Limit state analysis of reinforced concrete plates subjected to in-plane forces

A finite element formulation of rigid-plastic plates subjected to in-plane forces is developed using stress-based elements and linear programming. Thr ee elements are established, namely a triangular plate element, a bar eleme nt and a beam element. The problem is formulated as a lower bound solution, and the dual variables are interpreted as displacements. Both load and mat erial optimization are formulated. The method is applied to concrete plate structures modeling both the distributed and the concentrated reinforcement . An efficient computational scheme is used, thereby reducing the size of t he problem. Finally, numerical examples are presented to show the capabilit ies of the method. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.