Reliability Analysis of Nonlinear Reinforced Concrete Beams

Abstract

This paper presents the application of reliability analysis to nonlinear reinforced concrete beams. Failure is assumed to occur when the structure presents displacements bigger than a prescribed limit. A First Order Reliability Method (FORM) is used, and the results are compared to the ones given by Monte Carlo simulation. Since the structural model is nonlinear, special techniques are used for sensitivity analysis. These techniques allow one to consider almost any variable as probabilistic in this problem. It is also proven that the reliability index given by this problem is a lower bound for the reliability index when collapse of the structure is considered. Finally, two examples are presented in order to validate the proposed approach.