Effect of Maximum Size of Aggregate on the Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Beams Analyzed using Meso Scale Modeling

Abstract

In this study, simply supported reinforced concrete (RC) beams were analyzed using the Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM). This is a powerful method that is used for the treatment of discontinuities resulting from the fracture process and crack propagation in concrete. The mesoscale is used in modeling concrete as a two-phasic material of coarse aggregate and cement mortar. Air voids in the cement paste will also be modeled. The coarse aggregate used in the casting of these beams is a rounded aggregate consisting of different maximum sizes. The maximum size is 25 mm in the first model, and in the second model, the maximum size is 20 mm. The compressive strength used in these beams is equal to 26 MPa.

The subjects of this study are two RC beams subjected to a two-point loading designed to fail due to flexure. The RC beams under loading were studied in the laboratory as well as numerically. ABAQUS program was used for modeling and analyzing the RC beams. The mesoscale modeling that was used to model the concrete required used a special program using different programs but has not used the ABAQUS program directly. The result of the comparison between the numerical and experimental showed that the mesoscale numerical model gave results that were more approximate to the experimental ones, and the mesoscale modeling of reinforced concrete is most convenient when the maximum size of aggregate is decreased.