The role of particle morphology on concrete fracture behaviour: A meso-scale modelling approach

Abstract Concrete is the most-used cementitious material and usually considered a three-phase composite with a mortar matrix, aggregates, and interfacial transition zones, all of which can fracture and even fragment. In this paper, the combined finite and discrete element method (FDEM) benchmarked with an in-situ X-ray micro-computed tomography and diffraction experiment is applied to bridge this gap in the meso-scale concrete fracture behaviour. To this end, algorithms are developed for realistic-shaped particle, packing, and high-quality FEM mesh- generation based on Voronoi tessellation and spherical harmonics. Using comprehensive simulations of virtually generated meso-scale concrete samples, it is found that rough particulates in concrete can increase its stress bearing capacity by enhancing intra-aggregate fracture paths. Results show that, the hierarchical aggregate morphology expressed by the fractal dimension more directly determines the compressive strength. Among the accessible conventional shape indices, convexity is the most effective parameter to correlate the global concrete fracture stress.

[1]  Wu Yao,et al.  Effect of coarse aggregate type on mechanical properties of high-performance concrete , 2001 .

[2]  Simon Altmann,et al.  The 1839 paper on permutations: Its relation to the Rodrigues formula and further developments , 2006 .

[3]  Yi Xu,et al.  A method for modeling the damage behavior of concrete with a three-phase mesostructure , 2016 .

[4]  Zdenek P. Bazant,et al.  Interface element modeling of fracture in aggregate composites , 1987 .

[5]  Edward J. Garboczi,et al.  Computing elastic moduli on 3-D X-ray computed tomography image stacks , 2015 .

[6]  Qiang Du,et al.  Grid generation and optimization based on centroidal Voronoi tessellations , 2002, Appl. Math. Comput..

[7]  J. Bullard.  Virtual Cement and Concrete Testing Laboratory: Version 9.5 User Guide , 2014 .

[8]  P. Wriggers,et al.  Mesoscale models for concrete: homogenisation and damage behaviour , 2006 .

[9]  Marc Kamlah,et al.  Computer simulation of packing structure in pebble beds , 2010 .

[10]  Zhihua Wang,et al.  3D mesoscale fracture analysis of concrete under complex loading , 2019, Engineering Fracture Mechanics.

[11]  J. Bullard,et al.  Contact function, uniform-thickness shell volume, and convexity measure for 3D star-shaped random particles , 2013 .

[12]  Di Wu,et al.  Three-dimensional mesoscale modelling of concrete composites by using random walking algorithm , 2017 .

[13]  B. Šavija,et al.  Experimentally validated multi-scale modelling scheme of deformation and fracture of cement paste , 2017 .

[14]  Chuhan H. Zhang,et al.  A multiphase mesostructure mechanics approach to the study of the fracture-damage behavior of concrete , 2008 .

[15]  T. Massart,et al.  A unified level set based methodology for fast generation of complex microstructural multi-phase RVEs , 2012 .

[16]  E. Roubin.  Meso-scale FE and morphological modeling of heterogeneous media : applications to cementitious materials " , 2013 .

[17]  Jaime Planas,et al.  The effect of the bond between the matrix and the aggregates on the cracking mechanism and fracture parameters of concrete , 2002 .

[18]  D. Su,et al.  Prediction of 3D size and shape descriptors of irregular granular particles from projected 2D images , 2020, Acta Geotechnica.

[19]  Christophe Geuzaine,et al.  Gmsh: A 3‐D finite element mesh generator with built‐in pre‐ and post‐processing facilities , 2009 .

[20]  Lihua Liang,et al.  Explicit dynamic fracture simulation of two-phase materials using a novel meso-structure modelling approach , 2019, Composite Structures.

[21]  H. Bui,et al.  A thermodynamics-based cohesive model for discrete element modelling of fracture in cemented materials , 2017 .

[22]  F. H. Wittmann,et al.  Simulation of crack propagation and failure of concrete , 1981 .

[23]  J. Molinari,et al.  A mesoscale fracture model for concrete , 2017 .

[24]  Ignacio Carol,et al.  3D meso-structural analysis of concrete specimens under uniaxial tension , 2006 .

[25]  C. Toulemonde,et al.  Investigation of the effect of aggregates' morphology on concrete creep properties by numerical simulations , 2015 .

[26]  Cyril Flaig,et al.  On Smoothing Surfaces in Voxel Based Finite Element Analysis of Trabecular Bone , 2009, LSSC.

[27]  Bhushan Lal Karihaloo,et al.  Effect of aggregate volume fraction on the fracture parameters of concrete: a meso-mechanical approach , 2001 .

