Structural reinforced concrete (RC) experiences cyclic loads during their service life, and in practice, the load amplitude can always change, which will lead to a mixed high and low-cycle fatigue failure. This paper aims to investigate the fatigue behaviors of RC beams under different load levels and more importantly, their sequential effects. Based on the path-dependent constitutive models, the structural degradation under different repeated loads are comprehensively investigated by numerical simulation of higher consistency with the reality. It is fairly indicated that a clear bi-linear character may exist in the socalled S-N diagram, of which the high-cycle fatigue failure is attributed to rupture of main reinforcement under tension, while the low-cycle fatigue failure is controlled by the concrete failure in flexural compression zone. A simple design method to consider mixed low and high cycle fatigue is proposed to quantify this bi-linear character. For the varying amplitude of cyclic loads, the high-to-low loading sequence may cause a shortened fatigue life. More interestingly, if a rather high heavy load (0.85 or 0.95 of the static capacity) is applied just once before ordinary fatigue loads (ex. 0.6), the deflection may significantly increase, while the stiffness and final fatigue life would be slightly reduced in view of nonlinear mechanics.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2025 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.