Alexander Scholzen

Cross-sectional failure criterion combined with strain-hardening damage model for simulation of thin-walled textile-reinforced concrete shells

Abstract. Application of textile reinforced concrete (TRC) can significantly facilitate the manufacturing of thin-walled shell structures. Thanks to the high tensile strength and longtime durability of textile reinforcement, construction of much thinner cross sections compared to ordinary reinforced concrete has become possible. Furthermore the form-flexibility of textile reinforcement allows for much more freedom in design of shells with more complex geometries. However, these advantages make the prediction of the structural behavior under imposed loads much more difficult. Due to the complex stress redistribution in the plane of shell and also the anisotropic behavior of the composite material, different modes of failure can be observed in TRC shell structures. In this paper we focus on the failure criterion of thin-walled TRC shell elements. In particular, we propose a criterion reflecting the interaction of normal force and bending moment in a shell cross section. The failure criterion has been implemented in combination with an anisotropic damaged-based material model in order to provide realistic prediction of the structural load-carrying behavior. The accuracy of the model in prediction of different failure modes has been validated using three different types of tests setups.