Earthquakes and Structures

Volume 4, Number 5, 2013, pages 451-470

DOI: 10.12989/eas.2013.4.5.451

Nonlinear static and dynamic analyses of reinforced concrete buildings – comparison of different modelling approaches

GONCALO CARVALHO, RITA BENTO and CARLOS BHATT

Abstract

It generally accepted that most building structures shall exhibit a nonlinear response when subjected to medium-high intensity earthquakes. It is currently known, however, that this phenomenon is not properly modelled in the majority of cases, especially at the design stage, where only simple linear methods have effectively been used. Recently, as a result of the exponential progress of computational tools, nonlinear modelling and analysis have gradually been brought to a more promising level. A wide range of modelling alternatives developed over the years is hence at the designer

Key Words

material nonlinearity; reinforced concrete sections; lumped plasticity models; distributed plasticity models; nonlinear seismic analysis

Address

GONCALO CARVALHO, RITA BENTO and CARLOS BHATT: Department of Civil Engineering, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Technical University of Lisbon, Av. Rovisco Pais 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal