Ultra-high performance concrete is a material which has been developed in the last decades to fulfill modern structures need for a more resistant and durable material. Its highly nonlinear characteristics in both tension and compression leads to a complex behavior. In addition to that, the inhomogeneous distribution of the fibers and the high tensile strength when compared to conventional concrete result in reduced ductility for UHPC beams. Finite element analysis is shown to be an adequate tool to represent UHPC structural element s response but the model calibration must be correctly applied and coherent modeling techniques must be used to correctly model the post-peak branches of load-displacement curves for UHPC beams subjected to four-point load bending tests. An extensive material characterization in both tension and compression was conducted. Monotonic axial tests were conducted to obtain stress-strain curves in compression and stress-crack opening in tension and cyclic tests were made to determine the experimental damage evolution in compression and in tension. These data served as input to calibrate uniaxial models and damage evolution models according to analytical expressions available in the literature. Heterogeneous models simulating the material dispersion of the mechanical properties of the UHPC over structural beams were used to obtain a cross-section that presented optimized resistance while maintaining target ductility. Finally, five beams were tested, with different shapes and reinforcement ratios and the modeling strategies were benchmarked to the beams experimental data.