Original Article

J Strain Analysis
2021, Vol. 56(3) 148–160
Ó IMechE 2020
Experimental study on loading rate Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
and notch-to-depth ratio effects on DOI: 10.1177/0309324720949002
journals.sagepub.com/home/sdj

flexural performance of self-

compacting concrete with acoustic
emission and digital image correlation
technologies

Xudong Chen1,2 , Dandan Shi2, Jinhua Zhang3,4 and Xiyuan Cheng2

Abstract
As no extra vibration is needed in the casting procedure of self-compacting concrete for its excellent workability under
its own dead weight, the material can be applied to construction projects where vibrations are hard to perform. To bet-
ter utilize self-compacting concrete in practical engineering, it is essential to conduct an in-depth study on its fracture
performance. In this study, three-point bending tests on notched self-compacting concrete beams were performed con-
sidering different loading rates and notch-to-depth ratios as variables. Acoustic emission technique and digital image cor-
relation method were utilized to collect acoustic emission signals generated in the loading procedure and monitor crack
propagation in the fracture process zone, respectively. Results show that the b-value from acoustic emission analysis can
be divided into three stages and the variation range increases as the notch-to-depth ratio increases. Based on clustering
analysis, three cluster groups can be obtained, and it is found that the ratio of the first cluster group decreases while that
of the third cluster group increases when notch-to-depth ratio increases. With the aid of digital image correlation tech-
nique, effective crack length and horizontal crack opening displacement can be recorded and it is observed that crack tip
opening displacement decreases as the notch-to-depth ratio increases.

Keywords
Self-compacting concrete, loading rate, notch-to-depth ratio, acoustic emission, digital image correlation

