Introduction

The main subject of the TERECO project (Teaching Reliability Concepts using Simulation techniques) is to develope powerful educational tools assisting students, designers and others involved in structural design in the transformation from deterministic to probabilistic way of thinking. This is a very challenging assignment. In the entire history of engineering all methods applied in structural reliability assessment have been from the designer's point of view sofar strictly deterministic. Dramatic developments of computer and information technology allow for introducing qualitatively new probabilistic reliability assessment concepts leading to more efficient design, material savings etc. The transition to such concepts requires special education of designers. Considering the above mentioned statements, in the first phase of the TERECO project (Dec. 8, 1998 to Feb. 5, 2000) attention of the Contractor and of four Partners was given to further improvements of the original assignment, to the strategy in reaching the final output of the project and to the arrangement of the Products. It was decided:

• to apply the SBRA method (Simulation-based Reliability Assessment using Monte Carlo method and PC computers as tools) as a basic and simple method easy to be understood and used by designers,

• to complete a manuscript of a TERECO text-book containing explanation of Monte Carlo simulation, applications of the fully probabilistic SBRA method and numerous examples illustrating the probabilistic "way of thinking",

• to make a CD ROM containing examples and corresponding software, and

• to write outlines of courses, classes and seminars.

In the first phase of TERECO project the actual work on the book started after discussions of authors from five countries and after consequent preparation. All Partners and the Contractor completed already about 40 examples (including input files, representation of individual variables by histograms and output from computer programs). A set of special histograms representing material and geometrical properties was developed in accordance with a research program conducted by EC in the area of steel structures. The work is going on according to the proposed time schedule. The complete draft of the manuscript will be ready in early Fall 2000. In Fall 2000 and in Spring 2001 the editing work and typesetting will be done in order to have the final manuscript (about 550 pages) ready in the beginning of April 2001. The work on the second component of the educational tools, the CD ROM, will start after the draft of the manuscript will be completed. The last part of the Product, the outline of courses, will be written by Contractor and Partners in winter 2000-2001.

The dissemination and transfer of partial products are considered by the TERECO team as very important components of TERECO activities during the entire project. The partial results are used in teaching students (e.g. at TU Ostrava in Czech Republic, where graduate students are developing special applications of examples), are submitted for publication in journals, presented at conferences (e.g. at 'Conference on Structural reliability' in Ostrava, March 15, 2000, about fifteen co-authors of TERECO examples gave presentations), and several Seminars given by TERECO teams can be considered as a special opportunity to discuss the subject directly with designers.

According to the Contract, the TERECO team should submit the manuscript of the book as the main Product. The Contractor is, however, trying to find some additional financial support in order to get the book printed. In positive case the Contractor will ask the Leonardo da Vinci Headquerters in Brussels for permission to distribute the book to potential users.

Some more comments to TERECO Project

In structural design, the current reliability assessment concepts, applied worldwide, were developed in the "slide rule era" and from the designers' point of view are still deterministic. The potential of such concepts offers limited chance for further improvement. Dramatic development of modern computer and information technologies allows for considering transition from deterministic methods to fully probabilistic concepts applicable in designers' everyday work. Attention of numerous research teams is focused on the qualitatively new level of design methods corresponding to the computer era. Pilot probabilistic concepts have been developed over the last decade. The introduction of efficient probabilistic methods in practice will require not only new types of codes, regulations, design tools and software, but, first of all, a transition from deterministic to probabilistic "way of thinking" of designers and all other involved partners. Such transition will require a corresponding education of tens of thousands of students, designers and all others involved in this area of civil engineering. The purpose of the proposed Project is to evaluate the needs, to propose an innovation of methods and procedures in education and to develope teaching tools leading to qualitatively new way of "probabilistic thinking" and understanding the approaches applied in probabilistic reliability assessment concepts, including the application of simulation techniques and advanced computer technology.

Many factors, such as climate, material properties, occurrence of natural disasters and impacts of man-made technology control the reliability of structures. The variability in properties, loads, dimensions and other quantities should be expressed by a time dependent multidimensional domain of random variables. The analysis of actual problems depending on those random variables, however, can be very complicated. Thus in many common real-world situations, deterministic and semi-probabilistic approaches have been applied. Unfortunately, such approaches are based on "black-boxes" hiding the actual assessment criteria and not giving the designer a good understanding of the bounds and substance of the problem. The introduction of new probabilistic concepts in design practice requires corresponding innovation in teaching reliability concepts and application of corresponding computational tools.

All Partners and Contractor are involved in research, teaching, in development of specifications and in actual practice in the area of structural design. The research results are implemented in the educational process on different levels (undergraduate and graduate students, university extensions, seminars for designers etc.). The qualitative improvement of the reliability assessment concept and its interpretation in specifications requires corresponding understanding of probabilistic "rules of the game". The innovation in teaching reliability (from deterministic to probabilistic "way of thinking") is the main precondition to the transition from deterministic concepts to probabilistic design procedures corresponding to the potential of modern computer and information technology.

For details see 'Publications' (especially textbook by P. Marek, M. Guštar, and T. Anagnos: Simulation-based Relaibility Assessment for Structural Engineers.

List Of Addresses

FRANCE

HUNGARY

PORTUGAL

LITHUANIA

CZECH REPUBLIC

Milan Guštar, M.Sc., Ph.D.
ARTech
Nad vinicí 7
143 00 Praha 4
CZECH REPUBLIC
E-mail: artech@noise.cz