NONLINEAR FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF REINFORCED AND PRESTRESSED CONCRETE STRUCTURES

This paper contains a survey of research in the field of nonlinear finite element (FE) analysis of reinforced concrete (RC) and prestressed concrete (PC) surface structures and of thick-walled RC structures, carried out at the Institute for Strength of Materials of the Technical University of Vienna. FE analyses of RC and PC structures and the related theoretical developments are critically examined in the context of their relevance for engineering practice. Generally speaking, such analyses appeared to be a significant improvement over classical modes of structural analysis, which were not able to account adequately for several (more or less) important mechanical phenomena. With regards to the anticipated importance of some of these phenomena on the static response of the considered structures, it was found that, in general, relatively simple constitutive models permit reasonably good predictions of the structural response of RC and PC structures up to the ultimate load.