International Concrete Abstracts Portal

SP-237CD This CD-ROM is a collection of 19 papers presented at a workshop sponsored by Joint ACI-ASCE Committee 447, Finite Element Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Structures, and JCI Committee 016SP, in Maui, Hawaii, USA, in November 2003. A broad range of topics was addressed, including the creation of new experimental data sets for use in developing, calibrating, and validating models; the development and validation of plain, reinforced, and fiber-reinforced concrete constitutive models; new approaches to simulating the response of reinforced concrete continua; new element formations to enable improved simulation of component response; and new computational techniques.

Over the past years techniques for non-linear analysis have been enhanced significantly via improved solution procedures, extended finite element techniques and increased robustness of constitutive models. Nevertheless, problems remain, especially for real world structures of softening materials like concrete. The softening gives negative stiffness and risk of bifurcations due to multiple cracks that compete to survive. Incremental-iterative techniques have difficulties in selecting and handling the local peaks and snap-backs. In this contribution, an alternative method is proposed. The softening diagram of negative slope is replaced by a saw-tooth diagram of positive slopes. The incremental-iterative Newton method is replaced by a series of linear analyses using a special scaling technique with subsequent stiffness/strength reduction per critical element. It is shown that this event-by-event strategy is robust and reliable. First, the example of a large-scale dog-bone specimen in direct tension is analyzed using an isotropic version of the saw-tooth model. The model is capable of automatically providing the snap-back response. Next, the saw-tooth model is extended to include anisotropy for fixed crack directions to accommodate both tensile cracking and compression strut action for reinforced concrete. Three different reinforced concrete structures are analyzed, a tension-pull specimen, a slender beam and a slab. In all cases, the model naturally provides the local peaks and snap-backs associated with the subsequent development of primary cracks starting from the rebar. The secant saw-tooth stiffness is always positive and the analysis always ‘converges’. Bifurcations are prevented due to the scaling technique.

Numerical analyses of reinforced concrete (RC) members using discrete approaches, called spring network models, are presented. RC members under certain conditions exhibit brittle failure with strain localization under shear failure. To distinguish this failure mode from ordinary shear failure, which is less brittle and results in a more distributed strain field, this failure mode is called a sliding shear failure. The mechanisms of sliding shear failure are not well defined. Since the spring network model is one of the discrete-type approaches that are well suited to problems where material discontinuities are dominant, the results of numerical analysis are used to improve understanding of sliding shear failure. The model is validated through comparison of simulated and observed response for RC beams that exhibit ordinary shear failure and RC panels subjected to pure shear forces that exhibit sliding shear failure. A parameter study is then performed using the proposed model.

Analytical studies for the biaxial behavior of RC columns with square cross section subjected to earthquake ground motion are presented. The objective of this study is to estimate the effect of biaxial bending on RC columns. This study extends an existing 2D lattice model to three dimensions. The 3D lattice model can offer reasonable prediction of the shear-carrying capacity of RC members. By comparing analytical results with the experimental results of shaking table tests on two RC columns, it has been confirmed that the 3D lattice-model analysis can reasonably predict the biaxial behavior of RC columns subjected to the bilateral ground motion. In addition, it is found that analysis considering the buckling of reinforcement can accurately predict the seismic response and energy dissipation capacity of RC columns.

Irregular lattice models are developed as an alternative means for failure analyses of RC structures. The paper describes fundamental aspects of the model and comments on its use in promoting the iterative design of RC structures. Simulation results are provided for RC structures under quasi-static, monotonic loading. In particular, results are given for the incremental lateral load analysis of a 1/3 scale model of a lightly reinforced shear wall structure. Preliminary work on extending the model to accommodate dynamic loading is described.