The field of earthquake and structural engineering has long had an interest in research into the area of risk and reliability analysis for hazard mitigation. Since structural reliability concepts were conceived, over the past three decades the field has matured and broadened to include problems ranging from the modeling of hazardous natural phenomena, such as earthquakes and hurricanes, to the evaluation of the performance of structures including buildings, dams, bridges and offshore platforms, to the assessment of the socio-economic consequences of such catastrophic events.

The need for the safe operation of industrial facilities, such as nuclear power plants and manufacturing facilities that use hazardous materials, has led to the development of analytical methods for safety and reliability assessment of the structures and equipment at such facilities. Furthermore, uncertainties inherent in load processes, structural material properties and design, as well as a lack of complete control of the construction process, have necessitated the development of design codes that quantify the various sources of uncertainty and randomness. Current research interests include the development of efficient methods of systems reliability for large systems, reliability analysis of components under time-varying loads, and the treatment of the nonlinear behavior of structural components under extreme loading conditions.

The aim of this Special Issue is to collect original research and review articles that discuss the creation of design tools that incorporate numerous models focussed on the above-mentioned topics. Research that showcases new theoretical results, as well as numerical and experimental applications of existing theories, is particularly welcome.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Challenges and opportunities to the field of risk and reliability analysis
• Explicit probabilistic bases for the design of conventional facilities
• New performance-based design seismic criteria
• Better calibration to historic damage experience
• Probabilistic structural analysis
• Probabilistic analysis of hazards, structural response, damage and losses
• Accurate forecasts of the likelihoods of rare catastrophic losses
• Risk assessments of structures
• Structural reliability and risk analysis