Damage, fracture and fragmentation of concrete at high strain rates

Summary

The project aims to characterize and model concrete at high strain rates, and to study the damage, fracture and fragmentation of concrete subjected to high rate loads through an integrated experimental, theoretical, and computational approach. 

Supervisor(s)

Associate Professor Luming Shen

Research Location

Civil Engineering

Program Type

Masters/PHD

Synopsis

The response of civil/industrial/military structures and transportation facilities under rapidly applied loads caused by explosions, accidental impact, earthquakes or landslides is critical for human safety as well as environmental protection. The significant changes in their mechanical properties, as well as failure modes, at high strain rates, have motivated extensive research on the damage, fracture, fragmentation and load-carrying capacity of brittle materials subjected to rapidly applied loads in the last decades. In this project, the PhD student will be asked to undertake the spalling tests on concrete using the instrumented Hopkinson bar facility and to develop a rate-dependent damage model for concrete under high strain rates. The spalling of concrete under impact will be simulated using the rate-dependent model within the framework of FEM. The PhD student will have access to the split Hopkinson bar facility, high speed camera (up to 775,000 frames/second) and supercomputers in the NCI. 

Keywords

concrete, spalling, impact, Hopkinson bar, high strain rates, damage, fracture, fragmentation, FEM

Opportunity ID

The opportunity ID for this research opportunity is: 1362

Other opportunities with Associate Professor Luming Shen

• Dynamic deformation of polycrystalline metals under impact
• Dynamic Responses of Granular Materials to Impact Loading
• Multiscale modelling and simulation of solid-fluid interactions in porous media
• Numerical simulation of hydraulic fracturing
• Development of Shale Gas Reservoir Simulator
• Structural Engineering