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International Journal of Impact Engineering 37 (2010) 907–917

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Impact Engineering


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijimpeng

A simplified approach for assessing the load-carrying capacity of reinforced


concrete beams under concentrated load applied at high rates
Demetrios M. Cotsovos*
Concept Engineering Consultants, 8 Warple Mews, Warple Way, London W3 0RF, UK

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The present article proposes a simplified method for evaluating the load-carrying capacity of reinforced
Received 13 March 2009 concrete beams when subjected to concentrated impact loading at their mid-span. The method links the
Received in revised form enhancement of load-carrying capacity with the shortening of the portion (termed herein effective
10 January 2010
length) of the beam which has been found both experimentally and numerically to resist the action of the
Accepted 19 January 2010
applied load under increasing loading rates. The proposed method is validated through a comparative
Available online 7 February 2010
study of its predictions with published experimental data, as well as numerical results obtained by
means of three dimensional dynamic nonlinear finite-element analyses. The proposed method is not
Keywords:
RC beams intended to explain the rate effect; it merely uses the apparent link between ‘‘the effective length’’ and
Impact loading the imposed rate of loading as the means for the development of a simplified approach suitable for use in
Loading rate practical structural design.
Design Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction employed are too complicated for practical applications while the
results obtained are not always considered to be reliable; such
The realistic assessment of the load-carrying capacity and the results may even, sometimes, be treated with suspicion.
overall structural response of reinforced concrete (RC) beams under In view of the above, the use of NLFEDA packages in practical
impact loading is a rather difficult task. It is usually achieved, either structural analysis is rather limited and resort is usually made to
experimentally [1–5], through the use of sophisticated testing simplified numerical approaches such as those recommended by
equipment, or numerically, by employing specialised nonlinear codes of practice for the design of military structures (e.g. TM5-855
finite-element dynamic analysis (NLFEDA) software [2–8]. Experi- [9]). Such approaches usually rely on the equivalent Single Degree-
mental investigations are expensive and not always capable of Of-Freedom (SDOF) method in which a structural element (e.g. an
yielding measurements sufficiently accurate to provide a realistic RC beam or slab) is modelled as an equivalent single lumped-mass
description of the structural response as the duration of testing is spring system. The equivalence is based upon energy approxima-
extremely short (usually of the order of a few milliseconds (ms)), tions that rely on an assumed deflected shape usually corre-
the loads generated are considerably greater by comparison with sponding to the first eigenvector of the structural response, the
those imposed in the case of static testing and often result in latter being governed by either elastic or elasto-plastic laws. On the
explosive types of failure. On the other hand, the use of NLFEDA other hand, the design methods adopted are similar to those
packages may provide realistic solutions to nonlinear wave prop- employed by the conventional design methods applicable in the
agation problems in a cost-efficient manner. The use of such cases of static or seismic loading (e.g. ACI [10]), with modifications
packages allows a more detailed insight into the response of the RC implemented in order to allow for the effect of the loading rate
structural forms investigated and, furthermore, allows the inves- (strain-rate sensitivity) on the material (concrete and steel)
tigation to be extended to real structural forms which are more properties.
complex than the simple RC structural elements (e.g. RC beams or Recent numerical work [8], has shown that the rate of devel-
RC slabs) usually studied experimentally. Nevertheless, due to the opment of the internal actions and corresponding deformation
complex nature of the problem at hand the NLFEDA packages within the compressive zone of RC beams under impact loading is
very low when compared with the values considered to have
a significant effect on the mechanical characteristics of concrete.
* Tel.: þ44 2088112880; fax: þ44 2088112881. Moreover, the increase in load-carrying capacity has been found to
E-mail address: dkotsovos76@yahoo.co.uk relate with the length of the portion of the beam along which the

0734-743X/$ – see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2010.01.005
908 D.M. Cotsovos / International Journal of Impact Engineering 37 (2010) 907–917

validated through a comparison of the predicted values with both


experimentally established and numerically assessed values.

