Browsing by Subject "Sample size"
Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Adaptive Reliability Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Bridges Using Nondestructive Testing(2011-08-08) Huang, QindanThere has been increasing interest in evaluating the performance of existing reinforced concrete (RC) bridges just after natural disasters or man-made events especially when the defects are invisible, or in quantifying the improvement after rehabilitations. In order to obtain an accurate assessment of the reliability of a RC bridge, it is critical to incorporate information about its current structural properties, which reflects the possible aging and deterioration. This dissertation proposes to develop an adaptive reliability analysis of RC bridges incorporating the damage detection information obtained from nondestructive testing (NDT). In this study, seismic fragility is used to describe the reliability of a structure withstanding future seismic demand. It is defined as the conditional probability that a seismic demand quantity attains or exceeds a specified capacity level for given values of earthquake intensity. The dissertation first develops a probabilistic capacity model for RC columns and the capacity model can be used when the flexural stiffness decays nonuniformly over a column height. Then, a general methodology to construct probabilistic seismic demand models for RC highway bridges with one single-column bent is presented. Next, a combination of global and local NDT methods is proposed to identify in-place structural properties. The global NDT uses the dynamic responses of a structure to assess its global/equivalent structural properties and detect potential damage locations. The local NDT uses local measurements to identify the local characteristics of the structure. Measurement and modeling errors are considered in the application of the NDT methods and the analysis of the NDT data. Then, the information obtained from NDT is used in the probabilistic capacity and demand models to estimate the seismic fragility of the bridge. As an illustration, the proposed probabilistic framework is applied to a reinforced concrete bridge with a one-column bent. The result of the illustration shows that the proposed framework can successfully provide the up-to-date structural properties and accurate fragility estimates.Item Introduction to power and sample size in multilevel models(2012-05) Venkatesan, Harini; Beretvas, Susan NatashaIn this report we give a brief introduction to the multilevel models, provide a brief summary of the need for using the multilevel model, discuss the assumptions underlying use of multilevel models, and present by means of example the necessary steps involved in model building. This introduction is followed by a discussion of power and sample size determination in multilevel designs. Some formulae are discussed to provide insight into the design aspects that are most influential in terms of power and calculation of standard errors. Finally we conclude by discussing and reviewing the simulation study performed by Maas and Hox (2005) about the influence of different sample sizes at individual as well as group level on the accuracy of the estimates (regression coefficients and variances) and their standard errors.Item Sufficient sample sizes for the multivariate multilevel regression model(2015-05) Chang, Wanchen; Beretvas, Susan Natasha; Pituch, Keenan A.; Hersh, Matt; Powers, Daniel; Whittaker, TiffanyThe three-level multivariate multilevel model (MVMM) is a multivariate extension of the conventional univariate two-level hierarchical linear model (HLM) and is used for estimating and testing the effects of explanatory variables on a set of correlated continuous outcome measures. Two simulation studies were conducted to investigate the sample size requirements for restricted maximum likelihood (REML) estimation of three-level MVMMs, the effects of sample sizes and other design characteristics on estimation, and the performance of the MVMMs compared to corresponding two-level HLMs. The model for the first study was a random-intercept MVMM, and the model for the second study was a fully-conditional MVMM. Study conditions included number of clusters, cluster size, intraclass correlation coefficient, number of outcomes, and correlations between pairs of outcomes. The accuracy and precision of estimates were assessed with parameter bias, relative parameter bias, relative standard error bias, and 95% confidence interval coverage. Empirical power and type I error rates were also calculated. Implications of the results for applied researchers and suggestions for future methodological studies are discussed.