Proceedings of the 11th WSEAS International Conference on Sustainability in Science Engineering

Non-linear Behaviour in Advanced Analysis of Reinforced Concrete.

DAN-VASILE BOMPA, TRAIAN ONE
Concrete and Steel Structures Department.
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
400020 Cluj-Napoca, Daicoviciu 15
ROMANIA
bompadan@gmail.com, traianonet@gmail.com

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to raid upon the recent works related to nonlinear modelling concepts
for concrete structures. Concrete is known to be a inherently inhomogenous material both at ultimate limit
states and serviceability one. Its behaviour is extremely complex in compression and tension. It has been
shown that the local effects such as: size effects, tension softening, tension hardening, tension stiffening,
bond-slip, concrete confinement, creep, among many others, have a substantially impact in over-all structure
behaviour. This is reason why a non-linear analysis must be performed. The recent works firmly related to
the computational development improved the classic modelling methods. Combined principles of plasticity,
fracture mechanics and damage brought a new direction in the research field developing methods like: the
extended finite element (XFEM), boundary element, smoothed FE, mesh-free method, microplane model,
mesoscale model and others.
Keywords: advanced non-linear analysis, reinforced concrete, plasticity, fracture mechanics, finite element
method.

2. Nonlinear behaviour of reinforced

concrete using finite element method.

1. Introduction
Structural reinforced concrete members are made of
two materials with distinctive behaviour, more
precisely, concrete and steel. Concrete is a weak in
tension and is not capable to carry high stresses. On
account of these phenomena, the non-linear
concrete answer can be coarsely divided in a range
of three characteristic segments of behaviour:
uncracked concrete in elastic stage, crack growth
and plasticity (concrete crushing and steel yielding).
Concrete's post-peak behaviour is strongly related
to tensile strength, anchorage length of steel bars,
concrete cover. All these aspects are connected to
bond and bond-slip mechanism. Over the past
decades studies were oriented to different direction
such as implementing models for tension softening
or tension stiffening, bond-slip laws etc. Nowadays
the direction is to combine all known principles,
plasticity, fracture mechanics or damage, for the
reason to achieve the most precise results using the
advanced analysis. Depending on the type of
member or structural system tested the most
appropriate method should be used. For example:
the classical or the extended finite element method,
the boundary element method, the new version of
smoothed finite element method or coupled models.
Another direction of advanced analysis for
reinforced structures, with stunning advancement in
the past two decades, is the microplane model. An
overview of the last developments in this matter are
presented in this paper.
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Advanced analysis is mainly performed to achieve

close results to reality. In order to find the behaviour
of reinforced concrete structures at serviciability
and ultimate limit state it is necessary that an
accurate modelling of concrete, reinforcement and
bond between the elements, must be made. The
constitutive models for these materials can be used
to identify local and global safety levels.
One option for modelling nonlinear concrete
members is to use a lumped plasticity model, where
non-linear zero springs, connected either in parallel
or series, are placed at critical points. The springs
connected by linear elastic elements. In distributed
models, material nonlinearity can take place at any
element section and its behaviour is derived by a
weighted integration of the section response. The
models are developed on classical theories of EulerBernoulli and Timoshenko in displacement-based
and force-based formulations. Sectional analysis
can be performed using strut-and-tie modelling or
fibre analysis. Compatibility in fibre analysis is
achieved through Bernoulli`s principle. The
equilibrium is obtained by integrating stresses at
any given section and equating them to the required
sectional forces. Strut-and-tie modelling is efficient
in discontinuity regions where plane sections are do
not remain plane and strains are linear, transverse
strains cannot be neglected. STM method uses a
lower bound solution. Opposite to this method fibre
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analysis can not capture the real strength of the

sections because the initial hypothesis are violated.
These models are applicable both for frame
structures and shells and 3D solid structure. The
basic theories of the models concisely
aforementioned are combined with particular
aspects of the behaviour of reinforced concrete to
gain a better and most accurate post-peak response
in comparison to reality.

2.2 Concrete in tension

The most important aspect of concrete is cracking.
Using classical elastic methods to foretell the crack
growth is improper and it is needed that this
nonlinearity to be accounted when computing
stiffness. Several methods for modelling cracks
were developed, the most popular ones are the
discrete crack model and the smeared crack model.
To understand how this model works it is essential
to review the characteristics of post-cracking
response. During crack growth the bridging stresses
decrease. Based on fracture mechanics tension
softening models were elaborated [2]. In case of
reinforced concrete the all tensile forces, that act
between two cracks, are transmitted from the steel
bars to surrounding concrete as plotted in [Fig.1].

