On simulating impact fracture in high-strength concrete using GraFEA

In this work, we use a recently-formulated Graph-based Finite-Element Analysis (GraFEA) framework developed for modeling deformation and non-local fracture in quasi-brittle materials to simulate the response of high-strength concrete (HSC) samples under impact loads. By fitting material parameters theory match macroscopic force–displacement obtained from three-point bending experiment conducted quasi-static conditions, show that GraFEA computational method is able independently validate experimentally-determined impulse response, experiments various initial speeds imposed by drop-weight on HSC are 6 7 orders magnitude higher than quasistatic tests. Furthermore, GraFEA-based FEM simulations also reproduce experimental crack propagation sample different good accord.