Experimental and numerical study of the damage process in RC beam-column sub-assemblages during a progressive collapse scenario

In the present paper, the collapse resistance of reinforced concrete (RC) beam-column sub-assemblages subjected to a middle column removal scenario is investigated on the basis of experimental tests and numerical calculations. For the experimental programme, three one-third scale substructures are designed with two types of longitudinal steel rebar to observe the influence of rebar detailing on the global structural behaviour. The structure under consideration is composed of a two-bay beam, and a middle column lies on two sliding-pin connections to prevent a catenary action mechanism. A digital image correlation (DIC) technique was employed with the experiments to observe the growth of cracks. In addition, numerical simulations using the finite element method (FEM) were also done. The Denoual-Forquin-Hild (DFH) anisotropic damage model is used to simulate the behaviour of the concrete, whereas a plasticity model is used for the steel rebars. The numerical simulations are compared with experimental data in terms of structural yield strength, change in stiffness and crack propagation, and better agreement is observed when a weakening of the concrete due to beam stirrups is taken into account.