| Resumo: | The objective pursued with this work includes the evaluating of the strength and the total energy absorption capacity (toughness) of reinforced concrete beams using different amounts of steel-bar reinforcement. The experimental campaign deals with the evaluation of the threshold load prior collapse, ultimate load and deformation, as well as the beam total energy absorption capacity, using a three point bending test. The beam half span displacement was measured using a displacement transducer, and the applied force was monitored using a load cell. The tested samples consists on a set of ten reinforced concrete beams having three different levels of steel-bar-reinforcement percentages and four different concrete compositions (i.e., giving rise to a different values of concrete strength). It was observed that the most influential parameter in the beams energy absorption capacity is the amount of steel-bar reinforcement. The results have presented good agreement between themselves. In fact, for beams with a given concrete compressive strength, a decrease in beam’s deformation was measured for higher steel-bar-reinforcement percentages. Moreover, the results had shown that for a particular steel-bar-reinforcement percentage, the concrete compressive strength have also influence in the total energy absorption capacity of the beams
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