Micropolar peridynamic modeling of concrete structures

The peridynamic model described in (Silling 1998; Gerstle et al. 2005), being a central-force model, is limited to modeling materials with a Poisson’s ratio of one-quarter. In this paper, the peridynamic model is generalized by adding peridynamic moments to simulate linear elastic materials with varying Poisson’s ratios. This micropolar peridynamic model is placed within a finite element context to enable efficacious application of boundary conditions and efficient computational solutions using an implicit, rather than an explicit, solution algorithm. The algorithm is suitable for quasistatic simulation of damage and cracking in concrete structures. Very simple constitutive models at the peridynamic level appear to be sufficient to model the complex damage and fracture phenomena observed in concrete structures. The peridynamic model predicts significant elastic boundary effects that are not predicted by classical stress-strain models. As a consequence, the peridynamic model predicts an effect of specimen size upon elastic stiffness.