Time-dependent reliability assessment

This chapter discusses the approaches for structural time-dependent reliability assessment. The significant difference between the time-dependent reliability and the classical reliability (c.f. Chap. 4 ) is the involvement of the time-variant characteristics in the analysis, where the variation of both the structural resistance and the external loads on the temporal scale should be reasonably modelled. This chapter starts from the motivation of time-dependent reliability assessment, followed by the modelling techniques of the resistance deterioration and the external load processes. Both the discrete and continuous load processes are discussed. Subsequently, the time-dependent reliability assessment approaches in the presence of both the discrete and the continuous loads are addressed. The comparison between the reliabilities associated with the two types of load processes is also presented