Abstract
The assessment of an existing structure to determine its suitability for present and future use entails different sorts of problems than encountered when designing new structures. The differences revolve essentially around the nature of the information available. In existing structures, deteriorated or otherwise, the accuracy of the models used for such assessments can usually be improved by acquiring more data. The most accurate way to find actual load and resistance would be to conduct a probabilistic analysis using site data. This is a time-consuming process, however, calling for a working knowledge of probabilistic methods that may not be suited to everyday use by practising engineers. For this reason, in the past few years various studies have been conducted to develop assessment approaches, compatible with Eurocodes, which include the same verification format as normally applied for designing new structures. In this paper, the application of several of these approaches is illustrated by means of the reliability verification of one of the main beams of the reinforced concrete structure of an industrial building from the 1940s, recently transformed into a cultural centre. The obtained results are discussed and compared to the findings of a full probabilistic analysis.
Highlights
The main difference between assessing the performance of existing and designing new structures is that many characteristics whose values are merely anticipated in the latter can be measured in the former
Rational decision-making on the reliability of existing structures for present and future use should be possible based on a partial factor format equivalent to the format normally applied in the design of new structures
Developed studies include approaches for the assessment of existing structures based on the partial factor method (PFM) [2,8,9,10]
Summary
The main difference between assessing the performance of existing and designing new structures is that many characteristics whose values are merely anticipated in the latter can be measured in the former. The most accurate way to incorporate site data in structural safety verifications would be to conduct a probabilistic analysis. This is a time-consuming process, calling for a working knowledge of probabilistic methods that may not be suited to everyday use by practising engineers. For this reason, simplified methods for assessing the reliability of existing structures are normally applied. In such methods, based on the same partial factor formulation as adopted in structural design codes, the representative values for the variables and the partial factors can be modified on the basis of updated information
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