Accepted Manuscript

Experimental and numerical studies on the drop impact resistance of

prestressed concrete plates

M.A. Iqbal , V. Kumar , A.K. Mittal

PII: S0734-743X(18)30491-3
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2018.09.013
Reference: IE 3175

To appear in: International Journal of Impact Engineering

Received date: 18 May 2018

Revised date: 2 September 2018
Accepted date: 14 September 2018

Please cite this article as: M.A. Iqbal , V. Kumar , A.K. Mittal , Experimental and numerical studies on
the drop impact resistance of prestressed concrete plates, International Journal of Impact Engineering
(2018), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2018.09.013

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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Highlights
 Drop impact resistance and energy absorption characteristics of prestressed and non
prestressed concrete plates were studied
 Numerical simulations were performed for inducing prestress and for reproducing the drop
weight impact response
 Reinforced concrete plates experienced flexural and shear cracks of relatively high density
 Prestressed concrete plates developed shear cracks along with a major tensile crack in the
direction of prestress
 Numerical simulations fairly accurately reproduced the peak impact and reaction forces, and
the pattern of damage

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Experimental and numerical studies on the drop impact resistance of prestressed

concrete plates

M. A. Iqbala,1, V. Kumara, A. K. Mittalb

a Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee-

247667, India
b
Structural Engineering Group, CSIR-Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee-
247667, India

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Abstract

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The drop impact resistance and the resultant energy absorption capacity of prestressed

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concrete plates have been studied through detailed experimental and numerical investigations

and the resultant outcome has been compared with the non-prestressed concrete plates. The

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concrete plates of span, 800 mm × 800 mm, have been pre-tensioned to 10 and 20% of the

characteristic compressive strength of concrete (60 MPa), and these have been subsequently
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impacted by steel hammer (243 kg) falling at the center of span from 500 and 1000 mm

height. The impact-force, support reaction, displacement and energy absorption have been
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obtained and compared with the non-prestressed concrete targets. A numerical study has been
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performed in ABAQUS/Explicit finite element code using Holmquist-Johnson-Cook (HJC)

constitutive model for concrete, and metal-plasticity model for the reinforcement and the
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prestressing wires. Impact-force and the support reactions of the prestressed concrete plates

(20% prestress) have been found to have enhanced up to 4.5 and 38% due to improved plate
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stiffness. The displacement of the plate, on the other hand, has reduced up to 28% in
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comparison with non-prestressed concrete. The impact-force and the support reactions have

been reproduced numerically within 11.4 and 15.4% deviation, respectively. With the

increase in drop height, the punching-effect became more pronounced in both the concretes.

The reinforced and prestressed concrete plates have suffered flexure and tensile (splitting)

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Corresponding author. M. A. Iqbal
Email: iqbalfce@iitr.ac.in; iqbal_ashraf@rediffmail.com
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dominant cracks, respectively, along with the shear cracks. The peak displacement and

energy absorbed by the plate have also been obtained through analytical calculations and the

results have been compared with the experiments.

Keywords: Prestressed Concrete; Reinforced Concrete; Drop Impact; Energy Absorption;

Damage

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1. Introduction

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Prestressed concrete has widespread applications in strategic structures such as

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nuclear containment, tunnels, long-span bridges, industrial buildings and rock shelters. These

structures are often subjected to accidental impact loading, for example turbine blade failure
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in nuclear containment, vehicle crash, falling of equipment on industrial floors and toppling

of rocks in earthquake-prone regions. The available design practice for a majority of such
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structures is based on the quasi-static analysis of the load-bearing members. The possible
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influence of impact loading in the design is generally accounted for by assuming a load factor

in the statically induced loads. As such, therefore, the current design practice does not
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consider the localized damage; a basic characteristic of impact loading that may lead to

dynamic instability of the structure. Other important effects of short-time loading such as
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inertia and strain rate have also been ignored. Therefore, the current practice for
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incorporating the effect of induced impact loading is unrealistic [1].

Studies in the past have been performed by researchers wherein the performance of

plain, reinforced, fiber reinforced, composite and metal structures have been investigated

under high rate of loading generated due to drop weight [2–6], ballistic impact [7–12] and

blast loading [13–15] wherein some important issues related to structural performance under

such loading conditions have been addressed.

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Under drop impact studies available in the literature, the performance of reinforced

concrete plates was investigated by varying the reinforcement ratio (1-3%) and the

reinforcement arrangement [3]. The magnitude of impulse could not be found to have its

influence on the amount, and arrangement of the reinforcement. An increase in the

reinforcement ratio has no significant influence on the peak displacement in the singly

reinforced plate, while the displacement reduced in the doubly reinforced plates. In another

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study [16], the stiffness and punching resistance of conventional two-way reinforced concrete

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slabs have been found to improve by applying a layer of Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced-Polymer

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(CFRP) over the surface of the slabs. However, under repeated impacts, the impact resistance

capacity of the slabs has reduced owing to accumulated permanent damage. The number of

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cracks in the reinforced concrete beam has reduced while the energy absorption capacity has
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increased with an increase in the loading rate from 0.0071 to 380 mm s-1 [17].

The finite element simulation of different situations of impact loading has been
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performed in various available studies using commercial finite element tools ABAQUS

[11,18–20] and LS-DYNA [21–24]. The Holmquist-Johnson-Cook (HJC) [25] and Johnson-
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Cook (JC) [26] material models are very popular for modelling the behaviour of concrete and
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steel materials, respectively, subjected to large strains, high strain rate and high pressures

generated under drop weight and ballistic impact. Rajput and Iqbal [11] numerically
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simulated the ballistic performance of plain, reinforced and prestressed concrete plates

wherein the behavior of concrete and steel reinforcement was incorporated, respectively, by
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using the HJC and JC constitutive model. The numerical simulations correctly predicted the

ballistic limit of the three concretes, however, the development of cracks in the concrete

could not be reproduced. Kezmane et al. [20] numerically simulated the low velocity impact

response of reinforced concrete slabs with yielding supports using the Concrete-Damage-

Plasticity (CDP) and Balarbi material model for the concrete and steel reinforcement,

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respectively. Although, the CDP model reproduced the damage in the concrete in

correspondence with the actual results, however, the use of more sophisticated material and

computational modelling was emphasized for such problems. In another study [18], the

numerical validation of low velocity impact tests was conducted on 100 mm thick reinforced

concrete plates using the CDP and classical metal-plasticity model. It was concluded that for

a dynamic numerical problem, the CDP model must be coupled with a fracture energy

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criterion, and the mesh size with unity aspect ratio be considered. It was emphasized that the

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damage and strain rate effects be also incorporated for predicting the realistic structural

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behavior.

