Fatigue Strain and Damage Analysis of Concrete in Reinforced Concrete Beams under Constant Amplitude Fatigue Loading

Abstract

Concrete fatigue strain evolution plays a very important role in the evaluation of the material properties of concrete. To study fatigue strain and fatigue damage of concrete in reinforced concrete beams under constant amplitude bending fatigue loading, constant amplitude bending fatigue experiments with reinforced concrete beams with rectangular sections were first carried out in the laboratory. Then, by analyzing the shortcomings and limitations of existing fatigue strain evolution equations, the level-S nonlinear evolution model of fatigue strain was constructed, and the physical meaning of the parameters was discussed. Finally, the evolution of fatigue strain and fatigue damage of concrete in the compression zone of the experimental beam was analyzed based on the level-S nonlinear evolution model. The results show that, initially, fatigue strain grows rapidly. In the middle stages, fatigue strain is nearly a linear change. Because the experimental data for the third stage are relatively scarce, the evolution of the strain therefore degenerated into two phases. The model has strong adaptability and high accuracy and can reflect the evolution of fatigue strain. The fatigue damage evolution expression based on fatigue strain shows that fatigue strain and fatigue damage have similar variations, and, with the same load cycles, the greater the load level, the larger the damage, in line with the general rules of damage.