Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 120 (2022) 103415

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Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics

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

Numerical insights into the effect of ITZ and aggregate strength on

concrete properties
Haiyang Zhao a, Zhonghuai Wu a, Ang Liu a, Liangchi Zhang b, c, d, *
a
School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of New South Wales, NSW 2052, Australia
b
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Cross-scale Manufacturing Mechanics, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, Guangdong, China
c
SUSTech Institute for Manufacturing Innovation, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, Guangdong, China
d
Department of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, Guangdong, China

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

Keywords: Mechanical properties of concrete are highly dependent on its components. Consequently, a comprehensive
Concrete understanding of the effects of aggregate and interfacial transition zone on concrete properties is important to
Aggregate applications. In this paper, a mesoscale investigation on the effects of coarse aggregate and interfacial transition
Interfacial transition zone
zone strength on mechanical and fracture behaviours of concrete is investigated using discrete element model­
Fracture mechanism
Discrete element modelling
ling. The results show that the elastic modulus of concrete is insensitive to the strength of ITZ and aggregate,
whereas the compressive strength and strain-to-damage highly depend on these two factors. An increase in ITZ/
aggregate strength leads to a decrease of cracks in ITZ/aggregates and little change of cracks in mortar.
Aggregate size, under certain conditions, can alter the crack growth process and result in distinct crack patterns.

1. Introduction
As a cement-based composite material, concrete has been widely
used in civil engineering, due to its relatively simple fabrication process,
low cost and excellent properties (e.g., high compressive strength and
durability, as well as thermal and acoustic insulation properties). These
properties are strongly linked to the characteristics of concrete constit­
uents [1,2]. At mesoscale, concrete can be simply considered as a
combination of mortar matrix (made of fine aggregates and cement),
coarse aggregates and the matrix-aggregate interfacial transition zone
(ITZ) [3,4]. ITZ is orientated from the “wall” effect of coarse aggregates,
which disrupts the random packing of fine aggregates and cement
grains, leading to a zone that contains predominately small grains with
higher porosity [5]. This heterogeneous zone was about 10 μm to 50 μm
thick [5–8]. The change of its microstructure and mechanical property
(e.g., elasticity and hardness) are progressive [6–9]. In other words, no
crystally clear boundary between this ITZ and the mortar matrix can be
found. One of the most important characteristics of ITZ is its overall
porosity, which can be reduced by properly increasing the curing age,
decreasing water to cement ratio, reducing aggregate size, and adding a
proportion of fine particles (e.g., silica fume) [5,6,10].
The strength of ITZ is closely related to its porosity and can greatly
affect the mechanical performance of concrete. Some efforts have been
made to study the influence of ITZ strength on the mechanical behav­
iours of concrete [3,11–13]. It was found that under a certain range both
tensile and compressive strength of concrete increase with ITZ strength
[3,11]. Specifically, ITZ is no longer the weakest component in concrete
when its strength is larger than 70–80% of mortar strength [11,12].
Besides, as the ITZ strength increases, cracks in mortar rise, leading to
different failure patterns [3,11–13]. However, as an important factor,
the internal defects in ITZ and mortar (i.e., heterogeneity) were missing
in previous studies. Besides, a comprehensive analysis of crack evolution
in tandem with local stress distribution in concrete, which are necessary
to reveal the fracture mechanism, remains inadequate.
Additionally, it was reported that the mechanical behaviours of
concrete are influenced by aggregates (e.g., aggregate volume fraction
[14–17], type [18], shape [19,20] and size [10,21–24]). However, there
are limited studies concerning the influence of aggregate strength on the
fracture behaviours of concrete. By using different types of rock as
aggregate, Kilic et al. [25] found that both the compressive and flexural
tensile strength of concrete were boosted with the increase of aggregate/
rock strength, while the abrasion of concrete showed a declining ten­
dency. As revealed by Hans and Thomas [26], such a strength boost was
largely attributed to the increase of aggregate elastic modulus. Even

