International Concrete Abstracts Portal

Summarizes and presents preliminary results of a round-robin analysis of anchor bolts organized by RILEM TC 90-FMA, Fracture Mechanics of Concrete-Applications. The analyses employed finite element models using fracture mechanics approaches for the most part. The assumptions used in establishing the material/cracking models varied with investigator and included linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM), the fictitious crack model (FCM) with linear softening or non-linear softening, a fixed crack line, a variable crack line with non-rotating cracks or rotating cracks. Crack propagation was determined using Mode I parameters, in some cases, with consideration of mixed mode behavior.

Reviews recent theoretical and experimental results on the size effect in brittle failures of reinforced concrete structures caused by the release of stored energy After summarizing the size effect law and explaining the novel concept of a brittleness number, the results of recent tests of diagonal shear failure, punching shear failure, torsional failure, and pullout failure are discussed. These results, which were obtained on geometrically similar specimens with a broad range of sizes, are found to be in excellent agreement with the theoretical size effect law. The experimental evidence is much stronger than that which was previously obtained by analyzing a large amount of test results from the literature, which were not obtained on geometrically similar specimens and were limited to a narrow size range. It is also pointed out that the test data on diagonal shear disagree with the classical Weibull-type theory of size effect, thus strengthening the theoretical argument against using this theory for the size effect in concrete structures whose maximum load is much larger than the cracking initiation load. The test results indicate that the presently considered fracture mechanics size effect ought to be incorporated into the formulas for the contribution of concrete to the ultimate load capacity in brittle failures of concrete structures. It is shown that such formulas can be based on the brittleness number. For any given structure shape, this number can be determined from size effect tests. However, prediction of this number without such test data will require some further research.

Discusses the shear design problem in concrete in the context of mixed mode crack propagation in concrete structures. Shear behavior and fracture of precast concrete segmental bridges are presented as a design case study. Joints between the precast segments of these bridges are critical locations through which large shear stresses, combined with normal stresses, must be transmitted. Crack initiation and propagation at these locations represent a mixed mode concrete fracture problem. General concepts for the representation of mixed mode fracture in concrete are briefly discussed, and a combined analytical and experimental methodology is presented for predicting this cracking behavior. Finally, using the developed fracture mechanics approach, a preliminary design concept is proposed for the shear design of prestressed concrete elements.

Progressive microcracking and crack closure effects are the most important phenomena which need to be described in finite element calculations of reinforced concrete structures subjected to cyclic or seismic loads. Microcracking produces a loss of stiffness which is usually modeled with continuous damage mechanics. Crack closure effects such as inelastic deformations and stiffness recovery remain features that must be incorporated in the constitutive relations describing the response of concrete under cyclic loadings. These effects are introduced into a novel damage model in a rigorous, consistent fashion. An attempt to derive the constitutive relations for fiber reinforced concrete using this model is also described. The implementation of these constitutive relations into a layered beam finite element code is discussed, and computations on medium-size bending beams and a beam-column joint subjected to cyclic loading are compared with experiments. Although the computational method remains simple and sufficiently fast for engineering applications, the good agreement obtained with test data shows that the constitutive relations capture very well the main characteristics of the behavior of concrete.

Computer analyses of the pullout tests of anchors embedded in concrete were performed for the Round Robin Analysis of the RILEM Committee on Fracture Mechanics of Concrete. The test specimens were concrete plates with steel anchors in the plane stress state. The geometry of the specimen was varied in order to study the size effect and the shape effect. The investigation was performed by means of the computer simulation of the tests. Only limited comparison with the real laboratory experiments was used to verify the results. The computer simulation was made by means of the program SBETA, which was developed by the authors and is based on the smeared crack approach and the nonlinear elasticity. Two crack models were used to analyze each specimen: the rotated crack model and the fixed crack model. In total, 36 computer simulations were made. Each simulation provided the load-displacement diagram of the anchor and a sequence of crack patterns, deformed states, and stress states. A size effect law in the exponential form was derived from the computer experiments.