First order vs. second order reliability analysis of series structures

The paper presents an extension of the first order reliability method for computation of failure probabilities. The improvement is achieved by a better approximation to the limit state surface. The analysis is demonstrated for individual failure modes and for series structures. The results obtained are very close to ‘exact’ results obtained by simulation. The method is seen as a supplement to first order reliability methods for special cases. It is not meant to completely replace these methods.