The studies addressing the impact response of prestressd concrete are limited in the

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available literature. The mechanics of prestressed concrete under impact loading has not been
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understood despite its significant applications in the strategic structures. Abdalla and

Kennedy [27] studied the influence of size and position of the utility duct on the dynamic
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performance of prestressed concrete beams. The duct of different spans (81 to 152 mm deep

and 127 to 1143 mm long) has been found to have a more significant effect on the
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fundamental frequency of the beams, as a shear opening, than as a bending opening. The
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experimental and numerical investigations [28] of lateral impact on prestressed concrete

girder described localized punching and crushing of concrete. In another study [29], the post-
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tensioning and use of fiber layer have increased the impact resistance of the slab strips, and

reduced the peak displacements and damage under impact loading. Another study on the
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rock-fall impact on prestressed concrete rock-shed girder [30] has reported 70% higher

energy absorption in „T‟ shape girder when compared with that of „Γ‟ shape girder. The

experimental studies conducted on prestressed concrete railway sleeper [1, 31] highlighted

dependency of the track stiffness on the stiffness of ballast support and rubber pad (used

between rail-sleeper interface). Moreover, both inertia and strain rate were found to show a

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governing role in the impact performance and dynamic moment carrying capacity of the

sleepers. However, no studies have been reported wherein the performance of prestressed

concrete plates were investigated under drop weight impact.

The present study is focused on investigating the behaviour of prestressed concrete

plates subjected to falling mass impact. Experiments have been carried out wherein a constant

mass of 243 kg has been allowed to fall freely under the action of gravity from 500 and 1000

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mm height at the center of the target plates. Square-shape target plates (800 × 800 mm) of

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thickness 100 mm were pre-tensioned to 10 and 20% of characteristic compressive strength

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(60 MPa) of concrete. The experimental response of the impacted plates such as induced

impact force, reactions, displacement and the energy absorption capacity have been

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measured, studied and compared with that of the non-prestressed concrete plates of identical
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size. The damage mechanisms and post-impact damage observed in both prestressed and non-

prestressed concrete targets have also been deliberated and discussed. The energy absorbed in
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the given target plate has been obtained from the load-displacement curve. The experimental

findings have been simulated by numerically modelling the drop impact response of
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prestressed and non-prestressed concrete plates on ABAQUS/Explicit code. An analytical

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model based on the fundamentals of mass, momentum and energy conservation has also been

proposed for obtaining the energy absorption capacity and peak displacement of the plates.
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2. Concrete Mix Design

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The Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), coarse aggregate (10 mm), river sand and

micro-silica were used as raw materials for designing the concrete mix as per IS 456 (2000)

and IS 10262 (2009). The cement of 43 grade (43 MPa compressive strength at 28 days) and

3.15 specific gravity in accordance with IS 8112 (2013) has been used. The naturally dried

coarse and fine aggregates passed through 10 and 4.75 mm sieves, respectively, were used for

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the mix design (IS 383; 1970). The ratio of various ingredients for M60 concrete was

considered to be 1:1.47:1.93 (Cement: Fine Aggregate: Coarse Aggregate) for the weigh-

batching method, keeping the water-cement (W/C) ratio to be 0.27 (IS 456; 2000). Micro-

silica was also incorporated as 10% replacement of OPC in the cementitious material. The 28

days strength of concrete obtained in accordance with IS 516 (1959) was found to be 68 MPa,

with a standard deviation of 1.81 MPa. The stress-strain relationship of concrete cube

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specimens (150 mm x 150 mm x 150 mm) under quasi-static loading has been presented in

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Fig. 1.

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60
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Stress (MPa)

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Specimen 1
Specimen 2
30 Specimen 3
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0
0.000 0.001 0.002 0.003 0.004
Strain
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Fig. 1. Stress-strain behaviour of concrete

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3. Preparation of Reinforced and Prestressed Concrete Plates

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Both the prestressed and reinforced concrete plates have the span, 800 mm × 800 mm,

and thickness, 100 mm. For casting the RC and PC plates, separate steel moulds (inner

dimension 800 mm × 800 mm) were used. The non-prestressed concrete plates have been

reinforced with 8 mm diameter High Yield Strength Deformed (HYSD) steel bars provided at

140 mm c/c spacing along both the longitudinal and transverse directions, see Fig. 2. These

reinforcement bars (Grade Fe-500) had a clear cover of 10 mm from rear surface. The yield

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and ultimate tensile strength of these bars were obtained to be 609 and 745 MPa,

respectively, on a Universal Testing Machine (UTM) at a loading rate of 1 mm s-1.

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Fig. 2. Reinforcement arrangement in a non-prestressed concrete plate

The prestressed and non-prestressed (reinforced) concrete plates have been prepared
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adopting identical procedure except that the prestressing has been introduced in the
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prestressed concrete plates. The initial compressive stress in the concrete has been introduced

by pre-tensioning the high strength steel wires (4 mm) provided in the concrete in
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accordance with the requirement of IS 6003 (2010) and IS 1343 (2012), see Fig. 3 and Fig.

4. The yield and ultimate tensile strength of these steel wires were obtained to be 1600 and

1770 MPa, respectively, under tension on an Olsen H75KS Universal Testing Machine, at the

strain rate of 1.2 × 10-5 s-1. The stress-strain relation for the reinforcement bar and the

prestressing wire have been plotted in Fig. 5. A robust prestressing bed was designed and

fabricated in the workshop using mild steel sections to enable simultaneous prestressing of

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the multiple concrete plates, see Fig. 4(a). For inducing 10% prestress (Level-1), the

prestressing wires have been provided in a single layer at an eccentricity of 25 mm from the

center of plate thickness, see Fig. 3(a). In order to induce the 20% prestress (Level-2),

however, the wires were provided in two layers, each at the center of the plate thickness and

at an eccentricity of 25 mm, see Fig. 3(b). A total number of 15 and 39 wires were provided

at a spacing of 40 mm c/c for inducing the prestress of Level-1 and Level-2, respectively.

