A BRICK-BEAM COMBINATION ELEMENT FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES

In this paper, a brick-beam combination element model is developed for the three-dimensional finite element analysis of reinforced concrete structures. While the structure is meshed into brick elements, thereinforcing steel bars in a concrete brick element are treated as beam elements that can endure axial force, shear force, bending moment and torsional moment. The beam elements and the brick element are combined together to form a single element according to their consistent displacement conditions and the virtual work principle. The structural performance and arbitrary disposal of the reinforcing steel bars in concrete are consideredcomprehensively. A large-scale RC structure can be meshed and analyzed in bigger brick elements with this model. A numerical example demonstrates the model's feasibility and accuracy in comparison with analytic results.