ELSEVIER Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 27 (I 997) 135-140

theoretical and
a p p l i e d f ~ d u r e
mechanlcs
Fractal analysis of fracture in concrete
Jun Pe ng a,*, Zhi mi n Wu b, Guof an Zhao b
a Department of Civil and Constructing Engineering, Dalian University, Dalian 116622, PR China
b Department of Cioil Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116023, PR China
Abstract
Experimental results indicate that propagation paths of cracks in concrete are often irregular, producing rough fracture
surfaces which are fractal. Based on dynamic analysis of microcrack coalescence, this paper presents a statistical fractal
model to describe the damage evolution of concrete. The model demonstrates that the mechanism of fracture surfaces formed
in concrete is closely related to the dynamic processes of the cascade coalescence of microcracks. A unimodal relation
between the fractal dimension and the coalescence threshold can qualitatively explain the relation between fractal dimension
and fracture energy.
I. Introducti on
Fracture mechanics was first applied to study the
failure behavior of concrete in [1]. It was based on
the assumption that cracks are smooth and straight.
This, however, is contrast to the fact that cracks in
concrete follow a zigzag pattern. To better under-
stand the fracture behavior of concrete, irregularity
in the crack path should be considered.
In recent years, fractal geometry has been widely,
used to describe some irregular phenomena in the
fracture behavior of materials [2-8]. However, the
correlation between fractal dimension and fracture
energy was contrary to experimental observation
[3,5,9]. One of the reasons is that most of the works
were limited to geometrical description of fractal
surfaces. Dynamic effects related to the formation of
fractal surfaces were neglected as a rule.
In what follows, the fracture behavior of concrete
is analyzed by fractal geometry. Based on experi-
" Corresponding author. Fax: + 86-411-3633080.
mental and analytical results that include the dynam-
ics of microcrack coalescence, the crack formation
process is first studied. The fractal dimension as
affected by the fracture energy is then explained
qualitatively.
2. Fractal characteristics of concrete fracture
It was pointed out in [10,11] that the microstruc-
ture of concrete contains a huge number of cracks
prior to any loading. These microcracks are usually
formed by the hydration and segregation process.
Their subsequent nucleation, growth, and interaction
are responsible for the macroscopic failure of the
solid [12-14].
2.1. Description of concrete specimen
Concrete is a multiphase material composed of
coarse and fine aggregates, cement and water. Cracks
in concrete usually propagate along three paths as
shown in Fig. l (a-c) which correspond respectively,
to kinking along the interfaces between aggregate
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136 J. Peng et al. / Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 27 (1997) 135-140
. g g , e g . , e i ' 7 o k , . t o
Aggr e ga t e ~ ~ ,, cement
Cement Cement
l l l l t t t t t t
Aggregat
Crack into
', aggregat e
Cement
I t t t
Fi g. 1. Cr a c k g r o wt h pa t hs in c onc r e t e : ( a) c r a c k at i nt e r l a c e , ( b)
c r a c k i nt o c e me nt , a nd ( c) c r a c k i nt o a g g r e g a t e .
and cement paste, kinking into the cement paste and
into the aggregate. Aggregates usually consist of
crushed stones, the surfaces of which are fractal [15].
For a certain kind of concrete, the physical and
mechanical properties of the cement paste are fixed.
Subjected to external loadings, the crack propagating
paths may be assumed as self-similar. Attempts will
be made to verify such a behavior by experiments.
Because the maximum coarse aggregate sizes are
different the specimens are divided into four groups
(A to D). The cement type is No. 425 common
portland cement. Coarse aggregates are mechanical
crushed limestone with maximum sizes of 20, 40, 80
and 150 mm. Fine aggregates are washed river sand
with finess modulus of 3.20. The compositions of the
concrete specimens in Table 1 are determined such
that the uniaxial compressive strengths (6 12 in.
cubic strength) and the uniaxial tensile strength of
specimens in four groups are the same (30.4 MPa
and 2.87 mPa).
The sizes of specimens in four groups are (L X h
t) 450 x 450 x 450 mm (18 X 18 18 in.), with
a/ h = 0.4, where a is the length of precast crack.
