Deformation Capacity of the Concrete Compression Zone – Stress-Strain Curves for Nonlinear Calculation

The correct determination of deformation capacity of a structural member will become more important in the future since nonlinear design methods will be used more often. This report deals with the examination of deformation capacity of the concrete compression zone. The influence of size and the effect of transversal reinforcement of prisms under eccentric compression on their deformation capacity was studied in a test series. Three different sizes of eccentrically loaded prisms which should represent the compression zone of a beam under 4-pointbending, three different concrete strengths and two different ratios of transversal reinforcement were tested. The Biegedruckzonen (BDZ) Model was developed to describe the behavior of the test specimens under flexural compression among others taking into account localization of failure in a damage zone and the effect of transversal reinforcement on ductility. Stress-strain curves to carry out nonlinear calculations related to concrete strength, dimension of compression zone and transversal reinforcement ratio were derived from this model.