Bending tests on reinforced concrete beams: numerical modelling using a second gradient theory

Gwendal Jouan (1, 2) , Frédéric Collin (2) , Panagiotis Kotronis (1)

1 GeM - Institut de Recherche en Génie Civil et Mécanique
2 GEOMAC - Département des Géoressources, Géotechnologies et Matériaux de construction

Being a quasi-brittle material, concrete exhibits a strain softening behavior that cannot be reproduced with classical continuum mechanics models. To regularize the problem, an internal length should be introduced. Several ways to do so have been proposed in the literature. One way is the so called local second gradient model. It is a local theory as it introduces the internal length by enriching the kinematical description of the continuum, adding higher order gradients of the displacement according to the work of Cosserat [1], Toupin [2], Mindlin [3] and Germain [4,5]. The model has been developed by Chambon et al. [6,7] and has this far been used mainly to reproduce the behavior of soils. It is here applied to two bending tests of reinforced concrete beams.

Mots clés: Second Gradient Theory; Crack; Reinforced Concrete; Damage

Domaines: Mécanique [physics.med-ph]; Matériaux

Gwendal Jouan, Frédéric Collin, Panagiotis Kotronis. Bending tests on reinforced concrete beams: numerical modelling using a second gradient theory. FRaMCoS-8, VIII International Conference on Fracture Mechanics of Concrete and Concrete Structures, Mar 2013, Toledo, Spain. pp.282-290. ⟨hal-01007940⟩