Experimental, analytical and numerical study of reinforced concrete beams impacted by deformable bodies at low velocities

In this work, the structural behavior of Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams struck by rigid and deformable impactors at low velocities is studied. An experimental campaign consisting of three-point bending, crushing, and drop-weight tests is carried out to characterize and compare the quasi-static and dynamic behaviors of the colliding bodies. Three repetitions per configuration are tested to obtain reliable data and to check the consistency and repeatability of the proposed experiments. The results are accurately reproduced using Non-Linear Finite Element (NLFE) models to obtain insights regarding the influence of strain rates in the experiments. Furthermore, a simple analytical method that considers the deformability of both bodies through their corresponding force–displacement relationships is presented. The proposed model is observed to predict with a reasonable accuracy the contact force profiles and the deformations of both bodies in almost all of the studied scenarios, while being orders of magnitude faster than the NLFE simulations.