Effect of aggregate volume fraction on the fracture parameters of concrete: a meso- mechanical approach

摘要

It is well known that fine and coarse aggregates lay a vital role in the fracture of concrete. There is, however, little quantitative information available in the literature on the effect of the volume fraction of the aggregates on the fracture properties of concrete. The main objective of this work is to gain a better understanding of this effect using appropriate experiment and a meso-mechanical approach. For this, several control mixes ranging from hardened cement paste (HCP) to normal concrete were prepared in which the aggregate grading, w/c ratio, and the maximum particle size of aggregate were kept constant, but the volume fraction of aggregate was varied form 0.0 (HCP) to 0.60 in steps of 0.15.