Probabilistic FEM for Nonlinear Concrete Structures. II: Applications

This is the second part of an investigation on probabilistic finite element methods for nonlinear concrete structures. The study is concentrated on two reinforced concrete application examples including a simply supported beam and a portal frame. Nonlinearity in material and geometry, and randomness in loading, material, and geometry are considered. Extensive computations using a probabilistic finite element method imbedded in the computer code PFRAME developed at the University of Colorado, Boulder, are carried out to verify analytical results. The effect of Taylor series expansions about different values of various random variables on structural response is demonstrated in both application examples. Furthermore, using the simply supported beam example, it is shown that the probabilistic finite element method proposed is applicable to the assessment of structural safety of material and geometric nonlinear concrete structures. Further investigations are necessary in order to develop this probabilistic finite element approach into a mature structural safety assessment method.