Continuum Mech. Thermodyn.

(2010) 22:137161
DOI 10.1007/s00161-009-0130-4

O R I G I NA L A RT I C L E

Malika Bongu Boma Maurizio Brocato

A continuum model of micro-cracks in concrete

Received: 14 October 2008 / Accepted: 18 November 2009 / Published online: 15 December 2009
Springer-Verlag 2009

Abstract The aim of this study is to propose a model describing the evolution of the mechanical properties
of micro-cracked bodies under slow mechanical loading. To do so, we consider each material element of the
body as a domain of finite size comprising one single crack. The size and orientation of the latter are treated
as Lagrangian coordinates that are complementary to those usually describing the translations of the material
elements. As such, their evolution is driven by some balance equations that are provided by the theory of
continua with microstructure and by fit constitutive equations. To deal with the latter, we then call upon fracture mechanics. The model is applied to concrete within some simplifying assumptions and the case of a bar
tensioned by a hard device is studied. Crack propagation and stiffness loss are determined when the loading
increases, they are compared to experimental results.
Keywords Micro-cracks Microstructure Multi-scale modeling Configurational forces
PACS 46.50.+a 46.00.00 46.05.+b

1 Introduction
The assessment of the mechanical properties of concrete is a crucial problem in civil engineering, especially
in the nuclear industry. The case of containment structures is particularly important: they are designed to withstand chemical, thermal and mechanical loadings and they serve as a shield to confine radiations in the case of
accidents. However, expansion and shrinkage during the fabrication process can result in micro-cracks within
the cement paste [47]. These flaws are stable at low loadings but propagate under extreme service conditions
[32,44], they may consequently be responsible for the degradation of the mechanical properties of concrete
and for the evolution of its air and water permeability.
Bongu Boma [5] proposed a mechanical model of concrete describing the propagation of micro-cracks
and the evolution of the mass transport properties. For this purpose, permeability is related to the flow of fluids
Communicated by Paolo Cermelli.
M. Bongu Boma (B)
Universit Paris-Est, Institut Navier, LAMI, Ecole des Ponts, 6 & 8 av Blaise Pascal, Champs-sur-Marne,
Marne-la-Valle Cedex 2 77455, France
E-mail: m_bongue_boma@yahoo.com
Present address:
M. Bongu Boma
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, The University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
M. Brocato
R&D Sci Phys Ing, 9 rue Sadi Carnot, Grisy-Suisnes 77166, France

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M. Bongu Boma, M. Brocato

through the cracks which were described by the above mentioned study. In this article, we detail a specified
version of this model. The latter is used for the description of tensile tests on high strength concrete.
Various approaches have been previously proposed to describe the evolution of micro-cracked bodies:
Discrete crack approaches: the body is supposed to have a finite number of cracks that are individually
treated as discontinuities.
[13,27,36] amongst others proposed a description of the crack-to-crack interactions where each discontinuity is supposed to be loaded not only by an external traction applied at the boundary, but also by
supplementary stress fields resulting from the presence of the nearby cracks. Various methods [31,35,37]
have been proposed to determine those feedback stress fields but most of them can not be applied when
the cracks are closely spaced and they are all quite computationally demanding when a great amount of
discontinuities is involved.
Finite element calculations have also been proceeded but they need re-meshing when cracks propagate,
which sometimes raises numerical issues. Moreover, the progression of the crack tips is usually supposed
to occur along the edges of the elements, the direction and amplitude of the propagation consequently have
to be known a priori, which leads to a mesh dependency of the numerical results [30]. Meshless methods
have been proposed to remedy this problem [4] but they are still computationally demanding.
Internal variables models offer the possibility of treating the problem of smeared cracks evolving within
the body: those so-called macroscopic models treat the response of the material as the result of microscopic
evolutions that are not necessary studied in details.
Damage for instance has been proposed by Kachanov in [34] and applied to concrete by Mazars in [39].
They both use the principles of usual continuum mechanics and postulate conditions of continuity for the
displacement, strain and stress fields within the body. They furthermore define a parameter characterizing
the cracked surface within each material element; the latter is used in the calculation of the so-called effective stresses which equilibrate the external actions as if they were flowing through a non cracked body.
The model leads to the determination of constitutive laws that describe the degradation of the mechanical
properties of the matter when micro-cracks initiate, grow, and even coalesce in the body. It shows good
results in numerous applications but problems, especially mesh dependency, may occur due to the finite
element approximation [3]: strain and damage localize in the smallest elements of the mesh, possibly
leading to the modeling of unrealistic failures without energy dissipation.
Notice that, in view of the assessment of permeability properties, the knowledge of the orientation and
opening of the cracks might be of utmost importance [5]. This information is not considered in standard
damage mechanics, if not processed for the purpose of representing only its consequences on the mechanical properties of the body. The corresponding damage variables are consequently poorly informative on
the geometry of the porous space.
Methods of kinematic enrichment are numerical formulations that have been proposed in order to remedy
this type of problem: supplementary degrees of freedom are considered during the finite element interpolation; they allow strain and/or displacement discontinuities within the elements. This approach reduces
the problem of mesh dependency during numerical simulations but sometimes faces the issues of stress
locking and misprediction of the discontinuity direction [14,33].
It is noteworthy that the representations provided by the above mentioned models are not efficient for the
issue of airtightness determination. Indeed, most of the constitutive laws linking permeability to a mechanical
internal variable are empirical and the significance of the corresponding parameters is not well understood
[2,12,24,43].
In view of the forgoing statements, we need a geometrical description of the body that would be richer
than the one provided by usual continuum mechanics, as can be obtained calling upon the theory of continua
with microstructure. In the former theory: the body is endowed with a special family of mappings in the
Euclidian space which is usually sufficient to describe its material properties and the processes it undergoes;
material elements are seen as mass points in the Euclidian spaceactually identified with them when any
reference mapping is chosen in the familyand as such, they have translational momentum only. In the theory
of continua with microstructure, mappings into the Euclidean space are still necessary for the description of the
bodyand a reference mapping still allows one to identify thembut other mappings into some fit manifold
are also expedient to represent into further details the geometry, the dynamics, and eventually the constitutive
properties of the material elements. Following the common use, we call microstructure the complementary
geometric information and the manifold where it is mapped.
The Cosserat brothers were the pioneers of this kind of theories: they considered a continuum having
each material element endowed with a rigid triad of unit vectors and derived the local balance equations of

