Title: Validation of prestressed concrete high-fidelity finite element analysis
Date Published: September - October 2019
Volume: 64
Issue: 5
Page Numbers: 30 - 42
Authors: Aaron Freidenberg, Lyle R. Milliman, Benjamin Parmer, Gbenga Olaolorun, Evan Pape, and Bradley Durant
https://doi.org/10.15554/pcij64.5-03
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Abstract
Structural behavior of pretensioned concrete beams
can be difficult to predict. For example, defections of
pretensioned concrete beams are difficult to predict analytically but are sometimes needed for serviceability
or construction considerations. A prestressed concrete
beam’s response to dynamic loads or under extreme
loads, such as blast, are also difficult to predict. Prestressed concrete structures other than slender beams
present yet another challenge. A high-fidelity nite element analysis approach is reviewed in this paper, and
it can be used to predict the entire dynamic response
up to failure for pretensioned concrete structures of
any geometry under any loading. To demonstrate this
computational method, four pretensioned concrete
beams of varying geometries were loaded quasi-statically well beyond the elastic regime of both the concrete
and the steel prestressing strands and the analytical
results were compared with experimental results. The
method is described in detail, and the defections and
strains from the simulations (including visualization
of cracks) from the simulations are compared with the
test data. It is demonstrated that the computer models
are able to predict the entire load defection response
within a maximum error of 6%. Qualitative results,
namely crack patterns, are compared as well.