Economic optimization of coastal flood defence systems including storm surge barrier closure reliability

Storm surge barriers are large movable hydraulic structures which close during a storm surge to prevent coastal floods. In the regions they protect, a failure to close the barrier is often the most likely cause for a catastrophic flood. Nevertheless, flood risk assessments usually only focus on raising flood defences behind the barrier....

Reliability methods for finite element models

Probabilistic techniques in engineering problems are needed because they provide a deeper understanding of failure mechanisms and occurrence probabilities than deterministic techniques. In addition, they draw our attention to the consequences of failure at an early stage in the design process. However, to achieve these advantages, a well-defined...