A continuum model of micro-cracks in concrete

139

translational and rotational momentum for such a continuum [11]. Their ideas were developed by Ericksen et
al. [17] and then by Eringen [19,20] among others [46] who took into account the affine deformations of the
triad too. The so-called theory of micromorphic continua has thence been widely studied [16,23,40,42] and
applications have been proposed to model various types of materials, such as but not only liquid crystals [18]
or granular materials [26,41].
In a micromorphic continuum, material elements are seen as if they were deforming homogeneously (which
is also called a process of affine deformation) and the tensor describing their deformation is not necessarily
equal to the local value of the tensor field describing, on the usual basis, the deformation of the continuum.
Micro-cracked bodies are, but slightly, different: their material elements comprise a single crack of given
orientation, opening and width (i.e., in the simplest instance of a penny shape crack, four scalar parameters
variables according to the process). When the element is stressed, the above mentioned microstructure gives
rise to a deformation field within the element that cannot be in fair generality reduced to an affine deformation,
neither can the knowledge of such a deformation lead one to that of the actual deformation field and to the crack
parameters of a cracked and stressed material element. Another crucial issue is related to the physical meaning
of a micromorphic deformation: the microstructure often expresses a privileged set of directions within material elements that are of physical importance. The axis of molecules in liquid crystals, the crystalline directions
in polycrystals, or the crack directions in our case, are useful examples of such directions in microstructures.
Let us call director triad such a set of directions [17,38] (even thoughas in the case of liquid crystals for
instancelocal symmetries might arise which reduces the number of effective directions of such a triad to less
than three); in any of the above mentioned cases it is necessary to consider for the description of the motion
a special class of rotations such that any other transformation of the material elements occurs with reference
to the rotated director triads. A polar decomposition of the micromorphic deformation has been sometimes
used to put forward a particular class of rotations (the rotation of the principal axes of the micro-deformation)
which is identified with the rotations of the director triads. Though this might be the case for some special
kind of materials (as it is claimed for instance for the metallic foams studied in [42]), it is difficult to admit
the same in general and it is surely not the case of micro-cracked bodies. There is no particular reason for the
deformation field close to a micro-crack to have one principal axis aligned with the normal to the crack (and
the two others confused with the possible main directions of the crack surface within its plane). Consider, as a
proof, the restriction that such an assumption would have on the possible deformations of any material element
including a single penny shape crack.
The case of micro-cracked bodies will thus be handled here starting from the general assessments of the
theory of continua with microstructure (as given in [9]). With due simplifications some results can then be
akin to the special case of micromorphic media, but the fundamental difference between the two classes of
problems that was mentioned above is to be recalled: in a micro-cracked continuum a distinction between the
local and the global deformation arises which is similar to that considered for micromorphic continua, but in
the former case the local deformation results as a consequence of the crack parameters (orientation, opening,
and width) that are thus to be taken as the microstructure, while in the latter the local deformation itself is the
microstructure.
In [9], a general framework for continua with microstructure is given, where the microstructural variable is
represented as an element of a generic differential manifold. The balance of linear momentum, microstructural
momentum and moment of momentum are there given in the actual configuration as:
x = divT + b
= divS +

(1a)
(1b)

eT = AT + ( gradA)T S

(1c)

where is the mass density, x the acceleration vector (superimposed dots represent time material derivatives;
according to dAlembert principle x is the mass density of linear inertial actions), T the Cauchy stress (not
necessarily symmetric here), b is the external force per unit mass, is the mass density of microstructural
inertial actions, S is the micro-stress (a constitutive variable dual to grad and thus related to the possible
differential evolution of the microstructure of nearby material elements), is the equilibrated micro-force
(a constitutive variable dual to ), is the external micro-force per unit mass, e is the Ricci permutation tensor
and A is the infinitesimal generator of rotation of the microstructure (a linear operator giving the infinitesimal
change of the observed microstructure due to an infinitesimal rotation of the observer).
1a is the equation of balance of translational momentum of the material element whereas 1b is the conservation of momentum of the microstructure. 1c is the balance of moment of momentum; as it contains no
source terms, it provides the model with a relation between the constitutive assignments of T, and S .

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M. Bongu Boma, M. Brocato

T, and S need to be made precise by means of appropriate constitutive assignments (in accordance with
1c), and the mass density of microstructural inertial actions also needs to be assigned according to the
particular microstructure ([10] and Sect. 7 of [9]).
We will apply the scheme proposed by [9] and assume that each material element can be represented by a
domain of finite size comprising one single crack. The geometry of the above mentioned element will be given
by two variables: a variable traducing the density of cracks and a microstructure variable G accounting for
the geometry of the crack field. Notice that G is a second order tensor taking the place of the variable in the
previous equations (the latter was used to denote the microstructure in general).
We will suppose that some perfect kinematic constraints exist between the evolution of the microstructure
and the macroscopic deformation which means that each crack is entrained by the macroscopic movement
in a peculiar way: fully for what concerns the plane where it develops and partially for the area it takes on
that plane, as the latter can as well be driven by some non conservative propagation phenomenon. Therefore,
we propose to apply the approach of configurational forces [21,22,28,29] at the level of the microstructure
and to split the kinematics of the body into two fictive parts: (i) propagation of the micro-flaws without any
movement of the material elements and (ii) deformation with cracks fully entrained by the macromotion.
This description will lead to the definition of an intermediate configuration which will be useful for the
determination of the constitutive description of the model. The need for the latter will lead us to consider the
behavior of one material element in detail: we will analyze the system at the scale of the moving crack tip and
then derive the needed constitutive assignments for the continuum with microstructure. The analysis follows
the scheme proposed in [9] and already applied in [5,7].
Sections 2 and 3 of this article are devoted to the application of the theory of continua with microstructure
to the present case, whereas the 4th section deals with the search of the constitutive equations via the method
described above. In the 5th section, a -1D- example is treated within some simplifying assumptions: we suppose that the behavior of the body is linear elastic and assume that the laws of fracture linear mechanics can
be applied. Finally, we determine the evolution of a body under tensile loading: strain, crack propagation, and
stiffness loss are completely assessed. A comparison with the experimental results is presented in Sect. 6.
A precision is needed concerning our vocabulary: the adjective material is here used to denote things
formed of matter; quoting material elements, material surfaces, or material vectors, we refer to bodily
geometrical entities independently on their representation in space. Sometimes in the literature the same adjective is used with reference to a particular representation of the body in the Euclidian space,material being
thus synonym of Lagrangian as distinguished from spatial or Eulerian. In order to avoid confusion,
in this article we use the terms reference configuration and actual configuration, respectively, for the
aforementioned mappings and refer to vectors or surfaces in such configurations when needed.
2 Geometry and kinematics
At each instant , every material element X of the micro-cracked body B has a position x in a domain  of
the Euclidean space. Lets denote by the index 0 values in a reference configuration. The evolution of the body
between 0 and  is described by what we call the macromotion:
x : (x0 , ) x,

F := Gradx

(2)

Grad with a capital letter denoting the gradient operator with respect to the reference coordinates.
Let us assume that:
Assumption 1 Every material element X B includes a penny-shape crack (see Fig. 1). In the actual configuration , this crack has a size and opening in the normal direction n. We call the number density of
cracks, i.e., the reciprocal of the apparent total size of one element.
Notice the apparent total size 1/ of a material element sums up the size of the solid skeleton and the
volume left empty by the possibly open crack. Thence the following assumption:
Assumption 2 The volume of material elements is fully entrained by the macromotion:
0
det F =
(3)

Assumption 3 As in usual continuum mechanics, the identity of the material elements is preserved throughout
the studied processes. Cracks are thence preserved too (no kink, neither bifurcation nor merging).

A continuum model of micro-cracks in concrete

141

Fig. 1 2D-view of a material element.

Fig. 2 Illustration of the intermediate configuration.

