Contains references to documents in the NASA Scientific and Technical (STI) Database.

This book is a methodological approach to the goal-based safety design procedure that will soon be an international requirement. This is the first single volume book to describe how to satisfy safety goals by modern reliability engineering. Its focus is on the quantitative aspects of the international standards using a methodological approach. Case studies illustrate the methodologies presented.

Highlights the multi-disciplinary nature of probabilistic risk and hazard assessment procedures. Topics covered include: Hazard scenario analyses (e.g. HAZOP, FMEA); probabilistic risk assessments; consequence modelling; structural reliability; human error; uncertainty analyses; and risk assessment. Topics are related to the design, construction & operation of chemical & process plants; nuclear facilities; bridges; buildings; offshore structures; dams.

The book shows how risk, defined as the statistical expectation of loss, can be formally decomposed as the product of two terms: hazard probability and system vulnerability. This requires a specific definition of vulnerability that replaces the many fuzzy definitions abounding in the literature. The approach is expanded to more complex risk analysis with three components rather than two, and with various definitions of hazard. Equations are derived to quantify the uncertainty of each risk component and show how the approach relates to Bayesian decision theory. Intended for statisticians, environmental scientists and risk analysts interested in the theory and application of risk analysis, this book provides precise definitions, new theory, and many examples with full computer code. The approach is based on straightforward use of probability theory which brings rigour and clarity. Only a moderate knowledge and understanding of probability theory is expected from the reader.

A collection of papers presented at the PSAM 7 – ESREL ’04 conference in June 2004, reflecting a wide variety of disciplines, such as principles and theory of reliability and risk analysis, systems modelling and simulation, consequence assessment, human and organisational factors, structural reliability methods, software reliability and safety, insights and lessons from risk studies and management/decision making. This volume covers both well-established practices and open issues in these fields, identifying areas where maturity has been reached and those where more development is needed.

Bayesian Inference for Probabilistic Risk Assessment provides a Bayesian foundation for framing probabilistic problems and performing inference on these problems. Inference in the book employs a modern computational approach known as Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). The MCMC approach may be implemented using custom-written routines or existing general purpose commercial or open-source software. This book uses an open-source program called OpenBUGS (commonly referred to as WinBUGS) to solve the inference problems that are described. A powerful feature of OpenBUGS is its automatic selection of an appropriate MCMC sampling scheme for a given problem. The authors provide analysis “building blocks” that can be modified, combined, or used as-is to solve a variety of challenging problems. The MCMC approach used is implemented via textual scripts similar to a macro-type programming language. Accompanying most scripts is a graphical Bayesian network illustrating the elements of the script and the overall inference problem being solved. Bayesian Inference for Probabilistic Risk Assessment also covers the important topics of MCMC convergence and Bayesian model checking. Bayesian Inference for Probabilistic Risk Assessment is aimed at scientists and engineers who perform or review risk analyses. It provides an analytical structure for combining data and information from various sources to generate estimates of the parameters of uncertainty distributions used in risk and reliability models.

This book proposes a new approach to dynamic and online risk assessment of automated and autonomous marine systems, taking into account different environmental and operational conditions. The book presents lessons learnt from dynamic positioning incidents and accidents, and discusses the challenges of risk assessment of complex systems. The book begins by introducing dynamic and online risk assessment, before presenting automated and autonomous marine systems, as well as numerous dynamic positioning incidents. It then discusses human interactions with technology and explores how to quantify human error. Dynamic probabilistic risk assessment and online risk assessment are both considered fully, including case studies with the application of assisting operators in decision making in emergency situations. Finally, areas for future research are suggested. This practical volume offers tools and methodologies to help operators make better decisions and improve the safety of automated and autonomous marine systems. It provides a guideline for researchers and practitioners to perform dynamic probabilistic and online risk assessment, which also should be applicable to other complex systems outside the marine and maritime domain, such as nuclear power plants, chemical processes, autonomous transport systems, and space shuttles.