Determination of Fracture Parameters of Concrete Using Bottom-Notched Splitting Test
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 35, Issue 5
Abstract
A new fracture test method—the bottom-notched splitting (BNS) test—is proposed in this study to determine the fracture parameters of concrete. In the BNS test, the concrete cube with a preset crack on the bottom surface is subjected to a line compressive load on the top surface. Numerical analyses are first carried out to simulate the stress distributions along the ligament and crack opening profiles of the BNS specimens. Then, the fitting expressions of the stress intensity factor and the crack center opening displacement are derived based on the linear elastic fracture mechanics. A series of BNS tests and three-point bending (TPB) tests with different ratios of the preset crack length to the specimen height are conducted to determine the fracture parameters of the concrete. The results indicate that the preset cracks in the BNS tests could initiate and propagate throughout the whole cross-sections of the concrete cubes. By substituting the obtained initial fracture loads, maximum loads, and critical crack center opening displacements in the BNS tests into the fitting expressions, the fracture parameters could be determined. By comparing with the TPB tests, the BNS tests proved to be an effective method to determine the fracture parameters of concrete. The BNS tests are convenient to operate and can reduce the damage risk of the preset cracks. Meanwhile, they also would be appropriate for assessing the fracture properties of existing concrete structures in service because the cubes can be easily obtained from the samples core-drilled from existing concrete structures.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or codes that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China under the Grants NSFC 52179123 and NSFC 51878117.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 35 • Issue 5 • May 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 28, 2022
Accepted: Aug 24, 2022
Published online: Feb 25, 2023
Published in print: May 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Jul 25, 2023
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