Systems framework for fuzzy sets in civil engineering

Civil engineering projects and designs are commonly developed in a systems framework that includes different types of uncertainty. In general, uncertainty can be of the ambiguity or vagueness type. The theory of probability and statistics has been extensively used in civil engineering to deal with the ambiguity type of uncertainty. The theory of fuzzy sets and systems have been used in civil engineering to model the vagueness type of uncertainty in many civil engineering applications. In this paper, the role of fuzzy sets in civil engineering systems is described using several example applications, e.g., quality assessment of wildlife habitat, construction engineering and management, structural reliability, and damage assessment of existing structures.