Quasibrittle Size Effect Analysis in Practical Problems

• Main Authors: Bažant, Zdeněk P., Le, Jia-Liang, Salviato, Marco
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Oxford University Press 2021
• Subjects: Sea ice
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192846242.003.0007

This chapter demonstrates applications to size effect analysis in a cornucopia of important practical problems of concrete, rock, sea ice, bone, fiber composites, nanocomposite, sandwich structures, and metal composite joints. Keen attention is devoted to the formidable problem of shear failure of RC beams and slabs. This failure, which is actually triggered by crack-parallel compression, underlies the size effect factor recently incorporated into the design code of American Concrete Institute. The analysis of compression failure and size effect is extended to the breakout of deep boreholes and the propagation of kink bands in fiber-polymer composites. Stable measurement of postpeak softening in textile composites and size effects in delamination fracture composites are also analyzed. Further discussion deals with sideways cracks in highly orthotropic fiber composites, and with size effects observed in bone fracture, nanocomposites and hybrid metal-composite joints. Reliability of polycrystalline silicon MEMS is shown to require quasibrittle size effect analysis.