Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Structural Dynamics, EURODYN 2011 3381

Leuven, Belgium, 4-6 July 2011

G. De Roeck, G. Degrande, G. Lombaert, G. Müller (eds.)
ISBN 978-90-760-1931-4

A mesoscopic modeling perspective of response of concrete to high strain-rate

loading
Yong Lu, Zhenhuan Song
Institute for Infrastructure and Environment, School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh
The King’s Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3JL, UK
yong.lu@ed.ac.uk, j.song@ed.ac.uk

ABSTRACT: High impulsive loading such as blast and impact often generates stress and strain field with a drastic temporal and
spatial variation. In the initial phase of such responses, the stress/strain gradient can be so significant that it cannot be ignored
over a size scale that is comparable to the heterogeneity (particularly coarse aggregates) in concrete. Therefore, the mesoscopic
heterogeneity of the concrete composite becomes automatically an important factor that needs to be addressed, both for the
understanding of the underlying physical processes and the establishment of an appropriate computational modeling scheme.
This paper will introduce some recent progresses made by the authors in the mesoscale modeling of concrete for high-strain rate
and complex loading applications. Important issues of common interest in the field, such as the mechanisms underlying the
strain rate effect on concrete under compression, contribution of the aggregates, propagating stress wave effect, and the
implication on the interpretation of the SHPB test results, are commented and discussed. The observations also have
implications to the understanding of the initial phase response of concrete components to blast and impact loading.

KEY WORDS: Concrete; Dynamic behaviour; Heterogeneity; Mesoscale model; High strain rate.

1 INTRODUCTION
Concrete is a highly non-homogenous material with large
heterogeneity due to coarse aggregates. The behaviour of such
material is complicated by a combination of brittleness,
micro-fracture, heterogeneity, and the multi-phase
interactions. In the general modeling of concrete structures,
the concrete material is usually described with homogenized
material properties, which are derived from standard concrete
sample tests where the bulk properties are measured. Strictly
speaking, such properties are valid only when critical regions a) Homogeneous model
in the structure being analyzed are subject to a distribution of
stress and strain similar to that in the standard test samples
over a comparable size scale. In cases where drastic stress and
strain variations (or large strain gradients) exists, for instance
in the transient phase of the direct blast or impact loading, the
use of a homogenized description for concrete becomes
questionable. Figure 1 illustrates the response of a concrete
sample to high strain rate compression at 100 s-1, modelled
using a homogeneous macro and a heterogeneous mesoscale
model, respectively. The effect of the heterogeneity on the b) mesoscale model
distribution of damage is strikingly noticeable.
Figure 1. Comparative simulation of damage patterns using
A direct implication of such an effect would be the
homogeneous and mesoscale models, respectively. Strain rate
mobilization of the much stronger aggregates in the load
= 100 s-1
resistance, and hence contributing to the experimentally
observed bulk dynamic strength increase (i.e. DIF).
Apparently, this mechanism is not represented in a Clearly, to represent adequately the mesoscale mechanisms
homogenized model, and neither is it reasonably represented under high rate loading requires a model that reflects the the
in physical tests where scaled concrete, viz mortar, is mesoscopic heterogeneity. Mesoscale modelling of concrete
employed. Similar argumentation may be extended to the has been a topic of some extensive research in the quasi-static
initial phase response of concrete components to general literature, and a number of studies have been reported using
impact and blast loading, in view of the fact that the stress the mesoscale model to explore the damage evolution in
wave phenomenon there is somewhat analogous to a concrete concrete under static loading (e.g., [1-2]). However, these
sample under high strain rate loading. mesoscale studies do not involve the transient dynamic
effects, and the analysis is usually carried out using
Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Structural Dynamics, EURODYN 2011 3382

