Constitutive Behavior and Finite Element Analysis of FRP Composite and Concrete Members

Materials (Basel). 2013 Sep 10;6(9):3978-3988. doi: 10.3390/ma6093978.

Abstract

The present study concerns compressive and flexural constitutive models incorporated into an isoparametric beam finite element scheme for fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) and concrete composites, using their multi-axial constitutive behavior. The constitutive behavior of concrete was treated in triaxial stress states as an orthotropic hypoelasticity-based formulation to determine the confinement effect of concrete from a three-dimensional failure surface in triaxial stress states. The constitutive behavior of the FRP composite was formulated from the two-dimensional classical lamination theory. To predict the flexural behavior of circular cross-section with FRP sheet and concrete composite, a layered discretization of cross-sections was incorporated into nonlinear isoparametric beam finite elements. The predicted constitutive behavior was validated by a comparison to available experimental results in the compressive and flexural beam loading test.

Keywords: FRP and concrete composite; bending test; compressive test; constitutive behavior; mixed finite element.