by Kumar, Shailendra; Barai, S. V.

Comparative study for determining the K

_R
-curves associated with the cohesive stress distribution for complete fracture process for two standard specimen geometries i.e., three-point bending test and compact tension test specimen geometries of concrete using analytical method and weight function approach is reported in the paper. The laboratory size specimen (100 ≤  D  ≤  400 mm) with initial-notch length/depth ratios 0.3 and 0.5 are considered in the investigation. The load-crack opening displacement curves for these specimens are obtained using well known version of Fictitious Crack Model (FCM). It is found from the numerical results that the weight function method improves computational efficiency without any appreciable error. The stability analysis on the K

_R
-curves and the influence of specimen geometry and the size-effect on the K

_R
-curves, the CTOD-curves and the process zone length during crack propagation of complete fracture process are also described.

DOI: 10.1007/s10704-008-9275-6
Online Date: 11/19/2008
Print publication date: 8/1/2008
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