Reliability analysis of FRP-confined concrete test databases

This study presents a reliability analysis of the compressive strength test results of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP)-confined concrete in existing test databases. Four confidence levels are determined based on the conjugate search direction to assess the reliability of the test database. The reliability analysis results indicate that the part of the database with: i) normal strength concrete (NSC) moderately and heavily confined by higher modulus glass fibers (i.e. fiber elastic modulus (E _f) > 60 GPa), ii) high strength concrete (HSC) moderately and heavily confined (i.e. actual confinement ratio (f _lu,a/f' _co) > 0.3) by glass fibers, iii) HSC lightly confined (i.e. f _lu,a/f' _co ≤ 0.3) by carbon fibers, and iv) HSC lightly confined by aramid fibers develops a low and moderate reliability. It is suggested additional experimental studies are required on these parts of the database before they can be used confidently for design and modeling purposes.