[28]  Ya-Peng Shen,et al.  Three-dimensional modeling of the mechanical property of linearly elastic open cell foams , 2005 .

[29]  Edward J. Garboczi,et al.  Anm: a geometrical model for the composite structure of mortar and concrete using real-shape particles , 2016 .

[30]  Franz-Josef Ulm,et al.  Nanogranular origin of concrete creep , 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[31]  P. Cundall,et al.  A bonded-particle model for rock , 2004 .

[32]  Pedro P. Camanho,et al.  An engineering solution for mesh size effects in the simulation of delamination using cohesive zone models , 2007 .

[33]  Yixiang Gan,et al.  An FDEM study of particle breakage under rotational point loading , 2019, Engineering Fracture Mechanics.

[34]  Damien André,et al.  A novel DEM approach for modeling brittle elastic media based on distinct lattice spring model , 2019, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering.

[35]  Sanford E. Thompson,et al.  THE LAWS OF PROPORTIONING CONCRETE , 1907 .

[36]  J. Molinari,et al.  Influence of the meso-structure in dynamic fracture simulation of concrete under tensile loading , 2011 .

[37]  Xiaopeng Xu,et al.  Numerical simulations of fast crack growth in brittle solids , 1994 .

[38]  J. Bass.  Elasticity of Minerals, Glasses, and Melts , 2013 .

[39]  Peter Grassl,et al.  Influence of aggregate size and volume fraction on shrinkage induced micro-cracking of concrete and mortar , 2008, 0811.0019.

[40]  H. Bui,et al.  A cohesive damage-plasticity model for DEM and its application for numerical investigation of soft rock fracture properties , 2017 .

[41]  Andrey P. Jivkov,et al.  Computational technology for analysis of 3D meso-structure effects on damage and failure of concrete , 2016 .

[42]  Jizhi Zhang,et al.  An advanced 3D modeling method for concrete-like particle-reinforced composites with high volume fraction of randomly distributed particles , 2016 .

[43]  Hong-yuan Liu,et al.  3D numerical study on fracture process of concrete with different ITZ properties using X-ray computerized tomography , 2018, International Journal of Solids and Structures.

[44]  David A. Boas,et al.  Tetrahedral mesh generation from volumetric binary and grayscale images , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging: From Nano to Macro.

[45]  W. Zhuang,et al.  Experiment and modeling of mechanical properties on iron matrix composites reinforced by different types of ceramic particles , 2010 .

[46]  J. Colliat,et al.  Multi-scale failure of heterogeneous materials: A double kinematics enhancement for Embedded Finite Element Method , 2015 .

[47]  Jidong Zhao,et al.  3D generation of realistic granular samples based on random fields theory and Fourier shape descriptors , 2014 .

[48]  Jianfeng Wang,et al.  Particle shape quantification using rotation-invariant spherical harmonic analysis , 2017 .

[49]  Subra Suresh,et al.  An experimental and numerical study of deformation in metal-ceramic composites , 1989 .

[50]  Laurent Delannay,et al.  Homogenization of elasto-plastic composites coupled with a nonlinear finite element analysis of the equivalent inclusion problem , 2010 .

[51]  Yixiang Gan,et al.  3D printable geomaterials , 2016 .

[52]  Ch. Zhang,et al.  Two-dimensional X-ray CT image based meso-scale fracture modelling of concrete , 2015 .

[53]  R. D. Hryciw,et al.  Traditional soil particle sphericity, roundness and surface roughness by computational geometry , 2015 .

[54]  Chuanzeng Zhang,et al.  3D meso-scale fracture modelling and validation of concrete based on in-situ X-ray Computed Tomography images using damage plasticity model , 2015 .

[55]  Robert D. Moser,et al.  Ultra-High Performance Concrete History and Usage by the Corps of Engineers , 2014 .

[56]  R. Hurley,et al.  An in-situ study of stress evolution and fracture growth during compression of concrete , 2019, International Journal of Solids and Structures.

[57]  Edward J. Garboczi,et al.  Permeability, diffusivity, and microstructural parameters: A critical review , 1990 .

[58]  Ha H. Bui,et al.  A discrete element modelling approach for fatigue damage growth in cemented materials , 2019, International Journal of Plasticity.

[59]  V. Slowik,et al.  Computer simulation of fracture processes of concrete using mesolevel models of lattice structures , 2004 .

[60]  A. Munjiza.  The Combined Finite-Discrete Element Method , 2004 .

[61]  E. Saff,et al.  Asymptotics of weighted best-packing on rectifiable sets , 2008 .

[62]  P. Richard,et al.  Composition of reactive powder concretes , 1995 .

