RELIABILITY ASSESSMENT OF BS 8110 (1997) ULTIMATE LIMIT STATE DESIGN REQUIREMENTS FOR REINFORCED CONCRETE COLUMNS

Abstract

Reliability is defined as ability of a system to perform its required functions under stated conditions for a specific period of time. Structural reliability is an aspect of engineering that uses mathematics and statistical methods to determine the reliability of a structure. This research work focused on the reliability assessment of reinforced concrete columns designed to the BS 81I0 (1997) ultimate limit state requirements. A typical cross section (400mm400mm) for the three different commonly used columns was adopted and probabilistically assessed when all variables relating to the loading geometry and material properties are randomly distributed. The First-Order Reliability method (FORM) was employed to estimate the implied probability of failure for simulated loading and reinforcement quantities. The results have shown that the cross section (400mm400mm) assessed could not sustain more than 40% of the expected ultimate design load before the violation of the limit state. In addition the performance of reinforced concrete columns depends more on the applied load than the amount of reinforcement used