Flexural Response of RC Beams Reinforced with HSS bars using FEA

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical investigation of the flexural behavior of concrete beams reinforced longitudinally with high-strength steel (HSS) bars. Commercial software package ABAQUS was used to develop a nonlinear finite element (FE) model capable of accurately simulating the flexural behavior of concrete beams reinforced with HSS bars. The results obtained from the FE model were initially verified through comparisons with previously published experimental results. This paper investigates the flexural performance of beams with single and doubly reinforced sections and cast with concrete having compressive strength of 50 and 80 MPa. Parametric study aiming at evaluating the effect of varying the amount of longitudinal reinforcement in concrete beams with concrete compressive strength of 50 and 80 MPa was carried out. The results indicated that, regardless of the concrete compressive strength, increasing the amount of longitudinal reinforcement in the tension side lead to considerable increase in the flexural capacity. However, increasing the longitudinal reinforcement to a certain limit at which section type is approaching compression-controlled mechanism reduced the ductility. The effect of varying the amount of longitudinal compression reinforcement on the load carrying capacity of the sections considered was insignificant.