Propagation of a cohesive crack through adherent reinforcement layers

Explicit finite element modeling of static crack propagation in reinforced concrete

“…The models developed to study this problem (Bosco and Carpinteri 1992a, b;Baluch et al 1992;Hawkins R.C. Yu (B) · G. Ruiz ETSI de Caminos, C. y P., Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain e-mail: rena@uclm.es and Hjoresetet 1992; Hededal and Kroon 1991;Gerstle et al 1992;Massabó 1994;Ulfkjaer et al 1994;Fantilli et al 1999;Ozbolt and Brukner 1999;Brincker et al 1999;Ruiz et al 1999Ruiz, 2001 focus on the example of a crack that propagates through a reinforcement layer and that, at opening, causes the steel bars to be pulled-out. The main difficulty consists in modeling the propagation of the crack through the reinforcement layer, as such a layer-in 2D models-constitutes a discontinuity that stops the crack advance.…”

“…Concrete continuity allowed crack propagation through the reinforcement and interface elements transmitted shear stresses depending on the relative displacement between the two materials. However, their numerical model was not able to reproduce micro-cracking and/or damage around the main crack (Arbilla 2000;Ruiz 2001) and along the steel-concrete interface (Ben Romdhane and Ulm 2002).…”

Double brittle‐to‐ductile transition in bending of fibre reinforced concrete beams with rebars

“…The influence of this mechanism into the global behaviour of the models when simulating experimental results is not clear yet. As an example, Ruiz [10] found that the bondslip taking place between the concrete and the reinforcement plays a central role in determining the peak load, but this results has been verified for lightly reinforced beams. When compared to the experimental results reported in Reference [11] a good agreement is found for very low reinforcement percentages, below the minimum fixed by design codes for structural members.…”

“…When compared to the experimental results reported in Reference [11] a good agreement is found for very low reinforcement percentages, below the minimum fixed by design codes for structural members. When the reinforcement percentage increases, the load-displacement curve differs significantly, see Figure 11a in Reference [10]. In this light the way the force is transferred from the bars to the matrix appears having a role in determining the minimum reinforcement of a beam, but maybe not in the general case.…”

“…The problem has been addressed in literature by several authors with different approaches, like finite element numerical analyses started by Hillerborg et al [7], linear elastic fracture mechanics models [8], cohesive crack models [9,10]. One of the main differences between the different models is the way the steel bar reinforcement transfers the stresses to the concrete matrix.…”