Download or read book Finite Element Reliability and Sensitivity Methods for Performance-based Earthquake Engineering written by Terje Haukaas and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The work in this report is motivated by the performance-based engineering approach advocated by PEER. A comprehensive, object-oriented software framework for finite element sensitivity and reliability analysis is developed. The work builds on the existing software OpenSees. The software framework is used to investigate and address challenges particular to nonlinear finite element reliability analysis. As a result, smoothed material models, modifications in existing search algorithms, and a search algorithm hitherto not used in reliability analysis are developed.