506

Numerical analysis of fracture process in

pavement slabs
Temesgen W. Aure and Anastasios M. Ioannides

Abstract: This paper presents a numerical analysis of the fracture behavior of pavement slabs, using special purpose cohe-
sive finite elements. Hilleborg’s fictitious crack model is employed in sensitivity studies exploring the effect of a number of
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modeling parameters on edge loading responses. Moreover, the case of interior loading is investigated, anticipating a future
thermal stress analysis. Results are compared with previous experimental as well as numerical investigations conducted by
other independent researchers. It is shown that cohesive elements are suitable for modeling crack propagation as required in
pavement engineering. It is envisaged that the approach presented in this study can be extended to more realistic in situ
pavement systems, thereby addressing the limitations of current mechanistic-empirical pavement design procedures.
Key words: pavement analysis, concrete fracture, cohesive elements, crack propagation.
Résumé : Cet article analyse numériquement le comportement en fracture des dalles de chaussée à l’aide d’éléments finis
cohésifs spéciaux. Le modèle de fissure fictive de Hilleborg est utilisé dans les études de sensibilité examinant l’effet d’un
certain nombre de paramètres de modélisation des réponses aux charges de bord. De plus, le cas de la charge intérieure est
examiné, anticipant une analyse future de la contrainte thermique. Les résultats sont comparés aux études expérimentales et
numériques antérieures réalisées par d’autres chercheurs indépendants. Il est montré que les éléments cohésifs sont adéquats
pour la modélisation de la propagation des fissures, tel que requis en génie des chaussées. Il est envisagé que l’approche
présentée dans cette étude soit étendue à des systèmes de chaussée réalistes in situ, abordant ainsi les limites des procédures
For personal use only.

actuelles de conception mécanistique-empirique des chaussées.

Mots‐clés : analyse de la chaussée, fracture du béton, éléments cohésifs, propagation des fissures.
[Traduit par la Rédaction]

1. Introduction while the second is that its numerical simulation poses enor-
mous computational challenges of its own.
Portland cement concrete (PCC) slabs-on-grade are sub-
For this study, post-crack analysis of slab-on-grade pave-
jected to traffic loads and environmental stressors, mainly
ments is accomplished using a commercial finite element
temperature and moisture, resulting in the formation of dis-
package ABAQUS®, in which a nonlinear fracture mechan-
crete cracks (Westergaard 1927). Analytical as well as numer-
ics (NLFM) application of the fictitious crack model (FCM),
ical idealizations of the slab behavior up to its elastic limit
first proposed by Hillerborg et al. (1976), is implemented. A
under those actions have been well documented (Huang and
crucial aspect of the simulations presented is the use of cohe-
Wang 1973). Additionally, considerable research has been de-
sive elements for modeling deformation and damage, leading
voted to post elastic characteristics, following crack initiation
to a detailed discussion of how related computational issues
(Ang et al. 1963; Ramsamooj 1993; Ioannides and Peng
may be resolved.
2004). Naturally, the performance of the system is greatly af-
fected by the processes of crack formation and propagation.
The present study is intended as yet another small contribu- 2. Literature review
tion in this evolving field of research, which aspires to even- Almost without exception, analytical models developed to
tually replace the purely statistical–empirical transfer functions date for crack simulation have been limited to linear elastic
and Miner’s cumulative linear fatigue hypothesis (Miner fracture mechanics (LEFM) concepts (Ramsamooj 1993,
1945), which are currently in use in mechanistic–empirical 1994; Shah and Ouyang 1994; Roesler and Khazanovich
pavement design guides (AASHTO 2008). More specifically, 1997; Gotlif et al. 2006). Such approaches neglect the
two problems frequently encountered in dealing with post quasi-brittle nature of concrete and the creation of a large
crack slab behavior are addressed in this paper. The first is fracture process zone (FPZ) (Kaplan 1961; Shah and
that the complexity of the phenomenon defies theoretical McGarry 1971). The relatively fewer attempts to employ
treatment, especially for quasi-brittle materials like concrete, concepts of NLFM to characterize concrete fracture have
Received 13 July 2011. Revision accepted 17 February 2012. Published at www.nrcresearchpress.com/cjce on 13 April 2012.
T.W. Aure and A.M. Ioannides. Civil Engineering Program in School of Advanced Structures, University of Cincinnati (ML-0071), P.O.
Box 210071, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0071, USA.
Corresponding author: Anastasios M. Ioannides (e-mail: anastasios.ioannides@uc.edu).
Written discussion of this article is welcomed and will be received by the Editor until 30 September 2012.

