Influence of the linearization of the yield surface on the load-bearing capacity of reinforced concrete slabs

This paper will demonstrate that the degree of linearization of the yield surface has a major impact on the bearing capacity, when the lower bound theorem of ideal plasticity for reinforced concrete slabs combined with linear mathematical programming methods are applied. The finite element descretization is applied and it is shown that the influence of a refinement of the yield surface linearization may be more important than the refinement of the geometrical mesh.