Date received: 28 March 2020; accepted: 16 July 2020

Introduction Although the focus has been mainly put on mix

Self-compacting concrete (SCC) is a construction mate-
rial that possesses excellent flowability as well as good
homogeneity without eduction or bleeding just under
its own dead weight. Compared with traditional plain
concrete, no vibration is needed in the construction
process, which results in little noise and can highly
improve the environment of a construction site.1,2
Moreover, additional mineral admixtures, for example,
fly ash, can be added into SCC, not only effectively
reducing the cement content but also preventing envi-
ronmental pollution caused by industrial by-products.
Considering the highly efficient casting procedure, SCC
shows notable comprehensive benefit, as well as appli-
cation prospect, and has gained rapid popularity in
civil engineering.3,4
design and workability in the research field of SCC, it
should be mentioned here that fracture properties of
concrete materials gradually gained more attention
1
Key Laboratory of Concrete and Prestressed Concrete Structures of
the Ministry of Education, School of Civil Engineering, Southeast
University, Nanjing, China
2
College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Hohai University,
Nanjing, China
3
Engineering Research Center of Safety and Protection of Explosion and
Impact of Ministry of Education (ERCSPEIME), Southeast University,
Nanjing, China
4
School of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
Corresponding author:
Xudong Chen, College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Hohai
University, No. 1 Xikang Road, Nanjing 210024, China.
Email: cxdong1985@hotmail.com
Chen et al.
with the development of structure design method and
have become an important parameter to evaluate struc-
tural safety. Fracture mechanics have been widely used
mainly in plain concrete,5,6 dam concrete7 and high-
strength concrete8 since linear fracture mechanics was
introduced to the field of concrete research by Kaplan;9
however, few relevant kinds of research have been
found in SCC. With the casting procedure and mixing
proportion to be largely different, fracture property of
plain concrete cannot be directly extrapolated to that
of SCC as the crack propagation path and the develop-
ment of fracture process zone (FPZ) may be quite dif-
ferent, which cannot be directly measured by
traditional strain gauge or linear variable differential
transformer (LVDT). To overcome this difficulty,
many researchers developed several famous effective
crack theories (e.g. fictitious crack model,10 two-
parameter crack model11 and double-K crack model12);
however, impreciseness still exists because they are all
assumption based. What’s more, measurements like
dye penetration or compliance calibration also have
their own shortcomings because crack development is
simplified to be evenly attributed during analysis.13,14
As a result, measurements that can monitor crack pro-
pagation both directly and precisely are needed for con-
crete fracture research. Acoustic emission (AE)
technique and digital image correlation (DIC)15,16
method are two advanced monitoring tools that can
measure cracking based on acoustics and optics, respec-
tively. The former one can capture the sound intensity
of cracking and further localize newly generated cracks
based on AE sensors while the latter one can directly
collect real-time whole-field displacement of the target
object in mechanical loading. The combination of the
two methods can promise a valid measurement of crack
propagation and FPZ without the traditional
shortcomings.
As concrete is a rate-sensitive material, its strength,
modulus, fracture properties can be highly influenced
by loading rate.17–19 Although a few researchers hold
the view that the rate effect is phenomenological, and
inertia effect can be the reason,20 some other research-
ers consider the inertia effect can only partly explain
it.21 By comparing research results obtained by differ-
ent researchers, large scatters can be found in dynamic
increasing factors,22 which means that the current stud-
ies are not sufficient to obtain an accurate quantitative
conclusion. In the fracture of concrete, the dynamic
stress intensity factor at the crack tip considered to be
related to the crack growth rate.23 What’s more, the
length of the ligament can result in size effect in fracture
toughness, as well as fracture energy of concrete, which
Table 1. Mix proportion (kg/m3).
Cement Fly ash Silica fume Water
385 139 26 200
149
makes the fracture phenomenon in practical engineer-
ing quite complex. As a consequence, it is necessary to
conduct tests to study the influence of loading rate and
size effect on concrete fracture.
In this study, three-point bending tests were con-
ducted on SCC specimens with three notch-to-depth
ratios (0.1, 0.2 and 0.3). The effects of notch-to-depth
ratio and loading rate on fracture properties of SCC
were investigated. With the aid of AE technique, AE
data such as b-value, signal intensity, average frequency
(AF) and RA (rise time divided by the amplitude) val-
ues were recorded, and then cluster groups of AE sig-
nals were divided by clustering analysis to study the
damage mechanism and failure mode of SCC. In addi-
tion, the DIC method was used to trace crack propaga-
tion in the fracture process of SCC specimens and
investigate the development of effective crack length
and crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) on differ-
ent loading stages.
Experimental scheme
Specimen preparation
The mix proportion of SCC used in the study is shown
in Table 1. A water–binder ratio of 0.36, a sand ratio of
0.56 and a maximum aggregate size of 15 mm were used
in the specimen preparation. Polycarboxylate super-
plasticizer (Sobute New Materials Co., Ltd, Nanjing,
China) was used as an additive.
Based on Technical Specification for Application of
Self Compacting Concrete (JGJ/T283-2012),24 the
workability of fresh SCC was evaluated. The measuring
procedures are presented in Figure 1 and the results are
listed in Table 2.
From the testing results, it can be seen that SCC pro-
duced in the study shows good workability.
The dimension of the mold used for SCC casting was
100 mm 3 100 mm 3 400 mm. Demoulding was taken
1 day after casting. The specimens were then cured in
water for 28 days. When the 28th day was reached, a
notch was cut along the midsection of the specimen
using a diamond saw and then washed clean by tap
water. Three notch-to-depth ratios were considered in
the test, which were 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3, respectively.
Loading device
Three-point bending tests were performed by a close-
dloop hydraulic servo material testing machine (MTS
322). The capacity of MTS 322 is 500 kN. The loading
span of the specimen was 300 mm. A clip-on gauge was
Superplasticizer Aggregate Sand
7.5 800 1018
150 Journal of Strain Analysis 56(3)

Figure 1. Workability measurement of fresh SCC: (a) slump test, (b) J-ring divergence test and (c) segregation measuring test.

Table 2. Workability of fresh SCC.

Slump flow (mm) J-ring divergence (mm) Difference between divergence and Dh (mm) Eduction ratio (%) T50 (s)
J-ring divergence (mm)

645 630 15 5 2.5 2

Figure 3. Locations of AE sensors.

