RELIABILITY ANALYSIS OF BRIDGE STRUCTURES USING A SIMULATION METHOD. RECENT STUDIES ON STRUCTURAL SAFETY AND RELIABILITY. JAPANESE MATERIALS RESEARCH. VOLUME I

After reviewing past work on the safety and reliability of bridges, a method for the reliability analysis of highway bridges subjected to random vehicular loads is demonstrated. By simulation analysis, the bending moment induced in main girders is assumed to follow the type i extreme value distribution law. The joint probability density function of the bending moment and its derivative with respect to the abscissa along the bridge axis are evaluated by the method of translation processes. Employing the theory of level-crossings by random processes, the reliability of the main girders in a space domain as well as in a time domain are evaluated. The randomness of vehicular loads in the direction of the bridge axis as well as in the direction perpendicular to this axis are considered. (a) for the covering abstract of this publication see IRRD 822286. (TRRL)