BUILDING RESEARCH JOURNAL

VOLUME 56, 2008 NUMBER 2–3

RELIABILITY OF SLENDER COLUMNS IN COMPRESSION

PAVEL MAREK

Alternative procedures recommended for the design of reinforced concrete slender

columns are analysed on the basis of probabilistic methods of the theory of structural
reliability. Special attention is paid to centrically loaded columns. Slender structural
members, which lose their load-bearing capacity due to instability, should have a
different reliability level than the massive ones. The global resistance factors of columns
are analysed. It is shown that the application of the general non-linear method gives
accurate results.

Keywords: global resistance factor, reliability analysis, reinforced concrete column, slenderness

1. Introduction

High slender structural members nowadays belong to the components used in

advanced construction works. The IT development makes designing the structures
on the basis of linear analysis easy, but it also allows to take various material and
geometrical non-linearities arising during execution and exploitation of structures
into account. The connection of reliability methods together with the exact non-
linear solution brings up a new perspective for the achievement of required accuracy
in the assessment of structural reliability. The non-linear analysis enables to verify
every point of the structure, not only the critical ones. This advanced approach brings
significant advantages and facilitates structure optimisation with regards to the
economical and load-bearing aspects.
A characteristic property of slender vertical structures is the mutual interac-
tion between the deformations of structures and their internal forces. In case the
column is more slender, this column starts to bend under loading even for a small
eccentricity of the vertical load, and its load-bearing capacity is exceeded sooner
than in the case of a massive column. Even more clearly the second-order effect

Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Thákurova 7, 166 29 Prague 6, Czech
Republic, e-mail: pavel.marek@fsv.cvut.cz

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Pavel Marek

occurs in a very slender column, and the failure may be caused by the loss of column
stability before reaching the theoretical limit of its load-bearing capacity.
Two simplified methods and also a general method are provided in EN 1992-1-1
for the estimation of the second order effects in reinforced concrete structures. It is
well-known that the simplified methods sometimes give results significantly differ-
ent compared to the exact solution provided by the general method. The structure
designed according to these simplified approaches might be in some cases consider-
ably undersized, in particular when the nominal curvature method is applied for
the members with a small ratio of reinforcement. In most cases, the nominal stiff-
ness method is conservative and uneconomical.
The resulting values of the internal forces and deformations are influenced by
the way of application of the partial factors for materials in the calculation model.
For the estimation of design resistance on the basis of non-linear analysis of struc-
ture, the mean values of resistance are allowed to be applied according to the Eurocode
EN 1990, which are further reduced by the global resistance factor γM. The global
factor is based on the coefficient of variation of member resistance (commonly as-
sumed to be Lognormally distributed).

Figure 1. Influence of column slenderness on dispersion of reliability – comparison of cross-

section and system resistance (dashed line – cross-section values [r, R]; solid line – system values
[r*, R*])

2. Application of global factor method for slender columns

2.1 Basic Reliability Requirements

The application of partial factors is inappropriate in non-linear analysis, for

that reason the approach according to EN 1992-2 is applied. The mean values of
material properties for concrete and reinforcement (fcm, fctm, Ecm, fym, Esm) are consid-
ered for the specification of the mean structural resistance Rm. The design resistance
Rd of the column is determined from the mean resistance Rm reduced by a global
resistance factor γM. The application of the global factor assures that the structural
resistance should be higher than the load effects. For one permanent action G and

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one variable action Q, the structure may be considered as reliable if the following
inequality is fulfilled:
§ qud ·
J Sd .J Rd E J g G  J q Q  d R¨¨ ¸¸ (1)
©JM ¹
where: γSdis the partial factor of model uncertainties for actions
γRdis the partial factor of model uncertainties for resistance
γg is the partial factor for a permanent action
γq is the partial factor of a variable action
qudis the maximum value of load corresponding to the ultimate strength of
a structure
γM is the global resistance factor.
The above-mentioned procedure is used for the reliability analysis of a slender
column and further extended on the basis of probabilistic approach.

