This book presents the most important applications of probablistic and statistical approaches and procedures to structural engineering.

The first edition of this book appeared over three decades ago (Wiley-Interscience, 1983), whereas the second one saw light on the verge of new millennium (Dover, 1999). This is third, corrected and expanded edition that appears in conjunction with its companion volume .Thus, the reader is able to both get acquainted with the theoretical material and be able to master some of the problems, following Chinese dictum: I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand — Confucius.The main idea of the book lies in the fact that three topics: probabilistic strength of materials, random vibrations, and probabilistic buckling are presented in a single package allowing one to see the forest in between the trees. Indeed, these three topics usually are presented in separate manners, in different specialized books. Here, the reader gets a feeling of true unity of the subject at large in order to appreciate that in the end what one wants is reliability of the structure, in conjunction with its operating conditions.As the author describes in the Preface of the second edition, this book was not conceived ab initio, as a book that author strived to compose. Rather, it was forced, as it were, upon me due to two reasons. One was rather a surprising but understandable requirement in the venerable Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands to prepare the lecture notes for students with the view of reducing skyrocketing costs of acquisition of textbooks by the students. The other one was an unusually warm acceptance of the notes that the author prepared while at Delft University of Technology and later in Haifa, at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology by the legendary engineering scientist Warner Tjardus Koiter (1914-1997). The energy necessary to prepare the second and third editions came from enthusiastic reviews that appeared in various sources. Author embraced the simplicity of exposition as the main virtue following Isaac Newton's view that 'Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.'

Bayesian methods are a powerful tool in many areas of science and engineering, especially statistical physics, medical sciences, electrical engineering, and information sciences. They are also ideal for civil engineering applications, given the numerous types of modeling and parametric uncertainty in civil engineering problems. For example, earthquake ground motion cannot be predetermined at the structural design stage. Complete wind pressure profiles are difficult to measure under operating conditions. Material properties can be difficult to determine to a very precise level – especially concrete, rock, and soil. For air quality prediction, it is difficult to measure the hourly/daily pollutants generated by cars and factories within the area of concern. It is also difficult to obtain the updated air quality information of the surrounding cities. Furthermore, the meteorological conditions of the day for prediction are also uncertain. These are just some of the civil engineering examples to which Bayesian probabilistic methods are applicable. Familiarizes readers with the latest developments in the field Includes identification problems for both dynamic and static systems Addresses challenging civil engineering problems such as modal/model updating Presents methods applicable to mechanical and aerospace engineering Gives engineers and engineering students a concrete sense of implementation Covers real-world case studies in civil engineering and beyond, such as: structural health monitoring seismic attenuation finite-element model updating hydraulic jump artificial neural network for damage detection air quality prediction Includes other insightful daily-life examples Companion website with MATLAB code downloads for independent practice Written by a leading expert in the use of Bayesian methods for civil engineering problems This book is ideal for researchers and graduate students in civil and mechanical engineering or applied probability and statistics. Practicing engineers interested in the application of statistical methods to solve engineering problems will also find this to be a valuable text. MATLAB code and lecture materials for instructors available at http://www.wiley.com/go/yuen

The need for a comprehensive book on probabilistic structural mechanics that brings together the many analytical and computational methods developed over the years and their applications in a wide spectrum of industries-from residential buildings to nuclear power plants, from bridges to pressure vessels, from steel structures to ceramic structures-became evident from the many discussions the editor had with practising engineers, researchers and professors. Because no single individual has the expertise to write a book with such a di.verse scope, a group of 39 authors from universities, research laboratories, and industries from six countries in three continents was invited to write 30 chapters covering the various aspects of probabilistic structural mechanics. The editor and the authors believe that this handbook will serve as a reference text to practicing engineers, teachers, students and researchers. It may also be used as a textbook for graduate-level courses in probabilistic structural mechanics. The editor wishes to thank the chapter authors for their contributions. This handbook would not have been a reality without their collaboration.

This book contains contributions from various authors on different important topics related with probabilistic methods used for the design of structures. Initially several of the papers were prepared for advanced courses on structural reliability or on probabilistic methods for structural design. These courses have been held in different countries and have been given by different groups of lecturers. They were aimed at engineers and researchers who already had some exposure to structural reliability methods and thus they presented overviews of the work in the various topics. The book includes a selection of those contributions, which can be of support for future courses or for engineers and researchers that want to have an update on specific topics. It is considered a complement to the existing textbooks on structural reliability, which normally ensure the coverage of the basic topics but then are not extensive enough to cover some more specialised aspects. In addition to the contributions drawn from those lectures there are several papers that have been prepared specifically for this book, aiming at complementing the others in providing an overall account of the recent advances in the field. It is with sadness that in the meanwhile we have seen the disappearance of two of the contributors to the book and, in fact two of the early contributors to this field.

The proceedings of this conference contain keynote addresses on recent developments in geotechnical reliability and limit state design in geotechnics. It also contains invited lectures on such topics as modelling of soil variability, simulation of random fields and probability of rock joints. Contents: Keynote addresses on recent development on geotechnical reliability and limit state design in geotechnics, and invited lectures on modelling of soil variability, simulation of random field, probabilistic of rock joints, and probabilistic design of foundations and slopes. Other papers on analytical techniques in geotechnical reliability, modelling of soil properties, and probabilistic analysis of slopes, embankments and foundations.

When a structure is put under an increasing compressive load, it becomes unstable and buckling occurs. Buckling is a particularly significant concern in designing shell structures such as aircraft, automobiles, ships, or bridges. This book discusses stability analysis and buckling problems and offers practical tools for dealing with uncertainties that exist in real systems. The techniques are based on two complementary theories which are developed in the text. First, the probabilistic theory of stability is presented, with particular emphasis on reliability. Both theoretical and computational issues are discussed. Secondly, the authors present the alternative to probability based on the notion of 'anti-optimization', a theory that is valid when the necessary information for probabilistic analysis is absent, that is, when only scant data are available. Design engineers, researchers, and graduate students in aerospace, mechanical, marine, and civil engineering who are concerned with issues of structural integrity will find this book a useful reference source.

The aim of this volume is to present to researchers and engineers working on problems concerned with the mechanics of solids and structures, the current state of the development and application to procedures for assessing the reliability of a system. Particular attention is paid to their use in the analysis of complex engineering systems. The topics covered reflect the need to integrate, within the overall methodology, statistical methods for dealing with uncertain parameters and random excitation with the development of a suitable safety indexes and design codes. The basic principles of reliability theory, together with current standard methodology, including a consideration of the operational, economic and legal aspects of reliability assurance, is reviewed, together with an introduction to new developments, such as the application of expert systems technology. Damage accumulation predictions, with applications in seismic engineering are also covered.

Probability Theory and Statistical Methods for Engineers brings together probability theory with the more practical applications of statistics, bridging theory and practice. It gives a series of methods or recipes which can be applied to specific problems. This book is essential reading for practicing engineers who need a sound background knowledge of probabilistic and statistical concepts and methods of analysis for their everyday work. It is also a useful guide for graduate engineering students.