Engineering and Geosciences, Delft The Netherlands Fracture is a research After crack models • ., .. ····~~ JU..IU,...,.._,,U..LU like concrete, rock, ceramics and other composites. these exhibit elastic-brittle behaviour at a local level (i.e. or meso-level), whereas at a global…
Engineering and Geosciences, Delft The Netherlands Fracture is a research After crack models • ., .. ····~~ JU..IU,...,.._,,U..LU like concrete, rock, ceramics and other composites. these exhibit elastic-brittle behaviour at a local level (i.e. or meso-level), whereas at a global scale (macroscopically) a so-called softening behaviour is observed. The development of the various models goes often hand with development of new advanced testing techniques, emergence of closed-loop test methods, even so-called class-II ....,;...._, .... .._,,. .. snap..;back phenomena. By starting the analysis from material consideration, crack growth processes can be detail. disadvantage of such meso- (or sometimes even micro-) scale approaches is the enormous computational effort needed, and, moreover, experimental determination of the local of the ...... ~.~ ...... u,~ ... ~ is not always straightforward. Nevertheless, the meso-level models seem a promising tool for IJ]aterials engineering, and interest has increased over the years. to develop a meso-level model for concrete were Roelfstra et followed by many others, e.g. Zubelewicz & Bazant (1990), Bazant, Tabbara, et al. (1990), Berg & Svensson (1992), Schlangen & Van (1992), Beranek & Hobbelman (1994) and others. these models have in common some way the micro- or meso-structure the material is incorporated analysis. Underlying models are either the finite element method, the 'U-JLA.,...., .. ,.., .......... ..., A~-~ ...