specialized and relatively simple numerical solvers. This

make the extension of the models to generalized dynamic and
complex stress conditions difficult. The attempt to use
mesoscale modelling for the dynamic analysis of concrete
materials is a rather recent development, and use has so far
been made mainly of much simplified aggregate
representations (e.g. [3]).
Over the last few years, continued research effort has been
devoted to the development of a mesoscale modeling
framework for dynamic and complex loading analysis at the Figure 2. Mesoscale geometry, FE mesh, and close-up of FE
University of Edinburgh. The key considerations include a mesh (ITZ not shown)
realistic representation of the mesoscale structure of the
concrete composite, compatibility with general-purpose Benefiting from the implementation of the mesoscale model
transient dynamic analysis codes, as well as incorporation of in a general-purpose finite element environment, a wide range
the 3D effects in a mesoscale context. This paper summarizes of material models is available for the description of different
the key features of the mesoscale model and some associated types of constitutive material behaviour. In view of extensive
numerical investigations. Important issues such as the application experiences [9], the Concrete Damage Model,
mechanisms underlying the strain rate effect on concrete available in LS-DYNA as Material #72R, is chosen for the
under compression, contribution of the aggregates, description of mortar matrix. This material model is capable
propagating stress wave effect, and the implication on the of describing the material failure due to tension, shear, as well
interpretation of the SHPB test results, are commented and as compression under various stress conditions [10], and it
discussed. also incorporates pressure hardening and strain softening.
2 THE MESOSCALE MODEL FOR FINITE ELEMENT 2.2 Other modeling and numerical considerations
E ANALYSIS UNDER DYNAMIC LOADING
a) Loading scheme
2.1 Overview of the basic mesoscale model
Due to high nonlinearity and the transient stress wave effect
The present mesoscale model stems from 2D representation of under dynamic loading, an explicit time integration approach
the mesoscale geometric structure of concrete, where the is appropriate. Where necessary, it is possible to include the
primary heterogeneity of coarse aggregates are represented by loading apparatus, such as SHPB, in the numerical simulation
random polygon shapes. The generation of the mesoscale with the mesoscale model (see Figure 3(a)).
model encompasses the following main steps:
a) Generation of the mesoscale geometric structure with
aggregates in random polygon shapes and sizes. This
involves a procedure following a commonly adopted
take-and-place technique [4-5], satisfying non-
overlapping and minimum gap requirements. The
nominal size of the individual aggregates obeys a
specified grading curve. Herein the Fuller curve is
adopted. The procedure is programmed using Matlab.
b) Generation of the FE mesh: the mesoscale geometry data
are output from Matlab in an ANSYS [6] compatible a) Incorporating SHPB apparatus [11]
format, and subsequently the FE mesh is generated using
ANSYS pre-processor. The interfacial transition zone
(ITZ) layer is also picked up and meshed accordingly.
c) The FE mesh generated in ANSYS is brought back to
Matlab for further processing into LS-DYNA format. vmax
Velocity

d) Subsequent loading response analysis is carried out

using LS-DYNA [7] explicit solver.
A full description of the above procedure can be found in
[8]. Figure 2 illustrates a representative mesoscale geometry
of a sample concrete specimen and the corresponding FE
mesh.
Only the coarse aggregates (minimum nominal size of
4.75mm) are considered as the discrete aggregate phase. In
view of the generally recognized importance of the interface
transition zone (ITZ), the ITZ is explicitly modelled as a
separate (third) phase in the composite. Two alternative
approaches to modelling the ITZ have been investigated, and
this will be briefly discussed in Section 2.2.
trise
Time
b) Applying velocity boundary
Figure 3. Schematic loading schemes
For general analyses, a simplified loading scheme by
applying the dynamic loading via specifying a transient
boundary condition is more straightforward. In this scheme,
trail analysis has demonstrated that applying a smoothed
Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Structural Dynamics, EURODYN 2011 3383