We choose to represent the piece of information about size and orientation of the crack field by a second
order tensor denoted G:
G( , n) := n n

(4)

Assumption 4 The surfaces of micro-cracks are material surfaces. As a consequence of this assumption,
cracked surfaces are convected by the macromotion. The normal n to such a surface is thus convected as:
FT n0
n =

T




F n0

(5)

Let us define the configurational variable as the image in the reference configuration of the present
crack size:












:=

FT n


(6)
may differ from the reference crack size 0 because of the possible propagation of the micro-cracks. It can
be understood as follows: consider an element in the reference placement and a process that makes the element
expand and the crack open and propagate. If we pull the element back to the reference placement by means of
the inverse of the translational movement only (no back-propagation), the element will fit into its initial place
but the crack within will possibly be wider than before. The misfit in crack size is the difference between 0
and (see Fig. 2).
We hence choose to introduce a fictive configuration, that we call intermediate because it stands between
the reference and the actual ones. The description of the evolution of the body is split into two ideal steps: (i)
propagation of micro-cracks: material elements do not move, but micro-cracks within them propagate until
they reach the width they have in the actual configuration; this part of the evolution leads the body from the
reference configuration to the intermediate placement, which is equal to the reference one except for the width
of micro-cracks; (ii) deformation with non propagating micro-cracks: material elements do move from the
intermediate configuration to the actual configuration and micro-cracks do not propagate since they already
have, in the intermediate configuration, the width they actually ought to have. Notice that the intermediate configuration is, by definition, the collection of local configurations obtained by pulling-back material elements
from the actual configuration by means of F1 . There is, in general, no physical process that allows one to
get the intermediate from the actual configuration, though sometimesin special circumstancesthis can be
done by unloading.

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M. Bongu Boma, M. Brocato

3 Balance equations
The balances of macro and micro-momentum and the balance of moment of momentum (Eq. 1) are now written
in the case of a second order variable of microstructure G:
x = divT + j
A = divz Z + J
eT = aT Z + ( gradaT )z

(7a)
(7b)
(7c)

where:
e is the Ricci tensor,
j and J are the external forces and micro-forces per unit mass, respectively,
T is the Cauchy stress, Z and z are the equilibrated micro-force and the micro-stress, respectively,
x is the acceleration associated to the macromotion whereas A is the mass density of microstructural inertial
actions,
a is the infinitesimal generator of rotation of the microstructure (see [5,9]):
ai jk = G i p e pjk + G l j eilk .

We choose to privilege the configurational description presented in the previous section. The latter will
provide the model with an alternative representation of the internal actions which will be effective for the
constitutive analysis of the body.
Let us start from the balance Eq. 7, the power of internal actions Pint can be written as:
1 Z G
z gradG

Pint = T FF

(8)

Besides, calling upon definition 4 and kinematic relations 5 and 6, the rate of change of microstructure G
can be expressed as:


 1 

= G + 1 G FF

1 T G + G FF
G

(9)

with the expression 9. The passages

We can thence evaluate the power of internal actions 8 by replacing G
have been made in the general case in [5] and [6] but, to simplify matters, we only present the equations
obtained within the following assumption:
Assumption 5 We do not take micro-stresses into account considering them negligible on some constitutive
1 and G
only.
basis and assume that the internal actions appearing in the model are dual to FF
This assumption implies that there is in the model, no energy related to any differential evolution of cracks
close to each other: a crack can propagate at a speed different from that of the nearby ones without requiring
any extra energy except the one necessary for its individual evolution. This assumption, which we introduce
aiming at a first approximation to the given problem, might by removed when a more refined model of the
crack-to-crack interaction is sought. Notice that this interaction appears nevertheless in the simplified model
we are going to develop, thanks to the crack density .
The contribution of the micro-stress being neglected (according to assumption 5), the new version of 8 can
be written as:
1
Pint = B FF

(10)

where:
1 ; it is given by the Cauchy stress plus an
B is a stress tensor dual to the linear velocity gradient FF
extra term due to the effect of the equilibrated microforce on the deformation process (that appears as a
consequence of the kinematic constraint 5):


1
B := T +
(11)
(Z G)G G(Z + ZT )

A continuum model of micro-cracks in concrete

143

is a configurational component of the equilibrated micro-force dual to and thus associated to the
propagation process only; we will call it the configurational equilibrated micro-force:
:=

1
[Z G]

(12)

The same procedure can be executed in order to write the power of external and inertial forces in terms of
actions dual to x and . We similarly define:
j: an external body force per unit mass that has a contribution on the deformation process only



j = j 1 div G (J G) I (J + JT )

(13)

j : an external body force per unit mass that has a contribution on the propagation process
j =

1
JG

a : the inertial action per unit mass associated to the deformation process



1
G (A G) I (A + AT )
a = x div

(14)

(15)

I being the second order identity tensor.

: the configurational inertial action per unit mass related to crack propagation
=

1
AG

(16)

Now that we have at our disposal the expression of the powers of internal, external and inertial actions in
1 and , we can apply the principle of virtual powers [25] which leads us
terms of the rates x,
grad x = FF
to the following balance equations:
a = divB + j
= + j
eB = 0

(17a)
(17b)
(17c)

Equations 17 will be studied within the following additional hypothesis:

Assumption 6 Infinitesimal transformations: F = I + H, H H  1.
Notice that the internal actions B and need to be specified by some appropriate constitutive assignments,
we propose in the following section a method to determine them within the framework of fracture linear
mechanics.

4 Constitutive assignments
4.1 Microscopic and macroscopic descriptions
We have previously considered the body B as a continuum with microstructure, each material element of which
has a position x and a microstructure G. The same material element can be seen as a finite part of a classical
continuum, as such it occupies at a time a domain of finite size 1/ including a crack of size and normal
direction n.
We call macroscopic the description where B is referred as a continuum with microstructure. ux is the
displacement vector of the material elements and Ex = sym grad ux is the strain tensor within the
domain . B and are the internal actions involved in this representation.

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M. Bongu Boma, M. Brocato

The microscopic representation corresponds to the observation of the material element as a finite domain.
We denote y the position of the points located in , u y the displacement field and E y = sym grad u y
the strain tensor within the material element. The Cauchy stress T y is dual to the strain rate E y (recalling
assumption 6).
We propose to derive the macroscopic constitutive assignments of the internal actions B and from a more
refined model of the element. To do so, we will use the following property:
Assumption 7 All processes can be modeled as the evolution of some intrinsic quantities that are invariant
under the representation used to describe the material element: power of internal actions, mass, and total energy
are the same whether we use the micro- or the macroscopic representations [9].
We first explain the choice of the constitutive parameters that will be used for the description of the material
element as a domain of finite size (Sect. 4.2); and we then make a detailed presentation of the above mentioned
description (Sect. 4.3): the problem of an opening and possibly propagating crack will be addressed calling
upon some simplifying assumptions. Finally, to make the constitutive assignments of B and explicit functions
of the kinematic variables, two steps can be expedient: (i) derive from the more refined model of the element
an expression for the power per unit volume and (ii) identify, term by term, the power per unit volume of the
continuum with microstructure with the above (see Sect. 4.4). Clearly many choices are legitimate, especially
when the expression required in the first step is not at hand. We verify in Sect. 4.5 that the constitutive equations
suggested in Sect. 4.4 are consistent with the principles of thermodynamics as they can be stated for continua
with microstructure [9].
4.2 Choice of the constitutive parameters
When an external load is applied to the body, the matter (solid skeleton) deforms and the lips of the cracks
open and possibly propagate. The constitutive assignments of the model are thence functions of not only the
geometry of the crack field but also the deformation of the material element which consequently needs to be
clearly defined. It is indeed important to notice that the deformation observed at the external boundary of the
solid skeleton is a priori not identical to the deformation of the matter. Let us consider one material element,
the relation between both quantities derives from the following integral:

E y = sym
gradu y = sym u y m
(y , m denotes the normal to the boundary )

(18)

Equation 18 can be split into one integral over the external boundary of ext and one integral over the

lips of the crack comprised within ( lips ):

E y = sym
u y m + sym
uy m
(19)

ext

lips

Let us denote by D the mean value of the deformation of the solid skeleton in . Recalling the assumption 6:

(20)
D := E y

Equation 19 can consequently be written as:

sym
u y m = D sym
ext

uy m

(21)

lips

This relation traduces the interaction mentioned above: the apparent deformation of a material element is
the sum of the deformation of the matter comprised within (that was called D and defined in Eq. 20) plus a
term accounting for the opening crack lips (last term of Eq. 21).

