Damage Detection in Reinforced Concrete Berthing Jetty Using a Plasticity Model Approach

A conventional method of damage modeling by a reduction in stiffness is insufficient to model the complex non-linear damage characteristics of concrete material accurately. In this research, the concrete damage plasticity constitutive model is used to develop the numerical model of a deck beam on a berthing jetty in the Abaqus finite element package. The model constitutes a solid section of 3D hexahedral brick elements for concrete material embedded with 2D quadrilateral surface elements as reinforcements. The model was validated against experimental results of a beam of comparable dimensions in a cited literature. The validated beam model is then used in a three-point load test configuration to demonstrate its applicability for preliminary numerical evaluation of damage detection strategy in marine concrete structural health monitoring. The natural frequency was identified to detect the presence of damage and mode shape curvature was found sensitive to the location of damage.