Abstract

FLORES, Ricardo B.  and  TOLENTINO, Dante. Reliability assessment of reinforced concrete bridges through simplified closed-form expressions. Ing. invest. y tecnol. [online]. 2022, vol.23, n.3, e1925.  Epub Nov 07, 2022. ISSN 2594-0732.  https://doi.org/10.22201/fi.25940732e.2022.23.3.019.

This paper proposes an approach to estimate the structural reliability in terms of two indicators: 1) the mean annual failure rate and 2) the confidence factor. Reliability indicators are estimated based on an index, I DC , which normalizes the structural capacity and demand. Based on the above, new simplified closed-form expressions are developed to estimate the reliability indicators. The simplified closed-form expressions consider epistemic and aleatory uncertainties. The proposed approach is compared with the original formulation proposed by Cornell et al. (2002) which considers the capacity and demand as variables not normalized. Rates of failure and confidence factors are estimated for different limit states recommended by current regulations. Reliability indicators are estimated on a reinforced concrete bridge designed to perform a design drift threshold of 0.002 and 0.004. The structures are located in transition soil of Mexico City. The uncertainties related with the mechanical and geometric uncertainties are considered in the estimation of the structural reliability. Based on the results, some recommendations are given on the feasibility of designing bridges with the aim of develop a drift threshold under the presented structural typology.

Keywords : Simplified closed-form expressions; failure rate; confidence factor; reinforced concrete bridges.

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