Title: The Role of Interfacial Fracture Toughness in Cracking Behavior of High-Strength Concrete

Author(s): K. M. Lee, O. Buyukozturk, and Y. Kitsutaka

Publication: Symposium Paper

Volume: 156

Issue:

Appears on pages(s): 69-84

Keywords: composite materials; cracking (fracturing); fracture properties; high-strength concretes; models; toughness; Materials Research

DOI: 10.14359/940

Date: 9/1/1995

Abstract:
The global behavior of concrete is influenced by various scenarios of crack initiation and crack propagation. Recently, the study of the interface fracture and cracking in interfacial regions has emerged as an important research field, especially in the context of the development of high performance concrete composites. For a rigorous study, the use and further development of fracture mechanics based concepts are needed. The crack path criterion for elastically homogeneous materials is not valid when the crack advances at an interface because, in this case, the consideration of the relative magnitudes of the fracture toughnesses between the constituent materials and the interface is involved. In this paper, criteria based on energy release rate concepts are considered for the prediction of crack growth at the interfaces and an experimental/numerical study is presented on two-phase composite models of concrete to investigate the cracking scenarios in interfacial regions. From the testing and numerical analysis on physical models, the interface fracture and the crack propagation in concrete composites are studied, and the role of interface fracture toughness is discussed.