PREDICTION OF THE BEHAVIOUR OF REINFORCED CONCRETE SECTIONS BY CALIBRATING WITH EXPERIMENTAL TESTS

Abstract

The development of numerical models that

can calculate the yield and ultimate states of

a member’s section is essential to adequately

know the seismic behavior of reinforced

concrete structures. Unlike other applications,

these models are directly involved in the

definition of the hysteretic behavior of plastic

hinges developed in the structure when

subjected to seismic loading.

These models must accurately reproduce

the real behavior of structures with high

computational efficiency. In this sense, using

theoretical-empirical expressions that reduce

the computational time might be suitable.

The main objective of this research is the

calibration and improvement of some existing

expressions that are capable of modeling several

parameters related to yield and ultimate states

of reinforced concrete rectangular sections (yield

moment, yield chord rotation and ultimate chord

rotation). These expressions are calibrated with

a set of tests selected from an existing database

of more than 1000 tests: Only those elements

complying with the constructional and seismic

requirements imposed by the main codes are

selected.

Due to their robustness and numerical features,

optimization techniques based on genetic

algorithms are used in order to calibrate the

expressions with the selection of tests. Results

are compared with those obtained: (i) by

previous authors, and (ii) using the expressions

included in EC-8, showing an improvement in

some statistical parameters. The calibration with

structural elements complying with the codes

requirements implies that these expressions are

adequate for use in standard buildings.