Open Access
ARTICLE
Experimental and Numerical Investigation on the Tensile Fracture of Compacted Clay
Chengbao Hu1, 2, 3, Liang Wang4, Daosheng Ling1, 2, 3, *, Wujun Cai5, Zhijie Huang1, 2, Shilin Gong1, 2, 3
1 MOE Key Laboratory of Soft Soils and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
2 Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
3 School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Ningbo Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University, Ningbo, 315100, China.
4 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Miami, Coral Gables, 33123, USA.
5 Zhongnan Engineering Co., Ltd., Changsha, 410014, China.
* Corresponding Author: Daosheng Ling. Email: .
(This article belongs to this Special Issue: Numerical Modeling and Simulation for Structural Safety and Disaster Mitigation)
Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences 2020, 123(1), 283-307. https://doi.org/10.32604/cmes.2020.07842
Received 03 July 2019; Accepted 09 October 2019; Issue published 01 April 2020
Abstract
This paper performed flexural test and numerical simulation of clay-beams
with different water contents to study the tensile fracture of clay soil and the relevant
mechanisms. The crack initiation and propagation process and the accompanied strain
localization behaviors were all clearly observed and analyzed. The exponential cohesive
zone model was proposed to simulate the crack interface behavior of the cohesivefrictional materials. The experimental results show that the bending capacity of claybeams decrease with the water content, while those of the crack mouth opening
displacement, crack-tip strain and the strain localization range increase. The numerical
predictions successfully reproduce the evolving tensile cracks and the strain localization
phenomenon of the clay beams with different fracture ductility, which demonstrates the
validity of the proposed cohesive zone model in modelling clay fractures.
Keywords
Cite This Article
Hu, C., Wang, L., Ling, D., Cai, W., Huang, Z. et al. (2020). Experimental and Numerical Investigation on the Tensile Fracture of Compacted Clay.
CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, 123(1), 283–307.
Citations