Modelling Deformation Behaviour of RC Beams Attributing Tension-stiffening to Tensile Reinforcement

After cracking, the stiffness of the member along its length varies, which makes the calculation of deformations complicated. In a cracked member, stiffness is largest in the section within the uncracked region while remains smallest in the cracked section. This is because in the cracked section, tensile concrete does not contribute to the load carrying mechanism. However, at intermediate sections between adjacent cracks, concrete around reinforcement retains some tensile force due to the bond-action that effectively stiffens member response and reduces deflections. This effect is known as tension-stiffening. This paper discusses the tension-stiffening effect in reinforced concrete (RC) beams. Numerical modelling uses the approach based on tension-stiffening attributed to tensile reinforcement. A material model of reinforced steel has been developed by inverse analysis using the moment-curvature diagrams of RC beams. Total stresses in tensile reinforcement consist of actual stresses corresponding to the average strain of the steel and additional stresses due to tension-stiffening. The carried out analysis employed experimental data on RC beams tested by the authors. The beams had a constant cross section but a different amount of tensile reinforcement. It has been shown that additional (tension-stiffening) stresses in the steel depend on the area of reinforcement. However, the resulting internal forces are less dependent on the amount of reinforcement.