Reliability of Structures

Andrzej S. Nowak is Robert W. Brightfelt Professor of Engineering at the University of Nebraska, USA. He has received the ASCE Moisseiff Award, the IFIP WG 7.5 Award, the Bene Merentibus Medal, and the Kasimir Gzowski Medal from the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers.Kevin R. Collins is an Associate Professor at Valley Forge Military College, USA.

"This is a great book … easy to teach from; students can readily learn the theory from its beginnings to its practical applications; it is a course topic that will be of great value in understanding structural design during the professional life of the engineer; it is an invaluable tool to guide in the development of national design standards such as the AASHTO bridge design specification; it is logical and it is fun to go back to time and again."—Theodore V. Galambos, Emeritus Professor, University of Minnesota"… a must read for any engineer working in the civil engineering structures arena. … provides the necessary knowledge to give structural engineers the tools they need to make better designs a priori and determine structural failures a posteriori."—Andrew D. Sorensen, Ph.D., Idaho State University, "Compared to other textbooks in this area, Reliability of Structures is particularly easy to understand. … ideal for a first course in this topic, or if the classroom contains undergraduate students who might be otherwise lost in an advanced theoretical presentation. A particular strength is its discussion of design code development and calibration, perhaps the most important application of reliability analysis in structural engineering."—Christopher Eamon, Wayne State University

• Introduction. Random Variables. Functions of Random Variables. Simulation Techniques. Structural Safety Analysis. Structural Load Models. Models of Resistance. Design Codes. System Reliability. Uncertainties in the Building Process.