Categorizing Component Failure in Offshore Platforms

Abstract

A significant part of reliability‐based design is determining the importance of a member in a structure to the behavior of the entire structure. Such an evaluation is necessary for many of the load and resistance factor design (LRFD) formats that have been proposed. After its importance is known, the member can be categorized rationally so that similar members in a structure can be designed to similar standards. One measure of member importance is the change in behavior of the remaining structure when a member fails. A computationally efficient reanalysis algorithm and classification procedure is necessary when determining the significance of a member to a structure so the cost of design does not become exorbitant. A reanalysis algorithm and a proposed classification system for members in jacket‐type offshore platforms are presented in this paper.