Prediction of Distributed Discrete Concrete Cracking in RC Analysis

Abstract

The approach presented in this paper is considered a viable alternative for the prediction of distributed discrete concrete cracking. Cracks are confined to the edges of elements of the mesh. Different crack‐initiation criteria are used for concrete and concrete‐steel interfaces. A discontinuous linear relation between crack width and tensile stress is proposed. Link elements are installed to connect the faces of a crack. The tensile stress associated with the crack is integrated along crack faces to obtain equivalent nodal forces. These nodal forces are then used to evaluate the stiffness of the link elements. The procedure is automated for iterative analysis. Crack‐width control and fracture‐energy control are proposed as auxiliary solution constraints to deal with convergence problems. Identification and treatment of mechanisms is proposed to avoid mechanism singularities in the solution process. An example application demonstrates the capability of the approach to predict the pattern of progression of dominant cracks, the interface behavior, and the correlation between these and specimen behavior.