Construction and Building Materials 333 (2022) 127418

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Study on flexural properties of 3D printed lattice-reinforced concrete

structures using acoustic emission and digital image correlation
Junwei Liu a, Humaira Kanwal a, Can Tang a, Wenfeng Hao b, *
a
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, China
b
College of Mechanical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225127, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Lattice-reinforced concrete is considered to be a new method to improve the quasi-brittleness, ductility and
3D printing fracture toughness of concrete. 3D printing technology provides the possibility for lattice molding with complex
Lattice reinforcement concrete structures structures. Therefore, 3D printed lattice-reinforced concrete structures have aroused great interest. However,
Digital image correlation
there are relatively few studies on the mechanical properties of 3D printed lattice-reinforced concrete, and the
Acoustic emission
Three-point bending
effects of lattices with different structures are not considered. In this paper, the three-point bending properties of
Unit cell 3D printed lattice-reinforced concrete with different reinforced structures are tested. Five different structures of
lattices with identical volume reinforced ratio are designed and printed by selective laser sintering (SLS). The 3D
printed lattice-reinforced concrete structures are prepared, and the plain concrete without lattice is set as the
control groups. Acoustic emission (AE) and digital image correlation (DIC) technologies are combined to monitor
the specimens from the surface to inside, and the differences in mechanical properties between the control
specimen and lattice reinforcement specimens with different structures were compared. The test results show
that the lattice can significantly improve the mechanical properties of concrete, and the rhombicuboctahedron
(RO) lattice can significantly improve the maximal bearing capacity of concrete specimens under three-point
bending. This test further demonstrates the feasibility of 3D printed lattice-reinforced concrete structures, pro­
vides a new method to improve the quasi-brittleness and ductility of concrete.

1. Introduction
Concrete is one of the most widely used building materials in the
world [1,2]. Because of its high compressive strength, concrete structure
has become the most important structural form in building structure.
However, concrete has the characteristics of low tensile strength [2],
and the brittleness will increase with the increase of compressive
strength, which makes concrete not used as a material to bear tensile
load in practical engineering application. In addition, factors such as
temperature stress [3,4], shrinkage [5,6] and external force (such as
earthquake, explosion load, etc.) may make the internal stress of con­
crete exceed the ultimate tensile strength and produce cracks. The for­
mation of cracks will pose a great challenge to the durability of concrete
structures. Therefore, improving the ductility of concrete and limiting
the development of concrete cracks are the research hotspots in recent
years.
In order to improve the ductility of concrete, people have tried to mix
metal fiber (such as steel fiber [7,8]), plant fiber (such as jute fiber and
straw fiber [9,10]) and mineral fiber (such as glass fiber [11,12], carbon
fiber [13,14]) into concrete and achieved success. These fibers have
more or less deficiencies in high cost, poor durability, poor construct­
ability, low rupture strength, large density difference and poor mixing
performance, which limits the development of fiber-reinforced concrete
to a certain extent. At the same time, the fiber is easy to agglomerate
when casting concrete, and the cement slurry is difficult to fully wrap
and fill, and its distribution difficult to control [15,16], resulting in the
formation and development of cracks difficult to control, so it can not
achieve the expected performance.
Textile reinforced concrete uses two-dimensional mesh cloth as
reinforcement material, as a two-dimensional directional reinforcement
method, it has higher reinforcement efficiency than two-dimensional or
three-dimensional random reinforcement formed by one-dimensional
short fibers. However, it is only strengthened in two dimensions,
which often leads to bond failure and insufficient overall performance.
Textile reinforced concrete has limited application in engineering
practice and is mainly used for structural reinforcement [17,18] and

