Skip to main content
Log in

Flexural strength test and meso-mechanical evolution behavior of cement concrete based on discrete element method

  • Published:
Computational Particle Mechanics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Each damage of cement mixture is closely related to the heterogeneity and discontinuity of its internal materials. It is very important to analyze the mechanical evolution behavior of cement mixture with the theory of meso-mechanics to reveal the failure mechanism of cement mixture structure. In this paper, the microscopic parameters of the discrete element model are obtained in the compressive tests of concrete mixture cubes. The three-dimensional discrete element model of cement mixture was established by using these microscopic parameters. Under the action of a certain rate load, the generation and propagation process, stress distribution, transfer and displacement field evolution behavior of the meso-fracture between the cement mixture particles are analyzed. The results show that the error between the simulated discrete element flexural strength test and the actual standard test (flexural strength, micro-strain at the bottom of the specimen) is within 10%, which indicates that the discrete element method can well simulate the discontinuous and heterogeneous materials. When the external load acts, the horizontal and vertical displacement of the cementitious material is greater than that of the coarse aggregate, and the displacement angle of the coarse aggregate is greater than that of the cementitious material. When the horizontal tensile stress between the particles exceeds the bond strength of the material, the bond between the particles will break. There are few micro-cracks at the initial stage. In late stage, the micro-cracks penetrate each other and form larger cracks. Micro-cracks usually occur at the weak bonding position between coarse aggregate and cementitious material. The upper particle changes from compressive stress to tensile stress gradually with the duration of load. The bottom particles are in the non-uniform distribution of tensile stress and compressive stress, and the stress values between the particles are also in the non-uniform distribution.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability statement

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

References

  1. Zhang HZ, Xu YD, Gan YD, Schlangen E, Savija B (2020) Experimentally validated meso-scale fracture modelling of mortar using output from micromechanical models. Cement Concr Compos. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2020.103567

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Zhang X, Zhang ZH, Li ZD, Li YY (2020) Filling capacity analysis of self-compacting concrete in rock-filled concrete based on DEM. Constr Build Mater. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.117321

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Peng RT, Tong JW, Tang XZ (2020) Crack propagation and wear estimation of ceramic tool in cutting inconel 718 based on discrete element method. Tribol Int. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.triboint.2019.105998

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Kashizadeh E, Mukherjee A, Tordesillas A (2019) Experimental and numerical investigation on heap formation of granular soil sparsely cemented by bacterial calcification. Powder Technol 360:253–263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2019.09.086

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Hassan GA, Leclerc W, Pelegris C, Guessasma M (2020) On the suitability of a 3D discrete element method to model the composite damage induced by thermal expansion mismatch. Comput Particle Mech 7(4):679–698. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40571-019-00298-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Wang YN, Liu ZZ, Cao LL (2019) Simulation of particle migration during viscosity measurement of solid-bearing slag using a spindle rotational type viscometer. Chem Eng Sci 207:172–180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2019.06.022

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Ghasemi MA, Falahatgar SR (2019) Investigation on the effective parameters of through-the-width crack propagation in ceramic coatings due to substrate tension using discrete element method. Proc Inst Mech Eng Part L J Mater Des Appl 234(1):144–155. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464420719876314

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Ahmed E, Fumagalli A, Budisa A (2019) A multiscale flux basis for mortar mixed discretizations of reduced Darcy–Forchheimer fracture models. Comput Methods Appl Mech Eng 354:16–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cma.2019.05.034

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  9. Nitka M, Tejchman J (2020) Meso-mechanical modelling of damage in concrete using discrete element method with porous ITZs of defined width around aggregates. Eng Fract Mech. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfracmech.2020.107029

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Lootens D, Schumacher M, Liard M, Jones SZ (2020) Continuous strength measurements of cement pastes and concretes by the ultrasonic wave reflection method. Constr Build Mater. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.117902

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Tordesillas A, Kahagalage S, Ras C (2020) Coupled evolution of preferential paths for force and damage in the pre-failure regime in disordered and heterogeneous, quasi-brittle granular materials. Front Mater. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmats.2020.00079

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Cui CY, Wei W, Jin F, Huang DR (2020) Discrete-element modeling of cemented granular material using mixed-mode cohesive zone model. J Mater Civ Eng. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0003069

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Xie C, Yuan LJ, Zhao M, Jia YH (2020) Study on failure mechanism of porous concrete based on acoustic emission and discrete element method. Constr Build Mater. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.117409

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Rakhimzhanova AK, Thornton C, Minh NH (2019) Numerical simulations of triaxial compression tests of cemented sandstone. Comput Geotechn. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2019.04.013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Gyurko Z, Nemes R (2019) Fracture modelling of normal concrete using different types of aggregates. Eng Fail Anal 101:464–472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2019.04.008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. (2016) PFC5.0 Documentation [Z]

  17. Ndimande CB, Cleary PW, Mainza AN, Sinnott MD (2019) Using two-way coupled DEM-SPH to model an industrial scale Stirred Media Detritor. Miner Eng 137:259–276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2019.03.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Zheng WB, Tannant DD (2019) Influence of proppant fragmentation on fracture conductivity—insights from three-dimensional discrete element modeling. J Petrol Sci Eng 177:1010–1023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2019.03.015

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Pulatsu B, Erdogmus E, Lourenco PB, Quey R (2019) Simulation of uniaxial tensile behavior of quasi-brittle materials using softening contact models in DEM. Int J Fract 217(1–2):105–125. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10704-019-00373-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Li Y, Cai WB, Li XJ (2019) Experimental and DEM analysis on secondary crack types of rock-like material containing multiple flaws under uniaxial compression. Appl Sci Basel. https://doi.org/10.3390/app9091749

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Valle-Pello P, Alvarez-Rabanal FP, Alonso-Martinez M (2019) Numerical study of the interfaces of 3D-printed concrete using discrete element method. Mater Werkstofftechn 50(5):629–634. https://doi.org/10.1002/mawe.201800188

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

Overseas Scholar Program in the Hebei Province (C20190514), Science and Technology Project of Hebei Province (15457605D, 144576106D).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guofang Zhao.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yan, Z., Ge, H., Guo, S. et al. Flexural strength test and meso-mechanical evolution behavior of cement concrete based on discrete element method. Comp. Part. Mech. 9, 85–99 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40571-021-00395-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40571-021-00395-0

Keywords

Navigation