ABSTRACT

Under conditions of uncertainty, any result obtained through analysis will also contain uncertainty; this uncertainty is often just as important as the relevant result of interest. For example, we mentioned above that in light of uncertainties in the loading on and capacity of a system, the performance of the system may be assured only in terms of probability or reliability, such as the probability of non-performance or failure. The uncertainty in the calculated probability of failure is clearly important, particularly on the decision in specifying what is a permissible or tolerable failure probability for the design of the system.