Elastic-plastic constitutive modeling of concrete

The need to understand concrete behavior under high temperatures in the nuclear industry has become rather acute. For this purpose, a constitutive model of concrete especially developed for this severe environment is indispensable. The constitutive models of concrete at standard temperature conditions are reviewed and their advantages and drawbacks considered. A rather simple but effective approach is selected to treat concrete behavior at high temperatures. Special emphasis is devoted to the modeling of concrete up to and including failure. The derived constitutive model is checked with biaxial and triaxial benchmark experimental results. Very good agreement is obtained.