Case Studies in Construction Materials 19 (2023) e02305

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Case Studies in Construction Materials

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

Characterizing fatigue damage behaviors of concrete beam

specimens in varying amplitude load
Lei Liang a, b, Chaojia Liu a, *, Yunhua Cui c, Yanfeng Li d, Zhenglei Chen a,
Zhihang Wang a, Zhihua Yao a
a
School of Aeronautical Engineering, Air Force Engineering University, Xi’an 710038, China
b
School of Highway, Chang’an University, Shaanxi, Xi’an 710064, China
c
PLA 94865 Troop, Zhejiang, Hangzhou 310017, China
d
PLA 94995 Troop, Jiangsu, Nantong 226500, China

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

Keywords: In this paper, the random and nonlinear mechanical characteristics of the composition distribu­
Airport pavement tion of concrete in each phase are investigated to solve the difficulty of fatigue damage test of
Cement pavement concrete beam specimens under variable amplitude loading. A three-dimensional (3D) concrete
Concrete beams
composite random aggregate meso-model of concrete beam specimens is built with Digimat as a
Three-dimensional meso-model
Fatigue damage
composite modeling tool. Subsequently, the bending-tensile strength and fatigue life of the model
Numerical simulation under four-point bending loading is analyzed and calculated using Abaqus finite element analysis
model based on the concrete elastic-plastic damage criterion. The mechanical behaviors of con­
crete materials under static load failure, multistage fatigue loading, and random fatigue loading
are studied. Finally, compared with the test results, the following conclusions are obtained. The
random aggregate model and elastoplastic damage mechanics model of concrete composite
constructed by concrete in Abaqus and Digimat can better describe the geometric and distribution
characteristics of composite structure and aggregate in concrete beams and the mechanical
behavior of fatigue and static load failure. The difference is 4.08 % with the experimental results,
which verifies the validity and reliability of the numerical simulation model, and the fatigue life
of concrete beams under random loading Sra and Srb is 1622 and 164 times, respectively. The
research results have certain guiding significance and reference value for accurate calculation of
bending and tensile strength of concrete beams under specified raw material and mix ratio and
prediction of fatigue damage cracking in airport cement concrete pavement structure.

1. Introduction

In the design of pavement structures, the fatigue theory and test results of concrete beam specimens under indoor constant
amplitude load are mainly used. With the change of parameters and take-off and landing modes of new aircraft, its ground load
characteristics have undergone great changes [1]. In addition, different types of aircraft during takeoff, landing, and taxiing, factors
such as aircraft take-off and landing modes, mechanical vibration, road roughness, skid speed, and aircraft lift will have different
influences on the structure of airport concrete pavement [2,3].

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: liuchaojia@163.com (C. Liu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cscm.2023.e02305
Received 28 January 2023; Received in revised form 19 May 2023; Accepted 10 July 2023
Available online 13 July 2023
2214-5095/© 2023 Air force Engineering University. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
L. Liang et al. Case Studies in Construction Materials 19 (2023) e02305

In order to solve the problem of fatigue damage of cement concrete pavement at the airport, the fatigue damage mechanism of
cement concrete beams under variable amplitude load can be discussed through the fatigue failure test of concrete beams under
multistage load. However, due to the test environment, operation level, and other reasons, a lot of manpower, material resources,
financial resources, and research period are consumed, and the test results are often relatively discrete, sometimes even unable to
reflect the mechanical properties of materials [4]. Moreover, in the process of studying the fatigue damage analysis of cement concrete,
damage variables are introduced to establish the damage constitutive equation based on the elastic-plastic theory, which well explains
the nonlinear characteristics of concrete damage [5].
However, the randomness of concrete is poorly explained. Concrete is a three-phase material composed of cement paste, aggregate,
and air bubbles, and cement mortar and aggregate differ greatly in mechanical properties. After concrete forming, cement mortar,
aggregate, and air bubbles also have greater randomness in distribution. With the development of computer technology, graphics
software, and finite element algorithm, it becomes effective to construct concrete random aggregate models and adopt numerical
analysis methods at the meso-level. Random aggregate model of concrete [6,7], random mechanical property model [8–10], statistical
mesoscopic damage mechanics model [11–14], mesoscopic numerical model [7,15–17], etc., all provide ideas and methods for the
material mesoscopic analysis of concrete structures. Then, scholars researched aggregate placement algorithms, meso-structural
feature generation, mechanical property parameter distribution, etc. Jongvivatsakul et al. simulated the mechanical behavior of
materials through the motion and action forms of bonding fracture and particle slip of a large number of particle units [18,19]. The
relationship among axial tensile strength, splitting strength, and bending tensile strength of concrete is calculated and analyzed [20,
21]. Based on mesoscopic theory, by studying the effective stress redistribution effect under fatigue, the relationship expression be­
tween effective stress and damage variable is established, and the damage variable is introduced into the fatigue damage equation and
applied to the practical work of the residual fatigue life of pavement concrete [22]. Muthukaruppan et al. used Matlab to establish a
numerical analysis model for mortar on a mesoscale and a numerical analysis model for concrete on a macroscopic scale. Weibull
random probability distribution function was used to characterize the mechanical properties of the concrete interface layer. The
heterogeneous characteristics and damage localization of concrete mechanical properties are analyzed [23,24]. Feng et al. used the
Monte-Carlo method to generate a three-dimensional random aggregate model [25], and combined with finite element calculation,
carried out a numerical test of the uniaxial tensile of the concrete model [26]. Xu et al. regarded concrete as a multiphase composite
material composed of cement paste, aggregate, and pores, established a concrete meso-mechanical model with Digimat software, and
studied the influence of aggregate volume ratio and each component on the equivalent elastic modulus of concrete [27,28].
Experts and scholars have done a lot of research work in experiment and simulation calculation, and have made some achieve­
ments, but there are still some problems that need to be further discussed and improved. Some random aggregate models lack certain
technical means when describing concrete meso-structure. To save calculation costs, a two-dimensional plane simplified model is
generally used for processing, and a circular or polygon is used to describe the geometric structure of aggregate, which is quite different
from the actual structure. Although CT scanning and printing technology can restore the concrete meso-structure, the cost is too high.
Tian et al. reconstructed a three-dimensional meso-structural model of concrete with the help of CT electronic computed tomography
technology and analyzed the failure process of uniaxial compression of the model through finite element calculation [29,30]. Based on
CT scanning technology and with the help of 3D printing technology, Qiu et al. replaced concrete mortar and aggregate with rigid
photosensitive resins Vero Clear and Vero White Plus to truly restore the pore structure of concrete, and then fully studied the influence
of different porosity on freeze-thaw characteristics of concrete [31,32]. In a word, concrete research is becoming more and more
meso-real, and with the development of computer technology, computing power is no longer a key problem restricting concrete
meso-research. A three-dimensional random aggregate model constructed by new technical means has an innate advantage in test
repeatability and can be used to analyze concrete damage mechanisms and fatigue properties more intuitively.
Therefore, in this paper, Digimat was used as a simulation modeling tool for composite materials, and the components of 10–20 mm
particle size gravel aggregate, 5–10 mm particle size gravel aggregate, bubble, and cement matrix were divided respectively at the
mesoscopic level, and then a three-dimensional random concrete aggregate model was established. Then, the finite element software
Abaqus was used to analyze and calculate the bending tensile strength and fatigue life of the model under four-point bending loading,
and the mechanical behavior of static load failure and fatigue damage of the beam specimens’ model of concrete random aggregate was
analyzed through simulation and test at the meso-level. The research results have a certain reference value for the research of fatigue
damage of airport pavement structure.

