• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.8 no.6
• /
• pp.735-755
• /
• 2011

The capability of a multi-directional fixed smeared crack constitutive model to simulate the flexural/punching failure modes of fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) laminar structures is discussed. The constitutive model is implemented in a computer program based on the finite element method, where the FRC laminar structures were simulated according to the Reissner-Mindlin shell theory. The shell is discretized into layers for the simulation of the membrane, bending and out-of-plane shear nonlinear behavior. A stress-strain softening diagram is proposed to reproduce, after crack initiation, the evolution of the normal crack component. The in-plane shear crack component is obtained using the concept of shear retention factor, defined by a crack-strain dependent law. To capture the punching failure mode, a softening diagram is proposed to simulate the decrease of the out-of-plane shear stress components with the increase of the corresponding shear strain components, after crack initiation. With this relatively simple approach, accurate predictions of the behavior of FRC structures failing in bending and in shear can be obtained. To assess the predictive performance of the model, a punching experimental test of a module of a façade panel fabricated with steel fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete is numerically simulated. The influence of some parameters defining the softening diagrams is discussed.

• Advances in nano research
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.135-148
• /
• 2020

The incorporation of carbon nanotubes in a polymer matrix makes it possible to obtain nanocomposite materials with exceptional properties. It's in this scientific background that this work was based. There are several theories that deal with the behavior of plates, in this research based on the Mindlin-Reissner theory that takes into account the transversal shear effect, for analysis of the critical buckling load of a reinforced polymer plate with parabolic distribution of carbon nanotubes. The equations of the model are derived and the critical loads of linear and parabolic distribution of carbon nanotubes are obtained. With different disposition of nanotubes of carbon in the polymer matrix, the effects of different parameters such as the volume fractions, the plate geometric ratios and the number of modes on the critical load buckling are analysed and discussed. The results show that the critical buckling load of parabolic distribution is larger than the linear distribution. This variation is attributed to the concentration of reinforcement (CNTs) at the top and bottom faces for the X-CNT type which make the plate more rigid against buckling.