Performance analysis of reinforced high-strength concrete beams under impact loading

An experimental investigation is conducted to analyze the performance of reinforced high strength concrete (HSC) beams under impact loading. Six reinforced HSC beams with identical dimensions and varying reinforcement ratios and span length are tested using drop-weight impact setup with a 475 kg steel weight from a clear height of 4.15 m. The experimental results have confirmed that beams with a steel reinforcement ratio ranging from 1.2% - 1.8% suffer more damage and shear cracks are more visible and wider compared to beam with a steel reinforcement ratio of 0.5%. Beams with a shear span to effective depth ratio (a/d) of 4.28 sustained more damage and wider shear cracks in comparison to beams with an a/d ratio of 3.21. A static to dynamic load ratio of about 0.5, and a static to dynamic displacement ratio of about 2 may be utilized for estimating the impact behavior of statically flexure beams.