Development of an approach to constitutive modelling of concrete: Isotropic damage coupled with plasticity

The paper presents an approach to constitutive modelling of concrete using damage mechanics and plasticity theory. The thermodynamic formulation, and parameter identification of a non-local coupled damage-plasticity model are presented in this study. The particular focus is the calibration of model parameters. It is shown that both the local parameters and the parameters governing the non-local interaction can be determined from experimental data reliably and consistently. A novel procedure is developed for parameter identification, using the separation of total dissipation energy into additive parts corresponding to different dissipation mechanisms. The relationship between the local and non-local parameters is also addressed, helping to obtain model responses consistent with the fracture energy of the material. The application of the model and the calibration procedure proposed in this study to the numerical failure analysis of concrete structures is illustrated through a series of real structural tests, showing both the performance of the model and the consistency of the proposed calibration procedure. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved