• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.143-150
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• 2019

This study presents the fracture properties of nano modified medium strength concrete (MSC). The nano particle used in this study is nano silica which replaces cement about 1 and 2% by weight, and the micro steel fibers are added about 0.4% volume of concrete. In addition to fracture properties, mechanical properties, namely, compressive strength, split tensile strength, and flexural strength of nano modified MSC are studied. To ensure the durability of the MSC, durability studies such as rapid chloride penetration test, sorptivity test, and water absorption test have been carried out for the nano modified MSC. From the study, it is observed that significant performance improvement in nano modified MSC in terms of strength and durability which could be attributed due to the addition pozzolanic reaction and the filler effect of nano silica. The incorporation of nano silica increases the fracture energy about 30% for mix without nano silica. Also, size independent fracture energy is arrived using two popular methods, namely, RILEM work of fracture method with $P-{\delta}$ tail correction and boundary effect method. Both the methods resulted in nearly the same size-independent $G_F$ irrespective of the notch to depth ratio of the same specimen. This shows evidence that either of the two procedures could be used in practice for analysis of cracked concrete structures.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.185-190
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• 2000

The effect of specimen thickness and notch's depth and the validity of J-integral analysis were studied on the fracture behavior of concrete. Through the 3-point bending test, the stress-deformation curves were experimentally measured. Concrete fracture toughness is calculated from stress-displacement curves. Concrete fracture toughness decreases when notch's depth is longer. So, Gf is less sensitive than JIc and Gf is more useful factor as concrete fracture toughness parameter. The values of J-integral and fracture energy increase when the breadth of concrete specimen get longer from 75mm to 150mm. Therefore, the breadth effect of specimen has to be considered in determining the concrete fracture toughness.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.101-107
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• 1996

In this study, the wedge splitting test (WST) specimens with various strength levels were tested to investigate the fatigue crack growth behavior of concrete. Selected test variables were concrete compressive strength with 2 levels (28 MPa, 60 MPa, 100 MPa) and maximum fatigue loading with 2 levels (75%, 85%). Fatigue testing was preceded by fracture energy test and the crack growth was measured by means of the compliance calibration method, 60 WST specimens were cast for the fatigue test, and 6 companion cylinders ($\phi$100${\times}$ 200 mm) for each batch. In fatigue test, the frequency of loading cycle was 1 Hz, and the minimum fatigue loading level was 5~10 % of ultimate monotonic loading. On the basis of the experimental results, a fracture mechanics-based empirical relationships for fatigue crack growth rate (da/dN-$\Delta$KI relationships) were presented. In addition, the effect of initial notch depth on the fracture energy and the validity of compliance calibration technique for the WST were shown.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.1-10
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• 1990

RILEM proposed three point bend test to determine the fracture energy of concrete, but there is discrepancy between the theoritical and the experimental fracture energy of concrete by the influence of self-weight of concrete. This paper presents four point bend test using proving ring in order to take into account the influence of self-weight of concrete. The initial notch to beam depth ratio was varied from 0.2 to 0.6 in order to investigate the variation of fracture energy of concrete according to the variation of initial notch depth. The proposed four point bend test using proving ring was verified to be superior to three point bend test.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.527-546
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• 2014

Portland cement concrete, which has higher strength and stiffness than asphalt concrete, has been widely applied on pavements. However, the brittle fracture characteristic of cement concrete restricts its application in highway pavement construction. Since the polypropylene fiber can improve the fracture toughness of cement concrete, Polypropylene Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (PFRC) is attracting more and more attention in civil engineering. In order to study the effect of polypropylene fiber on the generation and evolution process of the local deformation band in concrete, a series of three-point bending tests were performed using the new technology of the digital speckle correlation method for FRC notched beams with different volumetric contents of polypropylene fiber. The modified Double-K model was utilized for the first time to calculate the stress intensity factors of instability and crack initiation of fiber-reinforced concrete beams. The results indicate that the polypropylene fiber can enhance the fracture toughness. Based on the modified Double-K fracture theory, the maximum fracture energy of concrete with 3.2% fiber (in volume) is 47 times higher than the plain concrete. No effort of fiber content on the strength of the concrete was found. Meanwhile to balance the strength and resistant fracture toughness, concrete with 1.6% fiber is recommended to be applied in pavement construction.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.583-586
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• 2000

