A numerical study of fatigue of hardened cement paste at the microscale

Yidong Gan*, Hongzhi Zhang, Minfei Liang, Erik Schlangen, Klaas van Breugel, Branko Šavija

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)
57 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In this study, a numerical model using a 2D lattice network is developed to investigate the fatigue behaviour of cement paste at the microscale. Images of 2D microstructures of cement pastes obtained from XCT tests are used as inputs and mapped to the lattice model. Different local mechanical and fatigue properties are assigned to different phases of the cement paste. A cyclic constitutive law is proposed for considering the fatigue damage evolution. Fatigue experiments performed at the same length scale are used to calibrate and validate the model. The proposed model can reproduce well the flexural fatigue experimental results, in terms of S-N curve, stiffness degradation and residual deformation. The validated model is then used to predict the uniaxial tensile fatigue fracture of cement paste. The effects of microstructure and stress level on the fatigue fracture are studied using the proposed model. This model forms a basis for the multiscale analysis of concrete fatigue.

Original languageEnglish
Article number106401
Number of pages12
JournalInternational Journal of Fatigue
Volume151
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Keywords

  • Cement paste
  • Fatigue
  • Lattice model
  • Microscale simulation

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