Spline Nonparametric Regression Analysis of Stress-Strain Curve of Confined Concrete

Due to enormous uncertainties in confinement models associated with the maximum compressive strength and ductility of concrete confined by rectilinear ties, the implementation of spline nonparametric regression analysis is proposed herein as an alternative approach. The statistical evaluation is carried out based on 128 large-scale column specimens of either normal-or high-strength concrete tested under uniaxial compression. The main advantage of this kind of analysis is that it can be applied when the trend of relation between predictor and response variables are not obvious. The error in the analysis can, therefore, be minimized so that it does not depend on the assumption of a particular shape of the curve. This provides higher flexibility in the application. The results of the statistical analysis indicates that the stress-strain curves of confined concrete obtained from the spline nonparametric regression analysis proves to be in good agreement with the experimental curves available in literatures