Assessing behaviour of pre-stressed concrete structures in a context of temperature variation is a major of concern when dealing with a scenario of accident in a nuclear power plant, or of storage of exothermic nuclear wastes in underground concrete tunnels.…
Assessing behaviour of pre-stressed concrete structures in a context of temperature variation is a major of concern when dealing with a scenario of accident in a nuclear power plant, or of storage of exothermic nuclear wastes in underground concrete tunnels. In order to improve the reliability of finite element models usable for such applications, several experimental programs [1,2] and a numerical model [3,4] were carried out in LMDC Toulouse. Among the experiments, some concrete cylinders and pre-stressed concrete beams submitted to creep at 20°C and 40°C were studied [2] and the provided results used to calibrate or improve the model. The numerical model combines non-linear visco-elasticity, plasticity and anisotropic damage in a poro-mechanics context. The model is able to consider benefits and deleterious effects of capillary pressures associated with temperature and water saturation variations. The paper focuses on the numerical implementation of the non-linear visco-elastic behaviour of concrete [4] and of pre-stressed wires [5], and on the model's applications to concrete specimens studied in the temperature range from 20°C to 40°C. 1 10th International Conference on Fracture Mechanics of Concrete and Concrete Structures FraMCoS-X G. Pijaudier-Cabot, P. Grassl and C.