• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.680-689
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• 2010

The crack-tip stress fields and fracture mechanics assessment parameters for a surface crack, such as the elastic stress intensity factor or the elastic-plastic J-integral, can be affected significantly by the adjacent cracks. Such a crack interaction effect due to multiple cracks can alter the fracture mechanics assessment parameters significantly. There are many factors to be considered, for instance the relative distance between adjacent cracks, the crack shape, and the loading condition, to quantify the crack interaction effect on the fracture mechanics assessment parameters. Thus, the current assessment codes on crack interaction effects (crack combination rules), including ASME Sec. XI, BS7910, British Energy R6 and API 579-1/ASME FFS-1, provide different rules for combining multiple surface cracks into a single surface crack. The present paper investigates crack interaction effects by evaluating the elastic stress intensity factor and the elastic-plastic J-integral of adjacent in-plane surface cracks in a plate through detailed 3-dimensional elastic and elastic-plastic finite element analyses. The effects on the fracture mechanics assessment parameters of the geometric parameters, the relative distance between two cracks, and the crack shape are investigated systematically. As for the loading condition, an axial tension is considered. Based on the finite element results, the acceptability of the crack combination rules provided in the existing guidance was investigated, and the relevant recommendations on a crack interaction for in-plane surface cracks are discussed. The present results can be used to develop more concrete guidance on crack interaction effects for crack shape characterization to evaluate the integrity of defective components.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.261-277
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• 2008

This paper presents methodologies for remaining life prediction of plain concrete structural components considering tension softening effect. Non-linear fracture mechanics principles (NLFM) have been used for crack growth analysis and remaining life prediction. Various tension softening models such as linear, bi-linear, tri-linear, exponential and power curve have been presented with appropriate expressions. A methodology to account for tension softening effects in the computation of SIF and remaining life prediction of concrete structural components has been presented. The tension softening effects has been represented by using any one of the models mentioned above. Numerical studies have been conducted on three point bending concrete structural component under constant amplitude loading. Remaining life has been predicted for different loading cases and for various tension softening models. The predicted values have been compared with the corresponding experimental observations. It is observed that the predicted life using bi-linear model and power curve model is in close agreement with the experimental values. Parametric studies on remaining life prediction have also been conducted by using modified bilinear model. A suitable value for constant of modified bilinear model is suggested based on parametric studies.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.207-222
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• 2019

This paper has presented an effective and accurate meso-scale finite element model for simulating the fracture process of concrete under compression-shear loading. In the proposed model, concrete is parted into four important phases: aggregates, cement matrix, interfacial transition zone (ITZ), and the initial defects. Aggregate particles were modelled as randomly distributed polygons with a varying size according to the sieve curve developed by Fuller and Thompson. With regard to initial defects, only voids are considered. Cohesive elements with zero thickness are inserted into the initial mesh of cement matrix and along the interface between aggregate and cement matrix to simulate the cracking process of concrete. The constitutive model provided by ABAQUS is modified based on Wang's experiment and used to describe the failure behaviour of cohesive elements. User defined programs for aggregate delivery, cohesive element insertion and modified facture constitutive model are developed based on Python language, and embedded into the commercial FEM package ABAQUS. The effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed model are firstly identified by comparing the numerical results with the experimental ones, and then it is used to investigate the effect of meso-structure on the macro behavior of concrete. The shear strength of concrete under different pressures is also involved in this study, which could provide a reference for the macroscopic simulation of concrete component under shear force.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.23-29
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• 2007

Fracture behavior of brittle solids such as rocks, ceramics and concrete is closely related to microcracking. A meso-scale analysis method using the natural element method is proposed for the analysis of material damage of brittle microcracking solids. The microcracking is assumed to occur along Voronoi edges in the Voronoi diagram generated using the nodal points as the generators. The mechanical effect of microcracks is considered by controlling the material constants in the neighborhood of the microcracks. The proposed meso analysis method is applied to the simulation of the microcracking behaviors of brittle solids subjected to uniaxial and biaxial macrostress. The obtained results are in good agreement with the results by computational damage mechanics model. The validity of the proposed method has been demonstrated by these numerical examples.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.227-248
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• 2004

A combined experimental-computational study of a double edge-notched stone specimen subjected to tensile loading is presented. In the experimental part, the load-deformation response and the displacement field around the crack tip are recorded. An Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometer (ESPI) is used to obtain the local displacement field. The experimental results are used to validate a numerical model for the description of fracture using finite elements. The numerical model uses displacement discontinuities to model cracks. At the discontinuity, a plasticity-based cohesive zone model is applied for monotonic loading and a combined damage-plasticity cohesive zone model is used for cyclic loading. Both local and global results from the numerical simulations are compared with experimental data. It is shown that local measurements add important information for the validation of the numerical model. Consequently, the numerical models are enhanced in order to correctly capture the experimentally observed behaviour.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.4
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• pp.543-555
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• 2018

Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP), which has a high strength to weight ratio, are now regularly used for strengthening of deficient reinforced concrete (RC) structures. While various researches have been conducted on FRP strengthening, an area that still requires attention is predicting the debonding failure load of prestressed FRP strengthened RC beams. Application of prestressing increases the capacity and reduces the premature failure of the beams largely, though not entirely. Few analytical methods are available to predict the failure loads under flexure failure. With this paucity, this research proposes a method for predicting debonding failure induced by intermediate crack (IC) for prestressed FRP-strengthened beams. The method consists of a numerical study on beams retrofitted with prestressed FRP in the tension side of the beam. The method applies modified Branson moment-curvature analysis together with the global energy balance approach in combination with fracture mechanics criteria to predict failure load for complicated IC-induced failure. The numerically simulated results were compared with published experimental data and the average of theoretical to experimental debonding failure load is found to be 0.93 with a standard deviation of 0.09.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.311-330
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• 2006

Standard compression tests of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) cylinders are conducted to formulate compressive stress versus compressive strain relationship of SFRC. Axial pullout tests of SFRC specimens are also conducted to explore its tensile stress strain relationship. Cover concrete spalling and reinforcement buckling models developed originally for normal reinforced concrete are modified to extend their application to SFRC. Thus obtained monotonic material models of concrete and reinforcing bars in SFRC members are combined with unloading/reloading loops used in the cyclic models of concrete and reinforcing bars in normal reinforced concrete. The resulting path-dependent cyclic material models are then incorporated in a finite-element based fiber analysis program. The applicability of these models at member level is verified by simulating cyclic lateral loading tests of SFRC columns under constant axial compression. The analysis using the proposed SFRC models yield results that are much closer to the experimental results than the analytical results obtained using the normal reinforced concrete models are.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.377-402
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• 2007

The paper presents quasi-static plane strain FE-simulations of strain localization in reinforced concrete beams without stirrups. The material was modeled with two different isotropic continuum crack models: an elasto-plastic and a damage one. In case of elasto-plasticity, linear Drucker-Prager criterion with a non-associated flow rule was defined in the compressive regime and a Rankine criterion with an associated flow rule was adopted in the tensile regime. In the case of a damage model, the degradation of the material due to micro-cracking was described with a single scalar damage parameter. To ensure the mesh-independence and to capture size effects, both criteria were enhanced in a softening regime by nonlocal terms. Thus, a characteristic length of micro-structure was included. The effect of a characteristic length, reinforcement ratio, bond-slip stiffness, fracture energy and beam size on strain localization was investigated. The numerical results with reinforced concrete beams were quantitatively compared with corresponding laboratory tests by Walraven (1978).

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.235-243
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• 2019

The discontinuous Galerkin method (DGM) has become widely used as it possesses several qualities, such as a natural ability to dealing with discontinuities. DGM has its major success related to fluid mechanics. Its major importance is the ability to deal with discontinuities and still provide high order of approximation. That is an important advantage when simulating cracking propagation. No remeshing is necessary during the propagation, since the crack path follows the interface of elements. However, DGM comes with the drawback of an increased number of degrees of freedom when compared to the classical continuous finite element method. Thus, it seems a natural approach to combine them in the same simulation obtaining the advantages of both methods. This paper proposes the application of the combined continuous-discontinuous Galerkin method (CDGM) to crack propagation. An important engineering problem is the simulation of crack propagation in concrete structures. The problem is characterized by discontinuities that evolve throughout the domain. Crack propagation is simulated using CDGM. Discontinuous elements are placed in regions with discontinuities and continuous elements elsewhere. The cohesive zone model describes the fracture process zone where softening effects are expressed by cohesive zones in the interface of elements. Two numerical examples demonstrate the capacities of CDGM. In the first example, a plain concrete beam is submitted to a three-point bending test. Numerical results are compared to experimental data from the literature. The second example deals with a full-scale ground slab, comparing the CDGM results to numerical and experimental data from the literature.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1992.04a
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• pp.65-70
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• 1992

This study deals with the finite element analysis of the monotonic behavior of reinforced concrete beams and beam-column joint subassemblages. It is assumed that the behavior of these members can be discribed by a plane stress field. Concrete and reinforcing steel are represented by separate material models which are combined together with a model of the interaction between reinforcing bar and concrete through bond-slip to discribe the behavior of the composite reinforced concrete material. To discribe the concrete behavior, a nonlinear orthotropic model is adopted and the crack is discribed by a system of orthogonal cracks, which are rotating as the principal strain directions are changed. A smeared finite element model based on the fracture mechanics principles are used to overcome the numerical defect according to the finite element mesh size. Finally, correlation studies between analytical and experimental results and several parameter studies are conducted with the objective to estabilish the validity of the proposed model and identify the significance of various effects on the local and global response of reinforced concrete members.