Damage and fatigue quantification of RC structures

Abstract

Different versions of a damage index (DI) along with a formulation to find the number of cycles at failure due to fatigue, applicable to reinforced concrete (RC) structures are presented. These are based on an energetic analysis method and applicable to both global and local levels. The required data can be found either from the numerical simulation of structures or from the experimental tests. A computer program has been developed to simulate numerically the nonlinear behavior of RC columns under cyclic loading. The proposed DI gives a regular distribution of structural damages up to failure and is validated by the results of the tests carried out on RC columns subjected to cyclic loading. In general, the local and global damage indices give approximately similar results, while each of them has its own advantages. The advantage of the implicit version of DI is that, it allows the comparison of the results with those of the monotonic loading case, while the explicit version makes it possible to estimate the number of loading cycles at failure due to fatigue, and the advantage of the simplified version is that; the monotonic loading data is not needed for the cyclic loading case.