Reliability of Structural Systems Under Wind Action

Abstract

The most rational way of assessing and reducing the risks of building constructions and infrastructures subject to natural and man-made hazards is Performance-Based Design, usually indicated by the acronym PBD; this applies to both design of new facilities and rehabilitation or retrofitting of the existing ones. The basic concept of PBD has been applied for almost 30 years in the nuclear power plant industry; later, PBD has been formalized and developed primarily in seismic engineering but has been extended to other engineering field, like Blast Engineering and Fire Engineering. Also wind engineering has appeared of great potential interest for further developments of PBD. The first steps in this direction go back to an Italian research project, in which the expression “Performance-Based Wind Engineering” (PBWE) was coined. In this paper, an approach to PBWE is illustrated and applied to an example case: the assessment of the collapse and out-of-service risks of a long span suspension bridge.