Mechanism analysis for scaling effect on the impact behaviors of RC beam: From material properties to component response

Scaling effects on the resistance response of RC components have been found under impact, penetration, and blast. To investigate the mechanism and origins of the scaling effect on the impact response of RC beams, numerical models of geometrically similar beams were established on the ABAQUS platform by considering the strain rate effect. The influence of material properties such as elasticity, plasticity, and strain rate effect on the similarity of beam impact response was accessed and analyzed. Then, the scaling effects of impact characteristics such as time history, damage, effective mass, and span length of RC beams were discussed and compared from the local and global stages. The numerical findings revealed that material properties influence the scaling effect on the impact response and strain rate distribution. The inhomogeneity of strain rate distribution and the difference in dynamic strength caused by the non-uniform scaling for the strain rate effects (DIFs) contribute to the scaling effect. In addition, the two-stage analysis results indicated that the scaling effects exhibited in the local and global responses of RC beams are not entirely consistent. As the scale factor increases, for the large-sized beams, the normalized deformation profile shrinks, the equivalent mass factor decreases, the effective span length changes slower, and the moving velocity of the plastic hinge slows down. Several impact performance characteristics, such as strain rate distribution within the beam and the damage and deformation curve of the beam, will reflect localization as the scale factor increases. It is expected that the preliminary mechanism analysis of this study could provide a reference for analyzing the impact response of prototype beams.