Modeling of crack propagation in strengthened concrete disks

Crack propagation in strengthened concrete disks is a problem that has not yet been addressed properly. To investigate it, a cracked half-infinite disk of concrete is strengthened with a linear elastic material bonded to the surface, and analyzed using two different finite element modeling approaches.

The first method is 3D modeling of strengthening, interface and disk, and the second method is modeling of an equivalent disk in 2D, with an effective cohesive crack, equivalent thickness and equivalent stiffness. The 2D modeling approach simplifies modeling of the problem significantly and reduces the computational efforts and time.

A good prediction of the cracking response, global response and load was obtained with the 2D model, whereas prediction of the size and shape of the interface debond was only approximate. It is concluded that the effective cohesive modeling approach can be used instead of 3D calculations to predict the response of a structure and that it opens up for simpler evaluation of strengthened concrete structures using the finite element method.