Keywords: rheological-dynamical limit analysis, harmonic coupled finite-strip method, finite element method.

The first author has described a new proposal regarding the buckling (critical) strengths of inelastic columns based on the rheological-dynamical analogy (RDA) [1]. Using the RDA and the experimental investigations of steel bars and concrete samples under the ultimate state of loading, the second author proposes a rheological-dynamical limit analysis (RDLA) of reinforced concrete structures. In this paper the RDLA theoretical basis is described first and then structural analysis is proposed in which the yielding (steel) and, or the cracking (concrete) effects may play a vital role.

Currently the finite-element method (FEM) is considered as the most promising analysis tool among the existing methods of analysis which are usually based on the continuum mechanics approach, but the accuracy of the FEM solutions for nonlinear problems of solid mechanics can be hardly guaranteed and the computing cost is still prohibitive. To overcome such a drawback of the nonlinear FEM including the application to reinforced concrete folded plate structures, the harmonic coupled finite-strip method (HCFSM) may be used [2,3]. Through a series of numerical analyses of the geometric nonlinear viscoelastic behaviour of various types of prismatic folded plates and bifurcation buckling, buckling-mode interaction and post-buckling equilibrium of thin-walled wide-flange columns, the usefulness of HCFSM formulation is duly justified. Therefore selection or combined use of the FEM and the HCFSM is essential for analysis of actual concrete structures.

This paper provides a comparative analysis of a typical prismatic shell which was analyzed using the HCFSM and a general purpose finite element code to predict the ultimate loads with the risk of instability as realistically as possible.

1

D.D. Milašinovic, "Rheological-dynamical analogy: prediction of buckling curves of columns", Int. Journal of Solids and Structures, 37(29), 3965-4004, 2000.

2

D.D. Milašinovic, "The finite strip method in computational mechanics", Faculties of Civil Engineering: University of Novi Sad, Technical University of Budapest and University of Belgrade: Subotica, Budapest, Belgrade, 1997.

3

D.D. Milašinovic, R.J. Folic, D.I. Kovacevic, "Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Plate Structures by Finite Strip Method", in B.H.V. Topping, (Editor), "Advances in Computational Techniques for Structural Engineering", Civil-Comp Press, Edinburgh, UK, 121-131, 1996. doi:10.4203/ccp.43.7.1

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