Numerical Simulation of Reinforced Concrete Structures Using a Multiphase Approach and a Plasticity-Based Smeared Crack Model

Abstract

Assessing the global behavior of reinforced materials from the individual properties of their components has been the subject of a considerable amount of experimental and theoretical works in the last years. The so-called multiphase model is an alternative generalization of the homogenization method and it relies upon the idea that, at the macroscopic scale, the reinforced concrete is a geometrical superposition of the matrix phase (concrete) and the reinforcing phase (steel bars). The constitutive equations for the homogenized reinforced concrete structures are formulated and the corresponding numerical implementation is described. Considering the particular case of concrete structures, Figueiredo et al. (2009) analyzed the mechanical behavior of reinforced concrete flat slabs under prescribed loading using an elastoplastic multiphase model. The present contribution extends the previous numerical code to account for concrete cracking by implementing the smeared crack model presented by Hinton (1988). As expected, the numerical implementation with multiphase approach leads to a significantly reduced computational time with respect to a direct numerical simulation in which the steel bars are treated as individual structural elements embedded in the concrete matrix. (FIGUEIREDO et al., Elastoplastic multiphase model for reinforced concrete flat slabs, In: XXX CILAMCE, 2009; HINTON, E., umerical methods and software for dynamic analysis of plates and shells, 1988).