Effects of Concrete-to-Reinforcement Bond

and Loading Conditions on Tension Stiffening

Aniruddha S Deo [1424025]

Department of Civil engineering
RIT, Rajaramnagar.415414.
Email- das4891@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
Within the tension zone of a cracked reinforced concrete beam, the intact concrete
between adjacent cracks is able to sustain certain level of tensile stresses and contribute to the
flexural stiffness of the beam. This tension stiffening effect is of high importance in
deflection calculation of concrete beams and can be accounted for in design practice by using
a tensile stress block in section analysis. Recently, the authors have employed finite element
analysis to evaluate the tension stress fields in cracked concrete beams. Based on the stress
field results, tensile stress blocks for practical use in structural design have been formulated.
To continue the study, this paper examines the sensitivity of tensile stress block to the
concrete-to-reinforcement bond characteristics and to the loading conditions. It is found that
the bond characteristics do not have significant effect on the tensile stress block. On the other
hand, the loading conditions do significantly affect the tensile stress block. Formulas of stress
block parameters are proposed to address the effect of loading conditions.
Keywords: Bond slip, cracking, reinforced concrete, tensile stress block, tension stiffening.

INTRODUCTION

For a cracked reinforced concrete beam, due to the existence of cracks, the beam
has a lower flexural stiffness than prior to cracking. Nevertheless, within the tension zone of
the beam, the intact concrete between adjacent cracks is still able to sustain certain level of
tensile stresses and contribute to the flexural stiffness of the beam. This phenomenon is called
tension stiffening, which is so termed because the beam is apparently stiffened by the
tensile resistance of concrete, as illustrated by the moment curvature response in Figure 1.
The tensile stresses are induced in the concrete between cracks by two mechanisms, namely
the stress transfer through the concrete-to-reinforcement bond, and the shearing action of the
curvature (Ng et al., 2010). For accurate deflection calculation of concrete beams, the tension
stiffening effect should be duly considered. In design practice, the tension stiffening effect
may be accounted for by using a tensile stress block in section analysis (Scott, 1983; BSI,
1985; Beeby et al., 2005; Lam et al., 2010). Several tensile stress blocks have been developed
in the literature. Gilbert and Warner (1978) had devised tensile stress blocks
with different descending branches. Scott (1983) suggested a tensile stress block comprising
of multi linear ascending and descending branches. Prakhya and Morley (1990) proposed a

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tensile stress block comprising of a linear ascending branch and a nonlinear descending
branch. Torres et al. (2004) adopted the strategy of determining the values of tensile stress
block parameters by curve fitting with the empirical moment-curvature curves given in
design code.

Figure 1: Response of beam with and without tension stiffening

The existing tensile stress blocks differ widely from each other, and no unified tensile
stress block had been concluded. In light of this, the authors recently conducted fundamental
research for the development of tensile stress block (Kwan et al., 2008; Ng et al., 2010; Lam
et al., 2010). Nonlinear finite element analysis was employed to evaluate the tension stress
fields in cracked reinforced concrete beams. Typical concrete beams with varying structural
parameters were analysed and the corresponding tension stress fields were obtained. Based
on the stress field results, a tensile stress block for practical use in structural design was
formulated. Literature review has revealed no quantitative assessment of the effects of
concrete-to-reinforcement bond and loading conditions on the tensile stress block. To fill this
knowledge gap and to continue the study, this paper examines the sensitivity of tensile stress
block to the concrete-to-reinforcement bond characteristics and to the loading conditions. The
bond characteristics under investigation encompass bond stiffness and bond strength, whereas
the loading conditions encompass a single point load at mid span, two point loads
symmetrically applied at varying positions, and uniformly distributed load over the entire
span.

NUMERICAL MODELLING

Nonlinear finite element analysis is employed to investigate the post-crack behaviour

of concrete beams. The loading is applied in the form of prescribed force or prescribed
displacement with small increments. At each load increment step, direct iteration using secant
stiffness of the structure is employed.

Modelling of concrete

The concrete is modelled by 3-noded triangular plane stress elements. Its nonlinear
biaxial stress strain behaviour is taken into account via the equivalent uniaxial strains, which
is computed from the principal strains as defined by:

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 1
e1 = ----------------------- (1 + v22 ) {1a}
( 1 v1v2 )

1
e2 = ----------------------- (2 + v11 ) {1b}
( 1 v1v2 )

Where, e1 and e2 are the equivalent uniaxial strains, 1 and 2 are the principal strains,
v1 and v2 are the Poissons ratios, and the subscripts 1 and 2 denote quantities in the
respective principal directions. Each of the principal stresses 1 and 2 is assumed to be a
single variable function of the corresponding equivalent uniaxial strain. Therefore, in essence,
the biaxial stress-strain relation is decomposed into two independent uniaxial stress-strain
relations. Due to biaxial effects, the tensile and compressive strengths in the principal
directions are not the same as the uniaxial tensile and compressive strengths, but are
determined using the biaxial strength envelope developed by Kupfer and Gerstle (1973). For
any principal direction under tension, the stress strain relation is described by Guo and Zhang
(1987). While for any principal direction under compression, the stress-strain relation follows
that proposed by Saenz (1964).
Each of the principal stresses 1 and 2 is obtained by substituting the corresponding
equivalent uniaxial strain into the respective stress-strain relation. Having evaluated 1 and
2, the secant modulus Ec1 and Ec2 are calculated as 1/e1 and 2/ e2, respectively.
Henceforth, the constitutive matrix [Dc'] of the concrete element in the local coordinate
system, whose coordinate axes are the same as the principal directions, is derived as:

