Microstructural dimension involved in the damage of concrete-like materials: An examination by the lattice element method

With the lattice element method, it is required to introduce a length via, for example, a non-local approach in order to satisfy the objectivity of the mechanical response. In spite of this, the mesoscale structuring of inclusions within a matrix conveys the natural origin of the internal length for a fixed mesh. In other words, internal length is not explicitly provided to the model, but rather governed by the characteristics of the meso-structure itself. This study examines the influence that the meso-structure of quasi-brittle materials, like concretes, have on the width of the fracture process zone and thus the fracture energy. The size of the fracture process zone is assumed to correlate with a microstructural dimension of the quasi-brittle material. If a weakness is introduced by a notch, the involvement of the ligament size (a structural parameter) is also investigated. These analyses provide recommendations and warnings that could be beneficial when extracting, from material meso-structures, a required internal length for nonlocal damage models. Among the observations made, the study suggests that the property that best characterise a meso-structure length would be the spacing between inclusions rather than the size of the inclusions themselves. It is also shown that microstructural dimension and the width of the fracture process zone have comparable order of magnitude, and they trend similarly with respect to microstructural sizes such as the inclusion interdistances.