In this paper, the embedded crack approach that crack is modeled by discontinuous line inside finite element is applied for localized progressive fracture analyses. The algorithm for progressive fracture analyses of concrete structure are enhanced by introducing nonlinear softening curve and unloading algorithm of tension-softening curve which can simulate localized fracture of concrete. The failure analysis results ar compared with existing test results for varification.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.163-175
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• 2016

This paper presents a revised procedure for computation of double-K fracture parameters of concrete split-tension cube specimen using weight function of the centrally cracked plate of finite strip with a finite width. This is an improvement over the previous work of the authors in which the determination of double-K fracture parameters of concrete for split-tension cube test using weight function of the centrally cracked plate of infinite strip with a finite width was presented. In a recent research, it was pointed out that there are great differences between a finite strip and an infinite strip regarding their weight function and the solution of infinite strip can be utilized in the split-tension specimens when the notch size is very small. In the present work, improved version of LEFM formulas for stress intensity factor, crack mouth opening displacement and crack opening displacement profile presented in the recent research work are incorporated. The results of the double-K fracture parameters obtained using revised procedure and the previous work of the authors is compared. The double-K fracture parameters of split-tension cube specimen are also compared with those obtained for standard three point bend test specimen. The input data required for determining double-K fracture parameters for both the specimen geometries for laboratory size specimens are obtained using well known version of the Fictitious Crack Model.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.129-139
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• 2014

In this study, the concrete fracture energy was obtained using the three point notched beam test method developed by Hillerborg et al. (Cem Concr Res 6(6):773-782, 1976). A total of 12 notched concrete beams were tested under two different loading conditions: constant stroke control and constant crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD) control. Despite individual fracture energies obtained from the two different loading conditions showing some variation, the average fracture energy from both loading conditions was very similar. Furthermore, the results obtained support the idea that a far tail constant "A" could change the true fracture energy by up to 11 %, if it is calculated using CMOD instead of LVDT. The far tail constant "A" is determined using a least squares fit onto a straight line according to Elices et al. (Mater Struct 25(148):212-218, 1992) and RILEM report (2007). It was also observed that the selection of the end point can produce variations of the true fracture energy. The end point indicates the point in the experiment at which to stop. An end point of 2 mm has been recommended, however, in this study other end points were also considered. The final form of the bilinear softening curve was determined based on Elices and Guinea's methods (1992, 1994) and RILEM report (2007). This paper proposes a bilinear stress-crack opening displacement curve according to test results as well as the CEB-FIP model code.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.161-167
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• 2001

It is difficult to obtain accurate fracture toughness values using three point bending test(TPB) proposed by RILEM committees because the shape of load-deflection curve is irregular and final crack propagation occurs after some slow stable cracking. However, fracture toughness is easily obtained from crack initiation load in the disk test. In this paper, the fracture properties of high strength concrete disks with center-crack was investigated. For this purpose, the experimental results were compared with the results by finite element analysis(FEA). And the experimental fracture locus was compared with theoretical fracture locus. Also, the results of fracture properties for the degree of concrete strength are presented. It is concluded from this study that results from FEA with maximum stress theory were compared well with the results from experiment. And the degree of concrete strength was contributed to the crack initiation load and fracture toughness, but was not contributed to the failure angle. Also, The discrepancy of fracture locus between the maximum stress theory and the experiment for concrete is considered to depend upon a large energy requirement for inducing the mixed-mode and sliding mode fractures.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.91-98
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• 2014

PURPOSES : The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of asphalt and geotextile interlayer on the fracture behavior of unbonded concrete overlay through a laboratory composite beam test. METHODS : In order to evaluate the effect of interlayer materials on the fracture behavior of unbonded concrete overlay, a laboratory test of composite beam was conducted with different types of interlayer. The test results of the composite beam using two types of geotextile interlayer with different thicknesses were compared to the test results of the composite beam using the tradition type of asphalt interlayer. The unbonded concrete overlay on the existing concrete pavement without interlayer was set for the control condition. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION : Overall, the laboratory composite beam test results did show the effect of asphalt and geotextile interlayer on the fracture behavior of composite concrete beams. The three-layer geotextile interlayer and HMA layer both increase the peak load when the first macrocrack occurs in the top concrete beam, while the HMA interlayer causes the smallest load drop percentage after the first macrocrack. The three-layer geotextile did show better performance than the single-layer geotextile through the greater peak load and smaller load drop percentage. It indicates that the thickness of geotextile interlayer will affect the fracture behavior of unbonded concrete overlay and the thicker geotextile interlayer is recommended.