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CE 205B: Margins of Quality for Engineered Systems

Course Description

This course addresses processes and procedures that can be used by engineers to define and determine the demands and capacities of the structure and hardware elements that comprise engineered systems during their life-cycles - Margins of Quality. Margins of Quality address key performance requirements including serviceability, safety, compatibility, durability, sustainability, and resilience.. These Margins of Quality address two primary categories of uncertainties: Type I - natural or inherent variability (aleatory), and Type II - professional or modeling (epistemic) uncertainties.

The goal of this course is to provide students from all branches of engineering with the knowledge and skills to define and evaluate desirable system quality performance characteristics, demands and capacities, uncertainties, reliabilities and performance goals, and the required Margins of Quality that can be used in design, requalification, construction, operation, maintenance, rehabilitation and decommissioning of engineered systems.

Recommended Reading

Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures, American Society of Civil Engineers, ANSI/ASCE 7-95.

Wind Effects on Structures: an Introduction to Wind Engineering, by E. Simiu and R. H. Scanlan, John Wiley & Sons.

Loading and Load Effects Uncertainties, by R. G. Bea, Canadian Standards Association, 1991.

Mechanics of Wave Forces on Offshore Structures, by T. Sarpkaya and M Isaacson, Van Nostrand Reinhold Co.

Recommended Practice for Planning, Designing and Constructing Fixed Offshore Platforms - Load and Resistance Factor Design, by American Petroleum Institute, Washington, DC.

General Requirements, Design Criteria, the Environment and Loads, Canadian Standards Association, Standard S471, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 1989.

Structural Reliability Analysis and Prediction, by R. E. Melchers, Wiley Publishers, 1987.