Implementation of a tension-stiffening model for the cracking nonlinear analysis of reinforced concrete elements in XC
Post date: Oct 9, 2016 8:18:59 AM
The development of a smeared-crack model offers a general crack-modeling method that is independent of the structural configuration. It treats cracking as a constitutive material behaviour rather than a geometric discontinuity and lends itself well to implementation in large finite element codes. This paper deals with the implementation in XC of a constitutive model for reinforced concrete elements that takes into account the increase in stiffness of a cracked member due to the development of tensile stresses in the concrete between the cracks, effect known as tension-stiffening. The nonlinear analysis in XC of fiber-like sections with this constitutive model allows for a more general, direct and intuitive evaluation of the crack amplitude than applying the mostly specific formulae developed in the standards. The numerical results obtained by the program compare extremely well with existing designing results issued by other applied methods.