ECCOMAS Congress 2016

VII European Congress on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences and Engineering

M. Papadrakakis, V. Papadopoulos, G. Stefanou, V. Plevris (eds.)
Crete Island, Greece, 5–10 June 2016

MOMENT-CURVATURE DIAGRAMS FOR EVALUATION OF

SECOND ORDER EFFECTS IN RC ELEMENTS
H. Barros1, C. Ferreira1, and T. Marques2
1
INESCC – Department of Civil Engineering, University of Coimbra

Rua Luís Reis Santos - Pólo II da Universidade, 3030-788 Coimbra, Portugal

{hbarros,Carla}@dec.uc.pt
2
COBA, Consultores de Engenharia e Ambiente, S.A. Av. 5 de Outubro, 323, 1649-011 Lisboa

Keywords: Reinforced concrete, moment-curvature, stiffness, EC2, beam deflection.

Abstract. The analytical (M-1/) relationship is obtained with Mapple software consider-
ing the static equilibrium equations (of bending moment M and axial load N) and compat-
ibility of deformations (between steel and concrete) at the section level [1]. The present
work uses a closed form of the relation (1/-M) with the Ramberg and Osgood equation
[2], representing in a unique way the stages of: cracked concrete with steel in elastic
range and cracked concrete with steel in the plastic range. To consider uncracked con-
crete in the global member behaviour the model of the European code [3] is used. The
numerical results consist of moment curvature diagrams of reinforced concrete sections
and load – deflection curves of reinforced concrete beams.
 H. Barros, C.Ferreira and T. Marques

1 INTRODUCTION
In structures composed of linear elements where one dimension is more significant than
the others, such as beams and columns, a relation can be derived between the bending mo-
ment and the curvature ( 1⁄) at the section level, and the deformation produced by the
tangential stresses disregarded. This moment ( ) - curvature ( 1⁄) relation takes the form of
a differential equation for the transverse displacement of the structural member in an homo-
geneous material.
In composite beams made of materials with different behaviour in tension and compression,
such as concrete, and steel reinforcement, the ( ) - curvature ( 1⁄) relation varies with the
section along the structure. Several models to predict the global behaviour of these structures
are used and described next.
Many ( - 1⁄) equations are known such as the trilinear relationship, presented by Zheng
et al [4], to predict flexural sectional response of beams with reinforced polymer rebars.
In the work of Torrico [5] the linearization of the moment vs curvature is used to obtain the
pos-critical behaviour of high strength reinforced concrete (RC) columns, taking into account
the geometrical and material nonlinearities including the confining effect of the transversal
reinforcement. The values obtained are compared to experimental results of columns with dif-
ferent slenderness and reinforcement ratios.
The use of a moment-curvature law modelling the material softening due to cracking in
reinforced concrete beams is made in Challamel et al [6]. Ponaya et al [7] uses this law to
represent, in a simplified unidimensional approach, the local buckling phenomenon in
steel thin-walled structures.
In Picandet et al [8] the moment-curvature relation is also used to model the geomet-
rical softening due to the global instability in compressed columns. In this paper, a biline-
ar moment-curvature relation is considered with a first branch representing the elastic
behaviour and a second branch the inelastic. Three alternatives in the inelastic branch are
available: hardening, softening and perfect plastic. All of them are considered in the de-
velopment of the analytical solution of the differential equation governing the lateral de-
flection of the column, clamped at the base and free at the top, where an axial load is
applied. Load-deflection diagrams [8] are obtained considering simultaneously geometric
and material non-linearities.
In Casandjian et al [9], the moment curvature relation at the section level is obtained using
tension- deformation constitutive laws.
In the work of Caglar et al [10], the moment curvature diagrams are used to obtain the
flexural stiffness of reinforced concrete columns with circular cross section, to be used in ge-
netic programming with artificial intelligence. This technique is also applied by Cevik et al
[11] and Chen et al [12].
According to European codes [3,13], the tension stiffening effect, due to the contribution
of the concrete between cracks to the global behaviour, can be considered by two different
ways: approaching the average strain (or curvature or stiffness) or using an effective area of
concrete, which is equivalent to consider a mean modulus of elasticity. Both procedures use
the concept of average constitutive laws of cracked concrete and reinforcing steel and are pre-
sent in Vecchio et al [15] and Vecchio [16].
Kwak et al [17] use the average strain concept, considering the contribution of fully
cracked and uncracked concrete and also a model to approach the bond-stresses between steel
and surrounding concrete.
 H. Barros, C.Ferreira and T. Marques

