Deformation and fracture of plain concrete

Abstract

SYNOPSIS Despite a great volume of investigation of the deformation and fracture of concrete, there appears to be no coherent model available to explain the observations. In this paper there is attempted an explanation of the available experimental data derived from 'triaxial' testing of concretes in terms of a theory of simple elastic deformation and tensile strain fracture. It is argued that there is sufficiently good agreement between theory and a number of the prominent features of the experimental data to warrant further investigation and elaboration of the general theme of strain rather than stress limitation as the primary feature of concrete fracture behaviour.