Mode II fracture behaviour plain concrete is rarely attempted due to lack of standard testing procedures. The direct shear test method is adopted to determine Mode-II fracture parameters. This paper discusses experimental investigations carried out for strength and fracture toughness…
Mode II fracture behaviour plain concrete is rarely attempted due to lack of standard testing procedures. The direct shear test method is adopted to determine Mode-II fracture parameters. This paper discusses experimental investigations carried out for strength and fracture toughness of Normal, and High-strength concretes under Mode II loading. An ideal Mode II failure has been accomplished by the modified loading set-up to fail in direct shear mode. No Mode I type of failure is accompanied by the Mode II failure of the test specimen using the present modified geometry and load transfer test set-up. The experimental results have been utilized to evaluate the Mode II fracture parameters. The shear strength and Mode-II fracture toughness (KIIc) increase as the compressive strength of concrete increases. The rate of loading effects the peak load and fracture toughness in shear.