velocity history such as the one shown in Figure 3(b) on the
loading end of the specimen is appropriate, in that unwanted
oscillations at the start of loading can be readily avoided, and
a desirable loading rate can be achieved by adjusting the
target velocity, together with the rise time if necessary. As a
rule of thumb, the rise time should normally be kept relatively
short such that the specimen does not reach the peak strength
during the rise phase. Thus, the achieved nominal strain rate
depends only on the constant velocity Vmax, i.e., ε& = Vmax / L0 ,
with L0 being the length of the specimen.
It is worth noting that the measured velocity from a typical
SHPB test on the incident face has general resemblance to the
loading pattern shown in Figure 3(b). In fact, if the velocity
histories on both the incident (front) and transmitting (back)
ends as recorded from a SHBP test are simulated, the loading
condition in the numerical specimen would be identical as in a
real SHPB test.
b) Modelling of the ITZ: cohesive model vs. thin layer of
solid elements
ITZ refers to the very thin layer of material immediately
surrounding the coarse aggregates. The material in the ITZ is
known to be mechanically weaker than the normal mortar. It
is generally recognized that ITZ plays a crucial role in the
concrete fracture process; therefore, an adequate
representation of the ITZ is necessary. From a physical point
of view, using zero initial thickness interface elements would
be a more obvious choice. Unfortunately, the general cohesive
models that are available for the interface elements at present
are mainly suited to model interface fracture, and trial
application indicates that use of such a model in complex
stress conditions can be quite problematic, as can be seen in
Figure 4.
-30.0
ITZ representation can be observed from Figure 4 in
comparison with the results from the cohesive element model.
It is worth noting that without the inclusion of ITZ the
resulting strength would be about 20% higher than the
anticipated 30 MPa target strength for the class of concrete
under consideration.
c) Numerical issues – hourglass
In the current explicit FE model, elements with a single point
of integration point are chosen to control the computational
cost as well as avoid shear locking which could become more
significant a problem at large deformations. However, such
elements can be susceptible to the problem arising from the
so-called “hourglass” modes. In order to eliminate these
modes while maintaining the primary response, an artificial
hourglass-resisting force is usually applied to the elemental
nodes. Trial explorations suggest that a stiffness-based
hourglass control with Qhg around 0.001 is appropriate for the
present mesoscale model analysis.
2.3 Basic validation
Extensive examination of the model performance has been
conducted to ensure the reliability of the mesoscale model in
terms of numerical stability and consistency, as briefly
described above, as well as the representativeness of the
experimental observations. Figure 5 gives a comparison of the
simulated results with experimental observations under a
quasi-static compression. It can be observed that not only the
damage patterns, but also the stress-strain curves match well
with the experimental results (note that the simulated concrete
has a different strength grade than the experimental samples,
hence the difference in the absolute strength).
-40.0
-35.0
-30.0
Axial stress (MPa)

-25.0
-25.0
Axial stress (MPa)

-20.0 Upper bound friction

-20.0 -15.0
ITZ by equivalent
-15.0 -10.0 No friction
solid elements
-5.0
-10.0 ITZ by ` 0.0
interface 0 -0.001 -0.002 -0.003 -0.004 -0.005 -0.006
-5.0 elements
Axial strain
0.0
a) Simulated
0 -0.0005 -0.001 -0.0015 -0.002 -0.0025 -0.003 50
100 mm cubes
Axial strain
40
Stress (MPa)

