DROP IMPACT ON REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS

Abstract

Successful modelling of the behavior of concrete in failure can be done by analyzing the response of concrete to the loading. Behavior of concrete to dynamic loading is significantly different as compared to the static loading. Thus, it is evident to study the response of concrete under dynamic loading and then successfully utilizing the results to obtain an efficient computer model with the similar response. The main aim of this study is to model the failure of concrete element subjected to drop impact loading and verify them with the experimental results. Concrete Damage Plasticity (CDP) model has been utilized to model concrete. The parameters for the analysis of 50 MPa strength concrete were utilized from literature and modified to fit our results which were further validated by the results obtained from different drop heights of hammer during experiment. Simulations were provided with boundary conditions to replicate the experimental conditions. A quarter model was used in simulation due to symmetry in the assembly. The simulations were analyzed for reaction response along with damage and crack pattern obtained over reinforced concrete slab. The results obtained show that the Concrete Damaged Plasticity model is able to fairly predict the response spectrum of reinforced concrete slab subjected to drop impact from various drop heights. The model was able to predict both the reaction force-time response as well as damage corresponding to 0.5 m, 1.0 m, 1.5 m and 3.0 m heights. Thus, CDP model proved to be a useful tool in ABAQUS finite element package to model the problems of impact mechanics