ABSTRACT
Reliability based analysis and design procedures must account for the uncertainties affecting the structural performance. However, for concrete structures the number of uncertain parameters involved in design is usually large, and probabilistic evaluations may become very complex. This aspect is particularly emphasized when full nonlinear analyses are required to investigate the structural performance. For this reason, in design practice, the complexity of the reliability problem is reduced by means of simplified probabilistic methods in which only a few uncertain parameters are considered as random variables, typically only those which mainly affect the structural response. In concrete design such variables are generally associated with the material properties, i.e. concrete and steel strengths, while for the other mechanical and geometrical parameters the deterministic nominal values are assumed.
