Model Error for Calculating the Structural Reliability of Dowel Connections in Fire Situations

Abstract

In fire situation, the thermomechanical evaluation of dowel connections can be performed by analytical models, which may present errors due to uncertainties in the representation of physical behavior through an idealized mathematical model. The objective of this paper is to evaluate and quantify the model error for the calculation of structural reliability in fire situation of wood-steel-wood aligned multiple dowels connections subjected to shear. The analytical model is based on the reduced cross section method. The physical properties and the geometrical configurations come from experimental research by other authors. The results indicate that the implemented model presented unfavorable safety results. The wood embedment failure mode, indicated by the model, is consistent with the failure mode presented in the experimental researches. The model for wood-steel-wood dowel connections, based on the reduced cross section method, can be used in a structural reliability analysis, considering that the model error is a random variable. The results indicate that the development and the evaluation of analytical models that better represent the failure time are necessary.