Fluid-solid coupled crack propagation simulation of concrete microstructure

Due to difficulties in performing fluid-solid coupled crack propagation experiments of concrete, simulations can provide significant insight into complex behaviors of concrete and structures.However, the simulation of concrete responses with microstructural features under fluid-solid coupled crack propagation is still a challenging task.In this study, a poromechanics based phase-field fracture model was implemented.The flow through concrete and crack was assumed to be laminar, where Darcy and Poiseuille flows were adopted for the concrete matrix and cracks, respectively.The modeling parameters were calibrated to wedge splitting test experiments subjected to fluid pressure.The calibrated model was then applied to simulate the responses of concrete specimens with twophase microstructures consisting of mortar and large aggregates.The reduction in strength due to fluid pressure was identified, and the effect of aggregates on the mechanical responses of concrete was analyzed.It is confirmed that the implementation of the poromechanics based phase-field fracture model can be successfully used to investigate the fluid-solid coupled mechanical behaviors of concrete considering complex microstructures of aggregates.