Energy Dissipation in Flexural Failure Process of Reinforced Concrete Beams

Abstract

The energy dissipation in the flexural failure process of RC (reinforced concrete) beams was related to ductile behavior. RC beams with three reinforcement ratios (0.83%, 2.25% and 6.18%) were loaded beyond the peak load to investigate the role of reinforcement and concrete in the energy dissipation during the flexural failure process of the beams. The relationship between the plastic rotation capacity and the energy dissipation in RC beams was discussed. The amount of acoustic emissions was related to the energy dissipation. The energy dissipated in the reinforcing bars during yield Wᵢₛ was determined from the irrecoverable deformation of the reinforcement. As the reinforcement ratio increased, the energy dissipated in the concrete Wᵢc increased, and the energy dissipated in the reinforcement Wᵢₛ, decreased. After the yield of the reinforcement, Wᵢₛ increased with the beam displacement, then stopped increasing at a certain displacement, after which the energy was dissipated only in the concrete. The energy dissipation in the range from the onset of the reinforcement yielding to the end of the energy dissipation in the reinforcement was proposed as an index to evaluate the plastic rotation capacity of the steel hinging of RC beams.