• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.18 no.3E
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• pp.183-189
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• 2006

Many researchers have recently proposed various parameters, variables of models and experimental methods to evaluate fracture properties of concrete, and their developments allow us to analyze the non-linear and quasi-brittle fracture mechanisms. This paper presents a brief treatment of the fracture parameters. Additionally, three-point bending tests were conducted to compare J-integral($J_{Ic}$) with other parameters($K_{Ic},\;G_{Ic},\;and\;G_F$). The change in parameter values with respect to the width and notch length of concrete beam specimens was also considered. The load-displacement curves were used to measure the concrete fracture toughness experimentally. From the results of experiment, it was found that the value of $G_F\;and\;J_{Ic}$ decreased as the notch depth increased and that $G_F$ was less sensitive than $J_{Ic}$. Therefore, the former, $G_F$, is more appropriate in using it as the concrete fracture toughness parameter. The values of $G_F\;and\;J_{Ic}$ increased when the width of concrete specimens increasing from 75 mm to 150 mm. Thus, the effects of the specimen width should be considered in determining the fracture toughness of concrete.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1998.04a
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• pp.359-364
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• 1998

The interfacial zone in concrete materials is extensive, geometrically complex, and constitutes inherently weak zones that limit the concrete performance. Motar-aggregate interfaces play a major role in the fracture processing in concrete composites. Also, the interfacial bond considerably influence mechanical properties of concrete such as modulus of elasticity, strength, and fracture energy, Characterization of the interfacial properties is, therefore, essential to overcome the limitations associated with the interfaces. an objective of this paper is to investigate the corelationship between the fracture toughness of mortar-aggregate interface and the concrete properties such as strengths and elastic moduli. It is observed from the test results that interface fracture toughness is closely related with the compressive strength rather than other properties. At early ages, the development of both tensile strength and elastic modulus are much greater thatn that of both interface fracture toughness and compressive strength.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.199-213
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• 2015

The residual fracture toughness of post-fire normal-strength concrete subjected up to $600^{\circ}C$ is considered by the wedge splitting test. The initial fracture toughness $K_I^{ini}$ and the critical fracture toughness $K_I^{un}$ could be calculated experimentally. Their difference is donated as the cohesive fracture toughness $K_I^c$ which is caused by the distribution of cohesive stress on the fracture process zone. A comparative study on determining the residual fracture toughness associated with three bi-linear functions of the cohesive stress distribution, i.e. Peterson's softening curve, CEB-FIP Model 1990 softening curve and Xu's softening curve, using an analytical method is presented. It shows that different softening curves have no significant influence on the fracture toughness. Meanwhile, comparisons between the experimental and the analytical calculated critical fracture toughness values further prove the validation of the double-K fracture model to the post-fire concrete specimens.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.337-354
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• 2016

To study the influence on fracture properties of reinforced concrete wedge splitting test specimens by the addition of reinforcement, and the restriction of steel bars on crack propagation, 7 groups reinforced concrete specimens of different reinforcement position and 1 group plain concrete specimens with the same size factors were designed and constructed for the tests. Based on the double-K fracture criterion and tests, fracture toughness calculation model which was suitable for reinforced concrete wedge splitting tensile specimens has been obtained. The results show that: the value of initial craking load Pini and unstable fracture load Pun decreases gradually with the distance of reinforcement away from specimens's top. Compared with plain concrete specimens, addition of steel bar can reduce the value of initial fracture toughness KIini, but significantly increase the value of the critical effective crack length ac and unstable fracture toughness KIun. For tensional concrete member, the effect of anti-cracking by reinforcement was mainly acted after cracking, the best function of preventing fracture initiation was when the steel bar was placed in the middle of the crack, and when the reinforcement was across the crack and located away from crack tip, it plays the best role in inhibiting the extension of crack.