{2}

In Equation (2), G is the shear modulus. Before cracking, the shear modulus is taken
as the initial elastic shear modulus Go. After cracking, the shear modulus is taken as Go,
where is a dimensionless shear retention factor to account for the effect of aggregate
interlock (He and Kwan, 2001). The constitutive matrix [Dc ] of concrete in the global
coordinate system is obtained by coordinate transformation.

Modelling of steel reinforcement

The longitudinal reinforcement is modelled by discrete bar elements, which are

connected to the concrete through bond elements. The bar elements are one-dimensional
elements possessing only axial stiffness. To model the elastic, plastic and strain hardening
behaviour of the steel, the constitutive model proposed by Mander (1984) is adopted. On the

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other hand, the transverse reinforcement is simply smeared into the associated concrete
elements.

Modelling of concrete-to-reinforcement bond

The bond between concrete and the longitudinal reinforcement is modelled using 4-
noded bond elements similar to the interface element developed by Goodman et al. (1968).
Each bond element is assumed to have an infinitesimally small thickness. It has two pairs of
duplicated nodes. The two nodes in each pair of duplicated nodes have the same coordinates
but different degrees of freedom. Between them, one is connected to the steel reinforcement
while the other is connected to the concrete. The difference in displacement of the duplicated
nodes in the axial direction of the reinforcement is taken as the bond slip sb. The nonlinear
bond stress-slip relation recommended by CEB-FIP Model Code 1990 (MC-90) (CEB, 1993)
is employed. It is given by:

b = p ( Sb / S1 )0.4 for Sb S1 {3a}

b = p for S1 < Sb S2 {3b}
Sb S2
b = ---------------------- ( f p ) + p for S2 < Sb S3 {3c}
S3 S2

b = f for S3 < Sb {3d}

in which b is the bond stress, p is the peak bond stress, f is the residual bond
stress, Sb is the bond slip, and S1, S2 and S3 are the slip at start of peak bond stress, slip at end
of peak bond stress and slip at start of residual bond stress, respectively. Initially, before bond
slip occurs, the secant bond stiffness Kb is taken as 200 N/mm3 as recommended in MC-90.
After bond slip has occurred, the bond stress b is determined by substituting the bond slip Sb
into the above equations and the secant bond stiffness Kb is calculated as b /Sb. Having
obtained the secant bond stiffness, the stiffness matrix of the bond element in the local
coordinate system is then derived following the procedures developed by Goodman et al.
(1968) with the area of interface taken as the length of the bond element times the total
perimeter of the steel reinforcing bars. Finally, the stiffness matrix of the bond element in the
global coordinate system is obtained by coordinate transformation.
Derivation of tensile stress block

Details of the procedures for deriving the tensile stress block have been explicated in
a previous paper (Ng et al., 2010). Herein, only an outline of the procedures is presented.
Using the numerical modelling as described in Section 2, a series of simply supported
reinforced concrete beams as shown in Figure 2 with the tension reinforcement ratio t
varying from 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 to 2.0% have been analysed to derive the tensile stress block.
The properties of the materials are presented in Table 1.

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 The tension stress fields of concrete beams resulting from finite element analysis have
been studied. To even out local fluctuations of tensile stresses and strains at cracks, the mean
tensile stress and theoretical tensile strain are evaluated. The theoretical tensile strain is
evaluated as z, where is the mean curvature and z is the depth from neutral axis. The mean
curvature is obtained by fitting the deflected beam segment with cubic polynomial and then
differentiating the polynomial twice. The mean tensile stress is the smoothened tensile stress
of concrete with local fluctuation in the longitudinal direction removed. At each theoretical
tensile strain level being considered, the mean tensile stress is evaluated as the root-mean-
square of the tensile stress values at various sections of the beam.

Figure 3: Proposed tensile stress block

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 By averaging the mean tensile stress versus theoretical tensile strain curves of the
beams analysed, a tensile stress block as depicted in Figure 3 has been derived. It has a linear
ascending branch and a linear descending branch, and is defined by two parameters 1 and 2.
In the ascending branch, the tensile stress increases linearly from zero to the tensile strength
of the concrete ft at a gradient equal to the initial elastic modulus of the concrete Eco. In the
descending branch, the tensile stress decreases linearly from a certain tensile stress of ft ( =
1ft ) to zero at an ultimate tensile strain of tu ( = 2ct, where ct = ft/Eco ). The equations for the
tensile stress block are presented in Equation (4). The accuracy of the tensile stress block has
been verified by section and member analyses of a large number of concrete beams in Lam
(2009) and Lam et al. (2010).
= Eco for ct {4a}

