Modelling of RC beams under impact loading

The work described in the present article focuses on investigating the effect of the rate of applied loading on various aspects of structural response (i.e. load-carrying capacity, deformation profile, crack formation and propagation, and mode of failure) exhibited by reinforced concrete beams when subjected to high rates of concentrated loading (usually associated with contact, impact and ballistic problems). For the purpose of the numerical investigation, a finite-element model suitable for both static and dynamic three-dimensional non-linear finite element analyses is employed. The proposed package, which has already been found to yield close predictions of the behaviour of a wide-range of structural concrete configurations under arbitrary loading ranging from static to seismic, is now also found to provide a realistic prediction of structural response under the high-rate dynamic actions investigated in the present work. Such an agreement between numerical predictions and experimental results is considered as evidence of the validity of the proposed model and the philosophy upon which it is based.