A novel method of predicting the multiaxial high-cycle fatigue strength of metallic components is proposed and verified for various steel, aluminium and cast iron alloys. The proposed Fatigue Damage Function shows superior multiaxial fatigue strength prediction compared to the established methods of Gough and Pollard, McDiarmid and Carpinteri and Spagnoli. A new material property, the Normal Stress Sensitivity Factor, is also introduced and its applicability is verified according to published test results of sixteen different structural alloys. To highlight the effectiveness of the proposed criterion, for industrial applications, a case study has been conducted on heat-treated and not heat-treated automatic transmission output shafts.

Quantitative risk assessments are a fundamental part of economic analysis and natural hazard risk management models. It increases the objectivity and the transparency of risk assessments and guides policymakers in making efficient decisions when spending public resources on risk reduction. Managing hazard risks calls for an understanding of the relationships between hazard exposure and vulnerability of humans and assets.   The purpose of this thesis is to identify and estimate causal relationships between hazards, exposure and vulnerability, and to evaluate the applicability of systematically collected data sets to produce reliable and generalizable quantitative information for decision support.   Several causal relationships have been established. For example, the extent of lake flood damage to residential buildings depends on the duration of floods, distance to waterfront, the age of the house and in some cases the water level. Results also show that homeowners private initiative to reduce risk, prior to or during a flood, reduced their probability of suffering building damage with as much as 40 percent. Further, a causal relationship has been established between the number of people exposed to quick clay landslides and landslide fatalities.   Even though several relationships were identified between flood exposure and vulnerability, the effects can only explain small parts of the total variation in damages, especially at object level. The availability of damage data in Sweden is generally low. The most comprehensive damage data sets in Sweden are held by private insurance companies and are not publicly available. Data scarcity is a barrier to quantitative natural hazard risk assessment in Sweden. More efforts should therefore be made to collect data systematically for modelling and validating standardized approaches to quantitative damage estimation. / Natural hazard damages have increased worldwide. Impacts caused by hydrological and meteorological hazards have increased the most. An analysis of insurance payments in Sweden showed that flood damages have been increasing in Sweden as well. With climate change and increasing populations we can expect this trend to continue unless efforts are made to reduce risk and adapt communities to the threats. Economic analysis and quantitative risk assessments of natural hazards are fundamental parts of a risk management process that can support policymakers' decisions on efficient risk reduction. However, in order to develop reliable damage estimation models knowledge is needed of the relationships between hazard exposure and the vulnerability of exposed objects and persons. This thesis has established causal relationships between residential exposure and flood damage on the basis of insurance data. I also found that private damage-reducing actions decreased the probability of damage to buildings with almost 40 percent. Further, a causal relationship has been established between the number of people exposed to quick clay landslides and fatalities. Even though several relationships have been identified between flood exposure and vulnerability, the effects can explain only small parts of the total variation in damages, especially at object level, and more effort is needed to develop quantitative models for risk assessment purposes.

I Sverige inträffar många skyfall och intensiva regn under sommarmånaderna. Det finns inga uppenbara geografiska mönster, vilket är en skillnad gentemot älv- eller sjööversvämningar där det vanligtvis är känt vilka områden som kan komma att översvämmas vid en viss vattennivå eller ett visst vattenflöde. För individer och samhällsaktörer innebär en skyfallshändelse i många fall en stor överraskning då skyfall utvecklas snabbt och dagens meteorologiska prognossystem i stort inte lyckas att prognosticera extrema regn korrekt med avseende på mängd, tid och plats. Vädervarningar kommer med kort varsel eller uteblir helt. Konsekvenserna av intensiv nederbörd och skyfall är främst översvämningar och erosionsskador på byggnader och infrastruktur, men även störningar och avbrott i olika samhällsfunktioner som kan påverka samhället och individer utanför det drabbade området. I denna avhandling har 15 år av försäkringsskadedata använts för att undersöka samband mellan nederbördsintensitet och skyfallsskador. Även påverkan av andra faktorer som topografi, bebyggelse och socioekonomiska aspekter har undersökts. Resultaten visar att regnintensitet under ett 60 minuters intervall i kombination med korta perioder av extrem intensitet, tillsammans med topografiska faktorer spelar en betydande roll vid uppkomsten av skador.