6533b7d1fe1ef96bd125cb55

RESEARCH PRODUCT

The global cracking laws for a finite-element model of no-tension material

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Abstract For perfect no-tension materials (NRT) the validity of the local stability postulate of Drucker, well known in plasticity, has been assumed so far and utilized to derive the local cracking laws, which relate cracking strain states and stress states to each other. On this base a finite-element (FE) model with suitable constitutive behaviour for the single FE is presented. Classical FE approaches enforce the cracking laws at the Gauss points of the FEs. In this work it is shown that taking into account cracking strains, suitably modelled, over the whole domain of the FE and making use of an energy approach lead to general cracking laws describing the constitutive behaviour of the whole FE. The FE analysis of masonry structures in plane stress is also presented to prove the efficiency of such a FE.