On the lumped damage mechanics for nonlinear structural analyses: new developments and applications

• Autor(a) principal: Amorim, David Leonardo Nascimento de Figueiredo
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da USP
• Texto Completo: http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/18/18134/tde-06042016-112414/
• topic: Concreto armado; Fadiga de alto ciclo; High cycle fatigue; Localisation; Localização; Lumped damage mechanics; Materiais quase-frágeis; Quasi-brittle materials; Reinforced concrete; Teoria do dano concentrado

The accurate description of the nonlinear structural behaviour is an important issue in engineering science. Usually, classic nonlinear theories, such as fracture and damage mechanics, applied to finite element programmes are used to fulfil that purpose. Classic fracture mechanics describes the structural deterioration process by a few discrete cracks. This theory presents good precision for structures with simple geometries, few cracks and homogeneous materials. Classic damage mechanics measures the deterioration process by an internal variable called damage. This theory has been successful in the description of several deterioration mechanisms in continuum media. Despite their accuracy, classic fracture and damage mechanics present some drawbacks. Firstly, regarding civil engineering problems, both theories are not suitable for some practical applications. Secondly, fracture mechanics demands the consideration of initial cracks to begin the analysis. Lastly, classic damage models may present an issue known as localisation, what essentially leads to ill-posed problems and mesh-dependent numerical algorithms. Alternatively, a recent theory, called lumped damage mechanics, was proposed in order to achieve good accuracy in actual engineering problems. Such theory applies key concepts from fracture and damage mechanics in plastic hinges. In the light of the foregoing, the main goal of this thesis is the extension of the lumped damage mechanics framework to analyse different engineering problems. So far, lumped damage mechanics was characterised as a simplified methodology to analyse reinforced concrete frames under seismic and monotonic loadings; even with a few contributions on the analysis of local buckling in metallic structures. Therefore, this work extends the lumped damage mechanics framework to analyse reinforced concrete arches, unreinforced concrete structures, high cycle fatigue and continuum problems. The application examples show the accuracy of the proposed methodologies.