2. Experimental information

A significant number of tests have been carried out to date in


order to investigate the behaviour of RC beams under high rates of
concentrated loading [1–5]. In the majority of these tests, the load
was applied by means of a steel mass (impactor) allowed to fall
onto the specimens’ mid-span from a certain height depending
on the desired rate of loading. A simplified representation of the
experimental setup adopted is presented in Fig. 1. Special provi-
sions were usually taken in order to avoid uplift at the supports and

Fig. 1. Simplified representation of experimental setup [2].

stress waves travel up to the moment when the beam attains its
load-carrying capacity [7,8]. Hence, the increase in load-carrying
capacity that characterises an RC beam when the loading rate
exceeds a certain threshold cannot be attributed to strain and/or
stress rate effects. As these findings are in conflict with the
reasoning behind the development of the code recommended
methods, it becomes clear that an improvement of such methods
can only be achieved through an alternative, more suitable theo-
retical basis. Such an alternative theoretical basis is presented
herein and used for the development of a simplified method
capable of realistically assessing the load-carrying capacity of RC
beams under transverse load applied at a high rate.
The present article initially describes important features of
structural behaviour identified from already published experi-
mental information on the behaviour of RC beams under high rates
of concentrated loading, as well as from numerical results obtained
from NLFEDA; these features are used as the means to achieve an
insight into the causes that underlie structural behaviour. Then,
through the use of basic stress wave theory, it is shown that the
above features of structural response can form a suitable basis for
the development of a simplified method for the assessment of the
load-carrying capacity of RC beams under monotonic point loading
applied at virtually any rate. Finally, the proposed method is

70

60

50
load (kN)

40

30
Impact loading -
Experiment
20
Static loading -
Experiment
10

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
displacement (mm)

Fig. 2. Typical curves expressing the relationship between applied load and deflection Fig. 3. Deflected shapes predicted for the RC beam [2] corresponding to different levels
at the point where load is applied [2]. of transverse load applied at mid-span under (a) static loading and (b) impact loading.
D.M. Cotsovos / International Journal of Impact Engineering 37 (2010) 907–917 909

Fig. 4. Crack patterns at failure of RC beams under various rates of loading established experimentally [1].

to moderate damage in the area of contact between the steel load-carrying capacity assessed through the use of test measure-
impactor and the concrete medium (usually in the form of pads ments with the rate of loading is shown in Fig. 5. (The latter figure
made from various materials such as steel, ply and rubber) – see also includes the variation with the rate of loading of the values of
also Fig. 1. The duration of loading in these tests was extremely load-carrying capacity assessed by NLFEDA [8]).
short (of the order of some msecs) and the intensity of the applied From Fig. 2, it appears that an increase in the loading rate leads to
load increased rapidly from zero to a maximum value. In all cases an increase in load-carrying capacity and to a stiffer structural
load-carrying capacity was attained during the first contact response. On the other hand, Fig. 3 indicates that, as the rate of the
between the specimen and the impacting mass. RC beams similar to applied load increases, the portion of the RC beam mostly affected by
those tested under high rates of loading were usually also tested the application of the external load tends to shorten towards the
under static loading, for purposes of comparison. mid-span region of the specimen, where the load is exerted. In fact,
Typical results obtained from the tests are presented in Figs. a closer examination of the deflected shape of the beams reveals the
2–5. Load–deflection curves describing the response of RC beams appearance of a ‘‘discontinuity’’ point marking the start of an abrupt
under a point load exerted at mid-span for the case of two different increase of the slope of the deflected shape, with the discontinuity
loading rates – a low and a high – are shown in Fig. 2, with the moving towards the mid-span with increasing loading rate.
corresponding beams’ deflected shapes at the ultimate limit state The above observations regarding the appearance of the
being depicted in Fig. 3. Typical crack patterns of the RC beams at discontinuity point are compatible with the crack patterns depicted
failure are presented in Fig. 4, whereas the variation of the values of in Fig. 4 which clearly indicate that, as the rate of loading increases,
most cracks tend to occur within the middle region of the RC beam
around the point at which the external load is applied. However, for
12 values of the loading rate surpassing a critical threshold, cracks also
11 Hughes and Spiers - 1982 form at the upper face of the beam, around the point of slope
10 analysis discontinuity, extending nearly vertically towards the bottom face.
9 Overall, cracking appears to primarily occur within the area
8 extending between the two successive discontinuity points. Based
maxPd / maxPs

