1983 Volume 21 Issue 11 Pages 23-34
This paper reviews the past experimental research data and summarizes the findings on the effect of loading and strain rates on the behavior of reinforcing steel, concrete, bond between concrete and reinforcement, and reinforced concrete members. The nature of various loads acting on a structure is first discussed, and various dynamic testing machines are described. The experimental findings about the effect of strain and stress rates on the behavior of reinforced concrete materials, their bond, and reinforcing members are reviewed and discussed from the impact and earthquake response point of view. It is concluded that although the structure may be designed to rely on the increased resistance by the strain rate effect in very rare case of impact loadings, the earthquake resistant structure should not make use of such additional resistance because the benefit tends to disappear with structural damage.
