Seismic resilience of concrete structures under corrosion

A probabilistic approach to lifetime assessment of seismic resilience of deteriorating concrete structures is presented. The effects of environmental damage on the seismic performance are evaluated by means of a methodology for lifetime assessment of concrete structures in aggressive environment under uncertainty. The time-variant seismic capacity associated with different limit states, from damage limitation up to collapse, is assumed as functionality indicator. The role of the deterioration process on seismic resilience is then investigated over the structural lifetime by evaluating the post-event residual functionality and recovery of the deteriorating system as a function of the time of occurrence of the seismic event. The proposed approach is applied to a three-story concrete frame building and a four-span continuous concrete bridge under corrosion. The results show the combined effects of structural deterioration and seismic damage on the time-variant system functionality and resilience and indicate the importance of a multi-hazard life-cycle-oriented approach to seismic design of resilient structure and infrastructure systems. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.