Figure 2. Three-point bending test device diagram for SCC.

fixed between both sides of the notch mouth at the bot-
tom of the testing specimen and the test was controlled
by crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD) mea-
sured by the gauge. In the test, three loading rates were
considered for each notch-to-depth ratio, which were
0.05, 0.005 and 0.0005 mm/s, respectively. Under each
loading condition, three specimens were tested. The
installation of the specimen was shown in Figure 2.
AE device
The AE device produced by Physical Acoustics
Corporation was used to collect and store AE signals
generated in the loading procedure, as shown in
Figure 3. The acquisition control software was
AEwinä (a software for collecting and storing AE
data, which is put forward by American Physical
Acoustics Company. AEwinä is used in conjunction
Chen et al. 151

Figure 4. Force–CMOD curves of SCC: (a) different notch-to-depth ratios and (b) different loading rates.

with the acoustic emission acquisition device produced

by the American Physical Acoustics Company). The
preamplifier had a 40-dB gain. Four AE sensors were
fixed on opposite sides of the specimen following an
intersecting way by black adhesive tapes and the spe-
cific locations can be seen in Figure 3.
The diameter of the AE sensor was 18 mm with a
bandwidth of 100 kHz–1.0 MHz. The waveform
sampling frequency was set as 1 MHz. The AE waveform
of 3072 points was recorded and stored synchronously
for each AE hit. By the preliminary experiment for noise
evaluation, the system threshold was set as 35 dB.
Figure 5. Parameter definitions of simplified waveform for AE
DIC technique signals.

DIC technique can be used for real-time monitoring of
crack propagation during the mechanical loading pro-
cedure. By comparing and processing speckle images
before and after specimen surface deformation, defor-
mation information of the measuring surface can be
obtained. Before the test, the bottom surface in the cast-
ing procedure, which served as the side surface for
mechanical loading, was chosen to be the measuring
surface for DIC. The region around the notch was
polished by abrasive paper and then made as the
speckled area by manual spraying. During the proce-
dure, matte white paint was first sprayed as the back-
ground and then matte black paint was sprayed to form
black points. The image acquisition area is approxi-
mately 2-cm wide on each side of the notch.
After the specimen was placed on the machine, the
camera support and slide were fixed at a proper dis-
tance away from the specimen. Then they were adjusted
to localize the image acquisition area. By modifying the
focal length of the camera lens, the best image clarity
was achieved. After all the preparations completed,
mechanical loading and image acquisition were started
simultaneously. Considering the limited storage room
of the camera, three photographing rates of 0.5 images
per second at 0.0005 mm/s, two images per second at
0.005 mm/s and four images per second at 0.05 mm/s
were designed.
Results and analysis
Force–CMOD relationship
In this study, all the specimens broke from the location
of the notch. The force–CMOD curves of SCC with
different notch-to-depth ratios under different loading
rates are shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4(a) shows that peak load of the specimen,
with a smaller notch-to-depth ratio, is larger under the
same loading rate. From Figure 4(b), it can be observed
that peak load increases with the increase of the load-
ing rate when the notch-to-depth ratio is kept as the
constant. The reason is that more aggregate breaks as
the loading rate increases. As the strength of aggregates
is higher than that of bonds, the fracture energy at a
higher loading rate would be larger, which improves
the failure strength of SCC.
b value
AE phenomenon is caused by transient elastic waves
generated by the rapid release of local energy during
the generation of micro-flaws in materials.23 The typi-
cal simplified AE waveform is shown in Figure 5, where
the basic AE characteristic parameters are indicated in
the data processing.25–27
152
Figure 6. The variations of b-values of specimens with different notch-to-depth ratios under the loading rate of 0.0005 mm/s.
Parameter b-value is used for indicating the relation-
ship between the magnitude and frequency of an earth-
quake. In 1941, Gutenberg and Richter28 made a
further promotion and application. Researchers regard
AE events generated when concrete is loaded to failure
as a slight earthquake activity and attempt to explore
the precursory characteristics of concrete failure by
investigating the variation of b-values during the pro-
cess of concrete damage under different loading and
environmental situations. Richter calculated the ampli-
tude distribution rule of AE events by calculating the
slope of amplitude distribution, which could be named
as b-value. The calculation equation of the b-value
could be shown as follows
log10 N = a  blog10 AmV
where N represents the cumulative AE events when the
peak amplitude of AE signal is greater than AmV, a rep-
resents a constant and b represents the slope of AE
event distribution with different amplitudes.
The variation of b-value reflects the transition of the
internal material from the micro-crack state to the
macro-crack state. Based on the conception, the
b-values of SCC specimens with different notch-to-
depth ratios can be calculated and the b-values under
the loading rate of 0.0005 mm/s are presented in
Figure 6.
From Figure 6, it can be concluded that the varia-
tions of b-values for SCC specimens with different
notch-to-depth ratios show similar trends under the
same loading rate. The variation of the parameter can
be divided into three stages, whose proportions in the
whole loading process are roughly the same. At the first
stage, the initial b-value is large and the specimen is in
the state of micro-crack propagation, where AE events
with large amplitude only account for a small propor-
tion. As the loading goes on, micro-crack turns into
macro-crack and the variation of b-value shows a
decreasing trend. For specimens with a larger notch-to-
depth ratios, the difference between maximum b-value
and minimum b-value, which are marked by hollow
points in Figure 6, increases. The phenomenon means
Journal of Strain Analysis 56(3)
that with the increase of notch-to-depth ratio, the inter-
nal fracture scale of SCC specimen is larger at the initial
loading stage, which also indicates a more prominent
brittleness of the specimen. After the minimum point,
the b-values would increase slightly and enter the sec-
ond stage of b-value variation. At this stage, b-values
present a relatively stable fluctuation, indicating a
steady propagation of internal cracks inside the speci-
men. Afterwards, the curve turns into the third stage.
At the beginning of the third stage, the b-value would
rise suddenly, and a comparatively large amplitude fluc-
tuation appears, indicating that the crack propagation
inside the specimen is severe. At the end of the third
stage, the b-value also experiences a sudden jump and
decline, which is a sign that the specimen approaches
ð1Þ failure.
When the notch-to-depth ratio is 0.2, b-values of
SCC are shown in Figure 7. It can be observed that at
the pre-peak stage, the AE signals are rare, which indi-
cates that the specimen is staying in the elastic deforma-
tion stage, and only a small number of micro-cracks are
generated. From the figure, it can also be indicated that
when the loading rate is small, a certain duration of a
fluctuation stage where b-value develops exists. At the
stage, the crack state inside the specimen is relatively
stable. As the loading rate increases, the duration of the
stage becomes shorter. It should be noted here that
under the loading rate of 0.05 mm/s, almost no stable
fluctuation stage is shown in the b-value variation
curve, which indicates that as the loading rate increases,
the internal crack propagates rapidly, the micro-crack
quickly transmits into macro-crack and finally the fail-
ure of the specimen occurs.
AE signal intensity analysis
The intensity of AE signals is a parameter relevant to
AE amplitude and duration time, and it can most effec-
tively indicate the variation trend of AE signals. The
quantitative method of statistical analysis can be used
for intensity analysis of AE signals, and the concrete
damage can be evaluated by calculating the historical
Chen et al. 153

