Print Email Facebook Twitter Robust Design in structural engineering Title Robust Design in structural engineering Author Bus, C.A. Contributor Vrijling, J.K. (mentor) Vrouwenvelder, A.C.W.M. (mentor) Van Gelder, P.H.A.J.M. (mentor) Willems, A. (mentor) Van der Wiel, W.D. (mentor) Faculty Civil Engineering and Geosciences Department Hydraulic Engineering Programme Hydraulic Structures and Flood Risk Date 2012-07-20 Abstract Robustness has recently become a popular term in structural and hydraulic engineering. However, the concept of ‘robust design’ or ‘robustness’ has no clear definition. The aim of this thesis was to find a definition for a robust system and to use this definition to search for an added value of robust design in structural engineering. The literature on robust design has been extensively studied to establish a definition for a robust system. Also, several so-called ‘robust’ design methods were tested for their applicability. It was concluded that these methods are all inferior to the lifecycle cost optimization as introduced by van Dantzig, when it comes to structural engineering. Namely, in practice, when designing a system it is always the priority to find a costs-optimal design alternative. It was concluded that a robust system can be found by assuming that the additional risk that arises due to discrepancies between the reality and the model, is smaller for a robust system than for a less robust system. In other words, the lifecycle costs of a robust system are least sensitive for discrepancies. The choice for a robust design alternative will however only be economically justified if the expected lifecycle costs, as calculated from the model, are less than or equal to the expected lifecycle costs of any other design alternative. The reason for this it that robustness focusses on hazards for which no value of the risk can be defined, so that it cannot be quantified what may be spent on robustness. This definition of a robust system was tested in several case studies. From these case studies it was concluded that robustness can be achieved by increasing the reliability of the system, or by searching for a robust design alternative. Increasing the reliability will always increase the expected lifecycle costs, so that the robust system is not cost-optimal. Finding a robust design alternative may be possible without automatically increasing the expected lifecycle costs. Therefore it is recommended to investigate different alternatives when designing a robust system. Subject robust designlifecycle costsoptimization taskTaguchiprobabilisticdike To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:4012bfbe-9c01-4cb4-a227-e30a786c0c0c Part of collection Student theses Document type master thesis Rights (c) 2012 Bus, C.A. Files PDF ThesisFinal_CABus.pdf 5.19 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:4012bfbe-9c01-4cb4-a227-e30a786c0c0c/datastream/OBJ/view