Adaptive Reliability Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Bridges Subject to Seismic Loading Using Nondestructive Testing

Abstract

AbstractSeismic fragility reflects the reliability of a structure to withstand future seismic demands. It is defined as the conditional probability that a structural demand attains or exceeds a specified capacity level for given values of earthquake intensity. In order to obtain an accurate assessment of the seismic fragility, it is critical to incorporate information about the current structural properties, which reflects possible aging and deterioration. This paper proposes an adaptive reliability analysis of bridges using the actual structural properties identified through nondestructive testing (NDT). The proposed methodology combines global and local damage detection methods. Global damage detection uses the dynamic responses of a structure obtained from a vibration NDT to assess the global/equivalent structural properties of the structure and detect potential damage locations. Local damage detection uses local measurements from an NDT technique to identify the local characteristics of the structure ...