Numerical simulation and shear resistance of reinforced concrete beams under impact

High-fidelity finite element models of drop weight tests on reinforced concrete (RC) beams conducted previously by the authors are developed and validated by comparing the numerically simulated results with measured experimental data. The validated models are then utilized to examine the influence of beam span on the impact responses of typical beams. It is shown that the beam response is characterized by localization at an early stage during the impact process. By employing a modified span to characterize this response localization, the characteristics of local shear failure mechanisms under impact are investigated. Finally, a simplified three-degree-of-freedom model considering response characteristics of both local shear and overall flexural deformation modes is proposed and shown to perform comparably to the finite element simulations. The concept of a mass-velocity interaction diagram is proposed for shear damage evaluation of RC beams under impact.