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: hwf@yzu.edu.cn (W. Hao).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2022.127418
Received 13 February 2022; Received in revised form 27 March 2022; Accepted 5 April 2022
Available online 11 April 2022
0950-0618/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
J. Liu et al.
lightweight sandwich panels [19,20]. Three dimensional fiber spacer
textile reinforced concrete can carry out three-dimensional spatial
orientation distribution, further improve the reinforcement ratio, and
play a revolutionary role in promoting fiber reinforced concrete.
When the traditional reinforced concrete structure is in a corrosive
environment, the protective coating concrete is easy to crack and spall,
and the steel bar is easy to rust, resulting in a sharp decline in the
durability of the reinforced concrete structure, damaging the integrity of
the structure and reducing the service life of the structure. As a new type
of composite reinforcement, FRP bar is considered to be an ideal sub­
stitute for steel bar in corrosive environment [21,22]. However, the
brittle failure characteristics of FRP bar concrete members and the de­
fects of excessive crack width and deflection under normal use limit its
application [23,24]. 3D printing [25] (additive manufacturing) is an
emerging technology developed in recent years. It has the characteristics
of personalized manufacturing, fast printing speed, and can print com­
plex structures [26–28]. The printing technology can accurately control
the distribution of fibers in concrete.
3D printing technologies can be roughly divided into three categories
according to different processes [48]. Powder bed fusion process is to
fuse and melt the microscopic particles of powder to construct 3D ob­
jects. This process is used in printing technologies such as SLS, EBM,
SLM, SHS and DMLS. Photopolymerization process is an AM technology
that customs a liquid polymer resin to create 3D objects. This method
includes curing photopolymer resin with UV laser to create prototypes,
models and patterns. Stereolithography (SLA) technology often adopts
this process. Extrusion-Based systems is an extrusion-based method for
prototyping, modelling and fabrication claims. Fused Deposition
Modeling is the most widely utilized this process. In the future, whether
3D printed lattice can form a new structure type like FRP bars (partially
or completely replace steel bars, solve the problem of insufficient
durability of reinforced concrete structures, and improve their me­
chanical properties) is worthy of in-depth study.
In recent years, scholars have conducted in-depth research on 3D
printing technology to prepare complex structure reinforcements
instead of traditional fibers to reinforce cement-based composites.
Farina et al. [29] used 3D printing technology to prepare polymers and
metal steel-bars with different surface morphology and roughness to
reinforce cement mortar, and explored the influence of different
roughness reinforcements on the cement mortar under the three-point
bending test. Nam et al. [30] used 3D printing technology to control
the position and orientation of fibers in concrete, and studied the me­
chanical properties of fiber-reinforced cement mortars with different
spatial distribution types under a three-point bending test. Rosewitz
et al. [31] used 3D printed bionic polymer building structures as rein­
forcement materials for cement mortar, and studied the mechanical
properties of cement-based composites reinforced by different geometric
structures. Salazar et al. [32] prepared a 3D printed polymer lattice
reinforced ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) specimens, and
conducted a four-point bending test on the specimens. The results
showed that the lattice was very successful in transforming brittle ultra-
high performance concrete into ductile material with strain hardening
behavior. Xu et al. [33] used 3D printing technology to prepare polymer-
reinforced lattices with different structures, which were cast into
cement-based materials to prepare specimens and then tested under
four-point bending. The results show that cement-based composites with
flexural hardening or strain hardening properties can be prepared by
reasonable design of polymer reinforced lattices. The research of the
above scholars shows that compared with traditional fiber-reinforced
cement-based materials, the reinforcement prepared by 3D printing
technology has a significant effect on the improvement of the mechan­
ical properties of cement-based composites, and has great research sig­
nificance and application prospects.
Concrete is a non-homogeneous quasi-brittle material. During the
failure process under loading, the formation of damage and cracks often
occur at an instant, and the difference before and after failure is large. It
2
Construction and Building Materials 333 (2022) 127418
is necessary to monitor the whole field deformation and the entire
process of damage. The inherent damage has a greater impact on the
mechanical properties of concrete, so the non-destructive testing
method is the most suitable method for detecting cracks and other de­
fects in concrete structures. Digital image correlation (DIC) and acoustic
emission (AE) technology are two relatively conventional non-
destructive testing methods. AE technology has the advantages of real-
time monitoring and no external energy supply [34]. DIC technology
has the advantages of full field measurement and high measurement
accuracy. These advantages make them especially suitable for dynamic
safety detection and monitoring of concrete structures. At present, AE
and DIC technologies have been widely used in the monitoring of
damage, deformation and cracks of concrete structures. Domenico et al.
[35] used DIC technology to study the interface behavior between the
externally bonded fabric-reinforced cement mortar (FRCM) board and
the concrete matrix, and realized the local interpretation of the evolu­
tion of the strain distribution of FRCM concrete interface obtained by
DIC before and after cracking. Aghlara et al. [36] used two-dimensional
digital image correlation (2D-DIC) technology to measure the steel­
–concrete bond strain on the concrete surface. The results show that the
displacement and strain measured by 2D-DIC technology is largely
acceptable. Soulioti et al. [37] studied the influence of different contents
of steel fibers in concrete slabs on fracture process and acoustic activity,
and described the AE behavior of concrete under four-point bending.
Topolá et al. [38] analyzed the AE signals in the three-point bending
fracture test of alkali slag mortar with different steel fiber content,
identified the typical parameters of AE signals of different mixtures, and
further described its behavior and failure development under stress. Dai
et al. [39] used DIC and AE technology to obtain the displacement field
on the surface of the specimen and the AE signal inside the specimen in
real time, and studied the characteristics of concrete fracture process
zone (FPZ). The experimental results show that the distribution of AE
events is consistent with the distribution of FPZ determined by the
sample surface deformation measured by DIC. Sutter et al. [40] evalu­
ated and monitored the mechanical properties of hybrid beams made of
fiber reinforced cement (TRC) hollow boxes using AE and DIC. Karaiskos
et al. [41] introduced an experimental configuration using an integrated
ultrasonic, acoustic (AE) and optical (DIC) monitoring system to detect
and locate the four-point bending fracture mode on a large concrete
beam and detect healing activation process and evaluate subsequent
concrete repairs.
In this paper, lattices with five different structures are designed and
printed using selective laser sintering technology. The 3D printed
lattice-reinforced concrete structures are prepared and standard curing
for 28 days. The three-point bending properties of 3D printed lattice-
reinforced concrete structures are tested. The damage inside the speci­
mens and the strain field on the outer surface are analyzed by AE and
DIC technology respectively during the loading process, so as to realize
the synchronous monitoring of the inside and outside of the concrete
structures.
2. Specimens preparation
2.1. Lattice design
In order to select different structures of unit cell to construct lattice
structures and compare the three-point bending properties of lattice-
reinforced concrete, according to reference [42], this paper selects five
types of unit cell structures: circular, octagonal, strengthened octagonal,
Rhombicuboctahedron (RO), cubic and uses computer aided design
software (CAD) establish a three-dimensional standard model.
The five different structural forms of unit cells have different cell
edge deformation mechanisms [42] (such as bending, stretching and
flexion), aiming to consider the influence of the lattice structures with
different unit cells deformation mechanism on the bending mechanical
properties of lattice-reinforced concrete. The unit cell of “Circular”
J. Liu et al. Construction and Building Materials 333 (2022) 127418

lattice is constructed from three perpendicular crossed rings. Its a
structure dominated by bending deformation. The unit cell of “Octag­
onal” lattice is constructed from three crossed octagons, which deform
by bending and buckling of the cell edges under uniaxial compressive
loading. The unit cell of “Strengthened Octagonal” lattice is constructed
by “Octagonal” lattice unit cell by adding inclined struts in the interior.
Its vertical edges is deformed by buckling in the loading direction. The
unit cell of “RO” lattice is constructed from rhombicuboctahedron cells,
which deformation mechanism is stretching-dominated. The unit cell of
“Cubic” lattice is constructed from simple cube cells, which deform by
buckling of the vertical struts under uniaxial compressive loading.
Table 1 shows the CAD model of the five cells, the connection mode
between the cells, and side view of the lattices constructed by unit cells.
For the outsourcing size of unit cell, we use reference [42]. The
centerline size of each cell is 10 × 10 × 10 mm3, and it is geometrically
symmetrical around the three vertical planes intersected by its center
point. Each lattice structure is replicated by a unit cell in the x, y and z
directions, and is composed of 16 × 3 × 4 cells (Table 2).
In order to facilitate the later comparison and study the three-point
bending response of lattice-reinforced concrete structures, the volume
of lattice is adjusted by changing the strut diameter of unit cell in design,
so as to ensure that the relative density of different lattices built in
concrete structures is identical. The relative density is the ratio of the
apparent density of a cellular material to that of the parent solid material
from which the cell edges are made, which is also equal to the volume
fraction of solid in the cellular material [42].
The centerline size of lattice unit cell has been specified as a fixed
value. Therefore, the volume fraction of lattice structure is only deter­
mined by the strut diameter of unit cell. If the diameter of the column is
determined according to only one cell, when the lattice is assembled by
CAD modeling, the volume fraction of the final lattice will be affected
because the overlap between the edges and nodes of the unit cell
structure is removed [43]. Therefore, according to the CAD modeling,
the relationship between the diameter variable and the volume of the
lattice is expressed as equation (1) by polynomial function.
V = f (d) = α0 + α1 d + α2 d2 + α3 d3 + ⋯ (1)
By changing the strut diameter of different unit cell, copying and
assembling the lattice with CAD, and calculating the final volume, the
relationship between the diameter variable and the lattice volume is
fitted to the cubic polynomial(in equations (2)–(6)).
VCircular = f (d1 ) = 309.7d1 + 12645d12 − 1219.4d13 (2)
VOctagonal = f (d2 ) = 5 × 10 - 5 d2 + 12044d22 − 1017.6d23 (3)
VStrengthened Octagonal = f (d3 ) = 0.0002d3 + 21087d33 − 2712.7d33 (4)
VRO = f (d4 ) = 4 × 10 - 5 d4 + 24087d42 − 3456.3d43 (5)
VCubic = f (d5 ) = 0.0001d5 + 6652.3d52 - 353.21d53 (6)
For the selection of the thickness of the struts and member of the unit
cell, we first determine that the size of the lattice-reinforced concrete
specimen is 170 mm × 40 mm × 50 mm, and volume is 340000 mm3.

