Techno Press
You logged in as. Techno Press

Structural Engineering and Mechanics
  Volume 33, Number 6, December20 2009 , pages 765-779
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/sem.2009.33.6.765
 


Damage assessment of reinforced concrete beams including the load environment
X.Q. Zhu, S.S. Law and H. Hao

 
Abstract
    Quantitative condition assessment of structures has been traditionally using proof load test leading to an indication of the load-carrying capacity. Alternative approaches using ultrasonic, dynamics etc. are based on the unloaded state of the structure and anomalies may not be fully mobilized in the load resisting path and thus their effects are not fully included in the measured responses. This paper studies the effect of the load carried by a reinforced concrete beam on the assessment result of the crack damage. This assessment can only be performed with an approach based on static measurement. The crack damage is modelled as a crack zone over an area of high tensile stress of the member, and it is represented by a damage function for the simulation study. An existing nonlinear optimization algorithm is adopted. The identified damage extent from a selected high level load and a low load level are compared, and it is concluded that accurate assessment can only be obtained at a load level close to the one that creates the damage.
 
Key Words
    reinforced concrete; beam; damage; assessment; inverse problem; finite element; crack; static load; deflection.
 
Address
X.Q. Zhu: School of Engineering, The University of Western Sydney, Kingswood Campus, NSW 1797, Australia
S.S. Law: Civil and Structural Engineering Department, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hunghom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, P. R. China
H. Hao: School of Civil and Resource Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
 

Techno-Press: Publishers of international journals and conference proceedings.       Copyright © 2025 Techno Press
P.O. Box 33, Yuseong, Daejeon 305-600 Korea, Tel: +82-42-828-7996, Fax : +82-42-828-7997, Email: admin@techno-press.com