Open Access

ARTICLE

Safety Evaluation of Concrete Structures Based on a Novel Energy Criterion

Qiang Tong¹, Qingwen Ren^{1, *}, Lei Shen ², Linfei Zhang ², Yin Yang³

1 College of Mechanics and Materials, Hohai University, Nanjing, PR China
2 College of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, PR China.
3 JiangSu Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanjing, PR China.

*Corresponding author: Qingwen Ren. Email: .

Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences 2018, 114(1), 33-58. https://doi.org/10.3970/cmes.2018.114.033

Abstract

In this article, the post-peak softening stage of the constitutive relation and the elastic stiffness degradation of concrete are investigated, and a highly reasonable constitutive relation curve is proposed. At the material level, the energy change in the concrete failure process is studied based on the different stress-strain curves of concrete under uniaxial tension and compression. The concrete failure criterion based on elastic strain energy density is deemed suitable and consistent with the experimental phenomena. The hysteresis phenomenon (lags behind the peak strength) is also discussed. At the structure level, the strength reduction method is employed for the stability analysis, the energy change in the failure process of the Long Xi-Kou Dam is examined, and the results show that the dam failure criterion based on elastic strain energy shows a greater significance in practical applications compared with other conventional structural failure criteria in engineering. This criterion is objective and can avoid subjective arbitrariness.

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Keywords

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