Stress Fields and Strut-and-tie Models as a Basic Tool for Design and Verification in Second Generation of Eurocode 2

Abstract

Within the frame of the revision of the Eurocode 2 for concrete structures, the section devoted to strut-and-tie design has been updated to enhance its applicability, its consistency with other sections and its ease-of-use. As a result, a number of changes have been introduced. Namely, the use of stress fields and their combination with classical strut-and-tie models has been incorporated. The changes in this section can be seen as an effort to provide a more comprehensive and general tool for designers, that can be transparently applied to any structural member with sufficient reinforcement for crack control. In this paper, the consistency between the strut-and-tie and the stress field methods is clarified as well as the fundamentals of the revision performed in Eurocode 2. The paper also elaborates how the code can be used for advanced analyses, considering in an explicit manner the compatibility of deformations to obtain refined estimates of the structural resistance.