Determining the impact behavior of concrete beams through experimental testing and meso-scale simulation: II. Particle element simulation and comparison

A complete model of the hammer–transducer–concrete beam system using meso-scale particle elements is proposed. Drop-weight tests are performed with a constant weight and varying drop heights. The numerical results are compared with those from the impact tests in Part I. The results of impact loads, deflections, and strains exhibit satisfactory agreement. The validated model is then used to predict dynamic behavior under higher loading rates. Different fracture modes are observed in the simulation. The strain-fracture energy concept is introduced to particle element modeling and the energy conversion between kinetic and strain-fracture energy components are discussed for different strain rates.