7 on the above observations, it seems that, when subjected to high


6 rates of concentrated loading at its mid-span, only a portion of
5 length Leff – extending between the two discontinuity points – of
4 the RC beam practically reacts to the imposed load, while the rest
3 suffers insignificant, if any, cracking. As the rate of applied loading
2 increases, Leff decreases, and hence the discontinuity points grad-
1 ually come closer to the mid-span [7,8].
0 An important feature of the experimental results obtained from
1 10 100 1000
testing RC beams under load exerted at a high rate is the large
load rate (kN/msec) scatter exhibited by the measured values of load-carrying capacity
Fig. 5. Experimental and numerical data expressing the variation of load-carrying shown in Fig. 5. In fact, the figure indicates that the spread of these
capacity of the RC beams with the applied loading rate (maxPd ¼ load-carrying capacity values at any given value of the loading rate is larger than their
under dynamic loading, maxPs ¼ load-carrying capacity under static loading) [1]. mean value. Although this may be partly due to the wide range of
910 D.M. Cotsovos / International Journal of Impact Engineering 37 (2010) 907–917

Fig. 6. Crack propagation (spallation and scrubbing) without pads at the impacted area [5].

values used for a number of parameters related with the experi- instances after contact with the impactor, as indicated in Fig. 6.
mental setup adopted and the specimen details (e.g. size and mass From, the figure, it can be seen that the specimen crack pattern at
of the striker in relation to the beam length; type of pad used; the 12 ms is characterised by flexural and inclined cracking that
boundary conditions; beam dimensions; grade of concrete; diam- penetrates deeply into the compressive zone, with the latter
eter, spacing and mechanical properties of the longitudinal and suffering horizontal splitting. This is a typical mode of failure which
transverse reinforcement, etc.), it is considered that the scatter corresponds to the specimen’s true load-carrying capacity [5] and it
predominantly reflects the inability of the experimental techniques appears to occur within a time space less than half the test duration
adopted to closely correlate the measured response to the actual (more than 28 ms); beyond this time of 12 ms, the experimentally
physical state and strength characteristics of the specimens: the established behaviour describes post-failure phenomena of little, if
applied load, P(t) at time t, is usually assessed from the expression any, practical importance.
P(t) ¼ m $ a(t) (where m is the mass of the impactor and a(t) the
measured value of the impactor’s deceleration after contact with 3. Numerical analysis information
the specimen), with load-carrying capacity being defined as the
maximum value of P(t), maxP. However, deceleration continues In recent years, it has been shown that NLFEDA is capable of not
well after the ‘‘true’’ load-carrying capacity is attained, with maxP only reproducing the experimentally established trends of behav-
often corresponding to a physical state of the specimen charac- iour discussed in the preceding section, but also providing insight
terised by concrete disintegration and low residual load-carrying into the causes of these trends.
capacity, the latter being provided not by beam action, but by the Some typical numerical results for the case of the RC beam
other mechanisms such as, for example, catenary action of the shown in Fig. 7 under impact loading exerted monotonically at
flexural reinforcement [8]. a constant rate at its mid-span are extracted from [8] and pre-
The above is, in fact, confirmed by the crack pattern character- sented in Figs. 5, 8 and 9. Full details of the numerical scheme
ising a specimen’s response to impact loading at various time that forms the basis of the work described in [8] can be found in

Fig. 7. Design details of the RC beams investigated and FE model adopted to model them.
D.M. Cotsovos / International Journal of Impact Engineering 37 (2010) 907–917 911