A continuum model of micro-cracks in concrete

145

We choose to use D in the constitutive assignments of the internal actions B and (see Sect. 4.4) and thus
wish to determine the expression of the fourth order tensor H such that:




(22)
E y y; , , D = H y; , D
with y and , , D given parameters at that correspond to local values of fields in .
The known solution of fracture linear mechanics provides us with the constitutive laws of the problem
when the domain has infinite dimensions and when a stress is applied at the boundary. We therefore have to
adapt it to the present case: the boundary of the domain is at finite distance from the crack tips and the solution
is to be written in terms of a mean deformation D.
4.3 Description of the material element
As mentioned before, we wish to derive the constitutive assignments of the model from a refined description
of one material element. We introduce in Sect. 4.3.1 the assumptions associated to the microscopic description
and propose in Sect. 4.3.2, the adaptation of the theory of fracture mechanics to the present problem.
4.3.1 General assumptions
Assumption 8 Quasi-static deformation and propagation processes (small inertial terms).
Assumption 9 Negligible external body forces.
We furthermore assume that:
Assumption 10 The stressstrain relation in is homogeneous, isotropic and linear elastic:
T y = CE y

(23)

where C is the fourth order stiffness tensor depending on the constants E Y (Youngs modulus) and P (Poissons
ratio).
Assumption 11 The movements of the points y are driven by the macroscopic strain Ex through the
following boundary condition:


u y = Ex (y y0 ), y ext
(24)
for a choice y0 in the Euclidean space
Recalling Eq. 19, this condition leads to:

(u m)

Ex = D sym

(25)

lips

4.3.2 Approximation of H within particular assumptions

Assumption 12 To simplify matters, we study a 2D problem (see Fig. 3) and is chosen as a square of size
4 L 2 . In this case:
= 2 a

1
4 L2

(26)

Classical fracture linear mechanics provides us with the approximation of the stress and strain fields within
an infinite domain comprising a single crack and submitted to a stress S at its boundary. Those fields are
infinite at the crack tip and vanish far from there [8]. However, the latter condition does not correspond to the
present model (we need approximations that do not cancel at the boundary), we consequently postulate that:
Assumption 13 Westergaards solution is a contribution additional to the fields which would be present in an
infinite uncracked body. As such, it plays the role of a polarization field.

146

M. Bongu Boma, M. Brocato

Fig. 3 2D-view of a crack tip (we show n and t on the top lip).

Assumption 14 evolves as an uncracked domain when the lips of the crack are closed and not opening, and
as a cracked domain otherwise.
Moreover:
and compressive loading S are supposed to make the crack open in
Assumption 15 Both tensile stress Snn
tt
. Mode III is not considered.
mode I . We furthermore consider the second opening mode under shear stress Stn

Assumption 16 We analyze plane strain conditions.

The assumption 13 entails:
E y (y; S , a ) = C1 S + EWest (y; S , a )
where EWest is Westergaards approximation of the strain tensor:



1 + P 2 (K I + K I )
5
1
West
E tt =
(3 8 ) cos + cos

EY
2
2
8 r



1 + P 2 K I I
1
5
+
(8 7) sin

EY 8 r
2
2



1 + P 2 (K I + K I )
1
5
West
E nn =
(5 8 P ) cos cos

EY
2
2
8 r



1 + P 2 K I I
1
5
+
(8 P 1) sin + sin

EY 8 r
2
2



1
1 + P 2 (K I + K I )
5
West
E tn =
sin sin

EY
2
2
8 r



1 + P 2 K I I
5
1
+
3 cos + cos

EY 8 r
2
2

(27)

(28)

K I and K I I denote the stress intensity factors of modes I and II, respectively, whereas K I denotes the
additional stress intensity factor appearing when a compression is applied in direction t:

K I := nn Snn
a ,


nn = 0 if Snn 0 and b = 0 ; nn = 1 otherwise
1 P
K I := (1 tt )
Stt a ,

 P

tt = 1 if Stt 0 and b = 0 ; tt = 0 otherwise

a
(29)
K I I := Stn
Lets define A as the fourth order tensor verifying:
E y (y; S , a ) = A (y; S , a ) S

(30)

A continuum model of micro-cracks in concrete

147

Given the symmetry properties of the problem, we now use Voigts notation and represent A as a 3 3 matrix
the components of which are expressed in Eq. 31:
 


1 2P
2 1 2P
a
1
5

A11 :=

(3 8 P ) cos + cos (1 tt )
EY
8 P EY
r
2
2
 


2

1
5
2 1 P
a
A
(8 P 5) cos + cos (1 tt )
21 :=
8 P EY
r
2
2
 


1
5
2 1 2P
a

sin sin (1 tt )
A31 :=
8 P EY
r
2
2
 

2 (1 + P ) a
1
5

A12 :=
(3 8 P ) cos + cos nn
8
EY
r
2
2
 


2

1 P
1
5
2 (1 + P ) a

A22 :=

(31)
(8 P 5) cos + cos nn
EY
8
EY
r
2
2
 


2 (1 + P ) a
5
1
:=
sin

sin

nn
A
32
8
EY
r
2
2
 


1
1
5
2 (1 + P ) a

A13 :=
8 P sin 7 sin sin
8
EY
r
2
2
2
 

2 (1 + P ) a
1
5
1

A23 :=
8 P sin + sin sin
8
EY
r
2
2
2
 


2 (1 + P ) a
P
1
5
A
+
3 cos + cos
33 :=
EY
8
EY
r
2
2
The definition 20 leads to:

1
S = A D

(32)



1
D
E y = A A

(33)


1
H A A

(34)

Recalling Eq. 30, we get:

The sought approximation of H is then:

An expression of the components of the tensor A  is given in the Appendix (see Sect. 8).
4.4 Consequences at the upper level
Calling upon the assumption 7, the total power of internal actions per unit volume of the material element
is identical whether we see each point of B as an infinitesimal element characterized by a position and a
microstructure or as a part of a classic continuum. Lets consider one material element :




B D =
T y E y G
(35)
2

where G is the energy release rate associated to the crack located within [8], = 2 a and = 1/(4L 2 ).
Considering both assumption 10 and Eq. 22, the previous relation becomes:




H

B D =
D
G
(36)
(CHD) HD +

148

M. Bongu Boma, M. Brocato

Fig. 4 Components of the stiffness tensor C as functions of the dimensionless crack size  [E Y = 24 GPa, P = 0.2].

