Investigation of corrosion induced concrete cracking

Abstract

Concrete is widely used in civil structures. Concrete cracking associated with quasi-brittle feature of concrete is commonly found in concrete structure. Prediction of concrete crack growth is important to maintenance and rehabilitation of concrete structures. Several concrete crack models have been developed in which cohesive crack model (CCM) has been widely used by incorporating with finite element (FE) analysis. One advantage of adopting CCM in modeling concrete crack is that it becomes possible to obtain the crack width information. This paper attempts to predict the concrete crack width by means of a numerical method. A state of the art review on fracture mechanics and its application to concrete structures is presented. In this review, fictitious crack model, two-parameter model and size effect model are briefly discussed as well as numerical modelling techniques for smeared and discrete cracks. A numerical model is then established to predict the fracture behaviour including globe response of specimen, size of fracture process zone, and finally the crack width. The globe response (stress-displacement curve) obtained from the FE analysis will be compared to the experimental data from literature for validation. This model can be possibly used to predict the crack width in other cases, such as corrosion-induced cracks.