Defining of the structural robustness

Different methods of quantitative assessment of structural robustness has been proposed and widely discussed in recent years. This paper starts out with an outline of the requirements and discussion of the conventional and risk based methods and measures of structural robustness. The probability and consequence analysis related to the assessment of robustness usually contains the statistical, fuzzy and fuzzy-statistical information on the basic variables and parameters. The new fuzzy-probabilistic index of robustness is presented in order to consider all types of available information about different hazards and consequences which influence robustness of a structure. The proposed framework for imprecise risk assessment by means of the frequency-consequences acceptance diagram and quantification of the robustness is illustrated through a numerical example.