Reliability analysis of reinforced concrete grids with nonlinear material behavior

Reinforced concrete grids are usually used to support large floor slabs. These grids are characterized by a great number of critical cross-sections, where the overall failure is usually sudden. However, nonlinear behavior of concrete leads to the redistribution of internal forces and accurate reliability assessment becomes mandatory. This paper presents a reliability study on reinforced concrete (RC) grids based on coupling Monte Carlo simulations with the response surface techniques. This approach allows us to analyze real RC grids with large number of failure components. The response surface is used to evaluate the structural safety by using first order reliability methods. The application to simple grids shows the interest of the proposed method and the role of moment redistribution in the reliability assessment.