Fracture analysis and fatigue remaining life prediction of concrete structural components accounting for tension softening and size effects

This paper presents methodologies for fracture analysis and fatigue remaining life prediction of concrete structural components with and without accounting for tension softening and size effects. Stress intensity factor (SIF) is computed by conducting finite element analysis (FEA) and compared with that obtained by using analytical approach. The domain integral method has been used to calculate the strain energy release rate (SERR) and SW by post-processing the FEA results. Nonlinear fracture mechanics principles (NLFM) have been used for crack growth analysis and remaining life prediction. Details of size effect in the computation of SIF and remaining life prediction have been presented. Size effect has been accounted for by modifying the Paris law, leading to size adjusted Paris law. Numerical studies have been conducted for fracture analysis, crack growth studies and remaining life prediction. The predicted remaining life values with the combination of tension softening & size effects are in close agreement with the corresponding experimental values available in the literature.