Aggregate shape influence on the fracture behaviour of concrete

The Discrete Element Method, DEM, is increasingly used in fracture studies of non-homogeneous continuous media, such as rock and concrete. A 2D circular rigid DEM formulation, developed to model concrete, has been adopted. A procedure developed to generate aggregate particles with a given aspect ratio and shape is presented. The aggregate particles are modelled with macro-particles formed by a group of circular particles that behave as a rigid body. Uniaxial tensile and compression tests performed with circular and non-circular aggregates, with a given aspect ratio, have shown similar values of fracture toughness when adopting uniform strength and elastic properties for all the contacts. Non-circular aggregate assemblies are shown to have higher fracture toughness when different strength and elastic properties are set for the matrix and for the aggregate/matrix contacts.