TABLE OF CONTENTS


 page

ACKNOWLEDGMENT S .............. .................... iv

LI ST OF T ABLE S ............ ...... .._ .............. ix...


LIST OF FIGURES ............ _...... ._ ..............xiii...

AB S TRAC T ..... ._ ................. ............_........x

CHAPTER


1 INTRODUCTION .............. ...............1.....

 Focus .................. ...............2......... ......
 Objectives and Scope............... ...............4..

2 LITERATURE SURVEY: METHODS FOR RELIABILITY ANALYSIS AND
 RELIABILITY-BASED DESIGN OPTIMIZATION ................. ................ ...._.6


 Review of Methods for Reliability Analysis ................. ...............7...............
 Problem Definition .............. ...............7.....
 M onte Carlo Simulation .............. ... .............. .. .............
 Monte Carlo Simulation Using Variance Reduction Techniques .........................8
 Moment-Based Methods .............. ...............9.....
 Response Surface Approximations............... ... ...........1
 Reliability-Based Design Optimization Frameworks ..........__......... _.._.............12
 Double Loop Approach ................ ....___ ......... .............1
 Inverse Reliability Approach............... ...............14
 Design potential approach .................. .......__ ...............15......
 Partial safety factor approach (Partial SF) .............. ....................1
 Summary ................. ...............17.................


3 RESPONSE SURFACE APPROXIMATIONS FOR RELIABILITY-BASED
 DE SIGN OPTIMIZ ATION ................. ......... ......... .............1


 Stochastic Response Surface (SRS) Approximation for Reliability Analysis............20
 Analysis Response Surface (ARS) Approximation for Reliability-Based Design
 Optim ization .............. ............. ..................2
 Design Response Surface (DRS) Approximation............... .............2