Experimental and numerical study on the dynamic behavior of prestressed concrete panels suffering low speed impact

Bidirectional bonded prestressed concrete (PS) structures have widely been used in energy infrastructure. Nonetheless, there has been a lack of research on the effect of the reinforcement ratio of longitudinal bars on the dynamic behavior of PS structures. Therefore, the low speed drop hammer impact tests of 4 reinforced concrete (RC) and 9 PS panels have been completed in this paper, firstly. The dynamic behavior of PS panels has been investigated through work, and the working mechanism of the reinforcement ratio on the dynamic behavior of the specimens is analyzed. The results show that the panels mainly suffer plastic deformation and damage; increasing the reinforcement ratio could improve the membrane force effect and enhance the confinement effect on concrete to improve the load-bearing capability of the specimen. However, it will expand the plastic damage area of the specimen. Furthermore, the numerical models have been verified based on the test results to deeply analyze the influence of reinforcement ratio on the energy dissipation mechanism of the specimen. It shows that the increase of the reinforcement ratio of reinforcement will increase the energy dissipation proportion of reinforcement, but it will also increase the plastic energy consumption ratio of the concrete and increase the prestress loss after the impact; while, the rise of the reinforcement ratio of prestressing bars is beneficial to use the reinforcement, prestressing bars and tensile bars fully. Therefore, the designer could increase the reinforcement ratio of prestressing bars to enhance the impact resistance of the structures.