Size effect and quasi-brittle fracture: the role of FPZ

By Xiaozhi Hu, K. Duan. 2008

241 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Fracture process zone (FPZ), or the crack-tip damage zone created by crack-bridging and micro-cracking activities, in a specimen of a concrete-like material is comparable to the crack size and un-cracked ligament, so fracture is typically quasi-brittle. Increasing or decreasing the specimen size, quasi-brittle fracture transition occurs towards the toughness-controlled or strength-controlled fracture, which is known as size effect (SE). In this study it is shown that the “size-dependent” quasi-brittle fracture transition is actually due to the interaction of FPZ with the nearest structure boundary rather than the size variation, and the widely-accepted SE for geometrically-similar specimens of different sizes is only a special case of quasi-brittle fracture controlled by the FPZ/boundary interaction. Relevant SE relations are critically reviewed and explained by emphasizing the key SE mechanism, FPZ/boundary interaction.

Subfields: Mechanics of Materials, Ocean Engineering

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/304f8a38207c613680fada376a623698ba6c2380

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In Mechanics of Materials

1. Yi Liu
2. Mingdong Wei
3. C. Hoover
4. Feng Dai
5. Jing Luo
6. Jia-wen Zhou
7. Zdenek P. Bazant
8. S. Pang

In Ocean Engineering

1. Mingdong Wei
2. C. Hoover
3. Feng Dai
4. Jing Luo
5. Jia-wen Zhou
6. Zdenek P. Bazant
7. Yi Liu
8. Jian Zhao

Citations in the corpus

• A Further Improved Maximum Tangential Stress Criterion for Assessing Mode I Fracture of Rocks Considering Non-singular Stress Terms of the Williams Expansion (2018, methodology): “To explain the geometry dependence, the size dependence and the loading configuration dependence of KIc, some theories have been proposed (Bazant and Kazemi 1990; Hu and Duan 2008; Ayatollahi and Akbardoost 2014; Berto et al.”
• Determination of Tensile Strength and Fracture Toughness of Granite Using Notched Three-Point-Bend Samples (2016, unknown): “012 determined for unnotched concrete samples (Hu and Duan 2008).”
• Comparison of the Hu-Duan Boundary Effect Model with the Size-Shape Effect Law for Quasi-Brittle Fracture Based on New Comprehensive Fracture Tests (2014, methodology): “Based on Tada et al. (1985) and ASTM (1990), Hu and Duan also introduced the geometry factor”