Effects of number and angle of T Shape non persistent cracks on the failure behavior of samples under UCS test

Experimental and numerical simulation were used to investigate the effects of angle and number of T shape non-persistent crack on the shear behaviour of crack's bridge area under uniaxial compressive test. concrete samples with dimension of 150 mmx150 mmx40 mm were prepared. Within the specimen, T shape non-persistent notches were provided. 16 different configuration systems were prepared for T shape non-persistent crack based on two and three cracks. In these configurations, the length of cracks were taken as 4 cm and 2 cm based on the cracks configuration systems. The angle of larger crack related to horizontal axis was 0o, 30o, 60o and 90o. Similar to cracks configuration systems in the experimental tests, 28 models with different T shape non-persistent crack angle were prepared in numerical model. The length of cracks were taken as 4 cm and 2 cm based on the cracks configuration systems. The angle of larger crack related to horizontal axis was 0o, 15o, 30o, 45o, 60o, 75o and 90o. Tensile strength of concrete was 1MPa. The axial load was applied to the model. Displacement loading rate was controlled to 0.005 mm/s. Results indicated that the failure process was significantly controled by the T shape non-persistent crack angle and crack number. The compressive strengths of the specimens were related to the fracture pattern and failure mechanism of the discontinuities. Furthermore, it was shown that the compressive behaviour of discontinuities is related to the number of the induced tensile cracks which are increased by increasing the crack number and crack angle. The strength of samples decreased by increasing the crack number. In addition, the failure pattern and failure strength are similar in both methods i.e. the experimental testing and the numerical simulation methods (PFC2D).