Table 1
Unit cell and overall specimen design and dimensions for the examined 3D structures of 8% volume fraction.
Structure serial Lattice unit cell Unit cell design Cell design A 2 × 2 × 2 cells structure The CAD model of overall The side length of the
number type parameters showing lattice specimen Overall concrete specimen
the way the cells joined (mm)
D or l d
together
(mm) (mm)

1 Circular D = 10 1.579 170 × 40 × 50

2 Octagonal l = 4.14 1.617 170 × 40 × 50

3 Strengthened l = 4.14 1.239 170 × 40 × 50

octagonal

4 RO l = 4.14 1.164 170 × 40 × 50

5 Cubic l = 10 2.149 170 × 40 × 50

* The struts of all unit cell are circular cross-sections with a diameter of “d”. For unit cell of the circular lattice type, “D” represents the diameter of three crossed rings.
For all other unit cell types, “l” represents the length of polygon equilateral members.

3
J. Liu et al.
Table 2
3D printing / PA6 related parameters used in this study.
Thermal deformation Hardness/ Tensile strength Tensile strength
temperature/℃ HRC (tensile)/MPa (fracture)/MPa
153 86 50 70
* This information on this table is provided by the manufacturer entrusted by 3D printing (Jiaxing Zhiyin Technology Co., Ltd.).
Then, according to the volume fraction of 8% of the lattice in the
specimen, the volume of each lattice is controlled at about 27200 mm3,
and the diameters of unit cell struts and members are inversely solved
according to eq. (2)–(6). The strut diameter of the calculated unit cell is
shown in Table 1.
2.2. Lattice preparation
Selective laser sintering (SLS) technology is a 3D printing technology
with powder material as the main molding raw material and infrared
laser as energy [44]. SLS printing technology uses powder spreading to
lay a layer of powder material on the upper surface of the formed parts
and heat it to a temperature just below the powder sintering point. The
control system controls the laser beam to scan on the powder layer ac­
cording to the cross-sectional profile of the layer, so as to raise the
temperature of the powder to the melting point for sintering and
bonding with the formed parts below. After the completion of one layer,
the worktable will drop by one layer, and the spreading roller will
spread a layer of uniform and dense powder on it to sinter the section of
a new layer until the whole model is completed. SLS molding technology
is shown in Fig. 1.
SLS has the advantages of wide range of material selection, high
precision, no support structure, and can form complex components [45].
The disadvantages are high manufacturing cost, large material loss, long
processing time, difficult process, rough sample surface, easy shrinkage
and warpage after forming [46].
Because the lattice structures designed in this test are complex and it
is not easy to form by using other 3D printing technologies, SLS tech­
nology is adopted. When the lattice structure printed by different ma­
terials strengthens concrete, the adhesion between it and cement matrix
will be greatly different, which will affect the evaluation of test results.
Shalchy et al. [47] conducted quantitative research on the adhesion
energy between several polymers and cement matrix, and found that
PA6 has the highest adhesion with cement matrix. Therefore, PA6 was
used as the material to prepare the lattice in this test. All lattice samples
are printed in the same direction with the same 3D printer (the con­
struction direction is consistent with the loading direction), so as to
reduce the difference between different printers and the difference of the
printing construction direction on the mechanical properties of the
Fig. 1. SLS technology forming diagram.
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Construction and Building Materials 333 (2022) 127418
Bending Bending Stamping Sintering
strength/MPa modulus/MPa strength/KJ/cm temperature/℃
72–80 2800 2.7 1200
lattices itself.
The lattice structure printed with PA6 as molding material is shown
in Fig. 2 (taking cubic lattice as an example).
PA6 (nylon 6, polyamide 6, PA6) is a plastic composed of polyamide
resin. It has low melting point, light weight, high strength, good ther­
moplastic and excellent mechanical properties. It has excellent wear
resistance, high heat resistance, self lubrication, toughness and good
processing performance. At the same time, it has good solvent resistance
and corrosion resistance, and is widely used in industrial field and daily
life.
2.3. Lattice-reinforced concrete specimens preparation
According to test method of cement mortar strength [49], the mix
proportion of lattice-reinforced concrete (generalized concrete includes
cement mortar) is determined as 450 g cement, 1350 g standard sand
and 225 g water. The cement is ordinary portland cement P.O 32.5
produced by Jiangsu Helin Cement Co., Ltd., the standard sand is Chi­
nese ISO standard sand produced by Xiamen ISO standard sand Co., Ltd.,
and the water is Zhenjiang tap water.
The specimens shall be manufactured according to the steps of
weighing and sampling, feeding and mixing, grouting and casting,
vibrating and compacting, forming and curing. The lattice-reinforced
concrete structures are prepared by mold pouring, demoulded after
24 h and cured in a standard curing box for 28 days. The specimens
cured for 28d under standard curing conditions is shown in Fig. 3.
In order to control the lattice location within the concrete samples
and ensure that different lattices are centered in the x, y and z directions
in the mold, and avoid the situation that the lattice touches the base of
the sample, we use 6 improved wooden sticks to fix each type of lattice
respectively. For different lattice types, the notch size and position of
small wooden sticks are determined according to the diameter and
relative position of unit cell strut. The shape, relative size, position in the
mold and actual photographic of the six small wooden sticks are shown
in Fig. 4.
3. Experimental details
3.1. Experimental methods and setups
In order to ensure that there are no holes and other non-compactness
Fig. 2. Example of PA6 finished products made by SLS process (taking cubic
lattice as an example).
J. Liu et al. Construction and Building Materials 333 (2022) 127418

in the test is 12 frames / s.

