Abstract

The safety of complex spatial structures in operation depends highly on the reliability of the whole system and its structural components. In order to determine the relationship between system reliability and reliability of its components, reliability block diagram (RBD) method, which emphasises depicting the connection mode among all the components of a system, is employed for system reliability analysis of spatial structures. With the assumption of geometric stability, a new approach, aiming at finding out key elements where damage could lead to overall collapse of the structure, is adopted here for the logic relationship identification among components. The logic relationship, which is considered as the core component of the reliability block diagram, is utilised for reliability analysis of the system and the predetermined components. Finally, a large-span latticed grid spatial structure is investigated to validate the applicability of the RBD method for analysing the system reliability of spatial structures.