Interfacial transition zones in concrete meso-scale models – Balancing physical realism and computational efficiency

Wang, Jiaming; Li, Xing; Jivkov, Andrey P.; Li, Qingming; Engelberg, Dirk

doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.123332

Cited by 17 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Tetrahedral elements were adopted to better describe spherical particles. Mesh sensitivity tests with parametric models were carried out in [31] and meshes generated with voxel size of 0.25 mm were adopted.…”

Section: Meso-structure Generation and Meshingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Zero-thickness cohesive element was briefly introduced in [31,34], and described in details in ABAQUS documentation [39]. To analyse the initiation of fracture, cohesive zone model was proposed [40][41][42], and extended to modelling concrete by Hillerborg et al [43].…”

Section: Cohesive Zone Model and Cdp Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first option is to neglect ITZ and attribute inelastic behaviour of concrete to mortar via elastic-plastic [25][26][27] or elastic-plastic-damage [28] constitutive behaviour. However, it is found to over-estimate concrete compressive strength [31]. Some researchers have generated a layer of finite thickness solid/continuum elements surrounding aggregates to represent ITZ, where the elastic-plastic-damage behaviour of mortar exhibit higher strength than that of ITZ.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In such case, these elements are assumed to be elastic and inelastic behaviour of concrete depends on damage of CE at ITZ and within mortar [5,12,13,22,23,32]. If zero-thickness CE are only adopted at ITZ, mortar elements are assigned with plastic-damageable behaviour and ITZ CE are damageable [24,31,[33][34][35]. Wang et al [33] have extended the plastic-damageable mortar behaviour proposed by Unger et al [24], considering both tensile and compressive hardening variables, which can be calibrated by tensile and compressive tests with mortar specimens.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wang et al [33] have extended the plastic-damageable mortar behaviour proposed by Unger et al [24], considering both tensile and compressive hardening variables, which can be calibrated by tensile and compressive tests with mortar specimens. Furthermore, Wang et al [31] have compared different ITZ representations (i.e., without ITZ, with finite thickness ITZ and with zero-thickness CE for ITZ). It has been found that the last representation can balance the physical realism of the concrete meso-structure model with computational efficiency, while providing predictions for stress-strain behaviour and damage evolution in agreement with experimental data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Image-Based vs. Parametric Modelling of Concrete Meso-Structures

et al. 2022

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Damage initiation and crack propagation in concrete are associated with localisation of energy dissipation by the concrete meso-structure. Meso-scale models are, therefore, required for realistic analysis of concrete non-linear behaviour. Such models are constructed either from X-ray Computed Tomography images (image-based modelling) or by in silico meso-structure generation (parametric modelling), while both approaches are widely used and their advantages and disadvantages are recognised, little work is done on comparing their performance in predicting measured macroscopic behaviour with equivalent constitutive relations for meso-structural features. This work uses microstructure characterisation and mechanical behaviour data to construct, validate and compare the two modelling approaches. The macroscopic behaviour obtained with both meso-structural models is found to be in good agreement with experimental data. Differences are observed only between the predicted distributions of damage within specimens. These outcomes suggest that the computationally simpler parametric meso-structures are sufficient to derive stress–strain behaviour for engineering-scale models in the absence of other environmental factors. The observed differences in damage distribution could be important for analysis of coupled behaviour, e.g., mass transport and chemical reactions affecting local mechanical properties and being affected by local damage. Establishing the importance of damage distribution is such cases requires further research.

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Section: Meso-structure Generation and Meshingmentioning

confidence: 99%