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Assuming a total loss of prestress to be 20%, the wires were stretched to 17.5 and 17.9 kN for

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inducing the prestress Level-1 and Level-2, respectively. The wires thus stretched through a

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hydraulic jack were held in position with the help of high strength steel anchors provided at

both the ends of the steel bed (Fig. 4(b)). On the other hand, the arrangement of

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reinforcement net was same as that provided in non-prestressed concrete plates ( 8 mm @
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140 c/c both ways). The concrete was then placed in the moulds, vibrated using a needle

vibrator of needle diameter 25 mm and cured using wet gunny bags. The prestressing wires
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were then cut between 14 and 21 days, see Fig. 4(c), but the curing was continued for 28

days.
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Fig. 3. Details of reinforcement bars and prestressing wires in prestressed concrete plates
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Fig. 4. Arrangement of plate moulds in prestressing bed showing (a) prestressing bed, (b)
anchoring assembly and (c) a typical plate specimen

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1800

Prestressing Wire1
1500 Prestressing Wire2
Prestressing Wire3
1200 Reinforcement1

Stress (MPa)
Reinforcement2
900 Reinforcement3

600

300

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0.00 0.03 0.06 0.09 0.12 0.15 0.18

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Strain
Fig. 5. Stress-strain curve for reinforcing steel and prestressing steel

4. Experimental Procedure
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A total number of twelve plates have been casted; four reinforced concrete plates, four
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prestressed concrete plates with 10% induced stress (Level-1), and four prestressed concrete
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plates with 20% induced stress (Level-2). From each of these three categories, two plates

were tested from 500 mm drop height and the remaining two from 1000 mm drop height, see
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Table 1. The terms H1 and H2 (column „c‟ of Table 1) refer to the drop height of the hammer

as 500 and 1000 mm, respectively. The numerical suffix „1‟ and „2‟ with the term PC refers
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to specify the level of induced prestress in the prestressed concrete plates as 10% (Level-1)
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and 20% (Level-2), respectively (column „c‟ of Table 1).

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Table 1. Details of drop weight impact experiments

Induced Impact
Drop
Initial Velocity
Initial Plate Height
Type of Stresses of
Prestress Specimen of
Plates (% of Hammer,
Levels ID Hammer,
concrete 0.98V (m
H (mm)
strength) s-1)
a b c d e f
RC-H1 500 3.069

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Reinforced RC-H1 500 3.069
Concrete - -

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Plates RC-H2 1000 4.341
RC-H2 1000 4.341

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PC1-H1 500 3.069
PC1-H1 500 3.069
Level-1 10
PC1-H2 1000 4.341
Prestressed PC1-H2 1000 4.341
Concrete
Plates
Level-2
PC2-H1
PC2-H1
PC2-H2
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500
500
1000
3.069
3.069
4.341
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PC2-H2 1000 4.341
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The drop impact tests have been performed with the help of a drop weight impact
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setup shown in Fig. 6(a). The setup has the working and ultimate weight lifting capacity of

200 and 400 kg, respectively, up to a maximum height of 1.75 m. At first, all the edges of the
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plates were encased in a flexible frame made up of thin steel angles, Fig. 6(b), to avoid any

possibility of damage to the expensive sensors provided below the target plate in case of any
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accidental failure or falling of plate specimen. It should be noted that the clamping
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arrangement did not provide fixed boundary condition as it was not rigid and thus it

experienced deformation during the impact. The clamping arrangement was straightened after

the impact, before it was reused. The target plates after being encased in the clamping

arrangement were rested on the load-cells at the plate corners, see Fig. 6(a). Due to limitation

of available number of load-cells (150 T), only two adjacent corners of the plate could be

supported on the load-cells, and the remaining two corners were supported on rigid steel

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pedestal of equivalent height, Fig. 6(a). The encased slab was then pressed at the corners

with the help of steel bolts shown in Fig. 6(a). The bolts were tightened until they were just

snug. This was done to avoid the uplifting or bouncing of the plate at the support. A 242.85

kg steel hammer (Fig. 6(c)) attached with a load-cell (50 T) was then lifted up to the required

drop height, and released to freely strike the target plates at the center of span. The impact

force, reaction and displacement thus generated have been measured with the help of load-

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cells and Laser Displacement Sensors (LDS). The data obtained through these sensors was

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recorded in a data acquisition system at a sampling rate of 10000 s-1. The damage and crack

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pattern in the target plates have been captured using a digital camera.

The actual velocity of the hammer has been observed to be little smaller than that of

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the calculated freefall velocity (V) due to some amount of friction between the guide and the
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hammer. The ratio (η) of actual and freefall velocity of the hammer was 0.98.
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Fig. 6. Drop weight impact setup showing (a) overall experimental setup (b) encased plate
(half-model) and (c) detailed hammer assembly

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5. Constitutive Modelling

The material behavior of concrete under drop-impact loading was numerically

modelled with the help of the constitutive model proposed by Holmquist, Johnson and Cook

(HJC) [25]. It is an elasto-viscoplastic material model coupled with isotropic damage [26].

Despite its limitation to incorporate some important phenomena in the material modelling

like stiffness degradation, stiffness recovery, shear reduction and tensile cracking, the HJC

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constitutive model is considered to be most capable to simulate different situations of impact

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loading. The simplistic formulation of the model takes into account some important issues

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predominantly affecting the strength and fracture behaviour of concrete, namely, pressure

dependency, strain rate dependency, damage and cracking [11, 32]. The normalized

equivalent stress, US
, of the HJC model is described as a function of pressure, P, and strain-
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rate, , see Eqn. (1).

[ ( ) ][1+C ln ] (1)
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Where =σ/ , σ is actual equivalent stress (von-Mises); , is uniaxial compressive

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strength; A, is the cohesive strength; D, is the damage parameter (0 ≤ D ≤ 1); B, is the

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normalized pressure hardening coefficient; = P/ , is normalized actual pressure; N, is the

pressure hardening exponent; C, is the strain-rate sensitivity coefficient; , is the

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normalized dimensionless strain-rate; , is the equivalent strain-rate and , is the reference

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strain-rate.

The damage in the HJC material model is accumulated in a similar manner to that of

the Johnson-Cook (JC) fracture model [26]. The damage parameter, D, is based on the scaler

damage formulation governed by both equivalent plastic strain increment, , and plastic

volumetric strain increment, . The damage evolution of HJC model is expressed in Eqn.

(2).

