Nominal Cover Thickness Design of RC Quantitatively Considering Environment Condition by Means of Fuzzy Inference System

Abstract

This article involves designing the Nominal cover thickness by means of fuzzy inference system(FIS) for quantitatively representing the environment load coefficient to reinforced concrete in corrosive environment. In this work, several variables defining the quality of concrete and environment condition, viz. environment load coefficient(ELC), were treated as fuzzy variables. To qualify ELC the environment conditions of cycle degree of wet-dry, relative humidity, distance from coast and temperature were used as input variables. To determine the Nominal cover thickness a qualified ELC, concrete grade, and water-cement ratio were used. The membership functions of each fuzzy variable were generated from the engineering knowledge based on some references as well as some international codes of practice. The restraining conditions of this work are as follows; 1. The knowledge bases for generating the rule base of fuzzy inference system are derived just from some references as well as BS 8110 and BS EN 206–1/BS 8500. 2. The procedure of this study is applicable only to the corrosive environments. 3. It is limited to the cover to reinforcement for normal building structures with an intended service life of at least 50 years. © 2004, Architectural Institute of Japan. All rights reserved.