Elasto-Plastic Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Frames by Microcomputer

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation is to develop a computer program for elasto-plastic analysis of plane reinforced concrete frames. The basic assumption is that the structure behaves elastically up to failure and all the non-linearities are concentrated at the plastic hinges which form at points where the moment reaches the section capacity. After the formation of a plastic hinge, the structure response to any additional load is obtained by appropriate modification of the stiffness matrix of the structure. The sequence and the location of plastic hinges are determined by the program and depend on the loading history [1,2]. The mechanism obtained by the computer is the one in which upper bound is equal to the lower bound as suggested by the classical method [3].