Evaluation of flexural fracture toughness for quasi-brittle structural materials using a simple test method

As new structural concepts such as partial prestressing and steel-free bridge decks are more widely accepted and used, there is an increasing need for a reliable and reproducible fracture performance criterion that can describe resistance to crack growth. The required criterion should also be easy to determine experimentally so that it can be incorporated in structural specifications. The nonlinear behaviour of concrete and masonry materials suggested that quasi-brittle fracture mechanics approaches may be the most suitable for determining their fracture performance. The effective elastic crack model originally developed by Karihaloo and Nallathambi (1989) was modified to evaluate the critical crack depth under pure flexural stresses. A computer program was developed to calculate this depth iteratively from the experimental results. An experimental programme examining the fracture performance of four different structural materials (high performance concrete, mortar, fibre reinforced concrete, and masonry units) was carried out to examine the applicability of the model. As no post-peak data are required for the analysis, the model allows the use of a simple test setup to evaluate the fracture performance of quasi-brittle materials experimentally.Key words: fracture toughness, linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM), elastoplastic fracture mechanics (EPFM), quasi-brittle fracture mechanics, effective elastic crack, high performance concrete, masonry, fibre reinforced concrete.