Closed form ultimate strength of multi-rectangle reinforced concrete sections under axial load and biaxial bending

The analysis of prismatic members made of reinforced concrete under inclined bending, especially the computation of ultimate loads, is a pronounced non-linear problem which is frequently solved by discretizing the stress distribution in the cross-section using interpolation functions. In the approach described in the present contribution the exact analytical stress distribution is used instead. The obtained expressions are integrated by means of a symbolic manipulation package and automatically converted to optimized Fortran code. The direct problem-computation of ultimate internal forces given the position of the neutral axis-is first described. Subsequently, two kinds of inverse problem are treated: the computation of rupture envelops and the dimensioning of reinforcement, given design internal forces. An iterative Newton-Raphson procedure is used. Examples are presented.