Authored by the most active scholars in their respective areas, this volume covers the most recent developments, both theoretical and applicative, in multi-disciplinary reliability evaluation areas, many of which are cutting-edge and not discussed elsewhere in book form.The broad coverage includes the latest thoughts on design for low probability and high consequence events like the failure of the World Trade Center as well as risk acceptability based on the Life Quality Index. Other chapters discuss the development of the performance-based design concept, and the generally overlooked area of the reliability evaluation of bridges and offshore structures. Since the finite element method is routinely used for structural analyses, emphasis is put on discussing reliability evaluation using finite elements including consideration of the mesh-free finite element method. Corrosion and fatigue reliability evaluation techniques are other urgent issues that are dealt with in depth. Risk-based optimization using lifecycle cost analysis is presented. Among the many additional included topics, a chapter is devoted to health assessment of existing structures, currently one of the most active research areas.Contents:Risk and Risk Perception for Low Probability, High Consequence Events in the Built Environment (R B Corotis)Socio-Economic Risk Acceptability Criteria (R Rackwitz)Reliability in Structural Performance Evaluation and Design (Y K Wen)Performance-Based Reliability Evaluation of Structure-Foundation Systems (M Chowdhury & A Haldar)Application of Probabilistic Methods in Bridge Engineering (M Ghosn)Stochastic Response of Fixed Offshore Structures (S-T Quek et al.)Application of Reliability Methods to Fatigue Analysis and Design (P H Wirsching)Probabilistic Models for Corrosion in Structural Reliability Assessment (R E Melchers)Seismic Risk Assessment of Realistic Frame Structures Using a Hybrid Reliability Method (J Huh & A Haldar)Meshfree Methods in Computational Stochastic Mechanics (S Rahman)Reliability Analysis Using Information from Experts (J Mohammadi & E Desantiago)Risk-Based Optimization of Life-Cycle Cost for Deteriorating Civil Engineering Infrastructures (R Rackwitz)Structural Health Assessment under Uncertainty (H Katkhuda & A Haldar)Readership: Undergraduates, graduates, researchers and practitioners in the field of reliability in civil, mechanical, offshore, materials, chemical and other related engineering areas.