The influence of testing conditions on damage zone of concrete in Uniaxial Compression: Insights from Stereo-DIC and computational modeling

Saeid Mehrpay; Xinyu Hu; Zhongfeng Zhu; Eskinder Desta Shumuye; Roman Wan-Wendner; Miaochang Zhu; Jiehui Wang; Zhenhua Wei; Tamon Ueda

doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2025.113981

The influence of testing conditions on damage zone of concrete in Uniaxial Compression: Insights from Stereo-DIC and computational modeling

Saeid Mehrpay, Xinyu Hu, Zhongfeng Zhu, Eskinder Desta Shumuye, Roman Wan-Wendner, Miaochang Zhu, Jiehui Wang, Zhenhua Wei^*, Tamon Ueda^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

3 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

With recent advances in non-contact optical measurement techniques, studying the response of concrete materials under specific mechanical loading conditions is evolving toward obtaining full deformation fields and mesoscopic mechanisms. Such data fields can be used to validate and improve theories and computational models of concrete-like materials. In this research, a commercial stereo DIC is used to acquire concrete's deformation field in the Uniaxial Compression Test (UCT) to study the influence of loading conditions on the distribution of strains and the collected stress–strain responses. Specimens are grade C25 cylinders and prisms with an aspect ratio of 2 cast parallel to loading direction. Three conditions: ends’ constraint, low friction, and nonuniform straining are investigated experimentally and numerically. Obtained holistic data fields demonstrate the dependency of the outcomes on the location and length of conventional gauges. For instance, the snap-back mechanism can be related to the arrangement of measuring devices and local effects. Moreover, it is shown how nonuniform straining impacts the behavior of the material. Isolating different effects by numerical simulations showed how the interaction of effects (such as friction and seated block) leads to misleading observations. Besides computational modeling acquired data aid in understanding stress–strain relationship variations and conducting reliable tests. © 2025 The Author(s)

Original language	English
Article number	113981
Journal	Materials and Design
Volume	253
Online published	21 Apr 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2025.113981
Publication status	Published - May 2025

Funding

The corresponding author (Zhenhua Wei) would like to appreciate funding support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52471288 ), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (Grant No. 2024A1515011026 ), and Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (Grant No. JCYJ20220530115407016 ). The third author (Zhongfeng Zhu) would like to appreciate funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52108230 ). The authors are also grateful for the support from Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Low-carbon Construction Material and Technology.

Research Keywords

Concrete Strain Softening
Friction at Loading Boundary
Full Strain Field, Uniaxial Compressive Strength Test (UCT)
Nonuniform Straining
Stress-Strain Diagrams

Publisher's Copyright Statement

This full text is made available under CC-BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Access Output

10.1016/j.matdes.2025.113981

280891177.pdfFinal Published version, 2.64 MBLicence: CC BY

Other Access Options

Check CityUHK Library

Permanent Link

Right click to copy link

Cite this

@article{6e6fd40f52b9467e86a847ce47f5b335,

title = "The influence of testing conditions on damage zone of concrete in Uniaxial Compression: Insights from Stereo-DIC and computational modeling",

abstract = "With recent advances in non-contact optical measurement techniques, studying the response of concrete materials under specific mechanical loading conditions is evolving toward obtaining full deformation fields and mesoscopic mechanisms. Such data fields can be used to validate and improve theories and computational models of concrete-like materials. In this research, a commercial stereo DIC is used to acquire concrete's deformation field in the Uniaxial Compression Test (UCT) to study the influence of loading conditions on the distribution of strains and the collected stress–strain responses. Specimens are grade C25 cylinders and prisms with an aspect ratio of 2 cast parallel to loading direction. Three conditions: ends{\textquoteright} constraint, low friction, and nonuniform straining are investigated experimentally and numerically. Obtained holistic data fields demonstrate the dependency of the outcomes on the location and length of conventional gauges. For instance, the snap-back mechanism can be related to the arrangement of measuring devices and local effects. Moreover, it is shown how nonuniform straining impacts the behavior of the material. Isolating different effects by numerical simulations showed how the interaction of effects (such as friction and seated block) leads to misleading observations. Besides computational modeling acquired data aid in understanding stress–strain relationship variations and conducting reliable tests. {\textcopyright} 2025 The Author(s)",