Can. J. Civ. Eng. 39: 506–514 (2012) doi:10.1139/L2012-020 Published by NRC Research Press
 Aure and Ioannides
been summarized by Shah et al. (1995). These aim primarily
at capturing the physics of the problem, while simultane-
ously remaining rather simplistic, lest their numerical imple-
mentation become prohibitively demanding. The FCM, first
proposed by Hillerborg et al. (1976), is a case in point, since
it has been found to simulate adequately the cracking proc-
ess, while lending itself well for numerical algorithms. The
FCM takes into account the interdependence of the traction
pressure transferred at the crack tip and the corresponding
material delamination occurring in the FPZ. Energy ex-
pended in creating new crack surfaces is neglected, since it
is assumed to be very small compared to that needed to
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cause crack propagation.
The FCM has been implemented in finite element (FE) inves-
tigations of the crack process, beginning with two-dimensional
problems (Hillerborg et al. 1976; Bažant and Oh 1983; Liu
1994). To extend the approach to increasingly more complex
practical situations, a step-by-step approach has been pursued
by researchers at the University of Cincinnati since the late
1990s, following an extensive review of fracture mechanics ap-
plications in pavement engineering (Ioannides 1997a, 1997b).
At first, a standalone computer program was coded and applied
to simply supported beams (Ioannides and Sengupta 2003).
Subsequently, appropriate elements in the commercially avail-
able FE program ABAQUS® Version 5.6 were sought (Ioan-
nides et al. 2005). At the time, nonlinear spring element,
For personal use only.
JOINTC, was found to be suitable for this purpose, and this
was adopted for concrete beams and slabs-on-grade subjected
to mechanical loads (Ioannides and Peng 2004; Ioannides et al.
2006). Similarly, investigators at the University of Illinois, cre-
ated user elements (UEL) based on FCM, and implemented
them locally in commercial software to simulate crack propaga-
tion in concrete beam specimens (Park 2005; Roesler et al.
2007), in asphalt specimens (Song 2006; Song et al. 2006a,
2006b), and in functionally graded concrete materials (Evanga-
lista et al. 2009; Park et al. 2010). Although these elements
were two-dimensional, responses obtained were compared with
experimental measurements and adequately good agreement was
reported. Additional theoretical progress is to be expected fol-
lowing the recent formulation of a more general cohesive zone
model using potential based fields by Park et al. (2009).
Numerical implementation of the FCM has been boosted
significantly by the 2005 release of ABAQUS ®Version
6.5, which for the first time included “a family of cohesive
elements for modeling deformation and damage in finite-
thickness adhesive layers between bonded parts.” Both
aforementioned University research groups quickly em-
barked on related but independent simulations of crack
propagation in beams and slabs-on-grade subjected to me-
chanical loads, with some very encouraging results (Gae-
dicke and Roesler 2009; Aure and Ioannides 2010). The
present paper is the most recent product of this continuing
effort, which may eventually enable engineers to develop
rational failure criteria that can replace the statistical–em-
pirical algorithms in current pavement design practice
(AASHTO 2008).
3. Methodology
In this study, commercial general purpose FE program
ABAQUS/STANDARD®, version 6.9-2 is employed in the
507
analysis of pavement slabs-on-grade, whose geometry plus
material properties are shown in Table 1. Unless and other-
wise stated, slab SL1 is considered in most sections; this
slab was previously analyzed by Ioannides et al. (2006), us-
ing JOINTC elements. For the fracture process, built-in trac-
tion separation based three-dimensional cohesive elements,
COH3D8, are inserted along the anticipated fracture plane,
in accordance with a discrete crack approach. This is deemed
a reasonable model for pavement slabs loaded either at the
edge or at the interior, since the fracture plane is anticipated
in the direction of the maximum stress. Moreover, Mode I or
opening mode is assumed as the contribution of the shear
stresses is expected to be negligible. Quadratic continuum el-
ement, C3D27, is used to idealize the intact (bulk) material,
which is assumed to behave elastically.
To minimize resources expended, bulk material and cohe-
sive FPZ are discretized independently: a coarse mesh of
152.4 mm × 152.4 mm × 50.8 mm (6 × 6 × 2 in.) C3D27
elements is used for the intact material, and a relatively fine
mesh of 0.025 mm × 3.05 mm × 3.05 mm (0.001 × 0.12 ×
0.12 in.), as indicated in Table 1, COH3D8 elements for the
cohesive zone. The two meshes are connected using surface
based tie constraints, which enforce identical boundary con-
ditions on nodes that lie on the interface. The subgrade is
idealized using SPRING1 elements that can only support
compression. Unit displacement is applied at two nodes on
either side of the symmetry line at (x, y, z) = (76.2, 152.4,
152.4) mm (3, 6, 6 in.) from the edge.
The responses monitored are as follows: load line displace-
ment (LLD), i.e., vertical displacement at the centre of the
loaded area to the right of the symmetry (also, fracture)
plane; crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD), i.e., the
horizontal displacement at the bottom of the FPZ directly
under the applied load; and, the total applied load (P), i.e.,
the sum of reaction forces at all loaded nodes.
4. Sensitivity studies
4.1. Effect of concrete softening curve
The FCM assumes that the traction stress is purely a mate-
rial property, independent of specimen geometry and size.
The softening curve that relates the traction stress to the
opening displacement is defined in terms of the total fracture
energy, GF, the concrete tensile strength, ft0 , and the shape of
the curve. Several researchers have argued that the shape of
the softening curve significantly affects structural response,
particularly local failure behavior (Petersson 1981; Gustafs-
son 1985; Roelfstra and Wittmann 1986; Alvaredo and Tor-
rent 1987). Consequently, numerous different curve shapes
have been proposed (Shah et al. 1995; Park et al. 2008). Hill-
erborg et al. (1976) started with a simple linear softening
curve, as shown in Fig. 1. Since the total fracture energy is
equal to the area under the curve, the final (zero traction) dis-
placement, wf, is
GF
½1 wf ¼ 2 0
ft
Subsequently, Petersson (1981) and Gustafsson (1985) em-
ployed a bilinear softening curve characterized by an addi-
tional ‘kink’ point, as shown in Fig. 1. If the coordinates of
Published by NRC Research Press
 508 Can. J. Civ. Eng. Vol. 39, 2012