2.2.Global Resistance Factor

The design resistance Rd of a structural member may be expressed according

to EN 1990 as follows:

P(R d Rd) = )(-DRE), (2)

where Φ is the standardized normal distribution function, β is the reliability index

(recommended value β = 3.8 for common structures of consequence class CC2 and a
fifty-year design working life), αR is the sensitivity factor (for a leading variable αR =
0.8, for a non-leading variable αR = 0.4).
The resistance of structural members may be described by two-parameter Log-
normal distribution given as:

R P ˜ exp( D E ˜ V ) for VR = VP< 0.2 , (3)

d R R R

where µR is the mean value of resistance and VR its coefficient of variation.

The global resistance factor γM may be determined from the ratio of the mean
resistance µR and design resistance Rd:
PR PR 1
JM exp(D E ˜ V )
Rd P R exp( D E ˜ V ) exp( D E ˜ V ) R R , (4)
R R R R

where for the recommended values β = 3.8 and βR = 0.8, the following expression is
obtained:

JM exp(3.04V ) (5)
R

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2.3 Probabilistic Analysis of a Slender Column

The analysis is carried out on an isolated cantilevered column of a cross-section

0.5 × 0.5 m. Such a structural system gives the highest value of the second order
effects for the two following reasons. Firstly, the transverse deformation is the high-
est at a statically determinate member, since the stiffness reduction is more
significant due to a higher curvature. Secondly, the bending moment due to an ec-
centrically located action has the same sign along the whole length of the member
and therefore, the structure is more stressed.
There were predefined 27 column types with different column slendernesses
values, concrete strengths and reinforcement ratios and for each of them, the ran-
dom samples of extent n=30 were generated. The program FREET with the
implemented method Latin Hypercube Sampling – Mean is applied here.
The probabilistic models of basic variables considered in the reliability analyses
are described by means of their statistical characteristics as given in Table 1. The
inclination of the column axis from the vertical direction and the concrete cover are
considered to be random geometrical variables; the strength of concrete in compres-
sion, in tension, the strain limit of concrete, the modulus of elasticity and the yield
strength of steel in tension are considered as random material variables. The mod-
els of random variables and their parameters are based on the Probabilistic Model
Code of JCSS (Joint Committee on Structural Safety). The correlation matrix used
in the LHS method is indicated in Table 2. The reason for full dependence among
concrete mixture properties may be found in the theoretical model taken from EN
1992-1-1. According to this model, the concrete tensile strength and the modulus of
elasticity are related to the compressive strength of concrete.
The generated mean values of basic variables are applied in the analysis, there-
fore, the mean axial force and bending capacity are obtained, this corresponds to the
stage of column failure. Based on results of axial resistance, the coefficient of varia-
tion is obtained and further used in equation (4) for the estimation of the global
resistance factor γM.

Table 1. Probabilistic models of basic variables

Basic variable Symbols Type of distribution Parameters

Concrete compressive strength f cm LN w=0.15
Concrete tensile strength f
ctm LN w=0.3
Ultimate concrete strain H cu1 LN w=0.15
Modulus of elasticity of concrete E cm LN w=0.15
Yield strength of steel f
ym N w=0.054
Concrete cover c Beta a=0, b=3P, V=5 mm *

Column inclination T i N V =0.001, P=0

*a, b – correspond to the upper and lower bounds of Beta distribution

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 Reliability of slender columns in compression

Table 2. Correlation of random variables

Basic variable f cm f ctm H cu1 E cm f ym c Ti

f cm 1 1 1 1 0 0 0
f ctm 1 1 1 1 0 0 0
H cu1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0
E cm 1 1 1 1 0 0 0
f ym 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
c 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
T i 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

