NONLINEAR ANALYTICAL MODELS, METHODS AND EXAMPLES FOR CONCRETE STRUCTURES SUBJECT TO EARTHQUAKE LOADING

Structures may enter nonlinear stage in strong earthquake, precise prediction for the nonlinear behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) structures in earthquake is important to assess the earthquake resistant safety of the structures. This paper presents the programs recently developed by the Civil Engineering Department of Tsinghua University, which include the fiber model THUFIBER for RC frames, the program NAT-PPC for prestressed concrete (PC) frames, and the multi-layer shell element based shear wall program. These programs can connect the nonlinear nodal force/nodal displacement relationship of elements directly with the nonlinear stress/strain relationship of materials. Complicated cyclic behaviors and coupled axial force-biaixal bending-shear behaviors of RC structures can be correctly simulated. And furthermore, with the convenient pre/post processing and the nonlinear capacity of general finite element software, these programs not only can precisely simulate nonlinear seismic response of spatial strutures, but also can simulate some extreme nonlinear problems such as blast or collapse. The precision and the capacity of the programs are illustrated in this paper with a series of applications.