2. Theory and methodology

2.1. Mechanical model of elastoplastic damage

A mature mechanical model of elastoplastic damage for concrete is integrated into the finite element analysis platform, and the
elastoplastic damage theory is extended to the application level. This model serves as a reliable research approach for analyzing the
stress distribution and damage conditions of concrete structures under complex stress environments [33,34], defining the damage
behavior, stiffness recovery behavior, and elastic-plastic behavior of concrete under load, respectively.

2.1.1. Damage behavior

The experimental results show that the main failure mechanisms of concrete are tensile cracking and compressive fragmentation
[35,36]. When concrete is unloaded from any point in the elastic-plastic strengthening and strain-softening stages of the stress-strain
curve, its stiffness degrades to a certain extent. The degradation of elastic stiffness caused by tensile and compressive mechanical

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behavior is respectively represented by damage variables dt and dc (0 < d < 1), and it is assumed that stress increment is only related to
elastic strain. Thus, uniaxial tensile stress σt and uniaxial compressive stress σt are respectively expressed as:

σt = (1 − dt )E0 (εt − ̃εpt ) (1)

σc = (1 − dc )E0 (εc − ̃εpc ) (2)

εpt and ̃εpc are the equivalent plastic strains under tension and compression. The upper
where E0 is the initial tensile stiffness of concrete; ̃
εck
corner mark e and p respectively denote plasticity and elasticity. In the state of tensile failure, the cracking strain ̃t is defined as the
e e
total strain εt minus the elastic strain of the undamaged materialε0t , where ε0t = σ t /E0 , as shown in Fig. 1. Thus, it yields:

̃εck e
t = εt − ε0t , (3)

After conversion, the equivalent plastic strain under tensile conditions is converted to:
dt σ t
̃εpt = ̃
εck
t − (4)
1 − dt E0
Assuming the ratio of plastic strain to cracking strain as η, the tensile damage factor can be obtained by substituting η into Eq. (4):
ck
(1 − η)̃εt E0
dt = ck
(5)
(1 − η ε
)̃t E0 + σt

Likewise, in the state of compression failure, as shown in Fig. 2, the compressive damage factor is:
in
(1 − η)̃
ε c E0
dc = in (6)
(1 − η ε
)̃c E0 + σc

2.1.2. Stiffness recovery

For the quasi-brittle material concrete, when the tensile stress in the concrete is changed to compressive stress, the stiffness is
restored to a certain extent when the crack is closed. However, when concrete cracks, its stiffness is not effectively restored when the
compressive stress changes to the tensile stress. To reflect this phenomenon, the stiffness recovery factor is defined in the plastic
damage model for concrete, as shown in Fig. 3.
Fig. 3 shows the role of the stiffness recovery factor in the damage model. Under the uniaxial cyclic load of tensile-compressive
stress, the initial compressive stiffness is the same as the initial tensile stiffness. Starting from point O, in the initial tensile stage,
the concrete stress increases with the initial tensile stiffness E0. After entering the softening stage, the concrete stress decreases with (1-
dt) E0 when unloading is carried out at any point.
The above result indicates that when the compressive stiffness recovery factor ωc = 1, the compressive stress of concrete increases
inversely with the initial compressive stiffness E0. When the compressive stiffness recovery factor ωc = 0, the compressive stress of
concrete will reverse increase with the initial compressive stiffness (1-dt) E0.
When the compressive stress exceeds the compressive yield stress of concrete, it is unloaded at any point in the stress-strain curve,
and the reverse load is carried out. If the tensile stiffness factor ωt = 1, the concrete will be backloaded with (1-dc) E0. If the tensile
stiffness factor ωt = 0, concrete will be reversely loaded with (1-dt) (1-dc) E0, resulting in a tension-compressive damage cycle. In
general, the tensile damage is unrecoverable, i.e., the compressive stiffness recovery factor ωc = 1.

Fig. 1. Tensile cracking strain.

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Fig. 2. Compressive cracking strain.

Fig. 3. Stiffness recovery factor.

