A Risk-Informed Approach to Performance Assurance - Structural Integrity of Offshore Wind Turbines - page 73

oriented) standards necessitating application of first principles-based
analytical techniques. Risk-based decision making provides a foundation
for assessing compliance with goals and objectives and evaluating alter-
native solutions, and it is now applied extensively both in the development
of regulations and in the evaluation of engineering solutions. The first sig-
nificant offshore oil platforms were designed and constructed in the 1970s;
this industry does not have the long history of the civil infrastructure and
maritime industries. Experience-based codes and standards were not an
option for the oil and gas industry, and therefore risk assessment has
always played a fundamental role in the design of offshore structures.
In the United States, the performance concept (as it was called at the
time) in building construction dates back to the late 1960s, when the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development sponsored a large pro-
gram at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) to develop criteria for
designing and evaluating innovative housing systems. Subsequent work at
NBS led to a performance criteria resource document for innovative con-
struction (Ellingwood and Harris 1977). A set of building elements and
desirable performance attributes were identified, which served as a check-
list for ensuring that design professionals considered and addressed all
items significant to building performance. Each provision consisted of the
following:
1. A requirement expressing a fundamental human need qualitatively
(e.g., “buildings shall be designed and constructed so as to maintain
stability under extreme environmental loads”),
2. A set of criteria used to check that the requirement is satisfied,
3. An evaluation giving approved methods of supporting analysis or test
procedures that demonstrate compliance, and
4. Commentary that explains the technical bases for each criterion and
its evaluation.
RISK MITIGATION THROUGH
PERFORMANCE-BASED ENGINEERING
The new paradigm of performance-based engineering (PBE) is evolving
to enable new construction technologies and structural design to meet
heightened public expectations, to allow more reliable prediction and