STRUCTURAL RELIABILITY AND ERROR CONTROL IN REINFORCED-CONCRETE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

Available statistical data suggest that human error in design and cons truction causes a significant proportion of performance failures; name ly, structural failure, cost overruns and delays. A Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) model has been developed to simulate the effect of huma n error on the design and construction of a reinforced concrete beam. The proposed HRA model incorporates the effect of designer checking, i ndependent design checking, engineering inspections of construction wo rks, and interaction between the designer and contractor. Human perfor mance models are described for all design and construction microtasks. It was found that human error leads to a significant loss of structur al safety, but that error control measures (particularly design checki ng) significantly reduce this loss. It was also shown that constructio n errors are more detrimental to structural safety and are more diffic ult to detect and correct.