Table 1. Geometry, material property and numerical model of slabs considered.

SL1 SL2
Slab geometry
Length 6096 mm (240 in.) 2000 mm (78.74 in.)
Width 3048 mm (120 in.) 2000 mm (78.74 in.)
Thickness 152.4 mm (6 in.) 63 mm (2.48 in.)
Material properties
Young’s modulus 27560 MPa (4000 ksi) 32040 MPa (4641.28 ksi)
Tensile strength 3.19 MPa (0.463 ksi) 4.15 MPa (0.602 ksi)
Fracture energy 0.075 N/mm (0.431lb/in.) 0.119 N/mm (0.679 lb/in.)
Poisson’s ratio 0.150 0.150
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Foundation characteristics
Subgrade modulus 54.24 kPa/mm (200 psi/in.) 156 kPa/mm (574.70 psi/in.)
Numerical model characteristics
Slab mesh size 152.4×152.4×50.8 mm (6×6×2 in.) 50.8×50.8×10.2 mm (2×2×0.4 in.)
Cohesive zone mesh 053.05×3.05 mm (0.12×0.12 in.) 3.05×3.05 mm (0.12×0.12 in.)
Softening Bilinear Linear
Solver Riks or Newton–Raphson Riks
Subgrade SPRING1 SPRING1


the kink point, (wk, jft0 ), are set at 0:8Gf 0F ; 13ft0 , the final dis- Fig. 1. Different types of concrete softening models (1 in. =
t
25.4 mm; 1 ksi = 6.89 MPa).
placement will be
GF
½2 wf ¼ 3:6 0
For personal use only.

