Blunt-crack band propagation in finite-element analysis for concrete structures

The knowledge of concrete fracture is needed in nuclear reactor safety. The question of safety arises from the potential of concrete to crack under thermal loading. It has been postulated that structural concrete could be exposed to very high temperature, which may result from hot reactor coolant or even core debris coming in direct contact with the concrete. The utilization of the blunt crack approach for simulating concrete cracking in a general-purpose code is explored. The difficulties encountered in establishing the proper direction of crack propagation in an arbitrary discretization are described. Crack propagation is considered within the context of two types of solution techniques: (1) implicit solution of the static crack advance, and (2) explicit time integration using a dynamic relaxation technique to simulate the static crack advance. Also, in both solution techniques an elastic model is used to characterize the concrete