Fig. 8. Deformation profile and crack patterns exhibited by the RC beams investigated under different rates of loading as predicted by the analysis.

references [11–15]. Fig. 5 shows the variation of the beam load- indicates the variation with time of the calculated axial strain
carrying capacity with the loading rate, whereas Fig. 8 depicts rate within the compressive zone of the beam in the region
the deformation profile and crack pattern of the beam at various adjacent to that where the load is applied at the rate of 200 kN/
levels of the load applied at a wide range of rates and Fig. 9 ms. (The strain-rate values presented in Fig. 9 are calculated as
the difference of the axial displacements of two consecutive
nodes located at the mid-span region of the beam (near the
2x10E5 kN/sec upper face) divided by the distance between these nodes and the
1
time increment dt.) As discussed in the preceding section, Fig. 5
com pressive strain rate

0,5 also includes experimental values which appear to correlate


(m m /m m /sec)

realistically with their numerical counterparts. Moreover, it is


0 noted that the numerically predicted deformed shapes and crack
0 0,0001 0,0002 0,0003 0,0004 0,0005 0,0006 patterns presented in Fig. 8 are similar to their experimentally
-0,5
established counterparts in Fig. 4.
-1 However, what is most important to note is that, on the basis of
the numerical results shown in Fig. 9, the increase in load-carrying
-1,5
capacity with the rate of loading indicated in Fig. 5 cannot be
time (sec)
attributed to an increase in the material strength as assumed in
Fig. 9. Time history of compressive strain rates predicted at a critical cross-section. current codes for the design of concrete structures under high rates
912 D.M. Cotsovos / International Journal of Impact Engineering 37 (2010) 907–917

4.5
a
4 Fangerland & Larson - 1979
Malvern et al - 1985
3.5
Jawed et al - 1987

maxPd/maxPs
3
Gran et al - 1989
2.5 Ross et al - 1989
Ross et al - 1993
2
Ross et al - 1995
1.5
Gary & Bailly - 1998
1 Grote et al - 2001

0.5
1.E-06 1.E-04 1.E-02 1.E+00 1.E+02 1.E+04
strain rate (1/sec)

Fig. 10. Increase of concrete strength with increasing rates of loading as predicted (a) from SHPB test data [11–13] and (b) TM [9] in the case of uniaxial compression.

of loading (e.g. explosions, impact, etc.) [13]. This is because the The numerical predictions for the formation and extension of
calculated values of the strain rate indicated in Fig. 9 vary in the cracking, which are also presented in Fig. 8, indicate that for low
range of 1 s1 throughout the beam loading history, and loading rates (less than 1 kN/ms) cracking begins to form in the
a comparison of these values with the experimentally established mid-span region of the RC beam (where the external load is applied
variation of the concrete strength with the rate of loading shows and the bending moment is largest) at relatively low values of the
that such values of strain rate do not result in any increase of the applied load and gradually extends throughout the beam span as
concrete strength. In fact, recently published experimental infor- the applied load increases. In fact, the above cracking process is
mation such as that shown in Fig. 10a indicates that an increase in similar to that of its counterpart under static loading shown in
strength occurs for strain rates in the range of 10–1000 s1 [12–14]. Fig. 4.
It should be noted, however, that the strain-rate sensitivity An important feature of the crack distribution is that the
assumed by codes [9] to characterise concrete behaviour is cracks under static and low-rate loading form at the bottom part
considered to be significant even within the range of strain rates of the beam (where high tensile stresses develop) and extend
from 0.001 s1 to 1 s1 (see Fig. 10b) for which the test results in upwards as the applied load increases, with an inclination that
Fig. 10a show that the material behaviour practically independent depends on the cross-sectional distance from the mid-span of the
from such rates. It becomes apparent from the above, that the beam. In the case of high-rate loading, cracking seems to also
increase of the beam’s load-carrying capacity with the loading rate form at the upper part of the specimen, gradually extending
should be attributed to causes other than material strength downwards, with their location marking the position of the
enhancement. As discussed in the following, an indication of these ‘‘discontinuity’’ points discussed in the preceding section, thus
causes may be obtained by considering the deformed shapes and defining the boundaries between the portion (of length Leff) of
crack patterns indicated in Fig. 8. the beam’s span which responds to the applied load and that
The deformed shapes predicted by analysis (see Fig. 8) suggest which remains practically unaffected. In fact, such a crack pattern
that, for low rates of loading, the RC beam deforms in a manner suggests that the above portion of the beam essentially behaves
similar to that recorded in the static case (see Fig. 3), i.e., the as a beam fixed at its ends, the load-carrying capacity of which
deflected shape of the beam has a near-parabolic form. However, as determines the load-carrying capacity of the whole beam to
the rate of loading increases, the numerical predictions indicate which it forms part.
that the deflected shape progressively attains a bell-shaped form The above postulate is consistent with the time histories of the
with its convex portions near the supports gradually extending at predicted support reactions shown in Fig. 11 together with those of
the expense of the middle concave portion, whose deflection the load applied at various rates. From these time histories, it can be
becomes disproportionally large. As the loading rate continues to seen that for low loading rates (i.e. loading rates less than 10 kN/
increase beyond the value of 700 kN/ms, the portion of the beam ms) the stress waves generated, after reaching the specimen ends,
that reacts to the external load becomes extremely small and its are deflected and start to travel backwards and forwards along the
response no longer resembles that of a beam resulting in a brittle length of the beam, trapped between the beam end faces, as indi-
type of localised failure. cated by the variation of the reaction with time indicated in
D.M. Cotsovos / International Journal of Impact Engineering 37 (2010) 907–917 913

