Physical modelling of reinforced concrete at a 1:40 scale using additively manufactured reinforcement cages

Global level assumptions of numerical models have received relatively less attention, but have been indicated to be a major source of error in numerical modeling of Reinforced Concrete (RC) structures. In parallel, it has been stated that a statistical approach involving many virgin specimens and gr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Earthquake engineering & structural dynamics 2022-03, Vol.51 (3), p.537-551
Main Authors: Del Giudice, Lorenzo, Wróbel, Rafał, Katsamakas, Antonios A., Leinenbach, Christian, Vassiliou, Michalis F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Additive manufacturing
Additives
Cages
Cantilever members
centrifuge testing
experimental earthquake engineering
Fabrication
Ground motion
Mathematical models
Modelling
Numerical models
physical modeling
Reinforced concrete
Reinforcement
Statistical analysis
Statistics
Three dimensional printing
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Summary:Global level assumptions of numerical models have received relatively less attention, but have been indicated to be a major source of error in numerical modeling of Reinforced Concrete (RC) structures. In parallel, it has been stated that a statistical approach involving many virgin specimens and ground motions is necessary for model validation. Such an approach would require very small‐scale testing. Then, the reinforcement fabrication becomes a major issue. This paper proposes using additive manufacturing to fabricate the reinforcement cage. It presents the results from cyclic tests on 1:40 RC cantilever members. The cages were manufactured using an SLM 3D printer able to print rebars with submillimeter diameters. Different longitudinal and transverse reinforcement configurations were tested. A numerical model using existing Opensees elements was built and its parameters were calibrated against material level small‐scale tests. It captured the cyclic response of the RC members with a reasonable accuracy. The cyclic behavior of the RC members resembles the behavior of full‐scale RC members indicating that such small‐scale specimens can be used for the statistical validation of the global level assumptions of numerical models.
ISSN:0098-8847
1096-9845
DOI:10.1002/eqe.3578