Heterogeneous hardening plasticity model for concrete

Abstract

A heterogeneous hardening rule is proposed for concrete in this paper. Being different from the hardening rules in common use, by which the development of the subsequent yield surfaces from the initial yield surface is at a uniform rate with respect to the variation of the hardening parameter, the heterogeneous hardening rule deems that the development of the subsequent yield surface is at a nonuniform rate with regard to the change of the hardening parameter. Based on this hardening rule, a loading function including the effect of the hydrostatic pressure on the behavior of concrete is constructed. A simple and effective heterogeneous hardening plasticity model employing the associated flow rule is established for progressive failure analysis of concrete. With this model, the inelastic contraction and dilatation behavior of concrete under compression or tension-compression stress states can be successfully represented. The model has been applied to the analysis of some available experimental data and good correlations are obtained between the analytical and experimental results.