ft

The location of the kink point, leading to eq. [2], depends

on two empirical assertions, represented by the coefficients
0.8 and 1/3, and has, therefore, been subject to debate. Ba-
žant (2002) essentially eliminated the first of these through
the introduction of initial fracture energy, Gf, a specimen
size dependent parameter, whose determination had been out-
lined by Bažant and Kazemi (1990). With regard to the bilin-
ear softening curve, Gf is the area under the first branch,
thereby defining the (extrapolated) horizontal intercept of
this branch as
2Gf
½3 w1 ¼
ft0

Bažant (2002) retained the second coefficient, j, as an

empirical assertion, but estimated that its value ranged from
about 1/6 to 1/3. Accordingly, the final displacement can be
written as
ample, an exponential traction stress vs. displacement is used
2 by Gaedicke and Roesler (2009)
½4 wf ¼ 0 ½GF  ð1  jÞGf 
jft   
1  exp ½aðw  wcr =wf  wcr Þ
½6 ts0 ¼ ft0 1 
Eager to determine j experimentally, Park et al. (2008) 1  exp a
suggested using yet another parameter obtained from the test-
ing, this time described by Jenq and Shah (1985), namely the The parameter a may be determined by equating the inte-
elastic critical crack tip opening displacement (CTODc). As- grand of eq. [6] to the total fracture energy. Similarly, the
suming this is equal to the displacement at the kink point, power law-based softening shape is used by Song (2006)
the stress ratio, j, can then be established as  
0 0 w a
½7 ts ¼ ft 1 
CTODc ft0 wf
½5 j¼1
2Gf
Integration can be used again to compute the exponent a,
Additional softening curves have been proposed by various for a given value of wf.
investigators, including exponential and power forms. For ex- In ABAQUS®, the softening curves are sub-divided into

Published by NRC Research Press

 Aure and Ioannides 509

two regions for the purpose of integration: the elastic or pre- Fig. 2. Effect of concrete softening curve and analysis technique.
crack response and the damage or post-crack behavior. The
pre-crack response is characterized by
8 9 8 9
> 3 > wn >
< n> = 1< =
½8 3s ¼ ws
>
: > ; T0 > : > ;
3t wt

where 3 is a nominal strain and w is the elastic separation, in

the normal and two shear directions, respectively; and T0 is
initial width of the cohesive zone. The elastic stress compo-
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nents can then be computed from

8 9 2 38 9
> t K Kns Knt > 3n >
< n> = 6 nn 7< =
½9 ts ¼ 6 Kss Kst 7 3s
> 4 5> >
: > ; Ktt : 3t ;
tt symm

where K is a nominal stiffness (also referred to as penalty

stiffness) and t is the nominal stress, in the normal and two
shear directions, respectively. If uncoupled traction is as-
sumed (as done in the present study), the off-diagonal terms
in eq. [9] are zero. The values of the penalty stiffness can be
approximated by using the elastic moduli, E and G of the in-
tact material, and the so-called characteristic width of the co- 4.2. Effect of viscous regularization
hesive zone, T0, i.e., Knn = E/T0, and Kss = Ktt = G/T0
A major challenge associated with crack simulation using
For personal use only.

(Daudeville et al. 1995).

