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PAVEL MAREK
Keywords: global resistance factor, reliability analysis, reinforced concrete column, slenderness
1. Introduction
Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Thákurova 7, 166 29 Prague 6, Czech
Republic, e-mail: pavel.marek@fsv.cvut.cz
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Pavel Marek
occurs in a very slender column, and the failure may be caused by the loss of column
stability before reaching the theoretical limit of its load-bearing capacity.
Two simplified methods and also a general method are provided in EN 1992-1-1
for the estimation of the second order effects in reinforced concrete structures. It is
well-known that the simplified methods sometimes give results significantly differ-
ent compared to the exact solution provided by the general method. The structure
designed according to these simplified approaches might be in some cases consider-
ably undersized, in particular when the nominal curvature method is applied for
the members with a small ratio of reinforcement. In most cases, the nominal stiff-
ness method is conservative and uneconomical.
The resulting values of the internal forces and deformations are influenced by
the way of application of the partial factors for materials in the calculation model.
For the estimation of design resistance on the basis of non-linear analysis of struc-
ture, the mean values of resistance are allowed to be applied according to the Eurocode
EN 1990, which are further reduced by the global resistance factor γM. The global
factor is based on the coefficient of variation of member resistance (commonly as-
sumed to be Lognormally distributed).
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Reliability of slender columns in compression
one variable action Q, the structure may be considered as reliable if the following
inequality is fulfilled:
§ qud ·
J Sd .J Rd E J g G J q Q d R¨¨ ¸¸ (1)
©JM ¹
where: γSdis the partial factor of model uncertainties for actions
γRdis the partial factor of model uncertainties for resistance
γg is the partial factor for a permanent action
γq is the partial factor of a variable action
qudis the maximum value of load corresponding to the ultimate strength of
a structure
γM is the global resistance factor.
The above-mentioned procedure is used for the reliability analysis of a slender
column and further extended on the basis of probabilistic approach.
where for the recommended values β = 3.8 and βR = 0.8, the following expression is
obtained:
JM exp(3.04V ) (5)
R
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Reliability of slender columns in compression
f cm 1 1 1 1 0 0 0
f ctm 1 1 1 1 0 0 0
H cu1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0
E cm 1 1 1 1 0 0 0
f ym 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
c 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
T i 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
2.4 Solution
The non-linear FE method 1-D is applied for column analyses. Each column is
divided into 18 identical elements along its height to obtain adequately accurate
results. The stiffness of a structural member varies depending on the curvature of
the cross-section. The slender column is analysed by means of numerical integra-
tion in the Mathcad software. The own compiled program enables the step loading
of the member and further specification of the action at failure state. Therefore, the
exact ultimate limit state for a different ratio of axial force and bending moment
may be determined. As a consequence, the interaction diagram of a slender cross-
section is derived by connecting the points representing the load-bearing capacity.
The parabolic stress-strain diagram for concrete in compression is considered
according to EN 1992-1-1. So-called „tension stiffening“ (interaction of concrete in
crack area) is taken into account through the stress-strain diagram according to
Model Code 90.
Figure 2 illustrates the iterative steps on a cantilevered column. The column is
not supported perfectly vertically, thus the unfavourable eccentricity ei exists be-
tween the column bottom and the head leading to the bending moment MEmi. The
column is also eccentrically loaded by the axial force with the eccentricity e0 leading
to the bending moment MEm0.
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Figure 2. Iterative sequences of analysis (left), deformation vs. cross section curvature (right)
Figure 3 Resulting relationship among the reinforcement ratio, slenderness and concrete strength
class. Interpolation between reinforcement ratio and concrete classes is allowed
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Reliability of slender columns in compression
3 Conclusions
The partial factor method is appropriate for massive structures, which are usu-
ally verified considering the first order effects only. This procedure is currently
provided in most national and also European or international standards for struc-
tural design (Eurocodes and ISO standards).
Probabilistic methods of the theory of structural reliability were applied for the
specification of the coefficients of variation for the resistance of a slender column.
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Pavel Marek
The developed relationship in Figure 3 enables to find the global resistance factor
for a centrally loaded slender member of a different concrete strength and reinforce-
ment ratio. It is shown that a nearly linear dependency exists between the coefficient
of variation and member slenderness. It follows further from the diagram that for a
higher column slenderness, the classical approach based on partial factors fails since
the same values of reliability elements to achieve the required reliability level may
be hardly applied for both the massive and slender members.
The diagram in Figure 4 indicates how to proceed also in the case of eccentri-
cally loaded columns. For a specified load eccentricity, the coefficients of variation
for the resistance of a slender column may be read and applied for the determina-
tion of the design column resistance.
However, the determination of the global resistance factor based on the coeffi-
cient of variation is dependent on applied probabilistic models of basic variables and
model uncertainties. The possibility to obtain a sufficient large set of experimental
data for statistical evaluation is a hard task due to high financial costs and time
demand.
The results of the presented theoretical study are compared with the analyses
worked out using the Atena (Cervenka consulting) and Best (company Rib) software
applications. Both software applications confirm the right way of modelling in the
own program in Mathcad.
Acknowledgements
This outcome has been achieved with the financial support of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, project No.
MSM6840770001.
REFERENCES
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