Role of uncertainty in life-cycle design of concrete structures

This paper investigates the time-variant uncertainty effects on the life-cycle safety, robustness and redundancy of deteriorating concrete structures. The investigated performance indicators are evaluated based on a general methodology for concrete structures subjected to diffusive attacks from external aggressive agents. The effects of the uncertainty associated with the random variables involved are quantified and compared by means of proper time-variant importance factors. The application to a reinforced concrete frame under different corrosion damage scenarios shows that the uncertainty effects vary over time with different trends for structural safety, robustness and redundancy.