Kaklauskas et al [18] use the moment-curvature diagrams of RC beams obtained with

ATENA software in a nonlinear finite element analysis, dividing the cross section into layers
with perfect bond between them.
Márquez et al in [19] analyse the moment-curvature relations of concrete piles, with circu-
lar cross sections and different arrangement of reinforcement, such as the symmetric and the
asymmetric, and compare them to Eurocode 2 [3] and CEB-fib Model Code 2010 [20] pro-
posed expressions.
In the present paper the analytical ( - 1⁄) formulation takes into account concrete crack-
ing under tension, linear elastic law in compression and steel with either elastic or plastic be-
haviours. Considering all these aspects the ( - 1⁄ ) relation becomes nonlinear. The
identified three stages are: a) uncracked concrete; b) cracked concrete and steel in the elastic
domain and c) cracked concrete and steel in the plastic domain. The end of stage c) corre-
sponds to the ultimate design, solved for multi-rectangular concrete sections in [14]. In this
paper an approximation with Ramberg and Osgood equation of the inverse relation, that is
the curvature ( 1⁄) as a function of the moment ( ), is made. This procedure delivers a
unique equation of the two concrete cracked stages within the section level, representing
the behaviour of cracked sections. In order to obtain the global behaviour of the cracked
member, both cracked and uncraked zones must be considered (usually named tension sof-
tening effect). The average curvature [3] is used in the present work.
The examples presented show the application of the developed model to obtain the
moment-curvature of a reinforced concrete sections and the load deflection of reinforced
concrete beams. The results are in good agreement with experimental and analytical re-
sults of other authors.

2 REINFORCED CONCRETE MEMBER BEHAVIOUR

The overall behaviour of the reinforced concrete member is ruled by the uncracked and
cracked zones. The basic assumptions for singly reinforced concrete rectangular cross sec-
tions, defined by the width , height , concrete cover (distance between steel centroid and
concrete border), steel tension area and steel compression area ´ (see Fig. 1), are de-
scribed in the next sections.

2.1 Basic assumptions

The fundamental assumptions of the behaviour of flexural beams are [3]:
- the cross section remains plane after the deformation, see Fig.1;
- full adherence between concrete and steel;
- the concrete stress-strain constitutive law is linear elastic in compression and in
tension, with elasticity modulus ; in tension the maximum stress in concrete is ;
when the tensile concrete stress attains the section is considered cracked, and the global
behaviour of the member depends on both cracked and uncracked sections;
- the steel stress-strain relation is linear elastic, with elasticity modulus , up to the
design yield stress . After this value a constant stress of is considered (plastic do-
main).
Considering the concrete linear elastic relation in compression is an approximation allowed
in EC2 [3] for service loads, for stress less than 0.4 ( is the mean compressive strength).
As a matter of fact the existence of cracked sections influences more the beam deflection in
service, than the simplification due to the linear relation in the compressed concrete. Usually,
the structures ductility is an important issue in concrete design, meaning that their collapse
 H. Barros, C.Ferreira and T. Marques

occurs with steel rebars in the plastic domain. The possibility of the steel plastification is
considered in the present model.

Figure 1: Geometrical definitions of the cross section and deformation.

2.2 Overall behaviour of the cracked member

The overall behaviour of the cracked member after the appearance of the first crack is
divided into the zones: before the appearance of the first crack; formation of the cracks
and the stabilized cracking, see Fig. 2a,b) [3]. In the figures state I is the ( - 1⁄) evalu-
ated in an uncracked section and State II0 in a cracked section, both cases under pure
bending. Under axial load and bending moment the curvatures are termed 1/ρ1 and 1/ρ2 in
states I and II, respectively.

Figure 2a): Idealized moment curvature behaviour for bending moment [3].

In state I the curvature for pure bending or bending moment and axial load is consid-
ered the same [3]. The curvature for state II, bending moment and axial load, can be relat-
ed to the curvature in pure bending, by . The curvature is caused by the
bending moment due to the axial force N acting at the centre of gravity of the total section
in State I, being displaced from the centre of gravity of the cracked section.
The mean curvature , that takes into account the contribution of the concrete between
cracks, is given by, see [3]:
1 (1)
 H. Barros, C.Ferreira and T. Marques

Figure 2b): Idealized moment curvature behaviour for bending moment and axial load [3].

