Fractal effect and anisotropic constitutive model for concrete

An elasto-anisotropic damage constitutive model for concrete is developed in this work. Disregarding the coupling between the isotropic and the anisotropic damage, the isotropic damage variables are defined as functions of the microcrack fractal dimension, and the anisotropic parts are expressed by the lengths of cracks in concrete which various in different directions. The Helmholtz free energy is decomposed into the elastic deforming, damage and irreversible deforming components, with the last component used to replace the plastic deformation. Therefore the damage constitutive formulas for concrete are derived based on continuum damage mechanics. Evolution laws for both isotropic and anisotropic damage variables are derived, in which the anisotropic parts are obtained by modifying an empirical model. The critical fracture stress and the fracture toughness are investigated for materials with a single fractal crack based on the fractal geometry and the Griffith fracture criterion. Numerical computation is conducted for concrete under the uniaxial and the biaxial compression. The results indicate that the material stiffness degradation can be well addressed when the anisotropic damage is incorporated; the irreversible deformation is greatly related to the behavior of the descending branch beyond the peak load. The validation of the presented model is proofed by comparing results with the experimental data. This model provides an approach to link the macro properties of a material with its micro-structure change.