ECONOMICAL OPTIMIZATION OF APPRAISING CONCRETE DEGRADATION PROCESSES

The use of probabilistic-based design of concrete durability has been increased during the last ten years. Although the mathematical models and probabilistic characterizations are almost available for several degradation processes, it is still not established what order of probability should be considered as acceptable for design and assessment purposes. In this paper the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis is used for several structural typologies in buildings and some values of acceptable failure probabilities are obtained. The resulted values are very close to those proposed by the Joint Committee of Structural Safety (JCSS) that are also given in the new version of the Eurocode 0 "Basics of Design" for Serviceability Limit States.