Modeling of a reinforced concrete beam subjected to impact vibration using ABAQUS

A 3D finite element (FE) analysis technique using ABAQUS is chosen to explore the dynamic behavior of a beam under impact load. A beam, for which the impact dynamic test was conducted by Kishi (2004), is selected to develop a solid element FE model. FE analyses were performed implementing ABAQUS Explicit (2004) programming tool to predict the dynamic responses under the pressure amplitude introduced by pounding a freefalling steel hammer. Thirty analyses have been executed changing different parameters, such as damping, tension and compression stiffness recovery, damage parameter-strain/displacement relations and friction coefficient to choose the best performing FE analysis model. The high accuracy definition is confirmed upon extensive examination of the calculated structural responses of the FE model comparing with the published experimental results (Kishi, 2004). Keyword: Finite element, explicit dynamic analysis, beam, impact load, damage parameter, strength recovery.