Linear Concrete Tension Stiffening Model for Reinforced Concrete Elements

Nowadays, linear expressions for the tension stiffening of concrete are widely used in structural analysis software packages. Never-theless, more complex expressions of tension stiffening available in the literature have been used successfully in the past. The use of linear approximations is justified since the influence of the tension stiffening effect on the deformation of a structure is small but not negligible. Therefore, linear approximations are simpler and can be accurate enough. However, the linear approximation, in its present form, does not provide good results in terms of deformations of reinforced concrete beam-column elements. This paper proposes a linear expression of tension stiffening supported by the experimental formulation used to predict the flexural behavior of concrete beams. A detailed example is presented.