Mesoscale FEM model of concrete

Heterogeneity of concrete originates in the production process, which consists of bonding aggregates together with a matrix of a binder.The presented meso-scale model can provide the much valuable information about the fracture process at the level of aggregate to cement matrix bond.It therefore aims to describe one of key properties of concrete that is the strain-softening behaviour as a response to mechanical loading.The detail of stress analysis is deeper compared to the discrete models as their description of the inter-particle interaction tends to average out the possibly important stress concentrations.The presented MFEM modelling approach accepts the higher solution costs, relying on modern High-Performance Computing (HPC).In return, a detailed description especially of the stress field and material damage within the material phases and interfaces can be obtained.