Figure 7. Variation of b-values of specimens with a notch-to-depth ratio of 0.2 under different loading rates.

Table 3. Values of K and J.

N 450 51–200 201–500 ø 501

K Not applicable N-30 0.85N N-75

J 50

index (HI) and log severity (log10(Sr)).29 The equations

for HI and severity calculation are shown as follows

P
N
Soi
N i=K+1
HIðtÞ = ð2Þ
NK PN
Soi
i=1

1 X
J Figure 8. The variation of HI and log10(Sr) with normalized
Sr = Som ð3Þ time of specimens with different notch-to-depth ratios under
J m=1 the loading rate of 0.0005 mm/s.

where HI(t) represents historic index, N represents the

number of hits up to time t, Soi represents the signal
strength of the ith hit, K and J are material-based con-
stants, Sr is severity index, Som is the signal and the
order of m depends on the intensity of the signal.
In the calculation procedure, the values of K and J
are relevant to N. Details are shown in Table 3. It
should be noted that in the study, when N is less than
50, K and HI are equal to 0 and 1, respectively. At this
time, Sr represents the average intensity value of all sig-
nals. By processing AE data obtained from the test, HI
and Sr can be calculated.
Figure 8 shows the relationship between HI,
log10(Sr) and normalized time. Each peak in the HI
curve represents the formation of a new damage phe-
nomenon. It can also be seen from the figure that as
the notch-to-depth ratio increases, the log10(Sr) curve
becomes flatter. The maximum HI(t) value and its
occurrence frequency both decrease with the increase Figure 9. The relationship between HI and log10(Sr) of
of the notch-to-depth ratio, which means that the inter- specimens with different notch-to-depth ratios under the
nal micro-cracks more fully develop, resulting in more loading rate of 0.0005 mm/s.
macro-cracks and the increase of the AE signal inten-
sity when the notch-to-depth ratio is small.
In Figure 9, it means that the specimen is in a dan- be 5 3 5.5, as shown in the highlighted rectangular area
gerous state at the point with high values of HI and in Figure 9. The points in the rectangular frame are all
log10(Sr). As a result, the security zone is considered to safe.
154 Journal of Strain Analysis 56(3)

