Study of the micro-crack growth in the concrete material to predict its lifetime

Abstract

The concrete always contains microstructures like micro-crack, voids, etc. These parameters affected the lifetime of materials. This article presents a computation algorithm to predict the lifetime of brittle materials like concrete which depends on the distribution of micro-crack in the materials. The proposed model is based on subcritical crack growth using the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) approach. The algorithm considers both tensile and shear fracturing. The proposed model was applied to a concrete sample under compressive loading for the prediction of a lifetime. The results showed a significant difference in failure zones and failure time under different magnitude compressive loadings and initial crack length.