This paper presents the numerical study to simulate the flexural behavior of normal strength, high strength and hybrid reinforced concrete beams, under two points load with two different reinforcement ratio. The hybrid beam consists of two layers: the compressive layer is made of high strength concrete, and the tension layer is made of normal strength concrete. The simulation was done with a finite element model using the commercial finite element code, ANSYS (v.9.0). The concrete component material is modeled, the internal steel reinforcement modeled using ''LINK'' elements. The modeled behavior shown a good agreement with the experimental data. The maximum percentage difference in ultimate load-carrying capacity is 8% at the ultimate load level.Analytical study also included the effect of increasing the depth of the normal strength concrete for the hybrid reinforced concrete beam and the effect of increasing the compressive strength for high strength concrete and normal strength concrete respectively on the behavior and the load carrying capacity of the hybrid reinforced concrete beams.
Most concrete structures are reinforced with steel bars to enhance their performance. However, engineers face two major challenges: the high cost of steel compared to concrete and congestion of reinforcement, especially in beams and beam-column joints. These issues can largely be mitigated by using high-strength (HS) steel instead of normal-strength (NS) steel. This study investigates twelve concrete beams (150 × 250 mm), divided into three groups of four specimens. The first group was reinforced with NS steel bars, the second with HS steel, and the third with a combination of both. All beams were tested under four-point bending over a clear span of 2000 mm. Grade 1860 steel (G-270) was used for the HS steel reinforcement. Results showed that achieving the same flexural strength required nearly three times more NS steel than HS steel, leading to reduced reinforcement congestion, lower material usage, and decreased labor costs. Beam specimens were reinforced with steel contents of 1.80 kg/m (NS steel), 1.76 kg/m (HS steel), and 1.66 kg/m (combined reinforcement). Beams with HS steel showed significantly higher ultimate load capacity and improved stiffness (load-deflection behavior) compared to beams with NS steel or combined reinforcement. The analysis confirmed that the applied design method offers conservative and reliable predictions.