Figure 10. The variation of HI and log10(Sr) with normalized

time of specimens with the notch-to-depth ratio of 0.2 under Figure 11. Relationship between HI and log10(Sr) of specimens
different loading rates. with the notch-to-depth ratio of 0.2 under different loading
rates.

Figure 10 presents the HI and log10(Sr) curves for

the conditions of different loading rates. The peaks of
the HI curve at the loading rate of 0.05 mm/s emerge
almost at the early loading stage and the peaks appear
to be continuous in Figure 10. At the stage, log10(Sr)
curves go up quickly, indicating that internal cracks
inside SCC specimens propagate fast and the AE sig-
nals emitted by the friction and fracture of internal
aggregates are violent, which leads to the failure of
SCC specimens. It can also be implied that the cracks
propagate through the aggregates, which corresponds
to the description in section ‘‘Failure modes.’’ Similarly,
a 5 3 5.5 rectangular frame is shown on the relationship
of HI and log10(Sr) in Figure 11, which represents the
security zone, and points beyond the red framework
mean insecurity.

AF versus RA analysis Figure 12. RA–AF scatter diagram under different loading
AF and RA are two variables that can be used to dis- conditions.
tinguish tensile cracks from shear cracks.30 High RA
values but low AF values mean shear cracks. On the In this study, the data obtained from the test are pro-
contrary, when AE signal shows low RA values but cessed to make the RA–AF scatter diagram under dif-
high AF values, tensile cracks occur. ferent loading conditions, as shown in Figure 12.
The calculation equation for RA and AF are shown For the classification of active cracks, it is essential
as follows31,32 to set the ratio in advance. It can be seen from the fig-
The rise time ure that the ratio of RA value (abscissa scale) to AF
RA = (ordinate scale) is 20, which distinguishes tensile cracks
Peak amplitude
from shear cracks.
AE ringdown counts
AF = With the increase of time, tensile hits ratio and shear
Duration time hits ratio under different loading conditions are shown
It should be mentioned here that the unit of peak in Figure 13. It should be noted here that the ratios at
amplitudes is dB.33 For calculation it should be con- the different normalized times are obtained by rolling
verted into voltage and the conversion equation is computation of 100 AE hits.33 When the loading rate is
shown as the following 0.0005 mm/s, the ratio variations are almost the same
  for specimens with different notch-to-depth ratios. At
VAE the early loading stage, 60% of the hits represent tensile
dBAE = 20log ð4Þ
1 mV cracks, and with the increase of load, the tensile hits
Chen et al. 155

Figure 13. Ratio variations of tensile hits and shear hits at different loading moments under different loading conditions.