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∑ (2)

( ) (3)

Where, is plastic strain to fracture under a constant pressure, P. D1 and D2

are the material constants also known as damage parameters. = T/ is the normalized

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maximum tensile hydrostatic pressure and T is the actual maximum tensile hydrostatic

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pressure the concrete may develop prior to tensile failure. The damage due to plastic

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volumetric strain is incorporated in Eqn. (2) and (3), however, the possibility of the damage

induced by equivalent plastic strain is relatively high [25, 32]. When the equivalent stress in

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an element reaches the above limiting criterion, the element is assumed to have been

completely degraded. The corresponding element is then assumed to have lost its load
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carrying capacity such that it does not take part into the stiffness formulation any longer.

These elements are then excluded from the analysis for further stiffness formulation [11].
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The material parameters of concrete such as density (ρ), compressive strength ( ),

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shear modulus (G) and tensile strength (T) evaluated by performing the laboratory tests have

been enlisted in Table 2. The pressure versus shear strength relationships for 48 and 140 MPa
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concrete obtained by Hunchak et al. [33] have been employed for linearly interpolating the
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pressure versus shear strength relationship for 68 MPa concrete, see Fig. 7. The required

HJC parameters, A, B, N and Smax for 68 MPa concrete were subsequently calibrated by
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curve fitting method. It should be noted that the HJC model parameters obtained by

Holmquist et al. [25] for 48 MPa concrete have also been calibrated based on the same

procedure. The new equation for the normalized equivalent stress thus obtained for 68 MPa

concrete is presented in Eqn. (4).

[ ( ) ][1+C ln ] (4)

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The parameter D1 in Eqn. (3) was calibrated to be 0.0419 by assuming the equivalent

plastic strain at fracture to be 0.01 and the parameter D2 to be 1, following the procedure

adopted by Holmquist et al. [25]. The remaining HJC parameters for the pressure versus

volumetric strain relationship were directly taken from the study of Holmquist-Johnson-Cook

[25] due to limitation of the available testing facilities, see Table 2.

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Table 2. HJC material parameters

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Material Parameters Values Material Parameters Values
(Determined and (Taken from [25])
Calculated)

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ρ (kg/m3) 2580 Plock (GPa) 0.8
A 0.6312 µcrush 0.001
B 1.0457 µlock 0.1
N 0.7046 K1 (GPa) 85
(MPa)
SMAX
G (MPa)
68.0
5.36
17620
US K2 (GPa)
K3 (GPa)
C
-171
208
0.007
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T (MPa) 4.90
D1 0.0419
D2 1
Pcrush (MPa) 22.66
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The material behaviour of the reinforcing steel bars and the prestressing steel wires
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has been incorporated by using the metal-plasticity model along with the isotropic-linear-

elasticity in the ABAQUS/Explicit code. The material has been modelled to be elasto-plastic
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following von-Mises yield criterion and isotropic hardening. The stress versus plastic strain
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relationship has been defined until fracture of material. The failure of reinforcing steel and

prestressing wires has been incorporated by employing the ductile damage model. The ductile
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damage initiation criterion predicts the onset of damage due to nucleation, growth and

coalescence of voids in ductile metals. The damage evolution has been incorporated by

defining the energy dissipated during the damage process. The material parameters assigned

for defining the failure model have been enlisted in Table 3.

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Table 3 Ductile damage model parameters for reinforcing bars and prestressing wires
Steel Type Strain at Stress Strain Rate Fracture
Fracture Triaxiality Energy
Reinforcing bar 0.13 0.333 2.5×10-2 3582
Prestressing wire 0.042 0.333 1.2×10-5 10525

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Fig. 7. Pressure-shear strength data points (highlighted in yellow) for 68 MPa concrete
obtained through linear interpolation from pressure-shear strength response given by
Hanchak et al. [33]

6. Numerical Modelling

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The finite element simulation of the present problem has been carried out using the

ABAQUS finite element code. The analysis has been performed in two stages. In the first

stage the initial stress has been transferred from the wires to the body of concrete by

performing the quasi-static analysis, and in the second stage, the simulation for drop impact

has been carried out by performing the explicit dynamic analysis. In order to economise the

computational problem, the steel frame supporting the hammer and the pedestal/load cell

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supporting the target plate were not considered in the numerical model. The numerical model,

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therefore, consisted of the impacting hammer and the (reinforced/prestressed) target plate.

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6.1 Geometric modelling and meshing

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The geometry of the plate has been modelled to be half (800 mm × 400 mm) of its
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actual size, due to symmetry in plate geometry, reinforcement, prestressing wires and

boundary conditions. The concrete has been modelled as three-dimensional deformable

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continuum while the reinforcement and prestressing wires as three-dimensional deformable

wires with equivalent diameter and spacing as is provided in the experiments. The impacting
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hammer was made up of high strength tempered steel, and it did not experience any
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deformation during experimentation. Therefore, the hammer has been modelled as a discrete

rigid body with the respective mass assigned to its center of mass.
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The meshing of the concrete body was carried out using eight node continuum

reduced integration brick elements and their size was considered to be 1.5 mm x 1.5 mm x
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1.5 mm throughout the thickness in the central contact region of the plate of diameter, 100

mm. The outer region of the plate was also meshed with the same continuum elements but

their size was considered to be 10 mm x 10 mm x 10 mm. The central fine and the outer

coarse meshes were merged together by modelling 6-node wedge elements provided in the

intermediate region of the target with their size increasing gradually from 1.5 mm to 10 mm

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for maintaining the compatibility between the coarse and the fine meshes. The reinforcing

bars and the prestressing wires were discretized as three-dimensional two node deformable

truss elements of 1 mm uniform length. The hammer was also meshed with the rigid four

node bilinear quadrilateral elements.

The effect of mesh size on the numerical results was studied by varying the size of

element in the central impact region of 100 mm diameter as well as in the adjoining regions.