Figure 4. Compressive stress-strain curves produced by 30

mesoscale concrete model with two different ITZ schemes
high friction
20
As an alternative, we choose to use an equivalent (thin)
10 Low friction
layer of solid elements to represent the ITZ. This approach is
more versatile in the sense that the above mentioned
difficulties associated with the interface elements can be 0 250 500 750 1000
readily avoided, while the interfacial feature of the ITZ is Axial deformation (µm)
largely retained. Considering that the strength of the real ITZ b) Experimental (after [12])
is about 50% of mortar, an intermediate strength of 75%
mortar strength is deemed appropriate for the equivalent ITZ Figure 5. Comparison of simulated and experimental
layer. The effectiveness of the adoption of such an equivalent compressive stress-strain curves under different end-face
friction conditions
Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Structural Dynamics, EURODYN 2011
Inspection of the damage contours indicate that the
mesoscale model correctly predicted a double cone shape of
crack pattern under high loading face friction, and inclined
cracks when the friction is excluded, as commonly observed
from the static compression tests.
3 DYNAMIC RESPONSE AT THE MESOSCALE
UNDER COMPRESSION
Among other theories, an overwhelming view about the
dynamic strength increase, at least for compression, is
directed towards the confining effect arising from the lateral
inertia when the material tends to expand under high rate
compression (e.g., [13-15]). As far as numerical simulation
using a finite element model is concerned, a good
representation of the lateral inertia confinement thus needs to
be ensured, and this necessities an appropriate incorporation
of the 3D effect. Comparison between 2D and 3D
homogeneous models in simulating high strain compression
(not shown) reveals some marked difference in the
development of the confined core and the final damage
patterns. It is noted that a 2D axis-symmetrical model is not
considered as an option for the retention of the 3D effect in a
mesoscale model, simply because in such a model the
aggregates effectively become continuous circular hoops,
which do not represent the true effect of the discrete
aggregates.
3.1 The pseudo 3-D mesoscale model
To resolve the above mentioned issues with a 2D mesoscale
model in the absence of a true 3D mesoscale model, a pseudo
3D mesoscale model has been developed, as discussed in
detail in [16]. In this configuration, a sandwich layout is
adopted. Such a configuration is composed of a thin layer of
the plane mesoscale model and two half volumes of
homogeneous material, thus forming a complete 3D specimen
shape.
The mesoscale layer is sandwiched in the homogeneous
concrete, and a sliding interface is enabled between the
mesoscale layer and the homogeneous part of the model. In
this way, the mesoscale layer will deform independently
within its own plane, as in the case of a 2D mesoscale model,
while in the direction normal to the plane it will be subjected
to the confining stress from the homogeneous parts of the
specimen. Provided the properties of the homogeneous
portion of the model resemble the bulk properties of concrete,
the lateral inertia effect on the sandwiched mesoscale layer in
the normal direction should be similar to that in a true 3D
mesoscale model.
Plane of
Homogenized Mesoscale
symmetry material layer
Figure 6. Pseudo 3D mesoscale model for a cylinder in a
sandwich setting
3384
For the modeling of a cylinder specimen using the concept
of the pseudo 3D mesoscale model, a cylinder-shaped
sandwich configuration is appropriate. With the consideration
of symmetry, a half cylinder model with a layer of mesoscale
model attached to the cut face will suffice, as shown in Figure
6. The effectiveness of such a pseudo 3D mesoscale model is
verified by first comparing the general development of
damage from such a model with the 3D homogenous
modeling results, and then an evaluation of the sensitivity of
the nominal strength in the mesoscale portion to the thickness
of the mesoscale layer. Figure 7 shows a comparison of the
damage from the sandwich mesoscale model and the 3D
homogeneous model. It can be observed that the overall
damage patterns agree well between the two models. Damage
is initiated from the loading side and propagates towards the
support end. The central zone of the specimen exhibits
considerably less damage than the outer region, indicating a
significant confining effect.
a) Pseudo 3D mesoscale model
b) 3D homogeneous model
Figure 7. Pseudo 3D mesoscale model for a cylinder and
comparison of damage patterns with 3D homogeneous model,
strain rate 50 s-1
3.2 DIF generated using mesoscale model simulations
To investigate the dynamic response of concrete under high
rate compression, a series of calculations were carried out
using the pseudo 3D mesoscale model. In all these models, no
embedded strain rate enhancement factor is involved in the
constitutive material descriptions; therefore any increase in
the bulk strength of the numerical specimen is attributable
only to the dynamic effect, as well as the material
heterogeneity in the case of a mesoscale model. The DIF of
the numerical specimen is calculated as the ratio between the
nominal strength under a dynamic load and that of the same
specimen when subjected to a quasi-static loading. The
nominal dynamic strength is obtained from the average stress
on both the loading and supporting faces, and the stress on
these two faces is in turn calculated as the total nodal force in
the axial direction divided by the area. This effectively
resembles the “three-wave” approach in standard SHPB tests.
Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Structural Dynamics, EURODYN 2011 3385