2.4 Solution

The non-linear FE method 1-D is applied for column analyses. Each column is
divided into 18 identical elements along its height to obtain adequately accurate
results. The stiffness of a structural member varies depending on the curvature of
the cross-section. The slender column is analysed by means of numerical integra-
tion in the Mathcad software. The own compiled program enables the step loading
of the member and further specification of the action at failure state. Therefore, the
exact ultimate limit state for a different ratio of axial force and bending moment
may be determined. As a consequence, the interaction diagram of a slender cross-
section is derived by connecting the points representing the load-bearing capacity.
The parabolic stress-strain diagram for concrete in compression is considered
according to EN 1992-1-1. So-called „tension stiffening“ (interaction of concrete in
crack area) is taken into account through the stress-strain diagram according to
Model Code 90.
Figure 2 illustrates the iterative steps on a cantilevered column. The column is
not supported perfectly vertically, thus the unfavourable eccentricity ei exists be-
tween the column bottom and the head leading to the bending moment MEmi. The
column is also eccentrically loaded by the axial force with the eccentricity e0 leading
to the bending moment MEm0.

2.5 Obtained Results

a) The probabilistic reliability analysis is developed for different types of axially

loaded slender columns taking into account the minimal eccentricity according
to EN 1992-1-1. The columns are tightly fixed to the basement, different rein-
forcement ratios (8Φ16, 10Φ32, 12Φ40) and slenderness (83.1; 138.6; 194.0) are
considered. The columns are made of concrete class C12/15, C30/37, C60/75 and
steel S 500, the column cross-section is 0.5 × 0.5 m.

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Pavel Marek

Figure 2. Iterative sequences of analysis (left), deformation vs. cross section curvature (right)

Figure 3 Resulting relationship among the reinforcement ratio, slenderness and concrete strength
class. Interpolation between reinforcement ratio and concrete classes is allowed

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 Reliability of slender columns in compression

The results of probabilistic reliability analyses are diagrammatically illustrated

in Figure 3. The created diagram enables to specify the global resistance factor for
the selected reinforcement ratio, slenderness and concrete class of column taking
into account the relevant consequence classes CC1, CC2 and CC3 according to EN
1990.

b) The probabilistic reliability analysis is developed for a different eccentricity of

actions. One representative slender column of random properties is chosen (with
reinforcement 10Φ32; slenderness 138.6; concrete class C30/37) and its coeffi-
cients of variation are determined depending on different eccentricities of the
action.

For this analysis, it was necessary to calculate 30 interaction diagrams and to

carry out a statistical assessment of the coefficient of variation. Figure 4 illustrates
that the reinforcement causes a higher dispersion of results at higher MR/NR ratio.

Figure 4. Coefficient of variation VR of member resistance vs. load eccentricity in logarithmic

scale

3 Conclusions

The partial factor method is appropriate for massive structures, which are usu-
ally verified considering the first order effects only. This procedure is currently
provided in most national and also European or international standards for struc-
tural design (Eurocodes and ISO standards).
Probabilistic methods of the theory of structural reliability were applied for the
specification of the coefficients of variation for the resistance of a slender column.

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The developed relationship in Figure 3 enables to find the global resistance factor
for a centrally loaded slender member of a different concrete strength and reinforce-
ment ratio. It is shown that a nearly linear dependency exists between the coefficient
of variation and member slenderness. It follows further from the diagram that for a
higher column slenderness, the classical approach based on partial factors fails since
the same values of reliability elements to achieve the required reliability level may
be hardly applied for both the massive and slender members.
The diagram in Figure 4 indicates how to proceed also in the case of eccentri-
cally loaded columns. For a specified load eccentricity, the coefficients of variation
for the resistance of a slender column may be read and applied for the determina-
tion of the design column resistance.
However, the determination of the global resistance factor based on the coeffi-
cient of variation is dependent on applied probabilistic models of basic variables and
model uncertainties. The possibility to obtain a sufficient large set of experimental
data for statistical evaluation is a hard task due to high financial costs and time
demand.
The results of the presented theoretical study are compared with the analyses
worked out using the Atena (Cervenka consulting) and Best (company Rib) software
applications. Both software applications confirm the right way of modelling in the
own program in Mathcad.

Acknowledgements

This outcome has been achieved with the financial support of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, project No.
MSM6840770001.

REFERENCES

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