Author(s): Brites, RD ; Neves, LC ; Sapotiti Machado, J ; Lourenço, PB ; Sousa, HS
Date: 2013
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/8062
Origin: Repositório Institucional da UNL
Subject(s): Structural reliability; Timber structures; Biological deterioration; Fungi; Damage
Assessing the safety of existing timber structures is of paramount importance for taking reliable decisions on repair actions and their extent. The results obtained through semi-probabilistic methods are unrealistic, as the partial safety factors present in codes are calibrated considering the uncertainty present in new structures. In order to overcome these limitations, and also to include the effects of decay in the safety analysis, probabilistic methods, based on Monte-Carlo simulation are applied here to assess the safety of existing timber structures. In particular, the impact of decay on structural safety is analyzed and discussed, using a simple structural model, similar to that used for current semi-probabilistic analysis.