Presently:
 1 

= tr FF
tr E x

within assumption 6,

(37)

a few passages lead to:







G

T
2
T H

H CH D D
(D D) I E x . (38)
B D =
(CH)

The term factor of E x can be neglected within the assumption 6, the identification term by term of the
equality 38 thence leads to the following constitutive assignments:
concerning the internal action B:

B C ( , )D,

C ( , ) :=



HT CH


(39)

is a symmetrical stiffness tensor of the solid skeleton. It is equal to the stiffness tensor C when
where
B evolves as an uncracked body and changes otherwise (see Eqs. 28 and 29). Lets denote by  the
dimensionless crack size:

 =
(40)
the components of C have been numerically determined for a range of comprised between 2.5 103 cm2
and 25 cm2 : we observe that they are independent on the variable . We plot in Fig. 4 their evolution as
functions of  .
as per the equilibrated micro-force :
=

G
2

(41)

where the expression of G( , , D) can be determined within the approximation proposed in Sect. 4.3.2:
G=


1 2P  2
KI + KI 2 + KI I 2
EY

(42a)

A continuum model of micro-cracks in concrete

149

the stress intensity factors K I , K I and K I I are defined by Eqs. 29 and 32:


1 
D n n
K I := nn A


1 
1 P
(1 tt ) A
D t t
K I :=
P


1 
K I I := A
D t n



1 D n n 0 and b = 0 ;

=
0
if
A
nn = 1 otherwise
nn
With



tt = 1 if A 1 D t t 0 and b = 0 ; tt = 0 otherwise

(42b)

4.5 Application of the principles of thermodynamics

The constitutive equations suggested in the previous paragraph have to be consistent with the principles of
thermodynamics as they can be stated for continua with microstructure [9].
To begin with, let us apply the first principle of thermodynamic; recalling the expression 10 of the power
of internal action, the latter provides us with the local balance of internal energy e:
+ divq
e = B D

(43)

where q is the heat flux and the heat supply in the bulk.
The second principle of thermodynamics can then be called upon; it provides the model with a relation
between the rate of entropy change per unit mass (s ) and the heat supplies (q and ) at a temperature ( ):
s div

q
+ ,

for all processes.

(44)

Thence, for isothermal processes, 43 and 44 merge into:

+ 0
BD

(45)

where is the free energy per unit mass of the body: := e s. Let us assume in particular that
= (D), we get from Eq. 39:
=



1
D C D
2

and


0,

(46)

Lets assume in particular:

= c | |,

c > 0 and c

(47)

We associate a Griffith criterion to the crack growth process:

(x, ) < c  = 0: the crack located at x does not propagate,
(x, ) = c  { = 0 or  = 0}: the crack located at x can propagate and eventually will if the load
is not removed.
The propagation threshold c can be determined by experimental measures: for a tensile test, the microcracks start propagating when applying a stress close to 80% of the strength f t [15,45,47]; we do not have
results for shear loadings at our disposal:
c =



1 2P
1
0.82 f t2 + 2 f s2
G c ( , f t , f s ) :=
2
2 EY

f s being the shear strength of the matter: needs to be experimentally determined.

(48)

150

M. Bongu Boma, M. Brocato

Fig. 5 1D example: homogeneously cracked body.

5 -1D- example
We have completed a mechanical model describing the evolution of a micro-cracked body:
balance Eq. 17 drive (i) the propagation of the micro-cracks without any movement of the material points
and (ii) the deformation. They have been determined from the general balance Eq. 7, within the simplifying
assumptions 1 to 5.
balance Eq. 17 make some internal actions intervene: B and are, respectively, dual to the rate of defor 1 and the rate of micro-configurational evolution . Their constitutive laws are given by 39
mation FF
and 41, respectively.
when a threshold value is attained by the stress , crack propagation can initiate according to the rule 47.
We now propose to treat a one dimensional example and to use the above mentioned relations so as to
determine the behavior of a uniformly cracked body.

5.1 Numerical simulation

We denote by e1 and e2 the directions normal and parallel to the loading, respectively, and 2l the dimension
of the sample in direction 2 (see Fig. 5). The model is applied within the following hypothesises:
1. the crack field is uniform,
2. the direction n of the micro-cracks is parallel to the direction of the loading (n = e2 ),
3. a displacement l is imposed on the upper side of B .
5.1.1 Stress and stain fields within B
Lets denote by f the external force per unit area: its component f 1 is null everywhere whereas f 2 is the force
needed to apply the displacement per unit length . The balance equations and the corresponding boundary
conditions entail:
div B = 0
B e2 = f 2 e2

(49)

We get from 39 and 49:

D11 =

D12 =

C C C
C13
23
12 33
C C 2
C11
33
13

D22

1 C12 C13 C11 C23

2 C C C 2
11 33
13

D22

(50)

Lets recall Eq. 25:

E x 22 = D22 +

u2
lips

(m = n on the crack lips)

(51)

A continuum model of micro-cracks in concrete

151

(a)

(b)

Fig. 6 Energy release rate G as a function of D22 (solid skeleton deformation) and  (dimensionless crack size) -left- and as a
function of (displacement per unit length) and  -right- [ = 1 cm2 , E Y = 24 GPa, P = 0.2, f t = 1.29 MPa]. a Surfaces
G( , D22 ) (shaded) and G c ( , f t ) (meshed); b Surfaces G( , ) (shaded) and G c ( , f t ) (meshed).

We deduce from the expression of the displacement field within the material element [8]:



2 
1 
2 4 2 1 P
u2 = 
A
D

22
3
EY

(52)

lips

According to the relations 50, this expression is a linear function of D22 . Let us define the function z as:

u2
(53)
z :=
D22
lips

The strain field being uniform in , we get:

= (1 + z) D22

(54)

We propose to describe the evolution of the micro-crack body B in terms of (i) the initial conditions, (ii)
the displacement per unit length , and (iii) the mean value of the skeleton deformation D22 . The stress and
strain fields being uniform in B, we focus on the evolution of one single discontinuity: we determine in the
following sections the couples of values (crack size  , deformation of the matter D22 ) and (crack size  ,
displacement per unit length ) that lead to crack propagation. Evolution laws for crack propagation are thence
proposed, we furthermore present the calculations that are useful for the determination of stressstrain curves.
5.1.2 Evolution laws for crack propagation
We determine in the present section the propagation threshold of the micro-cracks present in the body: we
recall the expressions 42 and 48 of the energy release rates G( , , D) and G c ( , f t ) and use Eqs. 40 and 50
so as to express them in terms of  , and D22 only.
In Fig. 6a, we plot G = G( , D22 ) (shaded surface) and G c ( ) (meshed surface) for given values of
crack density and tensile strength. The intersection between both surfaces is represented by a red curve, the
corresponding couples of values ( , D22 ) are the crack sizes and skeleton deformations that are critical
for crack propagation, i.e., satisfying the condition G = G c .
In Fig. 6b, we plot the surfaces G = G( , ) (shaded surface) and G c ( ) (meshed surface) with their
intersection represented in red. The plots were obtained from the results shown in Fig. 6a by means of the
expression of (D22 ) given in Eq. 54.
We thence show in Fig. 6 the constitutive laws for crack propagation which are represented as functions of
the dimensionless crack size  and the deformation of the solid skeleton D22 (Fig. 6a) or as functions of 
and the displacement per unit length (Fig. 6b). Both plots can be used as follows: let us consider an increasing
loading applied on a material element comprising a crack of size 0 , the behavior of the crack encounters the
following steps (an illustration is shown in Fig. 6with 0 = 0.2):
A B: G increases with the loading. The crack is stable as long as G < G c .

152

M. Bongu Boma, M. Brocato

(a)

(b)

Fig. 7 Displacement per unit length () and deformation of the solid skeleton (D22 ) as functions of the dimensionless crack size
( ) [E Y = 24 GPa, P = 0.2, f t = 1.29 MPa]. a D22 ( ); b ( ).

