Latent crack path and service life predictions for unnotched concrete under bending by digital speckle correlation method

The critical factor for flexural fracture of an unnotched concrete structure is the local damage with stress concentration. The latent critical crack path on the concrete surface is difficult to inspect using ordinary experimental methods. In the present paper, the digital speckle correlation method (DSCM) is employed to obtain the latent critical crack and to calculate the strain and displacement distributions on the surface of unnotched concrete under flexural load. The relationships of static flexural load versus longitudinal strain and load‐direction displacement as well as fracture toughness are inherent material parameters. Furthermore, the cohesive energy density (CED) around the latent critical crack for unnotched concrete and the brittleness number are also determined by using the DSCM results. Then, the tensile performance of concrete and the residual service life are evaluated through the above material parameters. It is found that the latent crack path on the concrete surface depends on the strain fields after the bending force applied to the specimen reaches 30% of concrete flexural strength, and the cohesive stress does not rapidly increase until reaching 75% of concrete flexural strength. The service life of unnotched concrete without steel bars is dependent on the local cohesive performance around the latent crack path. Finally, the experimental results show that DSCM is useful to confirm the connection between the local damage of the material and the whole structure safety.