Fracture Mechanics in Concrete Materials and Structures
Summary
Concrete is a quasi-brittle composite whose fracture behaviour governs the safety and service life of civil infrastructure worldwide. Fracture mechanics in concrete addresses the initiation and propagation of cracks under tensile and bending loads, informed by the development of stress intensity factors, energy release rates and cohesive-zone descriptions. The heterogeneous nature of cementitious matrix and aggregates gives rise to a fracture process zone (FPZ) ahead of crack tips, where microcracking, aggregate interlock and bridging mechanisms dissipate energy. Experimental methods such as three-point bending, wedge-splitting and direct tension tests are routinely combined with full-field measurement techniques—particularly digital image correlation and acoustic emission—to capture crack opening displacements, crack growth rates and FPZ evolution. Numerical approaches range from linear elastic fracture mechanics to cohesive-crack and size-effect laws, providing predictive models for structural performance under various environmental and mechanical loading scenarios. Recent advances include tailored fibre-reinforced and functionally graded concretes, multiscale modelling of fracture phenomena and non-invasive imaging modalities that deepen understanding of crack evolution in service conditions.
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Fracture Mechanics in Concrete Materials and Structures publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in fracture mechanics in concrete materials and structures across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Fracture process zone (FPZ): The region of microcracking and nonlinear deformation ahead of a macroscopic crack tip in quasi-brittle materials.
Stress intensity factor (SIF): A parameter quantifying the intensity of the stress field near a crack tip under linear elastic assumptions.
Crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD): The relative displacement of crack faces at a specified location, used as a measure of crack opening.
Cohesive crack model: A numerical framework in which softening traction is related to crack opening, representing the energy dissipation within the FPZ.
Size effect law (SEL): An empirical or theoretical relationship describing the variation of nominal strength with structure size in quasi-brittle materials.
Digital image correlation (DIC): A non-contact optical technique for mapping full-field surface deformations and strains during mechanical testing.
References
- RILEM Standard: testing methods for determination of the double-K criterion for crack propagation in concrete using wedge-splitting tests and three-point bending beam tests, recommendation of RILEM TC265-TDK. Materials and Structures (2021).
- Experimental Study on the Fracture Process Zone Characteristics in Concrete Utilizing DIC and AE Methods. Applied Sciences (2019).
- Crack Propagation Analysis of Synthetic vs. Steel vs. Hybrid Fibre-Reinforced Concrete Beams Using Digital Image Correlation Technique. International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials (2020).
- Experimental Study on Crack Propagation of Concrete Under Various Loading Rates with Digital Image Correlation Method. International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials (2020).
- X-ray dynamic observation of the evolution of the fracture process zone in a quasi-brittle specimen. Journal of Instrumentation (2015).
- Real fracture toughness of FRC and FGC: size and boundary effects. Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2022).
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