PROBABILISTIC AND OPTIMIZED DESIGN OF CONCRETE STRUCTURES

Some standards for the design of concrete structures (e.g. EC2 and the original eSN 73 1201-86) allow a structure to be designed via several methods. This paper documents the fact that even if a structure does not comply with the partial reliability factor method, according to EC2, it can satisfy the conditions required for the application of the fully probabilistic approach when using the same standard. A design example is presented: a prestressed spun concrete pole. The Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) modification of the Monte Carlo method has been used for the reliability calculation. Efficient design procedures can achieve not only cost savings during construction (materials and energy), erection, servicing, maintenance, disassembly and material recycling but also a more favourable environmental impact.