Development of an adaptive reliability analysis framework for reinforced concrete frame structures using uncertainty quantification

Performing reliability analysis for reinforced concrete structures is a tedious and challenging task because it requires conducting a four-nested loop calculation procedure involving millions of data samples to account for the complex behaviours of the structures and multiple random variables. Therefore, the study proposes a novel, practical, and accurate reliability framework that is applicable for multi-component RC frame structures exhibiting different behaviours ranging from linear elastic and non-linear elastic to non-linear plastic. For this purpose, this study first employs a tree-based boosting ensemble model combined with quantile regression, dubbed as QR-LightGBM to calculate the structures' limit state function and the associated uncertainty estimation at the same time. Next, an active learning process is implemented to improve the computed reliability results progressively. During each active learning step, relevant data samples with potentially high impacts on the model accuracy are determined based on their uncertainty, and then QR-LightGBM is retrained utilizing these samples. By doing so, the prediction performance of the surrogate model is enhanced with a minimized number of actual data samples, thus significantly reducing overall computational resources. The viability and effectiveness of the proposed framework are validated through three case studies involving a simple 1D reinforced concrete beam, a 2D three-story frame, and a 3D five-story building structure. Furthermore, its performance is quantitatively demonstrated via comparison studies with competing methods such as Monte Carlo simulation, Kriging-based models, and an original LightGBM without active learning.