Simulation of cracking for reinforced concrete structures. Application on a large RC beam and a shearing wall

International audienceThis contribution presents results of simulations on two reinforced concrete structures tested during the French national project CEOS.FR (Behavior and Evaluation of Special Structures. Cracking and Shrinkage) and whose dimensions correspond to “industrial” cases : a four point bending beam (6.10 m x 1.60 m x 0.8 m) and a shearing wall (4.2 m x 1.05 m x 0.15 m). The computations are carried out using different constitutive laws to evaluate their influences on the global (force – deflection curve) or local (mechanical degradation, strains) behaviors. A comparison with the experimental data is performed especially. The impact of the boundary conditions is also particularly underlined. A method is proposed to evaluate the cracking properties (opening and spacing) from the distribution of the strains, independently from the finite element model. It is based on the calculation of a cracking inelastic strain and of the length of the finite element in the direction normal to the crack. It is shown how this method can be applied on both test cases to characterize the cracks but also help the understanding of the failure mode. As a conclusion, this contribution shows that it is possible to simulate both global (mechanical resistance) and local (cracking) properties even in the case of industrial applications