Nonlinear reinforced concrete

For reinforced concrete surfaces with nonlinear material properties, you can display the results of the structural analysis in the Navigator that relate to the Nonlinear reinforced concrete.

Select Results of Nonlinear Reinforced Concrete Calculation in Navigator

The results in the Concrete Design add-on and in the nonlinear reinforced concrete follow a different convention in RFEM than the classic principal stresses from mechanical engineering. The concept is based on the following considerations:

• The concrete stress σ_c,I always represents the maximum compressive stress, as this value is of primary interest for the design – especially for the compressive stress design.
• Thus, σ_c,I also consistently matches the maximum reinforcement stress σ_s,I and crack width w_k,I on the respective opposite side of the cross-section.

This design-oriented assignment deliberately deviates from the algebraic sorting of the linear principal stresses (σ₁ ≥ σ₂), because for concrete design, the separation according to compression and tension is more relevant in practice.