A NONLINEAR 3-DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS OF REINFORCED-CONCRETE BASED ON A BOUNDING SURFACE MODEL

The present work addresses the problem of the formulation of an accurate yet efficient finite element procedure for the nonlinear analysis of general three-dimensional reinforced concrete structures. The main objectives of the research are: (1) the extension and recalibration of an existing bounding surface model for the behavior of concrete in cyclic compression; (2) the development of a complete constitutive relation for reinforced concrete by combining the bounding surface model with numerical procedures for the modeling of crack propagation, tension stiffening and steel reinforcement interaction effects; and (3) the implementation of the constitutive model in a three-dimensional isoparametric eight-node element. The accuracy of the proposed model is successfully demonstrated by detailed analyses of a deep beam and a prestressed concrete reactor vessel.