keywords = "Concrete Strain Softening, Friction at Loading Boundary, Full Strain Field, Uniaxial Compressive Strength Test (UCT), Nonuniform Straining, Stress-Strain Diagrams",

author = "Saeid Mehrpay and Xinyu Hu and Zhongfeng Zhu and Shumuye, {Eskinder Desta} and Roman Wan-Wendner and Miaochang Zhu and Jiehui Wang and Zhenhua Wei and Tamon Ueda",

year = "2025",

month = may,

doi = "10.1016/j.matdes.2025.113981",

language = "English",

volume = "253",

journal = "Materials and Design",

issn = "0264-1275",

publisher = "Elsevier Ltd.",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The influence of testing conditions on damage zone of concrete in Uniaxial Compression

T2 - Insights from Stereo-DIC and computational modeling

AU - Mehrpay, Saeid

AU - Hu, Xinyu

AU - Zhu, Zhongfeng

AU - Shumuye, Eskinder Desta

AU - Wan-Wendner, Roman

AU - Zhu, Miaochang

AU - Wang, Jiehui

AU - Wei, Zhenhua

AU - Ueda, Tamon

PY - 2025/5

Y1 - 2025/5

N2 - With recent advances in non-contact optical measurement techniques, studying the response of concrete materials under specific mechanical loading conditions is evolving toward obtaining full deformation fields and mesoscopic mechanisms. Such data fields can be used to validate and improve theories and computational models of concrete-like materials. In this research, a commercial stereo DIC is used to acquire concrete's deformation field in the Uniaxial Compression Test (UCT) to study the influence of loading conditions on the distribution of strains and the collected stress–strain responses. Specimens are grade C25 cylinders and prisms with an aspect ratio of 2 cast parallel to loading direction. Three conditions: ends’ constraint, low friction, and nonuniform straining are investigated experimentally and numerically. Obtained holistic data fields demonstrate the dependency of the outcomes on the location and length of conventional gauges. For instance, the snap-back mechanism can be related to the arrangement of measuring devices and local effects. Moreover, it is shown how nonuniform straining impacts the behavior of the material. Isolating different effects by numerical simulations showed how the interaction of effects (such as friction and seated block) leads to misleading observations. Besides computational modeling acquired data aid in understanding stress–strain relationship variations and conducting reliable tests. © 2025 The Author(s)

AB - With recent advances in non-contact optical measurement techniques, studying the response of concrete materials under specific mechanical loading conditions is evolving toward obtaining full deformation fields and mesoscopic mechanisms. Such data fields can be used to validate and improve theories and computational models of concrete-like materials. In this research, a commercial stereo DIC is used to acquire concrete's deformation field in the Uniaxial Compression Test (UCT) to study the influence of loading conditions on the distribution of strains and the collected stress–strain responses. Specimens are grade C25 cylinders and prisms with an aspect ratio of 2 cast parallel to loading direction. Three conditions: ends’ constraint, low friction, and nonuniform straining are investigated experimentally and numerically. Obtained holistic data fields demonstrate the dependency of the outcomes on the location and length of conventional gauges. For instance, the snap-back mechanism can be related to the arrangement of measuring devices and local effects. Moreover, it is shown how nonuniform straining impacts the behavior of the material. Isolating different effects by numerical simulations showed how the interaction of effects (such as friction and seated block) leads to misleading observations. Besides computational modeling acquired data aid in understanding stress–strain relationship variations and conducting reliable tests. © 2025 The Author(s)

KW - Concrete Strain Softening

KW - Friction at Loading Boundary

KW - Full Strain Field, Uniaxial Compressive Strength Test (UCT)

KW - Nonuniform Straining

KW - Stress-Strain Diagrams

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105003298010&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/pubmetrics.uri?eid=2-s2.0-105003298010&origin=recordpage

U2 - 10.1016/j.matdes.2025.113981

DO - 10.1016/j.matdes.2025.113981

M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal

SN - 0264-1275

VL - 253

JO - Materials and Design

JF - Materials and Design

M1 - 113981

ER -

The influence of testing conditions on damage zone of concrete in Uniaxial Compression: Insights from Stereo-DIC and computational modeling

Abstract

Funding

Research Keywords

Publisher's Copyright Statement

Access Output

Other Access Options

Permanent Link

Other Files and Links

Fingerprint

Cite this