2.1 Concrete in compression

A very important aspect when analisying nonlinear
concrete behaviour is that whether or not strains
result as a size effect. Strain localisation occur
when strain-stress behaviour for concrete in
compression when reaches peak level of loading.
The effect substantiate through the increase of
strains and a decrease of stresses. Effect localisation
show that the yelding of a geometry is sizedependent and the the flow of forces through crack
is crack-width dependent. In contradiction to
reinforced concrete, where the reinforcement
stabilizes the behaviour, for plain concrete or
memebers without transverse reinforcement, effect
localisation is a very essential aspect to consider.
Experimental tests on special structural members
confirm the presence of size effects in nonreinforced frexural compression zones. Concrete
can carry high compression stresses when concrete
in confined. On early stages maximum strength and
ductility increase on biaxial compression. In triaxial
compression bond failure between cement paste and
aggregates is reduced, failure takes place crushing
the cement paste. This effect is similar to
confinement. Over the decades different models
which use the strength and ductility enhancement
due to the confinement effect have been
developed[Fig.1]. A similar concept by Collins with
the one presented previous is that of weakening and
softening in compression due to the effects of
transverse tensile strains beyond cracking [1].

Average Zero at crack plane

Stresses in reinforcement
Average

Stresses in concrete

Fig 1. Average stresses in tension stiffening analysis

As noticed there, the average tensile stresses in
concrete are maximum in the macro-cracks
interspace and converge to zero across the crack.
The line stresses for the reinforcement bar is exactly
in the contrary situation. The phenomena is called
tension stiffening [Fig.2, Fig.3]. The most popular
models assume perfect bond. The nodal
displacement of the bar are equal to the
displacement of the concrete. Tension stiffening is
undertaken in two ways. First option is by
modifying reinforced bars stiffness the tensile
stresses are transferred to concrete through bond.
Second alternative by modifying the concrete
member proprieties using the smeared crack model
and the discrete crack model introduced in 1960 by
Ngo and Scordelis and Rashid [3][4]. The objective
of discrete crack modelling is to simulate the
initiation and growth of the major cracks. On the
other hand the smeared crack model assumes that
many small cracks exist within the member and
only at high stages of loading the cracks connect
together and form macrocracks. The degradation
process is
implemented through constitutive
relationships.
Discrete crack approach, in its first form, had some
problems in order of crack propagation. Cracks
propagate close to element boundaries and a new
mesh approach had to be introduced. Galerkin
mesh-free method or Belytschko XFEM enrichment
were combined [5][6].

Kf c'

Confined concrete

50h

0.5Kf c'

0.2Kf c'

Unconfined concrete

0=0.002 50u

50c

20c

Fig.1 Modified Kent and Park model (Scott et. al)

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Average
stress

fy'
fy
fn

Bare bar

overcome the limitations of the linear elastic

fracture mechanics when analysing the reinforced
concrete structures, namely the coexistence of
microcracks due to the shrinkage as a effect or
moisture diffusion and water loss [7][8]. This
microcracks can nucleate being far from the
principal crack branch. Cracks can propagate near
boundaries or along interfaces. All these processes
cannot be captured by classic smeared models.

C'

B
Member reponse

C
Embedded bar

A
A.Stabilized cracking
B. Local yielding
C. Full yielding

c/

2.3 Bond-slip mechanism modelling

Bond plays a significant role in reinforced concrete
elements response and its mechanical behaviour
system. The phenomenon has the duty to transfer
the stresses form the reinforcement bars to
surrounding concrete. Perfect bond can be used
for first stages of analysis when perfect
compatibility for concrete and reinforcement nodes`
displacement can be assumed. After this stages, as
the load is increasing, inevitably bond-slip takes
place due to the occurance of cracks. This affects
the stress transfer between reinforcement and
concrete. By reason of that, different displacement
are observed in the steel and, on the other hand, in
the concrete. At the cracks, local strain of the bar is
many times higher that the average strain (strain
localisation). Bond-slip occurs for two principal
causes: slip due to damage in concrete adjacent to
bars exhibited by cracking and crushing, and slip on
the interface between steel bar and surrounding
concrete. The mechanism manifests in two different
ways: tension stiffening, previous related, and an
increase of flexibility at member ends, due to bar
pull-out at the interface node connection. These
effects are extremely noticeable under hysteretic
loads when bond is lost and high strains and
damages occur. The connection between
reinforcement bar and concrete is considered
perpendicular. When a bar is pulled out, besides the
tangential stresses parallel with the bar direction,
radial stresses normal to the bar direction are
generated. The interaction between these two kind
of stresses appear either directly, due to the shear
stresses from the concrete element in areas close to
reinforcement or indirectly, due to higher bond
stresses caused by larger ribs. Several approaches
were elaborated, a bond law was delivered by
researchers in CEB-FIP Model 90, Bulletin 213/214
[Fig.4] [9].
Starting from the law presented earlier, few models
were developed. Rubiano-Benavide [6] theory
based on lumped plasticity model use rotational
springs at memeber ends to account the flexibility
given by bond-slip mechanism.