2.2. Fractals
Shown in Fig. 2 is a set-up for photoclastic
coating which is applied to observe the crack paths
in the splitting-tensile tests. The results are given in
Fig. 3(a) to (f), inclusive for different ratios of
P/Pmax where P is the current load while Pmax is
the maximum load. Crack propagation paths are
shown in these photos. When the color of strips
changes from green to yellow, the microcracks which
are invisible by naked eyes coalesce and become
Ta bl e 1
Co mp o s i t i o n s o f c o n c r e t e s p e c i me n s ( k g / m 3)
Gr o u p Ce me n t Co a r s e a g g r e g a t e ( mm) Fi ne Wa t e r
8 ~ 20 2 0 ~ 4 0 4 0 ~ 80 80 ~ 150 a g g r e g a t e
A 427 1214 - - - - - - 6 5 4 205
B 3 8 6 685 685 - - - - 5 6 0 185
C 3 4 4 5 0 4 5 0 4 505 - - 478 165
D 3 1 2 402 403 402 403 428 150
D
o r
macroscopic in size. Direct observation demonstrates
that portion of the crack paths are self-similar.
For curves with fractal characteristic, they can be
described as
U(r) - r -D 1)
o r
L(r) =N( r ) - r r ' -D 2)
In this way D can be obtained as follows:
In N( r )
I n( I / r ) 3)
In L( r )
D = 1 + ln(1/r-----~' (4)
where r is a measurement scale with dimension of
length, N(r) is number of measurements, L(r) is the
length of the corresponding curve and D is dimen-
sion of fractal. By means of the graphics analysis
~ Camera
Po l]rlz
~ Ou a r t e r -wa ve
\ ' T " '
D--/
\~j/ / S Reflect ing surface
I I I / r ' l l / / ] / l I I I / I / ~ / / / / Specimen
Fi g. 2. S c h e ma t i c d i a g r a m o f phot oe l a s t i c c o a t i n g s et - up.
J. Peng et al. / Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 27 (1997) 135-140 137
( a ) ( b ) ( c )
( d ) ( e ) ( f )
Fi g. 3. Cr a c k gr owt h pat hs s hown by phot oel as t i c c oa t i ng me t h o d f or P/Pmax e qua l s t o ( a) 0. 555, ( b) 0. 615, ( c ) 0. 704, ( d) 0. 778, ( e) 0. 859
and ( f ) 0. 926.
technology, the fractal dimension of concrete frac-
ture surfaces in our tests is from 1.15 to 1.24.
3. Dynamic model of microcrack
Under external loadings, the coalescence of
neighboring microcracks depends not only on the
physical and mechanical properties of concrete, but
also on the relative distribution of the cracks, and
sizes of specimens. A simple mechanics analysis will
be given to account for microcrack coalescence.
Fig. 4 shows that two cracks with length c are
collinear, they are spaced at a distance d apart and
subjected to stress o- 0. Dimensional analysis leads to
expression for the crack tip stress [16]
o" 0
where r is the distance from the crack tip. The
average stress in the ligament d is
v 1 l oaf( r d ) ( d ) 0 ~ , dr = F ( 6)
t t t t t i t t t t i
C C
1111111111
%
Fi g. 4. Coa l e s c e nc e o f t wo c ol l i ne a r cr acks .
138 J. Peng et al . / Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 27 (1997) 135-140
o r
c = - = c ( 7 )
c ~o- 0]
For t wo mi cr ocr acks with length c t and c 2, the
resulting stress will be shared by the nei ghbor i ng
media. Taki ng i nt o account the stress i nt ensi t y f act or
a , the averaged stress in the l i gament d is gi ven by
( c, / 2) 4Oo + ( c2/2) ,~Oo + dOo
o-~= d
(oc )
= ' a + l , ( 8 )
in whi ch
C I + C 2
Cv 2 ( 9)
it fol l ows that
d a o o
L . . . . ( 10)
C v O" v - - Or 0
using a stress criterion, the mi cr ocr acks will assume
to coal esce when o-v _> o-~ with o-~ being the critical
stress. The mi cr ocr ack coal escence t hreshol d can be
gi ven as
t~ tY 0
L <L c ' c - - o ( 11)
For di fferent O-v/O- ~ and stress intensity fact or o~,
the coal escence threshold L c will be different. Test
results give: % = 0. 55 to 0.81 G, a = 1.8 to 6.5, so
that L~ = 2.2 to 27.7.
