Impact experiments with reinforced concrete plates of different thicknesses

Abstract

A test series of 15 reinforced concrete (RC) plates was carried out in the drop tower of the Otto Mohr Laboratory of Technische Universität Dresden. In these tests, the structural behavior of RC plates of different thicknesses was investigated under impact load. Within this report, the investigated specimen and the used drop tower facility are introduced. Furthermore, the experimental program and the experimental results will be shown. Following, the influence of different thicknesses and impact velocities are presented and discussed. The different damage levels of the RC plates influenced by the specific variation of the impact speed form a very good basis for further investigations in this scientific field. Especially the view into the plates, which was made possible by saw cuts, extends the understanding of the impact behavior considerably. K E Y W O R D Sdamage description, drop tower, impact loading, reinforced concrete | INTRODUCTIONThe investigation of the impact behavior of concrete and reinforced concrete (RC) has long been a focus of research. In order to understand, describe, and simulate plain concrete under high load rates, numerous investigations have been carried out worldwide, see, for example, Abrams 1 , Bischoff and Perry 2 , or Zielinski et al. 3 , and also at our institute, see, for example, Curbach 4 , Quast and Curbach 5 , Mosig and Curbach 6 , and Häußler-Combe et al. 7 Investigations concerning the bond behavior of the reinforcement steel are also known, for example, References 8,9 . However, the understanding of the material behavior is just the first step to better understand the effects which occur on the structural level of RC.

Reinforced Concrete Plates under Impact Load—Damage Quantification

“…This trend continues until the impactor velocity nears the perforation velocity. This can be assumed to be between 53.9 m/s and 61.4 m/s for the examined RC plates, see [ 15 , 17 ]. In the range of this perforation velocity, the degree of damage decreases.…”

“…The upper and lower reinforcement layers were identical. The concrete cover was 25 mm, see Hering et al [ 15 ] and Hering [ 17 ].…”

“…With the lowest impact velocity, the specimen was only slightly damaged. This damage, which was determined purely subjectively, was increased by raising the impact velocity until the plate was perforated by the impactor, see Figure 3 and [ 15 ].…”

“…The support conditions of the plates during the experiment are shown schematically in Figure 4 . A four-point support was used [ 15 , 17 ].…”

“…The impact load was applied by a steel impactor with a diameter of 100 mm, a length of 380 mm and a weight of 21.66 kg. The impactor nose was flat [ 15 , 17 ]. The impactor was accelerated by compressed air.…”