Seismic behavior of reinforced concrete structures design and testing of a nonlinear theoretical model

This study presents the tests of a reinforced concrete beam conducted by the Department of Mechanical and Thermal Studies at the Centre d'Etudes Nucleaires de SACLAY, France. The actual behaviour of nuclear power plant buildings submitted to seismic loads is generally non linear even for moderate seismic levels. The non-linearity is specially important for reinforced concrete type buildings. To estimate the safety factors when the building is designed by standard methods, accurate non linear calculations are necessary. For such calculations one of the most difficult point is to define a correct model for the behaviour of a reinforced concrete beam subjected to reversed loads. For that purpose, static and dynamic experimental tests on a shaking table have been carried out and a reasonably accurate model has been established and checked on the tests results