Figure 8 shows the variation of the predicted DIF with the of concrete, especially in the very high strain rate regime. For
strain rate. For comparison, results predicted using 2D an examination of this effect, a parametric study has been
homogenous, 2D mesoscale, and 3D homogeneous models, performed, where the strength of the aggregates is varied in a
respectively, are also included, along with the 3D pseudo range of 100-250 MPa. Figure 9 shows the variation of the
mesoscale model. Shown in the figure are also two empirical nominal strength of the concrete specimen with the strength of
curves, namely, the aggregates. It can be observed that increasing the strength
a) CEB-FIP DIF model [17], of the aggregates causes only a slight increase in the overall
⎧⎪(ε& / ε& s )1.026α s for ε& ≤ 30 s −1
concrete strength for a strain rate up to an order of 100 /s.
DIF = ⎨ (1) However, for a strain rate of 200/s, the effect of the aggregate
⎪⎩γ s (ε& / ε& s )1 / 3 for ε& > 30 s −1 strength becomes much more pronounced.
where ε&s = 30 × 10-6 s-1 (static strain rate),
log γ = 6.156α s − 2 , α s = 1 /(5 + 9 f cs / f c 0 ) , f cs is static
90
rate=200/s
compressive strength , and f c 0 = 10 MPa . 80 rate=100/s

Strength of specimen(MPa)
rate=10/s
b) A semi-empirical data based on [18], which may be
expressed by the following regression formulas: 70

⎧⎪1 + 0.15ε& 0.2 + 0.0013ε& 1.1 for compression

DIF = ⎨ (2) 60

⎪⎩ 1 + 1.505ε& 0.295 for tension

50

5.0 40

2D Homogenous material
4.5
2D Mesoscale model 30
4.0 CEB FIP 1990 100 140 180 220 260
3D homogenous model
3.5 Strength of aggregates(MPa)
Pseudo 3D meso-model
Semi-empirical (Lu-Xu)
3.0
DIF

