Digital Image Based Simulation on Failure Process of Heterogeneous Brittle Materials

Abstract

Rock and concrete are typical heterogeneous material that the meso-scale heterogeneity may have a significant effect on their macro-scale mechanical responses. In this work, a digital image-based (DIB) technique is employed to characterize and quantify the heterogeneity of concrete, and the obtained data is directly imported into a numerical code named RFPA (Rock Failure Process Analysis) to study the effect of heterogeneity on the failure process of concrete. The upgraded RFPA is capable to simulate the progressive failure of brittle materials such as rock and concrete, representing both the growth of existing fractures and the formation of new fractures, obviating the need to identify crack tips and their interaction explicitly. The simulated results are in reasonable agreement with experimental measurements and phenomenological observations reported in previous studies.