* Corresponding author at: Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Cross-scale Manufacturing Mechanics, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055,
Guangdong, China.
E-mail address: zhanglc@sustech.edu.cn (L. Zhang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tafmec.2022.103415
Received 28 February 2022; Received in revised form 1 May 2022; Accepted 20 May 2022
Available online 25 May 2022
0167-8442/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
H. Zhao et al. Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 120 (2022) 103415

though material elasticity is closely related to its strength [27], it is to 50 μm, a single layer of interaction bonds (i.e., mortar-to-aggregate
necessary to further clarify the isolated effect of aggregate strength on interaction) was used to represent ITZ.
the mechanical behaviours of concrete. It was reported that aggregates constitute approximately 75% of
Such studies can be conveniently carried out by numerical model­ concrete volume, and about 40–50% of the aggregates are coarse
ling. It was reported that some meshfree methods such as the crack- aggregate [14,46]. To accurately characterise the aggregate distribution
particle method [28–30], peridynamics [31,32], and the discrete in concrete, the aggregate size and content are assumed to follow the
element method [33–35] could effectively tackle complex cracking is­ classic Walraven formulation [11,13,47]:
sues in solid mechanics, including random cracking, branching and
Pc (D < D0 ) = Pk (1.065D0.5 − 0.5 4 − 4 6 − 6
0 Dmax − 0.053D0 Dmax − 0.012D0 Dmax
fragmentation. Techniques such as explicit crack representation and
crack surface smoothing in a finite element analysis were not needed. − 0.0045D80 D−max
8
− 0.0025D10 − 10
0 Dmax ) (1)
Moreover, mesh distortion and contact issues encountered in many
where Pc (D < D0) denotes the volume fraction of aggregates whose
continuum mechanics approaches could be avoided. As such, the
size D is less than D0; Pk is the total aggregate volume fraction, and Dmax
discrete element modelling has been widely used to investigate various
is the maximum aggregate size. Table 1 lists the aggregate size grada­
rock/rock-like materials and its effectiveness has been well demon­
tion. The volume fraction of aggregates increases with the aggregate
strated [36–39]. This work therefore adopts the discrete element
size, which is consistent with relevant finding from physical experiments
modelling to analyse the mechanical and fracture behaviour of
[48]. It is worth noting that fine aggregates less than 4 mm are assumed
concretes.
to be merged with the cement to form the mortar matrix.
This paper conducts a systematic investigation on the effects of ITZ
The physical properties (i.e., material density, elastic modulus,
and aggregate strength on the mechanical behaviour of concretes under
Poisson’s ratio, compressive and tensile strength) of mortar, aggregate
uniaxial compression by using the discrete element modelling. The
and ITZ are listed in Table 2 [49]. The aggregate and mortar densities
variations of concrete mechanical properties with the studied variables
were calculated by multiplying corresponding particle densities
are presented. Besides, crack growth, local stress distribution, crack
(aggregate particle: 2840 kg/m3 and mortar particle: 2200 kg/m3) with
pattern and broken bond information are analysed to elucidate its
the volume fraction of the packing structure (i.e., 0.845). Then the
fracture mechanism. It is believed that the results can help to clarify the
density of the specimen was calculated based on the component den­
relationship between the strength of concrete components and its me­
sities and volume fractions (aggregate: 45% and mortar: 55%). It should
chanical behaviours, and ultimately guide the design of high-
be noted that the ITZ was represented by a layer of particle bonds whose
performance concretes.
mass was not considered. The mechanical properties were reproduced
through an established parameterization process [45], with corre­
2. Discrete element model for concrete
sponding micro parameters being listed in Table 3. For simplicity, the
micro parameters of particles for each concrete component were directly
2.1. Model description
assigned and calculated in the DEM algorithm without consideration of
unit scaling. To guarantee an accurate computation, the total number of
In DEM modelling, a material is conceptually composed of particles
particles used for sample construction was about 26,900, with the mean
and cohesive bonds [40–42]. Particles within a certain interaction range
particle size being about 1 mm [44].
are linked up by bonds after sample construction [43,44]. Forces on
To reflect the heterogeneity of mortar and ITZ in concrete, the
particles include bonding force, discrete contact force between particle
Weibull distribution was introduced to define the mechanical properties
and boundary wall, as well as discrete contact force between particles.
of local elements [51,52]. It was reported that the variations of me­
Bonding force is produced by the occurrence of relative displacement
chanical properties in mortar and ITZ are within a certain range [7,8].
between two bonded particles. When the displacement exceeds a critical
Similarly, a range of 0.8x0 to 1.25x0 was used in this work to approxi­
value, the bond breaks. Such an event can be approximated as a crack,
mate the heterogeneity of mortar/ITZ, which is shown in Fig. 2. Spe­
which typically initiates at the site where the bonds are relatively weak.
cifically, x0 represents the magnitude of break distance in the DEM
To simulate the cracking process and analyse the local stress distribu­
model, and it is related to the averaged bond strength in mortar/ITZ.
tion, the previously tested and validated DEM model is adopted [45],
with further specification, for concrete.
2.2. Model validation
In the DEM model, the elastic modulus, Poisson’s ratio and strength
can be controlled by the micro stiffness, stiffness ratio and break dis­
The calibrated DEM model was further validated by performing a
tance, respectively. As such, the mechanical properties of mortar, coarse
tensile splitting test on different concrete samples and by comparing the
aggregate and ITZ can be reproduced. It should be noted that the three
numerical results with corresponding experimental results. Fig. 3 (a)
components are assumed as brittle materials (i.e., material plasticity is
shows the experimental settings and the crack pattern of concretes
not considered). The numerical model for concrete is schematically
manufactured with different maximum aggregate sizes [50]. It can be
shown in Fig. 1. The mortar and aggregate are represented by particles
seen that the crack patterns of concretes reproduced by the DEM model
coloured in blue and red, separately. The red and blue bonds represent
shown in Fig. 3 (b) are consistent with those from experiments.
the aggregate-to-aggregate interaction and mortar-to-mortar interac­
The tensile strength of concretes obtained from the DEM model was
tion, respectively. Since the thickness of ITZ is within the range of 10 μm
compared with the experiments. As shown in Fig. 4, the results are
consistent, with strength values ranging from 2.0 MPa to 2.5 MPa.

