Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis Of Reinforced Concrete Based On OpenSees And Experimental Comparesion

The earthquake response of reinforced concrete members was so complicated. Up to now, researchers from home and abroad have done a lot of studies on the aseismatic capacity and design methods of reinforced concrete members. As China is a country with earthquakes often-occurred, studying on the seismic behavior was very necessary.Supported by National Science Foundation(No:90715016), this paper studied seismic design by simulation and experiments:(1)Based on comparative experimental studies on six half-scaled columns of RC frame structure under low cyclic loading, the effects of vertical loads, horizontal reinforcement, vertical reinforcement were taken in to account. Such as the structural failure feature, deformation capacity, bearing capacity, ductility, stiffness, hysteresis property, energy dissipation was analyzed systematically.(2)OpenSees(Open System for Earthquake Engineering Simulation)is a computational platform for seismic response simulation developed by University of Celifornia at Berkeley.Its key feature is open source and framework.Users can apply and develop it by the Internet;this can happen at a speed the development. The simulation of low cyclic loading test using OpenSees program was carried out to validate the selected element analytical models and analytical parameters. The result showed that the analytical models and parameters were accurate and powerful in simulating the deformation response of the columns of RC frame structure. The result also provided base for elasto-plastic time history analysis on the columns of RC frame structure.The main conclusions extracted from finite element analysis is listed as followes: In a certain range of axial compression ratio, strength and energy dissipation of RC frame columns increases with axial compression ratio, ductility decrease with the axial compression ratio increases; On the condition that same axial compression ratio, bearing capacity and stiffness of RC frame columns increases with concrete strength grade after the construction member achieve yield strength. This provided consolidated experimental and theoretical basis for seismic analysis and design of such structural frame components.