ABSTRACT
Performance of a structure, initially designed/constructed considering natural and man-made hazards, degrades during its life-cycle, caused by adverse environmental demands (e.g., earthquake, flood) on materials (e.g., corrosion in structural steel and reinforcing steel). These effects are generally not considered during its initial design in accordance with the national industry codes that are based on prescriptive capacitybased design requirements. The recent trend in the industry, however, has been to require a performancebased design approach during its life-cycle. Additionally, there are uncertainties in the degree of degradation, and material properties used in the initial design. Therefore, there is a need to examine the significance of these uncertainties in evaluating the life-cycle performance of a structure. The study described in this paper examines the life-cycle performance of a typical building concrete shear-wall structure in a nuclear facility during an earthquake event. The study uses a Monte Carlo simulation technique for stochastic consideration of degradation of reinforcing steel caused by pitting and uniform corrosion, and the uncertainties in the strength of reinforcing steel, to evaluate the sensitivity of annual probability of failure of the structure to these effects.
