Time-dependent reliability analysis of glass cladding under wind action

In order to investigate the complete problem of glass cladding design under wind loading in a statistical way, a time-dependent reliability procedure is proposed in this paper, which differs from conventional reliability approaches for glass cladding design. It considers the influence of the non-Gaussian behavior of wind-induced pressures and the strength degradation of glass cladding in its lifetime on the reliability index of glass cladding. It is shown that the reliability of glass cladding under wind action significantly. reduces when the resistance deterioration is considered. A time-independent reliability approach which does not consider degradation of glass cladding may greatly overestimate the reliability index for glass cladding design under fluctuating wind loading. The design recommendations are also given in this paper. The procedures proposed in this paper represent a suitable way to evaluate the safety of glass cladding under wind action. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.