Abstract This paper deals with comparisons of numerical results of reinforced high strength concrete corbels and experimental results obtained from the literature. The application of precast structures and high strength concrete have increased in the last years and taking into account the possibility of brittle failures using this solution, specific investigations are demanded to some structural details, as for example, corbels. It should be mentioned that brittle failures and complex regions are difficult to be analyzed by means of computational resources and for that reason it is argued if the available packages software are able to correctly describe the behavior of high strength concrete, specifically for corbels. In this way, the numerical simulations described in this paper have been conducted using the Finite element method. A parametric study was then carried out using the validated model to investigate the effect of the shear span-to-effective depth ratio, the main reinforcement rate and the compressive strength of concrete in the failure load and the contribution of secondary reinforcements. The main conclusions are: the numerical and experimental results showed a very close agreement, not only in the cracking and failure modes, but also in the load–deflection and load-reinforcement strain responses; there is a strong linear correlation of the failure load and shear span-to-effective depth ratio, the main reinforcement rate and the compressive strength of concrete; the horizontal secondary reinforcement improves the load capacity and could be considered in the design models; and the vertical secondary reinforcement only affects in the cracking distribution and ductility of the corbels.