Following the onset of the crack, and for as long as the
strength of the cohesive zone exceeds that of the intact mate-
rial, damage evolves based on the stiffness degradation varia-
ble, D, defined as
ts0
½10 D¼1 for wcr  w  wf
ti0
where ts0 is the traction stress for separation w, along the soft-
ening curve; ti0 is the traction stress that would have corre-
sponded to w had the pre-crack stiffness endured (ABAQUS
2009).
In the present study, the repercussions of softening curve
selection are examined using as test slab the one designated
as SL1 in Table 1. Four softening curves are considered,
namely, linear, bilinear, exponential, and power. All corre-
spond to the total fracture energy given in Table 1, as shown
in Fig. 1. For bilinear softening, the location of the kink
point is situated per Petersson (1981) and Gustafsson (1985).
Setting the final displacement for the exponential and power
softening curves to the same value as obtained from eq. [2],
results in parameter a, determined by integration of eqs. [6]
and [7], as 3.06 and 2.60, respectively. Results of the FE
runs with each of the four softening curves are shown in
Fig. 2. Linear softening is observed to give a slightly higher
peak load than the rest. The difference between the linear and
the bilinear curves is less than 2%, which is even lower than
that reported for simply supported beams (Aure and Ioan-
nides 2010). In fact, all differences are negligible from a
practical point of view. Recalling that previous studies (Aure
and Ioannides 2010) indicated that bilinear softening predicts
results that are in good agreement with experimental meas-
urements, this relatively simple representation was adopted
for the present study. Convergence concerns (Gaedicke and
Roesler 2009) are addressed through viscous regularization.
cohesive elements is obtaining a convergent solution. To
overcome this problem, several researchers have resorted to a
technique known as viscous regularization. By adjusting the
value of a viscous term introduced in the constitutive equa-
tions of the degrading material, the rate of viscous energy
dissipation is controlled, numerical instability is avoided, and
the solution is regularized. ABAQUS incorporates this con-
cept in the form of a viscous stiffness degradation parameter,
Dv, defined by
d 1
½11 ðDv Þ ¼ ðD  Dv Þ
dt м
where м is the viscosity parameter representing the relaxation
time of the viscous system, D is the degradation variable
evaluated in the inviscid backbone model, and t denotes time
(ABAQUS 2009). The traction stress is then computed based
on Dv as
½12 ts0 ¼ ð1  Dv Þti0
Accordingly, a sensitivity study was conducted to select
the appropriate magnitude of м for the problem size consid-
ered in the present study. Different values of м ranging from
10–9 to 10–3 were considered. Results presented in Fig. 3 in-
dicate that the outputs for м = 10–6 and м = 10–9 are almost
identical, i.e., м values lower than 10–6 do not affect the re-
sponse; therefore, м = 10–6 was adopted for the present
study. For this value, both solvers examined in this study pre-
dict identical peak loads, as discussed below.
4.3. Effect of cohesive zone width
The characteristic width of the cohesive zone, T0, is used
to determine the penalty stiffness components in the normal
and shear directions for the cohesive element, as discussed
above. In beam fracture analysis, a cohesive width of

