ABSTRACT
Risk is an extension of reliability to address the consequences of failure; reliability terminates at the stage of assessing the probability of failure, while risk continues to address beyond this point. Two extreme types of structural elements that are commonly considered in system reliability analysis are namely: brittle members and ductile members. In system reliability, it is often convenient to work with Boolean variables. In structural reliability analysis, three types of limit states are considered: ultimate limit state, serviceability limit states, and fatigue limit states. Each limit state function is associated with a particular limit state. An efficient reliability analysis should provide decent reliability sensitivity. This can be achieved by applying a coupling between mechanical and stochastic models. One of the commonly used methods to study fatigue reliability is S–N curve approach. Two methods of reliability sensitivity analyses are commonly used namely: the Monte Carlo method and Perturbation method.
