A contribution to the study of flexural reliability of steel-concrete composite beams designed according to NBR 8800:2008

Abstract

Abstract This work assesses the flexural reliability of compact sections and full-interaction steel-concrete composite beams designed according to NBR 8800:2008. Reliability indexes are obtained for different grades of concrete, slab heights, and load combination. The results show a lower level of safety in situations where live loads are predominant in the load combination. A partial safety factors calibration procedure is also proposed based on a target reliability index βT = 3.5. It is shown that the calibrated partial safety factors reduce the variability of reliability indexes in the proposed design situations.

Keywords

• steel-concrete composite beams
• structural reliability
• NBR 8800
• FORM
• PSO