Abstract
By using the Base Force Element Method (BFEM) on potential energy principle, a new numerical concrete model, random convex aggregate model, is presented in this paper to simulate the experiment under uniaxial compression for recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) which can also be referred to as recycled concrete. This model is considered as a heterogeneous composite which is composed of five mediums, including natural coarse aggregate, old mortar, new mortar, new interfacial transition zone (ITZ), and old ITZ. In order to simulate the damage processes of RAC, a curve damage model was adopted as the damage constitutive model and the strength theory of maximum tensile strain was used as the failure criterion in the BFEM on mesomechanics. The numerical results obtained in this paper which contained the uniaxial compressive strengths, size effects on strength, and damage processes of RAC are in agreement with experimental observations. The research works show that the random convex aggregate model and the BFEM with the curve damage model can be used for simulating the relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties of RAC.
Highlights
The Key Laboratory of Urban Security and Disaster Engineering, Ministry of Education, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
By using the Base Force Element Method (BFEM) on potential energy principle, a new numerical concrete model, random convex aggregate model, is presented in this paper to simulate the experiment under uniaxial compression for recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) which can be referred to as recycled concrete
In order to simulate the damage processes of RAC, a curve damage model was adopted as the damage constitutive model and the strength theory of maximum tensile strain was used as the failure criterion in the BFEM on mesomechanics
Summary
Recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) is considered as a green building material which can alleviate the pressure of resource shortage. Based on the concept of numerical concrete presented by Wittmann et al [1], the random aggregate model was proposed to simulate the failure mechanism of concrete in recent years. Liu and Wang [3] presented the random circular aggregate model and simulated the whole failure process of concrete under uniaxial tensile by using nonlinear finite element method (FEM). In order to reflect the test condition more factually, a new random aggregate model (random convex aggregate model) is presented for RAC. This numerical simulation applied the piecewise curve of damage constitutive model based on the nonlinear damage mechanics to the destruction judgement for RAC material, and the results of the numerical simulation conform to the test result
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