Calibration Of Reliability Index For Crack Width For Reinforced Concrete Members

Abstract

<div>The cracking of Reinforced Concrete (RC) members is a highly random process. However, very few studies are focused on the probabilistic studies of concrete cracking. Second Order Monte Carlo Simulation was applied to determine the reliability index of serviceability limit state for different beam design cases. A proposed equation that has been developed based on a series of experimental work and neural network analysis, to estimate the crack spacing and width in RC members. Model uncertainty was modelled randomly to account for the uncertainties in the chosen crack width model. Monte Carlo subroutine was developed to evaluate the reliability index of the performance function. The results showed that the reliability index for crack width in all generated cases were in the recommended ranges of the acceptable limits that makes the proposed equation adopted in the monitoring strategy at the serviceability limit state as a target limit for monitoring the maximum crack width. The results obtained were compared with previous research work that was performed using First Order Monte Carlo Simulation. The results obtained were similar which indicates that the adopted methodology is reliable. The target limit can be used automatically to make decision for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) data to repair or inject cracks of RC members. A series of steps were developed to help/guide in the decision-making process, based on the crack width. </div>