Segmental Elements for the Non-Linear Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Frames

Abstract

-Predicting the behavior of reinforced concrete structures subjected to loads exceeding the service range is highly complex mainly due to cracking, material nonlinearity an the composite nature of concrete. In the case of cracking, current design procedures established in the standards suggest the use of a set of factors that arbitrarily reduce the stiffness of the members, trying to give a conservative estimation of the story drift against seismic loads. Regarding service loads, effective inertia approaches have been successfully used for elements in flexure, but application of these methodologies to more complex systems is not straightforward. This study presents the use of segmental elements as an alternative methodology for the non-linear analysis of reinforced concrete frames at a low computational cost, which can be easily implemented within the day-to-day structural design. Results comparison is made with data from experimental tests and with non-linear analysis using finite element software. Load vs. displacement curves obtained show excellent agreement between the segmental element method and the other methodologies.