Plastic analysis of HSC beams in flexure

This article presents an experimental study on the plastic behaviour of HSC beams in bending. Nineteen isostatic beams were tested up to failure. The loading consisted of two symmetrical concentrated forces applied approximately at thirds of the span of the beams. The main purpose of the analysis is to characterize the plastic rotation capacity in the beams' failure section with an experimental parameter. Bearing this in mind, a global plastic analysis of the tested beams is presented. The main variables of this study are the longitudinal tensile reinforcement ratio and the compressive strength of the concrete. The results obtained here are completed with others presented before and the whole set of results is analysed and discussed. The plastic rotation capacity of the tested beams are analysed with the rules of some codes of practice. Finally, a summary of the main conclusions is presented.