[...]... Bucher is Professor of Structural Mechanics at Vienna University of Technology in Austria since 2007 He received his Ph.D in Civil Engineering from the University of Innsbruck, Austria in 1986, where he also obtained his “venia docendi’’ for Engineering Mechanics in 1989 He was recipient of the post-doctoral Erwin Schrödinger Fellowship in 1987/88 He received the IASSAR Junior Research Prize in 1993 and... stochastic analysis in the context of industrial requirements Chapter 1 Introduction ABSTRACT: This chapter first describes the organization of the book’s contents Then it presents a collection of simple examples demonstrating the foundation of the book in structural mechanics All of the simple problems deal with the question of quantifying stochastic uncertainty in structural analysis These problems include... For additional information on Dan M Frangopol’s activities, please visit www.lehigh.edu/∼dmf206/ Foreword Computational Analysis of Randomness in Structural Mechanics aims at detailing the computational aspects of stochastic analysis within the field of structural mechanics This book is an excellent guide to the numerical analysis of random phenomena Chapter 1 describes the organization of the book’s... implementation within the stochastic finite element method is then discussed The final chapter 6 is devoted to estimation of small probabilities which are typically found in structural reliability problems This includes static and dynamic problems as well as linear and nonlinear structural models In dynamics, the quantification of 2 Computational analysis of randomness in structural mechanics first passage... Using the right hand side part of Eq (1.17) we obtain φIV (x) − ρA 2 ω φ(x) = 0 EI (1.18) 8 Computational analysis of randomness in structural mechanics Introducing the symbol λ defined as λ4 = ρA 2 ω EI (1.19) we can write the general solution of Eq (1.18) as: φ(x) = B1 sinh λx + B2 cosh λx + B3 sin λx + B4 cos λx (1.20) Here, the constants Bi have to be determined in such a way as to satisfy the kinematic... problems include static analysis, linear buckling analysis and dynamic analysis 1.1 Outline The introductory section starts with a motivating example demonstrating various random effects within the context of a simple structural analysis model Subsequently, fundamental concepts from continuum mechanics are briefly reviewed and put into the perspective of modern numerical tools such as the finite element method... editorial board of several scientific journals in the area of stochastic mechanics He advised more than 15 doctoral dissertations in the fields of stochastic mechanics and structural dynamics He has been teaching classes on engineering mechanics, finite elements, structural dynamics, reliability analysis as well as stochastic finite elements and random vibrations He was principal teacher in the M.Sc programs... University of Technology While there is a substantial body of excellent literature on the fascinating topic of the modelling and analysis of random phenomena in the engineering sciences, an additional volume on “how to actually do it’’ may help to facilitate the cognitive process in students and practitioners alike The book aims at detailing the computational aspects of stochastic analysis within the field of. .. Research in Japan, the 2001 ASCE J James R Croes Medal, the 2001 IASSAR Research Prize, the 1998 and 2004 ASCE State -of- the-Art of Civil Engineering Award, and the 1996 Distinguished Probabilistic Methods Educator Award of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Dan Frangopol is the Founding Editor -in- Chief of Structure and Infrastructure Engineering (Taylor & Francis, www.informaworld.com/sie) an international... “Advanced mechanics of materials and structures’’ and “Natural hazard mitigation in structural engineering’’ at Bauhaus-University Weimar In Vienna, he is deputy chair of the Doctoral Programme W1219-N22 “Water Resource Systems’’ He is co-founder of the software and consulting firm DYNARDO based in Weimar and Vienna Within this firm, he engages in consulting and development regarding the application of stochastic