Reliability of Engineering Systems and Technological Risks

Preface

There are many excellent books devoted to the topic “Reliability and Risk”, for example [BAR 75, BED 07, GNE 65, HEN 91, SOL 06] and so on. However, most of them are monographs designed for specialists, and there is some deficit in the training literature in this direction. The book is based on the lecture course that has been offered for several years to students who specialized in the direction “Safety of the technological processes and productions” at Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas. Although the book is dedicated to bachelor students in engineering, it may also be interesting to postgraduate students and specialists who deal with problems of reliability and risks.

Three main problems of technological risks and safety are considered in the book: elements of reliability theory, basic notions of general risk theory and the main problems of insurance as a method of risk management. The connection between these three ideas is a special aspect of the book. The constantly increasing interest in the problems of reliability and risks has stimulated ISTE to propose this issue.

It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the usual high school course of mathematics. Thus, only the additional information needed is proposed in the book. Sections are the main units of the book and each of them represent the material of separate lectures. Therefore, the numeration of formulas, figures, tables, theorems, etc. are connected to the sections. The proofs of theorems ...