30
Load
20 Reaction
Failure
L o a d ( k N)
10

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
-10

-20
a
Time (msec)

4
Load
3 Reaction

Load (kN)
2

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
-1
Time (msec)

120
100 Load
Reaction
80
Load (kN)

60
40
20 Failure
0 b
-20 0 0.5 1 1.5
Time (msec)

50
Load
40
Reaction
30
Load (k N)

20

10

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
-10
Time (msec)

250

200 Applied Load


Reaction
150
Load (kN)

100

50

0
Failure
-50
c
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
time (msec)

Fig. 11. Time history of reaction forces predicted by the numerical investigation for different loading rates: (a) 1.2 kN/ms (low rate of loading), and (b) 25 kN/ms and (c) 240 kN/ms.

Fig. 11(a). As a result, the stress waves affect the entire specimen, practically unable to reach the supports either due to the short
adding to the complexity of the internal stress field (except, of duration of the loading procedure, when this is smaller or nearly
course, for static or quasi-static types of loading) and hence it is equal to the time needed for the stress wave to travel from the mid-
difficult to predict where the highest concentrations of stresses span to the beam ends, or due to damage associated with cracking
(and strains) develop. of the concrete and yielding of the steel which may absorb part of
In contrast with the case of low rates of loading, for the case the energy transmitted by the stress waves. In fact, the numerical
of high rates of loading (i.e. rates of loading over the value of results shown in Fig. 11b and c reveal that failure of the RC beam
10 kN/ms) the value of the support reaction is considerably less (which occurs at the end of the solution process when the stiffness
than the value of the external load. In fact, the higher the loading matrix becomes non-positive definite due to the damage sustained)
rate the larger the difference between the two values. Based on precedes the development of substantial reactions at the supports.
these observations it may be assumed that the stress waves It appears from the above, that the stress waves generated under
generated by the applied load (at the mid-span cross-section) are high rates of loading are unable to travel throughout the structural
914 D.M. Cotsovos / International Journal of Impact Engineering 37 (2010) 907–917

Dynamic load Vu
Mf1

Mf2
Vu
Leff / 2
Fs2 Fc1
a z Vu z
Inertial forces Vu

(d) Fc2 Fs1

Shear force
diagram Fig. 14. Strut-and-tie model of beam portion extending between the mid section and
(a)
the cross-section where flexural cracking develops at the upper face.

