The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Finite Element Study of Reinforced Concrete Beams with Diagonal Tension Cracks

Ngo, De; Franklin, H. A.; Scordelis, Alex C.

UCB/SESM-1970/19, Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 1970-12, 96 pages (500/C23/70/19)

Reinforced concrete beams with varying amounts of cracking are analyzed by a finite element method. Progression of the diagonal crack is simulated and the analysis offers information concerning the state of the stresses at various cracking stages. The disturbance of the diagonal crack is found to be quite localized and the stresses have a very similar pattern at the early stage of cracking for beams with and without web reinforcement. Stress distributions for the two beams differ more and more as the diagonal crack progresses. It is found that the web reinforcement has the additional benefit of limiting the principal tensile stress in the concrete in the vicinity of the crack to a constant maximum level. Two zones in which the web reinforcment are essentially ineffective are shown to exist. For the beams analyzed, the aggregate interlock tends to increase, rather than decrease, the dowel shear.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/SEMM/SEMM-70-19.pdf (7 MB)