4. Statistical fractal model
Studies on the format i on mechani sm of fractal
surfaces have led to a number of macr oscopi c geo-
metrical fractal model s, such as intergranular fracture
model f or metals and t ransgranul ar fract ure model
f or geomat eri al s. However , the dynami c process of
damage and fracture were not consi dered.
Consi der the fractal characteristics of concret e, it
can be assumed that
d L
z cCvC-- - L c ( 1 2 )
Fi g. 5. The s t at i s t i cal f r act al model .
The mi cr ocr ack coal escence threshold can be ex-
pressed as fol l ows:
77" 7r
0 _ < z < l - ~ - ~ 0 , 0 1 , 0 2 < ~- ( 13)
As shown in Fig. 5. the ' pract i cal measur abl e' length
of coal esced crack is
l p = Cl COS 0 1 + C2COS 0 2 + d ( 14)
The cor r espondi ng effect i ve length is
C e : CICOS 01 -[- C2COS 0 2 "[- d c o s 0 ( 15)
The number of mi cr ocr acks is very large and differ-
ent f or ms of coal escence may exist. Fr om the statisti-
cal poi nt of vi ew, the pract i cal and effect i ve lengths
o f cracks can be taken as fol l ows:
1 ~' 7r / 2 , ' r / 2 r Tr / 2 f l
ip-- 7 L ,2L o, L o,do l p dz d0 d 0 , d 0 2
= o ~ - + ( 1 6 )
7"/"
i f , 2 f ,
"Ce = - " ~ - r / 2 " - ~ / 2 " - ~ / 2 " 0 G dz dO~ d02 d O
( 4 + L ~ )
= c, [ - - - ~ . ( 17)
Fr om Eq. (2), the di mensi on of fracture surfaces is
gi ven by
D = l n ( ~ p / O v ) l n ( 4 / = + L J 2 )
= ( 1 8 )
ln(~/ov) ln(4/~+LJ~)
Tests showed that the coal escence t hreshol d can be
assumed L = 2.2 to 27.7, this gi ves fractal di men-
sion of 1.17 t o 1.27, whi ch is in agr eement with the
experi ment al results.
5. Di scussi on and concl usi on
The experi ment al results of fractal di mensi on and
fract ure ener gy Gf of concret e are shown in Fig. 6.
J. Peng et al. / Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 27 (1997) 135-140 139
z
=..E
.=
5. 3
0. 1 0 O. 5 0. 2 0 0. 2 5
Fractal dimension D
Fig. 6. Fracture energy versus fractal dimension for concrete
(present work).
are closely related to the dynamics of fracture. This
has also been shown in [6].
The present statistical fractal model can explain
the above experimental results. As shown in Fig. 8,
fractal dimension vs. coalescence threshold 1/ L c is
a unimodal curve. The curve in Fig. 8 is in agree-
ment with those in Figs. 6 and 7.
To conclude concrete fracture surface can be re-
garded as fractal statistically. The formation of frac-
tal surfaces can be attributed to the dynamic process
of damage evolution.
0. 6
0. 4
0. 2
/ .N
/ x \
/ / 4340 st \ \
lumines e%
300 grad
meraglng ", ~.=
st e e l ~ . ~ .
T i t a n i u m \ ~
/ e , o ye ~"
" " 1 0 1 2 1 4 1 6
Specific energy In ~ IN/m)
Fig. 7. Fractal dimension versus surface energy [17].
Note that the curve attains a unimodal relation.
Similar trend is found for the experimental results in
[17] that summarizes the fractal dimension D as a
function of the surface energy r for different metal
alloys as illustrated in Fig. 7.
Poor explanation for these phenomena were at-
tributed to the lack of experimental accuracy of the
fractal dimensions. The present study shows that the
formation of fractal surfaces and dimensional changes
0. 2 8
g 0.24
~3
~ 0 . 2 0
0 . 1 8 , 0 1 4 0 ' . 8 1 . 2 1 1 8 ; . 0
Co a l e sce nce t hr e sho l d l l L c
Fig. 8. Variations of fractal dimension with inverse of coalescence
threshold parameter.
Acknowledgements
This work is financially supported by the National
Science Foundation of China. The authors would like
to express their thanks to the engineers Xiwen Wang
and Wanmi n Yu for their assistance in experimental
work.
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