Average
strain

Fig 2. Average stressstrain relation of a RC tension

member

c/f t
1
A
B

A.Stabilized cracking
B. Local yielding
C. Full yielding

Full yelding
Average
strain

Fig 3. Average stressstrain relation of concrete

Originally, the method was implemented
by
transmitting the force to the mesh nodes, when this
force reached the tensile strength the node is splited
in two nodes transmitting the force to the next node,
the increment is repeated until the crack stops
growing.
The smeared crack approach is a method based on
fracture mechanics. The cracks appear on the
integration points when the combination of stresses
reach a value equal with the tensile stress. The
model behaves by changing the stiffness and
strength within the region and is implemented using
constitutive relationship (local secant stiffness
matrix) (1).

ns=Dsns (1), where Ds is the stiffness matrix.

When introducing the angle for translation to
from global to local axes, it is possible to relate
strains and stresses to the global xy-system. If
changes continuously, following the direction of the
principal stress, the rotating smeared crack model is
obtained. Opposite to that, angle is fixed at crack
initiation, the method is called fixed smeared crack
model. Cohesive-surface models were developed to
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2 Microplane model

max

This theory is based from 1938 when Taylor, trying

to determine plastic behaviour of polycrystaline
metals, porposed a stress-strain relationship
independently written on various planes in the
material [13]. The assumption was that the stresses
on such a plane are resolved components of the
macroscopic stress tensor, named the static
constraint (Batdorf and Budiansky), or that the
strain components on such a plane are the resolved
components of the macroscopic tensor, called the
kinematic constraint Baant [14]. Over the decades
gradual progress has been achieved through
microplane models, from the early M1 to the most
recent M5. This advancement was implemented
inserting various inelastic behaviours in the model,
namely tensile microcracking, slip, friction, lateral
confinement, splitting, lateral spreading, closing of
pores, etc. These microplanes may be imagined as
the weak planes in the microstructure, tangent
planes of an elemental sphere surrounding every
continuum point: interparticle contact planes,
intarfaces, micro-cracks planes [Fig.6].

f
S1

S3

S2

Fig.4 Bond-slip law by CEB-FIP Model Code 1990

Monti [7] using fibre analysis for reinforced
concrete structures offers a new approach based on
constitutive relation in stresses and stiffness, where
the displacement inside the steel bar is equal to an
sum of equivalent strain of the fibre contianing the
steel bar and the bar strain. [10]
Jendele and Cervenka [11] tested Gustavson and
Lungren [12] model, which is based on a fictious
interface layer. Concrete and reinfocement are
bounded by two different planar interfaces. The
advantage of this approach is that every layer, and
interface, can be represented with established
modelling methods. This approach can model
material dilatancy, debonding, dowel effect and
other effects. The system is modelled using three
finite elements: concrete continuum, reinforcement
bar and bond-slip which introduces a degree of
freedom, called Si [Fig.5]. Using the new DOF,
different displacement of concrete and bare bar
result.

Fig. 6 Microplane model

Concrete elements

In the microplane model, inelastic behaviour of

concrete is implemented using the so called stressstrain boundaries. These boundaries are split in
three parts: volumetric, deviatoric and tangential
part. If the stress passes the boundary, the stress is
dropped at a constant strain to the boundary value.
All the boundaries bear the strain softening
behaviour. Strain components on a microplane are
taken to be the projections of the macroscopic strain
tensor. From which normal and shear components
are computed. The normal component is
decomposed in a volumetric and a deviatoric part to
attain a realistic behaviour of concrete and to
control the initial value of Poisson ration.
The stress and strain of every microplane, e and ,
must be constrained somehow with the
macrocontinuum, eij and ij (i,j Cartesian
coordinates). And this is fullfiled trough a vectorial

Concrete node
bar node

i-1
bar element

Li-1
i-1

Si

i+1

bond element

Li
normal stress in bar

bond stress

Fig. 5 Reinforcement bar with bond embedded in

concrete element

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method for analysis is the Extended Finite Element

