Design-oriented Elastoplastic Analysis of Solid Reinforced Concrete Structures Using Convex Optimisation

Many bridge structures contain solid reinforced concrete members subjected to complex three-dimensional stress states. The design of these members often relies on conservative hand calculation methods, leading to designs with excessive material usage and thereby increased monetary cost and environmental impact. This paper introduces a design-oriented modelling approach for solid reinforced concrete structures using convex optimisation. The approach uses a stress-based finite element formulation applying the principle of minimum complementary energy and will be used in this paper to deal with structures with a simulated elastoplastic material model. The method is validated on a deep beam and tested on a pile cap with a complex internal stress state, demonstrating the effectiveness in the serviceability analysis of solid reinforced concrete structures.