FraMCoS 4 2001 Cachan, France

Effectsofdiffusecracking around amaincohesivecrackindiagonalsplittingtests

The cohesive crack model is a relatively simple and accurate means of describing fracture in con- crete and other quasibrittle materials. In its standard application, it is assumed that all the material surrounding the cohesive crack remains linear elastic. However,…

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Year 2001
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Abstract

The cohesive crack model is a relatively simple and accurate means of describing fracture in con- crete and other quasibrittle materials. In its standard application, it is assumed that all the material surrounding the cohesive crack remains linear elastic. However, detailed analyses show that the tensile strength is exceeded within the supposedly elastic region, which means that secondary cracking must occur. This paper briefly sum- marizes the basic features of a simple extension of the cohesive crack to include secondary cracking. It also discusses previous computations for unnotched beams subjected to three-point-bend beams, and explores the effect of secondary cracking on the results of the diagonal splitting test (Brazilian test). Various specimen sizes and two load-bearing-strip widths are considered. In particular, the influence of the peak load and the map of secondary crack density are analyzed.