Dynamic reliability under random shocks

The theory of dynamic reliability is extended to explicitly incorporate random changes of the state variables at the time points of transition between the discrete states of the Markovian component of the model. It is shown, that this can be used to model random loads induced by external events, a situation often encountered in structural reliability problems. A state model is developed, which represents the behavior of elementary structures degrading, due to aging processes and stochastic environmental loads. Finally, the structural reliability of the basic components of underground water pipe networks is estimated using the proposed framework.