PLASTIC ROTATION CAPACITY OF REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS

摘要

The technical guides on structural concrete normally gives the possibility of a elastic analysis of the structures followed by a correction of the internal forces to take into account the nonlinear behaviour of the structural materials.The capacity to withstand plastic rotations is a very important characteristic. Independently from the possibility of correcting the internal forces by the redistribution technique, fragile failures must be avoided. The design should be orientated towards a structure with adequate ductility.The research effort on ductility of concrete structures is showing that ductility can be achieved not only for bending moments, but also for shear and torsion actions. The capacity of plastic torsion deformations is particularly important in curved bridges. This presentation presents the latest developments in this matter, with particular emphasis on the investigation that is being carried out in the University of Coimbra.