Reliability-based service life assessment for deteriorating reinforced concrete buildings considering the effect of cumulative damage

Abstract

Most engineering systems used in maintenance strategies must consider deterioration and seismic structural damage. To identify the effects of deterioration and earthquakes simultaneously on structural performance, this study applies an integral simulation method. Compared with that of previous studies, the feature of the proposed method is its analysis of the time-dependent structural capacity of a deteriorating reinforced concrete (RC) building and the simulation of life-cycle earthquake events within a specified service period, while considering cumulative damage induced by deterioration and earthquakes. In addition, the proposed assessment method is applied to derive the reliability-based service life of a deteriorating RC building located in a region with high seismic hazard. Briefly, for deteriorating RC buildings, the proposed reliability-based service life assessment method provides useful information related to maintenance based on both serviceability and safety.

Keywords::

• corrosion
• earthquake
• reinforced concrete
• service life
• reliability
• cumulative damage

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the National Science Council of the Republic of China, Taiwan, for financially supporting this research under Contract No. NSC100-2628-E-011-006.