Experimental and numerical study of structural effects of anisotropic frost damage on reinforced concrete beams

Unlike plain concrete, frost damaged reinforced concrete (RC) exhibits anisotropy because of the presence of reinforcing bars. The resultant mechanical responses are influenced strongly by the loading direction. Therefore, to ascertain the mechanical behavior up to failure of RC beams subjected to freeze-thaw action and subsequent mechanical loading, anisotropic damage models of frost-damaged RC elements were assessed in this study using three-dimensional nonlinear finite element analysis (3D-NLFEA), which revealed that the anisotropic damage affected load-deflection responses and played a key role in failure modes that differed from those of an undamaged RC beam. This paper is the English translation from the authors' previous work [Kanazawa, T., Sato, Y. and Takahashi, R., (2019). "Frost damage of reinforced concrete beams and analytical evaluation of its static failure behavior." Journal of Japan Society of Civil Engineers. Ser. E2 (Materials and Concrete Structures), 75(4), 293-307. (in Japanese)].