Quasibrittle Fracture Mechanics And Size Effect

Many modern engineering structures are composed of brittle heterogenous, or quasibrittle, materials. These include concrete, composites, tough ceramics, rocks, cold asphalt mixtures, and many brittle materials at the microscale. Understanding the failure behavior of these materials is of paramount importance for improving the resilience and sustainability of various engineering structures including civil infrastructure, aircraft, ships, military armors, and microelectronic devices. Designed for graduate and upper-level undergraduate university courses, this textbook provides a comprehensive treatment of quasibrittle fracture mechanics. It includes a concise but rigorous examination of linear elastic fracture mechanics, which is the foundation of all fracture mechanics. It also covers the fundamental concepts of nonlinear fracture mechanics, and introduces more advanced concepts such as triaxial stress state in the fracture process zone, nonlocal continuum models, and discrete computational models. Finally, the book features extensive discussion of the various practical applications of quasibrittle fracture mechanics across different structures and engineering disciplines, and throughout includes exercises and problems for students to test their understanding.

Fracture and Size Effect in Concrete and Other Quasibrittle Materials is the first in-depth text on the application of fracture mechanics to the analysis of failure in concrete structures. The book synthesizes a vast number of recent research results in the literature to provide a comprehensive treatment of the topic that does not give merely the facts - it provides true understanding. The many recent results on quasibrittle fracture and size effect, which were scattered throughout many periodicals, are compiled here in a single volume. This book presents a well-rounded discussion of the theory of size effect and scaling of failure loads in structures. The size effect, which is the most important practical manifestation of fracture behavior, has become a hot topic. It has gained prominence in current research on concrete and quasibrittle materials. The treatment of every subject in Fracture and Size Effect in Concrete and Other Quasibrittle Materials proceeds from simple to complex, from specialized to general, and is as concise as possible using the simplest level of mathematics necessary to treat the subject clearly and accurately. Whether you are an engineering student or a practicing engineer, this book provides you with a clear presentation, including full derivations and examples, from which you can gain real understanding of fracture and size effect in concrete and other quasibrittle materials.

Many modern engineering structures are composed of brittle heterogenous, or quasibrittle, materials. These include concrete, composites, tough ceramics, rocks, cold asphalt mixtures, and many brittle materials at the microscale. Understanding the failure behavior of these materials is of paramount importance for improving the resilience and sustainability of various engineering structures including civil infrastructure, aircraft, ships, military armors, and microelectronic devices. Designed for graduate and upper-level undergraduate university courses, this textbook provides a comprehensive treatment of quasibrittle fracture mechanics. It includes a concise but rigorous examination of linear elastic fracture mechanics, which is the foundation of all fracture mechanics. It also covers the fundamental concepts of nonlinear fracture mechanics, and introduces more advanced concepts such as triaxial stress state in the fracture process zone, nonlocal continuum models, and discrete computational models. Finally, the book features extensive discussion of the various practical applications of quasibrittle fracture mechanics across different structures and engineering disciplines, and throughout includes exercises and problems for students to test their understanding.

This book presents an experimentally validated probabilistic strength theory of structures made of concrete, composites, ceramics and other quasibrittle materials.

This book is concerned with a leading-edge topic of great interest and importance, exemplifying the relationship between experimental research, material modeling, structural analysis and design. It focuses on the effect of structure size on structural strength and failure behaviour. Bazant's theory has found wide application to all quasibrittle materials, including rocks, ice, modern fiber composites and tough ceramics. The topic of energetic scaling, considered controversial until recently, is finally getting the attention it deserves, mainly as a result of Bazant's pioneering work. In this new edition an extra section of data and new appendices covering twelve new application developments are included. The first book to show the 'size effect' theory of structure size on strength Presents the principles and applications of Bazant's pioneering work on structural strength Revised edition with new material on topics including asymptotic matching, flexural strength of fiber-composite laminates, polymeric foam fractures and the design of reinforced concrete beams

This volume is a collection of the papers given at the workshop on Fracture Scaling, held at the University of Maryland, USA, 10-12 June 1999, under the sponsorship of the Office of Naval Research, Arlington, VA, USA. These papers can be grouped under five major themes: Micromechanical analysis Size effects in fiber composites Scaling and heterogeneity Computational aspects and nonlocal or gradient models Size effects in concrete, ice and soils . This workshop is the result of a significant research effort, supported by the Office of Naval Research, into the problems of scaling of fracture in fiber composites, and generally into the problems of scaling in solid mechanics. These problems, which are of interest for many materials, especially all quasibrittle materials, share similar characteristics. Thus, progress in the understanding of scaling problems for one material may help progress for another material. This makes it clear that a dialogue between researchers in various fields of mechanics is highly desirable and should be promoted. In view of this, this volume should be of interest to researchers and advanced graduate students in materials science, solid mechanics and civil engineering.

Fracture and Size Effect in Concrete and Other Quasibrittle Materials is the first in-depth text on the application of fracture mechanics to the analysis of failure in concrete structures. The book synthesizes a vast number of recent research results in the literature to provide a comprehensive treatment of the topic that does not give merely the facts - it provides true understanding. The many recent results on quasibrittle fracture and size effect, which were scattered throughout many periodicals, are compiled here in a single volume. This book presents a well-rounded discussion of the theory of size effect and scaling of failure loads in structures. The size effect, which is the most important practical manifestation of fracture behavior, has become a hot topic. It has gained prominence in current research on concrete and quasibrittle materials. The treatment of every subject in Fracture and Size Effect in Concrete and Other Quasibrittle Materials proceeds from simple to complex, from specialized to general, and is as concise as possible using the simplest level of mathematics necessary to treat the subject clearly and accurately. Whether you are an engineering student or a practicing engineer, this book provides you with a clear presentation, including full derivations and examples, from which you can gain real understanding of fracture and size effect in concrete and other quasibrittle materials.

Understanding of failure of quasibrittle materials is of paramount importance in many engineering fields. This subject has become a broad and important field of considerable mathematical complexity, with many competing models and unsolved problems. Attention in this volume focuses on concrete, rock, masonry, toughened ceramics, ice and other quasibrittle materials characterized by the development of large zones of cracking or other microstructural damage, and its localization into major fractures.