Incremental extended finite element method for thermal cracking of mass concrete at early ages

Thermal cracks are cracks that commonly form at early ages in mass concrete. During the concrete pouring process, the elastic modulus changes continuously. This requires the time domain to be divided into several steps in order to solve for the temperature, stress, and displacement of the concrete. Numerical simulations of thermal crack propagation in concrete are more difficult at early ages. To solve this problem, this study divides crack propagation in concrete at early ages into two cases: the case in which cracks do not propagate but the elastic modulus of the concrete changes and the case in which cracks propagate at a certain time. This paper provides computational models for these two cases by integrating the characteristics of the extended finite element algorithm, compiles the corresponding computational programs, and verifies the accuracy of the proposed model using numerical comparisons. The model presented in this paper has the advantages of high computational accuracy and stable results in resolving thermal cracking and its propagation in concrete at early ages.