A Simplified Energy Model Approach for the Determination of Long-Term Crack Width in Reinforced Concrete Elements

The deformation of reinforced concrete elements is a main consideration during the design process due to its importance for the service life of structures. Deformation (deflections and cracking) control has an effect at both the design and construction stages. The determination of crack width based on simple code provisions, leads to conservative results, due to many affecting parameters being unknown. The exact determination of the crack width is a very complicated process with significant computational load. In the current paper, a simplified procedure is proposed for the prediction of crack width at different loading stages. The procedure is based on a previously published energy model that uses the integration of the moment-curvature relationship to take into consideration the load stage and most affecting design variables. The obtained results using the simplified model are then tested against previously published experimental data and a good agreement is shown.