Revision as of 13:04, 1 July 2024

Abstract

The advantages of carbon-reinforced concrete (CRC) over traditional concrete elements reinforced with steel, including high strength, low weight, and corrosion resistance, make it a promising material for thin, efficient, and more sustainable designs. As the demand for less CO2-intensive materials such as concrete grows, a shift from simple massive elements to thin-walled elements with complex geometries is becoming increasingly necessary. However, to seek optimal design variants, efficient nonlinear numerical calculations that provide reasonable predictions of the structural behavior, including the stress-redistribution process and the failure mechanisms are essential. This paper presents FEM simulations of origami-based folded CRC shells that were experimentally investigated in a previous study. Two FEM modeling approaches were used, employing a smeared and a discrete representation of the carbon reinforcement. For both approaches a damage plasticity model for the concrete has been used. The load-deflection response from the discrete approach closely matches the experimentally obtained curves. Despite an overestimation of the load capacity, the computationally less expensive smeared FEM model qualitatively reproduces the structural response and the correct failure mechanism. Therefore, the quality of the results obtained from the smeared model is sufficient to determine preferable design variants in a typical design scenario. This is necessary to provide a deeper understanding of the structural behavior of these folded elements and to facilitate the sustainable design and application of thin-walled CRC elements in the future.

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