Computer simulation of pullout tests of headed anchors in a state of plane-stress

Abstract

Computer analyses of the pull-out tests of anchors embedded in concrete were performed for the Round Robin Analysis of the RILEM Committee on Fracture Mechanics of Concrete. The test specimens are concrete plates with steel anchors in the plane stress state. The geometry of the specimen is varied in order to study the size effect and the shape effect. The investigation is performed by means of the computer simulation of the tests. Only limited comparison with the real laboratory experiments is used to verify the results. The computer simulation is made by means of the program SBETA, which was developed by the authors and is based on the smeared crack approach and the nonlinear elasticity. Two crack models were used to analyze each specimen: rotated crack model and fixed crack model. In total 36 computer simulations were made. Each simulation provided the load-displacement diagram of the anchor and a sequence of crack patterns, deformed states and stress states. A size effect law in the exponential form was derived from the computer experiments.