3.2. Experimental steps

(1) Connect universal tester, AE instrument, DIC device and

computer.
(2) Spray the speckle on the surface of the specimens with paint,
place it in front of the lens for observation, and decide whether to
optimize the speckle according to the clarity.
(3) After speckle fabrication, place the specimen on the support of
the universal tester, adjust the span according to the scale, and

Fig. 3. Concrete specimen formed and cured for 28 days (taking control
specimen as an example).

in the hardened specimens, ultrasonic testing is used to detect whether

there are defects in the specimens. They are used in this test after they
have been tested without defects. This study needs to evaluate the me­
chanical properties of different structural lattice-reinforced concrete
specimens under bending loads. The three-point bending experiment is
carried out in the form of a simply supported beam, with only one
loading point above the sample. DIC was used to monitor the whole
deformation field, and AE was used to monitor the whole damage
process.
The experimental setups are shown in Figs. 5-7. Using the TH-8201S Fig. 5. Loading diagram of three-point bending loading test (unit: mm).
universal testing machine with a load capacity of 10kN, three-point
bending loading was performed on the lattice-reinforced concrete
specimens at a loading rate of 0.05 mm/min to simulate quasi-static
loading.
During the loading process, the DS2-8A (four-channel) type full in­
formation AE signal analyzer produced by Ruandao was used for AE
signal collection and analysis. The diameter of the sensor is 16 mm. In
the experiment, ordinary electrical insulating tape is used to fix the
sensor and the specimens to reduce the loss of waveform, and vaseline is
used as the coupling agent at the contact part between the sensor and the
specimens to improve the sensing effect. The sensor is connected to the
device using a 60 db Smart AE preamplifier. The experimental acquisi­
tion accuracy was 16 bit, the sampling rate was 3 M, the sampling time
interval was 0.3333 μs, the threshold trigger mode was adopted, and the
channel threshold value was 100 mV.
The 2D-DIC system of CSI company is used to calculate the image of
the whole loading process. The whole image acquisition system is pro­
vided with technical support by Weishi Digital Image Technology Co.,
Ltd. the hardware equipment is composed of MV-EM510M/C CCD
camera, BT-23120 telecentric lens, light source and a support. The CCD
has 5 million pixels and a resolution of 2456 pixels × 2058pixel. The
Fig. 6. Schematic diagram of test monitoring system.
magnification of telecentric lens is 0.072. The image acquisition rate set

Fig. 4. The shape, relative size, position in the mold and actual photographic of the six small wooden stick (taking cubic specimen as an example).

