Abstract
This paper summarizes the basic experimental and numerical results supporting an easy procedure to determine up to two fracture parameters based on numerically computed size effect curves. Furthermore, it supplies closed-form expressions to determine the initial linear segment approximation of the (stress vs. crack opening) softening curve of cohesive crack models for concrete, based only on the peak loads determined in splitting-tension (Brazilian) tests and in three-point-bending test on notched specimens. Knowledge of the initial segment, although not enough to describe all the fracture process of concrete structures, is enough to predict the fracture behavior of unnotched concrete structures prior and around the peak load. The same is true for notched structures provided their size is less than a limiting size, approximately defined in the paper.
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Planas, J., Guinea, G. & Elices, M. Size effect and inverse analysis in concrete fracture. International Journal of Fracture 95, 367–378 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018681124551
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018681124551