Modeling of reinforcement in concrete and reinforcement confinement coefficient

Reinforcement plays a significant role in the stress-strain behaviour of reinforced concrete structures, especially when the failure stage of the structures is approached. The concept of constrained and non-constrained zones of concrete due to the presence of reinforcement is developed and a reinforcement confinement coefficient is proposed. Furthermore, a flexible method for the modeling of reinforcement with arbitrary orientation and not passing the nodes of the concrete element is also proposed. Numerical examples and laboratory tests have shown that the coefficient and the modeling technique proposed by the authors are appealing.