2010 Second International Conference on Computer Modeling and Simulation
3-D Numerical Simulation of Bending Fracture of Concrete Beam
Based on Meso-mechanics Damage
Chaohong Li1, 2
1 School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong
University
Chengdu, China
2 Shijiazhuang Railway Institute
Shijiazhuang, China
li_zh@126.com
Guangxing Xu2
2 Shijiazhuang Railway Institute
Shijiazhuang, China
xugx@sjzri.edu.cn
Abstract—A method for establishing 3-D random aggregate
and random mechancial parameters model on meso-level was
proposed. Two numerical models of concrete beam specimens
with ANSYS were established. By the flexural numerical
simulation of two models, the gradual damage process, the
arising and growth of crack were simulated in space.
Influences of random distribution of aggregates and
heterogeneity of material parameters on crack expanding and
bearing capacity of specimen were researched. Results show
that the flexural strength of numerical test is basically
corresponding with the result of physical experiment with the
same parameters. Characteristics of abnormity and
discontinuity in crack arising and growth are consistent with
macroscopic experiment phenomenon. The numerical model
proposed by this paper provided an effective method on the
mechanism study of concrete damage and fracture.
Keywords-concrete; mesoscopic numerical model; numerical
experiment; random aggregate; random mechanical parameters;
damage and fracture
I. INTRODUCTION
Concrete is a kind of multiphase composite material with
heterogeneous and anisotropic, its mesoscopic structure is
mainly consist of aggregate particles, hardened mortar,
stomata and crevice, etc. Research results show that the
macroscopic mechanical properties of concrete are
dominated by its mesoscopic structure, and the damage
behavior on macro-scale is the result of accumulation and
development of damage and fracture on meso-scale. With
the development of numerical analysis technology and high
speed computing technology, mesoscopic numerical
experiments on the meso-level has become an important
method to reveal the damage and fracture mechanism of
concrete.
Many mesoscopic numerical models of concrete have
been proposed, in which several are widely used, such as
Lattice model [1], Random model [2], Random aggregate
978-0-7695-3941-6/10 $26.00 © 2010 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ICCMS.2010.47
Hailong Wang1, 3
1 School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong
University
Chengdu, China
3 Heibei Institute of Architecture and Civil Engineering
Zhangjiakou, China
wanghl@hebiace.edu.cn
model [3] and Random mechanics characteristic model [4].
Using theses models, many achievements about uniaxial
tensile, compressive strength and bending performance have
been obtained [5,6]. However, the current research mostly
based on two-dimensional model, there were few
achievements based on 3-D model limited by the capacity of
computer, meanwhile, the utility structure analysis software
were seldom used. In addition, the influence of
heterogeneity of material parameters on 3-D model has not
been reported.
Based on damage mechanics and computational
mechanics, a 3-D random aggregate and random mechanical
parameters mesoscopic model is firstly put forward, with
which the random distribution of aggregates location and
material characteristics can be simulated. Two concrete
flexural numerical models were simulated with this method,
according to the experimental results, influences of random
distribution of aggregates location and material
characteristics to the capability of damage, crack and
bearing capacity of concrete beams have been researched,
the damage and fracture mechanism was further revealed.
II. ESTABLISHING OF MESOCOPIC MODEL
In this paper, concrete is considered to be a composite
material made up of three components: mortar, aggregates
and the bonding interface between them, based on this, a 3-
D random aggregate and random mechanical parameters
numerical model was established.
A. Element Meshing and Aggregates Generation
Aggregates are the important component of concrete
which act as skeleton, they were frequently been simulated
as sphere, ellipsoid and convex polyhedron, etc. In this
paper, aggregates were simplified as sphere. The number of
aggregates was determined according to the sample size,
aggregates gradation curve and aggregates percentage of
sample weight.
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 Before generating aggregate particles, the sample was
divided into tetrahedron elements to generate finite element
mesh evenly with a size slightly less than the minimum
radius of aggregates. Then the Monte Carlo method was
used to generate random number based on sequence number
of elements. By searching the proper location of elements, a
set of virtual aggregates domain were randomly generated.
The spheres are allocated randomly starting with lager ones,
each new sphere is checked such that a minimum distance is
maintained between the spheres’ boundaries to assure space
for the matrix phase. In addition, in order to improve the
efficiency of aggregate generation, an algorithm called
