Deflection of reinforced concrete beam under low-velocity impact loads

• Published in: International journal of impact engineering Vol. 154; p. 103878
• Main Authors: Yu, Yongjae, Lee, Sangho, Cho, Jae-Yeol
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2021; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Concrete; Concrete properties; Criteria; Deflection; Drop tests; Drop weight impact test; Empirical analysis; Empirical formula; Finite element analysis; Impact loads; Impact resistance; Low-velocity impact loading; Mathematical analysis; Parametric study; RC beam; Reinforced concrete; Weight; Drop weight impact test; RC beam; Parametric study; Finite element analysis; Empirical formula; Low-velocity impact loading
• ISSN: 0734-743X; 1879-3509
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2021.103878

•Drop weight impact test was conducted for RC beam considering various parameters.•A new empirical formula for evaluation of the maximum deflection was proposed.•The test results and the new empirical formula were validated through FE analysis. Accidents due to low-velocity impact loading are no longer uncommon these days. Accordingly, although evaluation criteria for regulating the global behavior of major structures are required to ensure sufficient impact resistance, to date the criteria have not been specified. Although several studies have suggested empirical formulae for evaluating the deflection of reinforced concrete (RC) beams from drop weight impact tests, the derivation of these formulae suffer limited impact energy ranges and few investigated parameters. To overcome these limitations, 15 RC beams were tested in this study under drop weight impact loading with five variables: impact energy, drop weight momentum, static flexural capacity, cross-section size, and concrete strength. The limitations of the previous studies were experimentally verified, and an empirical formula was newly proposed based on the test results. Furthermore, the validity of both the experimental results and our new empirical formula was analytically verified through parametric studies.