Table 1
Volume fraction of different aggregate sizes.
Size Range 21.6–26 17.2–21.6 12.8–17.2 8.4–12.8 4–8.4 <4
(mm)

Volume 4.0 6.4 8.3 10.4 14.0 31.9

Fraction
Fig. 1. The numerical model of concrete, including mortar, aggregate and
(%)
interfacial transition zone.

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H. Zhao et al. Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 120 (2022) 103415

Table 2 type (e.g., Granite, Gabbro, Basalt, Quartzsite Limestone etc.), the
Material properties of concrete components [49,50]. aggregate strength could change significantly, with compressive
Component ρ E v σc σt strength ranging from about 25 to 250 MPa and tensile strength from
(kg/m3) (GPa) (–) (MPa) (MPa) about 2 to 30 MPa [25,26,53–55]. Moreover, some experiments
Aggregate 2400 50 0.16 130 13 [7,8,56,57] found that the ratios of ITZs’ mechanical properties to those
Mortar 1860 30 0.20 30 3 of mortar mainly ranged from 0.5 to 1.0. Accordingly, an uncertainty
ITZ – 26 0.22 26 2.6 analysis [58] was performed with respect to ITZ and aggregate strength
in this study, which can help to identify important parameters and
optimise material properties [58,59]. Table 4 shows the variation of ITZ
Table 3 and aggregate strengths, which are divided by the mortar strength. The
Basic values of the micro parameters in the concrete model. compression of the concretes was displacement-controlled with the
Component Micro Stiffness Break Particle loading rate about 0.13 s− 1 and the whole simulation time lasted for
Stiffness Ratio Distance Number about 0.014 s. To guarantee the simulation accuracy, the timestep was
kc (N/m) s (–) rb (dmean) N (–) set to be about 6.94e− 8, which was calculated based on the concrete
Aggregate 65e9 1.0 2.0e-3 12,100 component that has the highest stiffness (i.e., the aggregate).
Mortar 40e9 0.7 1.0e-3 14,800 The repeatability of the DEM model was also tested by using different
ITZ 35e9 0.5 1.0e-3 –