Published by NRC Research Press

 510
Fig. 3. Effect of viscous regularization on slab response.
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0.0254 mm (0.001 in.) was found to be a reasonable value to
give a convergent solution (Aure and Ioannides 2010).
For personal use only.
The same approach may be extended to slabs. Four differ-
ent T0 values were tried: 0.0254 mm (0.001 in.), 0.254 mm
(0.01 in.), 2.54 mm (0.1 in.), and 25.4 mm (1.0 in.) Judging
from the load–displacement curve obtained, changes in the
cohesive zone width do not change the response substantially,
although an increase in T0 widens the crack mouth opening
displacement slightly. This is due to the fact that increasing
cohesive width decreases the penalty stiffness and conse-
quently increases the horizontal elastic displacement of the
cohesive zone. As for beams, the 0.0254 mm (0.001 in.)
width is found to be computationally attractive without com-
promising the stability and accuracy of the solution, and,
therefore, it was adopted in this study.
4.4. Effect of cohesive zone mesh
Three cohesive zone meshes, with aspect ratio of 3, 2, and
1, respectively, are considered. These give rise to COH3D8
element sizes of 19.05 mm × 6.35 mm (0.75 × 0.25 in.),
10.16 mm × 5.08 mm (0.40 × 0.20 in.), and 3.05 mm ×
3.05 mm (0.12 × 0.12 in.), along the width and depth direc-
tions, respectively. For these cases, 1 × 160 × 24, 1 × 300 ×
30, and 1 × 1000 × 50 cohesive elements, respectively, cor-
respond to the 40 × 20 × 3 slab elements. Results indicate
that refining the cohesive zone mesh decreases the number
of increments needed to complete the applied displacement.
Nonetheless, the load–displacement curves for all three cases
are found to be essentially identical, and, therefore, the least
demanding 3.05 mm × 3.05 mm (0.12 × 0.12 in.) cohesive
zone mesh is adopted in this study.
4.5. Effect of solution technique
In materials that exhibit snap-back type of load–displacement
curves, arc length based solvers are often recommended (Yang
and Proverbs 2004), in place of the more conventional Newton–
Can. J. Civ. Eng. Vol. 39, 2012
Raphson technique. Accordingly, ABAQUS (2009) implements
the so-called modified Riks algorithm (Riks 1979), whose use-
fulness has been confirmed by the authors in a previous study
involving simply supported beams (Aure and Ioannides 2010).
A comparison of the Newton–Raphson and modified Riks solv-
ers is made in the present study for slab-on-grade fracture. Re-
sponses are compared in Fig. 3, where it is clearly seen that the
modified Riks method captures the post-peak softening region,
whereas the Newton–Raphson shows a vertical drop in the load
at constant displacement. Despite this numerical disadvantage,
however, the inaccuracy observed by using the latter may be tol-
erable in certain cases, owing to its numerical simplicity and
shorter computational time, especially if only the peak load sup-
ported by the slab is of primary interest. In this study, Newton–
Raphson was retained only in the study of viscous regularization
and of interior loading.
4.6. Effect of loading mode
In the preceding sections, the displacement is applied at
the edge over two nodes located at (x, y, z) = (76.2, 152.4,
152.4) mm (3, 6, 6 in.), per Gaedicke and Roesler (2009).
This approach was compared with the case of a unit displace-
ment applied at all nodes that lie within a 304.8 mm (12 in.)
by 304.8 mm (12 in.) area, per Ioannides et al. (2006). The
two scenaria correspond roughly to the application of con-
centrated and rigid plate loads, respectively. It is found that
the cohesive elements start to be damaged earlier under the
concentrated load scenario, resulting in a significantly lower
peak load: 80.1 kN (18 kips) and 191.3 kN (43 kips), respec-
tively. This is probably attributable to stress redistribution
that occurs when a rigid plate load is applied, toward the cor-
ner nodes of the loaded area and away from the assumed
fracture plane. The actual loading condition on in situ slabs
lies between these two scenaria, probably being closer to the
concentrated load case, which is, therefore, retained in this
study for edge loading; for interior loading the rigid plate
load is deemed more appropriate, as discussed in the perti-
nent section, below.
4.7. Effect of tensile strength and fracture energy
The softening curves depicted in Fig. 1 make it apparent
that the two main material parameters influencing the fracture
process are tensile strength, ft0 , and total fracture energy. To
quantify the influence of these parameters on the load vs.
displacement response of the slab, one of them may be kept
constant while changing the other. To illustrate this more
simply, linear softening curve and Newton-Raphson solution
method may be employed, as detailed next.
Let the tensile strength increase in 10% increments over
the value indicated in Fig. 1, to 1.1ft0 , 1.2ft0 , 1.3ft0 , and 1.4ft0 .
The load vs. displacement responses obtained are shown in
Fig. 4a, which indicates that whereas the load at which the
crack initiates increases slightly, the peak load and the post-
peak softening behavior remain unaffected. In all cases, the
material exhibits brittle behavior with localized softening im-
mediately following crack initiation. It is evident that
although the tensile strength has a limited influence within
the localized softening region, it does not seem to play a ma-
jor post cracking role. Consequently, the peak load and the
corresponding crack mouth opening and vertical displace-
ments remain almost the same for all cases considered.
Published by NRC Research Press
 Aure and Ioannides
Fig. 4. (a) Effect of tensile strength; (b) effect of fracture energy; and (c) variation of peak load, LLD, and CMOD as brittleness number
increases.
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For personal use only.
Similarly, five different values of total fracture energy, i.e.,
0.9GF, 1.1GF, 1.2GF, 1.3GF, and 1.4GF may be considered,
keeping the tensile strength constant. The simulation results,
shown in Fig. 4b, indicate that increasing the fracture energy
results in higher peak loads. The dimensionless ratios b =
[P/P1GF] of the peak load, z = [LLD/LLD1GF] of the vertical
displacement at the peak load, and h = [CMOD/CMOD1GF]
of the crack mouth opening displacement at the peak load
for each case considered, to the corresponding peak load,
LLD and CMOD for the baseline fracture energy (1.0GF),
are plotted against a dimensionless parameter called the brit-
tleness number, B, defined by Bache and Vinding (1990) as
h f 2h
½13 B¼ ¼ t
lch EGF
511
where lch is the characteristic length of the material, first in-
troduced by Hillerborg (1985), E is Young’s modulus, and h
is the slab thickness. This definition suggests that as the frac-
ture energy decreases, B increases, i.e., the material becomes
more brittle. Figure 4c confirms b is inversely proportional to
B. It may be postulated that a unique relationship exists that
would allow one to determine the peak load for a particular
value of B, given the corresponding peak load for a different
brittleness number, thereby providing a linkage between la-
boratory testing and field applications. A similar trend is ob-
served in the plot of B vs. z and h corresponding to the peak
load. Such observations are very encouraging in the quest for
mechanistic-based post elastic failure criteria in pavement en-
gineering, and underscore the desirability for treating fracture
energy as equally important as the tensile strength.
Published by NRC Research Press
 512 Can. J. Civ. Eng. Vol. 39, 2012

