A SURROGATE MODEL FOR NONLINEAR FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAM AND ITS VALIDATION

Abstract

A surrogate model is proposed for obtaining load-displacement response instead of nonlinear finite element analysis. The model is based on sensitivity analysis of the nonlinear FEM for reinforced concrete beam using a damage model, and is applicable to Monte Carlo simulation for quantifying the uncertainty in the numerical analysis. The experimental results for invstigating the variation of the fracture behavior of RC beam are first presented. After verifying that the fracture behavior observed in the experiment can be simulated by the nonlinear FEM with the damage model, the surrogate model is developed based on the sensitivity analyses for material parameters required in the finite element analysis. Finally, we validate the proposed surrogate model for an alternative of nonlinear FEM, and demonstrate that the model enables us to perform the Monte Carlo simulation for uncertainty quantification with a low computational cost.