Computational modeling of the mechanical response of lightweight foamed concrete over a wide range of temperatures and strain rates

• Uniaxial compression tests are conducted at various temperatures and strain rates.
• The characteristics of the stress-strain curve are analyzed and a model is developed.
• The relationships between model parameters and material density are discussed.
• The temperature effect of the material is illustrated based on the calculation model.

Theoretical and experimental studies on the nonlinear mechanical properties of lightweight foamed concrete under uniaxial compression are conducted over the temperature range of 223–343 K and the strain rate range of 0.001–118/s in this paper. The experimental results show that the mechanical properties of the materials under uniaxial compression are strongly dependent on the density and temperature, but are weaker on strain rate. Based on the experimental results, the characteristics of density effect and temperature effect are analyzed and a calculation model is developed to describe the nonlinear mechanical behavior of lightweight foamed concrete. The model takes into account the effect of material damage, density and temperature. The experimental verification and the error analysis show that the model is shown to be able to predict the nonlinear deformation behavior of lightweight foamed concrete over a wide range of temperatures and densities.