2.1.3. Plastic behaviors

The two effective stress tensors used in the plastic potential function and yield surface are the hydrostatic pressure and the Mises
equivalent effective stress. The hyperbolic Drucker-Prager model is adopted as the plastic potential function, and the improved form of
yield function proposed by Lee and Fenves to Lubliner [37] is adopted as the yield function model of concrete materials adopts. Table 1
lists the main parameters for materials (e.g., rock and concrete whose compressive yield strength is greater than tensile yield strength).
The tensile damage factor dt and compressive damage factor dc defined by the model are shown in Fig. 4.

2.2. Establishment of finite element model

2.2.1. Model establishment method

In order to accurately describe the meso-geometric structure of aggregate and the randomness of its distribution, the virtual
experiment is constructed by Digimat composite modeling platform [38–40]. Digimat provides an effective modeling and analysis
approach for all kinds of fiber, crystal, particle, lamellar, and other reinforcing phase materials, enabling more accurate prediction
results.
According to different components and the actual concrete ratio, the simulation model divides the concrete structure into four
components, including gravel aggregate with a particle size of 5–10 mm, gravel aggregate with a particle size of 10–20 mm, bubbles,
and cement matrix. Through Digimat composite modeling platform, concrete joists with a size of 400 mm × 100 mm × 100 mm are

Table 1
Damage plasticity parameters of concrete.
Expansion angle Eccentric Yield stress ratio of equiaxial compression to uniaxial Stress ratio of triaxial tension to triaxial Viscosity
Ψ (◦ ) distance ε compression σb0 /σc0 compression K coefficient

35 0.1 1.16 0.677 0

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Fig. 4. Damage factors.

constructed. The four components of concrete are represented by Macadam10, Macadam20, Bubble, and Cement in Digimat composite
modeling platform, and each component is isotropic material and endowed with basic mechanical properties respectively.
At the same time, in general, in addition to the aggregate part of the concrete structure, the role of the steel-concrete interface is also
particularly important in the simulation, as shown in Fig. 5. However, in this model, the research is mainly aimed at exploring the
fatigue damage characteristics of concrete beams under variable amplitude load from the randomness and nonlinear mechanical
properties of the distribution of each phase of concrete. Therefore, it is assumed that the damage at the concrete-steel interface is not
considered in this study.
Among them, the physical parameters of the material are calculated by the concrete mixture ratio test, as shown in Table 2.
In the random aggregate model of concrete beam constructed by the Digimat composite modeling platform, each component is
filled successively according to particle size, that is, Macadam20→Macadam10→Bubble. Finally, cement mortar is used as the base
material to fill the remaining gaps. In the model, the distribution and direction of each coarse aggregate and bubble are generated
randomly, thus constructing the meso-structural characteristics of 3D random aggregate, as shown in Fig. 6.
Fig. 6 shows the numbers of all 5–10 mm aggregate aggregates and their spatial positions within the concrete, as well as the X-Y
layout of aggregate particles. Through data summary, the spatial distribution of 5–10 mm gravel aggregate, 10–20 mm gravel
aggregate, and bubbles are listed in Table 3.
As depicted in Table 3, the overall center coordinates of the aggregate with a grain size of 5–10 mm are (0.199, 0.049, 0.0501), and
the overall center coordinates of the aggregate with a grain size of 10–20 mm are (0.2, 0.0511, 0.0502). The overall center coordinate
of the bubble is (0.202, 0.0487, 0.0521), which indicates that the overall center of each component is located in the center of the
concrete. On the other hand, it can be found from the minimum and maximum values of aggregate distribution and the schematic
diagram of each aggregate distribution plane in the table that the central position of some aggregate and bubbles at the boundary
position may deviate from the boundary of the concrete beam, which is reasonable. The Digimat composite modeling platform enables
the complete beam specimens’ model to be obtained by cutting the aggregate outside the boundary.
Fig. 7 shows the histogram of the distance between the nearest aggregates, and Table 4 shows in detail the number and distance
between the nearest aggregates of each gravel aggregate with a particle size of 5–10 mm. The distance between the adjacent aggregates
in the concrete beam specimens is shown in Table 5.
As depicted in Fig. 7 and Table 4, the spacing distribution of each component inside the concrete is random. Although the adjacent

Fig. 5. Simulated microscopic characterization of steel-concrete interface and damage such as cracks and corrosion at the interface [41–43].

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Table 2
Physical and mechanical properties of materials.
Material Volume/% Density/(g/cm3) Poisson’s ratio Elasticity modulus/GPa Tensile strength/MPa Compressive strength/MPa

Macadam10 19.67 2.73 0.16 55.5 6.0 80

Macadam20 29.49 2.73 0.16 55.5 6.0 80
Cement 49.16 2.24 0.22 26 3.7 50.2
Bubble 1 \ \ \ \

Fig. 6. X-Y plane position diagram of gravel aggregate with a particle size of 5–10 mm.

Table 3
Distribution of each component of the concrete beam.
Component Macadam10 Macadam20 Bubble
Number 1734 276 955

Coordinate X Y Z X Y Z X Y Z

Average/m 0.199 0.049 0.0501 0.200 0.0511 0.0502 0.202 0.0487 0.0521
Standard deviation/m 0.117 0.0318 0.0317 0.118 0.0339 0.0344 0.113 0.0298 0.0286
Minimum/m -0.003 -0.0035 -0.0030 -0.0033 -0.0057 -0.0061 -0.0001 -0.0006 -0.0004
Maximum/m 0.403 0.103 0.104 0.407 0.107 0.106 0.401 0.101 0.101

Fig. 7. The nearest aggregate spacing of the gravel with a diameter of 5–10 mm.

spacing of some aggregates is larger than the aggregate particle size, it cannot be filled. This is because the spacing between adjacent
aggregates is a one-dimensional statistical result in the 3D structure. However, particle filling takes up a spatial volume and belongs to
a 3D structure. It can meet the requirements of aggregate particle size filling in 1D spacing, whereas it does not meet these

