Development of “event-to-event” nonlinear technique to lightly reinforced concrete beams by simplified constitutive modeling

The two-dimensional dual boundary element method is applied in this paper for the static analysis of lightly reinforced concrete beams, along with a nonlinear noniterative approach, called “event-to-event” technique. This numerical technique put some restrictions on the model development, such as continuity of the process of discrete crack growth and necessity of converting the constitutive law curves in a multi-linear form. The steel–concrete interaction is taken into account by employing a modification of a simplified bond slip model, known from the literature. A number of numerical examples are solved, analyzed and compared with results from experimental studies. A parametric study is carried out in order to reveal the specific features of the theory and to assess the potential of the numerical method, nonlinear technique and constitutive modeling employed.