Impact Resistance of Steel Reinforced Concrete Members Under Lateral Impact

To investigate the impact resistance of steel reinforced concrete (SRC) members, this study develops a refined finite element model under lateral impact loading using ANSYS/LS-DYNA based on drop-weight impact test data. The simulated impact force time-history curves, mid-span deflections, and failure modes show good agreement with the experimental results, confirming the accuracy of the model. Subsequently, parametric studies were conducted to examine the effects of drop height, concrete compressive strength, and encased I-section steel strength. The results show that the impact force time-history can be divided into four distinct stages: peak, oscillation, plateau, and decay. The increase of impact height significantly increases the peak impact force, platform value, and mid span deflection, which are the main controlling factors affecting the impact resistance performance. Increasing concrete strength slightly raises the impact force and reduce deflection, while significantly improving energy dissipation and residual bearing capacity, thereby improving overall impact performance. When the steel section strength is increased from Q235 to Q345 and Q390, the mid-span deflection decreases by only 1.2% and 2.7%, respectively, indicating a relatively small influence. This study validates the reliability of the numerical method, elucidates the influence patterns of key parameters, and provides a theoretical reference for the impact-resistant design of SRC members.