Leff /2
where G ¼ E/(2 þ 2v) is the shear modulus, E the modulus of elas-
b ticity, n the Poisson’s ratio, and r the density of concrete.
(a) (d)
For the RC beams tested by Hughes and Spiers [1] (see Fig. 7), the
values of v, G and r for the concrete (with an fc of 44 MPa) used are
Bending moment 0.2, 32 GPa and 2400 kg/m3, respectively. For these values, the
diagram velocity of the wave is found from Eq. (1) to be yw ¼ 2354 m/s and
since the distance between the point at which the external load is
imposed (mid-span of the beam) and the supports is 1350 mm, the
time needed for the wave to travel from the centre span to the
support is approximately 0.57 ms. This value is consistent with that
c predicted by numerical analysis for the time required for a reaction
to start developing at the supports (see Fig. 11).
As discussed in the preceding section Leff/2 extends between the
cross-section through the load point and the section at which
Static equivalent
a flexural crack first appears at the upper face of the beam under
the action of the dynamic load; the bending moment causing such
d cracking is approximately given by

Fig. 12. Internal actions (b and c) developing under the actual high-rate loading (a)
Mcr ¼ ftfl bh2 =6 (2)
and its simplified static equivalent (d).
where ftfl the tensile strength of concrete obtained from a flexure
element length before loss of load-carrying capacity. This localised test, and b, h the beam’s cross-sectional dimensions width and
response, which has been verified both experimentally and height, respectively.
numerically [7,8], cannot be accounted for with simplified SDOF A schematic representation of the inertia forces resisting the
modelling and is completely different in nature from that exhibited action of an impact load exerted at the mid-span section of the
under low rates of loading (e.g. earthquake loading) or static beam is shown in Fig. 12, which also shows the corresponding
loading conditions, for which the whole element responds to the shear force (Fig. 12b) and bending moment (Fig. 12c) diagrams.
applied action. This schematic representation is consistent with the Leff concept
and the experimental and numerical information discussed in the
4. Assessment of load-carrying capacity preceding sections in that, when the rate of loading exceeds
a limiting value, (a) practically no reactions (the values of the
A simplified approach for assessing an RC beam’s load-carrying reactions calculated are very small compared to the corre-
capacity may be based on the trends of behaviour discussed in the sponding load applied at a certain time) develop at the supports
preceding sections and the calculation of the velocity at which the up to the moment when the applied load reaches its peak value,
stress wave travels within the concrete medium through the use of and (b) Leff extends between the cross-sections where the
equation numerically largest negative bending moment develops. If it is
assumed that Leff is subjected to the simplified force system
yw ¼ OðG=rÞ (1) shown in Fig. 12d which corresponds to a bending moment

Fig. 13. Deformed shape of the RC beam and crack patterns which develop along its length when subjected to a concentrated load applied at a high rate of loading at its mid-span.
D.M. Cotsovos / International Journal of Impact Engineering 37 (2010) 907–917 915

Table 1 14
RC beam length (L) and reinforcement details and experimentally established values Spec: D, ρ = 2.0%
12
[1] of load-carrying capacity under static loading (r: percentage of the longitudinal test
steel in tension, rv: percentage of the reinforcement). 10

maxPd/maxPs
proposed method

Specimen L Reinforcement Reinforcement in r (%) rv (%) P 8 NLFEDA


(m) in tension Ast compression Asc (kN)
6
(mm2) (mm2)
4
A 2.7 56.52 56.52 0.28 0.17 9.6
B 2.7 100.48 56.52–100.48 0.5 0.21–0.38 15 2
C 2.7 226.08 56.52–100.48 1.13 0.12–0.21 29
0
D 2.7 401.92 56.52–226.08 2 0.14–0.21 46
1 10 100 1000 10000
E 1.6 226.08 56.52 0.5 0.20 25
Loading rate (kN/msec)

