Influence of temperature on the mechanical behavior of a reinforced concrete beam

Abstract

Concrete is a composite material widely used in the construction industry. Allied to steel reinforcement, it has mechanical characteristics favorable to use in the most diverse structural elements such as foundations, beams, slabs, columns and dams, for example. Despite its wide use, the material response to extreme situations - such as high temperatures - is quite complex since, in these cases, microstructural changes occur that impact its macroscopic properties. In this context, the use of computational tools that allow the simulation of different structures and loading situations is an interesting strategy for verifying the performance of the material in each scenario. Therefore, this work intends to simulate the mechanical behavior of concrete considering situations of usual stress as well as situations of thermal stress, with the objective of evaluating the impact of the latter on the material. For this, Python scripts are used to generate the geometry, finite element software is used in pre- and post-processing and a user subroutine, developed in Fortran and which describes the Mazars damage model, is used together with said software in the processing phase.