Pseudodynamic testing and nonlinear substructuring of damaging structures under earthquake loading

Pseudodynamic or PSD testing with substructuring technique is a highly relevant approach to capture the dynamic failure mechanisms of a structure. It allows one to realistically test a structure subject to an earthquake with accessible experimental equipment. We propose in this paper to apply such a PSD testing with substructuring to damaging structures, where the nonlinear behaviour is represented by an advanced damage model: an anisotropic damage model, initially proposed for monotonic applications, is upgraded in order to asses cyclic and seismic loading. The keypoint is the macroscopic representation of the microcrack closure (the cracks generated in tension close in compression) and its effect on stiffness recovery. The chain–PSD testing/advanced damage model/experimental measure setup based on image correlations–is successfully used for the study of the failure of a reinforced concrete frame structure.