Fig. 16. Variation of the normalized load-carrying capacity (maxPd/maxPs) of beams D


diagram varying linearly between the peak values of the bending with the loading rate.
moment diagram in Fig. 12c, whereas the shear force diagram
takes the form shown in Fig. 12b, then an estimate of the load
corresponding to first cracking at the upper face of the beam concrete structures, e.g. EC2 [16]) shown in Fig. 14. Then, the
under dynamic loading is obtained by maximum shear force VU that can be transferred is given by

Mcr ¼ Pd Leff =8 (3) VU ¼ minðVD ; VF Þ (7)

As discussed in the preceding section, Leff is the distance covered with VD and VF resulting from
by the longitudinal stress wave (generated by the dynamic load) h  2 i0:5
within the time Dtc required to reach the crack forming at the upper VD ¼ FD z z2 þ Leff =2 (8)
face of the beam; hence,

Leff ¼ 2yw Dtc (4) VF ¼ 2ðMF1 þ MF2 Þ=Leff (9)

(factor ‘‘2’’ appears because the stress wave travels in opposite where VD is the vertical component of the compressive force FD that
directions from the mid-span section), with yw being obtained from can be transferred through the inclined strut, z is as defined in
_ then the value of Pd corresponding
Eq. (1). If the rate of loading is P, Fig. 14, and VF is the shear force corresponding to flexural capacity,
to cracking at the upper face of the beam is with MF1 and MF2 being the flexural capacities of the end cross-
sections of the model shown in Fig. 14.
Pd ¼ P_ Dtc (5) The compressive force FD that can be transferred through the
inclined strut is considered to be realistically assessed by
Replacing Leff and Pd with their expressions (from Eqs. (4) and (5))
in Eq. (3) and solving for Dtc results in FD ¼ fc bh=2 (10)
 0:5
Dtc ¼ 4Mcr =ðP_ yw Þ (6)

With Dtc assessed from Eq. (6), Leff is easily obtained from Eq. (4). 5. Verification
From Fig. 13, it may be noted that concrete remains uncracked –
and hence its stiffness essentially undiminished – along the diag- The verification of the method proposed for assessing an RC
onal connecting the compressive zones of the two end faces of the beam’s load-carrying capacity has been based on a comparison of
portion (of length Leff/2) extending between the mid section and the values predicted from Eqs. (8) and (9) with their experimental
the cross-section where flexural cracking develops at the upper counterparts established from tests such as those discussed in
face. It appears realistic to consider, therefore, that the shear force a preceding section. The experimental values used for the
(directly linked with the exerted dynamic load) is transferred from comparison have been obtained from Hughes and Spiers [1] who
the one end face of this portion to the other along this ‘‘stiff’’ carried out five test series on RC beams (beams A, B, C, D and E) such
diagonal path, with the mechanism of load transfer being sche- as those shown in Fig. 7. All beams had the same cross-sectional
matically represented by the strut-and-tie model (subject to the dimensions (200 mm height  100 mm width) and, with the
limitations recommended by current codes for the design of exception of beam E which had a span of 1.8 m, their length was

60
25
50 Spec: C, ρ = 1.13%
20 test
maxPd/maxPs

40 test
maxPd/maxPs

proposed method
proposed method
30 15 NLFEDA

20 10
10
5
0
1 10 100 1000 10000 0
Loading rate (kN/msec) 1 10 100 1000 10000
Loading rate (kN/msec)
Fig. 15. Variation of load-carrying capacity (maxPd) expressed in a normalized form
with respect to its static counterpart (maxPs) of the beams in Fig. 8 with the loading Fig. 17. Variation of the normalized load-carrying capacity (maxPd/maxPs) of beams C
rate. with the loading rate.
916 D.M. Cotsovos / International Journal of Impact Engineering 37 (2010) 907–917

40 60
Spec: A, ρ = 0.28%
Spec: B, ρ = 0.5%
50 test
test
30 proposed method
maxPd/maxPs

proposed method

maxPd /maxP s
40 NLFEDA
NLFEDA
20 30

20
10
10

0
0 1 10 100 1000 10000
1 10 100 1000 10000
Loading rate (kN/msec)
Loading rate (kN/sec)
Fig. 20. Variation of normalized load-carrying capacity (maxPd/maxPs) of beams A
Fig. 18. Variation of the normalized load-carrying capacity (maxPd/maxPs) of beams B with the loading rate.
with the loading rate.

