Implosion analysis of concrete cylindrical vessels

Concrete constitutive relations which can simulate the overall material behavior up to and including its ultimate state under general triaxial loading conditions have been developed. The proposed constitutive relations include: 1) plastic deformation considering the effect of hydrostatic pressure, 2) a dual criterion predicting the fracture of concrete in terms of either stresses or strains, and 3) post-fracture behavior of concrete. Corresponding to the constitutive model, a finite element analysis procedure has also been utilized. Based on the proposed model, implosion pressures and load-deformation responses of several concrete vessels were obtained. The numerical results correlate quite well with the experimental data when the dual-criterion was used.