Modeling of reinforced concrete through SPH‐FE coupling and its application to the simulation of a projectile's impact onto a slab

Abstract

AbstractThe analysis of structural behavior under extreme solicitations such as crash and impact requires the modeling of fragmentation, rupture and large deformation phenomena. The use of finite elements (FE) in this type of problem is not easy, mainly because this approach relies on a mesh that cannot handle distortions and tearing well. In order to circumvent this difficulty, methods termed ‘meshless’, such as the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method, have been devised. These methods enable one to undertake numerical simulations involving the extreme types of behavior mentioned above. Thus, for example, the simulation of a projectile's impact onto a reinforced concrete slab can be easily envisaged. One's wish to carry out predictive calculations raises the question of the modeling of the reinforcement. It is tempting to use an SPH formulation for the slab and a beam FE formulation for the reinforcement. Therefore, the problem boils down to the coupling of two structures modeled with two different formulations: the slab with an SPH formulation, and the reinforcement with a FE formulation. This paper presents the development of a theory based on the use of Lagrange multipliers, which enable the coupling of a structure modeled with SPH with a structure modeled with beam FEs. This theory was implemented into the EUROPLEXUS fast dynamics software, then validated through simple test cases. Finally, the program was applied to the simulation of a projectile's impact onto a reinforced concrete slab.The aim of this work is to propose an alternative method to smeared representations of reinforcements in concrete. Indeed, smeared representations of reinforced concrete are widely used but do not represent explicitly the reinforcement, which is fundamental to study impacts onto the rebars and phenomenons such as separation of the reinforcement from the concrete or fracture of the rebars. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.