• Magazine of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.129-136
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• 1995

Thls research Includes est~mat~ons of the relat~on ktween the strength of concrete and the fracture energy for river sand concrete and crushed sand concrete using the wedge sphtting test method. Furthermore the fracture energy and the characteristic length of two types of concrete were compared and d~scussed. Fracture behaviors of crushed sand concrete and natural sand concrete had the similar trend in fracture characteristics. The fracture energy was increased with the increase of compressive strength in the strength range of 20-60MPa, but was not increased for the concrete more than 6OM.Pa of compressive strength.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.31-47
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• 2014

This research is focused on obtaining the fracture property of steel fiber reinforced concrete(SFRC) specimens at early ages of 1, 2, 3 and 7-day, respectively. For this purpose, three point bending tests of nine groups of SFRC beams with notch of 40mm depth and different steel fiber ratios were conducted. The experimental results of early age specimens were compared with the 28-day hardened SFRC specimens. The test results indicated that the steel fiber ratios and curing age significantly influenced the fracture properties of SFRC. A reasonable addition of steel fiber improved the fracture toughness of SFRC, while the fracture energy of SFRC developed with curing age. Moreover, a quadratic relationship between splitting strength and fracture toughness was established based on the experiment results. Additionally, afinite element (FE) method was used to investigate the fracture properties of SFRC.A comparison between the FE analysis and experiment results was also made. The numerical analysis fitted well with the test results, and further details on the failure behaviors of SFRC could be revealed by the suggested numerical simulation method.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.1-11
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• 1984

Developed is a nonlinear fracture theory which can model the complex fracture behavior of concrete. This theory is based on the nonlinear behavior due to progressive microcracking and strain-softening in the fracture process zone of concrete cracks. The simplified realistic fracture model which preserves the same fracture energy for the different fracture process zone widths is also derived. By modeling fracture through stress-strain behavior, the effect of compressive stresses parallel to the crack plane can be easily taken into account. The comparisons of the present theory with valuable fracture test data available in the literature show good agreements, and the existing linear theory exhibits in many cases large deviations from the actual test results. A simple approximate formula for the fracture energy of concrete which should, be necessary for the fracture analysis of concrete structures is derived. Finally, the application of fracture theory to reinforced concrete and the necessity of further research are discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.719-724
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• 2001

In this study, wedge splitting tensile test(WST) using dye penetration method was carried out to investigate cracking criterion and fracture characteristics of concrete. For the this purpose, three levels of compressive strength of 180, 300 and 600 kgf/$\textrm{cm}^2$ and five testing age of 1, 3, 7, 14 and 28 days were selected as test variables. The specimen was loaded in a controlled manner and then dye was inserted at the load of 40%, 70% of the presumed peak load and at the load of 90% just after peak load. The fracture process zone was measured at each load step of a specimen. Test results were compared with analytic results by linear elastic fracture mechanics(LEFM) and numerical results through fictitious crack model(FCM) and finite element method(FEM).

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.527-539
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• 2019

In this paper, the fracture characteristics of concrete specimens with different notch depths under three-point flexural loads are studied by finite element and fracture mechanics methods. Firstly, the concrete beams (the size is 700×100×150 mm) with different notch depths (a=30 mm, 45 mm, 60 mm and 75 mm respectively) are tested to study the influence of notch depths on the mechanical properties of concrete. Subsequently, the concrete beams with notch depth of 60 mm are loaded at different loading rates to study the influence of loading rates on the fracture characteristics, and digital image correlation (DIC) is used to monitor the strain nephogram at different loading rates. The test results show that the flexural characteristics of the beams are influenced by notch depths, and the bearing capacity and ductility of the concrete decrease with the increase of notch depths. Moreover, the peak load of concrete beam gradually increases with the increase of loading rate. Then, the fracture energy of the beams is accurately calculated by tail-modeling method and the bilinear softening constitutive model of fracture behavior is determined by using the modified fracture energy. Finally, the bilinear softening constitutive function is embedded into the finite element (FE) model for numerical simulation. Through the comparison of the test results and finite element analysis, the bilinear softening model determined by the tail-modeling method can be used to predict the fracture behavior of concrete beams under different notch depths and loading rates.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.58-66
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• 2002

The objective of this study is to examine the fracture characteristics of concrete at early ages such as critical stress intensity factor, critical crack-tip opening displacement, fracture energy, and bilinear softening curve based on the concepts of the effective-elastic crack model and the cohesive crack model. A wedge splitting test for Mode I was performed on cubic wedge specimens with a notch at the edge. By taking various strengths and ages, load-crack mouth opening displacement curves were obtained, and the results were analyzed by linear elastic fracture mechanics and the finite element method. The results from the test and analysis showed that critical stress intensity factor and fracture energy increased, and critical crack-tip opening displacement decreased with concrete ages from 1 day to 28 days. By numerical analysis four parameters of bilinear softening curve from 1 day to 28 days were obtained. The obtained fracture parameters and bilinear softening curves at early ages may be used as a fracture criterion and an input data for finite element analysis of concrete at early ages.