The high cycle fatigue testing of High‐Performance Concretes using high frequency excitation

Abstract

The effect of fatigue failure in brittle materials like (ultra) High Performance Concrete (UHPC) due to cyclic loading causes unexpected failure that consequently results in heavy costs in marine and civil structures. To characterize the effect of fatigue, cyclic loading tests are performed, and “the number of cycles to failure” are experimentally determined. One problem with these kinds of tests is that such experimental investigations are potentially expensive, i.e., time‐consuming process since the number of loading cycles could be extremely high. Further, within the different damage phases of the cycling tests, one has no access to the small‐scale, i.e., microscopical evolution of (micro‐)cracks. Additionally, a full characterization of the small‐strain stiffness evolution of the material is challenging. The goal of the research investigation is to combine a (large amplitude) High Cycle Fatigue experiment with a (low amplitude) Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA). Using a setup based on the piezoelectric actuator, the (rate‐dependent) mechanical properties of the material in tangential space, and the failure modes of the material will be examined accurately. The excitation frequency is between 0.01 Hz to 1000 Hz which allows for reducing the experimental investigation time to failure. Further, it allows investigating the effect of frequency on the number of cycles to failure. Firstly, experimental results for HPC and berea sandstone samples will be presented. Harmonic experimental data include (direct) strain measurements in axial and circumferential directions as well as forces in axial directions. In addition, the resulting complex Young's modulus and evolving damage‐like “history” of HPC and berea sandstone specimens will be shown.