It is hard to set up catastrophe potential function by using conventional methods and choose control variables of catastrophe potential function. So the method of setting up potential function is given to analyze the brittleness of complex system by means of relations among systems. The feasibility of analyzing complex system by using catastrophe theory is also discussed. Based on the data come...

“Brittleness” can be intended as the propensity of an agent to perform poorly or fail in the face of circumstances not explicitly considered by the agent’s designer. In opposition to brittleness, ”Versatility” and ”Perturbation-tolerance” express the ability of being able to cope with previously unanticipated situations. These properties are particularly important in many practical applications...

With the advent of high-performance computing, Bayesian methods are becoming increasingly popular tools for the quantification of uncertainty throughout science and industry. Since these methods can impact the making of sometimes critical decisions in increasingly complicated contexts, the sensitivity of their posterior conclusions with respect to the underlying models and prior beliefs is a pr...

This paper presents an experimental study on circular stirrup-confined concrete specimens under uniaxial and monotonic load. The effects of stirrup volume ratio, stirrup yield strength and concrete strength on damage evolution of stirrup-confined concrete were investigated. The experimental results showed that the strength and ductility of concrete are improved by appropriate arrangement of the...