Simulations of Fractures of Heterogeneous Orthotropic Fiber-Reinforced Concrete with Pre-Existing Flaws Using an Improved Peridynamic Model

Abstract

The propagation and coalescence of cracks in fiber-reinforced concretes (FRCs) is the direct cause of instability in many engineering structures. To predict the crack propagation path and failure mode of FRCs, an orthotropic-bond-based peridynamic (PD) model was established in this study. A kernel function reflecting long-range force was introduced, and the fiber bond was used to describe the macroanisotropy of the FRC. The crack propagation process of the FRC plate with flaws was simulated under uniaxial tensile loading. The results showed that under homogeneous conditions, the cracks formed along the centerline of the isotropic concrete propagate in a direction perpendicular to the load. Under anisotropic conditions, the cracks propagate strictly in the direction of the fiber bond. The failure degree of the FRC increases with the increase in heterogeneity. When the shape parameter is 10 and the fiber bond is 0°, the failure mode changes from tensile to shear failure. When the fiber bond is 45°, the FRC changes from a state where outer cracks penetrate the entire specimen to a state where cracks coalesce at the middle. It was found that the improved model can effectively simulate the crack propagation processes of orthotropic FRC materials.

Improved peridynamic model and its application to crack propagation in rocks

“…9: 221013 the study of Zhang et al [54]. Considering that the main purpose of this paper is to use the improved BB-PD model to study the crack propagation speed, path and coalescence mode of rock specimens containing pre-existing flaws with different number, length, inclination and rock bridge inclination, the differences of simulation results under different shape parameters are not compared, and the relevant research conclusions can be referred to references [54,63].…”

“…Notably, there are some differences between the simulated fracture mode and the test results, which may be due to factors such as rock heterogeneity, anisotropy and microcracks in the rock used in the test. In another study [ 63 ], we found that the smaller the shape parameter m is, the stronger the heterogeneity is, the more serious the damage of the specimen is, and the crack is easier to expand. This conclusion is consistent with the study of Zhang et al .…”

Experimental and Hybrid FEM/Peridynamic Study on the Fracture of Ultra-High-Performance Concretes Reinforced by Different Volume Fractions of Polyvinyl Alcohol Fibers

“…In recent years, PD-based computational methods have been widely used to investigate the toughening mechanisms of innovative materials [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. Some relevant applications of PD-based tools to study the fracture mechanism of fiber-reinforced concretes can be found in [ 9 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 ]. However, in the existing literature, the fracture analysis on the fiber-reinforced concrete structures is only considered in plane stress or plane strain conditions.…”

Analysis of Numerical Micromodulus Coupled with Influence Function for Brittle Materials via Bond-Based Peridynamics

“…Therefore, PD can predict damage development without additional assumptions as in the CCM, for example, crack extension criteria and node enrichment functions. PD provides a powerful tool to analyze material and structural failure processes [4,5], and has already been successfully applied to various problems, such as deformation and fracture simulation for brittle materials [6][7][8][9][10][11], asphalt [12], ferrite and pearlite wheel materials [13] and composite beams [14], etc.…”