For predicting crack growth in concrete structures, numerical analyses are widely used in which the tension softening diagram is employed as the constitutive law. The objective of this paper is to discuss potential standard testing methods to determine the tension…
For predicting crack growth in concrete structures, numerical analyses are widely used in which the tension softening diagram is employed as the constitutive law. The objective of this paper is to discuss potential standard testing methods to determine the tension softening diagram on the basis of a series of experiments, which were carried out using four different types of specimen geometries. In these experiments, besides specimen geometries, the size of specimens and the strength level of the concrete were also changed. General comments on testing methods and data analysis techniques to determine the tension softening diagram are given and further research needs are also discussed.