Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis of Reinforced and Plain Concrete Haunched Beams Under Torsion

The present paper is focused on analysis of reinforced and plain concrete haunched beam under torsion based on non-linear finite element analysis NLFEA approach. Ten cantilever beams (five of them are steel reinforced and the rest are not reinforced) were modelled by using ANSYS software with different haunched angles to achieve the purpose of the present study. The verification was done for two prismatic beams under torsion, and two reinforced concrete haunched beams (RCHBs) under static shear load to ensure the correctness of modelling. The verification work illustrated a good agreement between the NLFEA results by using ANSYS and previous experimental work results. No specific details in torsional design for RCHB in many codes, and no/very less works have done regarding analysis or design of RCHB under torsion. The main purpose of the present work is checking the capability of using ACI-318 code in analysis and design of concrete haunched beam for torsion. The presented paper confirms the validation of using ACI-318-2019 in analysis and design of RCHB and plain concrete haunched beam PCHB as well, where the FEA results by using ANSYS were at accuracy not less than 92 % with the ACI-318-2019 results for all specimens. The torsional mechanism failure and shear stresses distribution of RCHB are discussed in the present paper.