BRIDGE RELIABILITY EXPERIENCES IN JAPAN

In Japan, the research on structural safety and reliability began more than forty years ago. Up to the present, many papers have been publis hed and contributed to the development of reliability analysis and rel iability-based design. The Task Committee on Structural Safety of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) presented the first technical report on structural safety and reliability in 1977, At the same time, the Japanese Society of Steel Construction (JSSC) completed a survey paper on the safety and reliability of steel structures. After a decad e, the Task Committee on Structural Safety and Reliability of JSCE sur veyed recent advances in the field of structural reliability and compi led the second technical report. Consequently, it reached a conclusion that the evaluation of lifetime risk is quite important to ensure a s atisfactory safety or serviceability level throughout the life of stru ctures. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserve d.