1 ft (2 ct - )
= --------------------------- for ct < 2 ct {4b}
( 2 ct ct )

=0 for 2.ct < {4c}

Effect of concrete-to-reinforcement bond on tension stiffening

For a given reinforcement ratio, the concrete-to-reinforcement bond would exhibit

higher bond stiffness and ultimate bond force if more number of smaller diameter reinforcing
bars are used, or lower bond stiffness and ultimate bond force if less number of larger
diameter reinforcing bars are used. Besides, both bond stiffness and ultimate bond force
would be higher for deformed bars than for plain round bars. Hence, the bond characteristics
are dependent on the type of reinforcement and its interfacing area with concrete. Consensus
has not been reached regarding the effects of bond characteristics on tension stiffening.
Furthermore, the dependence of tensile stress block upon bond parameters has not been
reported in the literature. In this study, the bond characteristics are evaluated from two
perspectives: bond stiffness and bond strength. Concrete beams with the same geometrical
and material properties as mentioned in Section 3 above are modified in different ways, as
follows: (i) Reducing the bond stiffness by half and keeping the bond strength unchanged; (ii)
Increasing the bond strength to ten times and keeping the bond stiffness unchanged; and (iii)
Assuming perfect bond. For (i) and (ii), appropriate multipliers are applied to Equation (3).
For (iii), the reinforcement is directly connected to concrete elements with omission of bond
elements, such that the concrete and reinforcement share the same nodes and no bond slip
would occur. Beams modified in accordance with the above ways are analysed. Figure 4(a)
displays the load deflection curves of beams with t equal to 0.5%. A relatively small t is
chosen for presentation because the tension stiffening effect is more pronounced at small t,
when the contribution to tensile resistance from concrete is relatively significant. From
Figure 4(a), it is observed that the load-deflection responses of the four analysis cases (using
original bond model per MC-90 provisions, bond stiffness halved, bond strength increased to
ten times, and perfect bond) do not differ noticeably from each other. Averaged curves of
mean tensile stress versus theoretical tensile strain are displayed in Figure 4(b). The
parameters for tensile stress block pertaining to each analysis case are evaluated in Table 2. It
can be seen that the values of 1 and 2 are not significantly affected by the bond
characteristics. Hence, the authors suggest that within practical range of bond parameters for
structural design purpose, the same tensile stress block may be used.

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 Fig 4: Effect of bond on tension stiffening

Effect of loading conditions on tension stiffening

The loading conditions relate intimately to the variation of bending moment,

curvature, and tensile stresses along the longitudinal direction of the beam, thereby exerting
certain effect on the tension stiffening behaviour. Three loading conditions are considered,
namely a single point load at mid-span, two point loads symmetrically applied at varying
positions, and uniformly distributed load over the entire span.

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 Fig. 5: Effect of loading conditions on tension stiffening

Concrete beams with geometrical and material properties as described in Section 3

above are analysed with application of single point load at mid-span or uniformly distributed
load. Figure 5(a) shows the resulting load-deflection curves of beams with t equal to 0.5%
and 1.5%. For all beams analysed, the load is taken as the total applied load. Averaged curves
of mean tensile stress versus theoretical tensile strain for the beams with t equal to 0.5% and
1.5% are displayed in Figure 5(b). The parameters for tensile stress block are evaluated and
tabulated in Table 3, in which the ranges and average values of 1 and 2 for the loading
conditions are listed.

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From Table 3, recommendations of stress block parameter values are hereby made to address
the effect of loading conditions. For beams subjected to single point load at mid-span, the
values of 1 and 2 may be taken respectively as 0.4 and 18. While for beams subjected to
uniformly distributed load over the entire span, the values of 1 and 2 may be taken
respectively as 0.5 and 14. For beams subjected to two point loads symmetrically applied at
varying positions, denoting L as the span length and L as the distance between a support and
the nearest point load to it (0 < < 0.5), 1 and 2 may be evaluated from the following
formulas:
1
1 = 0.9 - ------------- {5a}
2
34

60
2 = -------------------- - 12 {5b}
3 4 2

Conclusions

The methodology of computing the tension stress fields in concrete beams by

nonlinear finite element analysis taking into account the nonlinear biaxial behaviour and
cracking of concrete, the elastic, plastic and strain hardening behaviour of steel
reinforcement, and the nonlinear bond stress-slip behaviour of concrete-to-reinforcement
bond for deriving tensile stress blocks has been applied to evaluate the effects of bond
characteristics and loading conditions on tension stiffening. Results of numerical analyses
based on original bond model per CEB-FIP Model Code 1990 provisions, with bond stiffness
halved, with bond strength increased to ten times, and with perfect bond assumed have
suggested that the bond characteristics do not significantly affect the tensile stress block. On
the other hand, as indicated by the numerical analysis results, the loading conditions do
considerably alter the tensile stress block. To address the effect of loading conditions,
apposite values and formulas of tensile stress block parameters for cases of single point load
at mid-span, two point loads symmetrically applied at varying positions, and UDL over the
entire span have been proposed.

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References

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He XG and Kwan AKH. Modelling dowel action of reinforcement bars for finite
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