Fig. 2. The probability density distribution of bond strength in mortar and ITZ.
Fig. 4. Tensile splitting strength of concretes with different maximum aggre­
gate sizes.
2.3. Simulation settings and randomness test

The above-described DEM model was used to study the effects of ITZ Table 4
and aggregate strength on the mechanical behaviours of concretes under Variations of ITZ and aggregate strength.
compression. To investigate the effects of ITZ/aggregate strength, only Strength Ratio σITZ/σMortar σAgg/σMortar
the studied component strength varies, with other mechanical proper­
Variation 0.52,0.69,0.87,1.04,1.21,1.38 0.87,1.08,1.30,1.73,2.17,2.60
ties holding as constant. It should be noted that depending on the rock

Fig. 3. (a) Experimental [50] and (b) numerical results with respect to the crack pattern in concretes under the tensile splitting.

3
H. Zhao et al.
packing structures. As shown in Fig. 5 (a), the stress-strain response of
concrete samples in different cases is similar, with minor fluctuation at
the peak stress and post-peak region. As the compression test is
displacement controlled, the loading strain shown in Fig. 5 (b) increases
linearly with loading time. The overlap of the strain-time curves for
different cases demonstrates that the loading process is independent of
the concrete sample. Similarly, as shown in Fig. 5 (e) to (f), the packing
structure has a little influence on the stress variation, broken bond, and
energy with the loading time. Specifically, it can be seen from Fig. 5 (e)
that the kinetic energy maintains at a low level before 0.006 s, beyond
which it soars up to about 1 J and decreases gradually afterwards. The
elastic energy shown in Fig. 5 (f) keeps rising as the loading continues
and starts to fall at around 0.007 s because of the significant crack
growth.
Fig. 6 shows the crack patterns of three different concrete samples
when σ Agg/σ Mortar = 1.08. It can be seen that crack growth in different
samples are similar.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. The effect of ITZ strength
Fig. 7 shows the variations of stress and broken bond with loading
strain for concretes with different ITZ strengths. It can be seen that there
is a clear overlap between the stress curves before the loading point B,
beyond which, the samples tend to undergo inelastic deformation. The
presence of inelasticity shows earlier in concrete with relatively lower
ITZ strength, which is largely due to the difference of crack growth. As
can be seen from the red lines, with the decrease of ITZ strength, broken
bonds in concrete initiate much earlier and accumulate to higher values.
Fig. 8 shows the influence of the ITZ strength on concrete mechanical
properties, including elasticity, compressive strength and strain-to-
damage. It is clear that the elastic modulus is independent of the ITZ
strength. Whereas both compressive strength and strain-to-damage rise
with the ITZ strength and then level out, with the transition point σITZ/
σ Mortar ≈ 1.2. Moreover, the dependence of compressive strength and
strain-to-damage on the strength of ITZ is quantitatively examined
before the transition threshold. As σITZ/σMortar increases from 0.55 to
1.2, the compressive strength increases from 25 MPa to 36 MPa and
Fig. 5. Effect of random concrete structure on the stress-strain response and the time history of strain, stress, broken bond, kinetic and elastic energies, where σAgg/
σMortar = 1.08.
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Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 120 (2022) 103415
strain-to-damage rises from 0.085% to 0.11%.
Additionally, crack and stress evolution as well as broken bonds
incurred in each concrete component are analysed at different loading
points to better understand how the ITZ strength affects the fracturing
process. Fig. 9 shows the structures and von Mises stress distributions of
concretes at the loading point A. The von Mises stress tends to concen­
trate on the coarse aggregates, indicating that stress transmits through
these “skeletons” of concrete. Besides, the stress distributions are com­
parable in concretes with different ITZ strengths, indicating irrelevance
of concrete elasticity to ITZ strength.
Fig. 10 shows the crack and stress evolution of concrete at the
loading points B, C, D and E when σ ITZ/σ Mortar is about 0.5. It can be seen
from Fig. 10 (b) that cracks mainly initiate along the aggregate bound­
aries at the loading point B, with a slight stress release along the crack
path. At the loading point C, cracks proliferate substantially, yet stress
concentration is still prevalent, meaning that the cracks are non-
destructive. This is because at this stage the cracks occur preferably in
the heterogeneous ITZ, as can be demonstrated by the broken bonds
shown in Fig. 10 (a). At the loading point D, the increase rate of broken
bonds in ITZ slows down while that in mortar rises, meaning that crack
growth dominates in mortar and tends to bridge the cracks that induced
in ITZ. Consequently, sample disintegration occurs, accompanied by
significant stress release at the lateral side of the sample.
As the σITZ/σMortar increases to 0.69, cracks growth becomes appre­
ciable at the loading point C. The delayed crack growth is largely
attributed to the strength increase in ITZ. The stress inside the sample
keeps rising with the load because crack population at this stage is small.
At the point D, crack propagation goes across the whole sample. The
detached parts at the lateral sides of the concrete start to move out­
wards, with the central part bearing the load. As a result, stress rises at
the central area and releases dramatically at the lateral side. At the
loading point E, further disintegration occurs in the central area and the
stress releases accordingly. In addition, it can be seen from Fig. 11 (a)
that cracks occurred in mortar and ITZ are comparable during the
cracking process.
When the σ ITZ/σ Mortar increases to 0.87, crack initiation is further
delayed and starts at the loading point C. Apparent stress release can be
seen in the concrete, meaning that the cracks are detrimental. This is
mainly because the strength difference between ITZ and mortar becomes
H. Zhao et al. Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 120 (2022) 103415

