The role of the material fracture properties in the size-effect law of concrete structures

Abstract

The size effect of the nominal stress at failure in concrete structures is dealt within general. An existence of a rather large fracture process zone in front of crack tip is proved to be the main reason leading to the size effect of the nominal strength. On the basis of the new general size-effect law and numerical results of fracture propagation, a particularly proposed size effect law for beams in bending is developed, in which the role of each material fracture characteristic, especially the shape of the stress - crack opening curve, is elaborated clearly.