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J. Liu et al.
(a) Test loading and acquisition system
Fig. 7. Test instrument.
ensure that the indenter of the tester is located on the center line
of the two supports.
(4) Start the AE software, set parameters, and conduct a broken-lead
test on the specimen to ensure that the AE system is in normal
working state.
(5) Carry out test preloading at the loading speed of 0.01 mm/min.
When the sensor has force, immediately suspend the loading and
clear the displacement and force.
(6) Officially start the test and load at the loading speed of 0.05 mm/
min until the specimen is damaged.
4. Results and discussion
Three points bending tests were carried out on 3D printed lattice-
reinforced concrete specimens with different structures. There are 3
groups of lattice-reinforced concrete specimens with 5 different struc­
tures, and a total of 18 test results are measured. For the lattice rein­
forcement specimens with five different structures, the group with large
difference is removed according to the first peak load in each group, and
then the smaller group of data in the two groups is selected for analysis.
(a) Typical load-displacement curve of
lattice reinforcement specimen
Fig. 8. Load–displacement curve of concrete specimens.
Construction and Building Materials 333 (2022) 127418
(b) Data monitoring and analysis system
4.1. Load-displacement curve analysis
Fig. 8(a) is a general conclusion abstracted from the test results of
Fig. 8 (b). The existing theories show that the deformation under loading
of cement-based materials will go through the initial compaction stage,
elastic deformation stage and plastic deformation stage. Therefore, ac­
cording to the test results, this work defines that the mechanical
response process of 3D printed lattice-reinforced concrete specimen
under three-point bending load is divided into the following stages:
(1) Initial compaction stage (o-a): the local indentation of the spec­
imen surface near the indenter caused by the stress concentration
in the loading process, and the displacement of the test system.
On the curve, the displacement changes greatly and the curvature
of the curve is big in this stage.
(2) Elastic deformation stage (a-b): the mid span deflection of the
specimen changes little, and the bending bearing capacity of the
specimen increases rapidly. At this time, the mechanical response
of the specimen can be regarded as elastic deformation, and the
load displacement curve changes linearly.
(3) Plastic deformation stage (b-c): the curvature of the curve de­
creases relatively, the slope decreases, the specimen has
(b) Measured load displacement curve of control
and lattice reinforcement specimens
6
J. Liu et al.
irreversible plastic deformation, and the resistance to deforma­
tion decreases.
(4) Brittle failure stage (c-d): the concrete near the bottom span of the
specimen cracked after reaching the ultimate flexural strength.
Once the crack appears, it propagates rapidly from bottom to top,
the bearing capacity decreases rapidly, the specimen is damaged
and the brittleness is significant.
(5) Reloading stage (d-e): after brittle failure, the compressive stress
is borne by the uncracked concrete on the upper part of the
specimen, and the tensile stress is continuously borne by the
lattice structure inside the specimen. The flexural bearing ca­
pacity rises again and reaches the peak value. At the same time,
the crack extends upward slowly and the width increases
continuously.
(6) Failure stage (e-): after the stress reaches the maximum bending
bearing capacity of the lattice structure inside the specimen, the
members of the lattice structure are damaged from bottom to top,
the load is continuously borne by the undamaged upper mem­
bers, and the bearing capacity gradually decreases until it is
completely damaged.
In addition, we define the maximum load of lattice reinforcement
specimen before brittle failure as the first peak load (point c in Fig. 8
(a)), regard the first peak load as the bending limit load, and evaluate
the mechanical properties of lattice-reinforced concrete specimens. Take
20% of the first peak load value as the dividing point between the initial
compaction stage and the elastic deformation stage.
The load displacement curve of lattice-reinforced concrete specimens
measured in the test is shown in Fig. 8 (b). It can be seen from Fig. 8 (b)
and Table 3 that the first peak load of octagonal, strengthened octagonal
and cubic lattice reinforcement specimens are lower than that of the
control specimen, and the first peak load of circular and RO lattice
reinforcement specimens are higher than that of the control specimen.
From the analysis of the first peak load of lattice-reinforced concrete
RO lattice-reinforced concrete specimen has the strongest flexural
bearing capacity, and its first peak load reaches 3210.23 N, which is
13.29% higher than that of the control specimen. The first peak load of
circular lattice-reinforced concrete specimen is slightly higher than that
of the control specimen, an increase of 0.28%. Compared with the
control specimen, the first peak load of octagonal and strengthened
octagonal lattice-reinforced concrete specimens decreased slightly by
6.0% and 8.7% respectively. The lattice-reinforced concrete specimen
with the weakest flexural bearing capacity is cubic specimen, and its first
peak load is 2461.59 N, which is 13.13% lower than that of the control
specimen.
We calculated the peak strength (ff) of the specimen according to
formula (7) and listed it in Table 4 in detail.
3Ff L
ff = (7)
2bh2
where Ff is the first peak load of the specimen; L is the center distance of
bending support cylinder, L = 140 mm in this study; b is the width of the
specimen, b = 40 mm in this study; h is the height of the specimen, h =
50 mm in this study.
Since the bearing capacity of lattice-reinforced concrete specimens
will be greatly reduced after brittle failure, and the load will continue to
be borne by the lattice inside the specimen, which means structures
failure in the practical application of structural engineering, the subse­
quent sections will focus on the stage analysis before brittle failure.
Table 3
First peak load of control and lattice reinforcement specimens.
Specimen type Control Circular Octagonal
First peak load/kN 2833.789 2841.87 2662.937
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Construction and Building Materials 333 (2022) 127418
4.2. DIC analysis
DIC can effectively measure the whole deformation fields of lattice-
reinforced concrete specimen in the whole process of loading. The
collected images are processed by VIC-2D software to obtain the hori­
zontal strain field (exx) of each characteristic point before brittle failure
in the whole loading process, as shown in Figs. 9 - 14.
Under the action of three-point bending load, the section bending
moment of the specimen shows decreasing from the middle of the span
to the two supports. The shear force is equal to the value of the whole
section, and the left and right directions are reversed with the mid-span
as the boundary. All sections are subjected to bending and shearing. The
maximum bending moment will appear in the mid-span area, which is
the most prone to damage and failure.
During the loading process of control specimen, there is no obvious
boundary and distribution law between the compression area and ten­
sion area in the whole strain field. According to the distribution of strain
field in elastic deformation and plastic deformation stage, there is no
obvious compression area near the indenter and no obvious stress con­
centration. Before brittle failure, there is no obvious tensile strain region
in the mid-span region at the bottom of the specimen.
As a quasi-brittle material with various anisotropy, concrete has
large stiffness and high elastic modulus after hardening. The strain field
nephogram in Fig. 10 (b) - (e) confirms that the deformation of pure
concrete specimen under loading is small and the ductility is low, so
there is no compressive stress concentration near the indenter. At the
same time, it is also confirmed that the brittleness of concrete is high.
Once the crack is formed, it propagates and penetrates from bottom to
top rapidly. Therefore, there is no obvious tensile strain region at the
bottom of the mid-span before brittle fracture failure.
It can be found from the cloud diagram of strain fields in Figs. 10-14
that during the whole loading process of lattice reinforcement speci­
mens, the distribution of compression area and tension area shows
obvious regularity, and the strain field is approximately symmetrically
distributed bounded by mid-span. According to the strain field distri­
bution in the elastic deformation and plastic deformation stages of the
lattice reinforcement specimens, there are obvious compression areas
near the indenter and obvious stress concentration in the whole process
of loading. In addition, the strain cloud diagram is roughly bounded by
the connection line between the indenter and the two supports, showing
the compressive strain at the upper part and the tensile strain at the
lower part, which is close to the bending moment distribution charac­
teristics of three-point bending. Before brittle failure, there is an obvious
tensile strain region near the mid-span at the bottom of the lattice
reinforcement specimen.
From the elastic stage, the tensile strain of the lattice reinforcement
specimen is approximately banded along the vertical direction (in these
areas, it is easy to form damage bands, which corresponds to the analysis
of AE characteristic parameters in the next section). With the increasing
load, the internal structure of the specimen is constantly adjusted and
the stress is redistributed. The small banded tensile strain area continues
to gather and form a larger banded tensile strain area. Finally, the
maximum tensile strain concentration area before brittle failure is
formed, resulting in the brittle failure when the stress in this area ex­
ceeds the maximum tensile strength of lattice-reinforced concrete.
Compared with the control group, the strain field cloud diagram in
Figs. 10-14 (b) - (e) can prove that the addition of lattice changes the
stress transfer path inside the concrete specimen, improves the inherent
anisotropic characteristics of concrete, increases the flexibility of the
specimen, increases the deformation and ductility of the specimen under
Strengthened octagonal RO Cubic
2587.76 3210.423 2461.587
J. Liu et al.
Table 4
First peak strengthened of control and lattice reinforcement specimens.
Specimen type Control Circular
First peak strengthened/MPa 5.95 5.97
loading, and thus the compressive stress concentration occurs near the
indenter. At the same time, it is confirmed that the concrete of lattice
reinforcement specimens are brittle failure caused by tension, so there is
obvious tensile strain at the bottom of the mid-span before brittle failure.
According to the cloud diagram of strain fields, the maximum strain
before brittle fracture of lattice reinforcement specimens are sorted in
Table 5. Combined with Table 3, we can find that brittle failure occurs in
the mid-span area of all lattice reinforcement specimens due to occur the
maximum tensile strain, and the order of maximum strain values are
consistent with that of the first peak load.
The strain near the middle of the span before brittle failure is the
largest in the RO lattice-reinforced lattice, reaching 0.017. Compared
with the RO lattice-reinforced specimen, the maximum strain of circular,
octagonal, strengthened octagonal and cubic lattice-reinforced speci­
mens decreased by 21.2%, 31.8%, 51.8% and 57.6% respectively.
Based on the use of DIC technology in the whole field deformation
monitoring of lattice-reinforced concrete in the whole process of
loading, we believe that with the high-precision and non-contact mea­
surement characteristics of DIC, it can be applied to the actual mea­
surement of engineering structures (such as long-span beams, shear
walls, structural columns, etc.). Monitor the surface of the structure or
component to obtain accurate displacement or deformation information
of the whole field of the structure or component, so as to evaluate the
safety and reliability of the structure or component. When the
displacement and deformation of structures or components are large,
give early warning in time and take measures to avoid major accidents.
4.3. AE analysis
AE refers to the phenomenon that materials or structures deform or
break under the action of external or internal forces and release strain
energy in the form of stress waves [34]. AE testing is a non-destructive
testing method. The AE signal collected by AE sensor comes from the
deformation or damage of the specimen, which can detect the specimen
in real time.
The characteristic parameters commonly used in AE analysis include
AE hits, amplitude, duration, rise time, ringing counting, energy,
centroid frequency, peak frequency, etc. In this paper, hits, energy and
peak frequency are selected as evaluation indexes, and time-force, time-
hit, time-energy and time-peak frequency curves are drawn for further
analysis. The meanings of hit, energy and peak frequency are as follows:
(1) Hits: any signal that exceeds the threshold and causes the channel
to obtain data is called an impact, and the number of measured
impacts is called AE count. It reflects the total amount and fre­
quency of AE activities and is often used for AE activity
evaluation.
(2) Energy: the area under the AE signal envelope, the relative energy
and intensity of the reaction event, which is insensitive to the
threshold, propagation characteristics and operating frequency.
(3) Peak frequency: the frequency corresponding to the peak point in
the frequency domain of AE signal. The distribution of peak fre­
quency can roughly reflect the occurrence of different types of
damage.
The following explains the guiding significance of these three AE
characteristic parameters for the application of acoustic emission in
practical engineering.
Construction and Building Materials 333 (2022) 127418
Octagonal Strengthened octagonal RO Cubic
5.59 5.43 6.74 5.17
(1) For AE hits, we can use it to measure the severity of damage in­
side the structure. When the total amount and frequency of
damage exceed a certain threshold, it indicates that the damage
inside the structure develops rapidly, and an early warning
should be issued in time.
(2) For energy, we can use it to measure the strength of a structural
damage and the amount of energy released. When the energy
exceeds a certain threshold, it indicates that a large degree of
damage may occur inside the structure, and an early warning will
be issued if necessary.
(3) For peak frequency, we can use it to judge the type of damage or
failure of the structure (such as brittle failure, plastic failure,
etc.), and judge whether the damage comes from an internal
component to further judge whether the structure is in a safe
state.
According to the hits of control specimen in Fig. 15 (a) the AE
characteristics of the first three stages of brittle failure of concrete
specimens are analyzed as follows:
(1) Initial compaction stage: at the beginning of this stage, with the
increase of load, the number of AE hits increases slowly, but the
total number is small, and the time interval is large, indicating
that there is little damage inside the concrete specimen during
this period. In the middle of this stage, with the increase of load,
stress concentration occurs in the area near the indenter, making
the concrete reach the ultimate compressive strength and local
collapse failure, with more local damage, so AE hits increases and
Hits time interval is small. In the later stage of this stage, with the
increase of load, the stress concentration is redistributed and
reduced with the adjustment of internal structure of concrete, and
the increase of AE hits slows down. Generally speaking, the
damage of concrete in the initial compaction stage is small and
the energy release is low.
(2) Elastic deformation stage: after the initial compaction stage, the
specimen is in elastic deformation state during loading. This work
uses the generalized concrete, which is mixed and hardened by
cement paste and fine aggregate, and belongs to multiphase
composite material. There are micro-cracks inside the hardened
cement slurry and at the interface between the hardened cement
slurry and fine aggregate. With the increase of load, the elastic
deformation increases and the micro-cracks increase, which will
produce more AE hits and release energy.
(3) Plastic deformation stage: after the concrete reaches the elastic
limit load, it will enter the plastic deformation stage and the
deformation cannot be recovered. At this stage, AE hits increases
rapidly, a large number of damages appear in the concrete, micro-
cracks increase and propagate rapidly, and energy is released
rapidly. The internal structure of the specimen is adjusted due to
energy release, and the internal stress is redistributed. The in­
crease of load aggravates the damage and overlaps with each
other to form a damage areas. The micro-cracks propagate and
form macro-cracks. The macro-cracks propagate and penetrate
from bottom to top, resulting in the brittle failure of concrete
specimen.
It can be seen from Table 6 that the peak frequency of AE signal in the
process of crack increase and propagation of concrete specimen is
mainly distributed in two sections: 50–100 kHz and 150–200 kHz. The
low frequency part is caused by the cracking of hardened cement slurry,
8
J. Liu et al. Construction and Building Materials 333 (2022) 127418

