A robust approach for measuring the margin -coefficient- of security

This paper offers a brief analysis of the drawbacks that can be found with the usual partial security coefficients, as loads multipliers, when employed for the measurement of the distance to the collapse condition in such structures, as masonry arches, that have important anisotropies or lacks tensile strength. To deal with such difficulties the paper presents a simple and robust security criterium based on a contraction of the yield surface. That criterium, that performs identically in isotropic structures to those usually employed, can however deal consistently with situations where former criteria fail. The criterium is applied to sections with double symmetry under axial load and unsymmetrical bending, in materials with and without tension resistance. It is also applied to the prism stability problem, showing the advantages in the caracterization of such problems.