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In the central impact region, the size of the cube elements was varied as 10, 5, 4, 3, 2.5 and 2

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mm with the corresponding total number of elements, 52562, 104876, 130366, 144372,

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208000 and 237656, in the plate. The numerical results obtained corresponding to above

mesh configurations were compared with the actual results with respect to impact force, and

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the percentage difference between the two was calculated [100×(Experimental - Computed)/
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Experimental]. The impact force obtained numerically was initially over predicted with a

large magnitude (25.6%), however, the results converged slowly with the refinement of
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meshing, see Fig. 8. The percentage difference of the predicted and actual impact force

reduced to almost negligible corresponding to the element size (2 mm) in the central core, see
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Fig. 8. However, some unrealistic punching was observed in the central impact region of the
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plate at the above mesh configurations. Therefore, a few more mesh configurations were

considered by further reducing the element size in the central impact region, and also in the
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adjoining regions. The element size in the central impact region of the plate was considered

to be 1.5 and 1.25 mm, with a total number of elements, 662000 and 779524 in the plate,
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respectively. Both of these mesh configuration accurately reproduced the deformation in the

plate, and predicted the resultant impact force with 3.1 and 3.3% deviation, respectively, than

that of the actual result. Keeping in view the insignificant difference in the reproduced impact

force and a large difference in the total number elements, the element size of 1.5 mm, was

finally adopted for all the numerical simulations reported in this study. The detailed meshing

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in the concrete plate and the impacting hammer have been described in Fig. 9. The detailing

of the reinforcement and the prestressing wire has also been presented in the finite element

model.

The contact between the hammer and the plate has been modelled as surface-to-

surface kinematic contact with finite sliding and a nominal coefficient of friction, 0.08. On

the other hand, the contact of the concrete with the reinforcing bars and the prestressing wires

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has been modelled as embedded constraints wherein concrete was modelled as the host and

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the reinforcement/prestressing wires as the guest elements. This contact option is used to

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specify that an element or group of elements is embedded in the host elements. If a node of

an embedded element lies within a host element, the translational degrees of freedom at that

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node are eliminated and the node becomes an “embedded node”. These translational degrees
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of freedom of the embedded node are constrained to the interpolated values of the

corresponding degrees of freedom of the host element (nodes). The host element nodes now
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govern the degree of freedom of the embedded node in proportion to a weight factor that is

based on the geometric location of embedded node inside the host element.
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The boundary conditions were applied to the corner of the plate arresting all the
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degree of freedoms. This is in accordance with the discussion made in Section 4 that the

clamping arrangement, Fig. 6(b), does not provide fixed support to the edges of the plate
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specimen. The hammer has been assigned initial velocity in the direction of gravity at its

centre of mass to strike the target plate at the center of the span.
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Fig. 8. Results of mesh conversance study

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Fig. 9. Meshing details in the (a) hammer, (b) prestressing wires and reinforcement bars in
plate PC1, and (c) reinforced concrete plate

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6.2 Modelling of prestress

The prestress in the concrete has been induced by conducting quasi-static analysis in

ABAQUS/Standard before performing the explicit dynamic analysis for simulating the drop

impact in ABAQUS/Explicit. The prestressing wires were stretched to develop the initial

tension (14 kN) and the quasi-static analysis was performed for transferring the prestress

(compression) to the body of concrete. The initial tension introduced in the wires was exactly

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same as per the required level of prestress, 10% (Level-1) and 20% (Level-2) of the

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characteristic compressive strength, and no losses were considered for numerically

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transferring the prestress. The numerically induced prestress in the target plate for Level-1

and Level-2 is shown in Fig. 10(a) to (f). The stress contours in the concrete plate

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corresponding to 10% prestress show the magnitude of numerically induced stress to be about
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6.7 MPa, at the central cross-section (X-X) of the plate, see Fig. 10(a). Thus, the developed

stress obtained as the average of 15 elements was quite close to its actual estimated value,
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6.56 MPa. The magnitude of induced stress is almost constant at the entire cross-section (X-

X). On the other hand, at the rear surface of the plate, the magnitude of the stress varied in
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between 4.2 to 8.4 MPa. At the edge of the plate (Section Y-Y), however, localized stress
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was noticed at the position of wires with considerably high magnitude, 51 MPa. However,

this high magnitude of stress reduced to about 4 MPa close to the center of thickness of plate.
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For 20% prestress, the stress developed at the central cross-section (X-X) of the plate

(obtained as the average of 15 elements) was about 13 MPa (Fig. 10(d)) which is very close
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to the experimentally estimated induced stress, 12.1 MPa. However, at the rear surface of

plate, the magnitude of stress varied between 9.7-14.5 MPa. At the periphery of the plate

(Section Y-Y) the magnitude of the stress reached a very high level, 57.34 MPa, in the

vicinity of the wires, however, its magnitude reduced to 5 MPa away from the wires.

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The magnitude of stress in the prestressing wires has been found to be 1107 and 1108

MPa, respectively, in the concrete plate with 10% and 20% induced stress, see Fig. 10(b) and

(f), respectively. The predicted stress in the wires was almost same for both of the cases (10%

and 20% induced stress) since the same magnitude of initial tension (14 kN) was introduced

in the wires. It should be noted that the two required levels of prestress in the concrete (10%

and 20%) have been obtained by varying the number of prestressing wires from 15 to 39,

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introducing same magnitude of tension in the wires. Due to the pre-tensioning of concrete, a

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nominal initial stress of maximum magnitude 15.4 and 40.2 MPa has also been developed in

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the reinforcement bars corresponding to 10 and 20% induced stress, respectively, see Fig.

10(c) and (e), respectively.

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The numerically induced stress in the concrete at the central cross-section of the
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specimen obtained as the average stress in 15 elements selected along the length of the

specimen has been compared with the corresponding experimentally induced stress, see Fig.
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11, and a close correlations between the two has been found.
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Fig. 10. Induced stresses (in MPa) in concrete, reinforcement bars and prestressing wires for
10 and 20% prestress

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14
Experimental

Pre-stress induced (MPa)

12 Numerical
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0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
Prestressing Level

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Fig. 11. Induced stresses in the concrete plate for 10 and 20% prestress

7. Analytical Study for Obtaining Deflection US

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A simplistic approach based on the fundamental of mass, momentum and energy

conservation has been introduced for calculating the displacement of the target plates. The
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mass of the plate specimen before and after the impact has been found to be almost constant

since neither the spalling nor the scabbing of concrete was noticed under the drop impact
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experiment performed in the present study. The condition of momentum conservation was
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then applied for determining equivalent static force (Peq-s) from actual impact force, P(t), see

Fig. 12. The energy absorbed in the target plate has been subsequently obtained using Eqn.
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(5) [34, 35]. The energy thus calculated has been compared with the actual absorbed energy

(Eab) obtained from the load-deflection response in Section 8.4.

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( [ √ ∫ ( ) ] ) (5)

Where, M, is the mass of the hammer, H, is drop height and η is the ratio of actual velocity to

the free fall velocity, 0.98.

