Probabilistic assessment of strength and ductility of FRP-confined concrete columns

Copyright © 2016 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering & Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Confinement using Fibre-reinforced polymers (FRP) significantly improves both the strength and the ductility of reinforced concrete columns. Many analytical models for prediction of strength and ductility of the FRP-confined concrete can be found in the literature. However, most of these models were developed based on conventional deterministic approaches. In this study, a probabilistic approach for predicting the ultimate strength and strain of FRP-confined concrete is developed. Using probabilistic models for concrete and FRP materials and the Monte Carlo simulation technique, uncertainty in evaluating the ultimate strength and strain in FRP-confined concrete is investigated and lower percentile design models are suggested.