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Table 4
The nearest aggregate number and spacing of each gravel aggregate.
No. Inclusion id Nearest inci. id Distance No. Inclusion id Nearest inci. id Distance

1 1.1 163.1 0.0146092 16 14.1 625.1 0.0131257

2 2.1 625.2 0.0137525 17 15.1 331.1 0.0154561
3 2.2 625.1 0.0137576 18 15.2 448.1 0.0107108
4 3.1 219.1 0.0117047 19 16.1 502.1 0.0135325
5 4.1 585.1 0.01435 20 17.1 25.1 0.0132285
6 5.1 534.2 0.0156492 21 18.1 59.1 0.0115497
7 6.1 627.1 0.0144284 22 18.2 59.2 0.0115497
8 7.1 556.1 0.0122125 23 19.1 541.1 0.0102432
9 8.1 184.2 0.0130884 24 20.1 289.1 0.0117955
10 8.2 495.1 0.0111453 25 21.1 651.1 0.0114387
11 9.1 573.1 0.00085309 26 22.1 485.1 0.0116653
12 10.1 281.2 0.0123555 27 23.1 350.1 0.0135712
13 11.1 548.1 0.0124439 28 24.1 9.1 0.0158733
14 12.1 527.1 0.0113036 29 25.1 17.1 0.0132286
15 13.1 625.1 0.0131257 30 26.1 472.1 0.0160584

Table 5
Adjacent spacing of each component of the concrete beam.
Component Macadam10 Macadam20 Bubble

Average/m 0.0127 0.025 0.00935

Standard deviation/m 0.0019 0.00295 0.00358
Minimum/m 0.0093 0.018 0.00216
Maximum/m 0.0252 0.0345 0.027

requirements in 2D or 3D spacing.
On the other hand, since the aggregate filling is carried out in the order of using aggregate with a large particle size first and then
using aggregate with a small particle size, part of the larger aggregate cannot fill the smaller gaps and will be replaced by smaller
aggregate, bubbles, or cement. Finally, the 3D random aggregate model of the concrete beam as shown in Fig. 8 is obtained. In Fig. 8
(a), the green area represents the aggregate model of Macadam20, the blue area represents Macadam10, and the red area represents
the Bubble model. The geometric characteristics and distribution of aggregate in the model exhibit great randomness.
Fig. 9 shows the concrete beams cut in the pavement panel test. The result of the comparison suggests that the aggregate distri­
bution is roughly similar to the 3D random aggregate model established by Digimat composite platform, thus suggesting that the model
objectively and truly reflects the meso-structural characteristics of aggregate distribution.

2.2.2. Static load condition

In the model, the fixture is set as a rigid body, and its deformation is not considered, and the model uses a four-point bending
method to load the concrete beam specimen. Fig. 10 shows the grid division of the concrete joist model. Due to the complex meso-
structure of aggregate and bubbles within concrete, it is technically difficult to mesh smaller bubble units and aggregate angular or
concave locations using more accurate Hex elements. Besides, although the accuracy of the calculation with the tetrahedral (Tet)
element is lower, it can still meet the calculation requirements through mesh encryption. The main body of the model is divided by
tetrahedral linear elements (C3D4), with a total of 794,009 units and 144,906 nodes. The result suggests that the mesh size varies due

Fig. 8. 3D random aggregate model of concrete beam specimen.

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Fig. 9. Concrete beam specimens after cutting.

Fig. 10. Grid division of small concrete models.

to the inconsistent size of the internal aggregate.

To check the load, reference points are set respectively on the four loading points of the model fixture and the upper and lower end
faces of the beam. By setting coupling constraints, the two loading points of the upper end fixture (RP-3 and RP-4) are loaded through
the reference point (RP-6). The applied load condition is displacement deformation condition, and the vertical displacement is
controlled as 0.2 mm. The two loading points of the lower end fixture (RP-1 and RP-2) are fixed by reference points (RP-5).

2.2.3. Fatigue loading condition

There are many factors affecting the fatigue damage performance of concrete: mix ratio, aggregate type, loading frequency, static
period, and temperature and humidity conditions. Ordinary concrete mixture is composed of cement paste, fine aggregate, and coarse
aggregate, and doped with air in the process of mechanical mixing. Different component ratios will not only form differences in
strength but also fatigue performance. In addition, concrete has different fatigue characteristics under uniaxial compression, uniaxial
tension, tension-compression repetition, bending fatigue, and multi-axial loading modes [44–46]. While under the action of fatigue,
the damage at the interface of concrete structure is mainly due to the stress concentration and corrosion damage caused by fatigue, but
also more due to stiffness attenuation and energy dissipation.
In this study, the fatigue life of concrete is calculated by the Fe-safe module of Abaqus finite element analysis software, and the
principle is based on the stress distribution results of the finite element analysis of the beam and the mathematical model of the fatigue
equation. The above result suggests that the stress level of the fatigue loading spectrum should be set based on the static load failure
results of the four-point flexure of the concrete beam. In the simulation test, the ultimate load of the four-point flexure is calculated as
22.963 kN. When the three stress levels are used for comparative study, the load applied is shown in Table 6 and Fig. 11. To be specific,
the loading frequency is set at 5 Hz and the stress ratio R is set at 0.1.
Moreover, to analyze the bending and tensile fatigue life of concrete beams under random loadings, two random loading spectra Sra
and Srb are developed by the Fe-safe module. Two random loading spectra over a period formulated by Fe-safe are depicted in Fig. 10 of
random loading spectrum. Fig. 11 presents the random loading spectra of two kinds of random loading spectra within a period
formulated by Fe-safe. The random loading spectrum of the upper left in Fig. 11 is the loading spectrum Sra formed by the combination
of three stress levels of 0.65, 0.75, and 0.85 according to a certain proportion of 5:3:2. The random loading spectrum of the upper right
in Fig. 10 is the random loading spectrum Srb with the average stress level of 0.75 and variance of 0.1.

