Estimation of CoV of global resistance of RC members according to safety formats for NLNAs: a strain-based approach

Recently, a relevant effort has been exploited by researchers to define appropriate safety formats for non-linear numerical analyses (NLNAs) of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. The use of the NLNAs for safety assessment requires high costs in terms of computing time and, for instance, this solution may result complex to be applied in practice. The aim of this work is to propose a preliminary method devoted to limit the number of NLNAs performing safety verifications according to the global resistance format. In detail, the approach is focused on the estimation of the value of coefficient of variation (CoV) of global resistance through a probabilistic calibration. The result depends on the maximum strain in tensile reinforcement reached within a NLNA determined using mean values of material properties. In this paper, some preliminary results on practical applications are described.