creator Taha, Raguez A. advisor Mohammadi, Jamshid The scope of this study is focused on the applicability of the interval method to the reliability analysis of structures. The study includes using the traditional probability methods in several applications and comparing the results with the interval analysis. Accordingly, the interval arithmetic rules are applied in several examples and the results are compared with those from the traditional probability theory concepts. Specifically, the procedure for using the interval methods was applied to the development of the probability of failure for a simple structural member; and for a link in a network system. Through three simple examples, the research shows that the interval method offers comparable results with those from the traditional first-order reliability method. The procedure based on the interval method, however, may offer advantages, especially in cases where the uncertainties in various parameters describing the reliability of a system are large. In the presence of large uncertainties, the traditional methods of reliability analysis, based on the first order approximation, may lose their accuracy. In these cases, the interval method may offer a simple method yet with more accurate results. Submitted by Liana Khananashvili (khananashvili@iit.edu) on 2013-08-19T21:35:08Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Thesis_Raguez_Taha.pdf: 684041 bytes, checksum: 942df284891559d5578485ed14096855 (MD5) Cover Page of Thesis.pdf: 113675 bytes, checksum: 4cc73d81aa63ecca254a7751ded1370e (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2013-08-19T21:35:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Thesis_Raguez_Taha.pdf: 684041 bytes, checksum: 942df284891559d5578485ed14096855 (MD5) Cover Page of Thesis.pdf: 113675 bytes, checksum: 4cc73d81aa63ecca254a7751ded1370e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12 M.S. in Civil Engineering, December 2012 2012-11-26 2012-12 http://hdl.handle.net/10560/3043 en Thesis born digital application/pdf In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/ Restricted Access CAEE / Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering Illinois Institute of Technology Affiliated department