Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Beams by Finite Segment Technique

Abstract

A finite segment numerical model, in the form of a computer program, for tracing the behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) beams from the initial loading stage up to failure is presented. The material nonlinear behavior is taken into account for both the concrete and reinforcing steel assuming perfect bond and linear strain distribution along the cross section. The effect of shear deformation is accounted for, while the torsional deformations and geometric nonlinearity are ignored. The load is applied incrementally and the equilibrium is ensured for every load step iteratively. The validity of the numerical model is established by comparing the predictions from the computer program with the response data acquired from published laboratory testing for several cases of simply supported beams with various dimensions. The comparison showed that the proposed model is suitable for simulating the bending behavior of simple beams (for a wide range of span to depth ratio); provided that an appropriate model for the reinforcing steel is chosen.

Keywords

• nonlinear analysis
• reinforced concrete beam
• shear deformation
• and finite segment method