EXPLICIT ALGORITHM-BASED FIBER BEAM-COLUMN ELEMENT MODEL

In order to simulate the strong nonlinear behavior of RC bridges precisely, an explicit algorithm-based fiber beam-column element model is constructed using the explicit central difference method and introduced into the FENAP platform built previously. The hysteretic analysis of a steel cantilever beam and the pushover analysis of a RC bridge pier are performed respectively using the explicit fiber beam-column element, and the calculated results are compared with that using the implicit fiber beam-column element of FENAP and the fiber element of OpenSEES. It is indicated that the material softening behavior may be simulated effectively and the nonconvergence due to structural negative-stiffness may be avoided with high precision using the proposed explicit fiber beam-column element model which provides a practical tool for the collapse analysis of large bridges.