Safety Evaluation of Concrete Structures with Nonlinear Analysis

Concrete is the most widely used construction material in the world. To obtain effective new constructions and to use existing concrete structures in an optimal way, accurate structural models are needed. This requires that good approximations of important model parameters be available and that the nonlinear material response of concrete can be accounted for. However, uncertain model parameters can significantly influence the structural response modelled which leads to high modelling uncertainty. To estimate uncertain parameters a methodology is proposed and applied to the new Svinesund Bridge to improve the initial finite element model through finite element model updating using on-site measurements. To account for the nonlinear material response, it is also necessary to have a safety format suited to nonlinear analysis. However, the available safety formats for nonlinear analysis have been questioned and the need to quantify the modellin