A multiple linearization algorithm for the reliability analysis of nonlinea
r limit states is presented in this paper. This method identifies several h
yperplane approximations to the limit state and computes the failure probab
ility through the union or intersection of the failure domains correspondin
g to each segment. This approach is useful for both component and system le
vel reliability problems. The multiple linearization points are determined
through the secant method. Correlation information about the hyperplanes is
used to achieve computational efficiency. Numerical examples are presented
to show the benefits of the proposed method.