Table 6
Single-stage fatigue loading of simulation test.
Stress level S Peak stress σmax/MPa Peak load Fmax/kN Valley stressσmin/MPa Valley load Fmin/kN

0.65 4.478 14.926 0.448 1.493

0.75 5.167 17.222 0.517 1.722
0.85 5.856 19.519 0.586 1.952

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1.20
1.05
0.90 Random load spectrum Sra Random load spectrum Srb

Stress level S
0.75 S=0.85
0.60
S=0.75
0.45
S=0.65
0.30
0.15
0.00
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
Time (s)
Fig. 11. Schematic diagram of load spectrum and random load spectrum under multistage loading.

2.3. Laboratory test

2.3.1. Materials
The bending strength is the main index of the airport concrete runway, and the compressive strength is the reference index. The
bending strength of 28 d age is used as the design bending strength. The bending strength of Grade I airport cement concrete is not less
than 4.5 MPa, and that of Grade II, III, and VI airports is not less than 5.0 MPa.

(1) Cement
Portland cement or ordinary Portland cement with moderate fineness, strong wear resistance, small shrinkage, and good frost
resistance is selected for cement concrete pavement. When the designed bending strength of cement concrete is not less than
5.0 MPa, the measured 28 d bending strength of cement should be greater than 8.0 MPa. In order to meet the requirements of
this index, 42.5 R ordinary Portland cement of Qinling brand in Yaoxian County, Shaanxi Province was selected for the test. The
index parameters of its main properties are shown in Table 7.

(2) Coarse aggregate and fine aggregate

In the experiment, Jingyang limestone gravel was used as concrete coarse aggregate. The aggregate density and bulk density
were 2.73 g/cm3 and 1.64 g/cm3, respectively. The surface was rough and polygonal. The crushing index was 11.2 %. After
cleaning, the mud content was 0.1 %, as shown in Fig. 12. In order to reduce the discreteness of the data, the fatigue test of the
concrete beam with the size of 400 mm × 100 mm × 100 mm was carried out. The coarse aggregate of 5–10 mm and
10–20 mm was used, and the ratio was 40: 60, as shown in Fig. 12.

The fine aggregate is Bahe medium sand, zone II gradation, density, and bulk density are 2.65 g/cm3 and 1.61 g/cm3, fineness
modulus is 2.81. The sand surface is smooth and clean without impurities, and the texture is hard. After washing and drying, the mud
content is 1.1 %, as shown in Fig. 13.

2.3.2. Mix design

The amount of each component material of 1 m3 concrete is shown in Table 8.
After the indoor trial mixing adjustment, the measured mixture viber consistency is 23 s, which meets the requirements of
workability. Therefore, the mix design of the water cement ratio of 0.44 and sand ratio of 0.33 is determined. The amount of each

Table 7
Cement performance parameters.
Density/(g/ Water requirement for normal 80 µm sieving Stability Setting time Bending Compressive
cm3) consistency/% residue/% strength/ strength/
MPa MPa

Boiled Initial set Final set 3d 28 d 3d 28 d

(h) (h)

3.21 28.3 1.4 compliance 2.17 5.2 5.4 8.9 30.8 51.1

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Fig. 12. Coarse aggregate.

Fig. 13. Fine aggregate.

Table 8
Benchmark mix proportion (kg).
Cement Water Medium stone Little stone Sand

340 149.6 830 553 603

component material of 1 m3 concrete is shown in Table 9.

2.3.3. Loading test

The test was carried out by an MTS-810 material testing machine, as shown in Fig. 14 and Fig. 15. The maximum load of the test
machine is 10 t, with high precision displacement, load sensor, and two-channel output signal, and the hydraulic fixture is configured
to realize force control, displacement control, tension and compression test, fatigue test, and so on.
The tool-type surface strain gauge (EY501-762) was used to measure the bending strain of concrete. As shown in Fig. 16 (a), the
main performance parameters of the strain gauge are shown in Table 10. In the test, the double-arm connection method is used to
connect with the bridge box. The data were collected by an 8-channel programmable dynamic strain gauge (AFT-0951 K) and a full-
information acoustic emission asterisk analyzer (DS5-8A). The acquisition frequency was set to 1000 Hz, as shown in Fig. 16 (c) and
the main performance parameters are shown in Table 11 and 12

Table 9
Laboratory mix ratio.
Cement Water Medium stone Little stone Sand

340 149.6 805 537 634

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Fig. 14. MTS-810 material testing machine.

Fig. 15. Fixed position of strainometer and sensor.

Fig. 16. Test preparation.

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Table 10
Main parameters of EY501-762 instrumental surface strainometer.
Gauge distance/mm Range/με Sensitivity/(με/mV/V) Bridge resistance/Ω Accuracy/(%FS)

76.2 ± 1500 500 350 ≤±2

Table 11
Main parameters of AFT-0951K programmable dynamic strain gauge.
Bridge resistance/Ω Gauge factor/K Sensitivity/(V/με) Accuracy/(%FS) Increment Arch bridge voltage/V

60–1000 2.00 0.003 ≤±1 100/300/1000/3000 2/4/8

Table 12
Technical specifications of DS5-8A full information acoustic emission signal analyzer.
Waveform data pass rate/(MB/s) Continuous data pass rate/(MB/s) Sampling rate/M A/D conversion error/LSB A/D conversion accuracy

