Effect of fibres on early age cracking of concrete tunnel lining. Part II: Numerical simulations

Abstract

The early-age cracking of concrete structures increases permeability and diffusivity and moreover accelerates the penetration of liquid, gas and aggressive agents. Consequently, the serviceability of these structures could be reduced drastically. Early-age cracking might be due to external loading, but also to the internal or external restraint resulting from autogenous, drying and thermal shrinkage. This study focuses more specifically on these latter phenomena.In the first part of this study (see effect of fibres on early-age cracking of concrete tunnel lining - Part I: Laboratory testing), ring tests were performed to investigate the sensitivity of concrete to cracking due to both shrinkage strain and type of fibre (two organic fibres and one steel fibre were studied).Ring test results were then used to validate the capacity of a chemo-thermo-viscoelastic damage model aimed at reproducing the complex behaviour of fibre-reinforced concrete subjected to restrained shrinkage through identifying the material parameters with standardised tests. The numerical simulations conducted on a real tunnel lining show that for the studied geometries and concrete mixtures, thermal shrinkage constitutes the major phenomenon capable of causing early-age transverse cracks and moreover crack opening is highly dependent on the type of reinforcement. Modifications to both fibre type and lining thickness may serve to avoid the onset of transverse cracks.