Reliability-based calibration of design code formulas: Application to shear resistance formulas for reinforced concrete members without shear reinforcement

This paper presents a reliability-based calibration method for design code formulas. The method is demonstrated on the shear design formulas in Eurocode 2 and fib Model Code 2010 (MC2010). We found that the partial factor (Formula presented.) in the current Eurocode 2 is about 20% lower than the optimal value and, thus, provides an...

Optimisation of Reinforced Concrete Structures

The design of reinforcement in concrete structures is a complex procedure, often resulting in inefficient designs. One possible solution to improve the design process and create more efficient designs is structural optimisation. This Master’s Thesis focusses on the development of a technique for optimisation of reinforcement in 3D concrete...

Propagation and band width of smeared cracks

The crack band approach (in the smeared crack concept) is widely used for the modeling of concrete fracture and is an important analysis technique within advanced engineering. However, the simulations can be impeded by mesh-induced directional bias. Cracks prefer to propagate along continuous mesh lines, which causes a dependency of the...