Fig. 6. Effect of sample structure on the crack pattern at σ Agg/σ Mortar = 1.08.

Fig. 7. The variation of stress and broken bond with the loading strain for
concretes with different ITZ strengths, where A, B, C, D and E are different
loading points.

small, and crack growth shows no obvious preference to these two

components. Besides, crack patterns become clearer and more direct,
which can be seen from the crack image at loading point D. However, it
can be found from Fig. 12 (a) that the broken bond in mortar is higher
than that in ITZ. This is due to the fact that, compared with mortar, ITZ
only accounts for a small portion in concrete. As the load continues, the
sample deteriorates with significant stress release.
Fig. 13 shows the crack and stress information at the loading points
C, D and E when σITZ/σMortar = 1.04. Cracks start becoming appreciable
at D and stress concentration dominates within the sample, with partial
stress release at its laterals. It means that crack growth is deferred with
the increase of the ITZ strength, and the concrete strength is improved
accordingly.
As shown in Fig. 14, the crack growth in ITZ becomes less significant
when σITZ/σMortar increases to 1.21. As the ITZ strength increases to a
value that is higher than that of mortar, crack growth becomes slower
Fig. 8. The effect of ITZ strength on elastic modulus, compressive strength and
strain to damage of the concretes, where the error bar represents the property
fluctuation from the three randomly generated concrete structures.
and occurs preferably within the mortar.
Fig. 15 shows the failure pattern of concretes with different ITZ
strengths. It can be found that crack population is remarkable in con­
crete when σITZ/σMortar = 0.52, and most of the cracks grow preferably
along the aggregates and propagate at the loading direction. When the
ITZ strength σITZ/σMortar is larger than 0.87, crack population decreases

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H. Zhao et al. Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 120 (2022) 103415

Fig. 9. The structure and corresponding von Mises stress distribution of different concretes at the loading point A.

