Structural design of RC beams with stainless-steel reinforcement: Simplified analytical framework, equivalent stress method, and reliability analysis
Musab Rabi,Felipe Piana Vendramell Ferreira,Ahmad N. Tarawneh,Ikram Abarkan,Rabee Shamass,Mazen J. Al-Kheetan,Yazan Momani
Abstract
This paper proposes a new flexural design framework for stainless-steel RC beams based on an equivalent stress approach as well as simplified analytical approach that compromise the simplicity and practicality of design and incorporates the strain hardening of stainless-steel reinforcement. A comprehensive assessment of the proposed method and the current design procedures adopted for stainless-steel RC beam is presented using the collected data. The assessment includes a comparison with Eurocode 2 and ACI 318-19 as well as the Continuous Strength Method (CSM) for RC beams. The sensitivity of parameters on both ultimate and cracking moments is evaluated through a parametric study. In addition, a reliability analysis is performed to suggest a new partial safety factor for designing stainless-steel RC beams. The proposed simplified analytical approach demonstrated clear superiority over all other evaluated design methods, including Eurocode 2 (EC2), ACI 318-19, the Continuous Strength Method (CSM), and the proposed equivalent stress approach. The mean values of predicted-to-tested ratio and RMSE are 0.99 and 27.8. In addition to its accuracy, the simplified approach offered a straightforward, noniterative procedure, making it highly practical for both manual calculations and software-assisted design.
