Numerical analysis of prestressed concrete beams using a coupled element free Galerkin/finite element approach

The topic of this paper is the analysis of prestressed concrete beams under quasistatic loading. Therefore, a coupled element free Galerkin finite element approach is chosen. The concrete is modeled with particles and the reinforcement with beam elements. For the steel, an elastoplastic constitutive law with isotropic hardening and a tension cutoff is applied. The concrete is modeled via a continuum damage model, where an anisotropic tensile damage variable is used to capture the appropriate behavior of concrete in tension. Since the interaction between the concrete and the reinforcement is crucial, the bond behavior cannot be ignored. The relative displacements between the reinforcement and the adjacent concrete particles are calculated. The resulting bond forces tangential and normal to the reinforcement are applied onto the elements and the adjacent concrete particles. The numerical results are compared with two experiments with different failure mechanisms and agree well. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.