Physical stochastic damage model for concrete subjected to fatigue loading

Abstract

A unified damage model applicable to both monotonic and fatigue loading is developed for concrete in the framework of mesoscopic stochastic fracture models. Besides traditional strain-based failure criteria, a new kind of energy-based failure criteria for meso-elements is established relying on nanoscale mechanics. Verifications show that the proposed model can not only reasonably reproduce the randomness in fatigue lifetime but also well describe the nonlinearity in fatigue damage evolution of concrete. In addition, the physical mechanisms lying behind these randomness and nonlinearity are clearly demonstrated for the first time.