According to the conservation of energy, the work done by equivalent static force

leading to an unknown displacement (us) of the plate should be equal to energy absorption
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calculated by Eqn. (5). The unknown displacement (us) thus obtained by Eqn. (6), has also

been compared with the actual displacement obtained by Laser Displacement Sensor (LDS),

see Section 8.3.

(6)

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Fig. 12. Obtaining the equivalent static force, Peq-s, form impact force response, P(t)
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8. Results and Discussion

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The experimental and numerical findings of the drop impact study of the reinforced

and prestressed concrete plates have been discussed in this section. The results have been
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presented with respect to the impact force, reaction and displacement time response, energy
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absorption and damage pattern in the target plates. The effect of prestressing has been

discussed and the actual and simulated target responses have been compared.
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8.1 Impact force-time history

The actual and predicted impact force-time response increased abruptly as soon as the

hammer contacted the target plate, see Fig. 13. Due to high inertia of the plate, the peak for

both the reinforced and prestressed concrete plates has been achieved within 1 ms. The

magnitude of the impact force suddenly dropped with further increase in time due to localized

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crushing of the concrete. A nominal increase in the magnitude of the force after this stage

could be observed in both the concretes (reinforced and prestressed) due to the resistance

offered by the provided reinforcement. The magnitude, as well as duration of the impact

force, were found to be sensitive to the drop height of the hammer and these have been found

to increase with the increase in the drop height, see Table 4. The peak impact force in the

reinforced concrete, prestressed concrete Level-1 and prestressed concrete Level-2 has

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increased by 34.8, 30.9 and 35.6%, respectively, with the increase in the drop height from

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500 to 1000 mm. The contact duration between the hammer and the plate specimen has

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varied between 11.3-13.6 ms and 12.8-17.5 ms, for the drop height 500 and 1000 mm,

respectively. For a given drop height, only a nominal increase was observed in the magnitude

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of impact force in case of prestressed concrete plate (2% in case of prestress Level-1 and 4%
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in case of prestress Level-2), in comparison to the reinforced concrete plate. However, the

duration of the impact force has reduced considerably in the prestressed concrete, as a result
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of increase in the stiffness of plate due to induced prestress, see Fig. 13(a) and (c) for the

drop height, 500 mm, and Fig. 13(b) and (d) for the drop height, 1000 mm. With increase in
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the magnitude of prestress from Level-1 to Level-2, the resultant impact force increased by 2
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and 5.5% for the drop height 500 and 1000 mm, respectively. It should be noticed, however,

that the duration of impact force further increased with the increase in the level of prestress,
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possibly due to the development of a major tensile crack in the plate, please see Section 8.5

for further discussion.

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Numerical results predicted the peak impact force in the reinforced and prestressed

concrete plates with a maximum difference of 11.4% (Table 4), however, a significant

reduction in the time duration of the impact loading was noticed in case of both the concretes.

This reduction is primarily attributed to the simplicity considered in the numerical modelling

to economise the computational problem, as discussed above in section 6.

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Fig. 13. Impact and reaction force response for prestressed and reinforced concrete plates

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Table 4. Impact and reaction forces for prestressed and reinforced concrete plates

Impact Force Reaction Force Ratio Of

Experime- Impact Numeri- Experime- Time- Numeri- Reaction To
Plate ID cal Peak cal Peak
ntal Peak, PI Duration ntal Peak, lag Impact Force
(kN) (ms) (kN) R (kN) (ms) (kN) (%)

a b c d e f g=d/a (%)
RC-H1 293.90 13.6 284.49 198.28 0.25 202.09 67.47
PC1-H1 299.76 11.3 277.93 236.34 0.25 272.85 78.84

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PC2-H1 305.45 13.4 270.43 250.10 0.4 274.19 81.88
RC-H2 396.26 17.5 359.02 256.51 0.3 265.94 64.73

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PC1-H2 392.36 12.8 398.50 335.66 0.25 350.53 85.55
PC2-H2 414.12 16.6 434.66 353.36 0.3 331.69 85.33

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8.2 Reaction-time response of plates

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The reaction has been measured only at two adjacent supports of the plate using the

dynamic load-cells of capacity 150 T, due to the limitation of number of load-cells. The total
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reaction at all four supports has been calculated as 2-times the sum of obtained reactions, see

Fig. 13. In the beginning, the predicted as well as actual reactions, have been found to be
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negative due to small uplift force developed at the corner due to localized inertia effect of the
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plate. It should be noted that the magnitude of the negative support reaction slightly varied

due to nominal variation in the clamping force applied at the corners due to tightening of
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bolts, see Fig. 6. The reaction offered by the supports was subsequently reversed in the

positive direction and exhibited a few peaks for a few milliseconds (ms), before it was died
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out. The reaction response measured through the load cell exhibited pronounced vibrations in
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contrast to the impact force response of the plate. This is due to the fact that the reaction load

cells are under the action of clamping force that was applied on the plate, see Fig. 6. It

should also be noted that similar to impact-force response, the duration of the predicted

reaction has also reduced due to the simplifications considered in the numerical modelling.

The predicted peak reaction was obtained within 15.4% deviation from actual peak reaction,

see Table 4 (columns „d‟ and „f‟). The magnitude of the measured peak reaction was found to

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be 64.7 - 85.5% of that of the peak impact force. The reaction to impact force ratio (column

„g‟ of Table 4) has been found to be higher in prestressed concrete in comparison to that in

the equivalent reinforced concrete plate. For the drop height, 500 mm, the peak reaction in

the prestressed concrete was increased by 19 and 26% for prestress Level-1 and Level-2,

respectively, in comparison to that of the reinforced concrete plate (column „d‟ of Table 4).

Similarly, for drop height 1000 mm, the peak reaction in prestressed concrete was observed

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to be approximately 31 and 38% higher, respectively, in comparison to reinforced concrete

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plate. This is due to the higher stiffness of the prestressed concrete due to which a more

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effective force transfer has occurred from the impact point to the supports, in comparison to

that of the corresponding reinforced concrete plates. The stress wave velocity ( ) and time-

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lag between the reaction and impact force response calculated in accordance with the
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expression proposed in the literature [3,36] were found to be 2638 ms-1 and 0.22 ms,

respectively. The calculated time-lag was found to be close to that of the actual value of time-
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lag, 0.25 - 0.4 ms (column „e‟ of Table 4). The “time lag” has been defined as the duration

between the rising of the impact force and the rising of the reaction force (in negative
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direction), as highlighted in Fig. 13(g).

