Linear Concrete Tension Stiffening Model for Reinforced Concrete Elements

Linear expressions for tension stiffening of concrete are nowadays widely used in software packages of structural analysis. Nevertheless, more elaborated 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 in the deformation of the structure is small but not negligible. In this sense, linear approximations are simpler and can be accurate enough. However, this linear approximation, in its present form, does not provide good results in terms of deformations at the element level. This paper proposes a linear expression of the tension stiffening supported by the experimental formulation used to predict the flexural behavior of concrete beams. A detailed example is presented.