ratio increases continuously. Only when 40% of the

Table 4. Proportions of different cluster groups to the total AE
loading time is reached, the tensile hits ratio would
signals under different loading conditions.
decrease to a certain extent. On the contrary, with the
increase of notch-to-depth ratio, the shear hits ratio Loading case Cluster 1 (%) Cluster 2 (%) Cluster 3 (%)
also increases (0.11, 0.13 and 0.15 for notch-to-depth
ratios of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3, respectively), indicating a 0.1–0.0005 74.9 20.4 4.7
0.2–0.0005 62.1 30.5 7.4
greater brittleness for specimens with a larger notch-to-
0.3–0.0005 57.6 32.8 9.6
depth ratio. When the loading rate is 0.05 mm/s, the 0.2–0.05 56.0 34.0 10.0
ratio of shear hits is obviously higher than that under
other loading rates, which implies that the friction and
shear behaviors of aggregates are more intense under
this loading condition and more fractures of aggregates of the SCC specimens under four loading conditions
would occur. were divided into clusters. The divided AE hits and the
scatter diagrams of central frequencies are shown in
Figure 14. The black points in the figure represent the
Cluster analysis centers of different clusters. The proportions of differ-
According to the experimental data, cluster analysis of ent cluster groups to the total AE signals under differ-
six AE parameters including AE amplitude, AE hit, rise ent loading conditions are listed in Table 4.
time, duration time, AE energy and central frequency The three clusters mainly correspond to three differ-
was conducted. The k-means algorithm was used to ent loading stages, which are pre-fracture, post-fracture
classify the clusters and the number of clusters was and in-fracture, respectively. The points in the third
selected as 3.33–35 To compare the influences of differ- cluster in Figure 14 represent the main stage of fracture
ent notch-to-depth ratios and loading rates, AE signals in the whole loading process, and the AE hits represent
156
Figure 14. Cluster analysis of AE signals under different loading conditions: (a) 0.1–0.0005, (b) 0.3–0.0005, (c) 0.2–0.0005 and
(d) 0.2–0.05.
the AE signals formed by the development of macro-
cracks in the specimen.
It can also be seen from the figure that the ranges of
three clusters of specimens with different notch-to-
depth ratios are roughly the same for the central fre-
quencies and AE hits. But as the notch-to-depth ratio
decreases, the proportion of the first cluster increases,
indicating more micro-cracks generated inside speci-
mens for the specimens with the notch-to-depth of 0.1.
When the notch-to-depth ratio is 0.3, AE hits of the
center points of different clusters are also higher than
those of the first cluster group, indicating that speci-
mens with a notch-to-depth ratio of 0.3 have a greater
brittleness.
By comparing the cluster distribution diagrams of
specimens with a notch-to-depth ratio of 0.2 under two
Journal of Strain Analysis 56(3)
different loading rates, it can be found that the cluster
distribution becomes more concentrated when the load-
ing rate increases. In addition, the proportion of the
first cluster group decreases and those of the second
and the third cluster groups increases. By analyzing the
center points of the third cluster under two different
loading rates, it can be found that the higher the load-
ing rate is, the larger the AE counts will be.
In terms of signal frequency, the AE signal with high
frequency corresponds to the generation of internal
micro-cracks and the AE signal with low frequency cor-
responds to the formation of macro-cracks. Comparing
with Figure 14(c) and (d), it can be found that the over-
all frequency centroid of gravity under the loading rate
of 0.05 mm/s is lower than that under the loading rate
of 0.0005 mm/s, which shows the development of
Chen et al.
Figure 15. Different loading stages of SCC.
internal crack is more sufficient under the condition of
low loading rate. Under the loading rate of 0.05 mm/s,
the macro-cracks generate more quickly inside the spe-
cimen and result in rapid failure of the specimen.
Besides, when the loading rate is 0.0005 mm/s, the cen-
tral frequencies for the third cluster of specimens with
three notch-to-depth ratios range from 50 to 200 kHz.
For the loading rate of 0.05 mm/s, the central frequen-
cies for the third cluster decrease to the range of 70–
150 kHz. As a result, the central frequency range can be
used as an evaluation criterion when clustering analysis
is utilized to distinguish the onset of fractures in
specimens.
Crack propagation
To investigate the influence of different loading rates
and notch-to-depth ratios on the crack propagation in
the fracture procedure, DIC data of SCC specimens of
0.1–0.0005, 0.3–0.0005, 0.3–0.005 (the front number
indicates notch-to-depth ratio while the back number
indicates loading rate, mm/s) were analyzed in the
study. To better analyze the crack propagation of SCC,
eight stages were selected, as shown in Figure 15.
Based on the results of DIC analysis, the crack open-
ing displacement (COD) versus beam height curves of
the specimen with the notch-to-depth ratio of 0.3 after
the peak load under the loading rate of 0.005 mm/s were
made, and the results are shown in Figure 16. It can be
seen from the figure that the horizontal COD of the