The parameter ζ in pure bending or with bending moment and axial load is a function of:
the maximum moment before cracking, Mcr; the resultant moment M at the centroid of the
concrete section (middle height in the rectangular section); the adherence between steel and
concrete defined by β . According to CEB Manual [13] ζ is given by:

1 if N=0 (2a)

´
´
1 ´ if N 0 and (2b)

´
1 if N 0 and (2c)

The moment M´ is the intersection of the moment curvature for state I and II, as repre-
sented in Fig. 2b).

2.3 Static equations

The static equations at the section reveal the axial load by the integration of normal
stresses in concrete and steel , and the bending moment by a similar procedure,
that is:
 (3)

 (4)

where:
– area of active concrete;
, , – concrete, steel stress at coordinate;
– steel area;
and – distances to the centroid (see Fig.1);
G – centroid of the section
 H. Barros, C.Ferreira and T. Marques

3 MOMENT CURVATURE EQUATIONS AT SECTION LEVEL

The assumptions exposed in 2.1 lead to three stages of the reinforced concrete section
and corresponding equilibrium equations (3) and (4), that are:
a) uncracked concrete with the steel in the elastic range;
b) cracked concrete with the steel in the elastic range;
c) cracked concrete with the steel in the plastic domain;
In each stage the procedure is the following:
1- compute the axial load ;
2- the axial load value determines the neutral axis position ;
3- the bending moment ∗ that equilibrates the axial load is found at the neutral axis or at
middle height .
Section 3.1 presents the moment-curvature relation for uncracked reinforced concrete sec-
tion. Section 3.2 resumes the expressions for , , or ∗ after concrete cracking. Using
the methodology described in section 3.3 a moment-curvature relationship can be ob-
tained. A closed form of the (1/) relationship is derived by the use of Ramberg and
Osgood equation and Goldberg Richard power representation, as presented in section 4.
Finally, the global behaviour of the member with the contribution of the stiffness due
to the concrete between cracks is achieved.

3.1 Uncracked concrete

Before concrete cracking, the steel is in the elastic domain and the section is homogenized
in concrete through the factor ⁄ , multiplying the steel area [3]. The moment ∗ ver-
sus curvature 1⁄ relation is given, in function of the neutral axis position, , by:
∗
1
´  (5)
2
The neutral axis in the elastic domain is located at the centroid of the section, defined
by the particular position G, given through the equation:
´  (6)
2
´
The maximum moment before cracking, termed , that is the moment for which the
maximum tensile stress in concrete is equal to the mean value of the tensile strength, ,
and the corresponding curvature 1⁄ are the following:
; 1⁄  (7)
´

With:  

´
2 (8)
and  

(9)
12
 H. Barros, C.Ferreira and T. Marques

The parameter is computed by substituting the maximum moment before cracking,

, into equation (2). The moment-curvature relation in the uncracked concrete, state I, is
then written as follows:

1
 (10)

3.2 Cracked concrete

In the reinforced concrete section, after the cracking of the concrete under tension, two
stages are considered: the tension steel in the elastic range or in the plastic. The com-
pression steel ´ and the concrete are considered elastic.

3.2.1 Cracked concrete and steel in the elastic range

At the initial stage, when the steel is yet in the elastic range, the static equation (3) is
rewritten:
´
 (11)
2

Solving equation (11) in terms of , the neutral axis position is given by:

/
´ ´ 2  (12)
´

Equation (4) than becomes:

∗
´  (13)
3

3.2.2 Cracked concrete and steel in the plastic range

After the concrete cracking but with steel in the plastic range, that is the stress equal
to , equations (11, 12 and 13) become:
1 1
´ (14)
2
/
´ ´ 2 ´  (15)

∗
1 (16)
´
3

The bending moment evaluated at the centroid of the concrete section (middle height)
is:
∗ (17)
2
The equations (11) to (17) lead to the representation in Fig. 3 for a particular section
and material properties (defined in the numerical results) and variable axial load (
0; 100; 500 1000 ), denoting that 1/ / . In Fig. 3 the elastic range both in
 H. Barros, C.Ferreira and T. Marques

concrete and steel is not represented and the curves are truncated for the curvature corre-
sponding to the ultimate compressive strain attained in the concrete. This analytical for-
mulation, representing the two non-linear stages of the cracked concrete section, will be
approximated by a single relation described in the next section.

500
M (kNm)
450
400
350
N=100 kN
300 N=0 kN
250
200
150
100
50
1/
0
0 0,02 0,04 0,06 0,08 0,1 0,12
Figure 3: Analytical (M-1/) relationship for a particular case.

