ABSTRACT
The present paper deals with modeling the strain softening behavior of concrete by means of plasticity and nonlocal damage. A stress-based local plasticity model is combined with an integral-type nonlocal damage model driven by the plastic strain. The evolution of the plastic zone is controlled by the hardening law of the local plasticity model. An exponential hardening law (decreasing hardening modulus) is used to describe the evolution of the strain profile from distributed to fully localized. The response of a bar in uniaxial tension and a compact tension test of plain concrete is modeled by the presented plastic-damage model.