5. Crack propagation under interior loading Fig. 5. Comparison of interior and edge loaded slab under different
loading scenaria.
For PCC pavement slabs subjected only to mechanical
loads, edge loading causes maximum bending stress. If both
thermal and mechanical loads act together, however, critical
stress may sometimes occur at the interior of the slab. Antici-
pating a future study of thermal fracture, cohesive elements
are used in this section to idealize interior loading cracks
and a comparison is made with edge loading. The crack is
assumed to propagate in two orthogonal directions from the
centre of the slab, per Meda et al. (2004). Therefore, cohe-
sive elements are inserted centrally along the x and y direc-
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tions, and are tied to the intact slab elements. The cohesive
element properties are identical in both directions. To ensure
a direct comparison between interior and edge loading, the
rigid plate load scenario is used for both, in addition to the
concentrated load case.
As expected, Fig. 5 shows that the maximum load sup-
ported by the slab is higher under interior than under edge
loading: 320.3 kN (72 kips) versus 191.3 kN (43 kips) for
the rigid plate load; 204.6 kN (46 kips) versus 80.1 kN
(18 kips) for the concentrated loads. The trace in the peak re-
gion indicates that the maximum stress is attained not at the
centre but at the corner of the loaded area closest to the frac-
ture plane. The first peak shows the progression of damage
of the cohesive zone toward the centre, whereas the second
peak shows the complete failure of the cohesive zone as the
For personal use only.

