NONLINEAR ANALYSIS OF CFRP- PRESTRESSED CONCRETE BEAMS SUBJECTED TO INCREMENTAL STATIC LOADING BY FINITE ELEMENTS

Abstract

In this work a program is developed to carry out the nonlinear analysis (material nonlinearity) of prestressed concrete beams using tendons of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) instead of steel. The properties of this material include high strength, light weight, and insusceptibility to corrosion and magnetism. This material is still under investigation, therefore it needs continuous work to make it beneficial in concrete design. Four beams which are tested experimentally by Yan et al. are examined by the developed computer program to reach a certain analytical approach of the design and analysis of such beams because there is no available restrictions or recommendations covering this material in the codes. The program uses the finite element analysis by dividing the beams into isoparametric 20-noded brick elements. The results obtained are good in comparison with experimental results.

Keywords

• FRP tendons, Prestressed concrete, Finite elements, Nonlinear materials.