The overlapping crack model for uniaxial and eccentric concrete compression tests

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Abstract
An analytical/numerical model, referred to as the overlapping crack model, is proposed in the present paper for the analysis of the mechanical behaviour of concrete in compression. Starting from the experimental evidence of strain localisation in uniaxial compression tests, the present model is based on a couple of constitutive laws for the description of the compression behaviour of concrete: a stress–strain law until the achievement of the compression strength and a stress–displacement relationship describing the post-peak softening behaviour. The displacement would correspond to a fictitious interpenetration and therefore the concept of overlapping crack in compression is analogous to the cohesive crack in tension. According to this approach, the slenderness and size-scale effects of concrete specimens tested under uniaxial compression are interpreted from an analytical point of view. Then, implementing the overlapping crack model into the finite element method, eccentric compression tests are numerically simulated and compared with experimental results. The influence of the size-scale, the specimen slenderness, as well as the degree of load eccentricity, is discussed in detail, quantifying the effect of each parameter on the ductility of concrete specimens.

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