An Engineering Model for TRC-Strengthened Reinforced Concrete Slabs Under Impact

When reinforced concrete slabs are subjected to impact loads such as rockfall impact or accidental load, collapse or perforation can occur. In order to protect people’s lives, reinforced concrete structures can be strengthened with textile-reinforced concrete (TRC). To develop an engineering model to describe the behavior of reinforced concrete slabs strengthened with textile-reinforced concrete, quasi-static and impact loads were applied to reinforced concrete plates which were strengthened with a thin layer of fine concrete with two embedded carbon textiles. An engineering model for these strengthened reinforced concrete plates under impact loading is described in this paper. The model is based on a multi-degree-of-freedom system with springs and viscous dampers. To evaluate the accuracy of the spring curves of the model as well as the calculated deformations, experimental results of the mentioned loading regimes are presented. While the comparison between the calculation and the experiment already shows good results, further improvements for plates with extensive damage are sought.