INVESTIGATION OF MESH SIZE EFFECT IN NONLINEAR FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS

In this study, finite element mesh size effect on load carrying capacity of the reinforced concrete beams has been investigated. Firstly proper material models and finite element methods are determined for beams which are obtained from experimental studies. Afterwards; beams are modeled with proposed methods in two dimensions and non-linear finite element analysis are executed. RC beams which are subjected four-point loading are analyzed using the commercial finite element program, ABAQUS. It is accepted that two or three times of maximum aggregate size for mesh size gives satisfactory results when modeling concrete beams. Various numerical FE analyses are carried out to investigate the accurate mesh size for verifying RC beam experiment under four point loads.