The nonlinear behavior of concrete when loaded monotonically through a quasi-static loading process is associated to the nucleation and growth of micro-pores and micro-cracks in small regions. This lo- calized degradation of the mechanical properties culminates in material failure in…
The nonlinear behavior of concrete when loaded monotonically through a quasi-static loading process is associated to the nucleation and growth of micro-pores and micro-cracks in small regions. This lo- calized degradation of the mechanical properties culminates in material failure in form of strong discontinuity (discontinuity of the displacement field) or crack. One of the greatest efforts of the last decades in the field of the computational mechanics corresponds to the development of efficient and robust strategies to simulate discontinuities formation and propagation using the Finite Element Method. In the smeared crack models, the strong discontinuity associated to the crack is spread throughout the finite element. As well known, the conti- nuity of the displacement field assumed for these models is not compatible with the real discontinuity. De- spite this, this type of models has been extensively used due to its relative computational simplicity provided by treating cracks using a continuum framework, as well as due to the reported good predictions of the struc- tural behavior of reinforced concrete members. On the other hand, the embedded crack model is able to de- scribe the effects of real discontinuities (cracks), by enriching the displacement field in the interior of each fi- nite element crossed by the crack paths. This paper presents a comparative study between the abilities of these two models to predict the mechanical behavior of reinforced concrete beams. Structural responses, crack pat- terns, rebars and concrete stresses, predicted by both models are compared with experimental results from lit- erature.