Study of concrete damage mechanism under hydrostatic pressure by numerical simulations

Current material models commonly assume concrete does not suffer damage under hydrostatic pressure. However concrete damages were observed in recent true tri-axial tests. Hydrostatic pressures varying from 30 MPa to 500 MPa were applied on the 50 mm cubic concrete specimens in the tests. Uniaxial co...

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Main Authors: Cui, J., Hao, Hong, Shi, Y.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier BV 2018
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP160104557
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/61636
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author Cui, J.
Hao, Hong
Shi, Y.
author_facet Cui, J.
Hao, Hong
Shi, Y.
author_sort Cui, J.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Current material models commonly assume concrete does not suffer damage under hydrostatic pressure. However concrete damages were observed in recent true tri-axial tests. Hydrostatic pressures varying from 30 MPa to 500 MPa were applied on the 50 mm cubic concrete specimens in the tests. Uniaxial compressive tests and microscopic observations on the hydrostatic tested specimens indicated that concrete suffered obvious damage if the applied hydrostatic pressure was higher than the uniaxial compressive strength of concrete specimen. This study aims to examine damage mechanism of concrete under hydrostatic pressures through numerical simulations. A mesoscale concrete model with the consideration of randomly distributed aggregates and pores is developed and verified against the testing data, and then used to simulate the responses of concrete specimens subjected to different levels of hydrostatic pressures. The simulation results show that under hydrostatic pressure there are significant deviatoric stresses distributed inside the specimen especially in the zones around the pores and between aggregates and mortar because of the inhomogeneous and anisotropic characteristics of the concrete material. The mortar paste matrix in these zones is seriously damaged leading to concrete damage associated with significant stiffness and strength losses. More accurate concrete material models need be developed to take into consideration the damages that could be induced by hydrostatic stress.
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publishDate 2018
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-616362022-10-27T06:18:15Z Study of concrete damage mechanism under hydrostatic pressure by numerical simulations Cui, J. Hao, Hong Shi, Y. Current material models commonly assume concrete does not suffer damage under hydrostatic pressure. However concrete damages were observed in recent true tri-axial tests. Hydrostatic pressures varying from 30 MPa to 500 MPa were applied on the 50 mm cubic concrete specimens in the tests. Uniaxial compressive tests and microscopic observations on the hydrostatic tested specimens indicated that concrete suffered obvious damage if the applied hydrostatic pressure was higher than the uniaxial compressive strength of concrete specimen. This study aims to examine damage mechanism of concrete under hydrostatic pressures through numerical simulations. A mesoscale concrete model with the consideration of randomly distributed aggregates and pores is developed and verified against the testing data, and then used to simulate the responses of concrete specimens subjected to different levels of hydrostatic pressures. The simulation results show that under hydrostatic pressure there are significant deviatoric stresses distributed inside the specimen especially in the zones around the pores and between aggregates and mortar because of the inhomogeneous and anisotropic characteristics of the concrete material. The mortar paste matrix in these zones is seriously damaged leading to concrete damage associated with significant stiffness and strength losses. More accurate concrete material models need be developed to take into consideration the damages that could be induced by hydrostatic stress. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/61636 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2017.11.083 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP160104557 Elsevier BV fulltext
spellingShingle Cui, J.
Hao, Hong
Shi, Y.
Study of concrete damage mechanism under hydrostatic pressure by numerical simulations
title Study of concrete damage mechanism under hydrostatic pressure by numerical simulations
title_full Study of concrete damage mechanism under hydrostatic pressure by numerical simulations
title_fullStr Study of concrete damage mechanism under hydrostatic pressure by numerical simulations
title_full_unstemmed Study of concrete damage mechanism under hydrostatic pressure by numerical simulations
title_short Study of concrete damage mechanism under hydrostatic pressure by numerical simulations
title_sort study of concrete damage mechanism under hydrostatic pressure by numerical simulations
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP160104557
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/61636