Computational modeling and simulations for predicting the nonlinear responses of reinforced concrete beams

PurposeThe ultimate capacity and ductility behavior of a reinforced concrete (RC) beam generally depends on its constituent material properties. This study aims to use ANSYS to accentuate the nonlinear parametric finite element (FE) simulations of RC sections under monotonic loading.Design/methodology/approachThe concrete matrix and steel reinforcement are the primary constituent materials of RC beams. The material properties such as tensile reinforcement area, tensile bars yield strength, concrete compressive strength and strain rate in tensile reinforcement at nominal strength have significantly influenced the ultimate response of RC beams. Therefore, these intensive parameters are considered in this study to ascertain their effect on the RC beam's ultimate behavior. The nonlinear response up to the ultimate load capacity and the crack evolutions of RC beams are predicted efficiently.FindingsThe parametric study reveals that increasing the tensile steel reinforcements (from Ast = 213–857 mm2) significantly improves the ultimate load capacity by 229% and yield deflections by 20%. However, it declines the ultimate deflection by 47% and ductility by 56% substantially. Varying the strain limit (?tn = 0.010–0.0015) of tensile reinforcement has proficiently increased the ultimate load-resisting capacity by 20%, whereas the ductility declined by 62%. When the concrete strength increases (from fck = 25–65 MPa), the cracking load increases profoundly by 51%, whereas the ultimate capacity has found an insignificant effect.Originality/valueThe load-deflection response plots extracted from the proposed numerical model exhibit satisfactory accuracy (less than 9% deviation) against the experimental curves available in the literature, which emphasizes the proficiency of the proposed FE model.