2.5 Figure 9. Variation of overall concrete strength with

aggregate strength for different strain rate loading
2.0

1.5
1.0
0.5
0.1 1 10 100
strain rate (1/s)
Figure 8. “DIF” results from the mesoscale analysis
comparing to empirical formulas
Despite the exclusion of any DIF at the material constitutive
model level, all specimens exhibit a significant increase in the
nominal compressive strength as the strain rate increases. All
the simulated DIF curves resemble the general trend as given
by the empirical formulas. The lateral inertia confinement
effect, as demonstrated from the results using the
homogeneous models, is shown to be a major contributor to
the observed DIF. The mesoscale heterogeneity proves to also
play a sensible role in the total DIF, especially in the high
strain rate regime.
The results from the pseudo 3D mesoscale model appear to
be consistent with the results from the 3D homogeneous
model, indicating an effective incorporation of the 3D
confining effect. Comparing to the 2D mesoscale model, the
results from the pseudo-3D model shows a further increase in
the DIF.
3.3 Brief discussion on the effect of aggregate strength
Due to increasing involvement of the aggregates in the load
resistance, as mentioned before, the strength of aggregates is
expected to play a sensible role in the strength enhancement
3.4 Brief discussion on the effect of stress non-uniformity
under high strain rates
1000 10000
Another issue that potentially has a great implication on the
interpretation of high strain rate results from SHPB type of
tests is the strain rate limit, which sets an upper threshold if
reasonable stress uniformity is to be achieved for a given size
of test samples. It is generally accepted that 3-4 stress
reverberations are required in a SHPB test for the
establishment of a relatively uniform stress state. Accordingly,
an upper bound of limit strain rate can be established for a
specimen of length ls, as:
ε f ε f c0
ε& = < (3)
t nl s
where εf denotes the failure strain, c0 is the sound wave
speed, and n ≥ 3. To give an example, for a 30-MPa concrete
specimen of 50 mm long, the strain rate limit according to the
above formula is roughly about 50s-1. This means for tests
beyond such a strain rate limit, either a shorter specimen
needs be used, or stress non-uniformity at failure would occur,
rendering the corresponding test results questionable. As a
matter of fact, numerous existing tests in the literature did not
strictly satisfy such a strain rate limit requirement (see e.g.
[14, 19-20]).
In view of the discussion in earlier sections of this paper,
the use of scaled mortar will considerably restricts its
representation of the real dynamic behaviour of concrete
because of the increasing importance of large heterogeneity,
especially the strength of aggregates, in the dynamic
Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Structural Dynamics, EURODYN 2011
behaviour as the strain rate increases. Therefore, it may be a
more viable choice to use larger size specimens, but care
needs to be exercised in the interpretation of the test results. A
detailed discussion on this subject is not possible with the
present paper. Figure 10 provides example simulation results
for a 50mm concrete specimen of 30 MPa grade under an
excessive (relative to the specimen size) strain rate of 200 s-1.
As can be clearly observed, damage and failure develops in a
layer by layer fashion, and consequently the global quantities
as inferred from the SHPB tests can hardly represent the true
response of the material. The need for an appropriate
correction of the SHPB results is warranted, and in this
respect, the use of the mesoscale can play an indispensable
role.
100
I
90 II
80
70
60
Stress(MP)
50
40 III
30
20
10
0 the measured nominal parameters. In this endeavour, the
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035 0.04
Time(ms)
I II III
Figure 10. Stress and damage development path in a 50-mm
cylinder subjected to compression of strain rate 200s-1
(specimen divided into 5 strips in the loading direction)
At this juncture, it may be noteworthy of a novel
experimental configuration proposed in [21] in an attempt to
tackle the restrictions associated with the specimen
dimensions. In that configuration, a specimen is assembled by
multiple blocks; each had a thin plate form. Stress gauges can
be attached to the interface of the blocks to measure the
propagation of stress waves. However, when large
heterogeneity is involved, cutting a specimen into a thin-plate
assembly may be an issue in terms of the preservation of the
bulk behaviour of the material, and an investigation on this
subject may be carried out using the mesoscale concrete
model as well.
4 CONCLUDING REMARKS
A mesoscale model framework for the simulation of concrete
under general dynamic loading conditions has been
developed. The model is implemented in a general purpose
transient dynamic analysis environment, thus allowing for the
simulation of concrete under a variety of complex and high
rate loading conditions. The model is at present limited to 2D
3386
in the meso structure description. By introducing a novel
pseudo-3D configuration, the stress environment in the
mesoscale part of the model well resembles that in a real 3D
model.
Numerical investigations using the pseudo 3D mesoscale
model allows for a range of observations related to the
dynamic behaviour of concrete to be made, beyond what may
be understood using a classical homogenized finite element
model. In particular, the participation of the stronger
aggregates in the loading resistance is found to play a sensible
role in the total strength increase under high strain rate
compression, and this contribution tends to increase more
significantly in the higher strain rate end of the dynamic
regime. Consequently, the variation of the aggregate strength,
which would have no effect on the strength of concrete under
a quasi-static load, tends to impart a sensible influence on the
bulk behaviour of concrete when the strain rate is high.
A further observation using the mesoscale model analysis
concerns the propagating damage in a concrete specimen
Strip1 when the strain rate exceeds an upper limit. The need to
Strip2 accommodate the large heterogeneity in concrete dictates that
Strip3
Strip4
larger size specimens will inevitably have to be used, thus
Strip5 violation of the strain rate limit or the requirement of stress
uniformity before failure will be hardly avoidable. Under such
a circumstance, one way to deal with the challenge may be via
appropriate back calculation of the material behaviour from
0.045
mesoscale model analysis is expected to play an indispensible
role.
The mesoscale model is also being used for analysis
involving challenging problems such as fracture,
fragmentation, and debris dispersion. Development of a true
3D mesoscale model is also being progressed. Results in such
developments will be reported separately.
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