(a)

(b)

Fig. 8 Example of a stressstrain curve [E Y = 24 GPa, P = 0.2, f t = 1.29 MPa]. a Stressstrain curve f 2 (); b Evolution of
the dimensionless crack size  ().

B: there exists a critical loading leading to an energy release rate equal to the value G c (0 ). This is the
propagation threshold of the crack present in the element.
B C: the crack propagates and its evolution is imposed by the increasing loading:


1
=
||||,
|| || : positive part
(55)

C D: the load is removed, G decreases whereas the size of the crack is constant.
We represent in Fig. 7 the curves ( ) and D22 ( ) when condition G = G c is satisfied. The steps of the
above mentioned example (blue curve A D) are as well represented.
5.1.3 Stiffness loss
Recalling Eqs. 49, 50, and 54, the external force per unit area f 2 is given by:
#
$
!"




C 13 C 23 C 12 C 33

C 12 C 13 C 11 C 23
1

C12
+ C22 + C23
f2 =
(1 + z)
2
2
C11 C33 C13
C11 C33 C13

(56)

each components Cij being a function of the parameter  (see Fig. 4).
The comparison of G with G c (see Figs. 6 and 7) is useful for the determination of stressstrain curves
under tensile loadings (see Fig. 8):
as long as G < G c : the crack size is constant and the stressstrain curve is determined by formula 56
calculated for a given initial crack size 0 . The behavior of the body is linear elastic and
#
"
f2
C013 C023 C012 C033
C012 C013 C011 C023
+ C022 + C023
(57)
= C012
(1 + z)1

C011 C033 C0 213

C011 C033 C0 213

A continuum model of micro-cracks in concrete

153

Table 1 High strength concrete M100

Components characteristics

Content in kg/m3

Seine sand 0/4

Boulonnais sand 0/5
Boulonnais fine gravel 5/12.5
Boulonnais fine gravel 12.5/20
Cement CEM I 52.5
Silica fume
Superplastifier GT
Chrysotard
Water

432
439
488
561
377
37.8
12.5
2.6
124

is the Youngs Modulus of B when the solid skeleton deforms and the crack lips open (no crack propagation).
as soon as G = G c : the cracks propagate provided that the loading keeps on increasing. The force per unit
area f 2 is given by the same Eq. 56 but for increasing values  () (see Fig. 7b). The stiffness loss when
cracks propagate is given by the evolution of the apparent tangent modulus. The latter is defined by:
f2

!"

C 13 C 23 C 12 C 33
C12
C C 2
C11
33
13

+ C22

C 12 C 13 C 11 C 23
+ C23
C C 2
C11
33
13

$
1

(1 + z)

(58)

the response of the body is elastic when the load is removed. The curve reaches the origin following a
straight line the slope of which is as well determined by formula 56. Notice that the model is not able to
represent residual displacements when the load is removed. This type of phenomenon appears when the
material is subjected to alternated loadings and results from micro-sliding of the cracks. Such phenomenon
is presently not taken into account.
As an illustration, we consider a body such as the initial dimensionless crack size 0 = 0.01 and we plot in
Fig. 8a a stressstrain curve f 2 (). The corresponding evolution of the crack size  is represented in Fig. 8b.

6 Comparison with the experimental results

We use the previous model to describe the evolution of a pre-damaged concrete specimen under slow mechanical loading. Results are taken from the experimental campaign ETEB performed by the CEA Saclay (French
Nuclear Energy Agency) [1].

6.1 Experimental procedure

A cylindrical test-tube of diameter d = 150 mm and height l = 200 mm was made of an high strength concrete M100 the characteristics of which are summarized in Table 1. After standard aging, it has been thermally
treated at 250C during 30 days so as to induce micro-cracks.
Later on, the sample was glued on aluminium sheets for tensile tests and instrumented with 12 extensometric gauges that were glued at 5, 65, and 115 mm from the upper side of the sample and along four axes at
90 . For each distance, the mean value of the four strain measures provides us with an evaluation of the axial
deformation of the sample. The gauges were MICRO-MEASUREMENTS gauges type N2A-06-20CBW-120,
with precision 5%.
Four cycles of tensile tests have been performed with a screw-driven type test machine (Instron 5500R).
The speed of the cross-head was 0.05 and 0.1 mm/min for loadings and unloadings, respectively, and the
maximum tensile stresses that were measured by the force gauge (INSTRON TYPE RX2511-319) were 1,
1.35, 1.5, and 2 MPa.
The measurements obtained from the tests were displayed as three stressstrain curves determined at the
three different distances from the heat source. We present Fig. 9 the stressstrain curve determined at 65 mm
from there.

154

M. Bongu Boma, M. Brocato

Fig. 9 Stresstrain curve resulting from cyclic loadings performed on concrete previously damaged by thermal treatment (ETEB
campaign at CEA Saclay).

6.2 Numerical results

We now use our model in order to represent the above mentioned experimental procedure. The description
we propose is rough but provides good results though: we consider the same assumptions as in Sect. 5 (bar
tensioned with a hard device and uniform crack field parallel to the direction of the loading) and we use the
numerical procedure of Sect. 5 so as to determine the constitutive laws that best fit the behavior of the body:
first, P is assigned to its experimental value [12],
(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Fig. 10 Comparison between experimental results and numerical simulation, [E Y = 24 GPa, P = 0.2, f t = 1.29 MPa, =
1 cm2 ]. a 0 = 0.07, final = 0.07; b0 = 0.07, final = 0.25; c 0 = 0.25, final = 0.44 ; d 0 = 0.44, final = 0.95.

A continuum model of micro-cracks in concrete

155

(a)
2

E24

E23
1.5

f2

0.5

0
20

40

60

80

100

120

epsilon

(b)

ft1

ft2
1.5

f2

0.5

0
20

40

60

80

100

120

80

100

120

epsilon

(c)

1.5

f2

G5

G9

0.5

0
20

40

60

epsilon

Fig. 11 Sensibility to the choice of mechanical parameters (comparison between experimental results (thin red plots) and numerical simulation (thick blue curves)). a 0 = 0.07, f t = 1.29 MPa, E Y = 24 GPa 4%; b 0 = 0.07, f t = 1.29 MPa 4%,
E Y = 24 GPa; c 0 = 0.07 0.02, f t = 1.29 MPa, E Y = 24 GPa.

