Effect of support conditions on performance of continuous reinforced concrete deep beams

While continuous reinforced concrete deep beams with fixed and hinged support conditions are every so often found in structures, little research has focused on their performance. This, in part, can be attributed to the demanding nature of ensuring fixed supports in experimentally testing such members. Nonetheless, conducting numerical analysis in comparison with experimental study has been a typical technique for producing a reliable numerical model as an alternative to destructive tests. This paper is aimed at numerically investigating the impact of different support conditions in the performance of two-span continuous reinforced concrete deep beams. A numerical model of three experimentally tested beams with two exterior rollers and interior hinge support conditions was generated. Good comparison, with an acceptable variation between numerical and experimental results, was achieved by tuning a few parameters in the numerical model, including element type, mesh size, and material constitutive relations. The refined numerical model was used as an alternative to destructive tests to conduct a parametric study to further investigate the impact of different sets of support conditions in the performance of two-span continuous reinforced concrete deep beams. This study highlights the potentially serious consequences of the support conditions in the performance of such deep beams.