Our obsession with curvature in RC beam modelling

Abstract

Much of the early research in reinforced concrete dealt with steel reinforcement that was both ductile and had a very strong bond with the concrete. Hence partial-interaction, that is slip between the reinforcement and concrete and subsequently debonding, has not been a major issue. This has allowed researchers to develop the two-dimensional full-interaction moment-curvature approach to model the three-dimensional behaviour of reinforced concrete. It is shown in this paper that this two-dimensional full-interaction moment-curvature approach relies on a large amount of empirical calibration to ensure a safe design. Furthermore, it is shown that a three-dimensional partial-interaction moment-rotation approach can lead to more advanced structural mechanics models of reinforced concrete behaviours and subsequently better accuracy and more versatile models.