System Reliability-based Design Research Articles

New Approach for System Reliability-Based Design Optimization

New Approach for System Reliability-Based Design Optimization

System reliability and redundancy in structural design and evaluation

Several reliability-based structural design and evaluation specifications for buildings, bridges, and offshore platforms have been proposed and implemented in North America, Asia, Australia and Europe. Thus far, however, these are largely limited to individual structural component checks and do not generally include requirements of system reliability and redundanry. The main purpose of this paper is to contribute to the development of more rational system reliability-based structural design and evaluation specifications. In this context, effects of material behavior, correlations, variabilities of resistances and loads, resistance sharing, structural damage, and number of members, on both the system reliability and redundancy of a parallel system are investigated, and a framework for including system effects in structural design and evaluation specifications is proposed.

System Reliability Concepts in Design of Transmission Lines

Unlike most structures that may be considered as a single point with respect to the size of a weather system, transmission structures may extend hundreds of kilometers and traverse more than one weather system. This presents unique problems in evaluating the structural system reliability of the line. In the present paper, an approximate relationship between the reliability of a fully utilized supporting structure in a transmission line and the reliability of the complete line is developed. The relationship accounts for the spacing between the supporting structures, the number of structures in the line, the correlation between the structure strengths, and the spatial extent of the extreme loading events. The problem is first formulated using an event-based approach, in which each storm that hits the line is considered independently, then it is converted to an extreme value problem. The simplicity of the resulting solution and the current availability of the required data make the proposed relationship a valuable tool in system-reliability-based design (SRBD) of the line.

Design of aircraft wings subjected to gust loads: A system reliability approach

A method for system reliability-based design of aircraft wing structures is presented. A wing of a light commuter aircraft designed for gust loads according to the FAA regulations is compared with one designed by system reliability optimization. It is shown that system reliability optimization has the potential of improving dramatically the safety and efficiency of new designs. The reasons for the differences between the deterministic and reliability-based designs are explained.