Sustained Load Behaviour of Reinforced Concrete Frames

Abstract

Methods are presented for the predication of the short-term and sustained load behaviour of reinforced concrete frames. These procedures are evaluated by an experimental program using a particular structure and loading configuration. The results of two short-term tests and one sustained load test are compared with the analytic predictions. The inadequacy of classical methods of structural analysis for sustained load problems is also discussed. It is concluded that the methods using small elements, numerical integration and successive iterations can provide accurate predictions of short-term and sustained load behaviour of reinforced concrete beams.