occupying rejection was adopted to avoid repetition on
selecting, namely, eliminating the invalid elements who are
occupied by aggregates or do not meet the aggregates
generation conditions. Fig.1 shows the aggregates model of
this paper.
Figure 1. Random aggregate model of concrete
When locating the spherical center of aggregates, the
attribute of elements were been identified and the material
properties were then been assigned directly. If all the nodes
of element are contained by certain sphere, this element will
be identified as aggregate element. If nodes are partially
contained, the element will be identified as interface
element. No nodes are contained for mortar element.
B. Remeshing for Interface Elements
The element size used to mesh above is close to the
minimum aggregates radius, it is too large relatives to the
interface layer, and will cause distortion in simulating the
key part of concrete mesoscopic structure due to thick
interface layer. In order to simulate cracks better, SOLID45
element type in ANSYS was used to remesh the interface
element for three times. After each remeshing, the attribute
of interface elements should be identified over again, and the
principle for identifying is same to the above. In this way,
the elements need to remesh next time are restricted to those
who still be interface elements after last remeshing, and the
number of remeshed non-interface elements is consumedly
reduced. After remeshing three times, the grid of aggregates
become dense in surface and sparse inside to form an idea
gradient mesh, which reduced the number of elements yet
can reflect the mesoscopic structure characteristics of
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concrete. Fig.2 shows some local grids of the remeshed
model, in which the white region represents mortar
elements, the gray region represents aggregate element and
the black region represents interface element.
Figure 2. Local grids of remeshed model
C. Random Mechanic Parameters Assigning for Material
Attribute of Elements
In order to consider the nonuniformity of material
parameters of each phase, their mesoccopic mechanics
parameters were assumed to according to two-parameter
Weibull random distribution. This distribution is mainly
used to describe the discreteness of strength parameters and
life parameters related to strength, it is a reference
distribution for strength and life parameters of brittle
material. The density function of two-parameter Weibull
distribution model is,
m⎛ x ⎞
m −1
⎡ ⎛ x ⎞m ⎤
f ( x) = ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ exp ⎢− ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎥ ( x ≥ 0)
μ ⎝μ⎠ ⎢⎣ ⎝ μ ⎠ ⎥⎦
(1)
Firstly, sequence of material parameters according to
Weibull distribution was generated, and then be assigned to
the elements by Monte Carlo method. In this way, the
random mechanics material parameters of elements in each
phase become reality.
III. CONSTITUTIVE RELATION AND DAMAGE EVOLUTION
MODEL OF EACH PHASE
The key problem of numerical experiment on concrete
failure lies on the damage constitutive relation model of
mesoscopic elements. Researches show that the nonlinear
stress-strain curve of concrete presented on macro does not
due to its plastic deformation, but the generation and
development of micro cracks. Base on this, an isotropy
elastic damage constitutive relation was adopted to describe
the mechanics characters of concrete mesoscopic elements.
According to strain-equivalente principle by Lemaitre,
constitutive relation of damaged material can be gain
through the nominal stress of nondestructive materials,
namely,
ε = σ / E = σ /(1 − D) E 0 ，
σ = E 0 (1 − D)ε (0 ≤ D ≤ 1) (2)
 Where E0 and E are the initial and damaged elastic model MX2. The random mechanical parameters of each
modulus, and D is damage variables, in which D=0 phase were assigned following the method mentioned in
corresponding to none damage state, D=1 corresponding to II.C, only the heterogeneity of elastic modulus and strength
completely damage state (fracture or destroy) and 0<D<1 among all parameters were considered in model MX2. The
corresponding to partly damage state. mechanical parameters of model MX2 are shown in Tab.I,
According to the strain-equivalent principle, uniaxial and the eigenvalue in Tab.I were adopted as the parameters
tension damage evolution equation can be build by of model MX1. The loading scheme was shown in Fig.4,
equivalent Principal tensile strain. This paper takes two ends of samples were simply-supported, and loads
maximum tensile strain criterion as damage criterion, Fig.3 which controlled by vertical displacement were applied in
shows the double broken line damage constitutive model, the middle of the beam, there were 24 load step with each
the damage evolution equation is as follow, step 0.002mm.
TABLE I. WEIBULL DISTRIBUTION PARAMETERS USED TO
⎧0 ε < εt0 SIMULATE THE MATERIAL PARAMETERS OF CONCRETE PHASES
⎪
⎪1 − η − λ ε t 0 + 1 − λ ε t 0 ≤ ε < ε tr Compon-
Elastic Modulus Poiss Tensile Strength /Gpa
on's Eigenvalue Homogeneity
Density
⎪ η −1 ε η −1 ents Eigenvalue Homogeneity kN·m-3
D=⎨ μ/Gpa m ratio μ/Gpa m