48 65.5 5–6 ≤ ± 0.5 16

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Static load failure test

As shown in Fig. 17 and Fig. 18, the stress-strain curve and time-history characteristic curve of the load show that during the initial
loading process, the load increases linearly with time, and when the peak load is reached, there is a short-term yield phenomenon,
which is consistent with the trend of the experimental and simulation results in the study of [47–49].
Subsequently, the load experiences a stress drop at 0.15 s. It is interesting that the force rapidly reduced to 7.68 kN, at this time,
cracks have appeared inside the concrete, and the structure has lost strength, the corresponding peak load of the fixture reaches
22.963 kN.
Based on the results of laboratory tests, the effective data of ultimate bending strain and peak stress, mid-span displacement, and
peak load measured by the size coefficient (0.85) are shown in Table 13.
Compared with the laboratory test results of 23.94 kN, the difference is 4.08 %. In laboratory tests, the result suggests that the
structure retains a certain bearing capacity after concrete failure, which is due to the frictional bite force on the sliding surface and the
residual strength of the concrete fragments divided by cracks.
According to the field test environment, after setting the detection threshold, peak identification time, impact identification time,
and impact locking time, the full information signal analyzer software collects a large number of burst signals in the continuous
waveform diagram. The shape of the acoustic emission waveform is mainly related to the fracture mode characteristics of tensile crack
and shear crack development. Fig. 19 is the acoustic emission signal obtained by the test during static load failure, which reflects the

Fig. 17. Stress-strain curve of the concrete beam under loading [47–49].

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L. Liang et al. Case Studies in Construction Materials 19 (2023) e02305

Fig. 18. Time history characteristic curve of the concrete beam under loading [48,50].

Table 13
Bending resistance of concrete beam specimens.
Peak stress/MPa Ultimate bending strain/με Peak load/kN Mid-span displacement/mm

6.38 188 25.02 0.076

6.06 159 23.76 0.068
5.78 157 22.67 0.058
6.22 / 24.39 0.063
6.13 162 24.04 0.071
5.99 159 23.50 0.069
6.29 / 24.67 0.074
6.23 168 24.43 0.072
5.87 153 23.02 0.067
Average value
6.11 163.72 23.94 0.069
Variance
0.20 11.66 0.78 0.006
Variable coefficient/%
3.25 7.12 3.25 8.11

change of the internal damage law of concrete, and further confirms that the concrete beam specimen has the characteristics of long
rise time and large amplitude than the tensile event.
Therefore, concrete is defined as elastic-plastic damaged material in a mathematical physical model, and the softening stage of
structure is defined. The description of the mechanical characteristics is similar to the experimental results obtained in the laboratory,
thus revealing that the selection of the mechanical model of concrete and the mechanical parameters of aggregate is reasonable. After
calculation, the stress distribution results of concrete beams under peak load are obtained through the simulation test, as shown in
Fig. 20.
As depicted in Fig. 20, the Mises equivalent stress of concrete is mainly distributed in the 1–3, 2–4, and 1–2 areas of the fixture. At
the same time, since the fixture is a non-deformable rigid body, there is a phenomenon of stress concentration at the contact position
between the fixture and the concrete beam line. The actual situation may be due to the deformability of the steel fixture, its pressure
part may be surface load. However, according to the local effect principle proposed by Saint Venant [53,54], the effect of boundary
conditions on distant areas is negligible. Therefore, the calculated results are still of good analytical significance.

3.2. Structural stress distribution

Mises equivalent stress nephogram can clearly illustrate the structural stress distribution, whereas it is mainly applicable to ho­
mogenized materials with similar tensile and compressive strength (e.g., metals). Mises’ equivalent stress distribution diagram cannot
indicate the structural danger area for materials with large differences in tensile and compressive strength (e.g., concrete). Accord­
ingly, in the test, the distribution diagram of axial stress, equivalent plastic strain, and stiffness degradation variables can be observed
to more intuitively analyze the danger zone and cracking direction under bending action.

3.3. Axial stress distribution

Fig. 21 presents the distribution nephogram of axial stress of concrete beam specimen before and after static load failure, and axial

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Fig. 19. Acoustic emission waveform and characteristic curve of the concrete beam in failure [51,52].

Fig. 20. Mises equivalent stress distribution of the concrete beam.

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L. Liang et al. Case Studies in Construction Materials 19 (2023) e02305

Fig. 21. Axial stress distribution.

stress is the stress along the X direction of the concrete beam.

Before the peak load, the upper part of the concrete beam specimen bears pressure, and the lower part bears tension. In the middle
of the model beam, the neutral layer boundary is clear and is subjected to neither tension nor pressure bearing. However, due to the
random distribution of aggregate and gaps, the stress distribution is not uniform, as shown in Fig. 21 (a). After the peak load, at 0.16 s,
the internal stress distribution of concrete has a sudden change. In the red circle marked in Fig. 21 (b), the stress in the bottom area
drops, indicating that the concrete has suffered a yield fracture at this time. Subsequently, the fracture area gradually expands, and the
tensile stress zone rapidly expands upward. Accordingly, the compressive stress zone compresses rapidly.
Fig. 22 presents the stress distribution of aggregate S11 in a concrete beam specimen. As depicted in the figure, the tensile and
compressive stress distribution of aggregate is consistent with that of concrete before the concrete beam is destroyed. The tensile stress
area of the lower end is larger, while the compressive stress area of the upper end is larger, and mainly concentrated between 1 and 2
fixtures. Compared with the stress distribution of S11 in the concrete beams in Fig. 21 (a), the aggregate with greater strength is
subjected to greater forces, and its maximum tensile stress is 4.886 MPa.

3.4. Equivalent plastic strain

Equivalent plastic strain (PE) is the inelastic strain when concrete yields, which is calculated according to Eq. (4), as shown in
Fig. 23.
From concrete in the axial direction of the equivalent plastic strain distribution can be found more intuitively, (0.14 s) before the

Fig. 22. Stress distribution of aggregate S11.

