A rough flat-joint model for interfacial transition zone in concrete

A 3D discrete element model integrating the rough surface contact concept with the flat-joint model is suggested to examine the mechanical characteristics of the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) in concrete. The essential components of our DEM procedure include the calculation of the actual contact area in an element contact-pair related to the bonded factor using a Gaussian probability distribution of asperity height, as well as the determination of the contact probability-relative displacement form using the least square method for further computing the force-displacement of ITZs. The present formulations are implemented in MUSEN, an open source development environment for discrete element analysis that is optimized for high performance computation. The model's meso-parameters are calibrated by using uniaxial compression and splitting tensile simulations, as well as laboratory tests of concrete from the literature. The present model's DEM predictions accord well with laboratory experimental tests of pull-out concrete specimens published in the literature.