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Abstract
The paper investigates a mechanical quasi-static size effect in concrete during splitting tension at the macro- and meso-level. In experiments, five different diameters of cylindrical concrete specimens were tested. Two-dimensional plane strain finite element (FE) simulations were carried out to reproduce the experimental size effect. The size effect in experiments by Carmona et al. was also simulated. Two enhanced continuum concrete models (elasto-plastic and damage) were used which were enriched in softening by a characteristic length of micro-structure with the help of a non-local theory. In macro-level simulations, the effect of crucial geometric and material parameters on the size effect was carefully studied such as the width of loading/supporting strips, concrete fracture energy in tension, concrete compressive strength and stiffness of loading/supporting strips. The focus was on the distribution of primary and secondary strain localization zones. In addition, some 2D size effect calculations were performed within enriched elasto-plasticity at the meso-scale by considering the real heterogeneous meso-structure of concrete from the front side of experimental specimens. The calculated size effect on the splitting tensile strength at the macro- and meso-scale proved to be weaker than in our experiments. Shortcomings of enhanced continuum models for size effect simulations were outlined.
Acknowledgement
The paper was prepared within the project “Effect of meso-structure of concrete on a crack formation and propagation—experiments and two-scale numerical model” financed by the National Science Centre NCN (UMO-2017/25/B/ST8/02108). The calculations were carried out at the Academic Computer Centre in Gdańsk, Gdańsk University of Technology, Poland.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.