A resilience assessment framework for microencapsulated self-healing cementitious composites based on a micromechanical damage-healing model

Abstract

In this paper, a resilience assessment framework for microencapsulated self-healing cementitious composites is proposed based on a micromechanical damage-healing model. A 3D micromechanical analytical model is constructed to analyze the performance evolution during the damage-healing process of self-healing concrete. The resilience assessment of microencapsulated self-healing concrete is defined by virtue of the residual stiffness, self-healing effect on stiffness and damage cumulative on stiffness, which corresponds to three main features of resilience; namely, the robustness, recoverability and adaptability. The assessment results indicate that the release of healing agents within microcapsules and healing process of extended microcracks allows the microencapsulated self-healing concrete to have higher resilience than conventional concrete. Moreover, a parameter sensitivity analysis is conducted to investigate the influence of the healing efficiency, the applied initial damage and the fracture toughness of the repaired microcrack on resilience of microencapsulated self-healing concrete. The results indicate that higher healing efficiency and applied initial damage leads to high resilience, and fracture toughness of the repaired microcrack makes less difference to the results. The findings of this paper lay a theoretical foundation for the resilience design of self-healing material layer of underground structures.