Method (XFEM) which combines models of
plasticity, fracture mechanics and damage. In
contradiction to the classical method the new
developed method
presents a very particular
interest since it does not force the discontinuities to
be in conformity with the borders [20]. The extent
consists in developing more accurate algorithms and
models for crack growth. The idea of this method is
to solve the crack near-tip and crack propagation
problems with minimal re-meshing. Since after
every incremental step of calculating discontinuity,
discretization must be performed and the mesh must
be regenerated. Nowadays the computational time is
not a problem, but the mesh re-projection might
have negative impact on results. Several works
managed to overreach these inconveniences. The
method is capable to give a good reponse for
complicated geometries as multiple branched
cracks, voids and cracks emanating from holes in
3D crack growth [21]. A coupled model of XFEM
with LSM (level set method) is able to localise the
crack location, location of crack tips, crack rate
growth, to model the growth of single, planar or 3D
cracks and to solve the elasto-static fatigue crack
problem.
Smoothed Finite Element Method is another
approach of FEM which models elements in
subcells over which the gradients (strains) are
smoothed [22]. The stresses are discontinuous
across the cell, the displacement remains continuous
due to the shape functions. Every subcell plays a
similar role to Gauss points in classic theory. Its
main applicability is for plates and shells. Some
advantages to be mentioned are the possibility to
construct arbitrary polygonal elements, Insensitivity
to mesh distortion, lower computational cost than
FEM.

product with the unit normal vector of the

)j=niij. [15]
microplane ni, (e)j=nieij and (
The formulation of the model in meaning of
vectors, instead tensor formulation, is way clearer,
easier and simpler to formulate. Some advantages
that should be mentioned using this method: the
vector representation can characterize the
deformations and their localization, the vertex effect
exhibited automatically [16], apparent deviations
from normality in the sense of tensorial plastic
models are automatic, since a microplane model for
plasticity is equivalent to a large number of
simultaneously active yield surfaces, for each of
which the normality rule can be satisfied, all the
cross effects as shear dilatancy or pressure
sensitivity are provided, good response for
hysteretic loads, fatigue simulated through residual
stresses computed after every load cycle,
dependence of yield limits to strain components are
easy to account, etc. One of the most important
aspect introduced in this model is anisothropy and
nonlocal discontinuity [17][18]. Latter models, the
new so-called M5, improves the representation of
tensile cohesive fracture by eliminating spurious
excessive lateral strains and stress locking for far
post-peak tensile strains [19]. The M5 is a little
improvement is realized by coupling the
kinematically constrained microplane system which
simulates the hardening non-linear behaviour, with
a statically constrained microplane system which
simulates singly the cohesive tensile fracture.

8. Extended models
It is well known that concrete is a heterogenous
material and the stress-strain relationship is nonlinear. Deformations of structural concrete elements
are influenced by creep and shrinkage, which is a
time-dependent process. Introducing reinforcement
in the concrete the behaviour become more
complex, due to its more accentuated inhomogenity.
Each structural element implies different
complexities. This is the reason why the analysis on
reinforced concrete requires using numerical
methods. Since a single method can not handle all
the problems, coupling occurred. For instance, The
Finite Element Method (FEM), is extremely well
suited for modelling inhomogeneous and
anisotropic media, as well as for dealing with nonlinear behaviour. For systems with infinite
extension and regions of high stress concentration
the use of the Boundary Element Method (BEM) is
more advantageous. Coupling these methods result
smaller and better-conditioned equation systems, a
more stable time-dependent algorithm, possibility to
introduce non-linearity in every loop of the
incremental process [23].
Another advanced

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9. Conclusion
This paper presented a state-of-the-art survey of the
recent
progress
in
advanced
analysis.
Based on the computational advancement in the
past decade many methods have been developed.
The most recent works are capable to come closer
to a realistic response for structural RC elements at
post-critic stage by introducing all the non-linear
aspects accurately in algorithms. Extended and
coupled methods are a correct solution of
engineering problems in complex domains, in
complex states and geometries. These implemented
methods are a perfect tool for preparing
experimental tests and a more convincing method
for designing structures, in comparison with the
classical dimensioning methods. The only matter is
the subjectiveness of the user in choosing the most
right one for his problem.
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Proceedings of the 11th WSEAS International Conference on Sustainability in Science Engineering

34
13. Taylor, G. I., Plastic Strain in Metals, J. Inst.
Metals, V. 62, 1938, pp. 307-324.
14. Batdorf, S. B., and Budianski, B., A
Mathematical Theory of Plasticity Based On the
Concept of Slip, Technical Note No. 1871,
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics,
Washington, D.C., 1949.
15. Baant, Z. P., Chapter 3: Microplane Model for
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17. Z.P. Bazant, G. Di Luzio, Nonlocal microplane
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(2004) 72097240
18. Jin-Keun Kim and Yun Lee, Development of
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