New light on performance of short and slender reinforced concrete columns under random loads

Reinforced concrete (RC) columns are often designed and assessed under the assumption that axial loads and bending moments are applied simultaneously and are perfectly correlated. Cases, however, may exist where loads are app lied sequentially with varying degrees of correlation between them. This st udy lays the groundwork for the development of performance-based methods of assess ment and design of RC columns under random loads. The effects of lo ad path and load correlation are both taken into account. Section interacti on diagrams are used as limit states to derive iso-reliability contours for RC columns under different load histories and correlations. Multiple colum n limit states are considered, including section-based and fiber-based limi t states. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.