ROBUSTNESS OF REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES BASIS OF ASSESSMENT

Recent developments in high-performance concrete and construction technologies facilitate design of complex structures that may be vulnerable to unfavourable effects of extreme events. Failures of structures exposed to such events may hardly be prevented. However, for sufficiently robust structures, failure consequences can be significantly reduced. The paper attempts to provide summary of present achievements in the assessment of structural robustness. It appears that structural robustness can become a key concept in design of innovative concrete structures, but quantification and methods for assessment of robustness are not yet sufficiently unified.