Fig. 10. (a) Broken bond occurred in each composing component, and (b) the crack and stress distributions of the sample at loading points B, C, D and E, where σ ITZ/
σMortar = 0.52.

Fig. 11. The crack image and stress distribution of the sample at loading points B, C, D and E, where σITZ/σ Mortar = 0.69.

6
H. Zhao et al. Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 120 (2022) 103415

Fig. 12. The crack image and stress distribution of the sample at loading points B, C, D and E, where σITZ/σ Mortar = 0.87.

Fig. 13. The crack image and stress distribution of the sample at loading points C, D and E when σ ITZ/σ Mortar = 1.04.

Fig. 14. The crack image and stress distribution of the sample at loading points C, D and E when σ ITZ/σ Mortar = 1.21.

dramatically. In addition, crack profiles become more direct, with crack from the black line that cracks occurred in concretes decrease with the
orientation being about 30 degrees from the loading. As the σITZ/σMortar ITZ strength, and this decreasing tendency becomes less apparent with
exceeds 1.21, the crack pattern of concretes shows no clear difference. the further increase of ITZ strength. The appreciable decrease of crack
Fig. 16 shows the population of cracks in the concretes. It can be seen population is largely contributed by the cracks induced in ITZ. As cracks

7
H. Zhao et al.
Fig. 15. Failure pattern of the sample with different ITZ strengths.
Fig. 16. The effect of ITZ strength on crack growth in concretes.
in mortar remain almost constant and cracks hardly occur in aggregates.
3.2. The effect of aggregate strength
The variations of stress and broken bond with loading strain for
concretes with different aggregate strengths are shown in Fig. 17. It can
be seen that the peak stress of the sample increases with the aggregate
strength. Besides, cracks initiate approximately at the same loading
strain and the cracking speed rises with the decrease of aggregate
strength. When σ Agg/σ Mortar is larger than 1.73, both the stress-strain
curves and broken bond curves tend to remain unchanged, indicating
that the mechanical behaviours of concrete become irrelevant to
aggregate strength.
Fig. 18 shows the influence of aggregate strength on the elastic
modulus, compressive strength and strain-to-damage. Clearly, the con­
crete elasticity is independent of aggregate strength. The variations of
the compressive strength and strain-to-damage with the aggregate
strength are similar, i.e., they increase with the aggregate strength
initially and then stay constant when σ Agg/σMortar > 1.30. As σAgg/σMortar
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Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 120 (2022) 103415
Fig. 17. The variations of stress and broken bond with the loading strain for
concretes with different aggregate strengths.
increases from 0.87 to 1.30, the compressive strength rises from 26 MPa
to 31 MPa and strain-to-damage rises from 0.075% to 0.09%.
The evolution processes of crack and stress under loadings are shown
in Fig. 19. Cracks dominate in aggregate when σAgg/σ Mortar ≈ 0.9. Be­
sides, crack growth and stress release are rapid, leading to a fast dete­
rioration of the sample. Cracks become dominant in mortar when σ Agg/
σ Mortar ≈ 1.3, and crack population in ITZ and aggregate are comparable.
When σAgg/σMortar ≈ 2.2, crack growth tends to bypass the aggregate,
resulting in a tortuous cracking pattern. This enhanced tortuosity of the
crack path can be one of the reasons for the increased compressive
strength and strain-to-damage for concretes with higher aggregate
strength.
Fig. 20 shows the failure pattern of the concretes. When σ Agg/σ Mortar
= 0.87, the crack pattern is strong and clear in concretes. It can also be
found that the cracks mainly concentrate on aggregate, with crack width
comparable to the aggregate size. This is because aggregate is the
weakest component. Crack propagation becomes independent of
H. Zhao et al. Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 120 (2022) 103415

high strength aggregates.