3.3 Stiffnesses considered at elastic and plastic steel

The equivalent elastic stiffness , point 1 in Fig. 4, is considered to represent the last
stage of cracked concrete with steel in the elastic range. This means that point 1 is the end
of the steel in the elastic zone. Its value is the derivative of:

(18)

The equivalent plastic stiffness is computed at the point 2 with the corresponding
bending moment, , given by the derivative:
(19)

The moment corresponds to the maximum bending moment obtained for the ulti-
mate limit state (conventional rupture for bending moment with or without axial force
[20]). The moment represented in Fig. 4, is established by:
1
(20)
 H. Barros, C.Ferreira and T. Marques

Figure 4: General moment-curvature diagram for cracked concrete.

4 M- OR -M REPRESENTATIONS OF CRACKED SECTIONS

The representation of the moment curvature in a unique closed form can be obtained by
two ways [2]: the curvature 1/ in function of the moment  using the Ramberg - Osgood
equation and the moment  in function of curvature 1/ using the Goldberg Richard
power representation. Both closed forms are described next.

4.1 Ramberg - Osgood equation

A unique curvature- moment (1/) relation, after the concrete cracking, denoted by
state II, can be written using the Ramberg-Osgood equation as follows [2]:

1
(21)

In the last equation n is an integer number of the Ramberg-Osgood adjustment and is a

parameter evaluated by:

(22)

Fig. 5 compares the moment-curvature diagrams by Ramberg-Osgood equation with dif-

ferent values of the parameter n(=6, 20, 40) and the analytical curves for variable axial load
applied in the particular section defined in the numerical results.
 H. Barros, C.Ferreira and T. Marques

350 M(kNm) 350 M(kNm)

300 300
250 250
200 200
N=0 kN N=100 kN
150 150
n=6 n=6
100 n=40 n=40
100
n=20 n=20
50 Analytical
50 Analytical
1/ 1/
0 0
0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5 0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5

450 500 M(kNm)

M(kNm)
400 450
350 400
300 350
300
250
N=500 kN 250 N=1000 kN
200
n=6 200 n=6
150 n=40 150 n=40
100 n=20 100 n=20
Analytical Analytical
50 50
1/ 1/
0 0
0 0,05 0,1 0,15 0,2 0 0,01 0,02 0,03 0,04 0,05

Figure 5: Moment-curvature diagram by Ramberg-Osgood equation.

4.2 Goldberg Richard power representation

A closed form of the (M-1/) relationship is obtained using the Goldberg Richard ex-
pression [2]. This equation gives the bending moment (M) as a function of axial load (N),
the initial (Kf) and the ultimate (Kp) flexural stiffnesses:

(23)

Fig. 6 represents this closed form applied to the same particular cases of Fig. 5.
 H. Barros, C.Ferreira and T. Marques

500 M(kNm) 450 M(kNm)

450 400
400 350
350
300
300
250
250
m=4 200 m=4
200
m=2 150 m=2
150
Analytical N=1000 kN 100 Analytical N=500 kN
100
50 50
1/ 1/
0 0
0 0,01 0,02 0,03 0,04 0 0,02 0,04 0,06 0,08

350 M(kNm) 350 M(kNm)

300 300

250 250

200 200

150 m=4 150 m=4

m=2 m=2
100 100
Analytical N=100 kN Anlytical N=0
50 50
1/ 1/
0 0
0 0,02 0,04 0,06 0,08 0,1 0 0,04 0,08 0,12

Figure 6: Goldberg Richard power representation of (M-1/ ).

4.3 Comparison of the two representations

The previous moment-curvature approximation pointed out the need of the best param-
eters (n to Ramberg-Osgood, or m to Goldberg Richard equations) to employ in a particu-
lar case. Further, there is not a parameter n, for Ramberg-Osgood representation,
satisfying simultaneously the moment and the corresponding curvature at the rupture for a
wide range of loads in opposite to the choice of the m parameter in the Goldberg Richard
equation. A comparison of the two representations is made in Fig. 7 for the same particu-
lar cases of Fig. 5, considering in the Ramberg-Osgood equation n=40 and in the Gold-
berg-Richard m=4. In the figure, indicated as theoretical, is the analytical relationship
composed by the equations for cracked concrete with elastic (equation (11)) and plastic
steel (equation (17)). In this figure the uncracked concrete, for curvatures between 0 and
(1/)cr and moments between 0 and Mcr, is not represented, that is, only the cracked con-
crete is approximated by the Ramberg-Osgood and Goldberg-Richard equations.
 H. Barros, C.Ferreira and T. Marques

