A Damage Model for the Simulation and Assessment of Structures with Degrading Element Behavior

This paper presents a hysteretic damage model for response simulation and damage assessment of structural components. The model extends existing models with its ability to describe the degrading hysteretic response of components on the basis of a continuous damage evolution. The formulation is based on classical continuum damage mechanics theory and relates any two work-conjugate variables, such as force-deformation, moment-curvature, and stress-strain. The strength and stiffness deterioration is based on two damage variables that are continuously updated based on internal energy dissipation. The model consistently accounts for cyclic degradation and damage interaction between response under positive and negative deformations. The model is validated against a collection of cyclic experiments of steel and reinforced concrete components. The simulations demonstrate that the model is able to describe well the component degrading hysteretic behavior with consistent sets of parameters. The study also highlights the ability of the model to utilize the damage variables to assess accurately the progressive degradation of components under different load histories.