Influence of Moisture Content and Wet Environment on the Fatigue Behaviour of High-Strength Concrete

authored by
Mohamed Abubakar Ali, Christoph Tomann, Fadi Aldakheel, Markus Mahlbacher, Nima Noii, Nadja Oneschkow, Karl Heinz Drake, Ludger Lohaus, Peter Wriggers, Michael Haist
Abstract

The influence of a wet environment on the fatigue behaviour of high-strength concrete has become more important in recent years with the expansion of offshore wind energy systems. According to the few investigations documented in the literature, the fatigue resistance of specimens submerged in water is significantly lower compared to that of specimens in dry conditions. However, it is still not clear how the wet environment and the moisture content in concrete influence its fatigue behaviour and which damage mechanisms are involved in the deterioration process. Here the results of a joint project are reported, in which the impact of moisture content in concrete on fatigue deterioration are investigated experimentally and numerically. Aside from the number of cycles to failure, the development of stiffness and acoustic emission (AE) hits are analysed as damage inductors and discussed along with results of microstructural investigations to provide insights into the degradation mechanisms. Subsequently, an efficient numeric modelling approach to water-induced fatigue damage is presented. The results of the fatigue tests show an accelerated degradation behaviour with increasing moisture content of the concrete. Further, it was found that the AE hits of specimens submerged in water occur exclusively close to the minimum stress level in contrast to specimens subjected to dry conditions, which means that additional damage mechanisms are acting with increasing moisture content in the concrete.

Organisation(s)
Institute of Building Materials Science
Institute of Continuum Mechanics
External Organisation(s)
LPI Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH
Swansea University
Type
Article
Journal
MATERIALS
Volume
15
ISSN
1996-1944
Publication date
28.01.2022
Publication status
Published
Peer reviewed
Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Materials Science(all), Condensed Matter Physics
Electronic version(s)
https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15031025 (Access: Open)
 

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