Assessment of structural safety of reinforced concrete columns through numerical methodology

Abstract

The design of a reinforced concrete structure involves a number of random variables that can be difficult to measure. Among these variables, it can be highlighted the great variability inherent to material mechanical properties, especially the compressive strength of concrete. The uncertainties resulting from the concrete production process and quality control tend to influence critically the decision-making about the probability of failure and consequent reliability of structures. This work presents a computational model to simulate the behavior of reinforced concrete columns using the Finite Element Method to determine the column resistance. The model was validated by comparison with experimental results available in the literature. For the assessment of structural safety it was used the reliability index (b); obtained through Monte Carlo and FORM methods. The results show that the model is able to reproduce correctly the behavior of the structure allowing us to make inferences about the level of reliability of these elements.