9700401 Hsu At low load, reinforced concrete without cracks behaves as an elastic, isotropic material and its behavior is governed by two material constants: the Young's modulus E and the Poisson ration v. At service load, however, a moderate amount of cracking is expected and acceptable. Such cracking transforms reinforced concrete into a nonlinear, non-isotropic material. The biaxial behavior of post cracking membrane elements are governed by three moduli and two Poisson ratios of concrete to be determined experimentally. The research agenda also includes the development of a finite element program to predict the behavior of shear walls. This program can be used to verify the functional applicability of the five proposed mechanical properties.
