Nonlinear Mechanical Effect of Free Water on the Dynamic Compressive Strength and Fracture of High-Strength Concrete

• Main Authors: Evgeny V. Shilko, Igor S. Konovalenko, Ivan S. Konovalenko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-07-01
• Series: Materials
• Subjects: water-saturated concrete; two-scale porosity; permeability; fluid filtration; dynamic loading; fracture
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/14/14/4011

It is well-known that the effect of interstitial fluid on the fracture pattern and strength of saturated high-strength concrete is determined by qualitatively different mechanisms at quasi-static and high strain rate loading. This paper shows that the intermediate range of strain rates (10⁻⁴ s⁻¹ < <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mover accent="true"><mi>ε</mi><mo>˙</mo></mover></semantics></math></inline-formula> < 10⁰ s⁻¹) is also characterized by the presence of a peculiar mechanism of interstitial water effect on the concrete fracture and compressive strength. Using computer simulations, we have shown that such a mechanism is the competition of two oppositely directed processes: deformation of the pore space, which leads to an increase in pore pressure; and pore fluid flow. The balance of these processes can be effectively characterized by the Darcy number, which generalizes the notion of strain rate to fluid-saturated material. We have found that the dependence of the compressive strength of high-strength concrete on the Darcy number is a decreasing sigmoid function. The parameters of this function are determined by both low-scale (capillary) and large-scale (microscopic) pore subsystems in a concrete matrix. The capillary pore network determines the phenomenon of strain-rate sensitivity of fluid-saturated concrete and logistic form of the dependence of compressive strength on strain rate. Microporosity controls the actual boundary of the quasi-static loading regime for fluid-saturated samples and determines localized fracture patterns. The results of the study are relevant to the design of special-purpose concretes, as well as the assessment of the limits of safe impacts on concrete structural elements.