Fig. 21 shows the population of broken bonds that occurred in con­
cretes. It can be found that cracks induced in concretes decrease rapidly
and then exhibit a slow increase with the aggregate strength. The
appreciable decrease of cracks is due to the dramatic reduction of cracks
in aggregate. When the aggregate strength σAgg/σMortar exceeds 1.73,
cracks in aggregate become negligible because aggregates become the
strongest component in concrete. Meanwhile, cracks in both ITZ and
mortar rise continuously, leading to the slight increase of crack popu­
lation in concrete.

4. Conclusions

A systematic investigation about the effects of ITZ and aggregate

strength on the mechanical behaviours of concretes is conducted with
the aid of DEM modelling. The variations of elastic modulus, strain to
damage and compressive strength with the factors studied under a
certain range are presented. In addition, stress distribution, crack
growth and failure pattern of the samples are analysed. Based on the
results discussed above, the main conclusions are drawn as follows:

• The heterogeneity in ITZ/mortar has no obvious impact on the me­

Fig. 18. The effect of aggregate strength on elastic modulus, compressive
strength and strain-to-damage of the samples.
concrete component when σ Agg/σ Mortar = 1.3. In addition, the crack
width reduces with the increase of aggregate strength. Crack pattern
starts to follow a zig-zag course when σAgg/σ Mortar > 1.73, bypassing the
chanical behaviours of concretes.
• The elastic modulus of concrete is insensitive to the strength of ITZ/
aggregate. Both the compressive strength and strain-to-damage in­
crease with the strength of ITZ/aggregate and then level out. Spe­
cifically, the thresholds for the occurrence of property change in
concrete are about 1.2 and 1.3 for σITZ/σ Mortar and σAgg/σ Mortar,
respectively.
• When the σ ITZ/σ Mortar is about 0.5, crack population is substantial,
and cracks tend to grow vertically. Most of the cracks that initially
occurred in ITZ are non-destructive. As the σITZ/σMortar increases to
0.9, cracks become more direct and destructive, with crack orienta­
tion being about 30 degrees of the loading.

Fig. 19. The crack and stress distributions of the sample with different aggregate strengths at the loading points A, B, C, and D.

9
H. Zhao et al.
Fig. 20. Failure patterns with different aggregate strengths.
Fig. 21. The variation of cracks that occurred in the concretes with aggre­
gate strength.
• Crack initiates and intensifies rapidly in the low-strength aggregate
with the crack width comparable to the aggregate size, deteriorating
the sample more quickly. Crack growth becomes independent of
concrete component when σAgg/σMortar ≈ 1.3 and starts bypassing the
high strength aggregate when σ Agg/σ Mortar ≈ 1.7.
These findings could have indicated that concrete strength largely
depends on the component with the lowest strength, and crack growth
can be deferred and/or reduced as the strength of the concrete compo­
nent increases. Therefore, aggregate, mortar and ITZ with high elasticity
and strengths are necessary for high performance concretes. Concretes
with higher strength can be expected if rocks of higher strengths such as
granites, gravels were used as aggregates and the ITZ strength was
improved by properly decreasing the water to cement ratio, increasing
the surface roughness of aggregate, and adding fine particles.
10
Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 120 (2022) 103415
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Haiyang Zhao: Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis,
Writing – original draft. Zhonghuai Wu: Supervision, Investigation,
Writing – review & editing. Ang Liu: Supervision, Writing – review &
editing. Liangchi Zhang: Supervision, Conceptualization, Project
administration, Funding acquisition, 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.
Acknowledgement
This work was financially supported by the Guangdong Specific
Discipline Project 2020ZDZX2006 and Shenzhen Key Laboratory of
Cross-scale Manufacturing Mechanics Project ZDSYS2020081017
1201007.
Data Availability
The data files for the methodology and results described in this paper
are available upon reasonable request.
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