（a）Control specimen displacement-load curves.

（c）Horizontal strain field at t = 125.82s (near

(b) Horizontal strain field at t = 0s (near o point)
a point)

（d）Horizontal strain field at t = 628.82s (near （e）Horizontal strain field at t = 629.09s (near
b point) c point)
Fig. 9. Control specimen load–displacement curve and horizontal strain field of corresponding characteristic points.

9
J. Liu et al. Construction and Building Materials 333 (2022) 127418

（a）Circular specimen displacement-load curves.

（b）Horizontal strain field at t =0s (near o （c）Horizontal strain field at t = 179.7s (near
point) a point)

（d）Horizontal strain field at t = 544.3s (near （e）Horizontal strain field at t = 544.8s (near
b point) c point)
Fig. 10. Circular specimen load–displacement curve and horizontal strain field of corresponding characteristic points.

10
J. Liu et al. Construction and Building Materials 333 (2022) 127418

（a）Octagonal specimen displacement-load curves.

（b）Horizontal strain field at t = 0s (near o （c）Horizontal strain field at t = 327.68s (near

point) a point)

（d）Horizontal strain field at t = 764.76s (near （e）Horizontal strain field at t = 765.68s (near
b point) c point)
Fig. 11. Octagonal specimen load–displacement curve and horizontal strain field of corresponding characteristic points.

11
J. Liu et al. Construction and Building Materials 333 (2022) 127418

（a）Strengthened octagonal specimen displacement-load curves.

（b）Horizontal strain field at t =0s (near o （c）Horizontal strain field at t = 180.07s (near
point) a point)

（d）Horizontal strain field at t = 543.2s (near （e）Horizontal strain field at t = 543.62s (near
b point) c point)
Fig. 12. Strengthened octagonal specimen load–displacement curve and horizontal strain field of corresponding characteristic points.

12
J. Liu et al. Construction and Building Materials 333 (2022) 127418

（a）RO specimen displacement-load curves.

（b）Horizontal strain field at t = 0s (near o （c）Horizontal strain field at t = 179.7s (near

point) a point)

（d）Horizontal strain field at t = 544.3s (near （e）Horizontal strain field at t = 544.8s (near
b point) c point)
Fig. 13. RO specimen load–displacement curve and horizontal strain field of corresponding characteristic points.

