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Abstract: This paper presents the beneficial act of the tension stiffening effect in the design
process according to the rules of the EC2 Eurocode and DIN 1045-1. Different
approaches for the modelling of this phenomenon are offered. To describe this
effect, two different basic approaches are possible using micro- or macro-elements.
The first technique is coupled with a discrete representation of cracking, while the
second one is coupled with a smeared representation of cracking. The advantages
and the disadvantages of using these models are discussed. A numerical example
shows the beneficial act of the tension stiffening effect on a reinforced concrete
plate. The economy in reinforcement, when the tension stiffening effect is taken
into account during the design procedure, is quantified. Finally, non-linear analy-
ses expose the difference in stiffness and deflection, when tension stiffening is con-
sidered.
Key words: tension stiffening; reinforced concrete; numerical methods; design process.
1. INTRODUCTION
It is well known that when the concrete tensile stress in a member reaches the tensile
strength, cracking develops. Simultaneously, the load carried by the concrete before
cracking is transferred to the reinforcement crossing the crack. Then, the reinforcing bars
transfer local tensile stresses to the concrete between the cracks through bond stresses at
the steel–concrete interface. Therefore, the intact concrete between cracks continues to
carry tensile stresses and offers stiffness. This phenomenon resulting from crack forma-
tion and the bond between steel and its surrounding concrete is defined as the tension-
stiffening effect1. This is a property neither of the reinforcement nor of the concrete. It is
a typical property that appears only in the composite material of reinforced concrete,
where the two constitutive materials are present. Its ignorance leads to a too soft approx-
215
M.S. Konsta-Gdoutos, (ed.), Measuring, Monitoring and Modeling Concrete Properties, 215–220.
© 2006 Springer. Printed in the Netherlands.
216 A. Elenas et al.
imation of the structure. Loading progression continues the crack building and with this a
drop of concrete stress between the cracks is connected. At last, the cracks are too close
for developing tension concrete stress and the concrete has no carrying capacity perpen-
dicular to the crack direction. So in this case the influence of the tension stiffening effect
vanishes.
Using the finite element method to describe this behaviour, two different basic
approaches are possible utilising micro- or macro-elements2-5. The first approach is cou-
pled with a discrete representation of cracking and is used when the size if the finite ele-
ments is of the same order if the crack width. The second approach, coupled with the
smeared representation of cracking, describes the tension stiffening phenomenon by a
modification of the stress-strain relation of the steel or the concrete material.
Figure 1. Stress-strain diagrams for steel (a) and concrete in tension (b)
move for constant steel stress. The physical meaning is a strain decrease of the steel rein-
forcement for the same stress. For the horizontal movement there are different
approaches in the literature presented. As shown in Figure 2, the EC2 Eurocode specifies
a parabolic approach, while the DIN 1045-1 a piece-wise linear one. An important differ-
ence between the two codes is that the EC2 model ignores the tension stiffening effect in
the yield region of steel.
Moreover, in DIN 1045-1 additional models for the numerical treatment of the tension
stiffening effect are given, for different design procedures as it is explained in Figure 4.
Thus, the models a, b and d can be used for the evaluation of the internal forces using non-
linear numerical procedures. Model b is to be used for the evaluation of the structural dis-
placements. Finally, Model c is to be used for the evaluation of crack widths.
vides 4.404 cm2/m required longitudinal reinforcement bars in the directions parallel to
the plate edges. After that, the plate is designed for the serviceability limit state for differ-
ent crack widths from 0.05 mm to 0.30 mm. The latter design procedure was carrying
once neglecting and once taking into account the tension stiffening effect. This effect was
taken into account by considering the average steel strain between the cracks.
The tension stiffening effect decreases the amount of the required longitudinal rein-
forcement bars, especially for small crack widths. Figure 4 shows the required area of the
longitudinal reinforcement bars for different crack widths (0.05 mm up to 0.30 mm). The
results are exposed graphically once neglecting the tension stiffening effect (curve 1) and
once taking into account the same effect (curve 2). Observing the two curves it can be rec-
ognised that curve 2 remains permanently below curve 1. This means that the economic
effect is present in all the cases, when the tension stiffening effect is taken into account. The
values where the reinforcement is less than statically required (4.404 cm2/m as mentioned
previously), is not of practical interest and is here only presented for completeness reasons.
Next, Figure 5 shows the difference of the required area of longitudinal reinforce-
ment between neglecting and taking into account the tension stiffening in the design pro-
cedure. Figure 5 shows the absolute value of the difference, which is about 2.23 cm2/m
for 0.05 mm crack width. This value drops below 0.8 cm2/m for 0.30 mm crack width.
Non-linear analyses have been carried out for the estimation of the influence of ten-
sion stiffening on the maximum plate deflection. Figure 6 presents the midpoint deflec-
tion in dependence of the crack width. Two different cases have been considered. The
first one is neglecting the tension stiffening effect, while the second one is taking into
account the same effect. The midpoint deflection of the plate is about 10% to 15%
increased when tension stiffening is neglected.
6. CONCLUSIONS
Several numerical treatments of the tension stiffening effect in reinforced concrete
elements have been presented. To describe this behaviour, two different fundamental
approaches are possible using micro- or macro-elements. Since non-linear analyses have
been introduced in modern design codes for reinforced concrete structures, rules for han-
dling the tension stiffening effect have also been introduced in these codes. Thus, modi-
fied steel stress-strain laws are used in EC2 Eurocode and DIN 1045-1 to take into
account the tension stiffening effect.
A numerical example demonstrated that neglecting the tension stiffening effect leads
to a too soft approximation of the structure. The economy in reinforcement, when the
tension stiffening effect is taken into account during the design procedure, has been
quantified. Thus, the mean difference percentage in reinforcement for the example used
in this investigation was 21.5%. Furthermore, non-linear analyses pointed out the differ-
ence in deflection when tension stiffening is considered. Finally, all these comments
should be taken into account for the safe and economic design of composite reinforced
concrete elements in the civil engineering praxis.
7. REFERENCES
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