Creep-damage coupling
Abstract
The failure of quasi-brittle materials under mechanical loading can be divided into two different parts. Initially, diffuse microcracking (damage) occurs in the Fracture Process Zone (FPZ) due to heterogeneities at the micro-scale. Further on micro-cracks coalesce into a macro one yielding strain localization. As the size of the FPZ is related to the microstructure, this type of fracture yields a size effect extensively studied by Bazant since the 70’s [1]. For prestressed concrete structures for which permanent load level is large, the influence of creep on the fracture process should be taken into account. We tackled the coupling between creep and failure properties from experimental, analytical and numerical point of view keeping in mind the perspective of size effect. Therefore, several analyses have been performed on three point bending tests on a notched beam of three homothetic sizes.
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