A PRACTICAL MULTISCALE RESPONSE SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS METHOD FOR REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES

This paper extends a practical multiscale response sensitivity analysis (MSRSA) method to study the sensitivities of nonlinear reinforced concrete (RC) structures. The MSRSA method is based on an efficient and accurate method, the direct differentiation method, and was used for concrete material. For RC structures, the concrete and steel are simulated with the mesoscopic discrete element (DE) model and macroscopic finite element (FE) plasticity material model, respectively. The MSRSA is enhanced to link the varying scale response sensitivities calculated by the DE and FE models. In using this approach, not only can the macro-and mesoscopic concrete damage behaviors be captured in detail, but also the effects of parameters at different scales on them can be studied efficiently. A simply supported RC beam subject to a vertical concentrated load at the mid-span is used to study the relative sensitivities of both macro and mesoscopic material parameters on the multiscale responses, thus providing interesting and valuable references to the engineering practice.