DESARROLLO DE UNA APLICACIÓN PARA LA VERIFICACIÓN DE COLUMNAS DE CONCRETO REFORZADO MEDIANTE: DIAGRAMAS DE INTERACIÓN P-M – ESTRUCTURAPP

Abstract

This undergraduate thesis presents the development of ESTRUCTURAPP, a computational application built in MATLAB for the verification of reinforced concrete column designs subjected to uniaxial and biaxial flexocompression. The central objective of the tool is to allow civil engineering students to confirm whether a column cross-section, previously dimensioned under the criteria of the Colombian Seismic Resistant Construction Regulation NSR-10 and the ACI 318-19 code, meets the normative strength requirements through the construction and interpretation of the P-M interaction diagram.

The mathematical model is based on the Navier-Bernoulli plane sections hypothesis, strain compatibility, Whitney's equivalent rectangular stress block, and the elastoplastic constitutive relations of steel reinforcement. Using these principles, the application calculates the unit strains in each reinforcement bar, constructs the complete capacity envelope Pn–Mn and its reduced version φPn–φMn, and plots the structural demand point (Pu, Mu) on the diagram, allowing the user to visually verify whether the column meets normative requirements.

The tool was validated by comparing ESTRUCTURAPP results against manually computed solutions, obtaining differences below 5% in all evaluated cases, confirming the reliability of the implemented model. ESTRUCTURAPP is conceived as an open-access academic support tool that complements traditional learning by bringing students closer to the graphical and numerical interpretation of the structural behavior of reinforced concrete columns.