Course syllabus
Risk- och informationshantering inom bygg- och anläggningsteknik
Risk and Information Management in the Built Environment
VBKN35, 7,5 credits, A (Second Cycle)
Valid for: 2023/24
Faculty: Faculty of Engineering, LTH
Decided by: PLED V
Date of Decision: 2023-02-07
General Information
Elective for: V5-hb, V5-at
Language of instruction: The course will be given in English
Aim
The aim of the course is to provide fundamental expertise,
skills, and knowledge for the design of new and the management of
existing buildings and infrastructure. The focus is on the
management of risks (uncertainties and consequences) with the help
of information and integrity management measures.
Learning outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must
- understand and justify decisions optimized for economy and
safety while supporting sustainability
- understand and explain the concept ‘value of information’
and the conditions for realizing this
- understand and explain the fundamentals of utility theory and
decision theory in civil engineering
- understand and explain the fundamental concepts of reliability
and risk-based approaches for the design of new structure and
assessment of existing buildings and infrastructure
Competences and skills
For a passing grade the student must
- be able to identify decisions which optimize economy, safety,
as well as support sustainability
- be able to perform decision analyses and value of information
analyses
- be able to perform probabilistic design and assessment of new
and existing buildings and infrastructure
- be able to select, create, verify, and update probabilistic
models in built environment engineering application, e.g.,
concerning natural hazards, structural health information,
structural integrity management, structural reliability, and risk
management
- be able to summarize and critically evaluate data with
established data analysis methods
Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must
- be able to evaluate economic and safety efficiency of
engineering decisions before and after implementation of
measures
- be able to evaluate the safety level of a structural system for
service life extension and increased sustainability
Contents
The course covers:
- Elementary data analysis
- Fundamentals of probability, utility theory and decision
analysis
- Random variables, random processes, and probabilistic
inference
- Reliability analysis
- Demand, capacity, action, and information modelling
- Risk, decision and value of information analysis and tools
- Risk acceptance criteria
- Application examples
- Guest lectures from industry and research community
The course encompasses the methods of probabilistic modelling
and model adaptation in the field of built environment engineering
with emphasis on the topics of natural hazards, structural health
information, integrity management, structural reliability, and
risks. Ultimately, the students acquire abilities to perform
decision and value of information analyses to identify economy and
safety optimal, as well as sustainability supporting,
decisions.
The course is based on lectures, seminars, exercises, a major
project assignment, and an oral examination. The student can choose
application area in the project assignment according to interest
and can be associated with structural engineering, building
physics, construction management, building materials or HVAC.
Examination details
Grading scale: TH - (U,3,4,5) - (Fail, Three, Four, Five)
Assessment: The examination is based on an oral exam together with evaluation of the report from the project assignment. The dates for the oral exam are decided during the course.
The examiner, in consultation with Disability Support Services, may deviate from the regular form of examination in order to provide a permanently disabled student with a form of examination equivalent to that of a student without a disability.
Parts
Code: 0123. Name: Examination.
Credits: 4,5. Grading scale: TH. Assessment: Examination
Code: 0223. Name: Project Assignments.
Credits: 3. Grading scale: UG. Assessment: Project Assignments. For written assignments, not only the correctness of calculations and results is assessed, but also the quality of the presentation, i.e. structure and descriptive texts of the report.
Admission
Admission requirements:
- FMS032 Mathematical Statistics, Basic Course or FMSF50 Mathematical Statistics, Basic Course
- VBK013 Structural Engineering, Basic Course or VBKF15 Structural Engineering
The number of participants is limited to: No
The course overlaps following course/s: VBKN10
Reading list
- STRUREL, Software for reliability analysis, Munchen.
- Rychlik, I & Ryden, J: Probability and Risk Analysis. An Introduction for Engineers. Springer Verlag, 2006, ISBN: 978-3-540-24223-9. This book is available as e-book without cost for students at Lund University (found through LUBSearch).
- Faber, M. H.: Statistics and Probability Theory in Pursuit of Engineering Decision Support. Springer, 2012, ISBN: 978-94-007-4055-6. This book is available as e-book without cost for students at Lund University (found through LUBSearch).
- Joint Committee on Structural Safety (JCSS): Probabilistic Model Code. ISBN: 978-3-909386-79-6. Found on the following website:
https://www.jcss-lc.org/jcss-probabilistic-model-code/.
- Faber, M. H., Ed.: Risk Assessment in Engineering - Principles, System Representation & Risk Criteria. JCSS Joint Committee on Structural Safety. Found on the following website:
https://www.jcss-lc.org/risk-assessment-in-engineering/.
- Raiffa, H. and R. Schlaifer: Applied statistical decision theory. Wiley, 2000, ISBN: 978-0-471-38349-9. Available to the students on demand.
- Benjamin, J. R. and C. A. Cornell: Probability, Statistics and Decision for Civil Engineers. Dover, 2014, ISBN: 978-0486780726. Available to the students on demand.
Contact and other information
Course coordinator: Sebastian Thöns, sebastian.thons@kstr.lth.se
Course homepage: https://canvas.education.lu.se/
Further information: Course homepage at Canvas