[63]  董辰世,et al.  Curvatures estimation on triangular mesh , 2005 .

[64]  Jiayan Nie,et al.  Generation of realistic sand particles with fractal nature using an improved spherical harmonic analysis , 2018, Computers and Geotechnics.

[65]  A. Hillerborg,et al.  Analysis of crack formation and crack growth in concrete by means of fracture mechanics and finite elements , 1976 .

[66]  Ravindra K. Dhir,et al.  Tensile strength behaviour of recycled aggregate concrete , 2015 .

[67]  M. Benzeggagh,et al.  Measurement of mixed-mode delamination fracture toughness of unidirectional glass/epoxy composites with mixed-mode bending apparatus , 1996 .

[68]  Yunping Xi,et al.  Experimental study on the effect of aggregate content on fracture behavior of concrete , 2000 .

[69]  C. Hellmich,et al.  Micromechanics of ITZ–Aggregate Interaction in Concrete Part I: Stress Concentration , 2014 .

[70]  P. Cundall,et al.  A discrete numerical model for granular assemblies , 1979 .

[71]  J. Tejchman,et al.  A three-dimensional meso-scale approach to concrete fracture based on combined DEM with X-ray μCT images , 2018 .

[72]  Fan Fei,et al.  A phase‐field method for modeling cracks with frictional contact , 2019, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering.

[73]  M. Tabbara,et al.  RANDOM PARTICLE MODEL FOR FRACTURE OF AGGREGATE OR FIBER COMPOSITES , 1990 .

[74]  Florence Sanchez,et al.  Nanotechnology in concrete – A review , 2010 .

[75]  Jianfeng Wang,et al.  3D quantitative shape analysis on form, roundness, and compactness with μCT , 2016 .

[76]  Julien Yvonnet,et al.  Initiation and propagation of complex 3D networks of cracks in heterogeneous quasi-brittle materials: Direct comparison between in situ testing-microCT experiments and phase field simulations , 2016 .

[77]  Leslie George Tham,et al.  Finite element modeling of geomaterials using digital image processing , 2003 .

[78]  H. Bui,et al.  Discrete element method investigation of particle size distribution effects on the flexural properties of cement-treated base , 2019, Computers and Geotechnics.

[79]  L. H. Poh,et al.  Critical parameters for the compressive strength of high-strength concrete , 2017 .

[80]  Sun-Myung Kim,et al.  Meso-scale computational modeling of the plastic-damage response of cementitious composites , 2011 .

[81]  A. Sheikh,et al.  Incorporation of micro-cracking and fibre bridging mechanisms in constitutive modelling of fibre reinforced concrete , 2019 .

[82]  Jian-Ying Wu,et al.  X-ray computed tomography images based phase-field modeling of mesoscopic failure in concrete , 2019, Engineering Fracture Mechanics.

[83]  Qiao Wang,et al.  Evolution of particle size and shape towards a steady state: Insights from FDEM simulations of crushable granular materials , 2019, Computers and Geotechnics.

[84]  V. Li,et al.  Effect of morphological parameters of natural sand on mechanical properties of engineered cementitious composites , 2019, Cement and Concrete Composites.

[85]  David J. Corr,et al.  Effect of interfacial transition zone on the Young's modulus of carbon nanofiber reinforced cement concrete , 2018 .

[86]  Jian-Ying Wu,et al.  A unified phase-field theory for the mechanics of damage and quasi-brittle failure , 2017 .

[87]  Leong Hien Poh,et al.  Homogenization of intergranular fracture towards a transient gradient damage model , 2016 .

[88]  Hao Wang,et al.  Study of cohesion and adhesion properties of asphalt concrete with molecular dynamics simulation , 2016 .

[89]  E. Garboczi.  Three-dimensional mathematical analysis of particle shape using X-ray tomography and spherical harmonics: Application to aggregates used in concrete , 2002 .

[90]  H. Jennings,et al.  Does microstructure matter for statistical nanoindentation techniques , 2010 .

[91]  T. Marrow,et al.  In-situ X-ray computed tomography characterisation of 3D fracture evolution and image-based numerical homogenisation of concrete , 2017 .

[92]  A. Kwan,et al.  Packing density measurement and modelling of fine aggregate and mortar , 2009 .

[93]  Nobuaki Otsuki,et al.  Influence of Recycled Aggregate on Interfacial Transition Zone, Strength, Chloride Penetration and Carbonation of Concrete , 2003 .

[94]  Robert M. McMeeking,et al.  On the toughness of brittle materials reinforced with a ductile phase , 1988 .

[95]  Chenshi Dong,et al.  Curvatures estimation on triangular mesh , 2005 .