ABSTRACT

This chapter presents reliability analysis that quantifies the uncertainties by means of a reliability index. The reliability analysis was applied to the calculation of the reliability index of individual components or members of structures. However, most structures consist of systems of interconnected components and members. When considering the system reliability, it is important to recognize that the failure of a single component may or may not cause failure of the structure. Therefore, there is a need to present some techniques to determine or at least estimate or bound the probability of failure for a whole structure system. There are two extreme types of structural elements components that are commonly considered in system reliability analyses. These extreme types are brittle members and ductile members. The Monte Carlo technique is now considered to be the most accurate and most efficient method of the reliability analysis. It is applicable to linear and nonlinear limit state functions.