13
J. Liu et al. Construction and Building Materials 333 (2022) 127418

（a）Cubic specimen displacement-load curves.

（b）Horizontal strain field at t = 0s (near 0 （c）Horizontal strain field at t = 158.69s (near

point) a point)

（d）Horizontal strain field at t = 588.81s (near （e）Horizontal strain field at t = 589.85s (near
b point) c point)
Fig. 14. Cubic specimen load–displacement curve and horizontal strain field of corresponding characteristic points.

14
J. Liu et al. Construction and Building Materials 333 (2022) 127418

Table 5 aggregate. Therefore, the peak frequency of AE signal is mainly low

Maximum strain before brittle failure of lattice reinforcement specimens. frequency, and the peak frequency is distributed around 100 kHz. In the
Lattice Circular Octagonal Strengthened RO Cubic later stage of loading, with the further increase and propagation of
type octagonal micro-cracks, it mainly causes the fracture of fine aggregate in the
Strain 0.0134 0.0116 0.0082 0.017 0.0072 specimen and the cracking of a small amount of hardened cement slurry.
Therefore, the peak frequency of AE signal is mainly high frequency, and
the peak frequency is distributed around 480 kHz.
and the high frequency part is caused by the fracture of fine aggregate The failure characteristics of the lattice-reinforced concrete speci­
particles. According to Fig. 15 (a), in the early stage of loading, there are mens at three-point bending are similar to that of control specimen.
few micro-cracks in the concrete specimen, mainly the cracking of Comparing the AE hits parameters of the lattice reinforcement speci­
hardened cement slurry and a small amount of weak or defective fine mens with the control specimen, it can be found that before the brittle

(a) Control (b) Circular

(c) Octagonal (d) Strengthened Octagonal

(e) RO (f) Cubic

Fig. 15. Time-Force, Time-Hit, Time-Energy and Time-Peak Frequency curves: (a) Control, (b) Circular, (c)Octagonal, (d) Strengthened Octagonal, (e) RO, (f) Cubic.

Table 6
AE hits and peak frequency classification (ratio) before brittle failure of specimens.
Number Specimen type Hits/n 0 kHz 0–50 kHz 50–100 kHz 100–150 kHz 150–200 kHz ≥200 kHz

① Control 544 105(19.30%) 60(11.03%) 145(26.65%) 16(2.94%) 218(40.07%) 0(0.00%)

② Circular 230 18(7.83%) 199(86.52%) 6(2.61%) 0(0.00%) 7(3.04%) 0(0.00%)
③ Octagonal 401 39(9.73%) 337(84.04%) 4(1.00%) 4(1.00%) 15(3.74%) 2(0.50%)
④ Strengthened octagonal 154 25(16.23%) 99(64.29%) 2(1.30%) 1(0.65%) 25(16.23%) 2(1.30%)
⑤ RO 182 21(11.54%) 153(84.07%) 5(2.75%) 1(0.55%) 2(1.10%) 0(0.00%)
⑥ Cubic 74 20(27.03%) 41(55.41%) 2(2.70%) 1(1.35%) 10(13.51%) 0(0.00%)

15
J. Liu et al.
failure of the lattice reinforcement specimen under three-point bending
load, the total number of AE hits decreased significantly compared with
the control specimen (Hits = 544), and the cubic lattice reinforcement
specimen (Hits = 74) decreased the most, by 86.40%. Octagonal lattice
reinforcement specimen (Hits = 401) decreased the least, with a
decrease of 26.29%. The above analysis shows that the addition of lat­
tice can effectively reduce the number of internal damage of concrete
specimen in three-point bending test and improve the mechanical
response of concrete.
Secondly, the number of AE hits in the initial compaction stage,
elastic deformation stage and plastic deformation stage of the concrete
specimens of the lattice reinforcement decreased, which is specifically
reflected in the following aspects:
(1) There was no AE hits in the early period of the initial compaction
stage for the lattice reinforcement specimens of octagonal, RO
and cubic structures. The number of AE hits of lattice reinforce­
ment specimens with five different structures in the initial
compaction stage is lower than that of control specimen.
(2) Except cubic lattice reinforcement specimen, the AE hits in the
early stage of elastic deformation of concrete specimens in the
other four lattices reinforcements is equivalent to that in the
control specimen, but the increase in the later stage is signifi­
cantly slower.
With the addition of lattice, the AE hits of concrete specimens under
three-point bending test are reduced mainly due to the following two
reasons:
(1) The 3D printing PA6 lattices have good ductility and can produce
large deformation under the action of load. The lattices are added
to replace the original concrete, so that part of the original stress
in the concrete is borne by the lattice. Due to the large elastic
modulus of the lattice, under the reinforcement of the lattice, the
lattice reinforcement specimens deforms and absorbs energy
under loading, which reduces the generation of AE hits.
(2) Concrete is an anisotropic material with uneven stress distribu­
tion under loading, which is easy to produce stress concentration.
The addition of the lattices transfers the stress inside the concrete
specimens to the lattices, and then the lattices are transferred to
the nearby lattice members or concrete, which effectively elimi­
nates the phenomenon of stress concentration, changes the stress
transfer path, and the stress redistribution phenomenon is more
obvious.
According to Table 6, it can be found that the AE peak frequency of
the control specimen is mainly distributed in the high frequency region
of 150–200 kHz, while the AE peak frequency of the lattice reinforce­
ment specimens are distributed in the low frequency region of 0–50 kHz.
The main reason is that the addition of lattice makes the concrete more
ductile and flexible. Concrete itself is a quasi-brittle material, which can
be regarded as a rigid body. When cracks and brittle fracture occur in it,
the elastic waves are mainly concentrated in the high frequency band.
Compared with plain concrete, the flexibility of lattice-reinforced con­
crete is improved, so that when cracks and brittle fracture occur in the
interior, the elastic wave is mainly concentrated in the low frequency
band. This also fully shows that the addition of lattice can effectively
reduce the peak frequency of AE of brittle failure of concrete.
Based on the above AE technology for the damage monitoring of
lattice-reinforced concrete in the whole process of loading, we believe
that with the characteristics of real-time monitoring and nondestructive
testing of AE, it can be applied to the dynamic monitoring of the internal
damage process of engineering structures or components to evaluate the
damage location and degree of structures or components. The charac­
teristic parameters of AE are used to analyze the damage and failure
process of concrete, and the qualitative relationship between damage
16
Construction and Building Materials 333 (2022) 127418
degree, failure mode and loading stress level is established, which pro­
vides a theoretical basis for determining the loading health state of in-
service concrete structures or components, so as to make effective
early warning and timely reinforcement in case of serious damage pro­
cess of structures or components.
4.4. Failure characteristics
Fig. 16 shows the crack location and morphology of control and
lattice reinforcement specimens. Through the analysis of test results, it
can be seen that the control and lattice reinforcement specimens have
relatively low tensile strength and relatively high brittleness, and all
samples fail due to a single crack. The cracks in all specimens were
formed from the bottom and propagated upward. Because there is no
lattice inside the control specimen, when the first peak stress is reached
and failed, the specimen is brittle fracture, directly broken into two
parts, and makes a huge sound at the same time. Although the lattice
reinforcement specimen is also brittle failure when failed, there will be
secondary peak load after the first peak load, and the speed of crack
propagation from the bottom to the upper is relatively slow, and there
will be no loud noise at the moment of failure. This is because there is a
large difference between the elastic modulus of the lattice and the elastic
modulus of the concrete. Under the same load, the deformation of the
lattice is greater than that of the concrete. After the concrete near the
mid-span at the bottom of the lattice reinforcement specimen reaches
the ultimate bending capacity, it breaks and exits the work. The un­
cracked concrete on the upper part bears the pressure, and the internal
lattice continues to bear the tension. Therefore, the lattice-reinforced
concrete specimens will have a secondary peak load after the first
peak load.
Comparing the crack positions at the bottom of control and lattice
reinforcement specimens, it can be found that the crack formation po­
sition of control specimen is closest to the mid-span, the crack formation
position of RO and octagonal lattice reinforcement specimens is second,
and the crack formation position of circular, strengthened octagonal and
cubic lattice reinforcement specimens are farthest. According to the
previous mechanical response under three-point bending load, the mid-
span of concrete specimen is the most prone to failure under three-point
bending load. Therefore, we can be sure that using 3D printed lattices as
reinforcement in concrete can significantly change the crack formation
position of concrete under three-point bending load, and then improve
the brittle mechanical response of concrete.
Combined with the analysis of the first peak load of control and
lattice reinforcement specimens in Table 3 and the analysis of five
different structures of unit cell in reference [42], we can find that the
deformation mechanism of RO lattice is mainly tensile, circular lattice is
mainly bending. Under the three-point bending load, the bottom surface
of the specimen is subject to the bending action dominated by tensile
force. Therefore, the reinforcement effect of RO lattice is the largest,
followed by circular lattice. Reference [42] does not give much expla­
nation for the bending response of octagonal, strengthened octagonal
and cubic. At the same time, some analysis is also made for the first peak
load of octagonal, strengthened octagonal and cubic lattice reinforce­
ment specimens is less than control specimen. This paper believes that
the diameter of octagonal and cubic unit cell struts is relatively large,
resulting in excessive concentration of lattice in unit volume. If the crack
is formed near the geometric center, due to the brittleness of concrete, it
will extend quickly, resulting in difficulties in controlling the crack, then
affect the reinforcement effect. The porosity of strengthened octagonal
unit cell is small, and when casting concrete (cement mortar) in this
work, only cement slurry enters the interior, and fine aggregate rarely
enters, and poor aggregate gradation, resulting in the decline of
comprehensive performance. Whether the addition of octagonal,
strengthened octagonal and cubic lattices will really reduce the flexural
capacity of concrete and the response mechanism need to be further
studied and demonstrated.
J. Liu et al. Construction and Building Materials 333 (2022) 127418