2.7 m. They also had a similar reinforcement arrangement, but analysis and the proposed method) with the experimental values
differed in the amount of the longitudinal and transverse rein- for each of the specimen types investigated (see Figs. 16–20).
forcement which is given in Table 1 together with their experi- From Figs. 16 and 17, it can be seen that for specimens D and C
mentally established load-carrying capacity values under static with a value of r equal to 2% and 1.13% respectively, the predicted
loading. values of load-carrying capacity provide a close fit to their
The modulus of elasticity (ES), the yield stress (fy), and the experimental counterparts, with the predictions being slightly
ultimate strength (fu) of both the longitudinal and transverse better for beam D. This may be because the impacting mass was
reinforcement bars used were 206 GPa, 460 MPa and 560 MPa, selected so as to safeguard failure of the stronger beams D.
respectively. On the other hand, the uniaxial compressive strength However, as the same impacting mass was used for testing the
(fc) of the concrete used was approximately equal to 45 MPa. beams with the smaller amount of longitudinal reinforcement,
During the experiment, the RC beams were subjected to a point the deviation of the predicted (both numerically and by the
load at mid-span by means of a steel mass (the same for all proposed method) from the test values increases with decreasing
specimens) left to fall from a certain height, depending on the r as in Figs. 18–20.
desired rate of loading; several loading rates were considered in Finally, it should be noted that that in all cases investigated the
the test, as well as a quasi-static load application. Mild steel, predicted value of load-carrying capacity from Eq. (9) was smaller
rubber or ply pads were placed on the top face of the specimen in than that of Eq. (8), this being indicative of a flexural rather than
order to prevent or moderate local damage by the impact of the shear mode of failure.
falling mass.
Fig. 15 shows the variation with the rate of loading of the 6. Concluding remarks
values of load-carrying capacity calculated by the proposed
method, together with test values, with the values of The proposed method is empirical as its formulation is to a large
load-carrying capacity being normalized with respect to their extent based on the observation of numerical and experimental
counterparts under static loading. From the figure, it can be seen evidence describing the response of a simply supported beam
that the predicted values form a lower bound to their experi- under a concentrated load applied at its mid-span at a high rate.
mental counterparts. Such behaviour, as discussed in a preceding However, the numerical investigation of these specimens has been
section, was expected since the values established by experiment carried out by employing two different finite-element dynamic
correspond to the maximum value of the impacting mass’ analysis packages. Both packages yielded similar predictions
deceleration usually attained within the stage of the specimen’s regarding the response of the RC beams under increasing loading
progressive loss of load-carrying capacity. If the above consid- rates. These predictions agree with the experimental evidence
eration is true, then the larger deviations between predicted and presented in the paper.
experimental values should be expected to occur for the weaker In spite of the relatively small number of test results available,
specimens, i.e. those with the smaller percentage of longitudinal the good correlation between the prediction of the proposed
reinforcement. method, the numerical investigation and the experimental values
An indication of the validity of the above hypothesis may be of load-carrying capacity provides an indication of the validity of
obtained by comparing separately the predicted (by numerical the method proposed herein and, in particular, of the concepts
which underlie its formulation. More specifically, it appears that
16
the key factor of the enhancement in load-carrying capacity with
Spec: E, ρ = 0.5% increasing loading rate is the reduction of the portion – termed
14
test ‘‘effective length’’ – of the RC beam responding to the applied load
12
and not as widely considered, the stress and/or strain-rate sensi-
maxPd/maxPs

proposed method
10 NLFEDA tivity of the material properties. A better indication of the level of
8 accuracy of the proposed method may be obtained when additional
6 experimental data become available.
4
2 References
0
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