Investigation of impact behavior of shear deficient RC beams using nonlinear FEA

Abstract

In the scope of this study, the impact behavior of shear deficient RC beam was investigated by performing numerical analysis based on the finite element method and comparing it with the experimental results. The explicit dynamic analysis of 27 shear-deficient RC beams of which experiments were previously carried out by one of the authors has been conducted by utilizing ABAQUS software, and also it is aimed to establish the reasonable finite element model that is accordant with the experimental results. The variables of the experimental study were the ratio of longitudinal reinforcement on the tension side of the member, the shear-span ratio, and impact velocities. The time histories of impact load, reaction forces on supports, and the displacements measured from the mid-span of the beams were recorded during the experiments, and the energy absorption capacities of RC beams were evaluated based on an area enclosed by the impact load vs. displacement loops. It is investigated and interpreted to what extent the proposed nonlinear finite element method could be successful for analyzing the values of impact load and mid-span displacements and to what extent the explicit dynamic solution technique could be successful for simulating experiments. It is found that the maximum differences between the results obtained by numerical analysis using ABAQUS and the experimental results are 7% and 14% for impact loads and mid-span displacements, respectively.