500
M(kNm) 450 M(kNm)
450
400
400
350
350 N=1000 kN 300
300
n=40 250
250 m=4 n=40
200 200
Analytical
150 150
100 100
50 50
1/
0 0
0 0,01 0,02 0,03 0,04 0,05 0 0,05 0,1 0,15

450 M(kNm) 350 M(kNm)

400 300
350
250
300
250 200
N=0 kN
200 150
n=40 n=40
150
m=4 100 m=4
100 Analytical Analytical
50
50
1/ 1/
0 0
0 0,05 0,1 0,15 0,2 0 0,05 0,1 0,15 0,2

Figure 7: Comparison of the moment-curvature diagrams for cracked concrete.

The preference for the Ramberg-Osgood representation is due to the fact that the pre-
sent model needs the curvature 1/ as a function of the bending moment, in order to apply
equation (1). It can be noted that the objective is to find a unique representation to the
cracked stages, 1/, because the interaction used in (1) considers automatically the
uncracked stage 1/

5 NUMERICAL RESULTS

5.1 Moment curvature diagrams: Rectangular section under variable axial load
Figure 8 shows the moment curvature diagrams obtained for a rectangular symmetric rein-
forced cross section with variable axial load ( 0, 100, 500, 1000 ).
´
The cross section geometry is: b 0,2 ; 0,4 ; 0,02 ; 0,0021 . The
material properties are : 200 ; 20 ; 400 ; 30 and
3 .
 H. Barros, C.Ferreira and T. Marques

500
450
400
350
300
250
N=1000 kN
200
N=500 kN
150
N=100 kN
100
N=0
50
1/
0
0 0,05 0,1 0,15 0,2

Figure 8: Moment- curvature diagrams of a RC section.

5.2 Moment curvature diagrams and deflection of a beam

The beam represented in Fig. 9a), is tested by Kwak et al [8]. The characteristics of the
beam are the following: b=90cm; d=27.23cm; H=30.48cm; B=15.24cm; ´=0; =0.0062;
Es=1.98106kg/cm2; Ec=2.71105kg/cm2; fy=3236kg/cm2; fc=323kg/cm2. The mean concrete
tensile strength used in the present analysis is: = /10. Figure 9b) represents the moment
curvature diagram considering: the Ramberg-Osgood equation with n=80; the tension sof-
tening interaction given from equation 1 with the definition of ζ by equation 2, consider-
ing =1.0 and 0.5; the results of Kwak et al [21] analysis made with 24 finite elements.
Figure 9c) represents the load – central deflection diagram obtained with the model (for
the two values of ) and the experimental and analytical results of Kwak et al [21].
It can be observed in the figures that the present analytical model approximates the ex-
perimental results.

Figure 9a): Loading type and cross section of beam T1MA.

 H. Barros, C.Ferreira and T. Marques

Moment (kg-cm
250000

Load (kg)
5000
4500
200000
4000
3500
150000
3000
2500 Tension softening
100000 Ramberg‐Osgood beta=1.0
2000 Tension softening
Tension softening beta=1.0
1500 beta=0.5
50000 Tension softening beta=0.5 Kwak[22]
1000
Kwak[22]
Curvature (rad/cm) 500
0 Central deflection (cm)
0,00E+00 1,00E-04 2,00E-04 3,00E-04 0
0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3

Figure 9b): Moment-curvature diagrams. Figure 9c): Load deflection diagram.

6 CONCLUSIONS
The present work presents:
 the deduction of the moment curvature diagrams for singly or doubly rein-
forced concrete rectangular sections by MAPLE software with the three stages: i)
uncracked concrete; ii) cracked concrete and steel in elastic domain; iii) cracked concrete
and steel in plastic domain;
 the representation in a unique closed form of the curvature - moment relation
using the Ramberg - Osgood equation. The moment – curvature equation with the Gold-
berg Richard power representation is also deduced and compared to the previous one;
 the analytical mean curvature of the structural member with the parameter of
EC2;
 the deflection of the cracked member by the integration of the curvatures;
 the load – deflection curve of a RC beam and the comparison to other mod-
els and experimental results.

ACKNOWNLEGEMENTS
This work has been supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under
project grant UID/MULTI/00308/2013.

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