Related papers: Contraction gradient induced microcracking in hard…
Confined geometries offer useful and experimentally amenable mechanical testing arrangements in which to study the molecular and micro-structural processes which govern plastic yield in stress environments dominated by hydrostatic pressure…
Cold joints in extruded concrete structures form once the exposed surface of a deposited filament dries prematurely and gets sequentially covered by a layer of fresh concrete. This creates a material heterogeneity which lowers the…
We present a simple example of toughening mechanism in the homogenization of composites with soft inclusions, produced by crack deflection at microscopic level. We show that the mechanism is connected to the irreversibility of the crack…
The roles of applied strain and temperature on the hydration dynamics of cement paste are uncovered in the present study. We find that the system hardens over time through two different aging processes. The first process dominates the…
Nanoindentation is an effective way of finding mechanical properties at nanoscale. They are especially useful for thin films where elimination of the substrate effect is required. The mechanism is based upon depth sensing indentation based…
Superficial (two dimensional) crack patterns appear when a thin layer of material elastically attached to a substrate contracts. We study numerically the maturation process undergone by these crack patterns when they are allowed to adapt in…
We report on a cellular pattern which spontaneously forms at the surface of a thin layer of a cohesive granular material submitted to in-plane stretching. We present a simple model in which the mechanism responsible of the instability is…
We study the transverse cracking of the 90 degree ply in [0/90] cross-ply laminates by means of a discrete element method. To model the 90 degree ply a two-dimensional triangular lattice of springs is constructed where nodes of the lattice…
Inspired by the observation that many naturally occurring adhesives arise as textured thin films, we consider the displacement controlled peeling of a flexible plate from an incision-patterned thin adhesive elastic layer. We find that crack…
Crack growth is the basic mechanism leading to the failure of brittle materials. Engineering addresses this problem within the framework of continuum mechanics, which links deterministically the crack motion to the applied loading. Such an…
The results of a macro-scale experimental study performed on a hardened class G cement paste [Ghabezloo et al. (2008) Cem. Con. Res. (38) 1424-1437] are used in association with the micromechanics modelling and homogenization technique for…
This paper presents a lattice approach to model the influence of cracking on inviscid flow in concrete. A mechanical lattice model based on a damage-plasticity constitutive model was combined with a new dual lattice of conduit elements for…
When colloidal suspensions dry, stresses build up and cracks often occur - a phenomenon undesirable for important industries such as paint and ceramics. We demonstrate an effective method which can completely eliminate cracking during…
Mass concrete plays a crucial role in large-scale projects such as water conservancy hubs and transportation infrastructure. Due to its substantial volume and poor thermal conductivity, the accumulation of hydration heat during the curing…
Rock weathering is a common phenomenon in most engineering applications, such as underground storage or geothermal energy. This work offers a discrete element modelization of the problem considering cohesive granular material and debonding…
We formulate a theoretical model of the shear failure of a thin film tethered to a rigid substrate. The interface between film and substrate is modeled as a cohesive layer with randomly fluctuating shear strength/fracture energy. We…
The early strength evolution of self-consolidating concrete (SCC) is studied by a set of non-standard mechanical tests for compressive, tensile, shear and bending failure. The results are applicable in an industrial environment for process…
In this paper we analyse the drying of a soil composed of particles, water and solute impurities, and study the occurrence of convective instabilities during evaporation. We find that the main driving force for instability is the formation…
Strain hardening is a key feature observed in many rocks deformed in the so-called ``semi-brittle'' regime, where both crystal plastic and brittle deformation mechanisms operate. Dislocation storage has long been recognised as a major…
Clay, the major ingredient of natural soils, is often used as a rheological modifier while formulating paints and coatings. When subjected to desiccation, colloidal clay suspensions and clayey soils crack due to the accumulation of…