Numerical modelling of structural concrete under impact loading

The work is concerned with an investigation of the response of structural concrete to high rates of loading. It is based on a finite-element (FE) program capable of carrying out three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear static and dynamic analyses which has been found capable of yielding realistic predictions to the response of plain- and reinforced-concrete structures under arbitrary static and dynamic actions. The FE model incorporates a 3D material model of concrete behaviour which is characterised by both its simplicity and its attention to the
actual physical behaviour of concrete in a structure. In the present context of impact loads, the most significant feature of this model is that it is based on the use of static material properties of concrete, in an attempt to elucidate whether or not the effect of loading rate can be attributed primarily to the inertia of the structure’s mass and not, as is at present widely considered, to the loading-rate sensitivity of the material properties of concrete. By comparing the ensuing analytical (numerical) results with published experimental data, it is shown that this study validates what constitutes a major departure from current thinking as regards material modelling of concrete under high rates of loading.