Finite element analysis of flexural performance of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with prestressed UHPC

Abstract To investigate the flexural performance of prestressed ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) applied to reinforced concrete beams, a total of seven reinforced beams incorporating prestressed UHPC were developed using the ABAQUS finite element analysis method. A comparative analysis was conducted to examine the impact of varying reinforcement layer thickness, levels of prestress, and the effective height of reinforcement on the ultimate bearing capacity of reinforced concrete following reinforcement. The findings indicate that enhancing the reinforcement layer’s thickness and the reinforcement’s effective height leads to an improved load-bearing capacity of the reinforced concrete beam. Furthermore, the impact of increasing the thickness of the reinforcement layer is particularly pronounced. The increase of prestressing degree mainly improves the cracking load of concrete beams and has little effect on the ultimate bearing capacity. A formula for calculating the ultimate bearing capacity of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with prestressed UHPC is proposed, and the calculation results are in good agreement with the finite element simulation results.