FraMCoS 3 1998 Gifu, Japan

Finite Element Analysis of Cracking due to Shrinkage

In this paper a finite element formulation for the analysis of mois- ture migration, creep, shrinkage and cracking in cementitious materi- als, such as masonry, is presented. A decoupled approach is followed, where the pore humidity, the driving force for…

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Year 1998
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Abstract

In this paper a finite element formulation for the analysis of mois- ture migration, creep, shrinkage and cracking in cementitious materi- als, such as masonry, is presented. A decoupled approach is followed, where the pore humidity, the driving force for shrinkage, is solved for from a diffusion equation. The evolution of the shrinkage strain field is then computed and employed in a subsequent mechanical analy- sis neglecting stress or cracking influence on the pore humidity. The initiation and growth of cracks are simulated in a smeared way by softening, anisotropic Rankine plasticity. Bulk creep is modelled with visco-elasticity, while the other important cause of time-dependence ·in quasi-static processes, namely the rate-dependence of the bond ruptures leading to fracture, is accounted for by considering the vis- cosity of the cracking process. The latter contribution is shown to have a regularising effect on the localisation process which accompa- nies smeared cracking models.