Investigation of the effect of aggregates' morphology on concrete creep properties by numerical simulations. (May 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lavergne, F.; Sab, K.; Sanahuja, J.; Bornert, M.; Toulemonde, C.
• Is Part Of: Cement & concrete composites. Volume 71(2016)
• Page Start: 14
• Page End: 28
• Publication Date: 2015-05
• Subjects: Modeling (E) -- Creep (C) -- Particle size distribution (B) -- Microstructure (B) -- Interfacial transition zone (B); Composite-reinforced concrete -- Periodicals; Concrete -- Periodicals; Composite materials -- Periodicals; Composites de ciment -- Périodiques; Béton -- Périodiques; Composites -- Périodiques; Béton léger -- Périodiques; Cement composites; Composite materials; Composite-reinforced concrete; Concrete; Lightweight concrete; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 620.135
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cemconres.2015.01.003
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0958-9465

Abstract

Abstract: Prestress losses due to creep of concrete is a matter of interest for long-term operations of nuclear power plants containment buildings. Experimental studies by Granger (1995) have shown that concretes with similar formulations have different creep behaviors. The aim of this paper is to numerically investigate the effect of size distribution and shape of elastic inclusions on the long-term creep of concrete. Several microstructures with prescribed size distribution and spherical or polyhedral shape of inclusions are generated. By using the 3D numerical homogenization procedure for viscoelastic microstructures proposed by Šmilauer and Bažant (2010), it is shown that the size distribution and shape of inclusions have no measurable influence on the overall creep behavior. Moreover, a mean-field estimate provides close predictions. An Interfacial Transition Zone was introduced according to the model of Nadeau (2003). It is shown that this feature of concrete's microstructure can explain differences between creep behaviors.