N° 78.1971. Structural Safety - Structural Safety for combination of loads - Definition of loads

This is the second volume of the course on Structural Safety published in 1968. As the first volume is out of print, a new edition of the complete text is now being prepared.

Meanwhile, a few xerographic reproductions have been made of this second volume. The complete second edition will be available next March. This second volume includes two new parts. One, Part IV, studies the problem of load combinations, discussing the statistical idealization of loads, the transformation of loads into load effects, and the computation of the probability of failure for combinations of loads.

This part concludes with the derivation of simplified general rules for the combination of loads, which are compared with those included in some current design codes. 

The other added part, Part V, discusses the general aspects of the statistical idealization of loads and deals in particular with gravity, earthquake, and wind loads. For each of these types of loads, the most convenient approach for obtaining a statistical idealization is examined, and available data are interpreted. Suggestions are presented regarding the types of statistical distributions to be used and the way to define their parameters. Practical consequences arising from the adoption of these statistical distributions are also discussed.

The complete new edition of the course will also include a new chapter on the statistical theory of framed structures. The authors are indebted to Professor D. J. Butler and Assistant Professor C. M. Ferreira Pinto for their collaboration, to civil engineer Mr. C. E. Barros Vidal for his comments, and to Mr. J. L. Pelejão Marques for his careful typing of the manuscript.