Fracture Toughness and Fracture Surface Morphology of Concretes Modified with Selected Additives of Pozzolanic Properties

Modern methods of designing and testing concrete must be extended to appropriate material engineering approaches. It is then crucial to link the properties of concrete with its structure described in a quantitative way. The aim of the article was to present the results of research on concretes modified with three additives: Silica fume (SF), activated fluidal ash (FA), and metakaolinite (MK). The concretes were tested for compressive strength, fracture toughness (determining critical stress intensity factor KIcS and elastic modulus E). Also, stereological and fractal tests were performed. The research program covered three separate experiment plans, adopting the water/binder ratio and the additive/binder mass ratio as the independent variables. The results of experiments and their analysis proved a statistically significant relationship between fracture morphology (fractal dimension D) and concrete composition and fracture toughness. A higher fractal dimension was found in concretes with a higher content of cement paste and a lower content of additive. No significant effect of the type of additive used in the above dependence was found. An original method enabling the determination of mechanical properties of concrete with no need for destructive testing has been developed.

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