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8.3 Displacement-time response of plates

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The displacement response of all the target plates under drop weight impact has been

measured using Laser Displacement Sensors (LDS) placed under the target plate at the center
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and quarter span. The LDS detects the displacement of the bottom surface of the plate with

the help of the vertical laser beams emitted and received, continuously from the device. The

magnitude of the plate displacement thus obtained has been found to increase rapidly and

reached a peak value within 6-10 ms of the strike. The displacement reduced subsequently

and stabilized at some permanent value at the end of the impact phenomenon, see Fig. 14(a).

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This irrecoverable residual displacement at the end of impact duration is the resultant of the

permanent deformation occurred in the plates during the loading process. For a given drop

height, the magnitude of peak displacement in the prestressed concrete plate was found to be

smaller than that of the reinforced concrete plate due to higher stiffness and better impact

resistance developed as a result of induced stress. The reduction in the peak displacement was

relatively higher when moving from reinforced concrete to prestressed concrete (10%

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prestress) as compared to that when moving from Level-1 to Level-2 prestressed concrete

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target. Thus, for drop height 1000 mm, the residual displacement reduced from 16.95 mm for

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RC-H2 to 12.52 mm for PC1-H2 and 12.22 mm for PC2-H2. The magnitude of the residual

displacement has been found to be 19 to 51% and 11 to 45% of that of the peak displacement,

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respectively, at the center and quarter span. For a given prestressed concrete, the relatively
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smaller value of displacement ratio (at quarter to at center span) in prestressed concrete (10%

and 20%) in comparison to that of the reinforced concrete, represents relatively more
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localized effect of hammer strike in prestressed concrete. The displacements obtained

experimentally have been compared with that of the displacement calculated using Eqn. (5)
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and (6) through the method explained in Section 7, see Fig. 14(b). The displacement has also
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been obtained with the help of measured load-displacement curve (Section 8.4) after

calculating the absorbed energy (area under the curve) and substituting its value in Eqn. (6).
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The measured and calculated displacements have been obtained within a nominal difference

of 1.2 and 2.6 mm for the drop height 500 and 1000 mm, respectively.
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Fig. 14. Displacement for prestressed and reinforced concrete plates at center and quarter
span
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8.4 Energy absorption capacity

The load-displacement response for reinforced and prestressed concrete plates has been

presented in Fig. 15. The load has increased sharply up to its peak value with negligible

displacement due to inertial effect. The load reduced subsequently while the displacement

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increased and reached a maximum value. Beyond this point, the displacement reversed, and

the load also decreased such that it touched the horizontal axis. This reverse branch of the

curve describes de-contact between the hammer and the target plate. The energy absorption

capacity of the plate has been obtained by extracting the area of the load-displacement

response, and the resultant magnitude has been compared with the calculated absorbed

energy obtained through Eqn. (5); see columns „b‟ and „c‟ of Table 5. The energy absorbed

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by the prestressed concrete target has been observed to be relatively smaller than that of the

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equivalent reinforced concrete plate for both the drop heights, see also Fig. 15(g). However,

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it has been noticed that the prestressed concrete plates experienced comparatively smaller

displacement and offered relatively higher impact force and reactions than that of the

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reinforced concrete plates, see (Table 4 and Fig. 14). However, it has been noticed from the
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induced damage in the prestressed concrete plate (Section 8.5) that a 2-3 mm wide crack has

been developed at the entire span at the rear surface along the direction of prestress. This
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crack has been developed due to the development of tensile stresses in the direction normal to

the induced prestress, due to Poisson‟s effect in the plate specimen, see Fig. 16. It should be
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noted however that there is no loss of energy due to ejection of debris since neither scabbing
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nor spalling of concrete occurred during experimentation. Therefore, whatever nominal

reduction in the energy absorption of prestressed concrete has been noticed in Table 5 and
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Fig. 15(g), is actually due to the change in the damage pattern of the plates (Fig. 16). For

drop height, 1000 mm, the energy absorbed by the PC2-H2, PC1-H2 and RC-H2 was found
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to be 1928, 1966 and 1996 J, respectively.

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Table 5 Energy absorption capacity of prestressed and reinforced concrete plates

Total Energy Exp. Energy Energy Absorption
Energy Loss % Energy
Plate ID Input, MgH Absorption, Eab Calculated by Eqn. (5),
(J) Loss
(J) (J) Eab (J)
a b c d=a-b e=d/a (%)
RC-H1 1191.18 915.71 972.56 275.47 23.13
PC1-H1 1191.18 867.29 1036.4 323.89 27.19
PC2-H1 1191.18 883.41 1022.63 307.77 25.84

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RC-H2 2382.36 1996.51 2027.56 385.85 16.20
PC1-H2 2382.36 1965.71 1952.52 416.65 17.49

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PC2-H2 2382.36 1927.86 1982.19 454.50 19.08

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Fig. 15. (a)-(f) Load-displacement response for PC and RC plates (g) comparison of actual
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and calculated energy absorption

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Fig. 16. Cracking pattern on the rear face of (a) reinforced; and prestressed concrete plates

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for (b) prestress Level-1 and (c) prestress Level-2
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8.5 Damage pattern

8.5.1 Size of indentation

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Both the prestressed and reinforced concrete targets have experienced small crushing
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of concrete (at the point of indentation) and cracks at the rear face. The damage in the

reinforced and prestressed concrete for 500 and 1000 drop heights have been presented in
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Figs. 17-19. The damaged targets have not suffered any spalling or scabbing of concrete,

therefore, the primary mode of energy dissipation was resultant cracking (flexural, shear and
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tensile) and permanent deformation of the plates. Due to the strike of the hammer, small
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crushing and indentation have been observed on the front surface through actual and

predicted results. The simulations also correctly reproduced the damage propagation across

the span and the thickness of the plate. The size (diameter) of the indent was noticed to have

reduced with the increase in the magnitude of prestress. For the drop height 1000 mm, the

indent was found to be 55, 51 and 50 mm in diameter for reinforced, prestress Level-1 and

prestress Level-2 concrete plates, respectively (Figs. 18, 19). The size of indent has also

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reduced with reduction in the drop height, for a given concrete. For example, the reinforced

concrete has witnessed 55 and 33 mm indent for drop height, 1000 and 500 mm, respectively

(Figs. 17 and 18). Similar, findings have been noticed for the prestressed concrete.

