Aplicação do método de elementos finitos semi-embutidos na simulação de vigas de concreto armado

The most widely used techniques to perform analysis of reinforced concrete using finite elements are the discrete, the smeared and the embedded methods (Kwak & Filippou, 1990). In the discrete method, the mesh generation process is complex since it is required that reinforcing elements were located at the edges of solid elements. The distributed method is just appropriate in the simulation of concrete members with regular distributions of reinforcement. The third method, the embedded, allows bar elements pass through the solid elements but it is not possible to describe the behavior of the steel-concrete interface, where rupture may happen. The semi-embedded method (Durand & Farias, 2012; Durand, 2008) aims to fulfill certain limitations in the methods described above. This method is very similar to the embedded method since it allows bar elements pass through the solid elements, but also incorporates the behavior of the interface. An advantage of this approach is that it allows simulating the steelconcrete interface including slipping. In this context, this work presents the application of semiembedded method on the study of reinforced concrete beams. First, this work studies the stress and strain fields and the deflection in reinforced concrete beams. Later, it is performed the finite element analysis of three beams that were studied experimentally by other authors. The numerical results were compared with the experimental ones for the three cases. For the numerical simulations the program FEMLAB, written in the Julia programming language, was used. For the elastic analyses using the semi-embedded methodology, the results using the semi-embedded method were in excellent agreement with the ones obtained by the discrete approach. For the elastic-plastic analyses applied to the experimental beams, the semiembedded method presented force-deflection diagrams very close to the experimental data up to 50% of the applied load.