Novel nonlinear stiffness parameters and constitutive curves for concrete

Concrete is highly non-linear material which is originating from the transition zone in the form of micro-cracks, governs material response under various loadings. In this paper, the constitutive models published by many researchers have been used to generate novel stiffness parameters and constitutive curves for concrete. Following such linear material formulations, where the energy is conservative during the curvature, and a nonlinear contribution to the concrete has been made and investigated. In which, nonlinear concrete elastic modulus modeling has been developed that is capable-of representing concrete elasticity for grades ranging from 10 to 140 MPa. Thus, covering the grades range of concrete up to the ultra-high strength concrete, and replacing many concrete models that are valid for narrow ranges of concrete strength grades. This has been followed by the introduction of the nonlinear Hooke's law for the concrete material through the replacement of the Young constant modulus with the nonlinear modulus. In addition, the concept of concrete elasticity index (${\varphi}$) has been proposed and this factor has been introduced to account for the degradation of concrete stiffness in compression under increased loading as well as the multi-stages micro-cracking behavior of concrete under uniaxial compression. Finally, a sub-routine artificial neural network model has been developed to capture the concrete behavior that has been introduced to facilitate the prediction of concrete properties under increased loading.