M. U. Hanif, Z. Ibrahim, K. Ghaedi, A. Javanmardi and S.K.

Rehman
University of Malaya, Malaysia
 A concrete damage model has been incorporated in finite element code ABAQUS
as concrete damaged plasticity model to examine the sensitivity of the damage, as
ABAQUS has the model that is capable of stiffness degradation in cracking which is
the basis of fracture mechanics. Nonlinear constitutive relationships for concrete
and steel have been incorporated in the model. The static and dynamic response of
the structure at 10 different damage levels is studied and the sensitivity of the
damage model towards the presence of non-linearity has been discussed.
 Concrete is a very unique material. It exhibits strength in compression and is weak
in tension. Reinforced concrete is a composite in which concrete tackles the
compression and the reinforcement cater for the tension.
 Modeling of reinforced concrete is a complex process. The detailed modeling may
lead to accuracy but may make it computation intensive and vice versa. However,
incorporating an accurate model in damage detection is the foundation of the SHM
applications. Most of the damage detecting scenarios in the concrete assume the
linear i.e. the structure is assumed to behave linearly after the damage. In contrast
to this, the structures exhibit nonlinear behavior due to presence of micro cracks.
 A tensile constitutive relation was used to model cracked concrete. The model is
capable of representing the realistic crack behavior of concrete and was used
recently for damage modeling RC beams.
 The compressive model used in this study translates stress-strain behavior of
concrete in agreement with most of the models. The focus of this study will shift
towards tensile concrete modeling, so a convenient compressive model is chosen
for the ease of this study. Commercial finite element software ABAQUS was used for
modeling the RC beam. The model used for compressive strength of concrete is the
concrete damage plasticity model (CDPM). The compressive constitutive relations
were incorporated in CDPM as:
 𝜀 1
𝑓𝑐 𝛽 𝛽=
= 𝜀′𝑐 𝑓′𝑐
𝑓′𝑐 𝜀 𝛽 1− ′
𝛽−1+ ′ 𝜀 𝑐 ∗ 𝜀𝑖𝑡
𝜀𝑐

′ ′ −5
24.92 𝑓′𝑐
𝜀 𝑐 = 0.71𝑓 𝑐 + 168 ∗ 10 𝐸𝑖𝑡 = + 0.92 ∗ ′
𝑓′𝑐 𝜀𝑐

Where,
fc= compressive strength of concrete
f’c= concrete cylinder compressive strength @ 28days
ε=the concrete strain
ε’c=strain at peak stress
 Some brief details of the material properties are given in Table 1 and 2.
 The bond between concrete and reinforcing steel was kept a perfect bond i.e. the
deformations in steel and concrete were the same at interface. It was achieved by
using constraint as embedded region to embed steel in the concrete part. The
support conditions were kept simply supported (vertical and horizontal restraint on
nodes on left support and vertical restraint on the right support). There was no
accumulation of stresses at the supports and the fundamental modal frequency was
in agreement with the reference model.
Flow chart for analyzing the concrete model
Static Response

Mises stresses in reinforcement at 90% damage level

Load deflection behavior up to 60% load
Dynamic Response
 The response of the beam was recorded against a harmonic excitation of 30Hz. The
modal frequencies for first five bending modes were also recorded with the
increase of damage load. The natural frequencies reduced with the increase of
damage. The frequencies were normalize and their behavior is shown below.
Cracking Pattern
The cracks started forming at around 30% of the maximum load. The current model
somewhat follows the similar constitutive model (fictitious crack model) which was
experimentally proven in another experiment. The advantage of this model of beam
is that it is capable of producing realistic crack formation. The flexural cracks in the
shear span start getting inclined after 40% of the failure load.
 The commonly incorporated natural frequency determination procedure was
incorporated in reproducing the nonlinear behavior through the formation of
super-harmonics in cracked RC beam. The incremental damage was applied in
identifying natural frequencies. Based on the study, the following conclusions can
be drawn:
 The currently proposed simulation technique is an effort in assisting practicing engineers
and consultants to use at-hand software packages to conveniently model the damage in
existing structures
 Concrete damaged plasticity model is capable of predicting formation of cracks in
concrete beams against any kinds of loads.
 Currently the built-in concrete damaged plasticity model is not sensitive to damage using
linear vibration techniques.
 With all being said, the concrete damaged plasticity is a versatile tool for modeling
RC structures and careful choice of solution procedures for dynamic analysis can
lead to accurate modeling of concrete using a few laboratory test results of the
materials