156

M. Bongu Boma, M. Brocato

second, we study the last cycle of the tensile tests and choose f t so that the maximum tensile stress is
reached. We then assign E Y so that the inelastic behavior is well represented.
finally, we consider the first cycle of the experimental procedure: f t and E Y being previously determined,
we choose 0 so that the experimental and numerical Youngs Module correspond at the beginning of the
cycle.
We plot in Fig. 10 the comparison between the experimental and numerical results. Notice that the
simulation of the second and third cycles have been plotted using the parameters P , E Y and f t that were
previously determined via the characteristics of the first and last cycles. We moreover assume that, at the
beginning of each cycle, is equal to the dimensionless crack size that was reached at the end of the previous
test.
In order to give a hint on the sensibility of results to the choice of the three parameters E Y , f t and 0 , we
have repeated computations for different values of the above. In Fig. 11 we compare the experimental plots
with the computational results obtained by taking two parameters at a fixed value and changing the third in
a range. Reference values of the parameters were taken according to the previous identification procedure:
0 = 0.07, f t = 1.29 MPa, E Y = 24 GPa. In particular, we have taken first 0 and f t fixed at their reference value and made E Y vary within 4% of its reference value (Fig. 11a), then 0 and E Y are fixed and f t
varies within 4% of its reference (Fig. 11b). Finally, f t and E Y are fixed and 0 varies within [0.05, 0.09]
(Fig. 11c).
7 Conclusion
An analysis of the problem of micro-cracked bodies has been performed using the scheme of continua with
microstructure: we have considered every material element as a domain of finite size comprising one single
crack; as such it has been treated as an infinitesimal element characterized by a position and a variable representing the geometry of the above mentioned crack. We considered cases where micro-stresses can be neglected
and proposed balance equations of internal actions which are dual to (i) the gradient of transformation and (ii)
the rate of a fit variable accounting for crack propagation.
We applied a method in order to determine the constitutive laws of the model: starting from an approximation of the behavior of a cracked elastic material element of finite size, the latter has been developed within
the assumptions of fracture linear mechanics.
We performed numerical simulations so as to model tensile tests on high strength concrete: some calculations (without any finite element implementation) lead to an accurate modeling of the stiffness loss
measured during cyclic tensile tests. The comparison of the results shown the efficiency of the model
in the case of uniform crack fields but the latter can be applied to more complex cases: the description
takes propagation into account and the crack-to-crack interaction is accounted thanks to a crack density
variable.
Acknowledgments The work was done during a PhD funded by the French nuclear energy agency CEA (Commissariat
lEnergie Atomique DEN-DANS-DM2S-SEMT-LM2S), at the ENPC (Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chausses).

8 Appendix
We denote here:
:=

1
arctan
4

L
L a


,

:=

1
arctan
4

 
L
a

(59)

The components of the mean value A  are given by the following expressions:



  4 
2 (tan 1) a 7/2 2 a 5/2 L + a 3/2 L 2 (tan )2 + 2 tan 1 P (tan )4
A11 =
3




+ (14 P + 6) (tan )2 + P (1 + P ) tan 2 (tan + 1) (tan )2 2 tan 1 ( P 1)
%


(tan )7 (tan )5 + (tan )3 + tan

a (1 + s11 ) tan 2
1 + (tan )8 4 (tan )6 10 (tan ( ))4 4 (tan )2

A continuum model of micro-cracks in concrete

157





+ (tan )2 + 2 tan 1 tan (2 ) (tan )2 2 tan 1



12 (a L)3 (1 + s11 ) P 3 + (1/8 s11 + 1/2) P 2 s11 P + 3/8 s11 1/8 (tan )4


+ (10/3 s11 + 10/3) P 3 + (1/4 s11 1) P 2 + 10/3 s11 P 5/4 s11 1/4 (tan )2

+ (1 + s11 ) P 3 + (1/8 s11 + 1/2) P 2 s11 P + 3/8 s11 1/8 tan 2 3/8





80
1 1/3 s11 8/3 P + P 2 s11 (tan )4 +
P 10/3 2/3 s11 10/3 P 2 s11 (tan )2
9
+1 1/3 s11 8/3 P
&
'



2


'
tan 1 + (tan )2 (a L) 1 + (tan )2
(
2
+ P s11 tan 2 tan a
1 + (tan )8 4 (tan )6 10 (tan )4 4 (tan )2



+ (tan 1) (tan )2 + 2 tan 1 (1 + P ) tan 2 (tan + 1)




(1 + s11 )
(3/4 + P ) a 5/2 L 3/2 + a L 7/2 2 a 3/2 L 5/2


+
2a 3/2 P L 2 2 P 2a 5/2 La 2 (3/4+ P ) L 3/2 +2 a (3/4+ P ) L 5/2 + ( P +3/4) L 7/2




+ P a 7/2 2 (1 + s11 ) a 3/4 L 2 P (a L)2 (tan )2 2 tan 1

1

1
1
1 
( P 1) tan 2

1 6 (tan )2 + (tan )4
tan 2 tan 2

1 
1
1 + (tan )2
E Y 1 P 1 (a L)2 L 2
(60)
1 6 (tan )2 + (tan )4




 
4 
A12 =
2 (tan + 1) a 7/2 2 a 5/2 L + a 3/2 L 2 s22 tan 2 P (tan )4
3




+ (14 P + 6) (tan )2 + P
tan 2 (tan )2 + 2 tan 1 (1 + P ) a (tan 1)
%


(tan )7 (tan )5 + (tan )3 + tan
2
(tan ) 2 tan 1
1 + (tan )8 4 (tan )6 10 (tan )4 4 (tan ( ))2





+ (tan )2 2 tan 1 tan 2 (tan )2 + 2 tan 1







25
12 (a L)3 tan s22 a 1/2 + 5/8 P + P 2 (tan )4 + P + 1 10/3 P 2
12



2
2
2
(tan ) 1/2 + 5/8 P + P
tan 2 1/8 tan 2 P 1 + (tan )2
&
'



2
'
tan 1 + (tan )2 (a L) 1 + (tan )2
(
(61)

1 + (tan )8 4 (tan )6 10 (tan )4 4 (tan )2

 



+ (tan + 1) tan 2 a 5/2 L 3/2 + a L 7/2 2 a 3/2 L 5/2

a s22 (3/4 + P ) a 1


+
2a 3/2 P L 2 2 P 2a 5/2 L a 2 (3/4 + P ) L 3/2 + 2 a (3/4 + P ) L 5/2


+ ( P + 3/4) L 7/2 + P a 7/2 2 s22 a + 3/4 L 2 P (a L)2

tan 2




(tan )2 + 2 tan 1 (1 + P ) (tan 1) (tan )2 2 tan 1

1 
1
1
1
1
1 + (tan )2

1 6 (tan )2 + (tan )4

tan 2 tan 2

1
1 6 (tan )2 + (tan )4
E Y 1 (a L)2 L 2
 
A13 = 0

(62)

158

M. Bongu Boma, M. Brocato





 
A21 = 4/3 2 (1 + P ) tan 2 (tan )2 + 2 tan 1 a 7/2 2 a 5/2 L + a 3/2 L 2



(1 + s11 ) (tan 1) tan 2 (tan + 1) ( P 1) (tan )4 + (14 P + 8) (tan )2 + P 1
%


(tan )7 (tan )5 + (tan )3 + tan
2
(tan ) 2 tan 1 a ( P 1)
1 + (tan )8 4 (tan )6 10 (tan )4 4 (tan )2




+ (tan )2 + 2 tan 1 12 (a L)3 tan P 3 5/8 P 2 s11 + (1 s11 )


25 2
25
3
4
P 1/2 + 5/8 s11 ) (tan ) + 10/3 P +
P s11 + (10/3 s11 10/3) P + 7/3
s11
12
12

(tan )2 P 3 5/8 P 2 s11 + (1 s11 ) P 1/2 + 5/8 s11 tan 2




+ tan 2 P 3 s11 + (1/2+1/8 s11 ) P 2 1/8s11 (tan )4 + 10/3 P 3 s11 + (1/4 s11 7/3) P 2

1/4 s11 ) (tan )2 + P 3 s11 + (1/2 + 1/8 s11 ) P 2 1/8 s11
a
&
'



2
'
tan 1 + (tan )2 (a L) 1 + (tan )2
(

1 + (tan )8 4 (tan )6 10 (tan )4 4 (tan )2





+ (1 + P ) tan 2 (tan )2 + 2 tan 1 (tan 1) tan 2 (tan + 1)

