Parametric investigation of factors affecting the behaviour of prismatic concrete specimens under high loading rates of uniaxial compressive loading

Demetrios M. Cotsovos, Miljia Pavlovic

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Abstract

This study investigates the response of structural concrete to high rates of loading. The research is based on a finite-element (FE) program capable of carrying out three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear static and dynamic analyses which has been found to be 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 characterized by both its simplicity (fully brittle, with neither strain softening nor load-path dependency) and its attention to the actual physical behaviour of concrete in a structure (unavoidable triaxiality prior to local material failure which is described on the basis of experimental data of concrete cylinders under definable boundary conditions). The most significant feature of this model under impact is that it is based on the use of static material properties of concrete, since it assumes that the effect of loading rate on the specimen behaviour 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. The existing experimental data, used in order to validate the FE model presently adopted, are characterized by considerable scatter. When reviewing the details of the various experimental investigations carried out to date, it is apparent that a number of parameters (such as the static uniaxial compressive strength of concrete fc, the experimental techniques used for the tests, the shape and size of the specimens, the density of concrete, etc) vary from one experiment to another. Thus, it is the aim of this article to use the FE model in order to investigate the individual and combined effects of these parameters on the response of plain-concrete prismatic specimens under high rates of uniaxial compressive loading and, in so doing, to identify the significance of their contribution to the overall scatter that characterizes experimental data.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2006
EventFirst South-East European Conference on Computational Mechanics - Kragujevac, Serbia and Montenegro
Duration: 28 Jun 200630 Jun 2006

Conference

ConferenceFirst South-East European Conference on Computational Mechanics
Abbreviated titleSEECCM-06
Country/TerritorySerbia and Montenegro
CityKragujevac
Period28/06/0630/06/06

Keywords

  • loading-rate
  • Dynamic
  • Concrete
  • Inertia
  • Impact

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