Safety assessment of structures in view of fuzzy randomness
Structural safety can be realistically assessed only if the uncertainty in the structural parameters is appropriately taken into consideration and realistic computational models are applied. Uncertainty must be accounted for in its natural form. Stochastic models are not always capable of fulfilling this task without restrictions, as uncertainty may also be characterized by fuzzy randomness or fuzziness. On the basis of the theory of the fuzzy random variables the fuzzy probabilistic safety concept is introduced and formulated as the fuzzy first order reliability method (FFORM). This concept permits fuzziness, randomness and fuzzy randomness to be accounted for simultaneously. FFORM is illustrated by way of an example; hereby, the influence of the computational model is also demonstrated.
safety assessment fuzzy randomness uncertainty structural reliability fuzzy probability imprecise probability fuzzy sets