Compression field modeling of confined concrete

The three-dimensional behavior of confined concrete was investigated, including strengthenhancement due to triaxial compressive stresses, lateral expansion, compression softening, cover spallingand post-peak ductility. A finite element program based on a nonlinear elasticity methodology wasemployed to evaluate the ability to model triaxial behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) by combiningconstitutive models proposed by several researchers. The capability of compression field based models toreproduce the softening behavior of lightly cracked confined concrete was also investigated. Data fromtested specimens were used to evaluate the validity of the formulations. Good agreement with theexperimental results was obtained.