⎪1 − λ ε t 0 ε tr ≤ ε < ε tu
Mortar 35 9 0.20 4 9 21
⎪ ε Interface 31 6 0.20 3.75 6 24
⎪ Aggregate 50 12 0.20 6 12 27
⎩1 ε ≥ ε tu (3) P

150
50 150 150 150 50
550

Figure 4. Loading scheme of concrete meso-model

ε ε ε ε The numerical experiments were simulated in ANSYS

workstation of ShiJiaZhuang railway institute. There are 48
Figure 3. Damage constitutive model of double broken line CPU with Dual Core at 3.0GHz, the memory of each node is
8G and storage space is 3T.
Where f tr is residual tensile strength,
Fig.5 shows the 3-D numerical experiment model of
f tr = λf t = λE 0 ε t 0 , λ is residual strength coefficient MX1, in which interface elements were selected. Fig.6
shows the assigned material attribute of model MX2, in
(0.1 in this paper). ε t0 is strain corresponded to the peak which different colors present the random material
strength (0.0012 in this paper), and ε tr is residual strain, parameters according to Weibull distribution.

ε tr = ηε t 0 , η is residual strain coefficient (5 for aggregate, B. Describing of Failure Process

There appears several damage elements in model MX1
4 for mortar and 3 for interface in this paper). ε tu is just at the beginning of the load law, when the load applied
ultimate tensile strain (0.012 in this paper), ε tu = ξε t 0 , ξ at 3rd load step, the tensile strain of one interface element,
3.5mm to the bottom of sample and 26mm to one side,
is ultimate strain coefficient (10 in this paper) and ξ > η . reaches to 0.012mm, concrete near it crazed at first. With the
IV. NUMERICAL EXPERIMENT

A. Numerical Experiment Servey

Two secondary grading wet screened sample models
with a height of 550mm，length of 150mm，thickness of
150mm were built to simulate concrete beams, the
proportion of middle and small size aggregates is 0.45:0.55
and their diameter are 30mm and 15mm, separately. Only
the influence of random distribution of aggregate was
considered in model MX1, furthermore, the influence of
heterogeneity of material parameters was also considered in Figure 5 3-D numerical model of model MX1

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 Figure 6 Distribution of material parameter for model MX2

increasing of applied load, the damage and failure elements

near bottom grow rapidly, and the number of failure
Figure 8 damage cracking process of model MX2
interface elements increase dramatically from bottom to the
top of the beam. There are a few failure mortar elements and
almost no damage aggregate. When applied at 17th load
step, there are a lot of interface and mortar elements
damaged near the midspan. Cracks grow and their width
increase notability, due to some elements broke and
converged together. An obviouse macroscopical crack came
into being, it penetrated the whole sample bottom, and the
sample reached its ultimate bending strength, 4.01MPa. The
bearing capacity decreased and a lot of interface elements,
part of mortar elements and a few aggregate elements broke
with the load increasing furthermore. Model MX1 Model MX2
Also, there appear several damage elements in model MX2
at the beginning of the load law. When the load applied at 2nd Figure 9 failure element distribution of concrete beam reaching
ultimate strength
load step, the tensile strain of one interface element, 5.4mm to
the bottom of sample and 73mm to one side, reaches to The failure process related above indicates that the
0.014mm, this element broke at first. With the increasing of damage and fracture process is very complicated. Because of
applied load, the damage developed more quickly then model the random distribution of aggregate, the arising and growth
MX1. When applied at 19th load step, Model MX2 reached its of concrete crack shows remarkable abnormity and
ultimate bending strength, 3.74MPa. The crack growth was
discontinuity.
lower than model MX1, and the numbers of failure elements
were larger more than model MX1. C. Influence of the Heterogeneity of Material Parameters
Fig.7 and Fig.8 show the process of damage and failure
Assumed the material parameters of phases of model
of model MX1 and MX2 respectively. The distribution
situation of failure elements when the samples reached their MX2 according to the distribution of Weibull, the
ultimate bearing is shown in Fig.9. homogeneity of aggregates was the highest, the second was
mortars, and interfaces had lowest homogeneity. Results
show the deformation of model MX2 grows quickly than
model MX1. The bearing capability of model MX2 is lower,
while its deformation is larger than model MX1. This is
probably because there forms an initial weak plane due to
the heterogeneity of material, the existing of weak plane
may lead to stress concentration, element that has a lower
strength broke first. Meanwhile, the randomness of arising
and growth of crack are also increased, and expand the
distribution region of crack. The load-displacement of two
models is shown in Fig.10. The stress-strain curve of model
MX2 is closer with [11] because of the considering of
heterogeneity of material.
Figure 7 damage cracking process of model MX1

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 4.0 The meso-mechanics damage and fracture process is
3.5 MX1 very complicated, and the arising and growth of concrete
MX2 crack shows remarkable abnormity and discontinuity. Under
3.0
the load of bend and tension, usually the first failure element
2.5 is the interface element near the underside of midspan. With
Stress

2.0 the increasing of the load, the number of damaged element

1.5
1.0
0.5
0 1 2 3
-4
Displacement / (10 v/h)
Figure 10 Load-displacement curve of the model MX1 and MX2
V. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a method for establishing 3-D random
aggregate and random mechanical parameters concrete
model based on meso-level was proposed. Some preferable
methods for generating 3-D random aggregate were
researched, and by which the efficiency in generating
random aggregate was improved. Methods for interface
element remeshing and random mechanical parameters
assigning were also presented. Based on the 3-D numerical
model of concrete, numerical models test were carried out.
Result shows that the load-displacement curve of the
numerical model is basically corresponding with physical
experiment with the same parameters. So the numerical
model proposed by this paper could be taken as an effective
method on the mechanism study of concrete damage and
fracture.
increased, cracks extend zigzag to the top of the beam.
Considered the heterogeneity of material parameters, the
bearing capability of sample decreased and deformation
increased, this can reflect the characteristic of concrete more
actually.
4 5 Based on the platform of utility FEM software ANSYS,
the method proposed by this paper is convenient and
efficient.
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