 


a 5/2 L 3/2 + a L 7/2 2 a 3/2 L 5/2 ( P 1/4) (1 + s11 ) a ( P 1) a 1



+ (1+s11 )
2L 2 ( P 1) a 3/2 2L 2 ( P 1) a 5/2 a 2 ( P 1/4) L 3/2 + 2 a ( P 1/4) L 5/2

+ (1/4 P ) L 7/2 + 2a 7/2 ( P 1) ( P 1) a 3/4 (a L)2 P 2 L 2

1
 


1
1
(tan )2 2 tan 1 (tan )2 2 tan 1 tan 2

tan 2 tan 2

 
 
1
2 1
2
4 1
1 + (tan )
1 6 (tan ) + (tan )
1 6 (tan )2 + (tan )4
E Y 1 P 1 (a L)2 L 2

(63)





 
A22 = 4/3 2 a a 7/2 2 a 5/2 L + a 3/2 L 2 (1 + P ) (tan )2 + 2 tan 1



tan 2 (tan 1) s22 ( P 1) (tan )4 + (14 P +8) (tan )2 + P 1 (tan )2 2 tan 1
%


(tan )7 (tan )5 + (tan )3 + tan
(tan +1)
+ (tan )2 + 2 tan 1
8
6
4
2
1 + (tan ) 4 (tan ) 10 (tan ) 4 (tan )



 2

tan 2 (tan )2 2 tan 1 12 a (a L)3 tan s22
P 5/8 + 1/2 P (tan )4








25
2
2
2
2 2
+
tan 2 +1/8 tan 2 1 + (tan )
10/3 P P (tan ) + P 5/8+1/2 P
12
&
'



2
'

 
7/2
tan 1 + (tan )2 (aL) 1+ (tan )2
(
5/2 3/2
3/2 5/2

a
L
+
a
L

2
a
L
1+ (tan )8 4 (tan )6 10 (tan )4 4 (tan )2



as22 ( P 1/4) a 1 +
2L 2 ( P 1) a 3/2 2 L 2 ( P 1) a 5/2 a 2 ( P 1/4) L 3/2

+2 a ( P 1/4) L 5/2 + (1/4 P ) L 7/2 + 2a 7/2 ( P 1) s22 a+3/4 L 2 (aL)2 ( P 1)





(1 + P ) (tan )2 + 2 tan 1 tan 2 (tan 1) (tan )2 2 tan 1 (tan + 1)


1 
1
1 
1
1
tan 2
1+ (tan )2
1 6 (tan )2 + (tan )4
tan 2 tan 2

1
1 6 (tan )2 + (tan )4
E Y 1 (a L)2 L 2
(64)

A continuum model of micro-cracks in concrete

159

 
A23 = 0

(65)


)


 
32
2
3
a (tan ) + 2 tan 1 (1 + P ) (1 + s11 ) (tan ) (L a)1
A31 =
3




( P 1) a 3/2 L 2 + (a 2 L) a 5/2 tan 2 (tan )2 2 tan 1
%
(tan )7 (tan )5 + (tan )3 + tan
+ 1/32 (tan 1)

1 + (tan )8 4 (tan )6 10 (tan )4 4 (tan )2






4 (a L)3 3/4 + (1/4 + s11 ) P 2 (tan )4 + 3/2 + (7/2 2 s11 ) P 2 (tan )2





+3/4 + (1/4+s11 ) P 2 tan 2 3/4 P 2 +4/3 s11 1/3 (tan )4 + 2 P 2 8/3s11 +14/3
)

2
2
(tan ) + P + 4/3 s11 1/3 tan 2
(L a)1
&
'



2
'


tan 1 + (tan )2 (a L) 1 + (tan )2
(

+ (tan )2 + 2 tan 1
8
6
4
2
1 + (tan ) 4 (tan ) 10 (tan ) 4 (tan )


)

(1 + P )
a 5/2 L 3/2 + a L 7/2 2 a 3/2 L 5/2
a 1 + L 7/2 + a 2 L 3/2 2 L 5/2 a
(L a)1






2 2 (a L)3 (1 + s11 ) ( P 1) tan 2 tan 2 (tan )2 2 tan 1




 1
tan 2 (tan )2 + 2 tan ( ) 1 (tan + 1) (tan )2 2 tan 1
tan 2



1
1
1
1
1
1 6 (tan )2 + (tan )4


1 6 (tan )2 + (tan )4
(L a)1 tan 2

1
1 + (tan )2
E Y 1 P 1 (a L)2 L 2
(66)




  32 
tan 2 (tan )2 + 2 tan 1 (tan )3 (tan )2 2 tan 1 (1 + P )
A32 =
3
%

)
(tan )7 (tan )5 + (tan )3 + tan
3/2 2
5/2
1
a L + (a 2 L) a
(L a)
1 + (tan )8 4 (tan )6 10 (tan ( ))4 4 (tan )2



+1/32 4 (a L)3 ( P + 3/4) (tan )4 + (2 P + 3/2) (tan )2 + P + 3/4 tan 2 +
)


1/4 7/2 (tan )2 + 1/4 (tan )4 tan 2
(L a)1
&
'



2
'



tan 1 + (tan )2 (a L) 1 + (tan )2
(

+ tan 2 (tan )2 + 2 tan 1

8
6
4
2
1 + (tan ) 4 (tan ) 10 (tan ) 4 (tan )






a 5/2 L 3/2 + a L 7/2 2 a 3/2 L 5/2

a 1
tan 2 (tan )2 2 tan 1 (1 + P )

)



+L 7/2 + a 2 L 3/2 2 L 5/2 a
(L a)1 2 2 (a L)3
(tan ( ))2 2 tan 1




(tan )2 + 2 tan 1 (tan + 1) (tan 1) tan 2 s22 a

1
1
1


tan 2 tan 2 (L a)1






1
1
1
1
16 (tan )2 +(tan )4
E Y 1 (aL)2 L 2
16 (tan )2 +(tan )4
1+(tan )2

(67)

160

M. Bongu Boma, M. Brocato




a (tan + 1) tan 2 a 7/2 2 a 5/2 L + a 3/2 L 2 (tan 1)
A
33 = 16



(tan )2 + 2 tan 1 (tan )2 2 tan 1 (tan )2
%


(tan )7 (tan )5 + (tan )3 + tan

+ 3/8 (tan )2 2 tan 1

8
6
4
2
1 + (tan ) 4 (tan ) 10 (tan ) 4 (tan )







2 
tan 2 + (tan )2 3 tan 2 (tan )2 1/3 tan
(a L)3 1/3 1 + (tan )2
&
'



2
'
tan 1 + (tan )2 (a L) 1 + (tan )2
(
a
(68)
1 + (tan )8 4 (tan )6 10 (tan )4 4 (tan )2


 


+1/6 a 5/2 L 3/2 + a L 7/2 2 a 3/2 L 5/2

+ a 2 L 3/2 + 2 L 5/2 a L 7/2
a




+ (a L)2 L 2 (tan + 1) tan 2 (tan 1) (tan )2 + 2 tan 1


 

1
(tan )2 2 tan 1 (tan )2 + 2 tan 1 tan 2 (1 + P )
tan 2




1
1
1
1
1 + (tan )2
1 6 (tan )2 + (tan )4

tan 2

1
1 6 (tan )2 + (tan )4
E Y 1 (a L)2 L 2

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Copyright of Continuum Mechanics & Thermodynamics is the property of Springer Science & Business Media
B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright
holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.