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Fig. 17. Damage in reinforced concrete plate for 500 mm drop height
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Fig. 18. Damage in reinforced concrete plate for 1000 mm drop height
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8.5.2 Cracks at the front surface

The front surface cracks and crack-width have increased in reinforced concrete plates
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with the increase in the drop height. At the front surface, the plate RC-H1 has experienced 2

cracks initiated from point of impact traversing towards boundary of the plates, whereas,

plate RC-H2 has shown 4 visible cracks (Figs. 17 and 18). On the other hand, the prestressed

concrete plates (Level-1 and Level-2) have developed two major cracks initiated at the center

and traversed towards the periphery. The only difference for the prestressed Level-1 and

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Level-2 concrete was that the width of the cracks was more in case of prestressed Level-2,

Fig. 19.

8.5.3 Cracks and damage at rear surface

The crack density, crack-width and crack-pattern in reinforced and prestressed

concrete differed, significantly. The primary mode of cracking in plate RC-H1 is flexure,

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leading to radial cracks (Fig. 17). Due to increase in the drop height, the number and the

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width of cracks have increased in the plate, RC-H2. The crack pattern noticed in plate RC-H2

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is primarily flexural, associated with shear (Fig. 18). The shear cracks have been noticed in

the circular pattern due to the punching of concrete. The number of cracks oriented along

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longitudinal span is relatively higher than that oriented along the transverse span. The actual
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as well as predicted results also described that the cracks in the reinforced concrete (Figs. 17

and 18) have uniform distribution in comparison to that in the prestressed concrete, Fig. 19.
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The higher crack-density at the rear surface is a result of developed tensile stresses causing

crack-initiation at extreme bottom fiber (rear surface) and conical punching action. However,
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no sign of punching phenomena was seen at the front surface. The numerical results also
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predicted the punching shear damage across the thickness of the plate.

In prestressed concrete plate, PC1-H1 and PC2-H1, only one tensile crack noticed to have
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propagated along prestressing direction. The crack-width in both the plates has been noticed

to be larger than that in the plate RC-H1, however, the crack density is smaller than plate RC-
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H1. Due to increase in the drop height (PC1-H2 and PC2-H2), both the plates have shown an

increase in the number of cracks (Fig. 19), although, this number is still smaller than that of

the reinforced concrete. The prestressed concrete plates also developed shear cracks along

with the major tensile crack. The numerical study also witnessed the punching shear damage

across the thickness and tensile damage along the transverse span of the plate. The primary

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reason for the tensile cracking in prestressed concrete could be the induced tensile stresses

(normal to prestressing direction) due to the Poisson‟s effect. It should be noted that the

tensile cracking and the uneven crack-distribution in the prestressed concrete could be a

major reason behind the minor reduction in their energy absorption capacity (Section 8.4),

despite lower displacements experienced by these plates (Section 8.3).

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Fig. 19. Damage in prestressed concrete plate (20% prestress) for 1000 mm drop height

8.5.4 Stresses in reinforcement bars and prestressing wires

The contour plots for the stresses developed in the reinforcement and the prestressing

wires have been plotted at the time of 15 millisecond after the strike of the hammer, see Figs.

20 and 21, respectively. The magnitude of stresses developed in the reinforcement

corresponding to this time instant is almost same (618-624 MPa) in all the cases studied, see
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Fig. 20 (a). The time history of the stresses developed in the reinforcement has also been

plotted for five typical elements located in the vicinity of the impact region, see Fig. 20(b). It

should be noted that the stresses developed are tensile in nature in all the cases, and for a

given concrete and drop height, there is no significant difference in the pattern/magnitude of

stresses developed in the reinforcement provided in either directions. Further, there is some

nominal stress at the zero time instant that has been developed as a result of inducing

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prestress in the concrete. The maximum stress developed in the reinforcement is about 620

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MPa in all the cases studied. A sudden increase in the stress has been found in the

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reinforcement corresponding to reinforced concrete plates in comparison to that in

prestressed concrete plates. However, no significant effect of drop height has been noticed.

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The sudden drop in the stress level for RC-H2 and PC1-H2 represent the significant
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deformation occurred in one of the reinforcing bars.

The stress contours for prestressing wires at the time instant 15 millisecond, Fig. 21
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(a), show the tensile stresses developed in wires, at large in the range of 1500 to 1670 MPa

for all the cases studied. The stresses in the prestressing wires, in general, varied between
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1100 to 1600 MPa during drop impact loading, see Fig. 21 (b). The sudden fall in the stress
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level for PC1-H2, PC2-H1 and PC2-H2 has occurred due to relatively high deformation of a

few wires, in the vicinity of impact location.

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Fig. 20 Stresses developed in the reinforcement (a) stress in reinforcement at 15 ms and (b)
stress-history in typical 5 elements near impact region

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Fig. 21 Stresses developed in prestressing wires (a) stress in prestressing wire at 15 ms and
(b) stress-history in typical 5 elements near impact region

9. Conclusions

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The prestressed concrete plates witnessed smaller peak displacement and higher load

carrying capacity in comparison to the reinforced concrete plates.

The peak impact-force and reaction in the prestressed concrete plates increased by

4.5% and 38%, respectively, in comparison to that of the equivalent reinforced concrete

plates.

The reinforced concrete develoeped flexural and shear cracks, however, the

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prestressed concrete experienced shear cracks along with a major tensile crack in the

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direction of prestress. The tensile damage in prestressed concrete become more localized with

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the increase in the level of prestress.

Numercial simulations predicted impact and reaction forces within 11.4 and 15.4%

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difference, respectively. Simulations also accurately reproduced the development of
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prestressing force in the concrete. The damage in reinforced and prestressed concrete has

been closely reproduced.

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A simplistic analytical approach based on mass, momentum and energy conservation

has enabled reproduction of displacement and energy absorption with reasonable accuracy.
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Acknowledgements

Authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by Science and

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Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology, India through the

research Grant No. SB/S3/CEE/0032/2014 for carrying out the present study.
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doi:10.1016/j.engstruct.2008.04.003.

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[3] Othman H, Marzouk H. An experimental investigation on the effect of steel

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[4] US
Bhatti AQ, Kishi N, Tan KH. Impact resistant behaviour of RC slab strengthened with
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