This paper presents a systematic comparison between implicit and explicit solution procedures for simulating the fracture processes in reinforced concrete. Implicit procedures are known to suffer from convergence problems due to negative softening stiffness, bifurcations and snap-backs. Explicit techniques have…
This paper presents a systematic comparison between implicit and explicit solution procedures for simulating the fracture processes in reinforced concrete. Implicit procedures are known to suffer from convergence problems due to negative softening stiffness, bifurcations and snap-backs. Explicit techniques have the potential to overcome those, but examples are rather scarce. In this study a popular total-strain based constitutive crack-crush model has been implementedinanexplicitframeworkandconsistentcomparisonsaremadebetweentheexplicit and implicit solution procedures. Using identical finite element discretization and the same constitutive model, a range of benchmarks tests has been analyzed, including single element tests, a notched beam, a shear panel, and a shear critical RC beam. The results indicate that the explicit procedure could serve as a viable and robust alternative to the implicit approach, particularly in scenarios with highly brittle failure modes. As a side topic, it was found that the rotating format of the smeared crack model may produce over-rotation of cracks towards the direction of the rebars, rather than keeping them orthogonal to the rebars, as compared to a fixed crack format, for both the explicit and implicit approach.