Abstract:

Introduction:
The presence of reinforced concrete (RC) as a construction material is ubiquitous in structures. According to this, master degrees related to civil engineering include subjects whose main objective is the design of RC structural elements, such as beams, columns, slabs, footings, etc. On the other hand, the teaching practice of these subjects is characterized by its lengthy exercises, due to a considerable amount of calculations that need to be performed. In practical exercises, it is demonstrated that a certain amount of mathematical operations distract the attention of the students from the main concepts that lies beneath. This situation is always undesirable, mostly in the first stages of an engineering-related subject. To partially alleviate this situation, we propose the combined use of virtual laboratories (VL) in the teaching of a RC subject. Since has many concepts that would admit a VL implementation, we focus particularly in the stress-strain relationships of its constituent materials, i.e., steel and concrete.

Methodology:
In this paper, we have implemented the stress-strain relationships of steel and concrete in two separated VL. Given a strain value in a certain point of a RC member, the stress value in the material in that point can be obtained by using the corresponding VL. These applications have been implemented using MATLAB package and hosted in an on-line institutional repository of teaching materials.

Relevance:
We present two VL as supporting tools to the teaching and learning process. They can help teachers to develop a numerical exercise in a lighter way. On the other hand, they allow the students to assimilate rapidly the main concepts behind each exercise. These VL are easily accessible through a web browser and made available to the university community, so the students can use them to support their academic tasks.

Results:
The presented VL have proven their usefulness in the subject in which they have been tested. The learning time of the VL spent by the students has been negligible. From the point of view of the teacher, they have permitted a more enjoyable class and have contributed to gain insight of the concepts practiced in the exercises.

Keywords:

Virtual laboratory, reinforced concrete structures, on-line learning