crack proceeds along the prescribed fracture plane. It is also
found that at any given applied load, the crack opens up more
along the width (shortest direction) than along the length. At
load level point 3, nodes directly under the loaded area have
exceeded the final (zero traction) displacement, i.e., the dis-
placement at which traction stress is zero, in the length direc-
tion, while the crack remains stable in the width direction. At
load level point 7, the displacement at the bottom of the slab
in both width and length directions have exceeded the zero
traction value, indicating that the load is now supported by
the subgrade.
6. Comparison with other numerical and
experimental studies
In this section, comparison of the FE idealization pre-
sented in this study is made with numerical and experimental
results reported by Gaedicke and Roesler (2009), who have
also used built-in traction-separation based cohesive elements
to simulate cracking in PCC slabs-on-grade in ABAQUS.
Two slab geometries had been considered: 63 mm (2.48 in.)
and 150 mm (5.9 in.) thick by 2000 mm (78.74 in.) in plan.
For the present comparison, the first of these is simulated, as-
suming a one-third notch. The geometric and material proper-
ties of this slab are described in Table 1, labeled as SL2.
A total of 283 904 elements had been employed out of
which 21 504 were COH3D8 and the remaining were
C3D8R, the latter being used for the intact material. In view
of the computational intensity of this representation, a coarser
but uniform mesh is employed in its reproduction during the
present study, using a higher order element, C3D27, as de-
lineated in Table 1. A total of 12 160 elements out of which
2 560 were COH3D8 and 9 600 were C3D27 were employed.
For simplicity, linear softening is retained herein, but the
penalty stiffness is computed from E/T0, where E is the
Young’s modulus of the slab and T0 is the cohesive zone
width, set to 1 mm (0.039 in.). The foundation is simulated
using tensionless SPRING1 elements, and horizontal springs
with a stiffness of 1/10th of the vertical springs are used to
provide lateral restraint, both per Gaedicke and Roesler
(2009).
The simulation result is shown in Fig. 6. It is observed that
the load–displacement curves from the two studies are almost
identical up to 17.8 kN (4 kips). Beyond that point, cracking
is initiated, and the two simulations diverge until the peak
load, which is also almost the same. The post peak unload-
ing, during which the cohesive elements become completely
damaged, occurs at a much lower load in the present study.
This is probably related to the much coarser mesh used in
the present study.
The corresponding experimental result reported by Gae-
dicke and Roesler (2009) is also plotted along with the two
numerical simulations in Fig. 6. Good agreement is obtained
up to the peak load. The post peak behavior shows differen-
ces primarily due to the linear elastic idealization of the sub-
grade. The experimental result shows a pronounced post peak
vertical drop in the load, mainly due to local plastic yielding
of the soil.
Considering the overriding practical importance of the
peak load, rather than of the softening region, the results ob-
tained from the simulation approach followed in the present
study are deemed as accurate enough as well as computation-
ally efficient.
7. Conclusion
The use of cohesive elements for simulating PCC slab
fracture has been investigated by studying the main parame-
ters that affect the responses of pavement slabs-on-grade.
Simulation with cohesive elements is computationally de-

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 Aure and Ioannides
Fig. 6. Comparison of this study with numerical and experimental
results by Gaedicke and Roesler (2009).
Can. J. Civ. Eng. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by University of Regina on 04/20/13
For personal use only.
manding as it involves material softening that influences the
stability of the solution algorithm. Consequently, appropriate
solution control strategies (such as viscous regularization)
need to be employed.
The effects of softening curve, cohesive zone width and
mesh, analysis technique, loading mode, tensile strength, and
fracture energy has been investigated. It is found that the type
of softening curve and cohesive zone width and mesh do not
influence the response significantly. They do, however, play a
significant role in the convergence of the solution. The influ-
ence of loading placement (at the interior or at the edge of
the slab) has been examined, on account of its importance
for in situ pavements under both thermal and mechanical
loads. It is found that the fracture process is more affected
by the fracture energy than by the tensile strength.
It can be concluded from this study that the application of
cohesive elements in a fracture analysis of PCC slabs is
promising, as demonstrated by the comparison with experi-
mental results. It is anticipated that the approach can be ex-
tended to the idealization of fracture in PCC pavements,
incorporating thermal stresses and load transfer. This effort
will contribute to the ongoing development of rational failure
criteria that can substitute the statistical–empirical algorithms
along with Miner’s hypothesis used in current mechanistic–
empirical pavement design procedures.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by a generous allocation
of computing time from the Ohio Supercomputer Center, Co-
lumbus Ohio.
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