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L. Liang et al. Case Studies in Construction Materials 19 (2023) e02305

Fig. 23. Equivalent plastic strain distribution.

peak load, concrete beam model inside some of the smaller areas have a plastic strain, the maximum equivalent plastic strain of
46.42 με, the above results show that the structural parts for cracking tendency, but the overall remain strong bearing capacity. When
the peak load is reached, the bottom of the concrete beam specimen has cracked and develops rapidly upward. At this time, the
maximum equivalent plastic strain corresponding to the peak load is 90.29 με. From the observation of the section of the concrete joist
at this time, it can be found that under the condition of random distribution of aggregate and bubbles, the equivalent plastic strain is
not uniformly distributed in the bending and tension area of the joist, but mainly concentrated in the stress concentration area caused
by some aggregate edges and corners. With the increase in load, the local stress originally borne by the strong aggregate and cement is
transferred to the concrete area without plastic deformation due to the fracture of the material, resulting in the rapid expansion of the
plastic area and the rapid cracking of the concrete beam.

3.5. Tensile damage variable

When the internal tensile stress of concrete exceeds the elastic limit and yield failure occurs, the cracks in the structure will
gradually expand, leading to the degradation of concrete performance. Fig. 24 is the distribution diagram of tensile damage variables
before and after the peak value of the concrete beam calculated according to Eq. (5).
The tensile damage variable is the degradation index of the mechanical properties of the structure under the action of tensile stress,
and it varies between 0 and 1. When the tensile damage variable is 0, the structure has no damage, and when the tensile damage
variable is 1, the structure completely loses its bearing capacity. In Fig. 24 (a) and (b), as the load increases with time, the tensile

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L. Liang et al. Case Studies in Construction Materials 19 (2023) e02305

Fig. 24. Distribution of tensile damage variables.

damage variable in the local area gradually increases. At 0.14 s, the maximum tensile damage value is 0.7779 at the bottom of the
model beam specimen, indicating that the structure has a sign of cracking. At this time, the strength and stiffness at this position will
have corresponding degradation, leading to damage intensification. When the peak load is reached, serious damage occurs in the
tensile stress zone of concrete, the tensile damage variable reaches 0.9611, the structure has almost failed, the mechanical properties
are degraded, and the bearing capacity is lost. Therefore, the position where the tensile damage variable is 1 can be interpreted as a
fracture crack, as shown in Fig. 24 (c) and (d). Crack most concrete aggregate boundary locations, a few cracks through the aggregate
area, this is due to the different mechanical properties of cement and aggregate, aggregate tensile strength is greater than the cement

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L. Liang et al. Case Studies in Construction Materials 19 (2023) e02305

stone, and the same stress conditions, when more energy for the snap of gravel aggregate, the crack will be carried out along the gravel
transition zone of weak areas.

3.6. Fatigue life

In the simulation study, the internal structure of concrete is the same as the loading position, but the load size is different.
Therefore, the nephogram trend of fatigue life distribution is the same under bending and tensile action. Therefore, the calculation
results of the random loading spectrum under Sra are taken as an example to analyze the damage under fatigue cyclic load. The results
of fatigue action of the rest loading spectrum are presented in table form. Fig. 25 shows the damage distribution of concrete beams
under a single load. Through cumulative damage, the fatigue life cloud map of concrete beams is obtained through simulation
calculation, as shown in Fig. 26.
It can be seen that there is an obvious stress concentration phenomenon in the contact between the concrete beam and the fixture,
which is not consistent with the actual situation. This is because the fixture is set rigid body in the virtual test, without considering the
cause of its deformation. After removing the stress concentration area, there are mainly three parts of stress in the specimen structure,
namely the tensile force at the bottom, the compressive force at the top, and the shear force on both sides. For concrete materials, the
compressive strength is high, and the tensile strength is low, in the test, there will be no compression failure and shear failure of the
oblique section. Therefore, it is only necessary to observe the tensile damage of the bottom in the simulation test.
As depicted in Fig. 26, the calculated results of the fatigue life nephogram are consistent with the damage distribution nephogram,
and there is no fatigue damage in the neutral stress layer area and the two ends of the concrete beam. When the stress concentration
area at the fixture position is ignored, it can be judged that the tension area at the bottom of the concrete beam is the most dangerous,
and the fatigue life calculated by numerical calculation is 1622 times. In addition, there is damage accumulation in the top
compression area. However, due to the great difference between fatigue damage and tensile fatigue. As a result, fatigue cracking
always starts from the tensile area of the concrete beam. Through finite element analysis and calculation, the fatigue life of single-stage
cyclic loading and random loading under different stress levels is obtained, as shown in Table 14.
In order to avoid the three-stage loading process, the specimen has broken before the third stage loading due to the improper setting
of the cycle ratio, which makes the three-stage fatigue loading test become a two-stage loading test. Therefore, the grading cycle ratio is
set to 0.2 in the first two stages of loading, and the test results are shown in Table 15 and Table 16.
During the fatigue loading process, the straight-line segment O→c in Fig. 27 is the Palmgren-Miner fatigue damage development
path curve. The S1 and S2 curves represent the nonlinear fatigue damage development process under the stress levels S1 and S2 (S1
∑
> S2), respectively. Under the same damage level, the cumulative damage factor D = Ni/Nfi of fatigue strength S1 is smaller,
indicating that the equivalent assumption implied in the Miner damage criterion is not correct, D1 = N1/Nf1 = N2/Nf2 ‡ D2.
Under multi-stage loading, the development process of fatigue cumulative damage of specimens is also different with different
loading sequences. When the specimen is under the action of the fatigue level from high to low, the damage first accumulates along the
O→a curve. At this time, when the fatigue level S2 is used for loading since the damage amount does not change, the damage will first
remain unchanged along the a→b curve, and then accumulate along the b→c curve until loading to failure, forming an O→a →b→c
damage accumulation process. When the specimen is under the action of the fatigue level from low to high, the damage first accu­
mulates along the O→b curve. At this time, when the fatigue level S1 is used for loading since the damage amount does not change, the
damage will first remain unchanged along the b→a curve, and then accumulate along the ac curve until loading to failure, forming the
O → b → a → c cumulative damage process.
It is not difficult to find that compared with the damage development process of O→a→b→c and O→b→a→c, the transition period
between a→b does not have a fatigue effect, so the number of fatigue effects decreases and the fatigue life becomes shorter. For the
damage development process of O→b→a→c, it superimposes the damage accumulation factor of a→d stage, so the number of fatigue
effects increases and the fatigue life becomes longer.
Therefore, the Palmgren-Miner linear damage accumulation criterion widely used in metal materials is not suitable for brittle
materials such as concrete, and it is not appropriate to define the damage amount by the cumulative damage factor.
Finally, to verify the rationality of the calculated results of single-stage fatigue loading, the data are compared with the dual-log

