An analytical approach to deduce loading rate-sensitivity of fracture mode of concrete and mortar

Abstract

The fracture of two-component solids is considered in order to study the sensitivity of the failure mode to the loading rate. The incubation time approach, supplemented by the randomized Sign-Perturbed Sums (SPS) method, is applied to develop an analytical model to predict the difference in the fracture pattern under dynamic and static conditions. To verify and validate the model, experimental data of dynamic tests on concrete, mortar and granite aggregate are analyzed. It was demonstrated that the model indicates the change in the failure mode for inhomogeneous material such as concrete, while the analysis results for pure granite do not predict the same phenomenon. The results obtained are in agreement with the experimentally observed change in the fracture mechanism of concrete from transgranular to intergranular as the loading rate decreases. Thus, it was shown that the developed model is able to predict the change of the fracture mechanism with the increase of the loading rate.