Abstract
For a reliable and economical design of concrete structures subjected to fatigue loading, a comprehensive understanding and realistic prediction of concrete fatigue life under complex loading scenarios with variable amplitudes is of major concern. In this paper, experimental investigations of concrete behavior under monotonic, cyclic, and fatigue loading are presented with particular focus on the influence of loading sequence on fatigue life. Namely, a test campaign consisting of 32 three-point bending tests on notched beams was conducted, including two beam sizes and six different loading scenarios. Several response characteristics of the fatigue behavior including, fatigue creep curves, Wöhler curves, stiffness degradation, evolving shapes of hysteretic loops, and crack propagation aspects have been evaluated. In addition, the main dissipative mechanisms governing the flexural behavior of concrete under repeated loading were analyzed based on a wide range of loading scenarios. Furthermore, the effect of loading sequence has been studied and analyzed in detail with the help of a 3D digital image correlation (DIC) system. Based on these observations, a theoretical interpretation of the phenomenology behind the sequence effect under bending loading is provided considering the fatigue crack propagation aspects and the corresponding stress redistribution around the crack tip.
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