crack varies almost linearly with the height of the speci-
men until the measured COD is zero where the crack
closes. As the load continues, the inclined angle of the
curves increases, which indicates that the horizontal
crack tip opening velocity is greater than the longitudi-
nal propagation velocity of the crack.
From Figure 16, it can also be observed from the
abscissa that the growth rate of the horizontal crack
opening becomes larger, while the macro-crack propa-
gation rate of the specimen decreases with the decrease
157
Figure 16. COD versus beam height curves of different
loading stages.
of a load. When post-peak 10% of the peak stress is
reached, the crack length hardly increases, while the
horizontal opening displacement at the crack tip still
increases greatly. The reason for the above phenom-
enon may be that the load is not sufficient to crack the
cement-based materials at the crack tip at that moment.
As a result, the length of the crack remains constant.
However, the load can still result in the vertical deflec-
tion of specimens and a further increase of the horizon-
tal COD.
Effective crack length
For better understanding of the influences of loading
rates and notch-to-depth ratios on crack propagation
of SCC specimens, effective crack propagations, as well
as strain field under three different loading conditions
of 0.1–0.005, 0.3–0.005 and 0.3–0.05 are shown in
Figure 17. By observing the strain fields under different
loading conditions, it can be found that for the loading
condition of 0.1–0.005 the formation of micro-cracks
appears at pre-peak 80% of the peak load stage. But
for the loading condition of 0.3–0.005, the micro-
cracking point appears at pre-peak 80% of the peak
load stage while no obvious micro-cracks are observed
in the pre-peak region for the loading condition of 0.3–
0.05. Under three loading conditions, at pre-peak 80%
of the peak load stage, a large number of strain concen-
tration areas are randomly distributed on the surface of
the SCC specimen, including the vicinity of the initial
notch tip. The reason for the phenomenon is that con-
crete is a heterogeneous material and plenty of initial
flaws including pores and micro-cracks would be pro-
duced in the molding and curing procedures, which can
easily result in stress concentration in certain areas. As
the load continues to increase until reaching the peak
value, the strain concentration at the crack tip becomes
more prominent, and the micro-cracks at the crack tip
gradually converge. However, for the relatively high
158
Figure 17. Effective crack propagations of SCC specimens
under different loading conditions: (a) 0.1–0.005, (b) 0.3–0.005
and (c) 0.3–0.05.
loading rate, due to the short fracture process of the
specimen, when the peak load is reached, the cracks do
not have enough time to propagate as the load
increases. Therefore, it is not until the post-peak stage
that the notch tip shows obvious stress concentration.
Under the effect of sustained load, the micro-cracks at
the crack tip further aggregate and increase while the
strain in other regions is further released and the sec-
ondary cracks gradually decrease, forming the FPZ
with a certain width along with the initial notch.
Afterwards, FPZ develops fast. It can be seen from the
figure that the secondary cracks disappear quickly. The
strain concentration area at the crack tip becomes more
evident and the strain in other regions gets released
with only a small value remained. At this stage, second-
ary cracks disappear completely and the main crack is
formed at the tip of the initial notch.
The whole process of effective crack propagation
can be divided into three stages. In the first stage, the
Journal of Strain Analysis 56(3)
effective crack increases slowly. At this time, the initial
weak flaws and micro-cracks in the material develop
and connect with each other rapidly. In the second
stage, the effective crack propagation rate increases
with the increase of notch-to-depth ratio and loading
rate. It should be noted here that the stage is the main
period for macro-crack propagation in the specimen.
When the post-peak 10% of the peak load is reached,
the effective crack propagation rate decreases. At this
time, the macro-cracks have developed sufficiently, but
as the loading process continues, the stress concentra-
tion at the macro-crack tip is still increasing, and the
effective crack length continues increasing slightly until
the specimen is broken.
Considering the fact that the ligaments of SCC spe-
cimens under the three loading conditions are different,
the proportion of the effective crack length to the liga-
ment length is defined as the effective crack length ratio
in the study. Based on the experimental data, the final
effective crack length ratios are obtained as 0.947 (i.e.
85.26/90), 0.936 (i.e. 65.52/70) and 0.869 (i.e. 60.84/70)
for the conditions of 0.1–0.005, 0.3–0.005 and 0.3–0.05,
respectively. As a result, it can be speculated that the
crack develops more fully for specimens with a smaller
notch-to-depth ratio, and this would result in a larger
final effective crack length ratio, which is consistent
with the conclusion obtained in section ‘‘AE signal
intensity analysis.’’ When the notch-to-depth ratios are
kept the same, specimens loaded under a larger loading
rate would present a smaller final effective crack length
