Fracture simulations of concrete using lattice models: Computational aspects

This paper addresses some lattice model techniques used in numerical simulations of fracture in concrete and other random materials. The influence of lattice element type and lattice orientation on the fracture pattern was investigated by simulating a shear loading experiment on a concrete plate. Beam elements with three degrees of freedom per node, and with a random orientation of the beams within the lattice, gave the best comparison with experiment. The effect of element resolution on fracture results was also investigated. A new fracture law has been developed that uses principal tensile stresses in each node of the lattice to determine which beam should break at every step of a simulation. For the implementation of heterogeneity in the model, a method has been developed that uses digital images of the real microstructure of a material. Simulated crack patterns were obtained for a real material, using this technique, which appear quite realistic. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.