A new damage model for structures subjected to cyclic loads

Abstract

The structures subjected to dynamic loads often show alternative tensioncompression states stress; in such a case, even if certain damage (fracture) is reached during the tension cycle, the structure should maintain its capacity to withstand subsequent compression based only on the contact effect in the damaged area. In order to control this behavior requires a phenomenological constitutive model able to consider the contact as a structural limitation. On the other hand, from the constitutive point of view geomaterials have different damage thresholds for tension and compression and, from the structural point of view it must be ensured that the material damaged in tension still can resist compression. In this case, it is accepted that cracks behave as a contact surface at the structural level. To meet the above mentioned phenomenology, a modification of the damage model differentiated in tension and compression of Faria et al. (1998) is performed in this paper, considering independent strength thresholds in each of these processes, controlled with a single discontinuity threshold function.