Fig. 25. Damage distribution nephogram.

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Fig. 26. Fatigue life nephogram.

Table 14
Numerical calculation life under fatigue.
Load number Type of fatigue loading Peak stress σmax/MPa Fatigue life/time

S0.65 Single-stage cyclic load, stress level S = 0.65 4.478 95,428

S0.75 Single-stage cyclic load, stress level S = 0.75 5.167 8659
S0.85 Single-stage cyclic load, stress level S = 0.85 5.856 382
Sra Random loading / 1622
Srb Random loading / 164

Table 15
Bending fatigue test results of concrete under three-stage loading (high-low order).
Stress level S Specimen number Test data
∑
N1 N1/Nf1 N2 N2/Nf2 N3 N3/Nf3 Ni/Nfi Average value

0.85–0.75–0.65 1 59 0.1993 1261 0.1999 8126 0.1080 0.5073 0.7402

2 59 0.1993 1261 0.1999 10,667 0.1418 0.5411
3 59 0.1993 1261 0.1999 26,759 0.3557 0.7550
4 59 0.1993 1261 0.1999 34,771 0.4622 0.8615
5 59 0.1993 1261 0.1999 47,933 0.6371 1.0364

fatigue equation obtained from the test results, as shown in Fig. 28.
As depicted in Fig. 28, the numerical calculation results are all within the test range of failure probability ranging from 5 % to 95 %,
indicating that the calculation results are reasonable. By comparing the random loading with the single-stage cyclic load, it can be
further found that the fatigue life corresponding to the fatigue load is Sra > S0.85 > Srb, this is because the peak load in the random
loading spectrum Srb is uncontrollable and may even cause serious overload. Besides, the peak load greater than 0.85 stress level
caused more serious damage to the concrete joist. However, in the random loading spectrum Sra, it can be understood that load blocks
with low-stress levels are doped into the single-stage cyclic load with a stress level of 0.85, which has less damage to the structure than
the single-stage cyclic load S = 0.85.

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Table 16
Bending fatigue test results of concrete under three-stage loading (low-high order).
Stress level S Specimen number Test data
∑
N1 N1/Nf1 N2 N2/Nf2 N3 N3/Nf3 Ni/Nfi Average value

0.65–0.75–0.85 1 15,046 0.2000 1261 0.1999 151 0.5101 0.9101 1.1580

2 15,046 0.2000 1261 0.1999 183 0.6182 1.0182
3 15,046 0.2000 1261 0.1999 204 0.6892 1.0891
4 15,046 0.2000 1261 0.1999 276 0.9324 1.3324
5 15,046 0.2000 1261 0.1999 308 1.0405 1.4405

Fig. 27. Fatigue damage development path diagram.

Fig. 28. Rationality test of numerical calculation life.

4. Conclusions

In this paper, based on the concrete damage and fatigue theory and the mixed elastic-plastic damage criterion, the physical model
of concrete random aggregate is explored, and the mechanical behavior of static load failure and fatigue damage of concrete under
bending and tension is calculated and analyzed. At the same time, through the laboratory test data verification, the following main
conclusions are obtained:

(1) The elastoplastic damage model of concrete in Abaqus can be used to describe the mechanical behavior of concrete under static
load. Moreover, the concrete random aggregate model constructed by Digimat composite modeling platform can directly reflect

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the internal composite structure of concrete and better reflect the geometric characteristics and distribution characteristics of
aggregate.
(2) Under the specified loading conditions, the calculated peak concrete force is 22.963 kN, 4.08 % different from the test result of
23.94 kN. The results suggest that the mechanical model, physical model, and mechanical parameters used are reasonable and
can be used to calculate the bending-tensile strength of concrete with specified raw materials and mix ratio. Moreover, the
distribution characteristics of axial stress, equivalent plastic strain, and tensile damage variables obtained by numerical
calculation can directly reflect the development law of concrete cracking.
(3) In Fe-safe’s fatigue analysis module, single-stage cyclic loads with stress levels of 0.65, 0.75, and 0.85 are calculated to give
fatigue lives of 95,428, 8659, and 382 times, respectively, within the test range of 5–95 % failure probability of the dual-log
fatigue equation. The calculated fatigue lives under random loading Sra and Srb are 1622 and 164 times, respectively.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Lei Liang: Conceptualization, Supervision, Chaojia Liu: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing – original
draft, Writing – review & editing. Yunhua Cui, Yanfeng Li: Funding acquisition, Resources. Zhenglei Chen: Conceptualization, Data
curation, Formal analysis. Zhihang Wang, Zhihua Yao: 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.

Data Availability

Data will be made available on request.

Acknowledgments

Lei Liang and Chaojia Liu contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors. This research was Supported
by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant no. 51608526], China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [Grant no.
2020M683400], General project of National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant no. 11972374], and Key R & D Projects in
Shaanxi Province of China [Grant no. 2022SF-084]. Thanks to School of Highway, Chang’an University provided the experiment
conditions.

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