Numerical Studies on Impact Response of Reinforced Concrete Beams Using FE Software

Recently, the demand for structural safety subjected to blast and impact loading has been increased. For this reason, various studies for predicting the behaviour of structures under blast and impact loading have been actively performed. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) represents a numerical method, which provides a solution to problems that would otherwise be difficult to obtain without incurring significant expenses. In the present study, the impact energy absorbed by the reinforced concrete beam under point impact load up to the formation of initial cracks and their crack pattern, under falling-weight impact was studied numerically using FE software ANSYS. Simply supported rectangular reinforced concrete beams of 100 × 100 mm in cross-section and 1200 mm overall length was used to compare the impact response of RCC beams of different reinforcement percentages (0, 0.56, 1, 1.57 and 2.26%) using FE software to assess the effect of reinforcement on the impact behaviour of reinforced concrete beams. The impact energy absorbed by the beams were increased with an increase in the percentage of reinforcement up to a certain extent. Afterwards, it decreased due to an increase in the brittleness of the beam after crossing the over reinforced limits.