Simulation of Corrosion-Induced Cracking of Reinforced Concrete Based on Fracture Phase Field Method

Accurate simulation of the cracking process caused by rust expansion of reinforced concrete(RC)structures plays an intuitive role in revealing the corrosion-induced failure mechanism.Considering the quasi-brittle fracture of concrete,the fracture phase field driven by the compressive-shear term is constructed and added to the traditional brittle fracture phase field model.The rationality of the proposed model is verified by a mixed fracture example under a shear displacement load.Then,the extended fracture phase model is applied to simulate the corrosion-induced cracking process of RC.The cracking patterns caused by non-uniform corrosion expansion are discussed for RC specimens with homogeneous macroscopically or heterogeneous with different polygonal aggregate distributions at the mesoscopic scale.Then,the effects of the protective layer on the crack propagation trajectory and cracking resistance are investigated,illustrating that the cracking angle and cracking resistance increase with the increase of the protective layer thickness,consistent with the experimental observation.Finally,the corrosion-induced cracking process of concrete specimens with large and small spacing rebars is simulated,and the interaction of multiple corrosion cracking is easily influenced by the reinforcement spacing,which increases with the decrease of the steel bar interval.These conclusions play an important role in the design of engineering anti-corrosion measures.The fracture phase field model can provide strong support for the life assessment of RC structures.

In situ synthesis and phase analysis of low density O'-sialon-based multiphase ceramics

In situ formed low density O＇-sialon-based multiphase ceramics were prepared by liquid-phase sintering method at 1400°C with Si3N4, SiO2 and Al2O3 as raw materials.Crystalline phases were identified by X-ray diffraction（XRD）.The quantitative phase analysis was finished by matrix-flushing method and the substitution parameter x value of O＇-sialon was estimated.The effects of sintering additives on the phase composition of the material were studied.The results show that, when using Y2O3 alone, Al6Si2O13 phase can be formed in the material, but when using Y2O3 and MgO, MgAl2O4 phase can be preferentially formed and the Al6Si2O13 is not observed.The mechanical properties of the material were measured and the relationships between microstructure and mechanical properties were discussed.The sample with Y2O3 and MgO sintering additives, using fused quartz alone as SiO2 source, displays a combination of high bending strength（163 MPa） and good fracture toughness（3.11 MPa·m1/2）.Bending strength and fracture toughness of the samples increase with the increase of the content and aspect ratio of elongated grains and decrease with the increase of the porosity.

Adaptive phase field modelling of crack propagation in orthotropic functionally graded materials

In this work,we extend the recently proposed adaptive phase field method to model fracture in orthotropic functionally graded materials(FGMs).A recovery type error indicator combined with quadtree decomposition is employed for adaptive mesh refinement.The proposed approach is capable of capturing the fracture process with a localized mesh refinement that provides notable gains in computational efficiency.The implementation is validated against experimental data and other numerical experiments on orthotropic materials with different material orientations.The results reveal an increase in the stiffness and the maximum force with increasing material orientation angle.The study is then extended to the analysis of orthotropic FGMs.It is observed that,if the gradation in fracture properties is neglected,the material gradient plays a secondary role,with the fracture behaviour being dominated by the orthotropy of the material.However,when the toughness increases along the crack propagation path,a substantial gain in fracture resistance is observed.

Implementation Details for the Phase Field Approaches to Fracture

Phase field description of fracture is a very promising approach for simulating crack initiation, propagation, merging and branching. This method greatly reduces the implementation complexity, compared with discrete descriptions of cracks. In this work, we provide an overview of phase field models for quasistatic and dynamic cases. Afterward, we present useful vectors and matrices for the implementation of this method in two and three dimensions.