ratio, which can be explained by the phenomenon that
there would be no sufficient time for cracks to propa-
gate before the specimen breaks under a high loading
rate.
Evolution of CTOD
The CTOD of SCC in the whole loading procedure can
be calculated, as shown in Figure 18. It can be obtained
that the CTOD evolutions of SCC under three different
loading conditions are similar. In this study, four nodes
on the CTOD variation curve are selected to divide the
curve into five stages, and the nodes are marked as
shown in Figure 18. The horizontal CTOD almost
approaches 0 at the pre-peak 80% of the peak load
point, which indicates that no macro-cracks have
appeared at the first stage. The second stage ranges
from the pre-peak 80% of the peak load to the peak
load. At this stage, the development of CTOD is slow.
During the third stage, which ranges from the peak
load to the post-peak 60% of the peak load, CTOD
almost increases linearly, but the increase rate is com-
paratively slow. The fourth stage is mainly a transition
zone, where CTOD increases from a slow rate to a fast
rate. This stage corresponds to the range from the post-
peak 60% of the peak load to the post-peak 20% of the
peak load. At the last stage, CTOD increases quickly,
and especially for the last 5% of the loading stage,
CTOD almost increases linearly, where the specimen
Chen et al.
Figure 18. Variations of CTOD of SCC specimens under
different loading conditions.
has already broken completely at the notch tip with the
maximum CTOD value.
By observing the horizontal CTOD of SCC speci-
mens at the end of the loading procedure, it can be
found that there is no significant difference between the
CTODs when the specimens with a notch-to-depth
ratio of 0.3 are broken, although the loading rates are
different. But when the notch-to-depth ratio is 0.1, the
CTOD at failure is evidently larger than that of speci-
men with a notch-to-depth ratio of 0.3. The reason for
the above results may be that the effective crack length
of the specimen with a notch-to-depth ratio of 0.1 is
larger than that of the specimen with a notch-to-depth
ratio of 0.3. When the cracking angles are the same, the
CTOD of the specimen with smaller notch-to-depth
ratio would be larger.
Conclusion
In this study, three-point bending tests were conducted
on SCC beams with three notch-to-depth ratios under
three different loading rates combining AE technique
and DIC method. The fracture characteristics and crack
propagation mechanism of SCC were studied, with
main conclusions shown as follows:
1. As the loading rate increases, the failure strength
shows an increasing trend. Under the same loading
rate, the failure strength of SCC decreases with the
increase of the notch-to-depth ratio.
2. The b-value variation of SCC specimens can be
divided into three stages. With the increase of the
notch-to-depth ratio, the variation range of b-value
increases. As the loading rate increases, the fluc-
tuation duration of the b-value becomes shorter.
3. When the notch-to-depth ratio is small, cracks
inside SCC specimens would get more fully devel-
oped and more macro-cracks would be generated.
159
As the loading rate increases, AE signals from the
fracture and friction of aggregates inside the speci-
men become more intense and the security zone of
AE signals is considered to be 5 3 5.5.
4. The proportion of shear cracks increases as the
notch-to-depth ratio increases. By clustering analy-
sis, the AE signals of SCC can be divided into
three cluster groups. As the notch-to-depth ratio
increases, the proportion of the first cluster group
decreases while that of the third cluster increases.
Meanwhile, according to the scatter distribution of
different clusters, the central frequency range of
SCC failure under different loading rates is
obtained.
5. COD of SCC varies linearly with the specimen
height. At the pre-peak stage, only a small propor-
tion of stress concentration appears at the tip of
the notch. When the peak load is reached, an evi-
dent strain concentration area appears at the crack
tip.
6. Before the peak load, almost no macro-cracks
would appear inside SCC specimens. The effective
crack propagation can be roughly divided into
three stages, and the main crack propagation
appears at the second stage. The CTOD variation
of SCC can be divided into five stages, during
which the increase rate of CTOD increases with
the loading procedure. Finally, it is found that as
the notch-to-depth ratio increases, CTOD at fail-
ure decreases while loading rates make no obvious
contribution to the CTOD values at specimen
failure.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest
with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publi-
cation of this article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following finan-
cial support for the research, authorship, and/or publi-
cation of this article: This research is based upon the
work supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (grant no. 51979090), the Natural
Science Foundation for Excellent Young Scholars of
Jiangsu Province (grant no. BK20190075) and the
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central
Universities (grant no. B200202076) granted to the cor-
responding author Xudong Chen.
ORCID iD
Xudong Chen https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0534-6927
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