(a) Control specimen. (b) Circular specimen.

(c) Octagonal specimen. (d) Strengthened octagonal specimen.

(e) RO specimen. (f) Cubic specimen.

Fig. 16. Fracture location of control and lattice reinforcement specimens.

17
J. Liu et al.
5. Conclusions
In this paper, lattices with five different structures are designed and
printed by selective laser sintering technology. The lattice was placed in
the concrete as the inner core, and the three-point bending test was
carried out after 28 days of standard curing. The mechanical properties
of lattice-reinforced concrete structures under three-point bending were
studied. AE and DIC techniques are used to analyze the internal damage
of the specimens and the strain field on the external surface during
loading, so as to realize the synchronous monitoring of the internal and
external of the concrete structures. Some important conclusions are
listed as follows:
(1) According to the load–displacement curves, the characterization
process of lattice-reinforced concrete structures under three-
point bending can be divided into five stages: initial compac­
tion stage, elastic deformation stage, plastic deformation stage,
brittle failure stage, reloading stage and failure stage. RO lattice-
reinforced concrete specimen has the best flexural bearing ca­
pacity. At the same time, it is also verified that RO lattice has
good tensile performance, which is helpful to reinforce the flex­
ural bearing capacity of concrete. In contrast, the maxima bearing
capacity of lattice-reinforced concrete structures of octagonal,
strengthened octagonal, cubic structures are not as good as that of
control specimen. Whether its addition will really reduce the
flexural bearing capacity of concrete remains to be further stud­
ied and demonstrated.
(2) Through the characteristic parameter analysis of AE signal, it can
be seen that from the elastic stage, each concrete specimen have
been damaged internally and formed micro-cracks. The addition
of lattice can effectively reduce the AE hits and the peak fre­
quency before concrete brittle fracture failure. It is proved that
the addition of lattice can reduce the internal damage of concrete
specimens under three-point bending, and indirectly prove that
lattice can increase the ductility of concrete structures.
(3) Through the analysis of the strain fields in the horizontal direc­
tion by DIC, it can be seen that the addition of lattice can improve
the uneven stress distribution caused by anisotropy and make the
strain field distribution more regular. The specimens of the lattice
reinforcement produce the maximum strain at the bottom of the
span, while the control specimen produces the maximum defor­
mation near the two supports, which again shows that the addi­
tion of the lattices can make the strain distribution of the concrete
specimen consistent with the theoretical stress distribution of
three-point bending.
(4) The combined monitoring method of AE and DIC provides a new
in-situ monitoring method for studying the three-point bending
failure of lattice-reinforced concrete structures, and provides a
theoretical basis for the design of lattices in lattice-reinforced
concrete structures.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Junwei Liu: Investigation, Data curation, Writing – original draft.
Humaira Kanwal: Software, Validation. Can Tang: Conceptualization,
Methodology, Supervision. Wenfeng Hao: Conceptualization, Method­
ology, Writing – review & editing.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
18
Construction and Building Materials 333 (2022) 127418
Acknowledgment
The authors are grateful for the financial support provided by the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11872025)
and the Six Talent Peaks Project in Jiangsu Province (Grant No. 2019-
KTHY-059).
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