ARBAMINCH UNIVERSITY
Institute of Technology
School of Post-Graduate Studies
Department of Civil Engineering
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING STREAM
Advanced Research Methods and Scientific Writing
Assignment # 2
Submitted by: TesfaMichael Mekonnen
ID No. PRAMIT/2019/10
Date 15-Feb-2019
N.B My area of research is Evaluation of Ethiopian Building Code Standard (EBCS EN 1998) using
Finite Element Analysis (FEA).
Journal Title: - Evaluation of Structural-Concrete Design-Concepts Based on Finite-
Element Analysis
M. D. Kotsovos, K. V. Spiliopoulos Computational Mechanics 21 (1998) 330-338 Springer-Verlag 1998
1. This paper is relevant for my study because it will provide me an idea about how should I
attack the problem. And it can also help me to improve my methodologies.
2.
a. The article is an applied type of research.
b. It is an experimental type of research.
c. Finite element method of analysis is done by using FINEL finite element analysis software
package.
3.
a. The problem of the study is to investigate the validity of the concepts which underlie
structural concrete design.
b. The validity of the truss analogy, which underlies structural concrete design, relies on the
validity of a number of concepts such as, for example, ``aggregate interlock,'' ``dowel
action,'' ``strain softening,'' etc., which are the prerequisites for cracked concrete to be
capable of transmitting diagonal compression through the tensile zone of a beam-like
member at its ultimate limit-state. However, the above concepts appear to be in conflict
with the behaviour of concrete as established from material tests.
4. Finite element analysis incorporating a brittle constitutive model of concrete is used to
investigate the validity of the concepts which underlie structural concrete design.
5. It is shown that ignoring fundamental concepts forming the basis of current code provisions
such as, for example, the concepts of ''aggregate interlock'' and ''dowel action'' through which
cracked concrete is considered to contribute significantly to shear resistance does not impair
the ability of the analysis to yield predictions of structural behaviour which correlates closely
with experimental values. For the structural forms investigated, it is found that designing to
current codes leads to unsafe solutions, since the analysis predicts premature brittle shear,
instead of the intended ductile flexural, failure. On the other hand, designing to the concept of
the ``compressive force path'' which allows for the brittle nature of concrete was found to
achieve the design objectives for safety and adequate ductility.
6. The results of the research can be used by structural engineers and researchers in the area of
concrete mechanics as a bases for further investigation.
Journal Title: - Finite Element Modelling of Structural Concrete
Demetrios M. Cotsovos, Christos A. Zeris, and Ali A. Abbas ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Computational
Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering M. Papadrakakis, N.D. Lagaros, M. Fragiadakis (eds.)
Rhodes, Greece, 22–24 June 2009
1. This paper is relevant for my study because it will provide me an idea about how should I
attack the problem. And it can also help me to improve my methodologies.
2.
a. The article is an applied type of research.
b. It is an experimental type of research.
c. Finite element method of analysis is done by using three widely used finite element
analysis software packages.
3.
a. The aim of the present investigation is to explore the generality and applicability of the
FE models presently adopted and their ability to yield realistic predictions of structural
concrete behaviour.
b. A FEA package is usually considered to be capable of yielding realistic predictions of the
response of a concrete structural form when the deviation of the predicted from the
experimentally measured values of particular structural characteristics does not exceed a
value of the order of 20% of the corresponding measured quantity.
4. The present article sets out to compare the numerical predictions obtained from three widely
used commercial FEA packages, namely ANSYS, LS-DYNA and ABAQUS, as well as the
predictions of a specialized in concrete structures FEA model (RC-FINEL).
5. Based on the parametric analysis carried out with ANSYS and the predictions obtained from
LS-DYNA, the various parameters required to fully define the majority of concrete material
models often attribute to concrete behaviour a certain ductility which is often not justified by
the available experimental evidence. In doing so, the NLFEA packages that employ these
models often overestimate the ductility of the various RC structural forms investigated
increasing the likelihood of them not being able to realistically identify brittle types of failure.
On the other hand, the FEA packages employing concrete material models with brittle
characteristics (i.e. ABAQUS and RC-FINEL) are found capable of yielding good predictions
in both ductile and brittle types of problems.
6. The results of the research can be used by structural engineers and researchers in the area of
concrete mechanics as a bases for further investigation.
Journal Title: - Finite Element Modeling of Reinforced Concrete Structures
Yuan-Gao Zhang*, Ming-Wan Lu, Keh-Chih Hwang Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua
University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China
1. This paper is relevant for my study because it will provide me an idea about how should I
attack the problem. And it can also help me to improve my methodologies.
2.
a. The article is an applied type of research.
b. It is an experimental type of research.
c. Finite element method of analysis is done.
3.
a. It is the problem of this study to develop an efficient method for the nonlinear finite
element analysis of reinforced concrete structures.
b. It reasonable to use the so-called separate model which discretizes concrete and
reinforcement steel in different elements. However, the separate model employs too many
element numbers and element types for discretizing a complex reinforced concrete
structure and results in low computational efficiency, especially in three-dimensional
analysis.
4. A composite model, named smeared/layered reinforced concrete model has been improved
and used for the present analysis. The effects such as concrete cracking, tension stiffening and
dowel action have been implemented using the new model.
5. The new model can efficiently describe the nonlinear behaviors of both concrete and
reinforcement steel. The effects of interaction between cracked concrete and reinforcement
steel, such as tension stiffening and dowel action, are properly simulated by the present model.
The results of numerical examples, compared with experimental data, show that our analysis
is reasonable.
6. The results of the research can be used by structural engineers and researchers in the area of
concrete mechanics as a bases for further investigation.
Journal Title: - Three-Dimensional Nonlinear Finite Element Modelling of Reinforced
Concrete Structures
A.F. Ashour and C.T. Morley Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 15 (1993) 43-55
1. This paper is relevant for my study because it will provide me an idea about how should I
attack the problem. And it can also help me to improve my methodologies.
2.
a. The article is an applied type of research.
b. It is an experimental type of research.
c. Finite element method of analysis is done
3.
a. The objective of this analysis is to present a three-dimensional non-linear finite element
model of reinforced concrete structures.
b. several finite element models for reinforced concrete structures have been emerged.
However, this area still needs more research, because of the difficulty of modelling
concrete in finite element analysis. These difficulties arise from nonlinearity of the
behaviour of concrete in a multi-axial stress state, changing behaviour due to crack
propagation, and interaction between concrete and steel reinforcement.
4. A nonlinear elastic isotropic experimentally based model is used to describe the behaviour of
concrete before cracking or crushing. The softening behaviour of concrete in both cracking
and crushing is implemented by decomposition of the total strain increment into a crack or
crush strain increment and an intact concrete strain increment.
5. The proposed model is implemented in ABAQUS, a nonlinear finite element program.
Comparison with two example reinforced concrete beams shows reasonable agreement with
experiment, and the predictions of the present model are rather closer to the experimental
results than the standard concrete model provided in ABAOUS.
6. The results of the research can be used by structural engineers and researchers in the area of
concrete mechanics as a bases for further investigation