Insights into the cracking and tension stiffening behaviour of reinforced concrete tension members revealed by computer modelling

Abstract

Research carried out jointly by the University of Leeds and the University of Durham into the behaviour of axially reinforced prisms subjected to pure tension led to formulae for the prediction of the deformations of such members that depended on the crack spacing under any particular load. This is a subject that does not appear to have been studied significantly in the past, and this paper describes an investigation of the development of crack spacing. This has been done by developing stochastic models of the process of crack formation. These models permitted various possible assumptions to be considered and the most realistic identified. The results of the stochastic modelling have then been used to develop formulae for the prediction of deformations, which have been tested against a large body of experimental data. Agreement between the experimental and calculated results has been shown to be good.